Page 13

13

Diem

W ithout a proper office space, I didn’t know where to go. The B&B from hell was out of the question. With the new information, Tallus and I weren’t going anywhere soon, so we would need to collect our things and make arrangements to stay at a different location before nightfall. At some point, I would need to call Delaney and update her on the situation, but until I knew what that situation was exactly, she could wait.

“Where are we going?” Tallus asked as I weaved aimlessly along side streets, using the time to think.

“I don’t know.”

“We need to talk to Loyal.”

“I agree, but we have no idea where he fucked off to, and until I can do some research and discover where he lives, we have no direction.” I stopped at a stop sign and studied my options. Left or right? “Do you have the area marked where they pulled the kid from the river?”

“I do.” Tallus dug his phone from a pocket and pulled up Maps. “Head north.”

I followed his instructions until the main body of town vanished behind us, and we landed on the outskirts. On the left, the tree-lined street held the odd wartime-style house in poor repair. The larger properties did not equate to wealth, and the vast majority of the extra space showed rundown sheds, collapsing fences, and randomly parked rusty trailers.

The Ganaraska River followed the road on our right. In the distance, across the water, the town’s more affluent population lived in multilevel modern houses with tiered verandas, groomed lawns, and expensive amenities.

Soon, thick tree cover blocked my view as we moved into a forested area and veered away from the river’s edge. “Are we close?”

“Kind of. Park here if you can. We’ll have to walk into the trees, but it’s not far now.”

I pulled over onto the wide shoulder and put the Jeep in Park, glancing into the rearview mirror. Traffic was nonexistent so far out of town. This road in particular had not been salted, and the temperature outside still hovered near freezing. With the heavy cloud cover and limited sunshine, it wasn’t melting either.

The back end of what appeared to be a trailer park sat in the distance on the opposite side of the road. Chances were, the Jeep would be fine, provided some idiot with a lead foot didn’t weave around the corner too fast and skid, crashing into her.

I let Tallus lead the way. The frozen grass crunched underfoot until we found protection within the trees. The ground turned mucky, littered with fall’s rotting foliage.

Tallus stepped carefully around slicker parts, moving slowly. “These shoes are going to be ruined. What are the chances we can write them off? Make Delaney pay for new ones.” He glanced back with a hopeful expression.

“That’s not how it works.”

“It should be how it works.”

The rush of the river sounded in the distance, and I sensed its violence long before we came upon it. When we did, it was at an awful location. A steep drop of fifteen or more feet ended at the racing current below. Slabs of sharp rocks poked out of the water’s surface. The spray and gathering froth was like an angry pit bull baring its teeth and spitting its rage. I couldn’t tell how deep the water was but had a hunch it wouldn’t matter. Whether four feet or over my head, a person would be no match against such a brutal rush.

I snagged the back of Tallus’s jacket when he moved too close to the edge to peek over. “Christ. Do you have a death wish? You can hardly stay upright on flat ground with those shoes on. You want to risk slippery mud and a fucking drop-off?”

“I was just looking. We’re on the wrong side.” He pointed to a spot in the distance. “I can see the trail Delaney told us about. The story talked about that path, remember? If there’s any truth behind it, Weston was over there.”

I glanced in both directions, but the river stretched wide in this area, an angry thirty or more yards, and I didn’t see a bridge or any means of crossing nearby. We could have been close to where the kid had gone into the water, but I doubted this was where he was found. The current was too strong, and the path Tallus indicated was at the peak of a similar embankment, meaning the dog walker would have needed to scale down the steep side to reach Weston, and that didn’t seem possible.

We returned to the Jeep, and I drove back into town, taking the first bridge that crossed the Ganaraska, then turned north, returning to the location opposite where we’d been. The scenery on this side of the river was vastly different. No run-down houses. No trailer park. No rusted-out vehicles abandoned beside dilapidated sheds.

Before long, we discovered a sign marking the head of a public trail, along with a gravel parking area wide enough to accommodate three vehicles. The spots were nestled against the tree line, blocking our view of the river.

The Jeep had no company that morning. We were the only ones stupid enough to hike after an ice storm.

Tallus had spent the drive using a tissue to wipe muck off his loafers, grumbling about ruined leather and having to visit some guy named Antoine, who was supposedly a fuck friend of Memphis’s. I didn’t pay attention. He was wasting his time trying to salvage his shoes, considering where we were headed. I told him as much, and he whimpered when we landed at the trailhead and were met by a flooded, mucky path only partly iced over.

“Noooo. Guns, I can’t. I liked these shoes, and they won’t survive.”

“Then wait in the Jeep.”

“But I want to come.”

“Then come.”

“But my shoes.”

My chest rumbled. “It’s a sacrifice, Tallus. Buy new ones when we get home.”

“I can’t afford new ones.”

When I didn’t respond because I hated fighting in circles, he huffed. “That’s it? That’s all you’ve got?”

Confused, I nodded and shrugged. “What the fuck do you want me to say?”

“Guns, as my boyfriend, it is your job to coddle me when I’m having emotions.”

I blinked and stared, my confusion deepening.

“I’m having emotions,” he clarified, tapping his chest. “My heart hurts. I’m sad. This is a sad face.” He exaggerated the pout, circling the expression with a finger.

“Because of shoes?”

“Yes. Hug me. Tell me everything is going to be okay. Tell me the Versace at Sylvester Robbs will be ninety percent off when I get home because thirteen hundred dollars is not in my budget, and I want to be an investigator, so I can’t stay behind.”

“I… I don’t know what Versace is, but if it’s shoes, that’s way too much money. You can get at least ten pairs at Walmart for that price.”

“Not the right answer, Guns.”

Shifting my weight, I glanced along the path, searching for the right answer. What the fuck was the right answer? Hug him? That’s what he said. “I… don’t hug. It’s not a… thing I do… very well… or often.”

“Diem Krause, that is a pre-dating excuse. It will not fly. We are boyfriends now and hugging was in the contract. Hug me, goddammit. Coddle my emotions.” If the ground hadn’t been treacherous, I was certain he’d have stamped a foot.

I snarled—it was expected under the circumstances—and reached out mechanically to pat the top of his head. “There, there.”

Tallus’s brow rose to his hairline, and any attempt at pouting vanished as he gawped. “I seriously hope you’re joking right now. You did not just pat me on the head.”

I couldn’t withhold the smile, and Tallus pointed at my face. “Ha! I knew it. You’re getting dangerously good at that comedy thing. I’d almost think you grew a sense of humor in the last six weeks. Now hug me for real.”

Floundering and feeling ten kinds of awkward, I drew Tallus against my chest. We’d practiced this plenty in the past six weeks. Tallus was a hugger.

He sighed and wrapped his arms around me.

I rested my chin on his head and closed my eyes, rocking us gently side to side. “Like this?” I asked.

“Exactly like this. You’re improving. Way less mechanical than the first time.” He buried his nose in my chest. “And you are so warm I want to crawl inside your shirt and nest in your chest hair.”

I chuckled, and Tallus squeezed me tighter. “It’s good, D.”

It was good, and every time we connected like this, it was easier, too. “Delaney has offered a serious bonus if we uncover something nefarious about Weston’s accident. The woman is loaded. A bonus could make a big difference. We might be able to replace those shoes.”

Tallus glanced up with a smile, hazel eyes outlined by dark-framed glasses. “Then let’s crack-a-lack this one wide open because you know something fishy is going on.”

He rose to his toes and pecked a kiss on my lips. I wanted to tell him the truth about the business’s financial situation. How shoes were the least of my concern. He didn’t know about the accumulating unpaid bills and threats of eviction. I’d danced around it for months, hinting here and there, but I’d never sat him down and had a serious talk. I wasn’t a talker. Losing the business was hard enough to process on my own, but telling Tallus his training might be for naught would break his heart. He wanted to be an investigator, and I’d promised him partnership. At this rate, I feared I wouldn’t have a place to live, let alone a company anymore.

We followed the trail. Under the protection of the forest’s canopy, it was more mud than ice. A short way in, the path joined the river, running parallel along its length. The embankment on this side was the same: a steep, perilous drop to the dangerous rushing water below. Delaney had mentioned the kids like to snowmobile along the trail in the winter, but with its proximity to the drop-off, I wouldn’t have taken the risk. But kids were stupid.

I searched the embankment for the skid marks that the police had discovered showing where the teen had fallen and tried to save himself. It had been over a week, so the likelihood of anything still being visible was slim, especially since we’d had snow and an ice storm in the interim. I looked for cigarette butts, empty pop cans or beer bottles, and other litter that might have been recently left behind by teenagers.

“I don’t get it. Why would Weston have been out here?” Tallus wondered out loud.

It was a question I’d been pondering for some time. I couldn’t see a viable reason. The location was outside of town. If he planned to attend his newspaper meeting, then why take a random hike here when the school was in the opposite direction. Weston and Londyn had supposedly been at the library, which was nowhere near the trail.

Had they been at the library? Something told me no.

We walked silently for a while, examining the side of the path next to the river. The other side of the trail was dense trees, and I didn’t know what lay beyond the forest.

I paused, staring into its depths as Tallus hiked ahead.

“Hang on. Let’s go this way.” I veered off-trail, entering the thicket of trees.

“But, D, we’re getting close to where Weston was found. The rise is less steep farther up the trail, and in a hundred yards or so, we should be level with the river. The dog walker said—”

“We’ll come back to it.”

The crunch of underbrush and steady cursing told me Tallus reluctantly followed. Before long, we came to a wire fence that stood chest-high. The rotting wooden posts holding it erect stood at ten-foot intervals. The fence itself ran as far as I could see in both directions.

“Property line,” I said, assuming.

I approached a post and shook it to test its vitality. As I suspected, it moved in the ground, rattling the rusty wire fence. The tension had gone out of it long ago. In the center of two posts, I pushed the top part of the wire fencing down far enough to lift a leg to the other side. “Come on.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s trespassing, Mr. Ex-cop.”

“I don’t see a sign.”

“I don’t think we need one. The fence is a sign.”

“I thought sleuthing was your thing. I want to know what’s on the other side of these trees because Weston was out here for some reason, and we both agree he encountered trouble. So, I’m going to take a walk on this here private property and have myself a look around. Don’t like it, wait here.”

“Dammit. You know I love a good sleuthing party.” Tallus glanced at the surrounding forest and must have decided my logic was sound.

I held the wire fence as low as possible and encouraged him to join me on the other side.

He did, but not without a full-on bitchfest about how if he caught his pants on a wire and ripped them, I was going to pay. I had a feeling he wasn’t talking financially this time, but because indulging Tallus in conversation about clothes left me bored and confused, I didn’t ask him to elaborate.

We weaved through the trees as the howling wind rattled the branches overhead. Despite being somewhat protected, cold air bit at my cheeks. I checked on my underdressed boyfriend, who trudged ten feet behind, cursing the mud and the cold and the air and the forest itself. When he called Mother Nature a menopausal bitch because we weren’t supposed to have ice and snow in November, I smiled. I learned something new about Tallus every day, and this most recent case had taught me he was not a fan of the outdoors—or hiking.

Tallus seemed to be going out of his way to keep his teeth from chattering. The tips of his ears were bright pink, and he hunched against the cold, looking ten kinds of miserable as he trailed after me.

“The weather’s changing,” I said, glimpsing the slate gray sky through the dense branches overhead. The soft patter of rain sounded a moment later, and Tallus cursed.

“Can we turn around before we end up soaked? I’m freezing as it is, and I didn’t sign up for a nature walk.”

“You’re not dressed properly.”

“Beating a dead horse, Diem. I know. When I packed for this excursion, I didn’t think we would be crawling through a muddy forest in the freezing rain. Can we please turn back? What are we expecting to find anyhow?”

He was right. I didn’t have a clue.

As I was about to give in, I spotted what appeared to be a building in the distance. I squinted. It was most definitely a structure of some kind. The log siding had nearly escaped my notice since it was the same color as its surroundings and covered in a tangle of vines on the side facing us.

“In a second,” I said, marching toward it at a faster clip.

In my single-minded focus, I didn’t realize Tallus wasn’t behind me. When I got within twenty yards of the cabin, the cocking of a gun drew me up short.