“He also said she thought someone was following her,” Tori said. “Could it have been someone with the environmental group? Except that doesn’t make sense—Dee was scared himself. Obviously for good reason because someone killed him.” Maybe Dee had turned against the more violent extremists in the group after they killed Sarah? Maybe that was why he was willing to talk to Tori—and why he was killed?
She scratched her head, wishing she could figure this out.
“Right. There’s that, but let’s focus on these emails. Who is she talking to here?”
“Ned Hundley. We can’t know if that’s also an alias, though,” Tori said. “Wait a minute.”
She turned to look at Ryan, realization reflecting in his gaze.
“She was an informant,” they said simultaneously.
Tori shoved from the table.
“And who investigates ecoterrorist groups?” Ryan asked, though he already knew.
“The FBI.” Fury boiled through her veins. “I can’t believe this!”
She rushed from the breakfast room to the living area with the panoramic view of Mount Shasta and then finally settled to stare out the window.
Ryan approached from behind, then stood next to her. “You think both of them should have told you.”
“Whatever my employer did or didn’t do, whatever the Bureau’s involvement, I think she should have told me.” Grief and anger twisted inside.
What was the purpose in working for the FBI if she couldn’t keep her own family safe? How had Sarah ended up working with the FBI as an informant? Had she been caught for being involved in something illegal and then forced into becoming an informant to clear her own record? That was how it often went down. Nausea swirled in Tori’s gut and she pressed her hands against her midsection.
Knowing her sister, Tori felt it was more likely they somehow convinced Sarah that she was going to help them to prevent something terrible from happening. That would be very in character for Sarah. The queasiness eased up a bit.
Still next to her, Ryan sighed. “Maybe she was approached and then once she agreed, she was instructed not to share the information with anyone. Not even you.”
“I need to contact this Ned Hundley. If that’s even his name,” Tori said.
Ryan started pacing along the large, panoramic window. “This has shifted into a new investigation. If she was killed because of her informant status, the FBI should be investigating her death. They would also be investigating Dee James if he’s tied into this, too. So why aren’t they?”
Tori pulled out her cell. “I’m going to find out.”
Ryan urged her hand down. “You’re on bereavement leave, remember? You’re not supposed to be working a case. Let me reach out. In fact, I need to send what we’ve learned over to computer forensics techs working on Sarah’s digital evidence. Maybe they can also find out more about Ned Hundley, if that is his real name. Let’s work this through the proper channels so we can build our case.”
Reluctantly she put her cell away. He was right. She turned to face him and looked into his intense blue-green gaze. She’d been such an idiot to leave him behind to pursue her dream job. The FBI might have resources that took her work to a higher level...but the Maynor County Sheriff’s Department had a degree of trust and respect among colleagues that the Bureau was clearly lacking, especially since it looked like someone within the ranks of that organization had used her sister and gotten her killed. The bitter truth of it stung.
Tori didn’t know how to process the information. She wished she was back at work and in her office now so she could face off with someone as anger boiled through her. On the other hand, it was better that she was here now and with Ryan.
“I’m glad you’re in this with me.” She couldn’t believe she’d admitted that to him. Now the fact that she’d said his name after she’d been pulled from the falls made so much more sense. But deep inside, she also knew that her need for him in this investigation went much deeper than the simple fact that he was the investigating detective.
She hung her head and hugged herself.
“Tori...” The way he said her name curled around her heart.
He pulled her into his arms and Tori soaked up the strength of Ryan’s broad shoulders and sturdy chest, when she shouldn’t. She savored the comfort that poured from his heart, when she shouldn’t. She had no right to take from him when she had nothing to offer in return.
But she needed to feel his arms around her, if only for a moment.
“Detective—”
Deputy Reiser abruptly entered the living room, startling them both, and Ryan suddenly stepped back. He hadn’t meant for the deputy to see him holding Tori.
Shawna cleared her throat.
“What is it?” Ryan’s tone was sharp with frustration.
“I think someone is lurking in the woods.”
His shoulders stiffened. “Tori, get away from the window.”
He pushed a button that lowered the enormous shades. Shawna’s earlier words about the size of the home and the windows came back to him. He hoped she was wrong about a lurker.
“Show me,” he said to Shawna.
She rushed around the house and through the kitchen to look through the window in the breakfast room. Tori tried to follow Ryan and the deputy, but he turned and gently grabbed her arm. “I want you to stay in a room without windows for now. Please.”
Tori nodded and fetched her laptop from the table and then disappeared down the hall.
Shawna studied the woods. “Whoever it was is gone. I don’t see him now.”
“It was a ‘him’?”
“Yes. I think it was a male but from this distance I can’t be positive.”
Ryan scraped a
