In a Killer’s Sights

by Sandra Robbins

  Gwen looked up at him and smiled. “Thanks, Shorty. I hope my tardiness hasn’t caused you any problems this morning, but I just couldn’t get out of bed.”

  He grinned. “Not a bit. You deserved to sleep late after the day you had yesterday. I couldn’t believe it when Dean told me what happened. I’m just thankful you’re alive and that you’ve come back to visit us.”

  “Well, I’m certainly enjoying being here, and your cooking has to be one of the highlights. I imagine that’s what keeps the guests coming back.”

  Shorty’s chest puffed out with pride as he shook his head. “Aw, I don’t know ’bout that. Dean does a mighty good job of running this place. For the past two years James has been sick, and Dean handled everything by himself.”

  Gwen looked at Dean and frowned. “You never told me Gramps was sick. What was the matter with him?”

  “He was diagnosed with cancer and went through chemo and radiation. For the past six months he’s been better. We thought he might have licked the disease and was going to make it.” Dean paused and bit his lip. “Of course, we never figured on somebody wanting to kill him.”

  “I’d better get those pancakes,” Shorty said as he sniffed and turned away. “Be back in a few minutes.”

  When he’d stepped into the kitchen, Gwen reached across the table and covered Dean’s hand with hers. “I’m so sorry I didn’t know he was sick.”

  The touch of her hand made his skin grow warm, and he pulled free of her grasp. “How could you have known? We had no idea where you were.”

  She sat back in her chair and stared at him. “Did you really not know? I mean, after all, this is the twenty-first century, and you can usually find anybody on the internet if you look hard enough.”

  “I know that.”

  Her face paled a bit, and he frowned at her reaction. She swallowed before she spoke. “Then did you ever try to find me?”

  He sighed and shook his head. “The day I signed the divorce papers I promised you I would never look for you, and I haven’t. I wanted to.” A harsh chuckle rumbled in his throat. “You have no idea how badly I wanted to find you, but I promised you I wouldn’t. And now here you are, without any help from me. Don’t you think that’s strange?”

  She took a sip of her coffee and shrugged. “Not strange. Just a coincidence. If it wasn’t for my work assignment, I wouldn’t be. I certainly didn’t expect to see you here.”

  He tilted his head to one side and smiled. “I prefer to think that God brought you here for a reason. Maybe for us to know each other again.”

  She started to respond, but Shorty came back in with her pancakes just then and set them in front of her. He wiped his hands on his long apron and looked down at Dean. “If you don’t need me this morning, I got some personal business I gotta take care of. All the guests will be out until late this afternoon.” He turned his attention to Gwen. “Most of our guests are either out sightseeing or on trail rides during the day, so we don’t have lunch here. There’s sandwich fixings in the kitchen for you, though. I’ll be back in plenty of time to get supper ready.”

  “Don’t worry about me,” Gwen said. “I can fend for myself.”

  “I think everything’s under control,” Dean said to Shorty. “Go on and do whatever you have to do, and I’ll see you at supper.”

  Shorty nodded and turned back to the kitchen. When he’d closed the door behind him, Gwen leaned forward and glared at her ex. “As I was about to say before we were interrupted, don’t go reading more into my presence here than what it is. God didn’t bring me back. My network sent me here, and that’s the only reason. And as soon as I eat breakfast I need to get to work. Did you check to see if there’s a horse I can borrow?”

  He didn’t speak for a moment, just stared at her. Then he sighed and picked up his coffee cup. “Princess is available. She’s a gentle mare that’s good for people not used to riding, and it’s an easy trip up to Crystal Falls. Emmett’s going to go with you in case you have any problems. I don’t imagine you get much time to ride in the city.”

  “You’re wrong,” she said. “Rick has a stable of horses at his house in the Hamptons. We ride there quite often.”

  Dean’s mouth dropped open, and he sat back in his chair. “Wow! A house in the Hamptons. He sounds like quite a catch. Your first husband could never have given you anything like that on a cop’s salary.”

  Her face grew warm at the sarcastic tone of his voice, and she gritted her teeth. Before she could say anything, her cell phone rang, and she angrily pulled it from her pocket. “Hello,” she snarled.

  Her features immediately softened, and she smiled. “Good morning to you, too. How are you today?”

  Dean picked up a fork and began to trace patterns on the tablecloth with the tines. He had no idea who was on the phone, but she seemed happy to hear from whoever it was.

  “Oh, I can’t,” she said. “I’m going to scout out some locations up around Crystal Falls this morning.”

  She paused a moment. “You know the place? That doesn’t surprise me. You seem to know most of the trails around here. Would you like to come with me?” She listened for a moment before she spoke again. “I see. Then, yes, I’d love to have dinner with you. See you at seven. Enjoy your day in the Smokies. ’Bye.”

  She ended the call, and Dean leaned forward and crossed his arms on the table. “Who was that?”

  “Mark Dyson.”

  Dean’s forehead wrinkled. “The guy I met at the motel yesterday? Are you having dinner with him tonight?”

  “Yes. He has to leave tomorrow and wanted to see me again before then.”

  “Tell me once more how you met this guy?”

  She rolled her eyes and huffed out a long breath. “Honestly, Dean, you act like you have a right to check into my life, and you don’t. I can see whoever I want without your approval.”

  The muscle in his jaw flexed, and he glared at her. “I know that. You’ve certainly reminded me of it often enough since you’ve been here, but I’m just trying to protect you. Somebody tried to kill you, and everybody around you is a suspect. Now, what do you know about Mark Dyson?”

  She crossed her arms and glared back. “He’s a lawyer in Knoxville, and he seems like a nice man. That’s all I know.”

  “You ran into him in the motel office, you said. How did he happen to strike up a conversation with you?”

  “I don’t know. I bumped into him when I turned around from asking the desk clerk a question, and he was very apologetic. He insisted on buying me a cup of coffee for being so clumsy, and we just got to talking. He’s a very interesting person.”

  “What did you talk about?”

  “When I told him I was a TV producer here to scout locations for a documentary, he was very interested. It seems he watches a lot of documentaries, and he thought the subject of ours would be very successful.”

  Dean let her words sink in for a moment. Something didn’t seem right here, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. “You told me you were doing a documentary about the Smokies. I thought the subject was the beauty of the scenery and the wildlife in the mountains. Is that right?”

  She nodded. “Well, yes, but it’s really about what’s happening to the environment.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We’re trying to alert the public to how the Earth’s environment is being destroyed, and the Smokies is just one part of it. We also are going to have footage from the rain forest.”

  “So this isn’t just a travel documentary. It’s a report on how our lifestyles are affecting our surroundings.”

  “That’s right. You live in these mountains. You surely can see the effect air pollution is having on the trees and wildlife. The Environmental Protection Agency is trying to reduce pollution by having fossil fuel–burning power plants cut
down on harmful emissions and factories from illegally dumping waste into water sources. We’re going to show some of the companies that are under investigation right now for causing the most harm.”

  He frowned. “That sounds like an issue that may have a lot of controversy connected to it. Are you planning to reveal the names of those involved?”

  She nodded. “Yes. One of them is located near here—the North Fork Chemical Company. It’s owned by a group of investors from all over the country.”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard of that one. But, Gwen, I don’t know. This sounds—”

  She glanced at her watch and jumped to her feet. “It’s getting late, and I don’t have time to talk about this now. I need to get going. Do you think Emmett is ready to go with me?”

  “I told him I’d call him on the intercom when you were heading to the barn.”

  “You have an intercom that’s connected to the barn?”

  “It’s a safety feature. We had smoke detectors installed there about two years ago. Since the house is so far away, we wanted to make sure we could hear the alarm.”

  “That seems like a wise thing to do.”

  Dean pushed back from the table and stood. “I’d go with you today, but I have some work to do in the office. I’ll go let Emmett know you’re on your way.”

  “Thanks, Dean. I’ll see you this afternoon sometime.”

  With that, she turned and dashed from the room. As Dean watched her go, he found his thoughts returning to Mark Dyson. Something about the guy didn’t ring true, but Dean didn’t know what it was. Being a cop had taught him that when he had misgivings about someone or something, he needed to check it out, and he knew just what to do. Gwen was right. You could find everything on the internet.

  He strode from the dining room, entered the office and flipped on the intercom. After informing Emmett that Gwen was on her way, he sat down at the computer and within seconds was surfing the internet, looking for anything he could find out about Mark Dyson. His name and law firm came up, and Dean read all the information on the website. It looked like any other site for anyone seeking legal assistance.

  He sat back in his chair for a moment, then typed “Mark Dyson litigation” into the search engine. His eyes grew wide as several articles appeared, relating the latest cases he’d handled. Dean read for several minutes before he turned off the computer and slumped in his seat.

  He’d been right to worry but didn’t have enough information yet to know what was going on. He knew one thing, however. He had to tell Gwen right away that Mark Dyson was one of the lead attorneys representing North Fork Chemical Company in a current class-action lawsuit filed against them.

  It couldn’t be a coincidence that Mark had bumped into Gwen right when she was about to produce a documentary revealing his client’s problems to the world. But what did he hope to learn by appearing to befriend Gwen? Whatever it was, Dean wasn’t about to ignore the suspicion he had about Mark’s motives. There had to be an agenda of some kind, and Dean intended to find out what it was.

  * * *

  Gwen strode toward the barn and tried to focus on what she wanted to accomplish for the day. She needed to finish up her location shots so she could get out of here. The tension between Dean and herself seemed to be escalating the longer they were around each other. She’d almost slipped and mentioned Maggie several times since she’d been here, and now Dean was acting like a jealous suitor, making sarcastic remarks about Rick and being suspicious of Mark.

  She needed to leave, and the sooner the better. She’d take her pictures today, and then...

  Her eyes grew wide, and she stopped in the middle of the path that led to the barn. With a loud thump, she slapped the palm of her hand against her forehead. How was she going to take any pictures? The man who’d tried to kill her yesterday had taken her camera.

  Then she remembered the cell phone in her pocket and pulled it out. She could take as many pictures as she liked and email them to her office in New York. Sure, the quality wouldn’t be as high as with her usual camera, but this was just a scouting trip; professional-quality shots could come later. Problem solved. With a smile on her face, she pumped her fist in the air and continued toward the barn.

  The corral adjacent to the barn held only two horses this morning, the others probably out on a trail ride. She wondered if one of the pair could be Princess as she walked over to the fence and stopped to gaze at the two sleek mares. Both looked docile enough that she was sure she could handle either one.

  She turned and walked toward the entrance of the barn, but stopped a few paces outside when a large tan-and-white collie emerged. The dog stopped and stared at her with dark, almond-shaped eyes. From the looks of her Gwen knew right away this had to be a new mother, and from the look of her belly she must have just finished nursing her puppies.

  Gwen squatted down and held out her hand. “Hello, girl. Do you have some babies around here?”

  The collie inched closer and sniffed at her fingers, then licked them. Gwen smiled and reached out tentatively to touch the dog’s flat head. When she heard a soft whine, she let her hand drift over the ears, with tips that folded forward. “You’re the most beautiful dog I’ve ever seen.”

  “I see you’ve met Sadie.”

  Gwen jerked her head up and smiled as Emmett stepped out of the barn. He stopped beside her, and she gave the dog one last pat before she rose to her feet. “She’s a beauty. Are her puppies in the barn?”

  He took off his hat, wiped his sleeve across his forehead and laughed. “Yeah. Dean thought he had a nice place fixed up for her at the house, but I guess she decided she liked it down here better. They’re a week old now.”

  “Do you think she’d let me look at them?”

  “Sure. Come on in.” As he led her down the alleyway, Gwen inhaled the smells of hay, sweet feed, leather and the distinctive odor of manure, all reminders of happier times here with Dean.

  She blinked back tears and stopped beside Emmett at the entrance to a stall. “There they are,” he said. “All six of them. This is the stall where Dean keeps his horse, Midnight, but when Sadie took it over as a birthing room, he decided to let her have the whole area. Midnight had to be moved to another stall.”

  Sadie inched closer to Gwen, and she reached down and patted the dog’s head. “Dean must really love her.”

  “Oh, yeah. Dean loves animals. James used to laugh and say we were going to run out of grazing space if Dean didn’t quit bringing horses home. He makes it his business to find horses that have been saved from abuse and adopt them. I’ve lost count of how many we have now. In fact, the one you’re going to ride today is a rescue horse.”

  “Really?”

  “Dean found Princess at a shelter after she’d been taken away from a man who wouldn’t feed her. She was just skin and bones when he brought her home, and she’s turned out to be one of our best horses for trail rides. I’ve already got her saddled for you, and I’m ready to go. So let’s get on the trail to Crystal Falls.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Gwen said as she followed him toward the rear entrance of the barn. She looked back and found Sadie staring after them. The collie glanced from Gwen to her puppies before she turned and trotted into the stall.

  Emmett stopped at a stall near the back and led a palomino mare out into the aisle. Gwen gasped in awe as she caught her first glimpse of Princess. Her gold coat and white mane sparkled even in the dim light of the barn.

  Gwen reached out and slid her hand down the animal’s mane. Princess gave a snort and nodded her head as if she approved, and Gwen felt an immediate bond with the horse.

  “I’m going to enjoy riding her.”

  “Then let’s get going,” Emmett said. “Do you need any help mounting up?”

  Gwen grabbed the reins, hefted her foot up to the stirrup and swung into the
saddle. “I’m used to riding, so don’t worry about me. I’m just eager to get started.”

  Thirty minutes later she closed her eyes and lifted her face up to the warm sunshine as she relaxed in the saddle. The steady rhythm of Princess’s stride lulled her into an almost dreamlike state, and she couldn’t remember how long it had been since she’d felt that way. It was as if the stress from the responsibilities of being a single mother and the sole breadwinner in the family had vanished, and a peace that she’d always drawn from these mountains had taken over her body.

  Emmett, who was leading the way on his horse, Cocoa, swiveled in the saddle and looked back at her. “There’s a small stream up ahead that we have to cross. The horses are used to the water, so don’t worry.”

  Gwen could already hear the quiet ripple of flowing water, and she rose in the stirrups to catch a glimpse of the stream. Ahead she could see a meandering, shallow river dotted with rocks, and she let her gaze drift up and down the banks. She spotted several dead trees on the far side and frowned. Victims of the pollution her documentary wanted to expose?

  Princess stepped into the stream, and water splashed up around Gwen’s boots. Ahead of her Emmett’s horse was already climbing onto the far bank. Before he could proceed any farther along the trail, Gwen called out to him, “Emmett, hold up!”

  He reined in his horse and turned to look at her. “What is it?”

  She nudged Princess forward and then pulled back on the reins when they reached Cocoa. Gwen swept her arm in an arc. “This is a gorgeous spot. I think it would be perfect for some location shots.”

  The foreman nodded. “Okay. Take all the time you need.”

  Gwen dismounted and pulled her cell phone from her pocket. She’d just snapped the first picture when the sudden crack of a rifle split the air. She watched in disbelief as Emmett toppled from the saddle and hit the ground.

  “Emmett!” she screamed and dropped to her knees beside him.

  A second shot whistled over her head, and Gwen flattened herself on the grass. With a whinny, Princess bolted back across the stream and down the trail, with Cocoa charging behind her. Gwen started to call after them, but before she could, a third shot kicked up dirt a few inches from her foot.