“OK, there are only a few turns.”
“I really enjoy Pine Grove and the state forest. It’s beautiful here. My last assignment was in the northwestern part of the state.”
They had driven a few miles before Scout roused himself to come forward and check out the stranger. “Hey, buddy.” Alexa said to the mastiff. “You must be exhausted from this experience.”
“Who’s this?” the ranger asked.
“Scout, meet Ranger Michaels.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dog quite this big,” the ranger marveled. “You are such a handsome fellow, Scout.”
He continued to chatter. “We always had dogs at home. I thought my black lab, Blackie, was a big dog. He was a peanut compared to this guy.”
“You had a black lab named Blackie?”
“Yeah. What can I say? When you’re six years old, you keep the names pretty simple. He was a great dog. Loved to jump in the neighborhood pond and chase ducks. My dad tried to take him hunting once. That was a disaster. The dog didn’t understand that he was supposed to wait until Dad shot the ducks before he retrieved them.”
“My second dog was a chocolate lab,” Ranger Michaels continued.
Alexa made an effort to respond. “Let me guess, his name was Cocoa?”
“No. My family had gotten much more sophisticated at the whole dog-naming thing by then. We called him Hershey.”
Alexa groaned. She liked this guy’s goofy humor. “The lane to my house is just around this bend. It’s on the left.” A few minutes later, she pointed to her house ahead.
Alexa’s home sat between a grove of towering pines and the rise of the mountain behind. A small grassy area in front of the cabin provided enough open space for sunlight to reach the house.
Ranger Michaels parked in front of the house. “This is a great place.”
Alexa was touched by his concern when he hopped out to open her door.
“This place belongs to my parents. Even though they live nearby in Carlisle, they’ve had this cabin for years. We spent most of our summers here when I was a kid. When I moved back home and needed a place of my own, they said I could stay here. They don’t come here as often since my brother and I are grown. Luckily, Mom won’t live without all the modern conveniences, so the place is outfitted for year-round living.”
Alexa continued to talk as the ranger opened the back door and Scout jumped to the ground. “I really like it here. It’s great for Scout; plenty of room for him to romp and no close neighbors. I appreciate the peace and quiet. I spent my college and law school years in New York City. After years of the city, I’m happy to be home.”
As he listened, the ranger fished his cell phone from a pocket. When Alexa saw him begin to dial, she warned, “You probably won’t get reception here. I can only get it on the deck, sometimes. If it doesn’t work, you can use the phone inside.”
She walked up the steps to the wide deck and the front door beyond, her tall, lanky driver following. Scout already stood at the door, panting to be let in the house. “Hey, boy. You’ve had a crazy morning, huh? Go in and get some food and water.”
She opened the door, and the mastiff dashed through. “He’ll sleep for hours this afternoon,” she said to Ranger Michaels, who had taken a seat on one of the deck chairs.
He held his cell phone at arm’s length, waving it in circles. “You’re right. I can’t get any reception; zero bars. I need to call back to the station and get someone to pick me up.”
“Sure. I really appreciate you putting yourself out to bring me home. You’ll need to use my landline. Follow me.” She led the ranger into the cabin and pointed out the phone in the living room. “Help yourself. Can I get you something to drink? Water, Coke, coffee?”
“Water would be great.”
Alexa filled two glasses with ice water and carried them back out onto the front deck. She lowered her body into a weathered teak deck chair. With the afternoon sun warming her face, Alexa listened to the wind sighing in the pines and realized that she felt a little better now that she was home. In a few minutes, the ranger joined her and sat at the nearby patio table companionably sipping his glass of water.
“Mr. Michaels, I can’t thank you enough. It was a pretty traumatic morning for me, and you made it easier by driving Scout and me back here.”
“Call me Reese, please. I think you’ve held up pretty well. Not too many people could have a random encounter with a dead body and not totally fall apart. You dealt with the cops; you didn’t need sedation; you’re back home on your own. I suspect you’re going to be OK.”
He ran a hand through his thick brown hair and grimaced. “I didn’t stumble upon the body the way you did, but it hasn’t been a run-of-the mill morning for me either. In my job, I’ve dealt with two people who drowned and a few hikers and campers with heart attacks or serious injuries. Nothing like this.”
As Alexa listened to Reese talk, she realized that the attractive ranger wasn’t much older than she. “Will the park investigate this situation? Do you have training in unexplained deaths and things like that?”
“One of the requirements for the job is municipal police training. But most of the crimes that we deal with are things like drunks fighting in the campgrounds or kids setting the woods on fire with firecrackers. Sometimes, we work with the state police on crimes that take place on state land, usually poaching or drug deals. On something this big, we won’t take the lead. That’s the state police role. I’ll just help with logistics, like today, or assist them on issues that relate to the park.”
When a white SUV with green markings approached down the lane, Reese stood up and reached into his jacket pocket. “Here’s my card. If you think of anything that you forgot to tell us or if you just need to talk about this some more, call me. You had a rough day.”
She stood at the top of the steps as he walked to the passenger side of the car. A fresh-faced young woman in a park uniform sat at the wheel.
The ranger paused before he opened the passenger door, and said, “Maybe you should call someone to come out here with you. Your mom and dad? A boyfriend?”
“I’ll be fine. Thanks, again.”
Alexa watched the SUV pass along the pines and disappear from sight. Her parents were on one of their trips to someplace exotic, a month in the Amazon and other stops in South America. Realistically, she couldn’t call them. She didn’t feel the need to disturb her brother, Graham, either. Sundays were one of the few days he got to spend with his young family.
“As to the boyfriend, would I say that Caleb fits that category?” Alexa mused. The answer to that question was not clear, but she certainly didn’t need him to come babysit her. She and Scout would do just fine.
Alexa shivered as she walked into the house, chilled by an unbidden thought. The young blonde lying under the mountain laurel would never again be fine.
Chapter Three
“Finally.” Alexa sat up in bed the minute the alarm rang. She pushed the dog snoring beside her. “Scout, we have to get up.” She yawned. “At least one of us got some sleep last night.”
She rolled out of bed and headed for the stairs. At the top of the staircase, Alexa jumped aside as the giant mastiff lumbered by, desperate for his morning run. Downstairs, she opened the front door wide. After Scout barreled past her, headed toward the pines, Alexa rushed back upstairs to dress. Although the cabin sat in the middle of hundreds of acres of forest, Scout never wandered very far. Alexa could let him run on his own without worry.
Alexa tried three times before she could corral her swirl of curls into a loose chignon. As always, strands of honey hair streaked with lighter blonde highlights immediately escaped to frame her face. Looking in the mirror, Alexa saw a medium person—medium height and weight, not willowy but certainly not fat; medium hair, not blonde but not brown; medium hazel eyes, neither green nor gray. Surprisingly, men seemed to think that all of these medium aspects combined quite nicely.
She straightened the
jacket of her severely cut black pantsuit and slipped on her most comfortable black heels. Finally, Alexa arranged a raspberry silk scarf around her neck, her small defiance to the expected uniform of a junior attorney in the firm of Williams, Williams, and O’Donnell.
Throwing an old barn jacket over her suit, Alexa carried her breakfast of steel cut oatmeal and orange spice tea out to the front deck. She wanted to grab every last minute outdoors. In a few weeks, the mornings would be too cold for the luxury of an outdoor meal.
“Scout, come. I have to leave soon,” Alexa called. The dog pretended not to hear and snuffled his nose along the ground.
“Scout, now.”
The rambunctious dog plowed through a mound of leaves as he heeded Alexa’s call. The scattering orange foliage transported her back to the previous morning. She couldn’t escape the image of the blonde girl with wide blue eyes. Alexa pulled her jacket tighter to ward off a sudden nip in the morning air.
The minute Alexa passed through the office door, Sunday flooded back once more. The lead headline in the morning paper, placed neatly in the center of her desk, proclaimed: “Dead girl found in Michaux Forest.”
The article contained little information. The authorities still had not identified the girl. They had not determined cause of death, but the circumstances were “under investigation.” The article said that the body had been found by a hiker but didn’t name Alexa. Trooper Taylor was quoted, urging anyone with relevant information to come forward.
Alexa shuddered. How horrible that this young woman was dead. Even sadder, no one had come forward to report her missing. Someone out there must have loved her. How awful to have no idea that your sister or daughter or girlfriend is in the morgue.
Later that day between meetings, Alexa hurried into the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. Two paralegals stood at the coffee maker, embroiled in a discussion about the dead girl.
Becky proclaimed, “It must be murder. The article says that this girl was young. She’s not just going to die from natural causes out in the middle of nowhere by herself.”
“I think it was an overdose.” Jennifer put forth a different theory. “I’ll bet that she was out there in the forest, partying with a bunch of friends. She ODs and the friends panic and hightail it out of there.”
Jennifer turned to Alexa. “What do you think happened?”
“I’m not even going to speculate.” Alexa tried to keep her expression neutral. “I expect that the police will figure it out soon. Maybe someone will come forward with some information about what happened.”
Alexa couldn’t tell them that she had been the one to find the body. The whole experience was just too raw to treat as gossip in the office kitchen.
When she arrived back in her office, Alexa found a new pile of paper stacked in the center of her desk. “Melinda, in here please,” she yelled to her assistant. “Where did this come from?” she complained. “I have to finish the McCarren brief today. I don’t have time for anything else.”
“It never rains but it pours,” Melinda cracked. “Your buddy, Brian, dropped that file off on his way to court. Says Mr. and Mrs. Lyons are coming in for their will tomorrow, and he doesn’t think his hearing will be finished until after five o’clock. Killian is the judge, and you know what that means.”
“Yeah, with Killian he might still be there at midnight. But, damn. Brian knows that I am jammed today. He thinks I’m his personal dumping ground. Anything he doesn’t finish or finds too boring—just give it to Alexa.”
“Well, you know what rolls downhill,” Melinda consoled her boss in her typical cockeyed way. “When you’re the junior attorney, that means you sit at the bottom of that proverbial hill.”
“But, Brian only came to the firm shortly before I started here. A few extra months on the job don’t entitle him to special privileges, like wangling the best assignments and passing the grunt work off to me.”
“You can always talk to your brother or Pat O’Donnell about Brian.”
“No. I’m not going to play the family firm card. Anyway, Pat works from home half the time and Graham would just brush me off. I think my brother actually gets a kick out of this little rivalry between Brian and me. He even encourages it, just like the way he egged on his friends when they teased me at school. I swear, some days Graham still acts like he’s ten and I’m six.”
“Well, Ben Franklin said ‘out of adversity comes opportunity.’” The ample redhead slowly backed toward the door.
“Enough with the lame quotes. Get out of here.” Alexa’s giggles trailed off into a deep sigh as she tackled the daunting stack of legal documents.
At the end of the day, Alexa drove home in a reflective state of mind. Despite her bitching to Melinda, Alexa liked her job. When she graduated from Columbia, she had rebelled against Dad’s assumption that she would join the family practice. Instead, she found a job at one of the gargantuan New York City law firms.
During her glowing second year evaluation, Alexa’s boss confided, “If you maintain this level of work, you have the potential to make partner some day. Dan Baylor already has his eye on you.”
A month later, Alexa handed in her resignation. The words “partner track” terrified her—years of long, grueling workdays and cutthroat internal politics. “No way.” Alexa decided. “I am going home before Baylor, Trego, Wilson, and Gold grinds me into dust. Daddy and Graham will hire me in a New York minute.”
When she turned down her lane, Alexa ended her reverie. She had made the right decision, trading concrete and the constant din of traffic for the forest and the sound of wind in the trees. She had satisfying work, family, friends, and the best dog in the world. “Except for that whole dead body thing yesterday, everything is perfect.”
The next morning, Graham had already arrived in his office when Alexa breezed into work. She made a quick stop at her own desk to glance at the newspaper for news on the mystery girl. A small article announced that the police had made no progress in identifying the young woman.
Alexa tossed the paper down and walked across the office to knock on Graham’s door. “Do you have a few minutes?”
“Sure. Come on in. I don’t have anything on the calendar until ten o’clock. Have you heard anything from Mom and Dad?”
Alexa slid into one of the brown leather chairs facing Graham’s desk. “No. I think they were going to be out of cell phone range for most of the trip. I don’t really expect to hear from them until they get back from the Amazon. It is the Amazon, right? Or is it Africa, or France, or India?” she laughed. “I can’t keep track of their travels since Dad retired; make that semi-retired.”
“Yeah. Norris and Susan Williams, Carlisle’s answer to Indiana Jones. They are having a ball.”
“Did they call you? Is there a problem?”
“No calls or emails,” Graham laughed. “But, I told them I’d look out for you while they’re away. They worry about you being alone out at the cabin.”
“Give me a break. I managed on my own for years in New York City. Plus, I have my giant guard dog. You are busy with Kate and the kids. You don’t need to worry about me,” Alexa protested.
Graham snorted with laughter. “You call that giant wuss of a dog a guard dog? A burglar could walk through the door with a Milk Bone and Scout would help him carry out your brand new TV. He would lead the burglar to your jewelry box in exchange for a scratch on the ears.”
Alexa grinned at Graham’s apt description of Scout before her expression sobered. “I did want to tell you about something that involves Scout. I would have talked to you yesterday, but I knew you had a court appearance.” She paused. “Have you seen the news about the young woman found dead in the state forest over the weekend?”
“Yes. I read the article in the paper. How does that involve Scout?”
“Well, really, Scout and me both. We found the body.”
After Alexa peeled her brother off the ceiling, she told Graham the entire story. She felt better after
sharing her experience with him. Talking about the incident helped put some distance between Alexa and the shock she was still feeling.
“I’m concerned that the police interviewed you without counsel,” Graham said.
“Graham. I just knew this would be your reaction. First of all, I am counsel, duly admitted to the bar in both Pennsylvania and New York. Secondly, I think the police are pretty clear that my stumbling upon the body was pure happenstance. I’m not a witness. I’m just the person who found the body.”
“Are you at risk?” Graham frowned.
“What do you mean? At risk for criminal prosecution?”
“No. Personal risk,” her brother said. “The police don’t seem to be treating this as a suicide. So, it is likely that this girl didn’t kill herself in the forest. That means someone else either killed her or is covering up an accidental overdose or something along that line. These people could lash out at you since you’re involved.”
Graham’s statement surprised Alexa. Wrapped up in her reaction to finding a dead body and concern about the girl’s identity, Alexa had never imagined that she could be in danger.
“Graham, no one but you and the police knows that I found her. They didn’t release that to the news. Although the police didn’t give me any instructions, I haven’t talked about this to anyone. But, we don’t know how she died. Maybe she had an aneurysm or a heart problem.”
Alexa visualized the crumpled body on the ground, partially hidden under the mountain laurel bush. She shuddered as she thought of those blue eyes staring, unseeing, at the autumn sky.
“Graham.” Alexa’s voice faltered. “The worst part of all—it was just like the Babes in the Woods. When I saw the body, I thought, ‘this must have been how the Babes looked.’ Remember the Babes story and our elaborate reenactments from when we were kids?”
Graham pushed back his chair and came around the desk to hug his baby sister. “I know it must have been tough, Lexie. But, don’t let local history or our ridiculous childhood games complicate this situation. Nearly eighty years have passed since they found the Babes. You need to focus on the here and now.”
Dead of Autumn Page 2