Page 20 of Obscurity

A figure stood deep in the woods, barely visible among the shadows cast by overlapping pine branches. It was too dark to make out any of his features, but if Olive had to guess, the man was wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt. She had only the light of an almost-full moon to illuminate the area.

Her heart slammed against her ribs as she watched. The figure wasn’t hiding. He wasn’t trying to blend into the forest or move stealthily through the undergrowth.

He was simply standing there, watching the lodge.

How long had the man been there? Had he witnessed Elias’s conversation with the other man? Was he connected to whatever had happened to Chloe, or was he another variable in an already complicated equation?

“Olive?” Jason’s voice was barely a whisper behind her. “What is it?”

She didn’t dare look away from the window, afraid that any movement might alert the watcher to the fact that he’d been spotted.

“Someone is out there,” she murmured. “In the trees. He’s watching the lodge.”

The soft rustle of Jason rising from his bed sounded, then his quiet footsteps as he crossed the room to join her at the window.

“Where?” His voice was right beside her ear now, close enough that she could feel the warmth of his breath against her neck, that she could smell his woodsy cologne.

More than anything, she wanted to turn. To step toward him. To get lost in his kisses.

Her pulse pounded harder.

But she couldn’t allow herself to go there.

“Right there, by that cluster of—” Olive blinked, the words dying in her throat.

The woods were now empty.

In her brief moment of distraction, the man had disappeared.

Now she only saw shadows and pine branches swaying gently in the mountain breeze, creating patterns that could trick the eye into seeing movement where none existed.

Jason squinted. “I don’t see anyone.”

Olive pressed closer to the glass, scanning every shadow, every gap between trees where a person could hide.

But there was nothing.

No hooded figure. No sign anyone had ever been standing there at all.

Her hands fisted at her sides.

“He was right there,” she insisted, though doubt had crept into her voice. “I saw him clearly. He was watching the lodge.”

Jason’s hand covered her shoulder, warm and reassuring. “These mountains can play tricks on your eyes, especially at night. Shadows, wind through the trees?—”

“I know what I saw.” But even as she said the words, Olive found herself questioning her own perception.

The stress of the case, the unsettling dinner conversation, the awkwardness of their sleeping arrangements—maybe her mind was creating threats where none existed.

But the feeling of being watched and of being studied by unseen eyes lingered like a chill that had seeped into her bones.

The two of them stood at the window for several more minutes, both scanning the darkness for any sign of movement.

The forest remained still, innocent, revealing nothing of its secrets.

“We should get some sleep,” Jason finally said.

Olive nodded reluctantly, though every instinct screamed at her to keep watching, to stay alert for whatever was lurking in the darkness beyond the glass.