Page 44 of Deadly Storms (Sunrise Lake #3)

Lucca Delgotto’s body was discovered two days later.

Vienna had found tracks that appeared as if he’d gone off trail to check on something he might have seen or heard, and he was struck and went down.

There was dried blood in the grass and leaves and a jagged rock with dark stains on it.

She surmised that he’d been killed or knocked unconscious in that spot and then dragged away from the location.

The terrain was steep and wild, very difficult to negotiate.

Sean and Vienna unraveled the tracks over the next day, following the very faint trail.

Whoever was committing the murders had attempted to cover their tracks, leaving only a few bruised and twisted leaves despite carrying or dragging the deadweight of a fully grown man.

Lucca’s body had been laid out in his bloodstained clothes, a makeshift altar built on a flat rock just to the right of his head.

Feathers, candles, sticks, flowers and gourds of water were on the altar in a precise pattern.

A few inches of vegetation around his body had been cleared away, leaving the ground bare.

The body was covered in insects, but no predator had gotten to it.

Forensics took over the crime scene, leaving Search and Rescue to continue looking for Charlie Gainer, the missing member of the trail rehabilitation crew. Vienna insisted that her search crews stay close together, that no member was to go off on their own, even for a brief moment.

A pall hung over the café when the news came in. Lucca had been well-liked in Knightly. His family had lived there for years. Even when they brought the body down the mountain to the medical examiner, it wasn’t released to the family. And Charlie Gainer was still missing.

Shabina and others brought food to the family.

There was little else they could do. There is no comfort when experiencing a loss as grave as the Delgotto family had, especially in such a violent and senseless way.

Many of Lucca’s friends gathered at the Grill in the evening just to try to support each other.

The café and the Grill sent food to the base camp for the Search and Rescue volunteers.

Three days after Lucca’s body was discovered, Charlie’s body was found by Sean and Vienna.

Along with their five-man search team, they had laid out a grid that included the overgrown, closed trail that was no longer visible leading to the burnt section of trees where the California condors were nesting.

The park had shut down the trail several years after the fire had occurred.

As soon as Shabina had discovered the nest, the park had completely closed off the section to all hikers and tourists with posted signs and gates blocking off anything that appeared to be a semblance of a trail.

There were warning signs up everywhere to stay away.

Vienna and Sean had searched the section staying in constant touch with the other three members of their team, who were searching another trail.

Sean pointed out Shabina’s tracks multiple times.

She left very little evidence of her passing, but they could see it occasionally.

Once they found a paw print from one of her dogs that had dried in mud.

Sean was the one who discovered the dried blood several yards to the left of the trail.

Vienna surmised that Charlie had somehow learned of the condor nest and decided to try to find it.

He must have run right into the murderer, or the murderer had stalked him.

They found the rock that had been used to kill him.

He’d been hit several times with it, crushing his skull.

Whoever hit him had stood in wait for him and used a good deal of strength when they swung the rock.

Charlie had been facing away from his assailant when he’d been struck.

Charlie had been dragged well off the nearly nonexistent trail.

He’d been treated just as the other murdered men had.

He’d been fully clothed. All damage had been done to his skull.

The amount of bare ground scraped free of vegetation around his body was extremely small and had to have been difficult to manage due to the thickness of the thorny berries growing on the spot the murderer had chosen to construct his altar.

There was a wide, flat rock which might have determined his choice, but looking at the ground cover, the rocks and thick brush, it wouldn’t have been easy to set up whatever the ritual called for.

The altar was covered in feathers, stones, candles, gourds of water, sticks and flowers.

The site had also seemingly been chosen to keep the altar out of the wind.

Charlie’s body had not only been attacked by insects, but predators had gotten to it as well. It wasn’t the first time Vienna and Sean had found bodies in that condition, but it was never pleasant.

The body was found the day before Shabina’s two days off, and she was grateful the café would be closed.

Having the townspeople mourning Lucca and now finding Charlie felt overwhelming.

She knew everyone who knew them would congregate at the Grill during the evenings and at her café during the mornings.

She was thankful she would be closed that day.

—

Rainier drove her to the courthouse in Independence to obtain their marriage license. “You’re certain you want to marry me, Shabina? There’s not one doubt in your mind?”

Shabina glanced up at him from under her long lashes, trying to guess if he was asking because he was having second thoughts.

When she didn’t answer him immediately, he reached over and took her hand, threading his fingers through hers. “It’s a yes-or-no question, Qadri . In a few years, I don’t want you to suddenly wake up and realize I railroaded you.”

“Is that what you’re doing?”

“I haven’t yet, but I’m considering it. We can get our license and go to another window and get married. It isn’t a big wedding like you probably dreamt of, surrounded by your friends and family, but it affords you protection.” He paused. “And it will make me feel a hell of a lot more secure.”

“Wait. Are you saying you think we should get married today? Can we do that? Is it legal?”

“I called and asked. California has a same-day marriage policy. It’s called an express marriage and can be done at the courthouse if you request it ahead of time. The Clerk-Recorder’s Office can provide a witness, and we can be married right there. Today.”

Shabina touched the tip of her tongue to her upper lip. Rainier had checked into an express marriage. For some reason that shocked her because it meant he really did want to marry her. He’d put thought into how they could be married quickly.

“A license is only good for ninety days. We would have to get married in that time frame. If you prefer, I can arrange a service at the house with your friends attending. I have a friend who could marry us.”

She shook her head. “We could ask them to come to the house in the evening and we’ll tell them we got married. We don’t want gifts, so we can’t tell them ahead of time why we’re inviting them.”

“That’s a good idea.”

“Unless this isn’t a very good time. Vienna is going to be decompressing. It’s so hard on her when she finds the people she’s searching for dead. In this case, two of them, and she knows the Delgotto family very well.”

“She may need her friends around her, Shabina. It’s been a couple of days. She will have talked to the people she needs to. She might just want to go somewhere safe with the people she loves and trusts the most.”

He was correct about Vienna. She practiced self-care. She not only made certain her volunteers were taken care of, but she made certain she followed protocol herself.

“If we let Vaughn, Tyrone and Patsy know, they’d cater for us.”

She shook her head. “No, I wouldn’t want them to have to work. If they come, they’re guests. I can pull the food together for a small gathering, or we can have one tomorrow night, which will give me more time to put things together.”

“Thanks, baby.”

Shabina tilted her head up to look at him. “For what?”

“For being willing to marry me.”

“Rainier, I want to marry you. I want to be with you. I’ve always wanted to be with you.”

“When you call your parents, they’re going to be very angry with you.”

“I’ve never understood my parents’ objection to you, and frankly, I truly don’t care. It’s unreasonable. They’ve never taken the time to know you.”

“Your father knows me—don’t kid yourself, Shabina. He sees the real me, and more than once he’s come up against my ruthless side. When it comes to protecting you or taking care of you, I put you first. He found that out very early on.”

That same ominous shadow crept into her mind that had begun to visit her far too often when she thought of her father, and the door to her memories creaked open.

She had kept that particular door closed and barricaded because she didn’t want to know the truth about the choices her father had made during those times.

She had a brain demanding answers though.

Once a puzzle presented itself, her subconscious insisted on working on it.

Even if she tried to shut it down, in the back of her mind, she continued to work for the answer.

Why had an assassin been sent to her exact location when she was supposed to be rescued?

Was he supposed to kill her? She’d asked Rainier, and his reply had been abrupt and didn’t answer her question. I don’t kill innocents.