Falling in Love on Willow Creek by Debbie Mason

Chapter Seventeen

Chase wiped the back of his hand across his sweaty brow while casting a nervous glance at the rustling ferns to the right of the forest trail. He was positive he’d heard a snake hiss. The six-foot-four, broad-shouldered man walking on the trail ahead of him didn’t seem to share his concerns.

But why would he? Less than an hour ago, Chase had watched Hunter Mackenzie coax a black bear out of a hysterical woman’s yard and back into the woods. Chase had never been so glad to see someone in his entire life, a life which he now felt he owed to Hunter.

Chase was positive he wouldn’t have made it out of the situation alive, and it might not have been the bear that killed him. The bystanders had turned on him when he’d drawn his gun as the bear lumbered his way. They were equally unimpressed, yelling at him to do his job, when Chase ran in the opposite direction after holstering his gun. Any hero status he might have built up by being there for Sadie on the night Michaela was born, he’d managed to obliterate with his ineptitude as a park ranger.

Hunter glanced over his shoulder. “You doing okay? You look like you’re overheated.” He stopped and turned, reaching in his pack to pull out a canteen. He tossed it to Chase.

“Thanks. I’m not used to a ten-mile hike in this heat.” He’d also forgotten his own pack in his car. So much for always being prepared. This case was chipping away at him. He gestured at Hunter’s head after taking a welcome drink of water. “The bun’s a good idea.”

“It’s a man bun, according to Abby, and also her idea. I usually just tie it back.”

“Ah, a ponytail—mantail,” he corrected, not wanting to offend Hunter. Although Chase had a feeling the other man wasn’t easily offended. Aside from Hunter being Tarzan of the woods, they shared some similarities. Both of them kept their own counsel, loners who didn’t really care about the opinions of others. It was a nice change from his partner.

He noticed the way Hunter was studying him and said, “You think Black would make a better park ranger than me and that I’d do a better job pulling off his gig at I Believe in Unicorns, don’t you?”

“I think your partner could convince anyone of anything.”

Something in the way Hunter stated the observation had Chase lowering the canteen from his mouth. “You don’t trust him.”

“No, I don’t.” He rubbed his bearded jaw. “Gabe told me what went down the other night. How much do you know about your partner?”

Chase hesitated, then decided to go with his gut. He trusted Hunter to keep the information to himself. “Former spec ops with enough experience that he should have been at the scene in time to warn Sadie and get her out of the line of fire—as well as grabbing Elijah.”

Hunter nodded. “I thought the same.”

“I can’t access anything about him between his time in the military and when he became an agent with NCSBI.”

“Have you spoken to his superior?”

“No, nor mine.” Chase briefly explained their off-book operation and how their partnership came about.

“Are you sure he’s still with the NCSBI? Did he offer you any proof?”

“Of course, I’m…” He trailed off, thinking back to their first meeting. Black had never shown him a badge, nor had Chase asked him to see one. Chase’s boss had set up the initial meet. He scrolled through his memory of his conversation with his boss back in February.

He hadn’t looked him in the eye. He’d stared down at some paperwork, tapping a pen in an irritated rhythm on his desk. Chase had assumed he’d been irritated with him, but maybe it hadn’t been about him after all. Maybe his boss was being forced to do something he didn’t want to do. He had mentioned Black by name, but now that Chase thought about it, he hadn’t come out and directly said he was an agent with NCSBI. He’d just mumbled something about the investigative bureau. Then, when Chase had asked for personal leave two weeks ago, his boss had simply held up his hand to silence his explanation and granted it with no questions asked.

“No, I’m not sure that he is. I can see now that I made the assumption based on my boss’s initial involvement.” He’d also made the assumption that his new boss was like his old one and wanted to get rid of him, which may actually have been the case. Only his new boss wasn’t just bending the damn law, he was breaking it. Now the question was why. “I need to make a call.” He reached for his phone.

“You won’t get cell service here.” Hunter lifted his chin. “We’ll have to go back to the road.”

“You go ahead, and I’ll catch up with you.” Chase turned to set off down the path. He didn’t want to delay the search for Elijah. He held up his phone, his eyes on the bars in hopes he’d get service sooner rather than later.

“Don’t move,” Hunter warned from behind him. “It won’t—”

Chase looked down. There was a snake—one big mother of a snake—coiled inches from his booted foot. Chase yelled and went for his gun. The snake lifted its head and reared back to strike.

Hunter shoved him out of the way, which Chase would have appreciated if he’d given him some warning. As it was, his legs weren’t exactly steady, and he lost his balance, going over on his ankle before landing hard on the ground. His gun went off, the shot taking out a tree branch and leaves.

Afraid that he’d become prey for the snake or anything else creeping around under the thick undergrowth, Chase jumped to his feet and nearly fell back to the ground. “Son of a…beehive,” he cried out, not because he was trying not to offend Hunter by swearing but because there was an actual beehive on the ground. And holy crap, his ankle hurt like a mother. Worse, he was beginning to sound like Black.

A muffled sound caught his attention. He looked over to see Hunter with his hand pressed to his face, his shoulders shaking.

“Could you maybe stop laughing long enough to tell me which way the snake went?” Chase looked around and shuddered.

Trying to appear like he hadn’t been laughing, Hunter pointed in the opposite direction, thank God. Chase gritted his teeth as he limped back onto the path.

Hunter cleared his throat but didn’t manage to completely clear the laughter from his voice. “You broke your leg.”

“No, I twisted it, that’s all.”

“No, you broke it. That’s our story, and we’re sticking to it. No offense, but I’m worried you’re going to get yourself or someone else killed. You’re not cut out to be a park ranger. This will give you an out. It will also give you more time to focus on keeping Sadie and the baby safe.”

It was a good point, especially if his hunch about Black was right. “I’m sure no one at park services will complain. After today, my boss is no doubt looking for an excuse to get rid of me.”

Hunter grinned as he bent down in front of him. “Hop on.”

“I’m not getting on your back. I weigh two hundred pounds.”

Hunter quirked an eyebrow as if his pack weighed more.

“I’d also look like an idiot, and I’ve already made enough of a fool of myself for one day.” As he’d discovered earlier, while he’d never cared what people thought about him before, he did care what Sadie thought of him.

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Hunter said as he walked off the path. He retrieved a walking stick and came back, handing it to Chase. “This’ll help keep the weight off your foot. I’ll call a friend of mine and get one of those boot things for you. Don’t worry, you’ll just have to wear it when you’re in town.” He glanced at him as they set off down the path. “I’m assuming you’ll tell Sadie the truth.”

“Of course. Including about Black, if I find out he’s lied to me.”

“Good, that’s what I wanted to hear. You need her to trust you, and that’s not going to be easy. She’s been burned too many times.”

“You think she’s holding out on us about Elijah?”

Hunter shrugged. “He’s her baby brother. She’s always protected him, no matter how bad he screwed up.”

“Trafficking cocaine and killing a law enforcement officer isn’t on the same scale as running a pyramid scheme or hacking into the local high school’s computers to change a grade.” Offenses Elijah had been suspected of but not formally charged with.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Hunter said. “Sadie cut Elijah out of her life when she found out about the drugs, but now that he’s in danger, I can’t see her turning her back on him. It’s not who she is. She’ll have a hard time believing he’s capable of murder. To be honest, so do I.”

“At the moment, the evidence disagrees with you. You’re letting your connection to the Grays cloud your judgment. I hope Sadie doesn’t let her feelings for her brother cloud hers. Otherwise, she could be in a whole lot of trouble.”

“If you found out she was helping her brother, you’d arrest her?”

He nodded, ignoring the twisting in his gut. “I’d have no choice. At the time Agnes hid her grandson and Sadie met with him in the woods, they were unaware he was wanted in connection with Brodie’s murder. That’s no longer the case on Sadie’s end. What she does from now on—”

“No one in town knows about Elijah’s connection to the murder, so I doubt Agnes does. Sadie wouldn’t tell her. She’d protect her.”

“That’s a decision she needs to rethink, for both their sakes,” Chase said. “Sadie agreed to help us. Her compliance is the only thing that stands between her and a jail cell. If she reneges on the deal, I’ll have no choice but to arrest her for aiding and abetting.”

“That’s cold, man.”

“It’s my job.” One he was actually good at. At least he had been, before he’d gotten involved with this case and Sadie. He glanced at the bars on his phone as they stepped into the clearing. “If you’ll excuse me for a minute, I need to make this call.”

It took a couple minutes for him to be connected to the special agent in charge. As he waited, he glanced at Hunter. He was on his phone too. Chase had sensed Hunter’s disappointment in him. It bothered him. He admired the man. He also wanted to trust him. He didn’t want to think Hunter would jeopardize the case to protect the Grays.

The last thing Chase wanted to do was arrest Sadie, but the laws were in place for a reason. They were there to protect the public and their safety, to protect democracy. No one was above the law.

Including his own superior, he thought, when his boss’s voice came over the line. “Roberts, I thought we agreed there’d be no communi—”

“You have two minutes to tell me exactly who Nathan Black is and what his connection is to you before I go over your head.”

His boss swore. “I’ll call you back.”

Chase brought his phone from his ear to stare at it. He’d hung up on him. Seconds later, his phone rang. He glanced at the screen. “You’re calling me from a burner.” His voice was tight with barely restrained anger as his suspicions were confirmed.

“I can explain.”

“You can try.”

“Nate is my brother-in-law.”

The tension in Chase’s shoulders loosened. He’d been afraid Black had something illegal on his boss and was using it against him. “Be aware that I can and will verify that you’re telling me the truth.”

“I have no doubt you will. It’s one of the reasons I agreed to this in the first place. I knew you’d keep Nate in line.”

“Is he an agent with NCSBI?”

“Technically, no. He’s on mandatory leave. I’ll let him explain why. Despite him being a hothead with no respect for authority, something the two of you have in com—”

“I respect authority but not when someone is using their position to thwart the law.”

“I’m not. The operation is off-book to protect you and Nate.”

“And yourself.” He glanced at Hunter, who’d pocketed his phone. “We can talk more about that at another time. Right now, you’re going to tell me everything I need to know about Black. Everything that is relevant to the case.”

Five minutes later, Chase disconnected from his boss.

“Did your boss clear up your concerns about your partner?” Hunter asked, gesturing for Chase to go ahead of him.

Chase nodded. “Black is an agent with NCSBI.” It was best if no one other than Chase knew of Black’s current status. Things made more sense to Chase after talking to his boss. It certainly explained why Black had so easily acquiesced to Chase calling the shots.

“Did he shed any light on the missing information in Black’s file?”

Chase should have been more circumspect. It wasn’t like him to be so forthcoming with a man he barely knew. His gut may have told him he could trust Hunter, and over the years, his instincts had proved reliable, but he was out of his element here. Which was why he’d felt the need to confide in someone who had a knowledge of not only the area but also the players.

He stopped, turning to face Hunter. “Do I have your word that this conversation goes no further than us?”

Hunter’s mouth twisted to the side, and then he nodded. “Yeah.”

The fact he’d taken a moment to weigh his answer made Chase feel better. “According to my boss, Black was messed up after returning from Afghanistan.” Someone else might have missed it but Chase caught the flicker of emotion in Hunter’s eyes.

Chase had looked into him and knew that Hunter would understand what he’d just shared better than most. He’d lost his best friend in a military operation he’d led in Afghanistan. Upon his return to Highland Falls, he’d cut himself off from his friends and family. Then Abby had come into his life.

“He found another band of brothers when he got stateside. He rode with an MC—motorcycle club—for three years until my boss recruited him for an undercover op.”

“Why would he choose Nate for the op?”

“His wife threatened to divorce him if he didn’t help get her brother out of the life. Black has five older sisters, who, according to my boss, think he walks on water.”

“That speaks well of him, at least. But why didn’t your boss bring him into the FBI?”

“Unlike his wife and sisters-in-law, he doesn’t think Black walks on water. They don’t exactly see eye to eye. On much of anything.”

“You trust him now?”

“Black or my boss?”

“I’m sensing that’s a no on both.”

“You have excellent senses.” Chase went to walk ahead and then turned back. “Who were you talking to on the phone?”

“I didn’t give Sadie a heads-up, if that’s what you’re worried about. I called your boss, the other one, and told him you broke your foot and would be out of commission for a couple weeks. He told me to tell you to take all the time you need,” Hunter said, clearly fighting back a grin. Then he added, “Someone spotted Elijah near Bridal Veil Falls earlier today. It’s about an hour from the caves, so it looks like he’s on the move.”

“Any idea where he’s headed?”

“No, but Sadie might.”

An hour later, with a blow-up boot on his foot courtesy of Hunter’s doctor friend, Chase called Black from his car. “Where are you?” he said as soon as his partner answered.

“Aren’t you in a fine mood? I guess I can’t blame you. Word of your exploits—”

Chase cut him off. “We need to talk. I’ll be at the store in ten minutes. Meet me in the back.”

“Don’t bother. I’m sitting outside the cottage on Willow Creek. Sadie—”

“Is she okay? What’s wrong?”

“Relax, she’s fine. Well, sort of fine. She’s not impressed with you at the moment so you’d best be prepared. Then again, when I share what I found on her phone, you’re not exactly going to be thrilled with her either.”