Page 17 of I’ll Be There (Montana Fire #4)

Conner shouldn’t have sent Reuben and Pete to do his job. His only real job for the wedding—apply for a marriage license. Conner sat in Seth’s truck, staring out the window as Seth drove to his off-the-grid cabin.

“She’s going to be mad,” he said, mostly to himself. “She’s going to think I abandoned her.”

The silence in the truck suggested Micah, Seth, and even Romeo agreed with him.

“If I can figure out who the shooter was, maybe I can finally track down some answers, put this to bed. Leave it behind.” He looked at Micah in the back seat. “If I don’t find anything—I’ll let it go. For good.”

Micah arched an eyebrow.

Seth wasn’t kidding when he said his cabin was off the grid.

He’d driven Conner, Romeo, and Micah up the Gunflint Trail, the back dirt road, until they came to a clearing in the woods.

Set back from the road and overlooking a glistening, sun-soaked lake, a two story A-frame faced the beauty of the North Shore.

Cedar-sided and with a deck that ran around the exterior of the home, the house looked like it had grown in place, the scent of sawdust mingling with pine, and the forest loam collecting under the towering oak and maple.

A curly haired black Lab mix got up from his perch on the deck in the sun and ran toward them, tail circling.

“That’s Walter,” Seth said. He ran a hand through the dog’s hair. “Better than a wife—he never complains when I get home late.” He opened the front door, led the way inside. “I’ll grab my computer.”

Light gleamed all the way through the house, open from the front door to the two-story paned windows that looked out onto the lake.

“Told you it was rustic,” Seth said.

The interior of the house was mostly studs, plywood floors, and shop lights.

At least it had a working kitchen—a stainless steel fridge shoved into one corner, a granite counter, farmhouse sink, and an oven built into the center island.

He’d thrown rugs down over the plywood; a worn leather sofa and a picnic table the only pieces of furniture in the cavernous room.

Stairs ascended to a lofted area that overlooked the main floor, and Conner guessed Seth slept with a second-story view of the lake.

“Nice place,” Conner said as Seth dug a laptop out of a backpack near the sofa.

“Thanks. I bought the land with the intent of building a house for the woman I wanted to marry. But...she didn’t want me. So, I didn’t know what else to do but build it anyway.”

“You built this yourself?” Micah said as he walked to the windows. A loon landed on the lake, blooming rose-gold in the setting sun.

“Yeah. I’m really a carpenter, not a security guard,” Seth said.

“Huh,” Micah said. Glanced at Conner, who hid a smile.

“I ran out of money. And frankly, energy. Who builds a house for a girl who doesn’t want you?”

Conner had no words for that because suddenly Liza’s words rose inside him. I just love Deep Haven. I...I don’t want to leave here.

Hopefully she wasn’t saying something else.

But no—she would have told him if she didn’t want to move to Montana.

He opened the laptop. “No password?”

“Who’s going to find me out here? I’m just lucky the broadband guys were laying line up the highway—I got them to put in an extension up here. Otherwise, I’d really be cut off.”

“He’s right. No cell service.” Micah was lifting his phone, trying to find a signal.

“You can use the internet and call over that if you have the right phone,” Seth said.

Conner set Donny Whistler/Danny Washburn’s phone on the counter. “Do you have a charger cable?”

Seth rummaged around in a drawer, produced the right cable, and Conner connected it to the computer.

“I store all my programs on my cloud,” Conner said. He glanced at Micah. “Learned that one after Missouri, when we helped Lacey find little Emily. Backup, always.” He logged into his cloud and pulled down a program. “It’ll take a few minutes to install.”

Seth had opened the fridge, now pulled out some root beers and handed them out.

Conner’s stomach let out a roar. “Sorry. We should have picked up something to eat.”

“I’ll throw some steaks on the grill,” Seth said. “I hope you like venison.”

So maybe this was a bachelor party—his kind of party, where they tracked down evil, set the world right again.

Conner opened his program. “I wrote this a few years ago, when I was working with Micah. I did some ethical hacking on the side, breaking through firewalls, that sort of thing.”

Micah slid onto a stool beside him. “Dani and Andee would love to see you.” He opened up his soda. “They wanted to be here.”

Conner’s former Team Hope cohorts. “It’s my fault. I dropped off the grid for a while, kind of buried myself with firefighting and working on a couple inventions. I created a drone that helps predict wind shifts and possible blowups.”

“I heard about your friend—Jock? I’m sorry.”

“Him and some other guys I worked with. Thanks.”

“So, are you still going to jump fire after you and Liza get hitched?”

Conner looked at him, frowned. “Yeah, of course. Why not?”

Micah shrugged. “It’s just...you’re committing yourself to another person, and it’s not just your decision anymore. How does she feel about it?”

Conner activated the decrypt program and reached for his soda.

“I think...” I worry about you out there jumping fire.

It’s like a poison, infecting every thought.

Consuming me. “She’s not a fan, maybe. I used to call her from the fire line.

I was pretty raw, wiped out, and she was the one person who kept me grounded.

I was crazy for her voice on the other end of the phone.

She was so steady, and she’d let me talk.

I never realized how much she worried about me.

Not until last summer, when I nearly lost her. ”

“The grizzly attack.”

“We were searching for a lost kid who’d been attacked by a predator bear. Liza found her, got between the girl and the bear, and...she took the brunt of the attack before we killed it.”

“She has that scar on her hand.”

“Yeah. He mangled it pretty badly. At one point the bear actually clamped down and shook her. Most terrifying thing I’d ever seen.” He blew out a breath. “I still have nightmares sometimes.”

“Imagine her nightmares. No wonder she’s not a fan of you jumping fire.

Once you’ve lived through something like that, you’re more aware of the fragility of life.

” Micah ran his finger down his can, through the condensation droplets.

“After my cancer scare, I thought nothing would rattle me. Then I saw Lacey nearly killed, and I knew I couldn’t risk my life anymore. Or at least, not if I didn’t have to.”

“So you turned into a soccer dad?”

Micah grinned. “They say that’s the price of marriage for men.

We sacrifice our freedom for the comfort women give us.

Some men fight it—they believe they should have a right to pursue their adventures, that giving that up is weakness.

But I don’t think that saying goodbye to something that could tear apart the woman you love is weak.

Our job is to protect and cherish, right?

That’s a sacred duty before God when we get married.

There’s a great honor in that calling, to have a wife, to love and protect her. To make her feel safe.”

Seth had stepped out onto the deck, holding a tray of steaks, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. He closed the sliding glass door behind him, set the dinner on a picnic table outside, and started up the grill.

“He’s a good guy, that Seth. You should talk to him about joining the crew. And that one, too.” He gestured to Romeo, who’d also ventured out to the deck and now leaned against it, staring out into the twilight. “Lost and found—I underestimated him.”

The door opened, and Conner looked up as Pete and Reuben walked into Seth’s house.

“So, did you get it done?”

“I forged your name and dropped it off, just like you said,” Reuben said. “But I didn’t like it.”

“It’s not forgery when I give you permission,” Conner said. “Besides, it’s an application—I’ll sign the real license on Monday. How’s Liza?”

Pete slid onto a stool. “Apparently dealing with her own problems. She said they still don’t have a reception venue.”

“Seriously?” Yes, the last thing Liza needed was to worry about him and today’s drama.

The program alerted to a hit, and he turned back to the computer. “We’re in. Let’s see who you were talking to, Danny Boy.” He opened up the list of past calls and scrolled down.

Not a big list—five calls. He plugged in the numbers.

Two were Thunder Bay numbers. A pizza joint.

One to the Fort William offices. An 800 number that pinged a call-in menu for extra-curricular services.

“Food, activities, and his plan for the day. But this last one...it’s the same number—it called him, and he called it back. ” Conner put in the number and dialed.

Someone picked up.

“Is it done?”

Everyone went still.

Conner drew in a breath, glanced at Micah, who then leaned over.

“Yes,” Micah said.

“Both of them?”

The voice, a mid-tenor, bore a slight accent and stirred something inside Conner, a familiarity that he couldn’t place. His heart thundered against his chest.

“No, just the girl,” Micah said.

“Good. But—he met her, right?”

Romeo was coming toward the door, and Pete slid off the stool, as if to head him off.

“Yep, he was there.”

Conner held his breath.

“I knew it...he just couldn’t let it go. Okay, sit tight. I’m on my way.”

Micah reached over and hung up. Pete opened the door and Romeo came in.

Silence.

“Who was that?” Conner couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. Pressed his hand on the counter as the familiarity rushed over him, clicked in. “I know that voice.” He turned to Micah. “It’s P.T. Blankenship—my brother’s case handler.”

“What—?”

“Yeah. Clearly he didn’t know that Danny was dead, so...but what did he mean when he said he was on his way?”