Page 36 of Out of Time (Undaunted Courage #3)

TWENTY

“OH MY. THIS IS BECOMING QUITE ... JUICY.”

As Natalie paused in her translating on Tuesday morning, Cara looked up from her keyboard. “More about MSL?”

“Yes.”

“He’s taking up an increasing amount of space in her journal, isn’t he?”

“Indeed he is. Let’s see ... this entry is how long past the first mention of him?”

Cara scrolled back until she found the original reference. “Three months.”

“I think they’ve progressed beyond the conversation phase.” Natalie adjusted her glasses and began translating again.

MSL is back! It feels as if he’s been gone for years instead of weeks. Oh, how I live for the hours we can be together, limited though they are.

We met in the usual spot tonight. He brought wine and I brought a picnic. From our perch up there, the moon was full and bright, the night so warm and clear. Somehow we forgot about the food.

I know what happened next was wrong. All of our meetings have been wrong, of course, but this was very wrong. Still, I love him with all my heart, and I want him to know that. This seemed the best way to demonstrate the depth of my feelings.

The stolen hours we shared have only made me want more, and God forgive me, I hope he feels the same. That someday he’ll realize we were meant to be together. I know it’s wicked of me to wish for that, and unfair to the others involved, but I can’t help hoping my dreams will come true.

Cara stopped typing as Natalie finished. “I think your take is spot-on. They’ve moved past talking.”

“And this entry does line up with the story Paul told me. But we may never know for sure if she doesn’t reveal his name or offer any clues about his identity.”

“She might, later on.” Cara tapped a finger against the keyboard. “I wonder if her reference to a ‘perch up there’ could mean the clifftop here on the property?’”

“I’d say that’s a distinct possibility, since she also fell from there. Especially if this man was involved in that incident.”

“You know ... we could always skip ahead and read the final entries. They may answer our questions.”

Natalie waved that suggestion aside. “I can wait. I like watching the story unfold in order. Besides, patience is a virtue.”

“Not one of mine, sad to say.”

“Nor the sheriff’s. He called me yesterday to ask again if I’d be willing to put security cameras along the path to the lake.

I’m as anxious as he is to catch whoever is trespassing in light of their possible connection to Micah’s death, but unless we put in a dozen cameras, it seems like an exercise in futility.

We’re not even certain if the lights you’ve been seeing were on the path or in the woods. ”

It was hard to argue with that.

But if Brad was pushing for cameras, the suggestion had merit. He wasn’t the type to waste time or money on efforts that hadn’t much chance of producing results.

“I wonder if it would be worth putting in one or two as a test? See if any motion-detection alerts come through.”

“That’s a given, thanks to all the animals on the property.

The deer alone would keep anyone monitoring the cameras busy.

I did talk to Steven about this, and he’s skeptical they would produce much beyond wildlife too.

But I haven’t taken the idea off the table.

If you continue to see lights, I may revisit the decision. Shall we get back to the journal?”

And that was the end of that discussion for today.

Natalie continued translating for another forty minutes, ending their session promptly at eleven o’clock.

“Brad’s housekeeper is coming by at noon today to talk with me about taking over for Lydia. Cross your fingers it works out.” Natalie closed Marie’s journal.

She already knew about that, thanks to Brad.

But true to his word, when he’d passed on her name to Natalie, he’d simply said that he’d heard about Lydia’s departure from someone in town.

Which he had— after their discussion. Apparently, there was a server at the local diner who knew everything there was to know in town.

“If Brad likes her, I bet you will too.” Cara shut down her laptop.

“He does appear to be an excellent judge of character.” Winking, Natalie grasped her cane and stood.

Cara let that pass as Natalie walked the journal back to the desk. “You can tell me all about her tonight at dinner.”

“I’ll do that. I hope you have a productive afternoon.”

After gathering up her tablet and pen, Cara headed back to the cottage.

The weather had turned a tad chilly, and she picked up her pace down the path. Fall was settling in, air crisp, sky deep blue, leaves brilliant shades of yellow and russet, light golden. Such a perfect autumn day.

It was hard to believe any dark currents could be rippling under the placid surface of such an idyllic setting.

Yet strange happenings had been occurring since the day she arrived. Dizzy spells, a house fire, lights in the woods, the theft of a valuable stamp, a suspicious death. Not to mention the mystery of Marie, with its ominous overtones, which predated all of the current incidents.

Was it possible this place was jinxed?

She rolled her eyes.

No, of course not. That was ridiculous.

Nevertheless, all of the weird goings-on were more than a little perturbing.

So despite how much she enjoyed working with Natalie .

.. despite her stimulating research and writing .

.. she wouldn’t mind if they wrapped up the translation sooner than scheduled.

Then she could return to her safe, cozy condo back in Cape, where the scariest thing that ever happened was an occasional tornado warning that sent her scurrying to the basement to wait out storms far more predictable than the tempest churning below the surface here.

NOT AGAIN.

Biting back a word he never said, Brad punched the end button on his cell and dropped into his desk chair.

With the early flu wave sweeping through the department and decimating the ranks, he’d have to fill in and take on a patrol shift tomorrow night instead of enjoying his long-awaited dinner with Cara.

At this rate, she was going to think he didn’t want to see her.

But he couldn’t conjure up extra deputies out of thin air.

Heaving a sigh, he called her number.

She answered on the first ring. “Good morning. Or should I say afternoon, now that it’s a few minutes past noon?” She sounded cheery and upbeat.

Not for long.

“It’s afternoon—but either way, it’s not good.”

“Uh-oh.” Her inflection deflated. “Why do I think I’m about to get bad news?”

“Because you’re a smart, intuitive woman.”

“Our date is off again, right?”

“Yes, and I’m totally bummed. But I’ve got three deputies out with the flu, and we’re a small operation.

There’s only so much juggling I can do with the schedule unless I give people back-to-back shifts, and that’s a last resort.

I don’t like having deputies on duty who are sleep-deprived.

I’m going to have to run a patrol shift tonight. ”

“Dang.”

“Ditto.”

A sigh came over the line. “I can’t tell you how disappointed I am—but I do understand. Do you want to reschedule?”

“Absolutely. Are you free tomorrow night? I can finagle the schedule to make that work.” If he put in a double shift himself and made do with a quick nap before their date. But it would be worth a bout of exhaustion to have two or three uninterrupted off-duty hours with Cara.

“I wish I could, but I’m going back to Cape tomorrow afternoon. One of my doctoral students hit a glitch on his dissertation, and I offered to take a brief hiatus from my sabbatical and meet with him early Friday morning.”

That figured.

But how could he complain, when his own job had messed with their plans twice?

“I get it. Duty calls.”

“Can we pick a day next week?”

“Why don’t I call you Sunday after I see how the department flu epidemic shakes out? I don’t want to have to cancel a third time, or you might write me off.”

“Not happening.”

“Good to know.” He leaned back in his chair. “Any more moving lights in the woods?”

“No. I check periodically at night now that I’m alerted to it, but everything’s been quiet. Natalie told me you tried again to convince her to install cameras.”

“I did. She wasn’t ready to commit.”

“That’s what I heard. She seems convinced the only alerts you’d get would be from wandering deer.”

“She could be right. All the same, I think it’s worth a try. If Micah hadn’t turned up dead, I wouldn’t be as concerned, but I sense there’s a connection between the two.”

“She said if I saw any more lights, she’d rethink her decision.”

“That’s something, I guess.” Rod appeared in his doorway, and he tipped his chair upright. “I have a visitor. Expect a call Sunday.”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

As he ended the call, Brad motioned Rod in. “What’s up?”

“I got the tox screen back on Micah Reeves.”

“That was much quicker than usual.”

“Must have been a slow week at the lab. Either that, or they got tired of me bugging them. This case has been on my mind.”

“That makes two of us. What did you get?”

“Nothing. Screen was clean as a whistle.”

Not unexpected, but it would have helped if the findings had offered even a tiny clue.

“I can’t say I’m surprised in light of what I’ve learned about him.”

Rod stuck his hands in his pockets. “I’m not coming up with grounds to rule this as anything but accidental, Brad—other than the unidentified vomit. Without a suspect to test for a match, though, that doesn’t help us.”

“I hear you. But there are a few other loose ends I’m trying to tie up that came to light during the investigation. Can you hold off on the final report for another couple of weeks?”

“Sure. You have any real leads, or are you going on instinct?”

May as well be honest.

“No leads in the sense you mean, but there are pieces of the puzzle that don’t fit. My gut tells me that all it will take to connect the dots is one solid clue. However, if that doesn’t surface soon, I’ll have to let this go.”