Lone Wolfe Protector (10 page)

“Don’t be a dick.”

Alan chuckled. “I can respect that. I can. Just don’t give up any of our sensitive info. The top-secret shit.”

“As far as I know we don’t have any info, so that shouldn’t be a problem.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, my brother in blue. Er…brown.”

Ignoring the deputy jab, Koda sat forward.

“What’s going on?”

Alan shook his head. “One year. An entire fucking year and not a single goddamn clue. As far as anyone around here can tell, Aimee Styles disappears into thin air. Not a scream, not a witness, not a fucking clue. Am I right?”

“Right.”

“And then all of a sudden, one year to the day, to the goddamn
day,
we got something.
Bam.
Out of the blue.”

Koda’s pulse picked up, and all of a sudden the room felt hot.

“What do you have?”

“Yesterday a hunter stumbled across something. Over by the stream that runs down from Pikes Peak. He saw something in the bushes. Something pink.”

“What?”

“A fucking
bra.
Victoria’s Secret. The fancy kind.”

Victoria’s Secret.
The kind Aimee wore. “Holy shit. What size?”

“Thirty-six B.”

“Her size?”

“Her fucking size, man.”

They were quiet for a minute. A year was a long time to go without any clues. Now, they had something. Even if it was something small, it was still something.

“What now?” Koda asked.

“Now we’re bringing in cadaver dogs.”

Koda sighed inwardly. Of course that would be the next step. He knew this, just like he knew the chances of Aimee being found alive were probably less than zero. Still, the knowledge made him a little nauseous. He’d have to tell Maggie. If she didn’t already know.

Alan slapped the desk. “Well, I gotta go, man. Just wanted to keep you in the loop. I realize you guys are the last to hear down there.”

That was the understatement of the century. The top brass at OSP and the FBI had a way of treating the Deep Water County Sheriff’s Department like a bothersome younger sibling.

“I appreciate it, Alan. Thanks.”

“No problem, brother. And let’s grab lunch pretty soon, okay?”

“Yeah. Just let me know when and I’m there.”

“Things are going to be bat-shit crazy around here for the next few days. But after that, definitely.”

“Sure.”

Koda watched him walk out the door and climb into his cruiser.

One year.
One year with nothing, and now this. And on the anniversary of her disappearance. Coincidence? Right now it was impossible to tell if the bra was found by sheer luck, or if it was placed there in order to be found.

Again, his stomach turned. Just when he’d thought this case couldn’t get any more bizarre.

Needing some air, he grabbed his jacket and keys. But froze dead in his tracks before he’d even reached the door.

The bastard took my bra
, Candi had said.

Chapter Fifteen

“That’s so sweet. You can just put them over there.” Candi eased herself onto the couch. “Yellow’s my favorite. How’d you know?”

Maggie smiled and set the small vase of roses on the dining room table. “Ara told me. I was going to get pink. I’m glad I asked.”

Candi grimaced. “I hate pink.”

She looked much better today. She’d ended up staying in the hospital a few nights and was released yesterday. The swelling in her face had gone down significantly and the bruises seemed to be healing well. They’d gone from a deep black and blue, to tinged with lime green. But she still looked beautiful.

This morning her face was scrubbed clean, and small diamond studs adorned each earlobe. They sparkled in the shaft of sunlight she sat in.

“Like my new setup?” She nodded toward the front door where two shiny dead bolts had just been installed. “The landlord did it. Makes me feel better.”

Maggie glanced out the window where a sheriff’s cruiser sat. “I see you’re being watched, too.”

“That was Koda’s doing. I don’t like it. Feels like I’m being stalked, but he insisted. At least the deputy doesn’t stay. They don’t have the manpower for that. He just shows up every now and then to make sure I’m not dead. Plus, Zane is making a damn nuisance of himself already. Won’t leave me alone.”

“At least that’s a good problem to have, right? Surrounded by gorgeous men all day..”

Candi seemed to consider this and nodded happily. “So, tell me,” she said after a minute, “how are you doing? I know it must have been hard.”

At that, Maggie’s knees felt weak and she sat. Koda had been the one to tell her that Aimee’s bra had been found in a remote part of the wilderness a few days before. But she’d seen it on the news not long after. The reporters had been all over it, blood thirsty and hoping for a body. But none had materialized, and in the last twenty-four hours, they seemed to have lost interest.

“It is,” Maggie said. “It’s horrible to think how it got there. That at some point it was actually ripped off her.” She paused, composing herself. “But then again, it’s a clue. And I’m glad about that. It’s something that might eventually lead us to her killer. Or her.”

Candi frowned. “True.”

“But Koda…he’s avoiding me now. I think he’s afraid I’m going to want to go hunting around up there by myself.”

“Are you?”

Maggie shook her head. “I don’t know. Yes. I guess if I’m being honest, yes. But I don’t want to go alone.”

“Honey, don’t take this the wrong way, but those cops have been searching up there on horses, with bloodhounds. I don’t know that you’d find anything they haven’t.”

“You sound like my mother. She said the same thing.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. You’re right. So is she. I doubt we’d find anything either. It doesn’t make any sense, but it’s the same reason I wanted to come here. I needed to see for myself. Sitting around not doing anything can drive you crazy.”

Candi took this in with an empathetic look on her face. She had a way of making Maggie feel validated, which meant a lot.

“Do what you have to do,” Candi said. “If you’re gonna go, Koda is the one to take you. He knows that mountain like the back of his hand.”

“Do you think he would?”

“I’ve seen the way he looks at you. If I know him, all you’ll have to do is bat those big green eyes and the rest will be history.”

Maggie doubted this. She’d never batted her eyes in her life. At least not since she’d been about six years old. Still, she was intrigued by the idea that using her female charms might work on a man like Koda Wolfe.

“Besides,” Candi said. “He wants to find out what happened, too. This case has consumed him. It really has.”

Maggie felt a twinge of guilt over what she’d said that night in front of the Inn. That the police weren’t doing enough to find Aimee. She’d known when she’d said it that it wasn’t really true. She’d spoken out of frustration and pain. Now, sitting here talking to Candi, whose bruises bloomed over her delicate white skin, she was ashamed of herself. Countless men and women had combed a dangerous, remote part of the mountainside just a few days ago, putting their own lives at risk, hoping to find Aimee or at the very least, find out what happened to her. Koda was no exception.

“I know,” Maggie said.

“Hey. Look at me.” Candi’s expression was tender. “I mean it. Do what you need to do. Go look for her if that’s what’s going to give you peace. Koda won’t let you go alone.”

Maggie nodded, grateful.

They were quiet for a minute, before Candi grinned and slapped her knee. “Hey! I almost forgot to tell you. I’m getting a dog.”

“Oh yeah? What kind?”

“The ferocious kind.” She reached over to grab her cell. “I’m adopting him from the shelter in Splendor. Here’s a picture.”

Maggie took the phone, expecting a Rottweiler type, or a pit-bull mix of some kind. Something thick and formidable. Instead, the photo was dominated by big brown eyes, floppy ears, and a wide, slobbery mouth.

“His name is Bart,” Candi said, obviously proud.

“Aww! He’s adorable. Is he…supposed to be aggressive?” She couldn’t fathom this dog with the friendly, goofy face ever taking exception to anyone, much less an intruder.

Taking the phone back, Candi beamed like a new mother. “I don’t think he’s aggressive, really. But his foster parents say he’s a good guard dog and very loyal. I explained what happened to me and they said he would have been a deterrent.” She tucked the phone back in her purse. “I’ve always wanted a dog, but never got around to getting one. Now I have an excuse.”

Maggie felt an unexpected rush of affection for this woman, this ex-stripper and practical stranger, who had worked her way into her heart in just a matter of days. “I’m so happy for you,” she said. “I can’t wait to meet him.”

Koda rolled his eyes, exasperated. He’d known this had been coming, but he hadn’t expected her to be so damn relentless.

He turned his back on her now, ready to walk out the door, exactly the way he’d come in just five minutes before.

“Wait.” She put a hand on his arm. “Will you just hear me out?”

“Why? This is ridiculous.”

“It’s not!”

He looked down at her hand on his biceps, and she dropped it, coloring.

“It’s not ridiculous,” she said again, this time softer.

“Maggie,” he said, turning. “Trained professionals spent three days looking up there. They didn’t find shit. They had dogs, a helicopter, horses. They covered every square inch, I can promise you that.”

“I know.” Her eyes were wide, pleading. “And I know I’m asking a lot. But I’m also asking you to understand. I need this.”

He shook his head. “Crazy. This is
craziness
. What are you suggesting? Camping out? The temperatures are near freezing at night. There are bears, cougars.”

“You’re just trying to scare me. I know you’re not worried about that.”

“No. But I was raised here. You weren’t. And I don’t want to be stuck up there when you end up changing your mind and want to hike out in the middle of the night.”

“Will you give me a little credit? I’m not that much of a pansy.”

He considered this. Actually, he didn’t doubt she’d stick it out up there. And that’s what worried him. What in Christ’s name was he getting himself into?

“I’d be so grateful,” she said, her voice touching something deep inside of him. She stepped closer and he caught her scent. Her lips curved just slightly, as if she knew instinctively what kind of power she had over him.

He shook his head again, feeling his resolve weaken.

“But the truth is,” she continued,“I’m going with, or without you.”

Clenching his jaw, he thought about telling her to go ahead. See how far she got. He was tired and antsy. And this whole conversation wasn’t helping his mood any.

Then she looked up. Her eyes were the exact color of the ponderosa pines that stood at the edge of town. And all of a sudden, he couldn’t find it within himself to say no.

Throwing his head back, he sighed. “Shiiit.”

She blinked, looking proud of herself. And a little surprised.

“I’ll pick you up in the morning,” he mumbled. “Be ready at six.”

Maggie had waited.

The attendant hadn’t said much, but had seemed normal enough, despite the creepy surroundings. “Where ya’ll headed?” he’d asked.

“San Francisco. A girls’ weekend.”

He’d nodded, as if all too familiar with people passing through on their way to more appealing destinations.

Maggie paced the aisles of junk food, catching his eye every now and then, and smiling.

Aimee had been sick a few days ago. Maybe she was having a hard time again. All the chips and soda probably didn’t help. But the minutes had stretched into five. And then ten.

She’d walked over to the bathroom door and knocked. “Still alive in there?” Nothing. Just the constant buzzing of the neon beer sign in the window. She’d knocked again, this time louder. More insistent. “Aimee?”

Maggie sat now in the passenger seat of Koda’s truck, remembering. They’d been driving for almost half an hour and had just turned off onto a narrow gravel road, which wound up the mountainside like a boa constrictor. She watched the trees swoosh past and held her breath every time a chipmunk scurried into the truck’s path.

To their right, Pikes Peak rose up like a giant prehistoric thing, its crags dwarfing them in shadow. To their left was a dramatic drop-off at least two hundred feet, if not more. Maggie had always been afraid of heights, and was grateful for the memories of that night, if only to keep her occupied with thoughts other than the truck careening over the edge.

Koda glanced over. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Just thinking.”

“About?”

“Aimee, mostly. But also the fact that I hate this road.”

He grinned. “You don’t trust my driving?”

“I don’t trust the stability of this mountainside.”

“I think we’ll be all right.”

She looked back out the window. It really was breathtaking. Of course there were beautiful mountains up north, too. But living in Portland, they always seemed so far away. She didn’t get out of the city much, so even though she was an Oregonian at heart, all of this was new territory.

The sun was finally waking up and lighting the sky in a mixture of purple and orange that reminded her of swirled ice cream. They were above the fog, and the vastness of the mountain range stretched as far as she could see. It was as if she were peering over the wing of an airplane.

And still, they kept climbing. The truck barreled around every curve while kicking gravel up behind them and making Maggie clutch her seat with both hands.

“We’re almost there,” Koda said. “We’ll leave the truck and hike in the rest of the way.”

“Oh. Yeah, okay.”

She’d known there would be hiking involved, and had been lucky enough to fit into a pair of Candi’s old boots. She wiggled her toes. Her feet were warm and toasty now, but they wouldn’t be in an hour or so.

All the other camping stuff was Koda’s. The tent, sleeping bags, backpacks. He was more than prepared, and she had a sneaking suspicion that he welcomed the chance to put all this alpha-male stuff to good use.

A serious-looking rifle hung behind her in the window and she knew it would be coming along as well. She’d never handled a gun before, and just knowing it was there made her nervous.

They turned another corner and Koda finally pulled over. Prickly branches and twigs brushed against Maggie’s door, and a cloud of dust rose up as they came to a stop.

He turned off the engine and looked over, his dark eyes unreadable.

“Here we go,” he said.