Murder at Sunrise Lake

by Christine Feehan

  Sam never minded helping in the kitchen. In fact, he did more of the cooking than she did, especially now. He made certain she ate. They cut up cheese together and put crackers on the tray for the women. Sam found the fruit he’d recently purchased, so at least that was fresh.

  When the five women arrived, Stella wasn’t in such a panic. She and Sam had already walked Bailey and returned him to his crate by the time her friends were out of the car and had gone into the living room. All of the women were used to making themselves at home in one another’s houses. Shabina and Harlow had already gotten the lemonade from the refrigerator and put the tray on the low coffee table. Raine set the cheese-and-cracker tray on the floor and sat down next to it, beside the other two women.

  Vienna yawned. “I’m sorry, I’m just still so tired. I’ve been at the hospital two nights in a row in surgery with these terrible car accidents. The victims were airlifted in from off the mountain. I couldn’t believe it. Both were single-car accidents. Dr. Teller was brilliant. I don’t know how he managed to save the kid’s arm, but he did, and then the mother’s life. We lost the father. That was the first night. The second night, it was a young couple. Dr. Teller again pulled off a miracle. I thought for sure he’d have to amputate the woman’s leg, but he saved it, as well as both their lives. It turned out to be a long but good night. I slept all night the following night and then had to pull a shift last night, although it was quiet. I still feel like I need to sleep for the next decade.”

  “Vienna, you should have opted out,” Stella said. “The rest of us could have figured this out.” Vienna looked tired, something that was rare for her. “Why don’t you go lie down in one of the guest rooms?”

  “I’m good right here. I’ll stretch out on the couch, and if I start snoring, just dump water on me, okay? Snoring is so obnoxious.”

  The women laughed but exchanged worried looks as Vienna really did lie down on the couch, something she wouldn’t ordinarily do. She often worked in the ER, but she was the hospital’s top surgical nurse, and when it was an emergency, it was Vienna who was called in. No matter what, she always answered the call.

  “I’ll leave you ladies to it. I’ve got work to do.” Sam leaned over and gave Stella a kiss on top of her head before sauntering out the door.

  Zahra stood at the window, watching him walk away from the house with his easy, fluid stride. “He really is pretty, Stella,” she said.

  Stella burst out laughing. “Get away from there. You aren’t allowed to flirt with him or drool over him. If you do, I’m putting ice in my water and crunching it every time I’m anywhere near you.”

  Zahra hastened away from the window. “It was only an observation. No one should drink cold water, let alone put ice in it.” She gave a little shudder. “Hot water with lemon only.” She snatched up cheese, put it on a cracker and popped it in her mouth. “Crunching ice is pure torture.” She threw herself on the floor beside the others and sat, tailor-fashion.

  Stella spread the sketches out on the floor of the living room. “I’ve been here before, so that means one of you took me out there. The climb was definitely way above my ability. Does anyone recognize the way in or the boulders just from what little I’ve drawn?”

  She did her best to keep her heart from accelerating out of control. She was counting on them to help her find this elusive set of boulders. She’d lived there a long time, and yet she didn’t know where this place was.

  Zahra scowled down at the sketches. “I’ve never seen that place, Stella, and I go bouldering with you all the time.”

  Actually, that wasn’t quite the truth. Zahra preferred trad climbing. Give her a harness, a few friends, someone to lead climb and someone else to clean up, and she was happy. Bouldering was definitely not her preferred climb, but she did it when Stella wanted company, just like she hiked or backpacked when Stella wanted company.

  Raine looked the sketches over carefully and shook her head. “Sorry, hon, I don’t recognize them.”

  Shabina leaned over Raine’s shoulder, examining the drawings closely. “Me either. It wasn’t me who took you out there.”

  That left only Harlow and Vienna. Harlow was already shaking her head. Vienna stayed on the couch but held her hand out for the sketches. She moved through the drawings quickly and nodded, stretching her arm out again, eyes closed.

  “I took you out there three years ago. Very few locals know of it. The boulders are called Twin Devils. When you’re up on top of either one of the boulders, you can see forever. You have to take the old Hot Springs Road, the one no one uses anymore. Keep going and approximately seven miles past the hot springs there’s a turnoff. It isn’t marked. There’s just a dirt road, probably mostly grown over by now. It’s on the left side. Nothing marks it. No fences, nothing at all. That’s why no one ever goes out there. It’s mostly forgotten and when people try to find it, they get lost. The road is flat right there, so it looks like you’re turning into a meadow. You have to look really carefully or you’ll miss it.”

  “Why isn’t the road marked?” Raine asked.

  Vienna cleared her throat, a faint grin coming and then disappearing. “I was told the property is privately owned, a pretty big acreage, but the owners don’t live up here and there’s no house or cabin. They never come around. They inherited from great-grandparents or something like that and it’s been in the family forever. Since no one goes out there, the land just gets wilder and wilder. Lots of wild animals. Bear. Mountain lion. Rattlesnakes.”

  “Why don’t they sell?” Harlow asked.

  Vienna sighed. “Some sort of feud going on, if any of this is to be believed.”

  “No one ever goes out there?” Zahra said. “Are there No Trespassing signs up?”

  “There used to be. There hasn’t been for years. At least the last time I went out there I didn’t see any signs.”

  “Vienna. You knew it was private property and you still trespassed?” Shabina said. “Who knew you were such a bad girl?”

  “All of you knew.”

  “And you took me out there too,” Stella pointed out. “If we’d been caught, I would have had to plead innocence.”

  Vienna waved her hand in the air, eyes closed. “I would have lied my ass off and said you knew everything. If I’m going down, so are you. We may as well have fun in jail together.”

  Stella burst out laughing. “I suppose.”

  “We’d bail you out,” Zahra promised.

  “Thanks.” Stella blew her a kiss. “Are the boulders on a map somewhere?”

  “If they are, I don’t know about it. A climbing buddy of mine showed it to me. He was head of Search and Rescue before me, but he left Knightly, saying he needed to go somewhere else, where he could broaden his dating field.”

  “Sheesh, Vienna. What did he think was wrong with you?” Harlow asked. “You were right there in front of him.”

  “I said no.”

  “That would be the reason he left, then,” Raine said. “I’ll Google Earth the boulders and see if I can find them, Stella. The more directions we get for you, the better. Do you have a plan?”

  “Yes. It’s solid. We don’t want the killer to know we’re onto him. Sam and I will go out to the boulders as if we’re going to spend the day climbing, and we’ll outlast him.”

  “Sam can pull it off,” Raine said. “But you don’t exactly have a poker face, Stella. The killer will know something’s off, especially if it’s someone you know.”

  “Maybe we should all go out there,” Zahra suggested.

  “Not on your life,” Stella objected instantly. “If you think I’d give it away, the more of us there, the more likely one of us will trip up. No, we’ll stick with the plan. Sam and I will go. It makes sense that he’d take me out to the middle of nowhere to practice belaying with him when I don’t want anyone to witness my freak-outs. This is the right time of ye
ar for me to climb since I just closed the resort.”

  “Will you be able to keep from warning the victim, since he’s a friend?” Harlow asked.

  Stella pushed a hand through her hair. “I don’t know. I just hope we can find the place. I want to find out how the killer intends to get away with the murder, making it look like an accident. That piece should come to me tonight. Sam and I will get up first thing and go out there. I’ll text all of you tomorrow and let you know what happens and who we believe it is.”

  She looked around the room at her friends. “You really are the best. I don’t know what I’d ever do without all of you.”

  * * *

  —

  Stella sat up in the middle of the night, heart pounding, eyes meeting Sam’s. “He’s belaying him. All friendly. The victim has been working this project for months. The killer lets him fall and then removes all trace of being there. He secures a top rope so it appears as if the victim was working on his project alone and fell. He hummed while he wiped footprints from the dirt and collected gear.”

  Her stomach lurched while she told Sam. “I couldn’t exactly hear the humming, more like it was a sound buried in the wind and I knew what he was doing. He was meticulous with every detail. I even saw him casually break the victim’s finger. Just his hand reached into the lens of the camera and grasped the victim’s finger. It was sickening to hear the crunch.”

  “Did you see any part of the killer?”

  “I only saw his shadow on the rock. He spent so much time working to stage the scene, to make certain it looked as if his victim had been there completely alone. He knew no one was going to come out there to disturb him.” She tried to keep the bitterness from her voice. “He felt so much elation, Sam. This triumph. Feelings of superiority and even euphoria. He isn’t going to stop. He likes it too much.”

  “Unfortunately, that was the kind of thing I witnessed when I was investigating the deaths of the soldiers being killed. Once I was certain I had the killer in my sights and I started shadowing him, I could pick up those little nuances as he stalked his victim. The flushed face. The elevated breathing. Sometimes he’d stalk the victim over and over just to prolong that euphoria, the feeling of power, of holding life and death in his hands.”

  She leveled her gaze on him. “You had to take lives, Sam. Did you ever get that feeling?”

  He frowned. “In the beginning, I always felt a little sick. I never hesitated, but there was always revulsion in the pit of my stomach. Eventually that went away and I was numb. At night, when I was alone, I wouldn’t be numb, but then that went away too.” He lifted his lashes and looked into her eyes. Steadily. “I decided it was time to get out, Satine. I wasn’t taking any chances. I served my country and I did my best to serve with honor. I took chances that maybe I shouldn’t have because I was a dumb kid who felt I had to pay for the sins of my father and the blood running through my veins.”

  “I felt that way for a long time. I think we’re very much alike.”

  “I think we’re not, sweetheart. I think you’re someone very special.”

  “Sam. To me, you’re an unexpected gift. You don’t even know. I felt responsible for my mother and the breakup of our family. I learned not to ever talk to anyone about what was going on in my life. It just became such a habit that I found it hard to let anyone in.” She sent him a small smile. “You snuck in when I wasn’t looking.”

  He gave her an answering smile. “That was the idea.” The smile faded. “Maybe we both had the same codes drilled into us and that’s why we were able to understand each other’s need for privacy. I was raised in secrecy as well. My profession only added to the need to maintain that code.”

  “The mystery adds to your allure. My friends perv on you,” she told him, to lighten the moment.

  One eyebrow lifted. “The same friends who tried to convince you I was a serial killer?”

  “Well . . . yes. With the exception of Raine. She didn’t believe it for a minute. I’m convinced Raine may have information she hasn’t disclosed to anyone else, or she just has a sixth sense about people. She’s different and always has been. She knows what it’s like to love and lose her family. She always talks about them, Sam. Her mother, father and brothers. Her childhood. She had a happy childhood. I had no idea they considered her dead to them.”

  “I’ve heard of that punishment,” Sam said. “It seems extreme, especially as she was never told that her father was in the mob. I find it odd that her mother would go along with what is obviously her brothers’ punishment . . . Unless—” He broke off abruptly.

  “What?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know Raine very well. She’s always quiet. Almost always stays in the background observing everyone, but she’s very intelligent.”

  “That’s an understatement, Sam. She’s off-the-charts smart. Cool under fire. She can handle herself in any situation.”

  “Would she set herself up as a target to draw out her father’s killer? Get her family to cut her off in order to protect them?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Would she talk her brothers and mother into publicly disowning her? Whoever had her father killed would think her family blamed her and they wouldn’t look twice at a little slip of a girl living up in the Sierras alone. She doesn’t go near her family. If they are monitoring her brothers, her brothers aren’t making inquiries into their father’s death. They’ve accepted it as the price one pays for being in the business.”

  Stella’s breath caught in her lungs. That was exactly something Raine might do. She was very probably patiently unraveling the trail leading to who was behind her father’s killing. “If that’s what she’s done, she would find a way to talk to her mother and brothers without risk. Not in person, but through her computer,” Stella conceded.

  “I think your friends fit with you, sweetheart, because they know about keeping secrets and about love and loss, just the way you do.”

  “We do,” she corrected.

  * * *

  —

  Stella stared at the familiar truck and then slowly turned her gaze to Sam. “He’s going to kill Denver. Sam. He’s going to kill Denver. Our Denver.” She could barely conceive of anyone doing such a thing. “He’s part of our family. Yours and mine. We have to hurry. What if we’re already too late?”

  She shoved open the door to her 4Runner and all but hurtled herself out, her heart pounding, her mouth dry. Who would want to kill Denver? Of everyone in the community, with the exception of Vienna, he was the most helpful. He was the sweetest. He was needed as the resident anesthesiologist. He was on the Search and Rescue team. He helped the elderly get through the winter by sharing the meat he hunted and the fish he’d caught. Even vegetables from his large garden were canned by many of the community members. He was always willing to help with repairs at their homes, going with Sam when they were told of an elderly person’s home with a leaky roof or sagging floor. The two men often cut and split firewood and brought it to those who could no longer get it for themselves.

  Sam caught her wrist and hauled her back onto the seat. “Stop, Stella. Take a deep breath. You aren’t going to be any good to him flying off the handle that way. If you can’t play your part, you’ll have to stay here and I’ll go alone. The killer can’t know we’re onto him. Denver believes he’s out here with a friend to work on a project. They have to believe we came to work on your fears. The killer has no reason to think we’re onto him. None. Unless you give us away, he’ll believe it’s sheer coincidence we chose today to come. And it makes sense. It’s a beautiful day.”

  Stella forced air into her lungs. “It’s just that it’s Denver. He’s family. He’s practically an icon in the community.” She looked past Denver’s rig to the SUV parked in front of his. Her breath hissed out. “I should have known. Should have guessed.” Maybe a small part of her had. “Jason Briggs. He�
��s the one who issued the warning to Shabina to stay out of the forest.” She looked at Sam’s expressionless mask. “Why? Was that supposed to cast suspicion on his friends? Or was he tempted to go after Shabina?”

  “I don’t know, but we have to get moving. Let’s get the gear and start walking. We want to make certain we’re right behind them.”

  “You’re right,” Stella agreed, taking another deep breath to calm herself. “I don’t want Denver on that rock before we get there. There can’t be any accidents, especially as we walk up. He may change his plan midstream, like he did out at the lake because we interrupted him. We have to have a natural way to keep Denver safe.”

  They hiked the distance fast, the climbing gear in their backpacks along with water bottles and food as if they planned to spend the day. Stella hoped they wouldn’t have to, but just in case, they were prepared to outlast the killer.

  It was a beautiful day, the sun shining, throwing beams across the boulders as they approached. They heard the low laughter of the two men carried on the slight breeze. Sam moved slightly in front of her, his larger body partially blocking the two climbers’ vision of her as they turned to face them.

  Jason’s smile faded, a scowl marring his good looks as he put his hands on his hips and turned fully to glare at them.

  Denver’s smile widened in greeting. “Sam. Stella. What are you doing all the way out here? Don’t tell me Stella’s going to climb this thing?”

  Stella couldn’t help herself, she launched herself into Denver’s arms. He caught her in a hug. “You’re going to brave this boulder?”

  “It’s not a boulder,” she objected against his shoulder, not wanting to lift her head and look at Jason, afraid she’d shoot daggers at him.