Abandon

Nine

The police had released the shed as a crime scene, after finding no clear evidence that the man who’d attacked Mackenzie had been inside, although, given the open door, he must have either been inside or on his way in. She stood on the threshold, the cool evening air on her back. The wind had died down, and she could hear crickets chirping in the nearby brush. Her girls’ night out with Carine was postponed indefinitely, but it would have been a nice night for laughing and telling stories.

Rook returned her hammer to its spot among Bernadette’s tools. The police hadn’t found any obvious clues to the identity of her attacker. “I had to explain you to my chief,” Mackenzie said. Inside the shed, the air was close, smelling of dust and grease. “I told him we saw each other a few times, and I don’t know why you’re in New Hampshire. He threatened to come up here. Not because of you. Because of the attack, although I suspect it and your reasons for being here are not unrelated.”

“You talked him out of coming up?”

“Apparently, Nate did.”

“Ah.”

She crossed her arms on her chest. Even with pain medication, any abrupt move hurt. The E.R. doctor had sewn her up with a layer of absorbable stitches in the fat and a layer of regular stitches in the skin. She had to go back in twenty-four hours to get the dressing changed, and in seven to ten days to get the top sutures removed. She was prescribed antibiotics as a precaution against infection. Pain medication she could take as needed.

“Nate called, too,” she said. “Having Carine in danger again scared him. She came upon a murder scene a while back, when she and Tyler North were still deciding whether or not they were meant for each other.”

“ Tyler is her husband?”

Mackenzie nodded. “He’s a pararescueman. He’s deployed right now.” She thought a moment. “Carine hasn’t told him about today yet, but when she does, he’ll want to know every detail. I’ll probably have to explain you to him, too.”

“If it’s any consolation, I’ve had to explain myself to people around here all afternoon. You have a lot of friends in Cold Ridge.”

“How did you explain your presence?”

“I said I was here to see you.”

“Rook.”

He smiled mysteriously but didn’t elaborate. He started toward the door, and she stepped back from the threshold. He joined her on the soft, cool grass. “Maybe you should call it a night.”

“As I said, I wouldn’t be surprised if the attack on me and your reasons for being here are connected,” she said. “You’re here because of an investigation.”

He didn’t respond.

“I’ve been thinking. I was in Georgetown the night we met because of Beanie Peacham. I had a drink with her before Cal got there, then I walked around outside, and it started raining and there you were.” When she tried to latch the shed door, her head spun. “And now here you are again.”

He pulled her hands from the door. “You’re cold.”

“I guess I got used to the heat in Washington more than I realized.”

“Did the doctors want to keep you for the night?”

“Yes, but I talked them out of it. I told them I had to come back here and toast marshmallows.” She found the padlock in the grass and started to pick it up, but decided she didn’t want to risk passing out in front of Rook. “It’s a little late to be locking the shed.”

Rook swooped up the lock. “Can’t hurt, in case our guy decides to double back here.”

“Of all places,” Mackenzie said quietly. “Beanie’s philosophy is waste not, want not. She wouldn’t have had this shed built if the previous one hadn’t basically fallen apart. She hired my father to do the job.”

“Mac -”

“He was working out here alone one day. His table saw malfunctioned. The blade -” She stopped, pushing back a wave of dizziness, then resumed. “I don’t know what happened, exactly. I was eleven. I found him. I was supposed to be helping him, but I was goofing off, chasing this toad that had caught my eye.”

“You were a kid.”

“He lost an eye, parts of several fingers. He had severe internal lacerations.” She cleared her throat, staring at the shed door. “It was a mess in there, I can tell you that much. I didn’t want to leave him, but I remember thinking that if I didn’t, he would die. I ran up to the house and called the police.”

“Where was Judge Peacham?”

“She was in town. It was just my dad and me here most of the day. When I hung up after talking with the police, I didn’t want to come back down here. I thought he was dead. I didn’t want to see the blood.”

“But you did come back, didn’t you, Mac?”

She nodded. “I stayed with him until the ambulance arrived. I was so covered in blood, the paramedics initially thought I’d been injured, too.”

“That’s a tough memory to have.”

“It could be worse. At least my father lived. He had a long, painful recovery, and he’s never really worked again. But he and my mother have a good life. They’re doing a house swap with an Irish couple – they’re in Ireland right now. All’s well that ends well, right?” She smiled. “That’s one of Beanie’s favorite sayings.”

“Today ended well, Mac. The police will find this guy -”

“I don’t like the shed. I used to have nightmares that monsters lived in there.” She snatched the padlock from Rook and snapped it into place on the latch. Dusk was coming fast now, and the lake was still, mirroring the darkening sky. “I should have nailed that bastard before he got near me.”

“Do you think he intended to kill you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe, maybe not. He didn’t hurt Carine, but he didn’t have his knife with him, either.”

“Thanks to you. Carine – she was fully prepared to defend herself and her baby with a rock.”

“That’s Carine. The Winters are all like that.” Mackenzie couldn’t summon the energy even to smile. “If anything had happened to her, because of me…”

“Nothing did,” Rook said.

“You don’t recognize his description?” she asked.

“No.”

Then maybe her attacker wasn’t someone involved in whatever investigation had brought Rook to New Hampshire after all. Or Rook hadn’t identified him yet as anyone of interest. Or Rook was lying, but somehow she didn’t think he would be a good liar. “I know I’ve seen him before, but I can’t pin down where, who he is. Maybe I just saw him in line at the grocery.”

“He recognized you.”

“I haven’t been in Washington that long. More likely he knows me from here.”

“He referred to you as Deputy Stewart.”

“My career change has been a topic of conversation around town for several months. ‘The college instructor who heads off to train as a deputy marshal.’”

Rook slipped an arm over her shoulder. “You did well today, Mac.”

“I got in one good lick. Big deal.”

“You also got his knife away from him.”

“My training kicked in. If he’d attacked Carine, or if Bernadette had been up here and he’d attacked her…” But Mackenzie knew better than to spin off into what-ifs, and didn’t go further. “Next time I go swimming, I’m wearing jeans and sneakers.”

“Not as much fun as your little pink swimsuit.”

“Rook, just because I’ve got twenty stitches in my side doesn’t mean I can’t elbow you in your gut.” But she appreciated his humor and felt herself leaning against him as they headed to a trio of Adirondack chairs and Bernadette’s open fireplace. Even if he’d dumped her and was a snake, at least he could be a friend. “The police have my swimsuit and towel. They’re checking for trace evidence. Can you imagine if I have to testify in court, and they hold up my dolphin towel and slashed tankini? I’ll never live it down.”

“You never will, anyway.”

“You’re a big help.”

He grinned at her. “Welcome to law enforcement. No one will criticize you for what you did today, Mac. If I’d been caught by a knife-wielding lunatic out here in my swim trunks -”

“Ouch, Rook. I don’t need that image in my head.”

“No? What kind of swim trunks do you have me in?”

“Baggy, snot-green plaid ones that hang down to your knees.”

“Lovely.”

Except it wasn’t true. The swim trunks Mackenzie pictured him in fit him perfectly, and nothing about them – or him – was ugly. But she didn’t dwell on the image. “I’m lucky. He didn’t cut through muscle or nick any vital organs. I’ll be fine in no time. I’m a fast healer.”

“What about the next twenty-four hours?”

“I have to keep the dressing dry and I can’t do jumping jacks. Why?”

Just then Gus’s truck pulled into the driveway, sparing Rook from having to answer.

Carine jumped out of the passenger side and waved cheerfully. “We’re here for marshmallows.”

But there was something off in her voice, and Mackenzie slipped from Rook’s embrace and narrowed her gaze on him. “What’s going on?”

“I was getting to that,” Rook said. “Gus Winter and his team found their missing hiker. Your instincts were on target. Your attacker got to her first. She’d been stabbed.”

“Dead?”

Rook shook his head. “Doctors say she’ll make a full recovery. She’s lucky they found her when they did. A night out in the open wouldn’t have been good.”

Mackenzie visualized the assault knife, but forced back the image. “Her attacker fits the description of the guy who came at me?”

Rook nodded. “She said he seemed deranged.”

“A deranged hiker slashing women in the mountains.” Mackenzie bit off a sigh of frustration, her earlier dizziness gone now. “I should never have let him get away.”

“Which brings us to the next twenty-four hours.”

“What?”

“Carine and her baby are staying at her uncle’s house in town tonight. She needs time to pull herself together. You’re welcome there -”

“I’m not staying at Gus’s.”

Rook gave her a faint smile. “That’s what he said you’d say.”

“I’m staying here. Honestly, Rook. First I get knifed. Then I let the guy who knifed me get away and scare the living daylights out of my best friend. Then I have to face a million cops while I’m wearing a pink swimsuit, which is confiscated as evidence along with my dolphin towel.” She wanted to stop herself, but was on a roll now. “So don’t try to talk me out of staying here, because it won’t work.”

“You’re drugged. Once you hit a pillow, you’ll be out for the night.”

“I hope so.”

“What if this guy comes back? I’m not trying to talk you out of staying here. You have a choice.”

“What -” She snapped her mouth shut and studied Rook, noted the spark of humor in his eyes. He had killer eyes, a killer smile. “Why do I feel as if I just painted myself into a corner?”

“Because you did.”

“You’re staying here tonight?”

He smiled at her. “That’s the plan.”

All Mackenzie could think was that with Rook under the same roof, it was just as well she had twenty stitches in her side.