Page 19 of Present Danger (Rocky Mountain Courage 1)

“According to the data, he had parked at the Maverick Trailhead on the night of his murder.”

“And you don’t think he was meeting someone to sell them insurance.”

“No.”

“What exactly do you need from me?”

“I’d like you to accompany me up that trail and search for ... anomalies.” He shrugged. “I wouldn’t ask, Terra, but evidence disappears quickly in the elements. And ... frankly, I don’t like Case, so I’m asking you.”

His cheek hitched. Had he winked too? His dimpled grin and that wink still affected her, even now.

She couldn’t help but return the smile. Jack had spent enough time in the woods, climbing mountains. He knew his way around too. But she wouldn’t remind him. He’d invited her to the party, to join the investigation. She didn’t care about the reasons, after all. “I’ll meet you there at the trailhead at sunrise.”

“Good.” He lingered as if he had something else to say, but she knew he’d come to deliver the only news he had.

In person.

To be fair, she hadn’t answered her phone. She held his gaze.

“Thanks for driving all the way out here, Jack.” Big Rapids, the Grayback county seat, was about twenty-five minutes away, and Jack’s aunt’s house was just outside of town. But as a county deputy, he was accustomed to covering a large area.

Was it her imagination, or was he going out of his way to keep her close? So he could somehow make up for the past? Oh, come on, Terra, you are reaching with that one.

“I’m impressed that you learned this information so quickly.” Maybe she shouldn’t ask, but she couldn’t stop herself. “Would you like to come in for some coffee before you head back?”

He seemed as surprised at her invitation as she was. “What about pie? Did you make a pie?”

A laugh burst from her. “Sorry, we’re fresh out.”

His shoulders sagged in exaggerated disappointment as he scraped his palm across the lower half of his face.

His warm smile brought back good memories. “Thanks, but I have to get home and check on my aunt, plus I really don’t want to be the subject of your grandfather’s interrogation. If you had pie, then I might risk it.”

That elicited another smile from her. “Fair enough. Good night then.”

He had worked some kind of magic to show up here and lift her spirits, make her feel warm inside.

She watched him head to his unmarked county SUV. Lingering as he drove off, she thought through their conversation while she attempted to ignore the way he made her heart pound.

Terra stayed to watch the bright pink sunset behind the mountain’s silhouette.

And over by the stables near the corral, she caught Owen standing next to a horse, watching.

Later that evening, Terra lay in bed in her old bedroom. Gramps had left it the same even after she’d officially moved out. She couldn’t shut her mind down enough to sleep, so she stared at the ceiling. The day’s events swirled in her thoughts. Too much information coalesced in her mind. She was the only agent for her region and was actively working twelve cases, including timber theft and assault on one of their ranger station volunteers. The job of forest service law enforcement included protecting the natural resources—water and soil—as well as the cultural aspects. Her investigations helped to enforce and prosecute those committing acts against the forest. And they could assist the county sheriff’s department in searching for a suspect.

Finding a killer could unfortunately take months rather than days.

Would she and Jack be working together on this investigation in six months? Could she continue to work with him and not think about what they’d had before?

Both she and Jack had attended Montana State. She knew she would go into the forest service in some capacity to follow in her mother’s footsteps, so she got her degree in natural resource management with an archaeology minor, her goal to somehow live up to her mother’s legacy.

Strange to think that she hoped to live up to her mother’s legacy when Jack strove to prove he was nothing like his father. He had nothing to prove, if you asked her, but he hadn’t asked her.

Instead, he’d left town.

The week after they graduated college, Terra had sensed that Jack was anxious. She thought he was as in love with her as she was with him. She’d let herself hope for a proposal since they had often talked about a future together. But Jack had also dreamed of joining the FBI. Terra just didn’t realize how their dreams could end up so diametrically opposed.

Jack had left a letter explaining that she deserved better than him.

His words scraped across her heart now.

“I love you enough to let you go.”

The ceiling blurred as the memory took over—her heart crushing again at the news Nadine had delivered.

“I’m so sorry, Terra. He’s gone. He packed up his things earlier today and left.”