Cold Pursuit

Eighteen

Jo hooked Devin’s daypack on one shoulder as Kyle Rigby veered off toward the map sign. He’d parked at the lodge and walked over to the east trailhead, where Nora had left her car. As far as Jo could tell, he was killing time and just waiting for Nora to turn up on her own. He could collect his check from Thomas and go home. She’d run into him on her way back from the falls. She’d found Devin’s pack in the trees where he’d slipped, and decided to skip checking the campsite. There was no point. Nora would be on her way by now. Instead, Jo had taken the shortcut trail down from the falls. It ended in a quiet lane, where she’d discovered Devin’s truck, which explained both his and Elijah’s presence at the falls. The lane was almost a mile down the ridge road, but an easy, reasonably level walk back to the lodge.

As she approached the shop, Jo noticed Hannah Shay standing toe-to-toe with A.J. and Elijah, her arms crossed on her chest as she spoke to them in her steady, determined manner. “I’m not afraid of you Camerons,” she said. “I never have been. If you have any complaints about Devin, you can call the police and tell them. I believe in my brother.”

A.J. was impassive. “Go home, Hannah.”

She didn’t back down. “Devin isn’t obsessed with Nora Asher, and he didn’t cause your father’s death. That was a horrible tragedy, and I’m sorry. Devin actually did you all a favor by finding him.” Her control faltered slightly. “And he doesn’t steal. We grew up poor, but that didn’t turn us into criminals.”

But A.J. was just as tightly controlled as she was and looked at her in that uncompromising way he had. “Money’s missing from the café, isn’t it?”

Hannah dropped her arms to her sides. “That’s none of your business, A.J.”

“Come on,” Elijah said gently, easing in between her and his older brother. “I’ll walk you back to your car.”

“I’m perfectly capable of walking back on my own.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Prickly, Hannah.”

“I’m sorry.” She drew in a breath and spoke directly to Elijah, ignoring A.J. “I believe in my brother. Period. There’s nothing else to say.”

Elijah started to speak, but Hannah spun around and headed back toward her car.

Jo jumped in front of the Cameron brothers before either one could move. “Let me talk to her, okay?”

“I’ll be at the lodge,” A.J. said tightly. “Elijah?”

He didn’t respond immediately, then gave a curt nod and joined A.J.

Jo caught up with Hannah at the edge of the parking lot. “Hannah,” she said, “have you talked with Devin?”

“Are you asking as a friend, Jo, or are you going to show me your badge?”

“I’m sorry I was hard on you last night,” Jo said simply.

“I can take it.” But she softened slightly. “I’ve left a couple of messages on Devin’s cell phone. I don’t know if he’s gotten them. I haven’t heard from him. Elijah said he wasn’t hurt badly. That’s true, isn’t it? Elijah wouldn’t not tell me if something was seriously wrong, right?”

“Right. Devin’s not hurt badly. He has some scrapes and bruises, that’s all.” Jo frowned suddenly. “Isn’t he here?”

“He took off on Elijah.”

No wonder he and A.J. were in rotten moods. Jo asked, “When?”

“Just before I got here. Apparently Elijah had gone to get some ice. Devin hasn’t done anything wrong. A.J. and Elijah can’t just hunt him like he’s a rabid dog.”

Hannah was a gentle soul, but she was proud-and she wasn’t afraid of anyone, especially when it came to defending her two younger brothers. Jo had to admire Hannah’s belief in Devin and her grit in standing up to the Cameron brothers.

“A.J. and Elijah are still here,” Jo pointed out. “They haven’t gone after anyone.”

Hannah looked out toward the mountain. “Nora wasn’t thinking clearly yesterday, obviously, after the shock of her stepfather’s death. I’m sure Devin’s just trying to be a friend to her. That other business I mentioned last night. Whatever they’re up to, I’m sure it’s innocent.”

“Do you have any idea where they could be?” Jo asked.

Hannah tightened her unzipped jacket around her, hesitated a split second, then, without a word, returned to the walk and headed straight up to the map sign. Jo followed, noticing that Rigby was now at the lodge’s main entrance, talking with A.J. and Elijah.

Hannah pointed to the section of the map marking the remote north side of Cameron Mountain. “Devin found Drew’s body in this area here,” she said, calm and serious. “Native Vermonter that I am, I’m not much on wilderness hiking. Day hikes are fine, but I don’t need to spend days tramping through the woods. Devin’s a lot like the Camerons. I think that’s why he and Drew got along so well.”

“I’m glad they did, Hannah. Is that why Devin was able to find Drew in April?”

Crossing her arms on her chest, Hannah stared at the whirl of lines on the map. “Devin helped Drew with something up on the north side of the mountain last fall. Apparently it’s where the Camerons first settled when they came to Vermont. Most of the land was cleared back then. Devin didn’t tell me exactly what he did. He said he really doesn’t know what Drew was up to.”

“He didn’t tell the police about this project after Drew died?”

“He answered all their questions truthfully. Drew asked Devin not to tell anyone. Whatever he was up to was meant as a surprise.”

A lawyerlike response, Jo thought. “How long have you known?”

“A few weeks. He’d gotten pulled over for a broken taillight. This was right after a fight he had outside the café one night. A couple of guys were picking on Toby, and Devin let them have it. He fell apart later and finally told me about Drew. He felt guilty-as if he’d violated Drew’s trust. I promised I wouldn’t say anything. Now…that might have been a mistake.”

“You all have a lot to deal with,” Jo said.

Hannah faced her without a hint self-pity. “I never tried to pretend I was anything but Devin and Toby’s older sister. We’re a family, but I’m well aware that my brothers grew up without a mother and father.”

So had Hannah, when it came down to it. Jo handed her Devin’s daypack. “You might want to hang on to this. He dropped it when he fell. Does Nora know about his and Drew’s project?”

“No one does that I’m aware of. It’s a haul up there.”

“But that’s why Devin was on the north side of the mountain in April. That’s why he was able to find Drew.”

“He said it never occurred to him Drew would go up there at that time of year. He was so sure he was wrong. Otherwise he would have told the search teams.”

Jo thought of her own unsettling conversation with Drew two weeks earlier and understood.

“It hasn’t been good since then,” Hannah said quietly.

“Have you talked to this Rigby guy?” Jo asked, nodding to him as he edged their way.

“Yes, briefly, earlier this morning.” Hannah tightened her jacket around her. “I didn’t tell him about Drew’s project. I haven’t told the Camerons, either. No one, Jo, except you.”

Jo acknowledged the statement with a nod.

“Look, I should go,” Hannah said. “I’ll let you know if I hear from Devin. I have nothing to hide.” She glared back toward the lodge.

“Something happened to that money, Hannah. Do you think Nora-”

“No, I don’t. I don’t know what happened to it.”

Hannah headed off briskly, in the opposite the direction of Rigby. Jo studied the map with its detailed designations of trails, streams, knolls, gullies, sags and peaks. The north side of Cameron Mountain bled into a remote wilderness area with few recreational trails. It wouldn’t be a good place for an inexperienced hiker like Nora Asher to get lost.

“It’s beautiful country up here,” Rigby said as he approached the map. “I’ll say that. I’m guessing, based on this morning’s festivities, that Nora is sticking close by. Hannah Shay have any idea where her brother took off to?”

Jo shook her head. “There’s no reason to think he’s a danger to Nora.”

“Maybe not, but if anything happens to her, he’ll be the first one police will want to talk to.” He squinted out toward the mountain. “It could be a tad warmer for my tastes. I’ll grab my pack out of my car and get moving. From what I’ve been able to learn about her, Nora’s emotional, but if she set up camp and got through the night, she’s got her act together. That’s a good sign.”

“If you need assistance, or if you feel she’s in trouble-”

“I know what to do. Keep me posted, Agent Harper.”

She let him go and returned to the lodge, scooping herself a bowl of piping-hot chili bubbling in an iron pot in the dining room. A month ago, at the height of foliage season, the lodge would have been bustling with guests. Now the place was almost empty, just a handful of diners enjoying a late lunch and the views.

She took her chili out to the fireplace in the lobby, where Elijah and A.J. were on their feet and still looking aggravated. She gave an exaggerated shiver. “Brr. I forget how cold it is here in November.”

“You should come back to Black Falls more often,” A.J. said.

“I should. Your wife and I could become best friends and give you Cameron boys a hard time.”

“What is it you want, Jo?”

A barrel of laughs A.J. was. But Jo didn’t blame him for his mood. “Answers,” she said. “The three of us need to work together. We’re on the same side.”

A.J.’s eyes narrowed, reminding her of his father. “Are we?”

She debated a moment, then relayed what Hannah had told her about Drew’s enlisting Devin’s help with some project on the north side of Cameron Mountain. Elijah and A.J. listened without interruption. When she finished, she added, “I’ll bet your father finally found that old cellar hole he’d been looking for all these years. Or some old cellar hole.”

“Devin should have given that information to the police,” A.J. said.

Or at least to Drew’s children, Jo thought. But she said diplomatically, “I imagine it’s been hard for him to have this on his mind. Provided he didn’t actually lie, he’s in the clear as far as the police are concerned. Hannah says he told the truth.”

“He just left out what in hell Pop was doing up there. Do you know how many times I’ve asked myself-” A.J. broke off. “Never mind. He had his chance to tell us, too, and he didn’t.”

“Hannah says he wanted whatever he was doing to be a surprise.”

Elijah’s eyes darkened and he looked at his brother. “I’m leaving. A.J.?”

“I’ll let you know if Devin or Nora show up.”

Short of finding a pair of handcuffs or shooting him, there wasn’t much Jo could do to stop Elijah. So she plopped down on a warm, comfortable chair in front of the fire and dipped a spoon into her chili. “You’re thinking I should go back to the lake and clean the cobwebs out of my cabins, aren’t you, A.J.?”

“I imagine your boss back in Washington would approve.”

He had a point there. But A.J. abandoned her, too, with a curt goodbye.

Jo set her chili onto a rustic oak table arranged with brochures, guidebooks and a cheerful autumnal display of pumpkins, mums and little figurines of wild turkeys. Lauren’s doing, again. A.J. would have left a stack of kindling there.

With her feet as close to the flames as she could get them without sliding out of her chair or setting herself on fire, Jo called Thomas Asher’s cell number. “Why’d you hire Kyle Rigby?” she asked when Thomas picked up. “And who is he?”

“He’s an objective professional-”

“A licensed investigator?”

“He’s acting as a friend.”

“Is he a friend? You’re paying him, aren’t you?”

“Jo, why are you so defensive? I thought you’d appreciate not having to take on Nora as your responsibility. Melanie and I are on our way. We’re at the airport now-”

“D.C. or up here?”

“We’re at Reagan National. We’ll be in Black Falls after dark. The Whittakers have invited us to stay with them. Alex and Carolyn loved it there. I…” His voice caught, reminding Jo that he’d lost a friend, never mind his and Alex Bruni’s complicated history. “Carolyn’s on her way home. I can’t imagine what she must be going through right now. For Nora to act out-” He broke off, then said more calmly, “I don’t approve of her solo camping trip, of course, but Kyle has assured me there’s no reason to sound the alarm.”

“How did you find him?”

“Melanie recommended him. They met skiing in Colorado last winter and exchanged business cards. It’s strange how that can happen. Serendipity, she calls it.”

“Then you’ve never met him?”

Thomas didn’t answer.

“You haven’t,” Jo said.

“He can handle the Vermont terrain and find my daughter. That’s all I care about. Not that I don’t trust you, Jo, but you’re not objective. You’re from Black Falls. You have preconceived ideas about the people there.”

Jo leaned forward in her chair, the flames hot on her face. “Thomas, do you suspect someone up here was involved with Ambassador Bruni’s death?”

“No. Good heavens, Jo. Listen, our flight’s boarding. I have to go.”

Jo decided not to tell him about Devin and the missing money, his friendship with Nora, taking off on Elijah. Let Rigby tell him what he knew. She wasn’t working for either one of them.

She finished her chili and returned her empty bowl to the dining room, then headed back outside and checked down at the shop. But it was closed and locked, and there was no sign of Devin. No sign of anything.

Had Elijah let Devin give him the slip and get away with it? Where was Devin going?

And what was Nora’s plan?

Were she and Devin together? Planning to meet somewhere? Avoiding each other?

Jo hoped they both would hike down the mountain before Thomas arrived in Vermont later tonight.

In fact, maybe they were on their way down now. But she didn’t think so.

An hour later, after hiking back down to her cabin for her car, Jo stood in the kitchen of her childhood, watching her father cut up apples-northern spies, a late variety that kept well-into a bubbling pot on the stove. Her mother was spending the day at the outlets in Manchester. Her grandmother was reading a book in the front room.

The smell of cooking apples filled the air, as it had every autumn in the rambling old Harper farmhouse for as long as Jo remembered.

Retirement seemed to agree with her father, but she knew he was still tapped into the goings-on in town. She seldom discussed her work with him. But Alex Bruni’s likely murder yesterday and his stepdaughter’s flight-or whatever it was-onto Cameron Mountain had nothing to do with her work.

Charlie Neal’s talk of assassins did, but only peripherally, because he was trying to get back into her good graces after his prank. What he didn’t understand was that he didn’t need to be in her good graces. He just needed to be safe.

She grabbed a paring knife and an extra cutting board and lifted an apple out of the sink. As she cut it into pieces, she ran everything past her father-except the part about kissing Elijah Cameron. That, she decided, wasn’t anything Wes Harper, former town chief of police, needed to know. Whether he could guess on his own or not was another question.

He listened without interruption, then batted ideas around with her, asked her questions, examined her options. But he offered no advice.

Finally, he put down his knife and leaned back against the counter. His hair was almost white now, but he was still the vibrant, strong man she’d loved-and battled-her entire life. Neither of her parents had wanted her to move away. No matter how many visits she made back to Black Falls, she wasn’t down the road like Beth or Zack. They’d hated her postings in faraway places and had been relieved at her assignment to Washington eighteen months ago.

She’d never told them about Drew’s visit in April.

She told her father now, because somehow, she thought, it was a part of what was happening.

“I can’t help you with that one,” he said. “Drew didn’t tell me about his comings and goings.”

“The investigation into his death-”

“I wasn’t a part of it.”

“But you heard things,” she said.

“There’s a difference between something that raises the hairs on the back of your neck and something you can prove.” His deep green eyes settled on her. “Drew Cameron regretted what he did fifteen years ago-the way he did it, anyway. He knew he had to draw the line with Elijah, but he was sorry he hurt you in the process.”

“Drew wasn’t the one who hurt me,” she said.

“He embarrassed you. I’d have handled things differently, but it might have been worse. I don’t know. I remember I couldn’t think straight. I had you and Elijah on your way to Las Vegas. Not Drew-he knew you were sticking close to Black Falls.”

“Elijah and I just weren’t meant to be.”

“That’s for you two to decide. It always was, even back then.” He set his knife on top of a stack of apple peels and lowered the heat under the pot. “Elijah’s disciplined, and in my book, he’s a hero. But I don’t know if he’ll find a place for himself back here the way he always thought he would. Sometimes it’s hard to come back home. His experiences might have changed Black Falls forever for him.”

Jo nodded, dropping her apples into the pot. “Maybe so.”

“But don’t be fooled,” her father said. “There’s a lot of the old Elijah left.”

Good, she thought, remembering how much she’d loved the old Elijah-his energy, his stubbornness, his sense of loyalty and justice. His courage. Drew and her father had focused on his youth and inability to make a living-and her oft-stated desire to get out of Black Falls.

But it was never just that they were afraid of him ruining her life. They were also afraid of her ruining his.

“Even before the military, Elijah was mission oriented,” her father said. “He set his sights on something, and he got it. He has questions about his father’s death, Jo. He’ll find the answers.”

On her way out, Jo thanked her father and extracted a promise that he’d save her a jar of applesauce. She stopped in the doorway. “Do you trust Elijah, Dad?” she asked.

“With my life.” He reached for a pot holder. “With your life.”

Unspoken was her father’s worry-an old worry-that he didn’t know how far Elijah would go, how many rules he would break, to get his answers.