Page 2 of Disappearance at Angel’s Landing (Red Rock Murders #2)

People were morons.

Ranger Branch Thompson shoved through the ring of park visitors inching closer to the body. Always pushing to get a better look. As if the woman at the bottom of the cliff was some kind of tick in their to-do list during their national park tour. “Vultures.”

Law enforcement rangers were already at work to secure a perimeter around the fallen hiker, but national parks weren’t equipped like a regular police force.

While rangers followed similar protocols during death investigations, they didn’t have crime scene tape, a forensic unit or the manpower to ensure the area around the body wasn’t compromised. That was where he came in.

Branch caught sight of a bright yellow jacket—unmoving—in the center of the controlled chaos.

Risner, the district ranger, hadn’t given him a lot of information on the hiker who’d taken a flying leap off Angel’s Landing when he’d ordered Branch to help with crowd control.

But Branch noted long red hair and thin fingers splayed out to the hiker’s side. Female, from the look of it.

Extending his arms out to either side, he forced the crowd back a couple feet, his expression more than ready to shut down questions.

Facing off with two dozen onlookers grated his nerves raw.

Why he’d chosen to interact with the public all day in a too- hot box surrounded by things that could eat and kill him, he’d never know. Felt right at the time, he guessed.

And now the park had a death on its hands.

Nothing short of a miracle would convince the superintendent to close it.

With over five million visitors a year—charged a minimum of thirty-five dollars a vehicle—Zion National Park was one of the most sought-after attractions in the west. The last time the National Park Service had been asked to evacuate Zion had been at the FBI’s request during a violent manhunt that ended with an agent and one of Branch’s fellow rangers almost dying in the process.

Park Service members had all signed on to protect the park from the people and the people from the park.

They knew what they were getting themselves into.

Knew the risks. But a hiker who hadn’t followed personal safety suggestions before attacking the tallest and steepest trail in the park?

This was just another day in Branch’s book.

The line of bystanders closed in with their phones and cameras at the ready, questions and whispers and theories flying back and forth.

Group mentality tended to do that. It took morality out of the equation.

While having a hiker take a dive off one of the country’s most dangerous trails wasn’t an every day occurrence, Branch wasn’t going to give anyone a shot at disgracing the body.

“No photos. Step back. I won’t tell you a second time. ”

Pressure built as eyes turned toward him him. Amid the crowd, he noted a flash of pink. A burn that had nothing to do with unobstructed sun bearing down on him lit up under his skin. Heaven help them all if Risner had called her in to help with this mess.

Lila Jordan, or more accurate, the bane of his existence.

The Barbie-like ranger bypassed the crowd and cut straight toward him, a smile plastered on her face.

Shiny blond hair had been sleeked back into a ponytail beneath her Stetson, but she’d spent time curling the ends for added bounce.

As always. No other female ranger in this park went so far as to wear makeup or keep up her hot pink manicure.

And did she just wave at him? “Hi, Branch. Great job on crowd control!”

A growl resonated in his chest as he tracked her to the inner circle of rangers assessing the body. What the hell had Risner been thinking, hiring a woman who accessorized her uniform like Cupid threw up after an all-night Valentines Day binge?

The district ranger himself followed close on Lila’s heels without so much as throwing Branch a glance, his eyes glued to her backside. Risner hadn’t been thinking with the head above his belt, that was for sure, despite the thick gold band on his ring finger.

Acid curdled in Branch’s stomach at the thought of the district ranger leering at Lila or any of the other female rangers in the service.

While Branch would do anything to get out of a shift with Ranger Barbie—her enthusiasm and nonstop talking produced some of the most vicious migraines in existence—she didn’t deserve her boss’s lewd attention.

Though he doubted Lila hadn’t used it to her advantage once or twice.

Women like her were used to getting what they wanted through any means necessary, just like his ex-wife, with no concern for the trail of bodies in their wake.

Lila had probably manipulated Risner into allowing her to join this investigation with a few bats of those long eyelashes and glossed lips.

He wouldn’t put it past her. Couldn’t fault her, either, considering Risner’s penchant for overlooking female rangers for the high-priority assignments.

Zion didn’t have more than a handful, but they were as crucial to running this place and keeping visitors alive as their male counterparts.

The burn beneath his skin was on the verge of consuming him at the thought of Lila using her beauty to influence Risner. She probably gave that son of a bitch the same smile she’d flashed him.

Nope. Didn’t matter. Wasn’t his business.

“Someone fell?” A visitor craned her head over Branch’s shoulder to get a better look at the scene, a feat in and of itself.

Her cracked lips told him she hadn’t drunk enough water in these temperatures.

If she didn’t rectify that soon, he’d have to haul her out of here when she collapsed from dehydration.

Branch set his unimpressed gaze on her, watchful of any others who might think to break the line he’d created to give rangers the space they needed. “I’m not at liberty to say.”

Still craning to see around his large frame, the visitor hiked onto her tiptoes, swaying toward him. She slapped her hand against his arm to catch herself. “Do you know who she was?”

“What part of I’m not at liberty to say didn’t you understand?” He shucked her hand from his arm.

“Aren’t you rangers supposed to be nice?” She landed back on her feet, sweat beading her upper lip. “My taxes pay your salary. The least you could do is pretend you know something about customer service.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Branch forced himself to refocus on his job, but Ranger Barbie’s incessant high-pitched drone proved too much to ignore. It probably deafened dogs.

He hadn’t come up with Lila’s nickname. Actually, he wasn’t sure where he’d heard it the first time, but the shoe fit with her pink socks, pink jewels decorating her belt, the pink nail polish and the pink bandana tied at her neck. He’d never met someone so disrespectful of the uniform.

He turned back to the hiker. “Drink something before I get called to come collect you off the trails.”

Her shock only lasted a second. “You—”

“Branch, want to give us a hand?” Risner’s question was more of a command.

It pissed Branch the hell off. He’d been doing just fine all the way over here, as far from Lila as he could get.

Though his ears would argue it wasn’t far enough.

“Any of you move, and I’ll have you banned from the park for life.

” Leaving his post, Branch closed the distance between him and the small ring of rangers staring down at the remains.

The near-6000-foot drop hadn’t been kind. The hiker’s bright yellow jacket contained most of the mess, but unmistakable brain matter splayed out in a burst of red and pink against the dirt. A hand had survived, at an odd angle, but it was there.

Risner pointed at the body. “The medical examiner is ready to turn her over to search her front pockets. Hopefully get a positive ID. Grab a side and help me lift her.”

“How?” Branch’s stomach revolted at the idea of…pieces slipping through his fingers, but he wouldn’t lose his breakfast. Not here and sure as hell not in front of anyone. Weakness would only cost him.

“You could imagine it’s a sensory bin.” Lila set brilliant blue eyes on him, the color of which could shift from stormy to clear in a matter of seconds depending on her mood.

Right now, they were somewhere in the middle.

Most likely due to the fact a dead hiker had interrupted her afternoon of chasing unicorns and rainbows or whatever the hell she did out here.

“Have you ever played with a container of those water beads you can squish between your fingers?”

Branch swallowed back a rush of bile. Did she seriously just compare a dead person to squishing a water bead? Leveling Ranger Barbie with every ounce of hatred in his bones, he let his revulsion for everything she stood for bleed into his expression.

His obvious dislike didn’t deter her. “What about slime? Have you ever played with slime? I have some in my trailer. I buy it from a seventeen-year-old named Melissa who makes over three hundred different kinds right from her bedroom. She’s an internet sensation.

She puts all different kinds of things in it, like cotton candy scent, crunchy glue, sprinkles and any color you can imagine.

And she does ASMR videos, especially when she uses foam beads. I can send you her socials if you—”

“Let’s get this over with.”

Ranger Barbie’s smile slipped slightly, but within a second, it was right back in place.

Branch stepped up to the body. Definitely not thinking about the kind of noises a broken body trapped in a yellow jacket might make once they got their hands on her.

He took the fallen hiker’s right side while Lila took the left, putting them opposite each other.

A hint of her perfume—one he couldn’t seem to stop himself from inhaling—tickled the back of his throat.

Something ambery and feminine. Like a dual personality.

Jekyll and Hyde. Who in their right mind wore perfume in over a hundred-degree heat in the middle of the desert?

Risner took control of the hiker’s shoulders, his feet spread wide to avoid the carnage around him. “One. Two. Three.” Risner moved first.

They worked as one, slowly turning the remains, and set the hiker on her back. The body had stiffened some. Rigor mortis was setting in. Not at all like squishing water beads or playing with slime.

Lila dusted her hands, that irritating smile back in place with an exaggerated shoulder shrug. “Well, that wasn’t so bad. Not as gooey as I thought it would be. Great job, team—”

“Can you shut up and show some respect for once?” The words snapped out of Branch’s mouth before he had a chance to think it through.

The instant flash in her gaze told him he’d at least accomplished breaking through her cheerfulness. Lila cocked her head to one side, all signs of that Ranger Barbie smile buried. “Can you imagine what it will feel like when I open a Nature Valley granola bar on your bed?”

Branch fought against a resulting shiver. He could feel the crumbs already.

“Jordan, knock it off.” Risner hiked his chin toward the medical examiner. “Search her pockets. We need a positive ID to inform the family of the accident.”

Jordan? Since when did Risner address rangers by their last names?

“This wasn’t an accident.” Lila held Branch’s gaze, almost daring him to interrupt her again.

Or planning his murder. Branch couldn’t be sure.

Crouching beside the body, she pointed to a dark pattern of blood around a hole in the hiker’s jacket.

She unzipped the yellow abomination, revealing a deeper laceration.

A stab wound. She glared at Branch before standing. “Sarah Lantos was murdered.”