Cold Pursuit

Six

Fighting tears, Nora set her backpack on the gray-painted wood floor of the small porch of the stone guesthouse she’d moved into after she’d quit college. She’d wanted to rent her own apartment-to really be independent-but when Lowell and Vivian Whittaker, the couple who owned the guesthouse, offered to let her live there in exchange for odd jobs, her parents had bullied her into agreeing. The Whittakers were closer friends with Alex and her mom than with her dad, but he’d jumped right in with them. They’d all provided practical reasons why living in the guesthouse made sense, but she knew they just didn’t think she could make it on her own. But the guesthouse was working out okay. It was cute, and the Whittakers weren’t in Black Falls that much and mostly left her alone.

Nora didn’t care about any of that right now. She held a breath to keep herself from crying.

Alex is dead.

“Don’t think about it,” she told herself out loud.

She noticed a tear had dropped onto the checklist Elijah had insisted each student in his wilderness-skills class come up with of what to take on a winter hike. She had everything on her list. Map, compass, food, shelter, knife, matches, clothes, a whistle, water, water-purification tablets. A lot of the stuff was new and it was all good quality.

You’ll be fine.

She squatted to zip up a small outer compartment on her backpack. Her head spun. She couldn’t make it stop. “Alex is dead,” she whispered. “I can’t believe he’s dead.”

She was so scared. She couldn’t see straight. She didn’t know what to do.

Her hands trembled and already felt frozen, but she wasn’t even that cold yet. She had packed gloves-she’d shown them to Elijah to make sure they would work for winter conditions, and he’d given his approval. He wasn’t as cocky as she’d expected a Special Forces soldier to be. He was just super-competent and professional. Everyone in Black Falls that she met said no one knew the mountains better than Elijah.

Nora wished she could be that confident-that good-one day.

She sniffled, refusing to cry outright. She’d been so excited about moving to Black Falls, and now her life there was just a big mess. She loved her apartment, and the Whittakers’ estate-a classic Vermont gentleman’s farm-was so beautiful. The guesthouse, once a separate property, was nestled at the bottom of a sloping, manicured lawn that swept up to a huge charcoal-gray, black-shuttered farmhouse.

Nora hadn’t told the Whittakers, who’d arrived in Black Falls a couple of days ago, about Alex. She didn’t plan to tell them, either. Alex had met them on a trip to Vermont last October. He’d been a regular guest at the Camerons’ lodge for several years and came up one weekend while her mom was on a business trip. He and the Whittakers had hit it off, and they’d invited him to stay with them and to bring his fiancée and her daughter. Nora fell in love with Black Falls. She came up twice after that with Alex and her mother. Then the Whittakers insisted she bring her father one weekend. Just the two of them. He was reluctant at first, but Nora talked him into it. They’d had such a great time together. She’d fantasized about all of them coming to Vermont one day-her, her dad, her mom, Alex. She thought Lowell and Vivian understood.

If only, though, she hadn’t told them she and her father were heading north in April to look at colleges. They’d immediately invited them to stay at their place in Black Falls. If they hadn’t-if they’d just stayed in another town-he never would have met Melanie Kendall.

It’s my fault he met that bitch.

“Nora.”

She jumped, but stifled a scream when she saw it was Devin on the stone walk in front of the guesthouse. She straightened, sniffled back her tears. “Devin, what are you doing here? You startled me.”

“Sorry.” He looked almost forlorn. “I just want to talk.”

“There’s nothing to talk about. Really.”

A pair of mallards floated in a small man-made pond behind him. The banks of the pond were planted with weeping willows and rhododendrons. Everything about the estate was beautifully done, carefully planned. As much as she wanted her own apartment, Nora loved being there, having her own space and being surrounded by wilderness. She’d hated living in a dorm.

Devin nodded to her pack. “Are you going somewhere?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. I wanted to see how all the stuff I’ve been collecting since the class I took with Elijah would fit into my backpack.”

“Looks heavy.”

“I can manage.”

“Nora, what’s going on?”

There was no irritation or frustration in his tone. Obviously he didn’t know about Alex, and she couldn’t bring herself to repeat out loud what her father had told her.

“I have terrible news, Nora. Alex has been killed…”

It wasn’t a mistake. Her dad wouldn’t have called her unless he was positive.

Alex was dead.

My mom’s a widow.

Devin took an audible breath. “Nora…please. Talk to me.”

She wanted to believe in him. Until that morning, she had. She’d never met anyone steadier or more reliable than Devin. People in Black Falls didn’t understand that about him. They thought he was just a dumb, screwed-up kid from a bad family.

Nora didn’t want to be the one to prove them right.

She let her pack lean against her knee. “You stole money from me, Devin.”

He didn’t respond. He looked hurt, and that made her want to cry even more.

“If you needed money, you could have asked me.” All the starch had gone out of her. “I’d never refuse you. Even if I don’t have much to spare-”

“I didn’t steal from you.”

Even now, reeling, frightened, confused, Nora wanted to find a way it couldn’t have been him. Devin was her best friend in Black Falls. He understood how she felt about her father’s odious fiancée and didn’t tell her she was just jealous. Something was off about Melanie. Nora couldn’t pinpoint what it was, but she didn’t like her, didn’t trust her and was convinced the feeling was mutual on Melanie’s part. She’d gotten Devin to help her. They’d essentially been doing their own background check on Melanie-something Nora’s father probably should have done himself.

“Nora, are you running from me?”

She shook her head. “I don’t care about the money.” Her voice was hoarse, barely a whisper. She gave a fake little smile. “I just need some space to clear my head.”

She hoisted up her pack. It was expensive and brand-new-it even smelled new. Her mother had actually loved the idea of her taking a wilderness-skills class and told Nora to put the backpack on her credit card. Elijah had a simple beat-up pack he’d had for years. He’d probably taken it on hundreds of hikes. It wasn’t an army-issue pack-Nora knew that much. They’d all talked behind his back in class about what he must have done as a soldier. Supposedly he could speak the different languages of Afghanistan and knew the culture, the people, as well as how to handle himself in a firefight.

Elijah’s class had consisted of her and six other students just as green and eager and stupid as she was. She was the youngest, though. That had made her feel a little less self-conscious. The women in the class all thought Elijah was sexy. Nora did, too, but thinking that way made her feel disloyal to Devin, even if they were just friends. Elijah was a total stud and very serious about the information he was giving, but it was so obvious to Nora that she and her classmates were nothing like the soldiers he was used to in the military. But he was so thorough, and that was a good thing. Otherwise she’d have tossed a sundress or something equally useless into her pack, because she was so crazed she couldn’t think.

“Nora,” Devin said, his voice tortured. “Come on-”

“I have to go.”

She shivered as if she were already on Cameron Mountain. She’d left her cell phone in the kitchen because it was a way for someone to track her.

And she didn’t want to be tracked. Every instinct she had told her to get up on the mountain and disappear, even if it violated the basic tenets of safe hiking. Don’t hike alone. Leave her route with someone. Tell someone how long she expected to be gone. Nora didn’t care. She didn’t want anyone to find her unless she wanted to be found-unless she knew exactly who was looking for her and why. She’d been planning this trip for days. She’d meant to ask Devin to go with her-but forget that now. She wanted to get away from everyone.

Devin took another step toward her. “Did your dad find out you were snooping into Melanie’s background?”

“No, I don’t think so. And I’m not that concerned if he does. He should have checked her out himself. He’s too trusting.”

“Are they on their way up here? Is that why you’re doing this?”

“No, they’re not on their way. Devin, please.” Her head was still spinning, and she didn’t want to start crying in front of him. “I just-Devin, the money…” She hadn’t wanted to get into it with him. He’d come to the café knowing something was wrong, and she’d refused to talk to him. She blinked back tears now and hoisted her pack onto one shoulder. Devin was right-it was heavy. “I’m missing a hundred dollars,” she said.

“And you think I stole it?”

She looked away.

“Was it in your wallet?”

“My kitchen.” She nodded back toward the front door of the guesthouse. It was divided into two side-by-side apartments-she’d had her pick and chosen the one with the better view of the pond and surrounding hills, so gorgeous when the leaves were turning. She’d never been afraid there. Not once, until today. “I keep a hundred dollars in cash for emergencies, and it’s gone.”

“Where? A drawer, the freezer?”

“Under a pot of parsley in the window. I check it every morning. I checked it yesterday morning, and it was there. I checked it this morning, and it was gone.”

“There’s no sign anyone broke in?”

“No. I worked late yesterday, then went on a bike ride.”

“You don’t lock your doors,” Devin said. “Anyone could have walked in.”

“I don’t want to discuss it.”

She marched down the steps with her backpack and brushed past him, her throat tight, tears spilling down her cheeks. Her mother had probably called by now. Nora had turned off her cell phone. She didn’t want to talk to her. She couldn’t bear her mother’s grief-couldn’t handle having her mother dump on her to make herself feel better. Nora had talked to a friend whose father was a psychologist, and her friend had said that was what her mother did.

It still seemed selfish and wrong not to talk to her mother when her husband had just been killed. She and Alex had truly loved each other.

Nora continued down the stone path toward the gravel turnaround where she’d parked. The main entrance to the estate was a quarter-mile up the road. The air was chilly, but she had all the right clothes. She was a little afraid of staying up on the mountain at night this time of year. Elijah had lectured the class about the dangers of hypothermia.

That was how his father had died in April, right before her father fell for the bitch Melanie over scones at the Three Sisters Café.

Nora heard Devin behind her. Part of her wanted to run up to the Whittakers and let them take care of her.

Maybe Alex was right and she was just a wimp.

Of course, he hadn’t said “wimp.” He was the big diplomat, after all. He’d just had a talk with her about accepting herself, understanding her limitations, pushing herself in areas where she could excel instead of setting herself up for failure.

In other words, she was a wimp.

She’d never liked him that much. Even when he and her dad were friends-before he’d married her mom-she’d thought he was a jerk. When she’d mentioned her class with Elijah, Alex had laughed and said he’d like to see her down at the local army recruiting office. Normally she’d have laughed, too, and pretended she wasn’t hurt, but instead she’d summoned up the guts to tell him he was making fun of her and she didn’t appreciate it. He’d gotten this shocked look and said he just meant to tease her, not to demean her. He’d seemed so genuine, so serious, that for about two seconds Nora had believed he wanted a real relationship with her, one that meant something.

Now he was dead.

Murdered…

She wondered if her father was as upset by Alex’s death as her mother was. Everyone had thought her dad would hate Alex, but he didn’t.

No one would think about how she felt. The in-the-way stepdaughter.

It was all so surreal.

She picked up her pace, already debating whether she needed everything in her pack. It was so heavy. She felt a sudden, blinding anger toward her father for telling her about Alex the way he had, calling her on her cell phone, just blurting out that he was dead. Deep down, though, she knew there was no easy way to give someone such news. She could imagine how awful it must have been for Devin when he’d found Drew Cameron. He’d hiked up the north side of the mountain alone and had been forced to leave Drew’s body up there in the snow while he hiked down again, got back to his truck and drove out to where he could get a cell signal and call for help. At least he hadn’t actually been the one to give the Camerons the terrible news. The state police had done that part. And Drew Cameron’s death had been an accident. As much as she didn’t like Alex, it sickened Nora to think that someone could have run him over on purpose.

My dad, for one.

“No!”

Devin rushed to her side, and she realized she’d screamed. “I’m okay,” she said quickly, not looking at him. How could she even think such a thing? Her father could never kill anyone. That he could fall for a woman as horrible as Melanie didn’t mean he was capable of running over the friend who’d stolen his first wife from him.

Her father loved Melanie, and that gave him even less reason to kill Alex.

Her dad couldn’t possibly be a suspect.

“You’re freaking me out,” Devin said.

Nora pushed ahead of him out to the gravel turnaround. “Sorry. I have a lot on my mind.”

“Did something else happen, besides realizing your money’s missing? Did Melanie find out we’re checking her out?”

“No, nothing like that.”

Melanie already knows I hate her. She knows.

Nora set her pack down next to the car Alex had bought for her against her father’s wishes. It was a used Subaru; it wasn’t as if he’d given her a brand-new, expensive car. As irritating and demeaning as he could be, Alex hadn’t wanted her riding her bicycle on the hills and narrow roads of Black Falls, or hitchhiking, or relying on friends. In his own way, he’d tried to help her, even if his primary purpose was to keep her from bugging him. He would tell her that he worked so hard because he was dedicated to making the world a better place. How could she complain about him not coming to her high-school graduation ceremony when he was off saving the world?

She was aware of Devin watching her, but refused to look back at him. If she could have sprouted wings and flown away, she would have.

With a steadier hand, she opened up the front passenger door. She cried openly now, picturing Alex running across a busy Washington street, oblivious to the car coming at him, unaware that he was in the last moments of his life. He’d have been wearing a suit-he always wore suits in Washington. He’d have had his briefcase with him. Had he held on to it, or had it gone flying?

What had gone through his mind? Had he thought about his wife, his ex-wife, his children?

Had he thought about his stepdaughter up in Vermont?

Had he thought about anything?

Nora hefted her backpack onto the seat and shut the door hard. She knew she couldn’t bring herself to tell Devin about Alex. She just couldn’t do it.

She turned to him and said softly, “I know you’re not a thief. I’ll be okay. We both will.”

“Stay, Nora. Don’t do this.”

“Just find out what you can about Melanie. Clients, travels-especially since April when she met my father.”

Melanie had been in Black Falls when Drew Cameron went missing. Now Alex was dead in Washington.

She was bad luck.

“I’ll do what I can,” Devin said. “Where will I find you?”

Nora pretended not to hear him and got into her car. She’d drive out to Black Falls Lodge and park at a trailhead. She had a good map and, even with the short days, she still had several hours of daylight to hike before she had to worry about pitching her tent.

In another minute, she was backing out onto the quiet road. She had time to get a good way out into the woods, away from everyone before dark. She could think, and she wouldn’t screw anything up for anyone. She wouldn’t say something stupid, like her father had good reason to want Alex Bruni dead.

He didn’t. He and Alex were friends.

And she’d be safe on the mountain.

Safe from whoever had killed Alex, because every instinct she had told her she wasn’t safe now.

She had to trust herself.

She had to run.