SATURDAY, 2:28 P.M.
BRIDGER-TETON NATIONAL FOREST
Flanked by Heath and Deputy Custer, Harper hiked the trail with the new camera she had bought in town. She and Emily had each gotten a new laptop as well. They were burning through their remaining funds much too quickly as they waited on the insurance to process their claims on the Airstream and truck. She hoped this would be the last time she had to spend big bucks for a while. She still needed to replace her tripod and get another telephoto lens.
As they hiked, she couldn’t stop thinking about Heath. So what if he wasn’t on board with her joining the search? Law enforcement needed all the able bodies they could get—and Sheriff Taggart had okayed it. Shutting down the national forest was no easy thing at the height of tourist season. Still, Heath preferred that she stay back at the ranch safe and sound until this was over. But Lori Somerall had other thoughts. She wanted them all to move to her ranch house, away from the chaos and danger.
Harper liked the woman, and in another life they could have been friends, but in this life Lori definitely had her eyes on Heath and that set Harper on edge. So she was relieved when he declined Lori’s invitation. Before Lori had showed up, he had almost kissed Harper. And she had leaned into his hand, unable to resist his touch. What was the matter with her? Had this situation made her entirely too vulnerable?
She had the feeling that it wouldn’t matter. She would be uncontrollably drawn to Heath in any situation. It was almost as if an invisible force that spanned time and distance had brought them together again. But Harper knew she could never be with Heath. He needed someone though—just not her.
She refocused her thoughts on the task at hand and resolved to keep them there. But that was difficult since the man in her thoughts hiked right next to her, his broad shoulders distracting her.
She stopped and guzzled water. Poured some over her head, the shocking cold a slap in the face.
“You don’t want to drink too much too soon,” Deputy Custer said. “Save it for later.”
Right. She hiked forward and followed the deputy off the trail. He yanked out a paper search map. “We’re supposed to search this region off trail for, you know, a body or anything out of the ordinary.”
The sun beat down on them, deterred only by the shade they now entered along the trail. They hiked up an incline, gasping with the effort, always looking, always searching for evidence of a violent crime.
A couple of hours later, Harper broke the silence. “Sophie and her husband, Chase. They hiked for days on miles and miles of trails. What did they see, Heath? What did they come across that got Sophie killed? That sent her running from a killer? You don’t think he was a poacher out hunting and didn’t want them to snitch on him, do you? Is that worth a life?”
Heath shook his head. “In my opinion, nothing is worth a life. And yet lives are taken for reasons beyond me all the time.”
She couldn’t argue with that. “He’s a psychopath. That’s what I think. Nobody but a psychopath could murder a woman like that.”
Deputy Custer chugged his bottle of water. “I don’t think we’re going to find anything. This guy hid his tracks well or else we would have found something by now. We’ve covered our area. We should head back and regroup.” He took a step.
Water slid from his mouth as he collapsed. Rifle fire echoed through the woods.