She smiled now. “You’re afraid of public speaking?”
“Terrified. Don’t like the attention. Rather be tossed in the middle of the ocean during a great white feeding frenzy than give a formal presentation. So, yeah, our roles would be reversed, trust me.” He cocked his head and grinned. “Actually let’s expound on this, shall we? You cradling me behind the podium… but you’d have to be on your knees—”
She rolled her eyes, again, and slapped him, momentarily forgetting she was deathly afraid of heights. Talking was loosening her up. Mind over matter.
He laughed and loosened his grip around her waist. She could do this.
“Alright, alright.” He moved down, guiding her with him. “Anyway, I’m just saying, it happens to the manliest of men. In life or death situations sometimes.”
“But we’re not saving anyone’s life here, and this is no helo.”
“Doesn’t matter. Same thing. Fear is a bitch. And that’s all she is, a bitch that creeps up on you at the worst time and turns your head to mush, taking away every ounce of self-control you’ve spent years fine tuning.”
She stopped, turned with a grin, a mischievous spark in her eye. “Sounds like you’re very familiar with this kind of bitch.”
“We all have our weaknesses. But it appears that this little bitch is no match for you anymore, Sadie. I’m barely holding onto you anymore.”
As if on cue, she slid on a loose rock, clawing at him like a cat on its ninth life. He looped his arm around a branch and hooked her with the other.
“Geez, Owen. Don’t tell me that,” she seethed.
He laughed, affording him another fuck-you glance.
He was beginning to like this little attitude on her.
“Okay, sorry. You’re doing great, though—”
“Don’t let go.”
“I won’t. You have my word. We’re almost halfway down.”
She ground her teeth and nodded. “Let’s get it done.”
“Okay, right foot… left… right…”
He watched the steely determination in her eyes, the lets-get-it-the-fuck-done attitude written all over her flushed face. No more fear. No, this woman was pissed off and irritated now. She’d overcome her weakness and was now very aware of the fact that not only could she not have made that first step without him—although she could have, she just didn’t know it—but that now everyone was aware she needed help.
Her pride was hurt, and he realized in that moment that this was a woman that took pride and self-respect very seriously.
“Not a fan of heights, huh?” Crawly chuckled out as they passed him at mid-point.
Owen shot him a look that had his eyes popping. “What?” The sheriff mouthed.
Owen shook his head and glanced at Sadie, who was fuming. Yeah, she’d heard it.
Her pace quickened, her moves suddenly hasty and careless.
“Hey, slow down a bit.”
She ignored him, so he quickly climbed lower and angled himself under her, so he could catch her if she fell, or, fall directly onto him. If it had to be one or the other, he hoped for the latter.
“You got it, boss!” Griffin hollered out.
“Almost there, girl!” Kimi yelled from the bottom.
He willed her team to shut the hell up, knowing that acknowledgement of her fear was the exact opposite of what she needed at that moment.
“A few more steps. Almost done.” He said calmly before jumping off, onto the ground.
He stepped in front of her team, arms out, ready to catch her, but the moment her foot hit the ground, he backed off, knowing that’s what she’d want.
He recognized the split second she took to acclimate herself with the steady, solid ground—it was the same moment he took every time he’d jumped out of a plane—before squaring her shoulders and turning.
Her face was beet-red, her jaw clenched with fury. At herself, he knew.
“You alright?” Griffin was first to address her.
“Yeah. Sorry.” Short and curt, as she moved away from the team.
Kimi reached out her hand, a smile plastered to her face. “Didn’t realize you were—”
Owen quickly stepped forward and cut her off. “Back up guys, Crawly’s coming down.”
He casually tossed Sadie a bottle of water.
“Thanks,” she said quietly, eyes on the ground, as she twisted the cap—as if she were forcing herself to say it.
He gave her a quick nod and stepped away, knowing it would be awhile before he received any more of her cute, stolen glances.
If it ever even happened again.
Chapter 7
Sadie felt Owen’s eyes boring into her backside as she stomped through the woods trying to erase the last ten minutes of her life.
Hell, the last twenty-four hours of her life.
What the heck was her problem? It felt like the entire world, including mother nature was out to get her today.
Sadie had been terrified of heights since she was a little girl, but was usually able to conceal the crippling fear behind her charming wit, and an additional swipe of extra-strength deodorant.
Not today. Today she had the strength of an osteoporosis-riddled nasal bone. Today she’d been mule-kicked by her weaknesses—bad decisions consisting of smart, good-looking men who happen to be the heir to the company where she works…and heights.
She was off.
Not herself.
Sure it had been a rough day, and she was in jeopardy of losing her job, but since when did she turn into a puny, dainty excuse for a woman who couldn’t control her own fears? Or, her decisions for that matter?
She was embarrassed.
No, humiliated.
And not just because her team and a bunch of burly rednecks saw her shaking like a damn chihuahua, but because of the chiseled-jaw stranger who’d helped her down. Helped? Who was she kidding? The guy pretty much carried her down.
How completely, utterly humiliating.
Her stomach rolled and she looked down. Fantastic first impression, Sade. Fan-freaking-tastic.
After Sadie had regained her composure once she’d hit the ground, the vibe of the group had shifted as they’d started back through the woods. Perhaps seeing her acting like a flailing idiot had sucked out the playful energy, or maybe they were feeling the same prickle on the back of their necks as she’d been feeling the further into the woods they journeyed. Maybe it was the ghost stories, the skeleton in the cave, or the thick trees that shaded the slanting afternoon sun, making it seem later than it was. Either way, there was something about this area that had silenced everyone. Something in the air.
Well, that was just fine with her. No more small-talk, and soon enough this horrible day would be in the past and she could start over, fresh and renewed tomorrow morning. A new day. A new day to regain the last shred of authority, pride, and self-respect she was so desperately clinging onto.
Because she couldn’t take any more emotional pain today.
Or, in her foot for that matter. Sometime during the hike, a pebble had worked its way into her boot. With every step, the tiny devil-rock pushed itself deeper and deeper into her arch, until finally, she felt the sting of flesh splitting.
Sadie shifted her weight, trying to hide her limp until she couldn’t stand it anymore. Up ahead, the terrain was becoming less dense and rockier, with large boulders spearing out of the hills and cliffs.
Great, more climbing, and she’d be damned if she was going to do it with this shard of glass in her foot.
She veered off the path, eyeing a large rock a few yards into the woods.
Owen stopped. “You alright?”
“Yeah. Just…” She wasn’t sure why, but admitting that she had a rock in her shoe seemed like the cherry on top of her mortification. “…need to check something.”
Check something? Out in the middle of the damn woods? What the heck, Sadie?
He frowned, turned toward her.
“Go on ahead,” she
said over her shoulder, the knight in shining armor thing starting to wear on her. “I’ll catch up in a sec.”
“You sure?”
YES. “Yeah, I’ll be right there.” She wanted to take off in a damn sprint through the woods and not stop until she hit a sandy beach somewhere with endless Mojitos.
She walked a few steps, then glanced over her shoulder. When she was sure no one was watching, she gave in, limping her way across the dead leaves, beelining it to a boulder with a flat top.
Voices faded, the breeze halted, an eerie stillness gripping her.
She slowed, almost instinctively, her senses piqued.
The hair on her arms prickled, along with the ones on the back of her neck.
Her instincts were screaming at her.
She stopped and looked around, before climbing onto the rock.
Her breath caught in a garbled gasp.
Sadie froze, staring down at the half-eaten man staring up at her with one eye, the other had been pecked out by God knows what.
With dark brown hair and lifeless gray skin, the young man—teenager, Sadie guessed—wore a blue flannel button up, shredded to pieces around a fleshless arm and midsection, revealing bone and rotting chunks of internal organs. His neck and cheek had been chewed through, maggots slithering through the missing eye socket. The boulder had preserved the kid’s left side of his body from whatever scavengers had dined on him, revealing dirty jeans and a bandana stuffed in the pocket.
Her eyes widened as she noticed the two dark red dots staining his flannel—one at the heart, the other in the stomach.
“Oh, my God,” she breathed out.
A hand touched her arm. She screamed and spun around, her heart jumping out of her chest.
“Step back, Sadie.”
“Owen. Oh my God, he’s… he’s…”
Strong hands gripped her shoulders, lightly pulling her back. “Climb down. I need you to move back.”
She stumbled backward on her butt, her eyes locked on the body sprawled out on the ground ahead of her.
A loud whistle shook her from her daze, followed by Owen’s deep voice booming through the air.
“Colson! Over here!”
Owen’s hand slipped from her shoulder and interlaced her fingers. After a little tug, he led her a few feet away.
“You okay?”
She blinked, turned toward the sound of footsteps coming toward them.
“Hey, Sadie, you okay?” Owen lightly grabbed her chin.
She looked back at the man who was laser focused on her. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay.” She inhaled deeply, hoping the fresh oxygen would push the fog from her brain. “Yes, I’m fine.”
Quinn jogged through the brush with Crawly on his heels. Griffin, Kimi, and Tucker were a few feet behind.
Shit. She did not want her team to see this, especially Kimi. Snapping to action, she pushed past Owen, Quinn, Deputy Tucker, and Sheriff Crawly as they stepped up to the scene.
“What’s going on?” Griffin peered over her shoulder as chatter ensued around them.
“I…” She shook her head in disbelief of what she was about to say. “Found a dead body.”
“What?!” Kimi’s mouth gaped.
“A dead body? What the…” Griffin strode past her, but his attempt to look over the boulder was blocked by the sheriff.
Crawly guided them back several steps as Lieutenant Colson stepped away, pulling his cell phone, and Owen and Tucker kneeled down next to the boulder.
“I’m gonna need you guys to stay back here, alright? This is officially a crime scene.”
Sadie nodded, her stomach twisting in knots. She lifted her gaze, meeting Owen’s as he walked over to her.
“Can you walk me through what just happened?”
She swallowed and nodded as Griffin consoled Kimi next to them.
“I had a rock in my shoe, so I was just going to sit down, take my shoe off and shake it out. When I stepped onto the rock… that’s when I saw him. And then, there you were…. the blood on his shirt, did you see that? Looked like bullet holes.”
Kimi gasped.
“Someone was shot out here? When?” Griffin’s patience was waning.
“Looks recent,” Sadie said, then looked at Owen. “Right?”
He gave a quick nod, keeping his gaze on Griffin, then shifted back to her. “There’s about to be a lot of people out here—”
“Dammit, no reception.” Quinn held up his phone.
“We’ve got a SAT phone.” Sadie slid out of her pack and pulled it out. The fact that she was able to help eased some of the anxiety vibrating through her.
Quinn jogged over and took the phone. After sliding Owen a quick glance he looked back at Sadie. “It’s hunting season here. Looks like the kid caught a few stray bullets. Should have been wearing a hunting cap or jacket.” He shook his head. “Nothing for you folks to worry about.” He turned to Owen, “A quick second?”
After a few quiet words, Owen returned.
“Crawly and I are going to take you guys to the cave entrance, where we’ve got our local SAR guys there waiting to take us into the cave. Tucker and Colson will wait here for everyone else. You’ll hang out there until we get the go from Colson, then we’ll head in.”
Griffin glanced up at the sky. “Gonna be dark in a couple hours.”
“Sure is. Doesn’t make much difference in a cave.”
“It’s not an issue,” Sadie said. “We’ll get to work whenever you’re ready.”
Just then Crawly stepped up, his face pulled with intensity. “You ready?” He asked Owen.
“Yep. You guys ready?”
Sadie nodded, then gave Griffin’s shirt a tug when he wouldn’t budge. Sadie followed Owen and Crawly back through the woods, with Griffin and Kimi in a deep discussion behind her.
Voices hushed, Crawly said something to Owen.
Sadie strained to listen.
“You recognize him?” Crawly asked.
“You mean the half of the kid’s face that wasn’t eaten off? No, you?”
A moment passed.
“Yeah, I recognize him.”
Owen looked at the sheriff, watching him for a moment as they stepped onto the trail. “Who is it?”
“Brian Russell. Seventeen years old. A senior at Berry Springs High.”
“And what it is about Brian Russell that’s got you all bowed up, Crawly?”
The sheriff looked at Owen and narrowed his eyes. “Brian Russell is one of the two kids who found the bones in Crypts Cavern.”
Chapter 8
“Crypts is just ahead.”
Sadie peered ahead at the jagged rocks against the wooded landscape. A mountain of boulders pushing their way up from the ground, seemingly out of nowhere. Moss and vines snaked their way up the sides, a trickle of water running down the highest point. Normally, she would think it was beautiful, magical even, but not today. Today, the air was thick with unease from finding a teenager shot to death only yards away. Today, the air was thick with what felt like impending doom.
Griffin and Kimi hadn’t uttered a single word since leaving the body. They hadn’t heard Crawly tell Owen that the body belonged to one of the boys who discovered the bones in the cave, and Sadie wanted to keep it that way. She wanted their eyes on the ball, mainly so that they wouldn’t be distracted and they could get the hell out of the woods faster. She’d decided she was going to have Griffin take the excavated bones back to the lab this evening for two reasons: One, help speed things along, and two, if there was a connection between the bones and the poor murdered high school student, they needed to know the ID of the bones ASAP, to help find the boy’s killer.
Murdered or not, Brian Russell was found within walking distance from a human skeleton that had been discovered in a cave…rumored to be haunted. Innocent hunting accident? No way.
The curse of Atohi? She had no doubt the entire team was thinking it. Sadie never put much stock in supernatural powers but she couldn’t help but re
play the story Griffin had told on the way down.
Regardless of what was going on, Sadie had a job to do. And in all honesty, it might be her last case at KT Crime Labs.
Owen helped them over a large rock where the ground dipped, leading to a jagged black V that marked the cave entrance—posted on each side, Enter at Your Own Risk signs. It was the opposite of what she expected. Based on the description of the cave by the sheriff, she expected a large opening leading to an even larger tunnel. Wrong. The entrance to Crypts Cavern wasn’t wide enough for two people to walk through. It was narrow, jagged, and dark. Her stomach tickled with nerves.
As they gathered on the rocks, a man, covered head-to-toe in dirt, emerged from the cave entrance. He wore a beanie with a headlamp strapped around it, and a long braid of dark hair down his back. The bright red spelunking jumpsuit he wore was complete with various straps and harnesses, barely visible through the grime. The small pack strapped to his back was dripping.
“Ah, you’re here.”
“Thanks for dressing up,” Owen grinned and shook his hand, the two obviously friendly.
“Knapp.” Crawly dipped his chin in greeting as the cave dweller zeroed in on her.
She shifted her weight.
“This the excavators?”
Crawly nodded. “This is Dr. Sadie Hart, a forensic anthropologist, Kimi Haas, forensic pathologist, and Griffin Olsen, an intern with KT Crime Labs. Guys, this is Aaron Knapp. He heads up the local SAR Team—Search and Rescue—here in Berry Springs.”
Aaron shook each of their hands, Kimi wiping hers on her pants after.
Crawly continued, “Aaron’s here to help guide us through the cave. As I said, the bones are in no-man’s land, so to speak.”
“Pleasure to meet y’all,” his eyes lingered on Sadie’s for a moment too long. She glanced at Owen, who—based on his clenched jaw—had taken notice.
“You, too,” she said, seconds later feeling Owen’s presence close behind her.
Aaron shot Owen a wink, before his face dropped to a frown as he looked back and forth between Crawly and Owen.
Noticing the look, Sadie inquired, “What’s going on? You guys look like you just came from a funeral.”
“Let’s talk for a minute.” Owen guided Aaron away from the group.
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