Beneath Copper Falls

by Colleen Coble

  CHAPTER 7

  The sun shone out of a crazy blue sky, and the temperature in Lihue was a balmy eighty degrees when Lauri exited the terminal into the open air baggage claim. The sweet scent of flower leis filled the air. Her spirits immediately soared as she retrieved her luggage, then made her way across the drive to a covered area servicing car rental customers. She got in line behind a man with short brownish-blond hair who smiled at her. He reminded her a little of Brad Pitt when he was in his early thirties. The appreciative expression in his intensely blue eyes filled her with warmth.

  “Been to Kauai before?” His voice was deep and masculine.

  “It’s my first time.” She shifted her shoulder bag to her other arm. “I’m here on business. You?”

  “Here on business too. I come this way every few weeks.” He stuck out his hand for her to shake. “Peter Lovett. I sell pharmaceuticals so I hit all the clinics and the Lihue hospital when I’m here.”

  “Lauri Matthews. I’m auditing the books at a clinic in Poipu. I’ll be here for a week. How about you?”

  He motioned for her to go ahead of him in the line. “I’ll be here for a week. You staying down in the Lihue area?”

  She handed her paperwork to the clerk. “I’m in a condo at Prince Kuhio.”

  “That’s on the south shore, just across the road from my place. You like to snorkel?”

  “I’ve never gone, but I’m eager to learn.”

  “The best snorkeling on the island is right across the street at Lawai Beach.”

  She answered the clerk’s questions and took her paperwork. Did she dare flirt with this guy? He seemed much more sophisticated than she was used to, but the fact that he was a little older and settled appealed to her. She loved the way his eyes never left her face and the way he leaned in slightly when talking to her.

  She moved away from the desk to give him space. “I don’t suppose you’d like to teach me how to snorkel?”

  “I’m all yours.” His tone indicated a deeper meaning. “Wait a minute and we can take the shuttle together.”

  Her smile widened, and she moved a few feet away and waited in the shade. The car rental employee greeted him with a “Back again?” comment. The air felt different on the island, redolent of flowers and the sea. She already loved it.

  Peter wore a frown as he joined her. “They don’t have a car for me. I can get one tomorrow, but they have nothing today. I don’t suppose I could bum a ride with you to South Shore? I’ll take you to dinner as a thank-you. I know all the great places to eat in Koloa and Poipu.”

  She hesitated just a moment, remembering all the warnings her brother had given her over the years. But this was a businessman, and the employee had clearly recognized him. She was being ridiculous. “Of course you can!” She had a hard time keeping her smile from becoming a beacon. “I was dreading my first night alone in a new place.”

  He motioned for her to go ahead of him in the line to board the shuttle. “I suggest we stop on the way and get a few groceries at Big Save. You’ll want food for breakfast at least. Maybe lunch stuff too if you tend to pack your lunch.”

  “I’m so glad you know your way around. It’ll make it so much easier for me.”

  Fifteen minutes later she took possession of a Chrysler convertible and let him drive. He pointed out interesting attractions along the curving road to Koloa. She took pictures of the tree tunnel into town and felt the stress of the long flight drop away. Had anyone ever made her feel as special as Peter did? She couldn’t think of a single person, not even her brother, Kade. Peter had an intensity about him that made her feel she was the most beautiful woman in the world.

  They bought a few groceries at a small store in the tiny town of Koloa, then drove out the winding narrow road to the condo complexes. The ocean across the street was impossibly blue, and the salty aroma of the sea blew into her face on the breeze. Prince Kuhio condos were across the road from the ocean beside a small park. Kuhio Shores had balconies right out over the spray of water.

  He parked in the Prince Kuhio lot and opened his door. “Here we are. Where are you?”

  “Two hundred and twelve.” She looked across the street at the surf hitting the rocks. A few snorkelers picked their way down the lava. The sound of the surf carried across the little country road, and she was eager to put her toes in the sand and water.

  He opened her door. “I’ll carry your bags up, then come back and get mine. We might as well leave the top down since we’ll be back down for dinner. Let me see if I can get a reservation at the Beach House so we can watch the sunset. It will be a perfect ending to the best afternoon of my life. I’m glad I met you, Lauri. I think it’s going to be life changing.”

  Warmth circled her like a mother’s embrace. Did he really feel like that? She watched him pop the trunk and grab her suitcase. She took her carry-on from the tiny backseat and followed him up the concrete stairs to her condo. They found her door, and she got out her key. How did she attract the attention of such a classy, good-looking guy? It was a miracle.

  After she opened the door, Lauri paused on the threshold. “Let’s get changed and we can meet in fifteen minutes.”

  He set her suitcase down inside and grinned at her. “You are so special, Lauri. I saw that right from the start. I can’t wait.” His voice was low and oh-so-seductive.

  Heat ran up her neck, and she couldn’t say a word. Smiling, she shut the door and grabbed her suitcase.

  The bite of the cold air stung Bree’s cheeks, and she tightened the scarf around her neck. An early snowstorm had dumped three inches of snow overnight and brought in enough cold air to freeze the falls. The ice all around her crackled a welcome as they stepped on it. Samson romped to the edge of the waterfall through the fresh snow, then turned to look back at her as if to ask what was taking her so long.

  Dana and the three others on the search seemed to have no trouble keeping up with the dogs. Dana’s blue eyes sparkled with excitement as she paused to wait for Bree with the dogs. “Are you sure about this?” Her gaze seemed locked on to the wall of ice.

  The frozen waterfall’s glittering surface rose eight feet in the air to Bree’s left. The river above them plunged down to a frozen shallow pool before continuing to meander toward Lake Superior. The entire river had frozen over two weeks ago, but there were no tracks in the area, so Bree was sure they would be the first to climb the ice.

  “You don’t have to go. Ice climbing isn’t for everyone. I hid the scent article at the top of the waterfall.” Bree nodded toward the dogs who were milling at the foot of the falls. “What I wanted everyone to experience is what to do if your dogs are clearly showing signs of the scent, but it’s in a place inaccessible to them. Do you give up?”

  Emily, a teenager with soft brown hair, shook her head. She was Naomi’s, Bree’s best friend, stepdaughter. “You have to at least check it out, right?”

  “If I were out looking for a lost person right now and saw the dogs acting this way, I’d assume the target was nearby, maybe at the top of the waterfall because of the direction the dogs are looking. Which is why as a searcher you always have to be in good shape and prepared for anything. How are we going to get up there?”

  Dana looked to the top of the frozen waterfall. “Climb the ice?”

  “Exactly.” Bree slipped the backpack off her shoulders and unzipped it. “I brought ice climbing gear.” She dumped out crampons, ice axes, and helmets into the snow. “How many of you are familiar with mountain climbing?” When only Dana hesitantly raised her hand, Bree sent the others a reassuring smile. “The rest of you can stay here while Dana and I demonstrate. If we’d been climbing a higher waterfall, I would have brought belay devices and carabiners, but with this short one, we can easily climb it in a few minutes.”

  She handed crampons to Dana and watched to make sure her friend knew how to attach them to her boots. Once they were attached to her satisfaction, Bree put on her own and handed two ice axes to Dana, then took t
wo herself. They both donned helmets, and she led the way to the small waterfall. “We’ll use the axes to pull ourselves up, then the crampons will let us stay stable to move up the sheet of ice. You’ll notice as the water froze, it left many ledges and ridges that will make it easy to climb.”

  “I’ll watch you climb first,” Dana said. “It’s been ages since I did any ice climbing. I’m pretty rusty.”

  “Sure thing.” Bree shouldered her ready pack and walked to the base of the falls. She hit her ax into the ice above her head, then drove her crampons into the jagged ice and settled both feet before placing the other ax a foot higher than the first one. She climbed closer to the top ax, then removed the bottom one and continued to replicate her technique.

  It took only five minutes to climb the short wall of ice. She looked down to see Dana coming right behind her. The cold wind at the top of the waterfall nearly took her breath away as she watched Dana haul herself up the waterfall. Dana’s cheeks were pink from the wind which had teased strands of brown curls out from under the helmet.

  “Good job!” Hands on hips, Bree turned to look at the nearby forest of wind-stripped trees. “What should we do now?” she called down to the rest of the searchers. “Our dogs are below and can’t lead us directly to whatever they smelled.”

  Emily cupped her hands around her mouth. “Survey the area yourself. Call out for the missing person.”

  “Right.” Bree raised her voice. “Naomi, where are you?” She’d cajoled Naomi into hiding up here. She waited a few moments. “There’s no answer. Do I give up?”

  “No,” Dana said. “She might be unconscious or unresponsive so we do a sweep of the area on foot.” She took off toward a tight cluster of trees protected by a large rock formation. “This would be a natural place to shelter.” She stepped around the side of the boulder, then stopped short and put her hand to her mouth. “Bree, come quick! Naomi’s been injured. There’s real blood and she’s unconscious.”

  Bree felt as though she’d been kicked in the chest. Naomi was like a sister to her. Bree broke into a run across the snow and caught her breath as she rounded the boulder formation. Naomi lay on the ground with a red stain pooling below her head, her thick braid rolled out like a brown rope. A nasty gash gaped on her forehead, and Bree pulled a sterile pad package out of her ready pack and ripped into it.

  She pressed the pad against the cut. “Do you have a signal here?”

  Dana checked her phone and nodded. “I’ll call for help.”

  “Don’t call 9-1-1. Call Mason directly and have him send a helicopter up here ASAP. I don’t like the way she’s breathing.” Naomi’s chest barely moved with short breaths. Bree checked her pulse, which was thready and uneven. “Naomi, open your eyes.” Through a fog she heard Dana give the sheriff their coordinates.

  Dana gasped and Bree looked up. “What is it?”

  Dana pointed to a wool scarf caught on an aspen tree branch. “I knitted that for Garret.” She sprang to her feet and stared into the shadows. “He must have been here. Maybe he attacked Naomi.”

  CHAPTER 8

  A helicopter? Winded from his hike, Boone exited the trees to see a rescue chopper hovering overhead. A person strapped into a basket dangled from the chopper and slowly rose to the waiting rescue worker.

  Boone looked around and saw several people clustered at the top of the waterfall, then recognized Bree and Dana. The puffy coats and snow pants they wore made them look like the Pillsbury Doughboy.

  The whop-whop of the chopper blades nearly deafened him as he went over to see what was going on. “Who’s hurt?” The noise overhead made him lean in close to Dana’s ear to be heard.

  “It’s Naomi O’Reilly. She’s still unconscious and has a head wound that’s been bleeding quite a lot. I think Bree got the bleeding mostly stopped.”

  He fell silent as they watched Naomi being loaded into the helicopter. When the sound of the rotors finally faded, he leaned close again. “She fell when climbing?”

  Dana shook her head. “She was hiding for us to find, but someone attacked her.”

  He frowned. “Show me.”

  “This way.” Dana led him toward a stand of boulders. Bree followed slowly.

  Multiple boot prints marred the white snow, and a bloodstain emphasized the area as well. Boot tracks led off into the woods to the east. “You didn’t come that way?”

  “No, we climbed the falls.”

  When Dana started to follow the prints, he caught her arm. “Mason won’t want the scene contaminated any more than it already is.”

  Dana bit her lip and shifted from foot to foot.

  He followed the direction of her gaze to a bright blue-and-black scarf hanging from a tree limb. “That’s not yours or Bree’s?”

  Dana shook her head. “I made it though. It was a birthday present to Garret. Chris got home on Friday night and told me Garret called him. In the background Chris heard a server mention a beef pasty so he thought Garret might be in the area. This makes it clear that he is.”

  “You think he attacked Naomi? Why?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe she saw him doing something illegal.”

  Bree pushed down her hood. “Then why didn’t he kill her?”

  “Maybe you interrupted him. She didn’t say anything?”

  Bree shook her head. “She was unconscious the whole time. I’ve got to call Donovan.” She pulled off her gloves, then dug into the pocket of her down jacket and extracted her cell phone.

  She walked a few feet away to call Naomi’s husband, then turned back to Dana. Her eyes were shadowed. “This isn’t your fault.”

  “You don’t know that.” Her voice quivered. “He might have been waiting for me.”

  “How would he know where you were?”

  “I texted Chris to let him know I was on a training session this morning. What if Garret figured out my cell phone number and is intercepting my texts? He’s a whiz at anything to do with electronics. You should see the toys he has.” Dana’s voice rose the longer she talked. “He even has some kind of thing that picks up voices from yards and yards away. For all I know he was outside the house when I talked to Bree on the phone and made plans to come out here.”

  She had a point. Boone looked back toward the woods and wished he could investigate. Once Mason showed up, he’d tag along and see what he could find out. “Did you call Chris to see if he’s heard anything more from Garret?”

  “He’ll just worry. Or say I told you so.” Dana sighed and reached into her pack for a bottle of water. “Most days he makes me feel like I’m twelve instead of twenty-eight.”

  She didn’t look a day over eighteen with her pink cheeks and beautiful skin. Boone dragged his gaze away from the intense blue of her eyes. “A big brother is supposed to act that way.” His voice trembled a bit, and he cleared his throat.

  When she touched his arm, he looked back at her again. “I’m sorry. Your sister was younger than you too, wasn’t she? I never met her, but Allyson really loved her.”

  “They were like sisters. I was two years older, and it was always my job to take care of her. Allyson is taking a look at Garret. You know anything about his travels?”

  The softness vanished from her eyes, and she removed her hand. “Not really, just that he has a route, but I’m sure that’s the case with most salesmen. I hope Allyson doesn’t call him or attract his attention in any way. He’s a scary guy, and I’d hate for her to be in his crosshairs.”

  “You should call Chris and let him know it’s likely Garret is here. He’s going to hear about it sooner or later.”

  “True, but I think I’ll wait until I get home. He’s probably on a recruitment visit.” A cell phone played “Phantom of the Opera,” and she unzipped her pocket and stuck her hand inside. “It’s my brother. He might have already heard.” She tugged off her glove with her teeth, then swiped the screen. “Hey, Chris.”

  Boone didn’t consciously try to listen as she turned her back and walked a few
feet away, but sound traveled in the cold air. From this end of the conversation, it was clear Chris had heard about the attack on Naomi and thought Garret was in the area.

  The sound of voices carried up the slope, and the sheriff and two deputies came their way. With any luck Garret would be in custody soon.

  The heat vent overhead had finally begun to thaw Dana’s icy skin. Perched on a chair in the hospital waiting room, she shrugged off her coat and stared up at the television where a news anchor went over the day’s events. She didn’t hear a word of it as she waited to hear the squeak of the doctor’s shoes.

  Surely there would be news of Naomi’s condition at any moment. Donovan had arrived, and he’d gone back to Naomi’s ER room with Bree. One of the other canine handlers had taken charge of Phantom for her, but Samson had gone with Bree.

  Had Garret attacked Naomi? The worry played over and over in Dana’s head. If her arrival here had brought danger to her friends, she didn’t think she could deal with it. And if he was here, what should she do? Chris assured her Garret couldn’t harm her here, but being a dispatcher had shown her how a determined stalker could get past any barrier or protection.

  Her stomach gave a hard squeeze. She’d spent so much time trying to feel safe that she wasn’t sure she’d ever truly relax and quit looking over her shoulder. Even if Garret left, she’d worry he’d come back. Was there such a thing as a true haven?

  That anticipated squeak of shoes finally came, and she shot to her feet as Bree came through the doorway. A weary line crouched between her green eyes, and she was pale but smiling. Samson pranced behind her with his tail up, another good sign.

  The smile gave Dana a bit of hope. “She’s okay?”

  Bree nodded and tossed her green-and-black down coat onto the chair. She ran a hand through her red curls. “She has a mild concussion, but the hospital is releasing her shortly. Donovan was beside himself until she woke up.”

  Dana exhaled. “Oh, thank the good Lord! I was so worried.”