Deadly Evidence

by Elizabeth Goddard

  But the murders two weeks ago—just outside of Rainey—had rocked his world. In fact, the whole town of Rainey had been shaken.

  Ryan kept driving until he was on the long, curvy road that followed the Wind River. Tall trees hedged the road to either side on this part of the drive and he could barely make out the peak of Mount Shasta as he headed toward the camping and river rafting/kayaking area where Tori told him she had parked her vehicle.

  Not far from where four people had been murdered.

  He knew the spot well. Had been there too many times to count—with her, no less. He made to turn into the parking area but she touched his arm.

  “You need to go all the way down to the base of the falls,” she said. “My kayak is probably downriver, unless someone already picked it up.”

  She dropped her hand, but he still felt the spot where she’d touched him.

  Of course the kayak would be downriver of the actual falls. He should have thought of that. Being this close to her, he couldn’t think straight. But he’d give himself a break—he hadn’t seen Tori in so long and now she’d been injured and could have died on those falls. He was allowed to be a little distracted under those circumstances.

  “Maybe whoever shot at you already grabbed the kayak.” And with the words, he realized he’d lost all hope that she’d been mistaken. He believed that someone had, in fact, shot at Tori Peterson.

  Tori was a good agent, and despite the trauma and the grief of loss, she would know exactly what had happened. She’d been trained to have an excellent memory. She glanced his way with an arched brow as though she thought his words were simply more sarcasm.

  “What? I believe you.”

  Her brows furrowed.

  “No, really. I had hoped you were mistaken, I’ll be honest.”

  His response seemed to satisfy her and her expression relaxed. “Let’s hope we can find it.”

  “Agreed.” He sighed. “We need to talk this through. I take it you think that whoever shot at you is somehow connected to Sarah’s murder.” And also Mason’s, Connie’s and Derrick’s. Four people in their twenties just out camping and having fun, murdered.

  “I think it’s highly suspect, don’t you?” She fumbled around in that big bag she called a purse.

  Unfortunately, yes. He nodded and maneuvered the road. “I don’t usually believe in coincidence. That’s why I held on to the smallest of hopes that you were wrong about what happened.”

  He felt her glare again.

  He glanced at her and then focused on the road. “A detective can hope, can’t he? I didn’t want to think that someone had tried to kill you, Tori. And the fact that they did brings up another question.” How did he word this?

  “Well, what is it?”

  Might as well try. “Someone killed four people, leaving us to speculate on the reasons and focus a lot of resources on finding answers. Why would they draw more attention by shooting at you? What could they hope to gain with that attempt on your life? It doesn’t make sense.” Though when did murder ever make sense?

  “I don’t know. I think... I was close to the falls. Honestly, I think they had hoped to send me over to die and make it look like an accident. Maybe they had planned to make sure I was dead, but the couple found me first.”

  “But again—why?”

  “Maybe they don’t like Sarah’s FBI sister digging into things and planned to head me off before I found out the truth.”

  Ryan did not like to hear those words. They meant Tori’s life was in ongoing danger. Man, did he wish this wasn’t happening. Those kids were gone and that was tragic news. It was his job to find their killer, but how did he also prevent another murder, and Tori’s at that? His insides twisted up in knots. Tori was an FBI agent and had faced dangerous situations in her job, but that didn’t make him feel any better about her safety. On-the-job danger was one thing—someone actively trying to kill her was another.

  Finally he came upon the sign for the trailhead and boat launch at the bottom of the falls. He parked at a gravel parking spot near the river, just down from where it spilled over Graveyard Falls. On weekends and during tourist season, the place would be crowded. People liked to hike along the narrow path between boulders, to get closer to the waterfall and watch the majesty of the beast, as well as feel the spray hitting their faces and getting them wet.

  Tori reached for the door. He touched her arm and she held back from opening the door. “What is it?”

  “Before we get out, there’s more I want to say.” Before finding Tori’s kayak with a bullet hole or two in it messed with his head. “My working theory has been that the murders are drug-related. Sarah’s boyfriend, Mason Sheffield? Turns out he had some priors. Mostly the usual stuff with drugs. Maybe he was dealing or stole something. Sarah got involved with the wrong guy. It happens, Tori, you know it does.”

  She shifted in the seat to face him. “So they take out a group like that? And the law comes down on them?”

  “I agree. That wasn’t smart.”

  Tori shook her head vehemently. “I’m not buying your theory. Or rather, I’m not ready to settle for it.”

  Ryan held his temper in check. Did she realize she’d insulted him? But he was curious, too. “So let’s have it. What do you think happened?”

  “Killing several people in a group out camping could be a ploy to take the focus off just one murder.”

  “You brought that up earlier. That doesn’t mean drugs aren’t involved.”

  She stared straight ahead and heaved a sigh. “It’s not like Sarah to date someone who was into drugs.”

  “I hear you. I didn’t want to believe it, either, but in the world we live in, our loved ones are getting involved in dangerous things left and right. And family ignores it, chooses not to believe it, or somehow they live in complete ignorance.” He drummed the console between them. They needed to get out and find the kayak. This wasn’t getting them anywhere.

  “If it was all stuff from years ago then I can see Sarah giving him a second chance,” Tori said. “Maybe he wanted to change. Maybe she was helping him to get clean.”

  “I can see that, too.”

  When Tori said nothing more, he finished what he’d started. “Bottom line is that, regardless of the reasons, the murders are heinous crimes that make no sense. But even if we manage to find answers, making sense out of the murders won’t bring Sarah back. It won’t change anything.”

  “Is this your way of suggesting I stay out of it?”

  He shrugged. “You have a job and a life back in South Carolina, Tori. It’s my job to solve this. Staying here won’t bring her back.” He braced himself for her reaction and when it didn’t come like he expected, he released the breath he’d held. The truth was that he understood why she felt she had to stick around and try to find Sarah’s killer. If he were for some reason assigned to another case and removed from this one, he would still work to solve Sarah’s murder. He wanted to make sense out of her death, too.

  “Look—” she released a sigh “—murder can never be resolved, not really. Finding out who did this and why will be enough for me. But nothing we’ve said here explains why someone shot at me.”

  She was right. Taking her out, too, made no sense. But if that was what had happened, then he doubted the danger was over. He knew she wouldn’t leave until the murderer was caught, which meant he would have to figure out how to protect a capable special agent who didn’t think she needed protection. And the worst part?

  Ryan feared he would fail.

  THREE

  Making their way to the falls, they trekked alongside the fast-moving river, Tori leading Ryan, who trailed a few paces back. The roar grew louder with their approach. The force of the falls up ahead compelled the river forward, causing it to be swift and dangerous. The memories of the moment Graveyard Falls pulled her down and over lashed
at her insides.

  She hesitated for a moment, unsure if she could keep up the search for her kayak, and stopped to watch the river. While swirling in that vortex, she’d feared she would die.

  Had Sarah known she was going to die? What were her last thoughts? Tori hated to think of the terror her sister must have endured. Had Sarah also spoken someone’s name in those moments before her death? And if she had, whose name would she have said?

  A loved one’s?

  Or the killer’s?

  A shudder crawled over her.

  “You okay?” She was freed from her musings by the arrival of Ryan’s sturdy form next to her.

  “Sure.”

  Tori shook off the morbid thoughts and started hiking again. She turned her focus instead to this path next to the river and the unbidden memories floating to the surface. She and Ryan had hiked this trail on multiple occasions when they were seeing each other. Probably like the young couple who had pulled her from the river earlier in the day.

  Back then, it had been just the two of them. Hand in hand. Falling deeper in love with each passing day.

  And they’d shared more than one amazing kiss right here when no one else was around. Her chest grew tight.

  Was he thinking about those kisses, too? She hoped not, but when she glanced over her shoulder and caught his pensive gaze, she knew where his mind had gone—to them as a couple before she left.

  Pain cut through her at how different things were now. Instead of a couple in love enjoying a nature walk, they were now joined together only by the need to find a killer before he struck again. Was that why she’d said his name earlier? Because he was the investigator on Sarah’s case? Tori had thought she was going to die, and maybe she’d wanted to somehow let Ryan know that her death hadn’t been an accident. She’d thought of him—her last coherent thought before the greatest struggle of her life, and then, she’d huffed out his name when she came to.

  If she hadn’t said his name, they would probably be here together now anyway, since she would have gone to him to report the attack on her as soon as she left the hospital. That she’d said his name shouldn’t matter so much, but it bothered her and she wanted to know why. She would have to think about that later, though. Much more pressing matters needed her attention.

  She hiked forward, closing in on the falls.

  The flash of color on the other side of a rocky outcropping drew her attention. “There. I see a kayak.”

  “Fortunately it’s not across the river,” he said. “Are you sure it’s yours?”

  “It looks like mine, and if it’s not, then that could mean someone else went over the falls.” She didn’t think that was the case.

  Spotting the kayak exhilarated her. Now they were getting somewhere. Not that she feared he doubted her words—not anymore, at least—but the kayak with a bullet hole or two in it would go a long way to boost her theory, one she hoped Detective Bradley was also formulating.

  They made their way around boulders and roots, and then to the edge of the riverbank where the broken kayak had wedged between rocks. Tori gasped at the sight. She wrapped her arms around herself.

  That could have been her body. Broken and lifeless.

  Ryan’s frown deepened. He appeared shaken as he pressed his hand over his mouth then rubbed his chin.

  Then, seeming to pull himself together, he reached in the pocket of his jacket and tugged out a small camera. “Don’t worry. We’ll get Jerry, our tech, out here now that we know it’s part of a crime scene, but I want to take my own pictures just in case.”

  Ryan walked around the kayak and took photographs from various angles.

  She peered at the front portion. “See, just there. A bullet hole.”

  “Here’s another.” He pointed, then crouched and took close-ups of the holes.

  Tori looked around for the oar, but she doubted she’d find it. “I’m surprised a bullet went through the material, but I guess it all depends on the caliber of bullet and the quality of the kayak materials.”

  “Right.”

  “We’ll have to go up above the falls to look for rifle shells,” she said. “It’s a big area to search.”

  “Finding a shell doesn’t mean it belonged to this particular shooter,” he said. “We need bullets, too.”

  “Your lab can get ballistics, can’t they?” Tori had to be careful what she said. Ryan was probably kind of touchy about the limited resources of his job compared to hers, and she didn’t want to sound superior. But, well, the FBI had superior training, facilities and labs. The best, in fact.

  He pursed his lips and eyed her as he got on his radio and asked for evidence collection and retrieval of the kayak. “We’ll need to wait here to make sure no one disturbs it intentionally or otherwise, although if they had intended to do that, I think the kayak would already be gone.”

  Tori started toward the falls. “I’ll hike up topside and look for rifle shells. There were more than two shots fired, even though there are only two bullet holes in my kayak.”

  Ryan grabbed her arm and gently squeezed as he pulled her toward him. “Are you serious? What makes you think whoever shot at you won’t try again? You’re not going up there.”

  “In that case, what am I even doing out here with you?”

  “Good question.” He worked his jaw as if angry with her. Angry with himself.

  His concern for her chipped away at the wall around her heart. She reminded herself that his reaction didn’t mean that he cared for her on a personal level. Of course he would be this concerned for anyone. Right?

  “I don’t think the shooter is still here,” she said. “When I got on the river, I had an eerie feeling. You know the one. I felt like someone was following me. Like someone was watching me. But I don’t sense that now.”

  He scraped a hand through his hair, messing with the slicked-back look. “Come on, you can’t trust a feeling like that. Not saying you should ignore it when you sense that someone is watching you, but you can’t be certain you’re safe just because it doesn’t feel like anyone’s watching you.” He searched the ground near the kayak. For footprints? Too many hikers had been by the kayak today for forensics to find anything. After a minute, he lifted his gaze to look at the woods. A group of senior citizens hiked up the trail toward them, lost in their conversation. They smiled and bade them a good day as they passed.

  The shooter wouldn’t try again here today with people out on the trail, would he? The couple who’d found her hadn’t been at the top of the falls where she’d been forced over. She’d been alone up there when he’d shot at her. Tori rubbed her arms and stared at the woods. She absolutely wouldn’t let fear take hold of her or stop her. “We have to find who did this, Ryan.”

  Her comment drew a severe look from him, one that she knew well. Tori averted her gaze.

  “Don’t you have a job back in South Carolina to get back to? How long are you staying again?” The friction between them edged his tone. “Bereavement leave doesn’t give you but a week or two, does it?”

  “I...I don’t know,” she said.

  “What?”

  She hung her head. Closed her eyes. “You’re right. Officially, I only have two weeks, but I’m considering taking an indefinite leave.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  A feral emotion flashed in his gaze. She understood the deeper meaning behind his questions. She’d given him up. She’d left him for an FBI career—now he wanted an answer as to why she would give it all up for this investigation when she wouldn’t give it up for him. She offered a one-shoulder shrug. “Mom and Dad are devastated. They’ve lost a daughter, Ryan.” She looked in his eyes and took in the blue-green hues. “I need to be here for them and...”

  Something shifted behind his gaze—and for the life of her, she couldn’t tell if it was good or bad. Again, she had the strong s
ense that he still cared about her. That he’d never stopped. Her next words would drive an even bigger wedge between them. She’d hurt him terribly when she’d chosen her career with the FBI over a relationship with Ryan. She’d wanted more than working law enforcement in a northern California county. She could have taken a job and worked with him, but she’d taken the FBI’s offer.

  Tori drew in a breath. She might as well say it. “I need to make sure her killer is caught.”

  He lifted his chin to search for words in the bluest of skies. “And you don’t trust me to do that.”

  “That’s not what I said.”

  “But it’s what you meant. You can’t go home because you don’t think we’ll find the killer without your help.”

  “Ryan, please tell me that you understand. You would do the same if it was one of your siblings, someone you loved dearly, no matter who was investigating.”

  When he looked at her again, she saw resignation. “You’re not here in your capacity as an FBI agent, so I’m going to ask you not to interfere. Trust me to do my job, Ms. Peterson.”

  The air rushed from her lungs. Oh, come on. She took a step toward him, trying to think of what to say to get him to see, though she wasn’t sure why she wanted him to understand. “Ryan, please. I...I trust you to do your job. I promise I won’t interfere with your investigation.”

  He nodded and huffed, then surprisingly gave her a wry grin. “I hear what you’re saying. And what you’re not saying. I know you, Tori. You have your own investigation going.”

  Sarah... “While you’re looking for the person who killed four people, I’m looking for the person who killed one person. Sarah. You can’t get in her head like I can. You can’t walk in her shoes or think the way she would have thought. That’s all I’m doing.” She and Sarah were sisters. No one could know her better, even with the fact that Tori had lived far from Sarah for four years.

  His forehead furrowed. Eventually he would come to the same conclusion about whom the murderer had intended to kill—the one target—if he hadn’t already.