She exchanged good-byes and hugs with the Lowerys. When Ryan started to awkwardly shake her hand, she pulled him in for a hug. “I had fun cooking with you,” she whispered. “Coco is going to miss you.”
His grin eased her heart. For a minute, at least.
She escaped outside before she tried to kick something. Jake had gone out of town, huh? He didn’t think it was adequate to dump her, but he had to flee the territory too, like she’d turn into some deranged stalker. Like she couldn’t take a hint-well, hardly a hint, more like,
The chestnut turned to inspect her work, then lowered his head to crop a long tuft of grass.
“Yeah, at least one of us is having a good day, buddy.” She patted his neck and picked up the leftover food supplies. The crunch of gravel drew her attention.
Logan had followed her out of the lodge.
“The Lowerys were very pleased with your expertise.” His voice-so familiar-made her heart pick up, and turned her mouth down. Jake’s sounded a little smoother, a little deeper, but otherwise…
“Thanks. Good to know.” She tossed the supplies into her Jeep and went back for more.
Not taking the hint, he walked over to Coco to rub the horse’s forehead. “Jake was in a bad mood this morning.”
Kallie stiffened. “Well, that’s not my problem, is it?”
“Just surprising. He’d been damned gung ho to join you on the mountain yesterday.”
And gung ho to run back down. Her ribs compressed her lungs painfully. She started unfastening straps. Damn Logan for making everything worse. Her first few choices of response, like
She kept working on the straps. No noise of him leaving. God, she wanted to cry. She wouldn’t-it never did any good-but why didn’t he leave? When she ran out of buckles, she turned.
His blue eyes, grayer than Jake’s but just as intent, examined her face. And then he sighed and shook his head. “You drive carefully, sugar,” he said gently. He squeezed her shoulder as he walked past her to the lodge.
“I will,” she muttered to his back. After she unclenched her hands and pulled her composure into place, she scowled at the tall figure climbing the steps. Did he think she’d drive off the road because she’d lost a…a bed partner? Not hardly. Maybe nobody ever stayed with her, but she wasn’t the type to jump off some mountain like that girlfriend who’d screwed him all up.
She coaxed Coco into the trailer and headed home, driving carefully just to prove Logan’s worries were wrong.
To top off a lousy day, Virgil’s police car sat by the house. She scowled. Talking to another overprotective male was more than she could handle right now. The gravel she kicked at his car made a satisfying
She brushed Coco down and put him into the pasture. She put the gear away. She cleaned the messy shelves, fixing everything to her satisfaction as if straightening up would put the rest of her life under control.
It didn’t work, but at least the tack room looked pretty. She glanced at the house, craving one of the soft drinks in the refrigerator. Maybe Virgil would be in his room.
She nodded at him and grabbed a diet soda.
“Hey, little bit, how was your hike?”
“Okay. Cute kids.” She popped the top and drank, the bubbles scouring the trail dust from her throat. “I’m going to shower.”
His hazel eyes narrowed. “What’s wrong?”
Did she have a sign on her forehead that read: KALLIE GOT DUMPED? “Nothing.”
“Uh-huh. You seen Jake recently?”
“None of your damned business,” she snapped.
His face set into stone, and his eyes turned glacier cold. She tried not to flinch. Last time she’d seen that expression, he’d punched an abusive husband so hard the guy probably still sucked his food through a straw.
But his anger wasn’t directed at her. She sidled toward the door.
“Hold up. I need to talk to you.” His brows drew together into his worrywart expression, the one he got whenever she did something he considered unsafe: dating, drinking, working in Alaska, mountain climbing, drinking, dating…
Waiting for the lecture, she rubbed her shoulder on the door frame and then frowned. With dark circles under his eyes and deep lines around his mouth, he looked like roadkill. “Are you okay?”
“Just tired. SAR found a hiker’s body two days ago. A woman.”
“I heard.” Poor Jake. She could hate him and still feel sorry for him. “Fell from the trail.”
“No, honey, that’s the problem-she didn’t fall. Someone murdered her. And others over the last couple of years.” He rubbed his eyes as if it helped the lack of sleep. “We’ve got a serial killer in the area, and it looks like he targets short, dark-haired women.”
Kallie blinked. “Others? Nobody happened to notice there were little dead brunettes lying around?”
“Nobody put it together-thanks to a coroner who can’t tell which side of the scalpel to cut with.” He muttered under his breath, “Fucking incompetent bastard.”
“But he finally figured it out?”
“No. The hotshot new coroner who replaced him did when she autopsied the last hiker.” Virgil’s mouth tightened. “Too many of the contusions were the same size and-wrong somehow for a fall. Someone beat that woman to death with a heavy branch.”
“Oh God.”
“Yeah. The coroner started checking older records. And then she called the sheriff’s department. And they alerted all the police departments in the area.” He moved his shoulders as if to get the knots out. “I doubt anyone got any sleep last night.”
“Surely even an incompetent coroner would have realized-”
“The murderer tosses the bodies off steep trails so it appears as if they fell.”
“That’s…ugly.” A creepy feeling started in her spine and worked upward.
“Yes.” Virgil’s gaze rested on her black hair, and he gave her a hard stare. “Until he’s caught, you don’t go anyplace in the forest alone.”
She opened her mouth to protest, caught the determination in his gaze, and rethought.
