Mount Rainier National Park, Washington, October 4
The next morning, Kenzie, Derek, Lucas and Bodie returned to the parking lot with the crime scene tape in the middle of nowhere. Otis Redding abruptly cut off when Kenzie shut off the jeep. An excited bark sounded from the backseat. She glanced back to see Bodie sitting beside Lucas, anticipation clear in his eyes.
“I know, buddy. I’m grateful the time warp music extravaganza is over, too.” Lucas scratched the dog’s ears.
Kenzie rolled her eyes.
“Hey, we’re just here to work,” Lucas said.
Derek watched them in silence from the passenger seat.
“You were the only game in town.”
Lucas rubbed his chin. Clean-shaven was a new look for her brother, and she liked it. “Yeah, why are we the only search team up here this morning? Doesn’t the DEA want to find its missing agent?”
Kenzie shrugged. “Apparently, the entire Pacific Northwest is searching for those kids outside Portland. And Donovan wasn’t convinced that Tori was even here. We can’t exactly splash her face across the news. It could get her killed. If she isn’t dead already.”
“Undercover agents lose contact all the time,” Lucas said.
“And what the hell was Martinez doing here in a DEA vehicle if he was on probation?”
The first rays of daylight should have been hitting them straight on, but Mother Nature had other plans this morning. A nearly impenetrable fog had appeared almost as soon as they crossed the border into the park. Now, as the group piled out of the car, the fog seemed to absorb all sound like a sponge. It was creepy as hell.
“How can there be this much humidity in the air when there’s a drought?” Kenzie pulled a beanie from her pocket and stuffed it over her head. At least it would keep all those annoying tendrils of hair out of her face.
Laughter floated across the air and she turned to see Ranger Allie Burgess striding toward them. A hefty backpack rested on her lean frame. “Makes you feel like you’re in London, doesn’t it? This place is known for its pea soup fog. Once I visited Mount Saint Helens, I was straight across from the caldera and couldn’t even see it.”
“How far away is Mount Saint Helens?” Lucas asked.
“About two hours as the crow flies.”
Kenzie glanced at the sky. A crow wouldn’t see ten inches in front of its beak today.
“Doesn’t it make you nervous with all the volcanoes up here?” Kenzie asked. She sure as hell wouldn’t want to add that to her list of daily commuter concerns. Not that she had much of a commute anymore. Granite Falls was a one horse town with two stop signs and the world’s best bakery.
Allie grimaced. “Inebriated tourists and Google Maps sending people off the edge of canyon roads is way more nerve-racking.”
Derek laughed. It was the first reaction she’d heard from him all day. Bearing his own full pack, he stepped forward to greet the pretty ranger. “Totally agree. Thanks for coming, Allie.”
“Happy to help. Who do we have here?”
Kenzie made brief introductions between Lucas and Allie, who she noticed kept a respectful distance from Bodie. The lab vibrated with excitement as Lucas slipped on his working harness.
Allie turned to Derek. “Should we do a quick inventory of our packs before we head out?”
“Absolutely.”
Kenzie had wanted to search in the dark, but Derek, who had assisted with plenty of search and rescue operations back in Glacier, had agreed with Lucas’ insistence they wait until sunrise. It would be too easy to miss a sign in the dark. Temperatures had dipped overnight but hovered at a brisk forty-five degrees, uncomfortable without the right gear, but not fatal.
Unless she got wet somehow.
Kenzie shuddered, remembering her own brush with hypothermia earlier this year. As Derek compared supplies with Allie, she again couldn’t rectify the man who didn’t want to join the team with the one who’d saved her life this summer. Or at least her toes.
“Where did you meet her?” Lucas asked.
“She works at the Carbon River ranger station,” Kenzie said.
“She’s cute.” Lucas flashed a dimple.
Kenzie groaned. “Please don’t. Is this what working with you is going to be like?”
Her brother laughed. “Nah. Bodie here will be the hero of the hour. I’m just his arm candy.”
Kenzie called over to Derek. “I need saving from my brother. Are you two ready?”
“Just a sec,” Derek said. He and Allie began returning their neatly organized supplies to their rightful places in their packs.
“I can’t imagine what they need to compare. Derek probably has everything but the kitchen sink in his pack already,” Kenzie muttered.
Lucas grinned. “Maybe he noticed how cute she is, too.”
Kenzie frowned and studied the pair more closely. Allie handed Derek something, and he smiled at her. The Rainier ranger would have to be blind not to see how handsome Derek was. As Allie studied him with those striking violet eyes, Kenzie decided Ranger Allie was definitely not blind. Did she see how strong he was in the easy way he carried himself? Or how loyal he was? And Lucas was right, Allie was gorgeous and clearly in her element out here in the woods. Somewhere Kenzie would never be completely at home, no matter how much progress she’d made.
A flicker of possessiveness washed over Kenzie, but she quickly pushed it to the side. Right now, the job needed to be her focus. She pulled out the plastic bag with the t-shirt Frank Donovan had reluctantly retrieved from Tori’s locker at the DEA office. Lucas held the shirt in front of Bodie, murmuring commands to him. Bodie buried his dark nose in the shirt and sniffed thoroughly, including nosing underneath it. Lucas gave another command and Bodie instantly began walking with his nose to the ground. He walked in ever-widening circles, then froze, pointed toward the brush.
“He’s got something,” Lucas said. His shift in focus was striking as he followed his dog into the brush. His lanky frame moved with absolute ease through the woods, nearly disappearing into the fog ahead of them.
Kenzie couldn’t help but see shadows of her father’s alert, rigid posture. A chill slid down her spine to think of her laissez-faire brother becoming like their hard-shelled police captain father. When she went to the FBI, shaking off the family history of service in local police ranks, the captain had been disappointed, to say the least.
The eerie light of the fog seemed to crank up the neon of the yellow leaves on the trees, making her almost wish for sunglasses. Kenzie had always lived where there were four seasons, just of varying length. New York City was probably beautiful in the fall, but with her busy caseload, she’d seen little of it in daylight. Shortened days meant starry skies above when she went to work and when she left the gym after work. It was almost like Mother Nature thought her fall display was so brilliant it was best experienced in small doses.
“Lucas is a natural out here,” Derek commented, his sudden appearance at her shoulder making her jump.
“Don’t do that,” she snapped.
“Didn’t you hear me coming?” Derek’s voice was low, blending with the muffled sounds of the fog-wrapped forest.
Kenzie shook her head, annoyance fading as she studied him. “Sorry, I swear this fog absorbs sounds. I was thinking how much Lucas looks like our father out here.”
Ahead, Bodie hurried forward with his nose to the ground, and Kenzie picked up her pace. Derek’s long legs easily kept up beside her. “How long has Lucas been with the K9 division?”
“A couple of years now. He’s always loved dogs, so it didn’t surprise me when he went this route.” As she spoke, Derek’s hand brushed hers, an accidental touch that sent a jolt through her. She quickly stepped aside, putting a small distance between them. The brief contact reminded her of what simmered unsaid below their professional facade.
“He seems pretty comfortable out here,” Derek said.
“He spends all his free time in places like this. And now that he’s paired with Bodie, he’s spending lots of his work time out there, too,” Kenzie said. It made her heart soar to see Lucas thriving in his job. Though being on opposite sides of the country meant she didn’t see him anymore.
Derek held a small tree branch back for her and she swept passed him quickly. “Thanks.”
Derek offered a small smile. “Maybe now that you’re more comfortable in the woods, you and Lucas can spend some time hiking together.”
She returned the smile. “Sure. He can come to Glacier and go hiking with you and me. Or wherever our team goes. Like a mini-vacation after we solve the case.”
Derek’s smile quickly faded, and his voice held a note of weariness. “Can we give it a rest for the day?”
“Yeah, okay,” she muttered.
They followed Bodie in silence, as the dog walked with his head down, occasionally circling back, only to shift directions. She wondered what he smelled. To Kenzie, the air smelled like pine mixed with dry leaves and musty undergrowth, a scent which had once sent her into a spiraling panic.
“How’s he doing?” she called ahead to Lucas.
“Definitely on a scent trail.”
Bodie’s tail wagged, and he moved faster than before. Lucas gave a sharp command and Bodie slowed enough for his long-legged human to stay within sight. The rest of them fell silent as the dog worked. This was the same area she and Derek had searched yesterday. Had Tori come from this deep in the forest to meet Martinez? Or had she run off this way after his vehicle started on fire?
A sharp bark shattered the silence of the forest, sending unseen dark shapes fluttering into the sky. The birds didn’t appreciate their early morning visitor.
Kenzie hurried forward and found Lucas and Bodie on the side of a rocky ledge. Lucas anxiously peered over the edge while Bodie sat perfectly still at his feet.
“What is it?” she asked, a little out of breath.
“Bodie says there’s a person down there,” Lucas pointed down the cliff.
Kenzie glanced at the dog. “He’s just sitting there.”
“That’s his cue for discovery,” Lucas said.
Derek and Allie appeared behind them. “Did you find something?” Allie asked.
Kenzie frowned at her brother. Had he lost his mind?
She decided to trust the dog’s nose, with its ability to detect even the most minute scents. She unbuckled her pack and leaned it against the rock face.
“What are you doing?” Derek asked sharply.
“I need to see what’s down there,” Kenzie said.
She stepped gingerly toward the edge of the cliff, watching for crumbling rock. It seemed solid enough. She lowered herself to her belly and inched forward until her elbows remained on the rock, but the rest of her extended over the edge. A firm hand clamped onto each of her legs and she glanced back to see Lucas on one side and Derek on the other, exchanging an exasperated look.
With the two men holding onto her, she slid forward with more confidence and studied the terrain below. The rock face dropped off sharply into an abyss of fog. A gust of wind parted the fog like the curtain on opening night at a Broadway show, and she gasped. Her stomach plummeted. A slim figure with long dark hair lay crumpled on a rocky shelf twenty feet below.
Kenzie stared, a million questions running through her head.
Had she fallen?
Or had someone helped her over the edge?