Читать книгу Lawless - ХеленКей Даймон, HelenKay Dimon - Страница 9

Chapter Three

Hope tried to ignore Joel for the entire walk back to camp. His constant stream of questions didn’t make that easy. He wanted to know about the campers and what her plan had been to get the men in and out of camp. She gave the details, even though she really wanted to stop and demand an explanation for why it was so easy for him to walk out of her life.

Then again, maybe she didn’t want to know. Her ego could only take so much, and he had the power to break her. Had from the minute she’d met him.

The forest floor crunched and crackled under their feet. Their steps echoed around her, and Cam whistled as he walked a half step behind her. It all seemed so normal...except for the missing businessman and lost phone. And who could forget the scary stalker?

Amazing how a nice morning could make a left turn into awful so quickly.

She had taken this job to emotionally recuperate. The double whammy of losing Joel and the disaster on her last climbing expedition had sent her world into a tailspin. A new career conducting business retreats and leading simple hiking and camping outings was supposed to be soothing. The way her nerves jumped around was anything but.

“Looks like we’re here.”

The sound of Cam’s voice over her shoulder made her jump and knock into Joel next to her. When her hands brushed against his, a new sensation spun through her. Something like excitement, and that didn’t make her happy at all. She wanted to be totally over him, or at the very least not feel anything. She’d do anything for a bit of indifference at the moment.

She settled for doubling her pace and broke through the trees and into the camp clearing a step before her self-appointed bodyguards. The businessmen sat on logs turned into benches around the fire pit area. They looked up as she approached.

They all started talking a second later. Shouting over each other in an attempt to hold the metaphorical floor.

Yeah, she hadn’t missed this part of their company dynamic during the past hour.

“Where have you been?” Jeff Acheson, the Baxter director of marketing, dumped his plate on the ground and stood up. His distaste for her was on full display, from his puffing red cheeks to the scowl marring what she guessed most women found to be his perfectly chiseled model face.

She took a long look at him in the bright sunshine and decided he was a bit too buffed and polished for her taste. He had a phony air about him. Probably because he listed his age as thirty-four on the questionnaire she had handed out last night to assess their skill levels, when she knew from the files Baxter gave her the number was more like forty.

That sort of thing struck her as ridiculous. She’d bet he took twice as long to get ready for a big date than she did.

She could still remember the up-and-down sweep he gave her when they’d first met in the Baxter offices. He’d turned on the charming smile back when he thought she was some sort of assistant to the real leader on the trip. That disappeared when she’d made it clear she was in charge.

But he picked the wrong time to get all uppity with her. She wasn’t in the mood. “Is Mark here?”

“What?” Lance Ringer, the Baxter personnel manager, asked.

Lance was the one guy Hope had liked immediately. He was the youngest on the retreat but didn’t try to impress her. He owned up to the fact he hadn’t been camping since he was a kid, more than twenty years ago, and would rather be home with his newborn and wife than out roughing it with the guys. Hope found his honesty refreshing.

“Mark was missing this morning and I went to look for him,” she said, waiting for Joel and Cam to pipe up and feeling a bit dazed when neither rushed to take the lead. “Did he ever come back?”

Jeff took a threatening step in her direction. “Why didn’t you tell us there was a problem before now?”

“Probably because of this type of overblown reaction.” Joel morphed from calm to a shield of muscles in two seconds. He reached around Hope, blocking some of her view of Jeff, and put a hand on his chest. “Back up.”

Jeff tried to push Joel’s hand away. “Who are you?”

“Not relevant at the moment.”

Joel didn’t move and Cam just smiled. Hope was smart enough to know those reactions meant brewing trouble. Joel’s protective nature made it tough for him to back down, and when he was faced with a pontificating blowhard like Jeff, there was no telling what could happen.

“You have a gun,” Jeff said.

Joel motioned toward Cam. “We both do.”

With the tension building and washing over all of them, she decided this might be a good time to make one point clear. “Joel is my assistant.”

She put her hand over his and it dropped away from Jeff. But the battle stance stayed, as did Joel’s unwavering gaze on Jeff.

Cam covered his smile with his hand as he mumbled, “This should be good.”

“What are you talking about?” Jeff asked as he turned his attention back to her. “I thought you were the supposed leader of this outing.”

She said the word assistant and Jeff assumed she was no longer in charge. The man heard what he wanted to hear.

Before anyone said anything else that made her grumbly, Hope made the necessary introductions to keep the chain of command clear. “This is Joel Kidd, my helper, and Cameron Roth.”

Joel cleared his throat. “Helper?”

With a raise of the chin she held her ground. “Yes.”

The silence lasted for only a second before he nodded. “Alrighty then.”

Relief poured through her when he didn’t push it. She turned back to Lance. “Where’s Perry?”

“Who’s that?” Cam asked.

Lance got up and brushed off his pants. He stopped to shake hands with everyone. “Perry Kramer is our sales manager.”

“What does he sell?” Joel stared at Hope when she shoved an elbow into his stomach. “What? It’s a fair question.”

Lance shrugged. “But it’s probably not important information right now.”

Hope heard the rustle of branches and glanced over in time to see Charlie Bardon, the camp owner and cook, break through the trees on the far side of the last cabin. He was out of breath and running his hands over his grimy chef’s apron as he walked.

“What’s going on out here?” he asked.

Joel looked to the newcomer. “That was going to be my question.”

Charlie didn’t look any more willing to back down than Joel. They stood face to face and shared the same former military in-command presence. Pushing fifty, Charlie had been out for decades, but Joel seemed just as determined and set in his ways at thirty-three.

Before this could blow into a full-blown argument, Hope tried to step in. “Mark is missing.”

“I was hoping he was with you.” Charlie turned his attention to Joel. “Where did you come from?”

Joel shrugged. “Annapolis...or are you looking for an explanation about how birthing works?”

The older man’s eyes narrowed. “Are you trying to be funny?”

“Not really.”

“Okay, enough.” She wasn’t sure who deserved the bigger kick to the shin—Joel for acting disinterested and maintaining his monotone voice through the snide comments or Cam, who couldn’t stop smiling. “Cam and Joel came in by helicopter to help me.”

If possible, Charlie’s scowl deepened. “With what?”

She had no idea how to answer the question, so she skipped it and talked to the campers, trying to ignore the fact another one appeared to be missing. “When is the last time anyone saw Mark?”

Taking a long time and making the movement last longer than necessary, Jeff folded his arms in front of him. “When you two fought last night.”

Joel turned to face her. “Really?”

“He stormed out, saying he was going to the cabin,” Lance said. “But he wasn’t in there when I went to bed.”

“What time was that?” Cam asked.

“Around midnight.”

Charlie blew out a long breath as he talked. “You didn’t think that was odd?”

“He was ticked off that Hope took his gun. I thought I heard him coming in later, but he wasn’t there this morning.” Lance looked at Joel as if he expected backup.

Joel leaned in closer instead. “His what?”

She knew there was no way that comment would slide by. “Gun, and I’ll explain later.”

“Yeah, you will,” Joel said.

But not now. Not when all those eyes focused solely on her. “Go on, Lance.”

“That’s it. I figured he was walking it off or getting something to eat. Honestly, I didn’t think it was a big deal. He got scolded. Get over it.”

Hope didn’t know what to do with any of that information. Mark had gotten angry and stormed off. She knew that before she took off on her search. But maybe she could get an answer to one question. “Were either of you out in the woods this morning?”

She got a lot of head shaking and mumbling but no answers. She scanned the crowd. Only Lance didn’t possess the right body type. He’d joked about gaining more weight than his wife during the pregnancy. Hope doubted that was true, but he was carrying around a few extra pounds that would have made it a bit tough to dodge in and out of the trees.

Still, that didn’t mean none of them had done it. Someone had and the nerves jumping around inside her wouldn’t quiet down until she had answers, the right number of campers and her phone.

“And where were you this morning?” Joel asked the man in front of him.

Charlie didn’t move. “Checking on the food situation.”

From the question Hope guessed Joel wasn’t as willing to believe as easily as she was. Then again, he’d just met the group, and they were down two members.

“Let’s try it this way.” Joel shifted his weight. Not a big move. Barely perceptible but something about it made him appear taller and less willing to play games. “When did you last see Mark?”

Charlie’s gaze bounced from Joel to Cam and back again. “What’s with the weapons? Are you police?”

The look on Joel’s face, the way the corner of his mouth inched up, came close to a smile. “Pretend I am.”

Charlie didn’t share his amusement. “I don’t think I will.”

Much more of this and they’d never get to an answer. As it was, Lance and Jeff stared, watching the verbal volleys with their mouths hanging more open with each sentence.

Hope decided to act like what she was—in charge. “Charlie, help me out here. Mark wandered off and now I don’t know where Perry is.”

“I’m pretty sure Perry is in taking a second run at the chow line.”

This time the relief walloped the air right out of her lungs. “So, you’ve seen him this morning?”

Charlie nodded. “About fifteen minutes ago.”

“That’s a relief,” Lance said.

She saw Joel opening his mouth to say something and jumped in first. “But it doesn’t explain the Mark issue.”

Charlie waved her off. Even threw in a “bah” right before he started talking. “He’s just blowing off steam.”

The men kept saying it, but the explanation wasn’t good enough. “I can’t find him and I need him to check in before we do one more thing.”

Jeff swiped his thermos off the ground. “We need to go out looking for him.”

“How exactly?” Joel asked.

The question caused Jeff to go still. “What?”

Hope knew where this was going. She felt the conversation rolling downhill and couldn’t grab a two-second break to throw her body in front of it.

She couldn’t speak for Cam’s expertise, but she guessed it was off the charts. But Joel knew everything about surviving outdoors. He was the one person in the group better at outdoor activities than she was, and that was saying something.

He thrived in this environment. His father had groomed his kids to fight and shoot, readying them for the domestic civil war he insisted was coming.

Lost in paranoia and reeling from the unexpected loss of his wife, Joel’s dad believed the government had lost its way and only small pockets of freedom-loving people would save the world. He went about it by toughening up his kids, making them sleep outside and denying them an education until the state stepped in.

The upbringing was sick and wrong and it shaped Joel in ways she still hadn’t explored. He liked to joke and act as if certain things didn’t bother him, but she knew. But there were times when his gaze would wander and those dark eyes would glaze. He’d go to whatever place he built in his mind to find normalcy. And he wouldn’t let her in.

“Do you know anything about wilderness survival?” His voice stayed deceptively soft as he aimed the question at Jeff.

The other man held eye contact for a few seconds, then broke it. “We studied up before we came out here.”

“Oh, good.” Joel stared at Cam. “They studied.”

She got the point, but the conversation promised to run them right into a brick wall. “Joel, that’s enough.”

Not that he heard her. He continued to stare at Jeff.

She knew the hard truth. None of the testosterone-jousting did anything to help them locate Mark.

“Which cabin belongs to this guy?” Cam asked.

“That one.” She pointed to the building directly next to where hers sat in the middle of the makeshift line. Because she appreciated the assist, she followed Cam’s lead. “Charlie, can you take the guys and put together some provisions? If we’re going to spread out and search for Mark—”

Joel frowned. “Are we?”

“—they need to be ready.”

Charlie started shaking his head before she finished the sentence. “I’m not convinced this is necessary. He’s probably sulking. Struck me as the type.”

“He’s the vice president of finance,” Jeff said, as if that explained everything.

When Joel finally performed that eye roll it looked like he’d been dying to do since Jeff stood up, it was obvious he wasn’t convinced. “So?”

But she had a plan and it depended on everyone agreeing and moving on. “Charlie, if you could, maybe, keep everyone together, that would be a great help.”

He stared at her, not saying a thing. A gust of wind shook the leaves and the sun beat down on the campground, but the silence stretched out. Finally, Charlie began a slow nod. It picked up in speed as it went and seemed to last for a long time. “Ah, got it.”

She blew out the breath she’d been holding. It scratched her throat as it rushed out. “Thanks.”

“Gentlemen?” Charlie motioned for the managers to follow him. “Let’s go find Perry and get packed.”

Joel didn’t speak until the place cleared out and the voices faded as everyone slipped through the path between the cabins and headed for the kitchen cabin and open seating area about thirty feet away before he faced her. “What’s with the search party talk?”

“Some of this crew think they are mountain men. I was worried they’d run off with butter knives and try to slay bears or something equally stupid.” She’d dealt with the type for a long time and developed some skills, the top one being not to let them rally and slide into attack mode.

Cam nodded. “You wanted Charlie to keep them occupied while we searched.”

She looked at Joel, waited for him to say something. She expected a lecture on knowing the parameters of her job and leaving the investigation to him, the professional.

Instead a smile broke across his lips. “Your dad would be proud of your covert abilities.”

The compliment rushed right to her head, making her as dizzy as drinking the finest wine. “You don’t grow up with a former special ops guy and not learn a few things.”

That smile only widened. “Apparently.”

“Besides, Charlie gets it. He knows the kind of people who come out here,” she said, hoping to focus on all she had to do and drag her mind away from Joel. “He can help.”

Cam chuckled. “If Joel doesn’t tick him off.”

Very true. “Well, there’s that.”

They walked to Mark’s cabin. The men’s footsteps matched and she had to push her gait to keep up. They had long legs and moved quickly and quietly. She had a case of nerves that shook her hard enough to knock her over. She wanted to believe there was a reasonable explanation, but as the minutes passed her faith waned.

She used her master key to open the lock. All three of them stepped inside and stopped. Their shoulders touched and they still took up most of the open space.

They kept silent as their gazes scanned from wall to wall. The room consisted of two double beds and a small sitting area. With only a few suitcases, a coffeepot on a hot plate and rows of clothes on hangers inside the open closet, the visual inventory didn’t take long. There was one door, which went to a bathroom only slightly larger than a closet because the shower was outside the cabin in every building but hers.

Joel’s shoes scraped against the wood floor as he stepped farther inside. “There’s not much here.”

She had to take the blame for that one. “I found I have to really limit what they can bring along or some folks come out here with laptops and three suitcases and think someone else will drag it along.”

“Very practical.” Joel rummaged through a duffel bag on the floor and peeked under the cushions on the loveseat.

Metal screeched as she slid the hangers on the old rod. She spotted a few shirts and extra sneakers on the floor. There wasn’t as much as a chest of drawers in the place.

“Blood.” Cam didn’t add anything else. One word and so deathly serious.

She spun around to find Cam standing by the bed closest to the door. “What?”

Joel got there first, but she was right behind. They all crowded around the bed, staring and unmoving. No one touched anything.

She tried not to state the obvious, but she didn’t see anything except crumpled white sheets and a stack of pillows with a clear head indent in them. “What am I looking at?”

Cam nodded in the direction of the bottom of the bed. “The underside of the cover.”

Before she could reach over, Joel put out an arm and held her back. Two steps put him at the small table on the other side of the room. He was back in a flash with a pen in his hand.

With the tip, he lifted off the cover and flipped it back. Dark streaks ran about a foot along the underside. Splotches stained the navy blue blanket underneath. The dark shade hid the color. But she knew.

The dizziness hit her full force and the room spun. She would have grabbed for Joel but he’d crouched down to study the bed close up.

“It’s not a lot,” she said, looking for any positive spin on this horrible find.

“Well, it’s more than a few drops,” Joel said. “Almost like the spill of a glass of something.”

“Are you sure it’s blood?” She wanted them to say no, but she knew they wouldn’t.

Joel stood back up. “Not without tests, but I think we should assume it is until we see Mark walking around here.”

“Maybe he cut himself and didn’t tell me?” She was willing to believe anything at this point, so long as the man was healthy and fine.

“What about this gun?” Joel asked.

The question shot out of nowhere and slammed into her with the force of a body blow. They could add the weapon to the list of things suddenly gone missing.

Dread washed over her and she would have sat down hard on the floor, but Joel reached over and settled a hand on her elbow. Technically, he wasn’t holding her up, but inside she felt as if he were holding her together.

She tried to explain over the knot of anxiety wedged in her throat. “Unbeknownst to me, he brought it along. He waved it around at dinner, acting like a big shot.”

“Guy sounds like a jerk,” Cam said.

She felt obligated to defend him on some level. “He was showing off, but my rules are clear. No weapons.”

Joel shrugged. “I’m armed.”

“So am I,” Cam agreed.

They acted as if they were the only ones concerned with safety. “Yeah, well, that makes three of us.”

Cam smiled. “Really?”

“We all know the most dangerous person in a situation like this is the nervous novice with the gun.” Joel nodded and she took that as approval and kept going. “I can’t have people out here with weapons, or sooner or later one of them will shoot off a hand by accident.”

He looked around the room. Even opened the bathroom door. “So where is it?”

“What?”

“The gun.”

“I have it.” She remembered the fight and what she did. “It’s in a small lockbox in my cabin.” But somehow deep down, she knew it was gone.

Joel stopped in the middle of the room and fixed her with a serious glare. “A hundred bucks says it’s missing.”

Just went to show how alike they were. She knew, he knew. Heck, maybe even Cam knew.

Still, she had to ask. “Why would you say that?”

Joel didn’t hesitate. “Experience.”