by C. J. Miller
“Too much time to think. Can’t sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I hear them describing the crimes. Crimes they say I committed.”
“I know you didn’t hurt anyone on the trail.” Autumn reached across the table and covered her brother’s hands with hers. His hands were cold and shaking. Her brother was slender, but his hands felt feeble.
Henry opened his briefcase and pulled out a thick stack of paperwork. “Your sister has some information that might help your case.”
Autumn nodded and cleared her throat. “I went out to the spot near where the journal was found looking for your camp.”
Blaine’s eyes widened. “Did you find anything?”
“Nothing good, but while I was looking, someone shot at me. With arrows.”
Henry removed a copy of the pictures the FBI had taken of the arrows found in the area from his briefcase. They had recovered a few and had sent them to the lab for testing.
Blaine lurched to his feet. “Autumn, don’t go out there again.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I told you it wasn’t safe. Go somewhere else until the police catch this guy. Get out of town. He’s dangerous. Look at what he did to those women. You look like those women. The next victim could be you.”
Autumn stood. She wouldn’t let anyone make her run from her home. “I’m staying until you’re found innocent. I’m not leaving.”
“Did you read about the vines, like I told you?”
Autumn nodded. She’d read the chapter from Nature’s Secrets on binding. She had it memorized. “I read it and I told Henry about it.”
“Did you mention it to Nathan?” Blaine asked.
Autumn shook her head. “Not yet, but it might be a good idea. He’s on our side.”
Blaine groaned in frustration. “Autumn, you have to be careful. You have a track record of picking crappy men. Men who lie to you and keep secrets from you.”
It was Autumn’s turn to feel defensive. “If you mean what happened with Daniel, that’s in the past.”
Blaine punched the table. “I do mean what happened with Daniel. And what happened with Ben.”
“I’ve learned my lesson since then. I know to be more careful.”
“Do you know why I left the Trail’s Edge? Do you know what happened with Daniel?” Blaine asked.
“I know you two had a fight,” Autumn said.
Blaine threw up his hands. “The entire town knew Daniel was cheating on you. He was making a fool of you. While you wore that cheap ring he gave you, he was flaunting his affair,” Blaine said. “I told him to stop embarrassing himself and you. He told me that he was only engaged to you because he felt sorry for you. Because of what happened with Mom, Uncle Ryan and Dad. He feels bad that we’re alone.”
The hurt knocked the wind from her. Daniel cheating on her wasn’t new information, but the reminders of the people they had lost stung.
“I can take care of myself, Blaine. I know Daniel was wrong for me. I wasn’t in that relationship for the right reasons, either. I was lonely.”
“I can’t trust myself, Autumn. I’m too angry about what happened with Mom, with Dad and with Daniel. I need distance and space to think.”
Henry interrupted. “I don’t mean to cut in, but we’re on borrowed time. Can you tell me more about the vines?” Henry turned to a page in his folder.
Blaine sat down. He rubbed his temples. “Lore says that binding a person with vines prevents his or her evil nature from spreading and poisoning the trail.”
Henry tapped his pen against the pad. “How do you know this?”
Blaine rolled his shoulder. “I’ve read everything I could about the Appalachian Trail from the time I was a child. The vines were documented in a book my father had.”
“But how can we prove it wasn’t Blaine using the vines?” Autumn asked. “If we present the vines as a symbol of a ritual, the judge and jury will want to know how we came to that theory. It doesn’t prove Blaine’s innocence.” It was another piece of evidence that made Blaine appear guilty.
“I’m hopeful the crime lab will make a connection between the arrows at the scenes and the killer,” Henry said. “But we need more. I need to build a solid case that the prosecutor can’t twist into a conspiracy, like say, accusing your sister and Nathan of leaving those arrows to help your case.”
“We didn’t!” Autumn said. “Nathan would never.”
Henry held up his hand in a calming gesture. “I know. But the FBI and the police need to pin these murders on someone. It helps careers and the public’s sense of safety to have a suspect. I have to anticipate they’ll challenge the evidence I bring.”
They looked to Blaine. He sat with his elbows on the table, his head in his hands. “When I was young, Uncle Ryan took me hunting. After every kill he left a vine at the scene.”
Autumn and Henry seemed to come to the same conclusion at once. Henry spoke first.
“Where is your uncle now?”
Autumn’s heart fell heavily to her shoes. “We haven’t seen our uncle in years. He’s dropped off the map and we’ve presumed dead.”
Creases formed around Blaine’s eyes. “Autumn, I was trying to tell you before I was arrested. The vines at the scene made me think of Uncle Ryan. That book was one of his favorites. I remember him talking about it, describing nature and living harmoniously with the land.”
Autumn’s head throbbed. She didn’t want to believe what Blaine was suggesting. The DNA test. The blood on the book didn’t point to Blaine. Blaine thought it pointed to their uncle. “Are you telling me you think Uncle Ryan did this?” They hadn’t seen the man in years. If he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, wouldn’t he have stopped at the Trail’s Edge? Wondered where their father was?
Blaine leaned back in his chair. “I don’t know what to think. Dad said after Desert Storm, he wasn’t right. Something happened to him overseas.”
Panic made her dizzy and sick. Suddenly, the room felt too small and Autumn had trouble drawing enough oxygen into her lungs.
“A DNA test will conclusively prove I’m not the one,” Blaine said.
It would also prove the DNA belonged to their uncle. “But then what? They’ll start a manhunt for Uncle Ryan.”
Blaine shrugged and Autumn swallowed the bile that rose in her throat.
“Why don’t you get something to drink?” Henry suggested. “Take a break and let Blaine and me discuss this new information.”
Autumn stood shakily and went to the door. She knocked twice and instead of the police officer opening it, Nathan did.
“You okay?” he asked.
She wasn’t okay and didn’t bother lying about it. “You were waiting for me?”
He nodded. “I wanted to make sure you were all right.”
She drew in a trembling breath. She wasn’t ready to cope with the idea that the Huntsman was her uncle any more than she was willing to accept it was Blaine. “I’ll manage.” She should be rejoicing that Blaine would take the DNA test, it wouldn’t match and the FBI wouldn’t have evidence to hold him. But thinking of her uncle made her stomach turn. “Blaine agreed to take the DNA test.”
“That’s good,” Nathan said. He brushed a stray lock of hair away from her face. “But the DNA found at the scene points to a relative.”
Autumn jolted at his words. “I shouldn’t talk to you about the case.” Why was she feeling defensive about her uncle? She wanted the Huntsman stopped and he was the only other suspect. If he was the Huntsman, he’d tried to kill her.
She could have sworn she heard a growl low in his throat. “Don’t shut me out. I want to help you.”
“I don’t need help.” Didn’t want help. Didn’t want to admit she was in over her head.
“You look like you do.” Nathan took her arm and led her farther from the interview ro
om, away from the hustle and bustle of the precinct. Hardly anyone was paying attention to them, but Nathan didn’t stop walking until they were alone, standing next to a nearly empty vending machine.
He lifted her chin, forcing her to look at him. “I know it wasn’t Blaine. I know it was your uncle. I figured it out last night after we talked with Henry.”
Her heart picked up its tempo. “Why are they still holding Blaine?”
“Until the DA has proof otherwise, they’re keeping someone on the chopping block. It’s politics. But Henry is a good lawyer. He won’t let Blaine be a patsy. With the right evidence, he’ll help Blaine.”
Autumn wrapped her arms around her midsection, trying to hold herself together. Blaine was trapped like a caged animal and her uncle was being hunted. Had her uncle known who she was when he shot at her? She hadn’t felt so alone in her life. She closed her eyes and wished she had her father to lean on. Someone to lean on whom she could trust. Then it dawned on her. She had Nathan. He wasn’t the most open man, but he had been solid. If she wasn’t already in love with him, she would have fallen right there with that realization.
Mustering her strength, she opened her eyes. “What can I do?”
Nathan searched her face, appearing concerned. “Can you think of any way to find your uncle? A place he used to go, an old hangout? Friends he might have been in contact with?”
She shook her head. “As a last-ditch effort, I tried to find him after my father died so he would know what had happened. I wanted him to be able to say goodbye and to come to the funeral. I asked everyone I could think of if they knew where he was. I called a few of his old war buddies. I came up empty-handed.” His years of silence, and coming up empty had led her to believe he was dead.
“Then we’ll have to draw him out.”
Autumn rubbed her forehead where a massive headache pounded. “How? I don’t have any way to lure him. He must not care about Blaine if he let Blaine get arrested as the Huntsman. He killed someone near the Trail’s Edge and left boot prints in one of my cabins. He shot at me. I don’t see him caring enough to seek me out to talk.”
Nathan rubbed her arms. “Why do you think he went after those hikers to begin with?”
Autumn shivered and rubbed at the goose bumps that sprang up on her arms. She didn’t understand how her uncle could be a serial killer. He’d been different after the war, but she remembered him as he was before his military experience took its toll on his mind—a kind, gentle man who took her and Blaine hiking. He’d told them legends of the Appalachian Trail, taught her to fish, and had treated her and Blaine as if they were his.
Her father hadn’t allowed her and Blaine to be alone with their uncle when he’d returned home. Her uncle had become a different man. The urge to explain kicked up in her gut. “He’s a sick man. He went to therapy after the war, but nothing helped. He became obsessed with living off the land and taking care of Mother Nature. The hikers must have done something he didn’t like and he associates them with an evil he needs to contain.” As bizarre as it sounded, it was her best guess.
Nathan studied her face, as if he’d find answers hidden in her eyes. “Then you think he’s still on the trail.”
Would he have a reason to leave? “He could be anywhere. But if I had to guess, he’s still on the trail.”
“He might not know about Blaine being arrested.”
“Or he might not care.”
Nathan inclined his head. “There has to be something important to him we can use to find him.”
Autumn shook her head and tried to bring some order to her thoughts. “To be honest, Nathan, I don’t know what to believe. If he’s the Huntsman, he’s a sick man and I don’t know if he can think clearly enough to care about anyone.”
Henry joined them in the hallway and Blaine was led away in cuffs. “What’s the plan, Nathan?”
Nathan looked between Autumn and Henry. “We’ll have to hunt for a killer.”
Chapter 10
“Hi,” Autumn said. She hadn’t wanted to call her mother, but she wanted to tell her that Blaine was okay and would be doing better soon. Twenty seconds and then she could go back to ignoring Blythe.
“Hi, Autumn. I’m so glad you called.”
Her mother sounded surprised and Autumn was almost as astonished she’d decided to call her. “Blaine was released today. You can’t let anyone know. They’re trying to keep it out of the media.”
Her mother huffed. “They had no trouble allowing it into the media that they’d arrested a suspect. And have you heard the rumors around here? Everyone knows Blaine is the suspect.”
“The FBI has another person in mind.”
“Who?” her mother asked.
“Uncle Ryan.”
“I see.” Her mother didn’t sound upset or surprised.
“You don’t sound like that’s shocking to you.”
“It’s not. I tried to talk with you about this before. Your uncle had some problems even before I left. I heard from your father a few times after he returned from Desert Storm.”
“You heard from Dad?” Autumn asked. She hadn’t realized her parents had been in contact after her mother had left.
“Now and then, a couple of times after your uncle disappeared.”
Her mother had been a topic she and her father had never discussed. “Do you want to come by the camp today?”
“I’d love to.”
Autumn’s nerves tightened. Should she not have invited Blythe? She and Blaine had been carrying a grudge for a long time, but Nathan’s words about his sister echoed through her thoughts. Life was short. She would probably regret not talking to her mother more than she’d regret seeing her.
* * *
“Mind if I join you?” Roger Ford asked Nathan, Autumn, Blythe and Blaine. Blaine had been released two days ago and this meal at the diner was to celebrate his freedom.
The Reed family was willfully ignoring the pointing and staring from other patrons. Nathan was proud of Autumn. She and her family had been through too much to let gossip bother her. They had chosen a quiet table near the back of the diner. It wasn’t as crowded as the Wild Berry had been the time Nathan had been there. Despite whispers, the Reed family seemed in high spirits.
Nathan looked up from his hamburger. “Please, sit down.”
Nathan couldn’t put his finger on the precise moment it had happened, but he and Ford had formed a shaky trust. They were sharing information, and though that was hard for an inflexible agent like Ford, he’d bent his rules to include Nathan. They would never be friends, but a working professional relationship was best for both of them.
Ford sat next to Blythe. “We’ve been doing research on Ryan Reed.”
Blythe stopped eating and turned to face Ford. Genuine fear shone in her eyes. She waited for Ford to continue.
“We’ve pulled his service records. We’ve spoken to psychologists who counseled him after he returned to the United States. The diagnosis is severe post-traumatic stress disorder.”
Nathan knew people who had behaved out of character when they were suffering from PTSD. Why was Ford sharing this with them? Though he might have been doing so in the spirit of cooperation, Nathan guessed there was more to it. What did Ford want from the Reed family?
Ford ordered a cup of coffee from the waitress who came to their table and waited for her to leave before continuing. “We believe he is still in the area, likely keeping an eye on the case. He has a fascination with his crimes and he wants his message delivered to as many people as possible.”
It fit the profile Nathan had sketched of Ryan Reed. Together with the words Ryan had scrawled in the journal, they were developing a clearer picture of the man’s psyche, enough to understand what made him tick.
“We’re looking for a way to draw him out
. He’s too smart to fall for an obvious trap. We need something to dangle out to him that he can’t resist,” Ford said.
“The newspaper didn’t work? No sign of him?” Autumn asked.
The FBI had left a phony newspaper in the shelter closest to the Trail’s Edge with an article inside about Blaine’s arrest, stating he had been released on bail, and including a quote from Autumn indicating she planned to sell the Trail’s Edge to pay for her brother’s legal fees.
From what Autumn had said, that wasn’t far from the truth.
The FBI had been staking their bets that if Ryan Reed believed the land that had once belonged to his father and then to his brother was being sold to the highest bidder, he would confront Autumn.
Agitating him was a calculated risk. Sending him over the edge and out to hunt for more victims wasn’t their intent. Until Ryan Reed was in custody, Nathan wasn’t letting Autumn out of his sight.
Autumn’s mother touched Ford’s sleeve. “Special Agent Ford, you could use me.”
Ford stared at Blythe a few beats before speaking. “Use you to do what?” he asked, his voice sounding gruff.
“Ryan Reed hates me. He holds me responsible for the trouble we’ve had at the Trail’s Edge and for getting between him and my ex-husband. If I’m around, perhaps he won’t be able to resist the urge to try to kill me.”
“Mom, you can’t put yourself in the line of danger. You need to stay somewhere else until he is caught,” Autumn said.
“If he sees you, he could fly into a rage,” Blaine said. “You know Dad and Uncle Ryan had short tempers.”
“If he flies into a rage, he’s more likely to make a mistake, like stepping out of the shadows into the sun, into a place where the FBI can catch him,” Blythe said. Blythe’s flair for the dramatic had grown on Nathan, and he believed Autumn was enjoying being with her mother, too.
“We’re not sure what triggers him to kill,” Ford said. “We have female agents in the backcountry trying to entice him. So far, he’s not shown his face. Maybe we have to raise the stakes, make the trap impossible to resist.”