“This is it,” she said. “You’re seeing it all. And me, that’s all there is here.”
“So you live alone?”
“Alone with my thoughts. I’m rarely lonely.”
“Have you lived here very long?” he asked, wondering why he’d never heard of a lone woman in a cabin in the mountains.
“Long enough,” she said. “Really, I don’t want to get into a discussion with you.”
Joe sat up painfully. His head swooned and it took a moment to make it stop spinning. He assessed his condition and said again, “You saved my life.”
She nodded curtly.
“I’m a Wyoming game warden. My name is Joe Pickett. I was attacked by two brothers up on top of the mountain. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were still after me.”
She grimaced, but he could tell it wasn’t news to her.
Of course, he thought, she’d seen his badge and credentials. Which made him quickly start patting the folds of the quilts.
“I had a weapon,” he said.
“It’s in a safe place.”
“I need it back,” he said. “And my wallet and pants . . .”
She put her hands palm-down on the table and fixed her eyes on something over Joe’s head.
She said, “Your wedding band, I saw it when you fell into my cabin. It got to me, I’m afraid. Otherwise I might have pushed you back outside and locked the door and waited for them to show up. I’m amazed they aren’t here by now.”
He was taken aback by the casual way she said it.
Finally, he said, “I think I hit one of them. Maybe I hit them both.”
Her eyes widened in fear and she raised a balled fist to her mouth.
“What?” he asked.
She said, “This isn’t good.”
“That I may have hit them?”
“That you may have wounded them.”
Joe felt his scalp twitch. “So why did you help me?”
“I told you. The wedding band. I assume you have a wife.”
“Yes.”
“Do you love her?”
“With all my heart.’
“Kids?”
“Three daughters.”
She pursed her mouth again and shook her head. “I’m a sucker for wedding bands. And it may turn out to be the death of me.”
“That’s why you helped me?”
A quick, regretful nod.
“Are those pictures of your family?” Joe asked, gesturing up to the shelf behind her bed.
Her eyes flared, and she rose to her feet so quickly her chair shot back. She strode across the floor and turned each frame facedown. When she was done, she returned to the chair and sat back down and glared at the spot on the wall above his head. She’d yet to make direct eye contact, which didn’t bode well, he thought. Like she didn’t want to empathize with him. Like she thought he might not be around much longer. Or . . .
“Are you blind?” Joe asked.
She did a quick snort and her mouth clenched. “Of course not.”
“I’m sorry,” he said quickly, “Since you wouldn’t look at me, I thought . . .”
“I saw you earlier. I know what you look like. I know what you stand for. You work for the government.”
“
“Still.”
“It’s different from the federal government.”
“So you say.”
“Really.”
She swiveled in her chair and wrapped her arms around herself. “Hmmmph.” As if it were final.
“I didn’t mean to upset you,” he said. “So you know them—the Grim Brothers.”
