Dark Echoes: (Dark Falls, CO Romantic Thriller Book 7)

by Savannah Kade

  He’d already had that same conversation with Leah, and he trusted her to keep her mouth shut less than he trusted Risa. But she’d now been officially warned. It didn’t make him feel any better, other than knowing he had a way to prosecute her if she screwed it up. He wasn’t going to lose his badge over a beautiful badass woman he’d inadvertently insulted.

  After gathering his breath, he turned back to Risa. “I’m sorry. You have a valid point. But we have no reason yet to believe this girl was killed. It looks like she was farther up the bank and slid down.”

  At that point, he had turned to Dr. Lee and asked for her opinion. Dr. Lee, who had been crouched and staring at the body for an extended period of time, tipped her head up at the sound of her name. Still, she hadn’t been paying attention to him, and he’d had to repeat the question.

  The scientist came over and stood between him and Risa, pacing the path, looking up the embankment, and clearly trying to make a judgment. He’d worked with on-scene scientists and techs before; they typically had zero concern about his case. Mostly, they wanted to solve a puzzle. He’d learned early on that it was best to step back and wait.

  Eventually, Grace pointed up the slope. She motioned to places where it seemed a path existed between the trees. “That’s where a body might have slid down, through here, and stopped here,” she pointed to each piece of her proposed path. “If there was enough water last week.”

  She’d gone on to use the phrase that Ethan always hated. The disruption up the embankment “was consistent with” the body having slid down perhaps a week ago. She refused to say that it had happened, only that she would know more when she rolled the body over.

  So, while Risa stood off to the side, Grace enlisted Ethan to help collect the leaves. She’d handed him blue, latex-free gloves, and together they’d slowly gathered the leaves, placing them into a special evidence bag.

  That was one of those things he’d not understood as a rookie agent, but later forensic classes had instilled in him the need to save everything. He’d also had cases cracked by scientists who managed to find the most minute detail. Given those previous victories, he was more than willing to do the grunt work of bagging rotting leaves.

  Once the body was uncovered, it was pretty clear that the clothing—the blue denim jeans, the sparkly sneakers, the pink fleece hoodie—matched what Kaylee Schulte was wearing when she disappeared.

  Again, Dr. Lee spent an inordinate amount of time snapping pictures from every angle. But Ethan was more unsettled by the moment.

  One side of the little girl’s face was partially exposed now that the leaves were gone. He caught a glimpse of skin through the hair draped across her forehead and nose, apparently having flung there during her slide down the bank. One eye was open and staring sightlessly into the distance.

  Where her face had been covered by the leaves before, now he was starting to see what they were dealing with. The back of her hand was showing, as well, and that bothered him even more.

  When he turned around, he spotted Risa looking at the body. Her brows pulled together, and he hoped she wasn’t seeing what he was. “Don’t look.”

  “What? Is it going to make my day worse?”

  Eventually he’d replied, “I think maybe it will. This is worse than you thought.”

  “Shit,” she said. But instead of looking away, she tucked her crutches under her arms and hobbled closer. Luckily, she avoided tripping on any of the roots and rocks in her way.

  Then she was standing beside him, looking at the body and seeing what he saw. Kaylee’s hands and face were covered in cuts. And they weren’t from sliding down the hill.

  Chapter Seven

  Risa heard a sharp knock at the door. It sounded official, but still it startled her. She wasn’t one to be fooled by people or things that merely seemed official.

  As she wobbled her way to standing, she analyzed the sound. It was too high up on the door to be Leah. That made sense. She’d told Leah that she was okay, that she only wanted to sit on her couch and watch TV. Risa had hoped for two things: that her brain would turn off and that she’d pass out soon and get some sleep.

  Though she hadn’t wanted to get off the couch, she was hopeful this was the officer Agent Eames had promised to send with her phone. She wasn’t comfortable sitting here with no quick contact to the outside world, so despite needing to get her ankle iced and elevated and desperately needing a shower, Risa had first fired up her computer and opened all her messaging systems. Though they were a handy backup for communication, they only worked if she could type and someone was online when she needed them.

  She couldn’t sneak up to the door since she clumped along on her crutches and remaining good foot, but she did her best. Slowly, she made her way over, as another impatient rap only irritated her further.

  When she put her eye to the peephole, she saw an officer. Relief flooded through her, and she realized just how worried she had been.

  “Hello,” she said. “I’m sorry. I’m a little slow. Can I see your badge please?” She asked it as nicely as she could, but she was still concerned. The way Kaylee Schulte’s body had looked indicated a serial killer, and Risa was not going to sleep well tonight.

  When she saw the officer’s badge, she opened the door and took the bag he offered.

  “That bag has your phone, and I also have a note.” He held it out toward her with a smile.

  The note, she was not expecting. Taking it, she opened the folded paper just enough to see that it was signed “Agent Ethan Eames.” Risa tried not to sigh dramatically. The man was probably warning her once again to keep her mouth shut about the case.

  That, however, was not this officer’s fault, so she thanked him and stepped back inside, throwing all the bolts.

  At least now, she thought, she would feel better stepping into the shower and washing this day away. She’d had her foot iced and elevated for almost forty-five minutes.

  She was pocketing the cell and heading awkwardly for the hallway when it buzzed. Bad idea, Risa, her brain admonished as she reached to check it. She’d been away from her phone for hours. Who knew how may mountains of messages awaited her? If news had spread of Kaylee’s body, then there might be people worried about her. It would depend on how successful Ethan was at shutting down the leaks.

  So she changed course and plopped herself back on the couch. Propping her ankle on the arm, she added the ice bag again. She might be here awhile. Damn, she wanted that shower.

  At first, she just scrolled through to see what looked most important. Her messages were entirely blown up. Everyone had contacted her wanting to know if she was okay, including the chief.

  Damn it, she thought. She’d wanted to tell him first. She’d intended to, but the last time she’d had her phone she was on the trail, and there was no signal. Of course, long before they got back, the phone was out of her hands.

  Though she wanted to reply right away, she checked her other messages first. The more she looked through the things she was being asked, the more she became concerned again. People already seemed to know too much. Now she was worried what Eames might think.

  It suddenly occurred to her she probably had to be considered a suspect, since she was the one who found the body. Even without her phone, they might think she was responsible for any information that turned up online. And it seemed the town already knew what had happened.

  Mr. Adorable Sexy FBI Agent wasn’t telling her anything. And, shit! They’d had her phone for hours! Ethan told her they would download and delete any pictures of the body or anything associated with her find. So Risa expected that, but now she wondered, what else might they have done?

  Immediately, she looked for any newly installed apps, though she figured the FBI wouldn’t be so obvious as to leave the icon on screen. She had no idea how to tell if something had been downloaded onto her phone and hidden.

  Then she turned to her images file and found that all the pictures she had taken today were gone. E
ven the one of the trailhead she’d sent to Leah as her shorthand for “last place seen.” She assumed the pictures had been completely scrubbed—not just merely “deleted”—and she found herself grateful that, at least, her other pictures remained. She had a brief, horrifying moment where she praised any god anyone had ever prayed to that she did not sext.

  Not only did she not send dirty pictures of herself to anyone ever, but when weird guys from online dating sites sent them to her, she immediately deleted them. She had never been more grateful for that practice than right at this moment. Though, certainly, the FBI agents who worked over her phone would have seen worse, that was a bullet dodged.

  Her thoughts turned somber as they again turned to the little girl in the woods. Though Risa hadn’t known Kaylee or her family personally, she would have traded anything to have found the girl alive. Still, her phone was in her hands, and it was her newest worry.

  Spending a brief amount of time in the search bar, Risa tried to find out how to tell if someone had hacked her phone. The basic check process she found revealed only that the pictures had been deleted and nothing she could see had been added, so she left it at that. If they were following her or recording her conversations, they would certainly learn a few things.

  They would learn that she was willing to ask the produce people at the store if they had other, better cantaloupes in the back. That she binge-watched her TV shows. That she was single and was on several online dating sites. Then again, they might see some nasty dick pics from guys trying to hook up. So maybe next time, she’d leave them on and say hello to whatever federal agent was monitoring her phone.

  Once she’d exhausted her meager tech skills, she turned to the messages. She replied to the chief first, finding it interesting that even he seemed to know that she’d not only twisted her ankle while running, but that there had been something far more involved. He’d given her the next shift off and told her to check in before she returned. He was willing to let her take whatever time she needed to heal.

  She understood about firefighters who couldn’t carry their weight, firefighters who had injuries, firefighters whose ankles or knees buckled when they were in a fire. Those were the firefighters who were a danger to others. She found, as she often did when she was sick, she was stuck with the internal struggle of desperately wanting to go to work and the absolutely petrifying fear that if she did, she might hurt one of her coworkers.

  She accepted her chief’s offer and thanked him. Everyone else seemed to credit their knowledge to Leah. It appeared Leah had only told people Risa had twisted her ankle out in the woods, and that Leah had come to pick her up.

  Well, Risa thought, good story on Leah’s part. Agent Eames’s speech putting the fear of God in her friend seemed to have worked, although there was always the possibility someone might figure out that a body had been found, that Risa was incommunicado all day, and that she’d twisted an ankle while running. One only needed to put two and two together. It seemed no one had yet though.

  Risa was grateful, as she didn’t want to get chewed out by Eames. So she assured everyone she was okay and that she was off duty resting her ankle. She assured Leah that eventually she had been fed. The officer who had driven her home had even been smart enough to feed her before going to the urgent care. No one wanted a patient who was hurt and hungry. The fast food they’d picked up wasn’t normally on her diet, but even a cheap burger was better than waiting until she got home.

  When her messages were cleared, she decided she could finally get that shower. But as she stood up, a paper fluttered to the ground. Picking it up was a bitch, but she wanted to see what it was.

  Standing at last, she flipped open the note from Agent Eames. It said only, “I owe you dinner.”

  Chapter Eight

  Ethan knocked on the door to Risa’s apartment. The building had no elevator, so he’d climbed the long flight of stairs, wondering how Risa had managed it last night with her crutches. It was certainly going to make things hard for her in the coming days. That wasn’t his problem, he reminded himself.

  A few noises bumped from inside the apartment, as apparently she stumbled around a little bit to come to the door. “No hurry,” he called through the heavy frame.

  While he waited, he inspected the door and decided it was as secure as was reasonable in this neighborhood. She should be safe. Now, that ankle could become bad business if anything else happened to it. He was glad she was being careful.

  When at last she answered the door, it suddenly became clear that some of the noise he had heard was her waking up. Though he’d called ahead and said he would be here now, apparently she’d fallen asleep on the couch while waiting.

  Thankfully, she was dressed. However, her hair was now done up in short little knots around her head. It was adorable, almost as though he’d caught her in her pajamas.

  She hopped backwards on her good foot, doorknob in one hand, crutches held in the other. “Come on in.”

  She seemed to look around the apartment as though trying to assess it for company. Though the place was clean, it was very clear she had set up shop on the couch. A blanket and pillow were draped over one arm, and he had to think she had done that just moments before opening the door. On the coffee table stood an open bottle of flavored vitamin water and what were probably black bean tortilla chips. What looked like hummus sat next to that, as well as several other undefined bags of healthy snack food.

  She was one of those.

  Behind him, he heard her struggling with the door. “Here, let me take care of that.”

  Risa nodded a thank you and stuck the crutches back under her arms, swinging off toward the center of the apartment.

  Well, he thought as he failed at his self-assigned task of not looking at her, she might be ‘one of those,’ but it looks good on her. Then, while he still faced the door, he took a moment to get himself together. That was not okay.

  Kaylee Schulte’s body had been removed from the scene and taken to the morgue late yesterday afternoon. The area where Risa had found it was still being checked over by not only Dr. Lee, but now by the full team of forensic techs she’d brought in. Ethan even had police officers guarding the space last night. They’d wound up shutting down all the trails after a few lookie-loos had tried to hike other trails around the closure and come in through a back route.

  It was going to be a huge case, though he still didn’t want to admit how bad it was. Risa was going to wind up being a witness, so thinking that anything looked good on her was out of bounds. He turned back and found her motioning him toward the table that was in the corner of the dine-in kitchen area.

  The apartment was small but well-organized and cozy. The carpet was the standard silver-gray one might find in a rental, but she’d painted the walls a beautiful teal blue. The couch was comfy-looking, as though someone could curl up with a book. The dining table had a shabby chic look to it, and he wondered if it was a design choice or a necessity. Though she had a steady job, he knew that salary didn’t always go far. Cops, firefighters, EMTs, and teachers—the most valuable people to a society, in his mind—were the least well-paid for what they were worth.

  He looked around once more as she settled into the chair, leaning her crutches against the windowsill as though she might have done this several times already.

  “Can I get you anything?” he asked.

  She laughed, white, even teeth flashing, her eyes lighting up. “This is my place. I’m supposed to ask you that.”

  He pointed to the crutches. “Nah, not this time.”

  He was here to record her statement, and she knew it, so he was glad they were at least starting on a good foot. Pulling out his recorder, he began by noting the date and time. Then he asked her full name for the record.

  “Risanna Naomi Caldwell.” Her date and year of birth quickly followed, and Ethan wondered why he hadn’t known all of this before. Then again, the day had not gone according to plan. His normal day consisted of coffee, a
sandwich, and writing reports.

  It was a full hour and a half later before he finished asking all of his questions. She’d given consistent answers, which was a point in her favor. The only answer he hadn’t really liked was when he’d asked why she’d decided to take the different trail that morning.

  All she’d been able to say was that it was a whim. Anything that was a “whim” did not play well in court. That was his ultimate goal here: find the perp and sew the case up tight enough that even an idiot DA could slam dunk it. He wished she was able to produce any actual reason that prodded her to go the other way this morning. Risa couldn’t come up with one. Despite prodding her for a better answer, he didn’t get it.

  “Well,” he said, thankful the recorder was off. “I bet you didn’t think you’d have to deal with that yesterday.”

  Risanna Naomi Caldwell shook her head. “No.”

  Then he asked another question that didn’t belong on the recording, but it was one he was curious about. “Has anyone asked you about Kaylee Schulte?”

  She frowned. “Everyone’s asking everyone.”

  “That’s what I mean, I guess. Has anyone figured out you’re the one who found the body?”

  “Not that I’m aware of.”

  He leaned in then. “Look, I don’t mean any disrespect to your friend Leah. She seems like a good friend. But...” Risa nodded. She seemed to know what was coming. “I’m concerned about her ability to keep this to herself.”

  “You’re not concerned about mine?” Risa asked.

  “I was, but I called your chief.”

  “Of course you did.”

  “Well,” he said, “it is in your job contract to keep confidential the things you see on a daily basis. So, luckily, you have a boss I can ask about your ability to do so. I can’t rest assured of the same thing from Leah.”