Murder at Sunrise Lake

by Feehan, Christine

  That was true. There was some satisfaction in knowing she’d done that … except … “You did have your knife out and I think you might have managed to kill him right then if I hadn’t interfered,” she conceded.

  “Maybe. Maybe not. I did actually hit my head. I wasn’t expecting a serial killer to drag me underwater. I was definitely disoriented. Tell me what else you found out tonight.”

  “I could tell the two know each other very well. They’ve been friends a long time. That just makes the crime more hideous to me. I didn’t get the feeling from the serial killer that he had a personal grudge against his friend either. This feels more like a power trip. A kind of rush, like he’s doing it because he can. He’s smarter, so much more intelligent, and no one will ever figure it out. He believes he can stop whenever he wants to stop and then start again when he decides to play his game.”

  Sam made a small sound that might have been a curse under his breath. “It’s a game to him? Does it feel that way to you, Stella? I know you’re able to get emotions from both the victim and the killer.”

  “This is the most he’s ever broadcast. Before, he’s been somewhat reserved until almost the last moment. He almost felt like a predator hunting and then there would be a rush of euphoria. This feels as though he’s in a continual high, that constant rush. He likes knowing he’ll spend hours with his victim and can kill him at any time.”

  “Twice I was sent to hunt a predator within a unit, one in the Marines and one in the Army, four years apart. The men would go out for training or a small engagement with the enemy. One wouldn’t return. They would find a soldier murdered when they went looking for him. The commander began to suspect they had a serial killer within their ranks, but no matter what traps they set, they couldn’t find him. I was sent for. Of course, no one knew who I was. Most of the time they never saw me. I conducted an investigation behind the scenes, so to speak.”

  Stella waited, her eyes on his. Sam rarely talked about his past, or any of the assignments he’d had. She found it fascinating to think that he would be sent to investigate within the ranks of the military and yet no one would even know he was there.

  “I take it you found both of them.”

  He nodded. “I did. They were not turned over for trial.” His gaze continued to hold hers steadily. “That was part of my job. I was to remove them permanently.”

  “Have you had to hunt very many serial killers?”

  “It depends on whether or not you call terrorists or presidents of drug cartels serial killers. Everyone has a reason for what they choose to do, but if I was sent after them, you can believe they killed a lot of innocent people.”

  She wanted to go to him and put her arms around him. Just as she had been pulled back into her past with this horror, so had he. He’d been stoic about it. Matter-of-fact. But there was a reason Sam had ended up in the Sierras in the little town of Knightly. Like all of them, he’d been seeking peace. He wanted away from his job, and although it didn’t show on his face, because it never did, she felt the underlying sadness in him that he thought he would have to be the one to hunt the killer.

  “We’ll figure out who this man is, Sam, and we’ll get the proof we need and turn him over to Griffen.” She poured determination into her voice.

  “It isn’t easy to get proof against this kind of killer, Stella. That’s why men with my skills exist. That’s why I’m sent in.”

  “That’s why you were sent in. Now, someone else does that work. Not you. You’re out of it. You’re here to start a new life, just like I am. Just like Raine and Vienna and everyone else. Sam, you can’t think the way you used to.”

  A slow smile heated his eyes, instantly sending her stomach tumbling into a series of loops and somersaults. He was seriously sexy without even trying.

  “Sweetheart, I can’t just shut down that way of thinking. It’s who I am.”

  “You’re going to have to try harder.” She gave him her sternest look, the one she gave Bailey when she really meant what she said.

  “Start drawing, Stella. I’ll go for my walk and then take Bailey out. The look, by the way, is cute. Bailey thinks so too.” Sam stood up, stretching lazily.

  She scowled at him, a fierce, black scowl meant to intimidate. “My stern look is not cute. Bailey always minds me when I give him that look. I suggest you do as well if you know what’s good for you.”

  His mouth twitched. The corners of his eyes crinkled. They weren’t laugh lines, more like sun lines, but she thought they should have been laugh lines. They always would be to her. She would never get tired of looking at him.

  “I’m tempted to see what would happen to me if I disobeyed. I think your hair is crackling, Satine.”

  His smile came close to melting her insides. She pressed her hand to her stomach and deliberately narrowed her gaze at him, liking the easy way they could tease each other even under the dire circumstances.

  “I don’t think you want to risk it,” she warned.

  He walked over to the side of the bed in that fluid way he had and bent his head to hers. Slow. Taking his time. She turned her face up to his, giving him her mouth. One large hand framed the side of her face, his thumb sliding in a caress over her cheek as his head continued to descend.

  Her heart stuttered. Her sex clenched. Lashes fell to shutter her sight. The moment his lips claimed hers, sparks erupted over her skin. Goose bumps broke out. His arms came around her and he shifted her against his chest. She slid her arms up so she could link her fingers behind his neck.

  When Sam kissed her, there was no room for anything else in her mind. No one else. Nothing else. Only him. Only the feeling he gave her. He could be tender or wild, and it didn’t matter how they came together— they detonated, lit up the world around them, and all the while she felt safe and home. She felt like she belonged.

  Sam lifted his head, his lips following the bone structure of her jaw and then drifting down the column of her throat. “You’re so beautiful, Stella.”

  She shook her head. “Thank you, Sam. I’ve never thought of myself that way until you came along.”

  He tucked hair behind her ear. “Trust me, you are. I’ll be back in a bit. I don’t want you worried about me. I’m locking you in, but you can check the locks from your phone,” he reminded.

  “I need a tracking device on you,” she pointed out. “Then I’d know for certain you were okay out there.”

  He laughed softly. “He’s going to take off the minute he can’t find me outside. You wait and see. I predict inside of five minutes. He’s going to panic and he’ll run.” The pad of his thumb moved back and forth over her chin in a small caress.

  “All right, Sam.” What could she do but concede and let him go off by himself?

  “Don’t look so glum, sweetheart. He’ll be gone and I’ll be back in one piece. Tomorrow, the girls are coming over for lunch and you can show all your sketches to them. One of them went with you climbing to this place. They knew the way, so they’re bound to remember it. While they’re with you, I’ll go into town and get us groceries and more treats for Bailey. We went a little crazy spoiling him.”

  She made a little face. “You mean I did. I hate that he has to be so quiet in his crate when he wants to be with us. I do sneak him out to lie right with me when I’m in the other room. If he has a large bone to chew on, then he won’t lick his sutures.”

  “He’s wearing the cone of shame.”

  “He detests that thing. I take it off of him when he’s not alone,” she admitted, avoiding Sam’s eyes. She didn’t want him to think she was weak. It was just that Bailey gave her his big pleading eyes and she couldn’t stand it. She caved immediately, but only if she was right there, watching his every move.

  Sam shook his head. “You’re so tough, Stella.”

  She tilted her chin at him and narrowed her eyes as he stepped back and headed toward the bedroom door. “I am. Have you ever seen me dealing with those complaining fishermen?”


  “All the time, Satine. It’s a thing to behold.” There was admiration in his voice as well as laughter. His dark eyes laughed at her— or with her. Because she couldn’t help laughing too. She could be incredibly tough when she had to be, but not with Bailey. And she probably would never be very tough with Sam either.

  She shook out her colored pencils and began to sketch as many details as she could remember before switching to the journal. Her gaze jumped to the clock. Sam was right. Within six minutes, she no longer felt the presence of the watcher.

  STELLA COULD BAKE when she wanted to, but she honestly hadn’t thought about cooking or baking lately. Her mind had been consumed with trying to figure out who the serial killer was and how to catch and convict him. Having her friends come to her home meant feeding them. She’d forgotten that. Before she could panic, Sam had pulled several blocks of cheese from the refrigerator and unearthed a couple of boxes of crackers from the pantry.

  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 mor
e 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 year 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.”