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CHAPTER EIGHT

Grace stood at the largest picture window in Aidan’s cabin, staring out at the rapidly darkening sky. “They’ve been gone too long. And once again no one’s answering their cell phones.”

“Standard operating procedure,” Collier called out from the kitchen. “Radio silence while hunting a suspect. Or, in this case, phone silence. Hey, looks like some venison stew’s in here. You think O’Brien would mind if we had some? I’m starving.”

“Accepting drinks from a civilian is one thing. Eating up their food is another.”

“I skipped dinner.”

“So did I.” She headed for the door. “I’m going to check on them and see if they—”

He was suddenly in front of her, his back to the door. “If you want to find out whether I’m more afraid of you or my boss, trust me. Dawson trumps you any time.”

She flipped her jacket back, revealing her holster. “I have a gun.”

He snorted. “Mine’s bigger.”

“Oh, good grief. I know karate, Collier. Don’t make me hurt you.”

“You’ve got four stitches in your arm and it has to be sore. Besides, your black belt doesn’t scare me. I weigh twice what you do, at least. All I have to do is sit on you and—oof!”

Grace stood over him where she’d flipped him onto his back. “Can’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Nope,” he groaned. “Can’t say you didn’t. If you ripped your stitches out don’t ask me to patch you up again. You hurt my feelings.” He grimaced. “And my back.”

“I’ll buy you a day at the spa.” She headed to the door again and threw it open.

Aidan stood in the opening, arching a brow. “Going somewhere?”

She groaned. “Great timing.”

He looked past her. “Seriously, Collier? You’re twice her size. And she’s injured. Did she put you on the floor?”

“Afraid so.” He groaned again. “I might need help getting up.”

Aidan stepped inside, forcing Grace to back up. He stopped beside Collier, shaking his head. “Pathetic.” He grabbed Collier’s hand and hauled him upright.

“Ouch, sheesh. Some warning would have been nice, man.”

“Twice her size, Collier,” Aidan reminded him. “Unbelievable.” He headed into the kitchen and opened the door to what must have been his pantry.

“Trust me,” Collier said. “I won’t underestimate her again.” He gave Grace a hurt look and limped to the couch. “Not that I should be nice to you after that, but I meant to tell you earlier to keep your bandage dry when you shower. I’ll need to change it tomorrow and make sure an infection isn’t setting in. Just promise you won’t flip me over your shoulder again.”

“That depends on whether you deserve it or not,” she teased.

He rolled his eyes. “Oh, hey, O’Brien. I saw some venison stew in your refrigerator earlier—”

“Collier,” Grace warned.

He gave her a sullen look and settled deeper against the cushions.

“Where’s everyone else, Aidan?” She moved toward the door again as he spread a checkered tablecloth over the table.

“Right here,” a voice said.

She had to step back for Dawson and Fletcher to come inside. Dawson was carrying a quiver of arrows. Fletcher followed, wearing latex gloves and holding a quart-sized can and a brush with dried red paint on it. She set her bounty on the tabletop and gave Aidan an odd look when he sat at the table.

“Should you be here with the evidence?” she asked.

“Officer Fletcher,” Dawson said. “Is there a reason the owner of this property, the victim in an attempted framing scheme who helped us find this evidence and is allowing us to temporarily use his home, shouldn’t sit with us and discuss what we’ve found?”

Her face reddened. “No, sir.”

“I didn’t think so.”

Aidan gave him a subtle nod of thanks.

Fletcher’s face turned even redder. Obviously, she wasn’t in the same camp as Collier, or even Dawson now, about Aidan’s character.

Dawson set the quiver on the table and then made a detour to the couch, looking down at Collier. “Do I even want to know?”

Collier grimaced. “No, sir.”

Dawson shook his head and returned to the table, sitting beside Fletcher. Grace sat to Aidan’s left. Collier made an amazing recovery and jogged over to take the chair between Aidan and Fletcher.

“What happened?” Grace asked. “Is Ortiz taking the suspect to jail?”

“No,” Dawson said. “Ortiz is at the station. A 911 call came in while we were out so he had to rush back and take care of it. False alarm. Everyone’s fine. But he’ll hang there for now.”

“So you didn’t find the suspect, but you found his things in the woods?”

Aidan motioned toward the pile in the middle of the table. “The dog led us to a creek at the outer edge of my property. He lost the trail after that, likely because the suspect crossed the creek or maybe walked in it to help dilute his scent. We’d have split up and kept going, figuring we could catch up to him even without the dog’s help. But it was getting dark, too dangerous. Most of my land has been left in its natural state.”

“Meaning,” Dawson added, “it’s full of thick brush, downed trees and steep drop-offs. Far too dangerous in bad lighting. We’ll search again tomorrow in case he comes back, or has hunkered down somewhere and never left. Speaking of which, O’Brien, you might want to stay at the B and B for a few days, at least until we catch this fool. Him shooting Malone when you were with me means he knows the game is up, that trying to frame you any longer isn’t going to work. I think he took that first shot by the SUV to get us into the woods and give him time to get away. I’d rather you not be here alone without a gun to defend yourself if he comes back tonight.”

“I can stay and guard him,” Grace offered.

Aidan’s jaw tightened. “I’m not going to cower behind—”

“A woman?” Grace snapped. “I’m perfectly capable of defending you, myself or anyone else.”

Collier raised his hand. “I can attest to that.”

“I was going to say that I’m not going to cower behind anyone else putting their lives on the line for me. I’ll call Stella, see if there’s a room available. If there is, I’ll stay downtown for a few days. That should free up my cabin as a base of operations for the search tomorrow. I can give you a key, Dawson.”

“I appreciate that. I’d also appreciate it if you help with the search. But only if we can keep you safe in the process. We’ll discuss it in the morning.”

“I’d definitely like to help,” Aidan said.

“You don’t have to call the B and B,” Grace told him. “I reserved three rooms for the next three days. One is for me and the others are for more agents if I prove the real Crossbow Killer is operating here. We won’t likely have that answer until the lab comparisons between the original arrows and the ones you found today come back. They’re also running prints and DNA. I’ll go online tomorrow and see if any results are ready. But I doubt it.”

He nodded his thanks. “I’ll pack a bag.” He pushed up from the table and headed up the stairs.

Dawson motioned toward the arrows and the paintbrush. “I’m no expert, but these look the same to me as the ones from earlier. What’s your take on these, Malone?”

“I didn’t bring any gloves. Does anyone have a…” She laughed as all three of them offered her some latex gloves. “You run a tight ship, Dawson. Always be prepared, right?”

“Always.”

She took the pair that Fletcher offered, thanking her as she pulled them on. Careful not to touch anything more than she had to, she picked the items up in the least likely places where the suspect might have touched them so that she could try to avoid destroying any viable latent prints.

After a careful examination, she set the evidence down and took a picture of the paint can to send to the lab, as well as the arrows.

“I can have this all couriered to the FBI lab tomorrow morning if you’re okay with that.”

“I was hoping you’d offer,” Dawson said. “But I’d like to dust one of these arrows for prints locally to see if we get anything and put it into IAFIS. We’ve collected several arrows, so destroying any DNA on just one of them should be an acceptable trade-off to try to get a leg up and speed this along.”

“I agree,” she said. “For now, since we can’t prove or disprove that the suspect is or isn’t the Crossbow Killer, we can work on this as a team if, again Chief, you’re okay with that.”

“Absolutely. We’ve already set our other investigations aside to focus on this. The more resources we have the more likely we’ll be to wrap this up sooner rather than later.” He checked the time on his phone. “Speaking of later, it’s been a long day for all of us. I recommend we head down the mountain and get a good night’s sleep. We’ll meet up early to continue the investigation.”

“What about the search?” she asked. “You can’t run an investigation and a full-blown search at the same time. You need more people.”

“Which is why I told Ortiz to contact the sheriff’s office to get some bodies up here. Ortiz will be the liaison for our department and manage the search along with whoever Sheriff Galloway puts in charge from his side. He’ll also make some casts of the shoe prints we found tonight. Justin will be here with his scent dog again, too. He already agreed to that. We have search-and-rescue volunteers we can call in a pinch. But this guy is dangerous and I don’t want civilians out here as more innocent targets for him.”

“Sounds like a well-thought-out plan. With Ortiz up here tomorrow, that leaves a desk free at your station. Mind if I operate out of there? I’ve got my own laptop and can show you the results as soon as the lab uploads them to our portal.”

“Of course. Use anything you need. If you want the conference room, consider it yours, as well.”

Fletcher grinned. “You might prefer the conference room, honestly. Ortiz is a bit of a slob. You’d be wiping crumbs off your nice blouse and slacks.”

Grace looked down, making a face at her clothes. “They used to be nice. That tumble on the gravel driveway earlier pretty much ruined them. But I brought several more changes of clothes with me.”

Fletcher gave her a commiserating look and stood. “Since Ortiz was my ride up here, boss, I’m going to have to bum a ride back with you.”

“What about me?” Collier asked. “I can give you a ride.”

“I’ll ride with the boss.” Fletcher made a face at Collier as she gathered up the paint can and brush again.

He rolled his eyes.

Aidan jogged down the stairs and joined them, a black leather overnight bag slung over his shoulder. “Special Agent Malone, I’ll follow you to the B and B if that’s all right, so you can let Stella know I’m taking one of those rooms you reserved.”

“Since we’re going to the same place, why not leave your truck here and ride with me?” she asked.

He glanced at Dawson. “I think it would be better if I take my truck. I’ll need it in the morning. But thanks.”

Grace realized all three of the police officers were looking at her. Fletcher was obviously no fan of Aidan. Dawson was grudgingly coming around, but his expression clearly said he didn’t think it was appropriate for her to ride with a felon convicted of murder. Even Collier seemed surprised that a federal agent, no doubt especially a woman in this situation, would be so lax.

“Right,” she said, her face heating. “That makes more sense. I’ll meet you at the front desk.” She couldn’t seem to get out of the cabin and to her car fast enough.

Good grief, what was she doing? It was one thing to believe that a man was innocent and feel comfortable around him. But she was an FBI agent. She knew better than to allow emotions to override good judgment. Something about Aidan called out to her on a primal level, and it wasn’t just that he was, well, hot. Really hot. That shouldn’t matter, not right now. What mattered was maintaining her professionalism and following her training. This was her first time out solo. She couldn’t screw it up.