Forcing down the rising bile, she kept her composure. “Only one of us needs to check. If this turns out to be part of a crime scene, we want this area protected.”
Soft voices drew her eyes up. A few SAR volunteers approached and then, seeing Terra and Case, stopped as though imaginary crime scene tape blocked their path. Their soft murmurs were the only sounds in the forest. Terra could hardly consider herself fortunate to be one of the first on the scene.
The body of a man lay twisted. Terra was relieved that his face remained turned away from them, but the angle left no doubt that his neck was broken and he had likely fallen from the cliff. “I don’t think we need to get a pulse, after all, Case.”
Case crouched next to the body and angled his head. “His watch is broken too. Eight twenty-five. It probably broke with the fall, but we don’t know if that was this morning or last night. My guess is . . . last night.”
Nausea rippled through her stomach in waves again, but she would hold it together. “Since you’re theorizing, what do you think happened? Did he jump to his death?”
“Or was he taking a selfie and fell? That happens far too often these days.”
She bit back her words. The sheriff’s department would theorize too—they all did—but they wouldn’t say a word until they received the official report on the cause of death.
She spotted no footprints around the body, though pine needles could often hide the evidence. Still, as she observed the area, she couldn’t see signs that the body had been carried or dragged.
She peered up at the cliff through the treetops. Could they find pieces of torn clothing in the trees?
“Here they come,” Case said.
She glanced behind the volunteers and spotted deputies approaching.
A sound drew her attention back to Case and, beyond him, a man emerged from the woods, coming from the direction of the cliff.
Sunglasses sat on his sandy blond hair, and the angles of his face were sharp and jagged like the rock wall he’d descended. His navy-blue Grayback County Search and Rescue T-shirt stretched across his chest and left no doubt of his toned physique.
Familiarity crawled over her. Terra feared everyone could hear her pounding heart. She wanted to turn away, but her gaze was drawn to his piercing forest-green eyes. Recognition slammed into her with full force.
Jack Tanner.
So, he was the deputy who’d spotted the body? He’d been the guy rappelling the ridge? Of course. That made total sense.
Except . . . well . . .
What was he doing here? He’d been FBI, working somewhere else. Gone from her life forever. Now he was a deputy?
Shock ricocheted through her. Calming her breaths, she slid her sunglasses back on. She kept her features straight when Jack stumbled but quickly righted himself as he hiked through brambles, stepping over fallen trees with ease. Was he shocked to see her too? Honestly, he didn’t seem all that surprised.
At about ten yards out, he dropped his pack. Case rose from where he was crouched and waited by the body as Jack approached.
“Deputy Tanner.” Terra kept her tone even.
Jack stared at the body, hands on hips. “It’s Detective Tanner.”
“Detective Tanner.” She wished she’d kept her mouth shut.
He turned his attention to her. “It’s been a long time, Special Agent Connors. It’s good to see you.”
Well, that told her a lot. He wasn’t surprised to see her because he knew she was back in the area and also had a new title as a special agent. She’d changed over from NPS—National Park Service—after her undercover work on a task force investigating pothunters. The rest of it, nobody needed to know.
Jack returned his attention to the body.
He tromped around in a take-charge kind of manner, now in his deputy-detective mode. His deputy buddies started forward, and he held up his hand. “Wait.”
He rubbed his chin, anguish twisting his features. “The deputy coroner’s on the way?”
Deputy Sarnes pushed through the group and approached Jack and the body. “Yep. Emmett Hildebrand.”
The grim set of Jack’s mouth and the deepening furrow between his brows told her he was processing the scene. He peered at her then, and she removed her sunglasses so she could look closely at those dark-green eyes that she remembered so well.
He studied her and appeared to make a decision. Terra would love to know what he was thinking.
“We don’t need an audience,” Jack said. “Sarnes, can you get rid of the sightseers?”
Terra replaced her sunglasses and murmured to Case. “Our cue to head out too. Our assistance is no longer needed.” To the larger group, she said, “Case and I will be happy to hike out with them.”
“I’d like you to stay, Special Agent Connors.” Those intense eyes pinned her again. “Terra . . .”
Oh? She glanced at Case. He shrugged.
“Okay then,” Case said. “I guess I’ve been dismissed.”
As SAR volunteers exited the area, the forest swallowed them up, and Terra turned her attention to Jack.
“I’m happy to assist, Jack.” Since he’d used her first name, she would return the favor. “What do you need?”
“National forest is your jurisdiction,” he said.
“Of course, but this, whatever it is, isn’t something I would investigate. What are you getting at?”
Clearing her throat, she grabbed more water from her pack, giving her an excuse to look anywhere except at Jack.
“You know this forest like no one else. You spent your life in these woods.” His professional county-detective tone had shifted to something more familiar and personal.
Chugging her water, she considered her response. When she finished, she capped the bottle and faced him. “You’re talking millions of acres. I didn’t spend my childhood in all of millions of acres.”
“I’m asking for a little assistance, that’s all.” He offered the hint of a smile as he studied her, then his expression turned serious again as he shifted his attention to the body. “What do you think happened here?”
“Are you working a case now? As in, this could be murder?”
“I haven’t been officially assigned, no. But
