Chilled by Death (18 page)

Nothing. He searched the trees and thought he saw someone moving past another pocket of greenery. A red stripe on the jacket. Stacy didn’t have any red on hers. At least none that he remembered.

He came to a stop and studied the furtive figure. His hackles rose. Nothing special wrong. Just nothing spectacularly right. There could be people here for any number of reasons, but none good he could think of. The area was only accessible if the person knew the area well. And that he was doubtful of.

It was off the beaten path.

“Stacy?” He called her name louder again and again. No answer. He slid forward another few feet, his gaze hard. His ears were tuned and his gaze intent on the area he’d last seen that person.

There was no sign of him.

Anywhere.

Worse, there was no sign of Stacy either.

Damn it.

Where was she?

*

Idiot. Show off.
Lovestruck fool. Did Royce really think it would be that easy? To see him? To understand he was there? To understand what he was doing? So not.

It wasn’t like he was going to be stupid here – unlike Royce, who stood holding two cold cups of coffee in his hands searching the woods. Stacy wasn’t here. At least not
right
here.

He thought she had been. He’d tracked her down to this area but when he finally picked out the perfect spot to watch her, she was gone. He kinda liked that. He had no problem with a game of hide and seek. Predator and prey. Winner and loser.

The outcome was inevitable.

This was fun, but not challenging. It was better to drag it out. See the normal reactions change to that inner suspicion of needing to look over her shoulder – of not being sure why but unable to stop checking.

Because of course her instincts were there, just not as finely tuned as her ancestors of hundreds of years ago. Obviously Stacy’s instincts were better than most as she’d booked it out of here. Interesting. So where the hell was she?

Royce appeared to be searching for her himself.

Great. Now to see who’d find her first.

D
amn it. She
wished Royce would stop yelling long enough to hear her own calls. But she was keeping her voice hushed, whereas he was letting the entire world know she was missing.

Great. If the guy watching her from the crest above her didn’t know she’d been down there before, he sure knew now. She didn’t know if that watcher was just an innocent bystander or not. She’d caught him in her camera view several times and had managed to get a couple of pictures, but they were a long ways away. She doubted there would be enough detail to identify him. But it would prove she hadn’t imagined him.

She’d held back texting anyone about it. She didn’t want them to think she’d crossed that fine line of paranoia with being back on the mountain.

But maybe after this, she shouldn’t. Or maybe after this, it just proved she was nervous over nothing. Something she wouldn’t have thought of herself. She wasn’t scared to be here. Or of something happening to herself. It was more that something might happen to her friends.

She wasn’t sure what to say to Royce’s earlier comment about the man being murdered. It wasn’t for her to say. And it was too early to judge. But all the indications pointed to foul play. It was hard to argue away the marks on his wrists. He might not have been murdered, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t been running for his life to escape something horrible and had succumbed to the elements.

Silence had descended on the area. She peered through the boughs of the big fir tree she’d taken refuge behind to see Royce standing and staring, such a horrible look of loss on his face. And she realized maybe the others were correct. Maybe he really did care.

And damn if that didn’t make her feel terrible. She’d been keeping him at a distance. Thinking he’d been mocking her. Playing with her. Treating her like his other relationships. But what if he was trying to show her he cared?

Trying to let her know she was different.

Or was that just wishful thinking on her part?

There. A shadow shifted on the ridge above them. Movement to the left. Royce spun and stared up behind where Stacy had seen her stalker earlier.

“Hello?”

No answer. There was a heavy rustling sound but if anyone was still up there, they were leaving or already gone. She stepped out from behind her hiding place. “Royce,” she hissed.

He spun back again, relief washing over his face. Followed by instant anger.

“What the hell were you doing hiding back there? I almost had heart attack thinking—”

“Shh,” she snapped in a harsh whisper. “Someone was sitting up there for a really long time staring at me. But they were hidden from view. It made me really uncomfortable so when I thought I could, I slipped out of sight and waited.”

His gaze was intent, searching. And damn, he saw a lot. “He really scared you, huh?”

Trying to keep her voice calm and logical, she said, “There have been a couple of times these last few days when I felt like I was being watched. I never could see anyone though.”

“What?” He stared at her in shock, anger still burning bright in his eyes. “And you’re just telling me now?”

“When was I supposed to mention it?” she asked in what she thought was a reasonable tone of voice. Apparently he didn’t agree.

“Tell me all of it.” When she didn’t answer fast enough, he snapped, “Now.”

Feeling a sense of déjà vu, she said, “It’s not much…” then gave him the little bit she knew.

“And last night? Were you awoken in the night for any reason?”

“Yes! Were you?”

He nodded. “I thought I heard the outside door open and close.”

“Which isn’t all that odd or alarming. People go outside sometime in the night.”

“I know.” He nodded. “That’s part of the problem. It could be completely innocent.”

“So why are you so worried? It sounds like everyone’s imagination is going wild.”

“And your stalker today? Was that also your imagination?” He held out a cup of coffee for her. “This is probably cold by now…”

“That’s fine. I could use the caffeine hit.” She accepted the cup gratefully, touched by his thoughtfulness. She had no idea how he managed to do it, but the cup was still full and lukewarm.

He took a drink from his cup and made a face.

She grinned at him and took a big drink. “It’s not hot, but it’s caffeine.”

“And the stalker,” he said, staying persistent.

She threw up her hand. “All right. So maybe that incident wasn’t my imagination.”

“And if it wasn’t, then likely the other incidents weren’t either,” he said thoughtfully. “Still, I don’t understand who this person is and what they want.”

“Neither do I.” Of course the clouds moved in and changed the bright sunlight to overcast and cloudy. The cool coffee was also having an effect on her. She shivered. “I think I’ll head home to the cabin.”

“Then I’m coming with you.” He bent down and picked up his board and motioned in front of him. “Shall we?”

She started off in the right direction. “You don’t have to come with me, you know.”

He snorted. “We’ve just finished discussing that there is a stalker following you…”

“Right. Fair enough.” She was happy to have the company.

The trip back was quiet and uneventful. By the time she made it inside, she hated to admit she needed a rest. She’d love to lie down, but the cabin was too cold.

“Go sit down and I’ll get the fire going again.”

She gave him a grateful smile of thanks and put her stuff away in the loft, grimacing at the mess she’d left in her panic to get down on time, and when she returned downstairs, there was a bright blaze going. She filled the coffeepot and put it on the heater stove then went to work, making a few sandwiches for the two of them. That done, she walked through the cabin, poking her head into the different rooms. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for, if anything, but she’d seen red on the jacket. If there was one here, then she’d like to know. But chances were good the owner of the jacket with the red stripe was wearing it still. It wouldn’t be here.

“The guy is still out there most likely.”

She turned away from George’s bed to look at Royce standing behind her. “What do you think I was doing?”

He shrugged, but his gaze was shrewd. “You’re going from room to room. So you tell me.”

With a dark look, she brushed past him. “I was just checking to see if anyone was here or not.”

“Not is my vote.” He followed her back to the kitchen where she quickly cut the sandwiches, placing them on two plates and handing them to him.

“I’ll bring the coffee,” she said, “take these out please.”

“Sure. They look great. Thanks.”

She didn’t respond. It was just a sandwich. As she sat down beside him in front of the fire, he took a bite, studied her, and then asked, “So did you see anything beside red?”

She shook her head. “I only saw a strip of red in the trees. Nothing of his face or other gear.”

“If it was here, it wouldn’t be on your stalker out there,” he said.

“Yeah, unless they whipped home and changed their jacket, then went out again.” She smiled grimly. “And came in with the groups as they arrived home.”

He swallowed the bite in his mouth, as if the food was drier than he’d like. “Is that your logical mind at work or is that a really nasty imagination conjuring up horror stories? Are you really suspecting one of us?”

“You forget my line of work.”

“That is not a nice thought.” He took a huge bite of a sandwich and stared thoughtfully into the fire as he chewed. “I guess that would be the easy answer, but not the smartest as there’s a good chance he’d be seen, or his jacket found.”

“And the difficult answer?”

“It’s a large mountain. Any number of people could have seen you and decided to stalk you.”

“And the other incidences?” she asked before popping the last of her sandwich into her mouth. She stared down at her empty plate, then decided a second would be good and stood up.

“Same thing.”

“Maybe.” She started in the direction of the kitchen. “I’m going to make another sandwich. Do you want another?”

“Yes, please.”

She started building a second sandwich for both of them as he leaned against the doorjamb finishing off the first one. She was just about done when he said, “I wonder.”

“Wonder what?” She slapped the tops of the sandwiches then cut them in half. She took his plate from him and filled it again. She picked up her plate and turned back to him. “Wonder what?”

“You searched the rooms to see if there was a jacket. As in you were looking for something that might have been left behind. Did you happen to consider that we should instead be looking for what might be missing?”

She stopped cold. There was a weird tingling inside. Her mind cast through all he wasn’t saying. “You think someone might have searched the cabin while we were gone?”

“A cabin inhabited by a large group of people here on a holiday? If I were a criminal or someone looking for a quick score, there’d be easy money here, wouldn’t there?”

His tone darkened with an ugly overtone. She stayed quiet, thinking about it. “And…” she asked when he didn’t continue.

“And if I saw a girl I really liked the look of, I’d be tempted to follow her back to where she was staying so I could learn more about her.”

Unbidden, her gaze went to the loft where she’d dumped her camera bag. And the disarray she hadn’t expected to see. She’d been in a rush this morning, but she hadn’t been in that much of a rush – or had she? She found the days and mornings blending into each other. She couldn’t remember.

“Do you think we should be checking to see if we’ve been robbed?” she said in a low voice, studying his face carefully.

“I think I’ll be taking a closer look at my stuff. I didn’t bring much of value, but there is a different perspective on what that word means to people.”

Stacy carefully set her sandwich down, her appetite suddenly gone. “I think I’ll go up and check,” she murmured. She walked past him to the stairs, feeling his gaze on her every step. Up in the loft, she stopped and looked around first. Her bed appeared to be as she left it. There was nothing different on it or around it. She wanted to make sure so she flipped the covers back and then quickly remade it.