I wish I could remember. Janelle put her hand to her head. Its like I have bubbles in my head that keep popping and fizzing. Its all I can hear or see.
Laney crossed to her sisters side and stroked her hair away from her face. Its the concussion, baby. Itll clear up soon.
Whats the last thing you do remember? Doyle asked.
We were going hiking. It was Joys twenty-first birthday, and thats how she wanted to celebrate. Janelles pale lips curved in a faint smile. Thats so Joy. She loves the mountains more than anything. She just got hired by the Ridge County Tourism Boarddid you know that? Shes supposed to start work next Monday. If anyone can turn us into a tourism mecca, its Joy.
Anger, fear and grief braided through the center of Laneys chest.
Do you remember reaching the first shelter on the mountain? Doyle asked.
Yeah. Joy wanted to camp out in the open, but Missy and I Her voice broke, but she cleared her throat and continued. Missy and I told her it was too cold to sleep out in the open. So we stopped at the shelter.
Did you see anyone on the mountain before then? Other hikers?
Janelles brow creased. I dont know. I remember reaching the shelter. I remember going to bedthat new sleeping bag Laney got me for Christmas was so warm, it was almost like being in my own bed. She shot a grin at Laney, but it faded as fast as it had appeared. I think I was the first one to fall asleep.
What about on the hike updo you remember meeting anyone?
I think there might have been someone.... Janelle worried with the IV tube, wincing as it tugged the cannula in the back of her hand. I cant remember. I cant. She closed her eyes, her forehead still wrinkled.
Cant we let her rest? Alice Hanvey had been quiet during Doyles questioning, but she rose now, a mother tiger pouncing to her cubs defense.
She cant remember right now, Laney agreed, putting herself in the narrow space between Doyle and her sisters hospital bed. She lowered her voice. In ten minutes, shell probably be asking us where Missy and Joy are, and were going to have to tell her the truth this time. I wish she could help you. I promise you, I do. But she cant. Not yet.
Maybe not ever, Alice warned in a half whisper. The last time she had a head injury, she lost most of her memories. She had to relearn almost everything. We still dont know how much damage the concussions going to do.
It was worth a shot. Doyle stood, pinning Laney between his lean, hard body and the hospital bed. His eyebrows quirked as she took a swift breath.
He smelled impossibly good, given that hed just hiked up and down a mountain. She herself felt rumpled and sweaty, but he smelled like the beach on a sunny day, all fresh ocean breezes and a hint of sunscreen.
Join me outside a sec? He cupped her elbow, nudging her toward the door.
Ray, Janelle murmured from the hospital bed.
Doyle froze, his hand still on Laneys arm. Im sorry?
Janelles eyes drifted open. The guy we met. I cant remember much about him, but he said his name was Ray. Her eyes fluttered closed again.
Doyle stared at her in consternation, clearly tempted to wake her back up and ask more questions. Laney tugged his arm, pulling him with her toward the door. He followed, frustration evident in the fierce set of his features.
Do you know anyone named Ray? he asked outside the room.
There are a few men named Ray around here, but she knows them all. Didnt it sound as if she didnt know this guy?
He nodded slowly, looking unsatisfied. Ill run the information past my detectives. Maybe one of them will have an idea.
Listen, Ive been thinking. She glanced at the closed door to Janelles room and lowered her voice. The doctors say once they get Janelle out of the danger zone with the concussion, theyll probably start giving her pain medicine for the head wound, so I dont know how helpful itll be for me to sit here at her side, hoping she tells us something solid we can use. I need to be doing something more active to help find Joy.
You want to join a search party?
Im a good hiker. I know the mountains as well as anyone up there.
Good. Because Im planning to join the search myself, and I dont know a thing about these hills. I could use someone to show me the way. He brushed his hand down her arm again, the touch almost familiar now. But it wont be tonight. Theyll shut down the search parties once the sun sets.
I can be ready at sunup.
He smiled. Ill be there.
Laney slipped back into the room, her heart catching as she saw her mother sitting with her head on Janelles leg, tears staining her cheeks.
She sat up quickly, giving Laney a sheepish smile. My baby, she said simply, fresh tears slipping down her cheeks.
Laney bent and gave her mother a fierce hug. Im going up the mountain to join the search for Joy in the morning, so I have to leave soon to get some sleep. Are you going to stay here tonight?
Alice nodded, patting her cheek. Ill be fine. Go find that girl. The Adderlys have lost enough already, dont you think?
Laney kissed her mothers damp cheek. Take care of our girl.
Remembering shed driven her mother to the hospital, she pulled the car key from her key ring and handed it to Alice. Ill see if I can catch the chief and get a ride with him. If you need anything, take my car.
Laney left her sisters room and hurried down the corridor toward the elevator bank. Doyle was still there, she saw with surprise. Chief, wait up.
He turned to face her, a bleak look in his eyes. He was holding his phone with a tight-fingered grip.
Fear shot through her. Whats wrong?
The searchers found another body.
Chapter Four
Laneys face blanched at his blunt words, and Doyle quickly closed his hand over her arm, bending to level his gaze with hers. It wasnt Joy Adderly. Its a male, and it looks like hes been up there awhile.
He saw a flicker of relief in those baby blues, quickly eclipsed by grim curiosity. How long?
Weeks at least.
Any ID?
Didnt have any on him. The searchers have cordoned off the spot and one of my deputies is on the way up there.
There are only a couple of missing-persons cases outstanding in the county, she said, looking less pale and more in charge. She would know, he realized, being part of the county prosecutors team.
That part of the mountain is under Bitterwoods jurisdiction, he said firmly, in case she was thinking of starting a jurisdiction fight.
One side of her mouth curved. Im not sure the county sheriff will agree.
Bitterwood is still autonomous at the moment, Doyle shot back, trying to keep his voice both light and firm. He didnt want to antagonize her, but he didnt want to let her walk all over him, either. Even though she had a way of getting under his skin without even seeming to try.
Hed always been a sucker for a pair of blue eyes and a Southern drawl. And her mountain twang was just different enough from the girls hed known back home in south Alabama to add a hint of the exotic to her appeal. It was a potent combination, especially added to her obviously quick mind. He was going to have to be on his guard around Laney Hanvey.
The job ahead of him was difficult enough as it was. The last thing he could afford was another complication. Especially a complication who could cost him his job with one word to her bosses.
I need to leave the car for my mother, she told him as they stepped into the elevator together. Think you could give me a ride?
To Barrowville?
The look she sent blazing his way packed a punch. To the crime scene.
* * *
YOURENOTACOP, you know. Doyle sounded somewhere between frustrated and amused.
Laney kept her voice even and, she hoped, nonconfrontational. The county governments policies regarding public integrity investigations give me a great deal of leeway in police matters while your department is under scrutiny.
Even ride alongs under duress?
Im not sure Id term this duress
You told me to shut up and drive, he drawled.
I did no such She stopped short when she spotted the slight curve of his mouth. Youre a funny guy, Chief Massey. Real funny.
He turned up that hint of a smile to full wattage. If she were a lesser woman, she might find herself utterly dazzled by that grin. Heres what Ive learned about police work, Public Integrity Officer Hanvey. There aint much to smile about, so you have to create your own opportunities.
He was right about one thing. There hadnt been much to smile about since shed returned to Bitterwood to look into police corruption. Maybe the county administrator was wrong to think she was the best person for the job. There just might be too much history between her and this town for her to ever be fully objective.
Think this body belongs to that missing P.I. from Virginia? Massey asked a moment later, his grin having faded with her silence.
She didnt have to ask whom he meant. Peter Bells disappearance was all tangled up with the police-corruption case she was investigating. Depends on how long the bodys been up there. Do you know?
At least a month, but probably not much more than three or four.
She nodded. That fits the timeline for Peter Bells disappearance. He was last seen in this area in late October of last year.
Shortly after he observed Wayne Cortland meeting with Paul Bailey.
She slanted a look at him. You know a lot about the Cortland case.
He met her gaze with a quirked eyebrow. You think Id take this job without doing my homework?
Actually, she had figured him as the sort of guy who avoided homework every chance he got. But maybe shed assumed too much about him based on his outward appearance and his laid-back attitude.
The road ended at the trailhead about halfway up Copperhead Ridge. Doyle parked his truck and turned to look at her. Im not a mountain goat. So go easy on me. Get me safely up that mountain and back.
She bit back a smile. Ill do what I can. But those sea-level lungs may have a little trouble with the change in altitude.
At least he was appropriately dressed, in a fleece-lined weatherproof jacket and heavy-duty hiking boots. Her own attire was similar, as shed changed clothes at Ledbetters Diner before she and Ivy headed up the mountain earlier that day. Her travel bag was still in her car in the hospital parking deck.
With nightfall, the temperatures on the mountain had plunged below freezing, making the hike up the ridge trail a headlong struggle into a biting wind. Up this high, the tendrils of mist that shrouded the peaks turned into a freezing fog that stung the skin and made eyes water. Laney tugged the collar of her jacket up to protect her throat and lower face, squinting through tears.
Damn, its cold, Doyle muttered.
Just wait till it snows again.
One of the search parties scouring the ridge had found the body about thirty yards east of the second trail shelter, about eight miles from where theyd found Missy Adderlys body. Since Laney was the native, Doyle let her lead the way. Despite his occasional self-deprecating comments about the hike, he didnt have any trouble keeping up, and his sea-level lungs seemed to be doing just fine at nearly five thousand feet. He seemed to be adapting quickly to his new surroundings.
They found some of the search-party members had remained on the mountain, huddled together under the shelter for warmth and a little respite from the freezing fog. Laney recognized a few of them, including Carol Brandywine and her husband, James, who ran a trail-riding stable. No horses out here tonight, Laney noted with grim amusement. The Brandywines wouldnt subject their precious four-legged babies to conditions like these.
Delilah and Antoine are with the body. James pointed east, where blobs of light moved in the woods.
Stay here if you like, Doyle told Laney, giving the sleeve of her jacket a light tuga variation on his arm-touching habit, she thought. That bodys not likely to be pretty.
Ive spent time on the Body Farm at the University of Tennessee, she told him. Ive probably seen more bodies in various degrees of decay than you have.
His eyebrows lifted slightly, but he didnt try to talk her out of it when she fell into step with him as they headed toward the flashlight beams ahead. Halfway there, he murmured, If I go all wobbly kneed at the sight of the body, promise youll catch me?
She glanced at him and saw the smile lurking at the corner of his mouth. You think I overstated my credentials a bit?
He looked at her. No. But its possible youve underestimated mine.
Ridley Countys not that big. And you werent even the sheriff. You were a deputy.
I was captain of investigations, with several years of experience as an investigator. Im plenty qualified to lead a small-town department.
On paper, perhaps. But did he have the temperament to run a police department that had already been rocked by scandal?
So serious, he murmured, as if reading her thoughts on her face. She tried to school her expressions to hide her musings, succeeding only in making him smile. There are many ways to get things done, Public Integrity Officer Hanvey. Sometimes a smile is more useful than a frown.
And now he was implying she was a grim dullard, she thought with a grimace as they reached the clump of underbrush where Antoine Parsons and fellow Bitterwood P.D. detective Delilah Hammond stood a few feet from a pair of TBI evidence technicians examining the remains.
The body was clearly that of a male and, except for a few signs of predation, was in remarkably good shape, given how long it must have been in the woods. Temps up here have been pretty cold since October, Delilah said when Doyle commented on it. The TBI guys say the bodys fairly well preserved.
Looks like the only things thatve been messing with the body were small carrion eaters like raccoons, Antoine added. Couldve been worse if the black bears werent hibernating now.
Laney tamped down a shudder. Shed seen the kind of damage a black bear could do to a campsite. Her earlier bravado aside, she didnt want to know what one could do to human remains.
No ID on the body?
Wont know for sure until the techs move him, but so far, no. No wallet, no watch, no jewelry, no nothing, Delilah answered. She glanced up and did a double take when she spotted Laney.
Hi, Dee, Laney said with a smile, recognizing the look on the other womans face. That look that said, Dont I know you? Delilah Hammond was five years older than Laney, and the last time theyd seen each other, Laney had been twelve years old, with a mouth full of braces and a pixie haircut. Delilah had been her idol, a smart, beautiful high school senior whod volunteered to coach Laneys softball team.