by Inez Kelley
Jonah pinched his eyes closed, a knife of betrayal sinking into his chest. “She doesn’t know about the killings. If she had, she’d never have contacted them. She’s just desperate.”
“It was a reckless move.” She gathered her notes and tapped them into a neat stack. “You might want to rethink your relationship.”
There was that word again. Relationship. He rolled his tongue around his mouth. “I’ll take that under advisement.”
The look she leveled at him suddenly reminded him of that viper on Lover’s Leap. The muscles in his torso contracted as if a physical punch had slammed into him.
“You do that.”
Her heels clicked against the hardwood floor as she left the office. Jonah leaned back and rubbed his temples. She hadn’t given him a direct order to stop seeing Zury but the barely veiled warning was there. He had to tread very carefully or he was going to jeopardize his job, but he had no intention of breaking things off with Zury.
“Jesus, what a cluster.”
* * *
Kayla’s farmhouse had a huge wraparound porch with several Adirondack chairs. Crickets chirping competed with the scrape of Matt’s pocketknife against a small piece of wood. Feminine laughter burst out from inside, raising Jonah’s head. Zury and Kayla had hit it off like two magpies, even if Zury had pretty much ignored Matt.
Molly McCreedy, who owned McCreedy’s Diner and was Kayla’s best friend, had joined them, adding another pretty face to the insulation. Molly and Zury slung the wisecracks like hash and the dinner had been fun. Kayla was bursting with wedding plans, color schemes and other junk that had filled any awkward conversation gaps. He and Matt hardly got a word in but just watching the women was pleasure enough.
“Kayla’s playing matchmaker with the wedding lineup.”
Jonah frowned. That was a little rude considering Zury was right here. “With me and your sister? Abby’s just excited I’m tall so she can wear heels.”
“Keep your hands off my sister,” Matt grumbled. “No, with Webb and Molly. Did you know they dated a long time ago?”
“They did? When?”
“I don’t know. But you know how women get when there’s a hint of romance in someone’s past.” Matt closed the knife and laid it and the bit of wood aside. “I have to ask. Do you get off on the challenge or something? You couldn’t pick a worse woman than Zury to play around with than if you’d hit on Bob.”
“If I hit on Bob, she’d run over me with her car before she fired me.” Jonah laughed. He’d been waiting for Matt’s reason for suddenly inviting them to dinner, but if all Matt wanted to do was bust his ass, Jonah could handle it. “I like Zury. She’s a firecracker.”
“Firecrackers can blow your balls off if you aren’t careful.”
“Trying, but haven’t gotten her close to my balls yet. However, the night is young.” His joke fell flat.
Matt’s knowing look latched on to him and refused to back down. “You’re a dog but you’re not stupid so I’ll trust you know what you’re doing. I just hope when it’s over, we all still have a job.” A wicked slant lifted his mouth. “Serve you right if you fell in love with her. Then you’d really be up shit creek.”
Jonah snorted. He didn’t do love. He’d seen firsthand the damage that kind of shit could do. Not that he had a problem if other people wanted to fall into that trap. Matt had fallen ass over ankles for Kayla, and although he’d been miserable when they were apart, once they got back together he seemed happier than Jonah had ever seen him.
“Love’s for other people. I do infatuation. Right now, I’m infatuated with Zury.”
Infatuation. That was all it was. That and a serious case of lust. Okay, maybe it was a little more. Simple conversation with her was almost as exciting as kissing her. He looked forward to calling her when he had a few extra minutes during the day, just to hear her voice. They’d fallen into the habit of talking each night before they went to their respective beds. When something funny happened, she was the first one he thought of, wanted to share it with. When daily frustrations built, he knew she’d listen and sympathize, giving him a different perspective on things and coaxing a smile out of him.
But that didn’t mean he was falling in love. He wasn’t that stupid.
“Are you saying you’ve never been in love?”
The back of his neck itched. Why did his skin suddenly feel too tight? Reaching back, he dug into his skin, trying to relieve the sensation. “Never been shot, either. You don’t see me out trolling for lead, do you?”
Matt laughed loud and hard. “Dude, when you finally fall, you’re gonna hit like a load of concrete.”
Jonah flipped him off. “Laugh it up, Romeo. I still get more ass than you.”
“Right. I’m getting married in three months. Every night if I want it.”
“Sure, until it’s her time of the month or she watches a sad movie or you whizz on the toilet seat. And once the kids start coming, you’ll be stuck in the john with pages eleven through twenty-three of the Victoria Secret’s catalog and a bottle of baby oil.”
“What in the world are you two talking about?” Framed in the light from the front door, Kayla stood with her hands on her hips.
“Nothing.” Matt tossed her a careless smile. “Just bullshitting.”
The screen door squeaked as she stepped outside. The chastising look she sent Matt was tinged with a softness that made Jonah’s chest ache. “Likely story, lumberjack. I just want to see if you wanted more carrot cake before I put it away.”
“I’m good.”
“None for me.” Jonah handed her his empty bottle when she motioned for it. “Do I want to know what you snuck into my dinner this time?”
“Zucchini, kale and asparagus. Bet you couldn’t tell.”
“I hate when you do that. It throws my steady diet of grease, cholesterol and saturated fats into a tailspin.”
She turned on her heel. “You need a keeper.”
Matt waited until the door closed behind her to grimace. “She knows I hate asparagus so she’s been sneaking it into everything. At least this time, it wasn’t in tofu.”
“Zury makes fried chicken. Go suck your tofu.”
This time, Matt was the one flipping the finger.
“No thanks, I’m straight.”
“Asshole.”
Jonah held up his hand. “Please, don’t beg. I already said no.”
“Next time, I’ll have Kayla make her vegan soufflé just for you.”
“There’s always the Burger King drive-thru.”
Matt snorted. “Hell, grab a Whopper for me.”
Jonah stretched his arms over his head, working the kinks from his muscles. He’d softened the mood using good-ol’ boy shit talk and now it was time to get down to work.
He studied his friend out of the corner of his eye. Matt was kicked back and comfortable, his body loose and relaxed in the chair. Typically, Matt was a straight shooter but the Terran Guards threat to the Canyon project had made everyone edgy, especially Matt, whose men would be on the front lines.
Jonah needed him to be open-minded and flexible. “Think Webb’ll give a little and put a no-cut zone around the Falls property?”
Head lolling in his direction, Matt asked, “How much of a zone are you talking?”
“Don’t know. Enough to insulate the Falls visually.”
Matt shrugged. “Sounds reasonable so I don’t see why not. You could run it by him.”
“Plan to. And how much experience do you have with standing stem harvesting?”
“Heli-logging? Some. Used it a good bit with the Shanholtz harvest about three years ago because of the mountain grade. You’d have to have a damn good reason to do it at the Canyon. That shit’s expensive.”
“But if it was only used on t
he north face of mountains closest to the Falls, it could be worth it in goodwill.”
“Goodwill?” Matt laced his fingers together over his stomach. “You want Hawkins to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to heli-log property they already own for goodwill?”
A knot grew in Jonah’s throat, choking off the air. “Yeah. That’s Zury’s main complaint, the visual impact on the tourism angle. She’s got a point. Traditional logging is going to temporarily affect the views. Heli-logging is less intrusive. It’s safer and could be scheduled mostly in the winter during the park’s slow season.”
The logging manager sat staring into the night sky, his face a stony slab of concentration. The yellow bug light didn’t extend far and outside the glow, the night was nothing but a stretch of endless black. Bats squeaked overhead and an owl hooted, its eerie call carrying on the slight breeze. Jonah sat tensed and anxious, mentally crossing his fingers.
“I’d need Webb’s authorization to allocate that much cash. And it’d depend on the weight and size of the selected timber,” Matt said slowly. “But the idea has merit. Will that be enough to get her to call off the Terran Guards?”
“Christ, I hope so.” Jonah let loose a breath he hadn’t realized he’d held and leaned back, letting his head thump on the wooden chair. He hoped she would call them off, if she even had that power. Those asswipes were like a rabid dog with a bone.
“Here.”
Lifting his head, he caught the USB flash drive Matt flipped him. “What’s this?”
“Pictures an old forestry buddy sent me from out west. From the Bristol Farms job.”
His gut cramped, twisting into itself. The Bristol Farms site was where those two loggers had died. “What kind of pictures?”
Matt’s look said it all. “Ones you don’t want to see on a full stomach. You might want to look at them before you show Zury.”
“Why?” Zury asked from behind him. The screen door squeaked shut with a bang.
Jonah fisted the thumb drive as if hiding it from her could protect her from the images he assumed it held. Sending her a false grin, he started to rise. “We should probably head out.”
Her hand landed on his shoulder, stopping him. “I want to see what’s on the drive.”
“It’s the Terran Guard’s work.”
Excitement enlivened her face. “The Terran Guards? Have they done something?”
If Matt’s jaw got any tighter, it’d break. “Yeah. They filed an injunction to stop the Canyon logging.”
“Yes!” Zury pumped her fist.
Jonah flinched. “It’s not a good thing, Zury.”
“Sure it is. If the Terran Guards are my only hope, then I’ll use them to stop Hawkins.”
The hair on his neck bristled. “Damn it, they’re eco-terrorists.”
“They’re a small group but effective.” Her eyes sparkled with excitement. “They stopped the McMillan Company in Oregon.”
“McMillan was operating on a shoestring and went bankrupt from all the pointless legal proceedings.”
“But they were stopped.”
“Yeah, and American Lumber swooped in, bought the entire lot and logged it anyway two years later.” The back of his jaw ached with strain from biting back his anger. “Have you really checked the Terran Guards out? Do you know what they do?”
She looked up at him, a frown marring her forehead. “What are you talking about?”
“They cost two loggers their lives. Innocent men who were just doing their jobs. Is that what you want? Do you want them to come in here and put human beings at risk?”
“You’re not serious.”
“Well, I am.” The brutal frankness in Matt’s tone hid none of his hatred. “I don’t have a problem with the rational tree-huggers. But those—They drove railroad spikes into the trees so that when they were cut, they kicked the saws back and into the loggers. They pounded nails in the wood so that sawyers got hit with shrapnel when they ran the logs through a band saw. They blew up equipment and didn’t give a flying fuck who was operating it. Redbear’s bunch is nothing more than murderers and cowards. That’s who you asked for help.”
Zury’s chin wobbled but she firmed it up and tightened her mouth, locking her gaze on Matt. “You’re exaggerating.”
“Am I?” The utter calm in Matt’s voice sounded like a challenge.
“Then why weren’t they charged?”
“Knowing it and proving it are two very different things. Trust me, there are people still trying to gather enough evidence. There’s no statute of limitation on murder.”
“I want to see the pictures.” She grabbed for the thumb drive in Jonah’s hand but he held it away from her. “Now, Jonah. Give it to me.”
“Keep it.” Matt rose from his chair. “I’ll get my iPad and you can read the original email.”
Matt went inside and Jonah ran his hand down her arm. “Zury, don’t. Let me take this home and—”
“Jonah, stop. I’m not some delicate flower who needs your protection. I’m an adult. I can judge for myself what’s on that drive and in the email.”
Biting back useless curses, he handed her the USB. “We’ll both look.”
Matt’s iPad was featherlight but a sinking, heavy weight lodged under Jonah’s sternum as the images loaded. Zury stood beside him, her shoulders squared, preparing herself for anything that might appear. The email was titled Terran Guard Murder Pics and contained only a few sentences.
Here you go, my man. Hope you don’t hurl. Trust me, the real deal was far worse.
A zip file contained postmortem pictures. The first image hit her hard enough that she jerked. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and fought his own nausea. The chainsaw had ripped through the face of a black man, cutting into his skull. Jonah swallowed the bitter fluid that rushed into his mouth. No hardhat or safety glasses in the world could withstand a running chainsaw. The shattered bones gaped wide, and gray matter oozed onto a stainless steel table. He could have been twenty or fifty. There was no way to tell because virtually nothing remained of his face. She swiped the screen.
The following image was the instrument of his death. Bits of flesh and gore clung to the Stihl chain in a congealed mess. Next came the crime scene, roped off areas around a half-sawn tree trunk splattered with red. Close ups of the scarred edge of a spike buried in the wood followed. Zury grew paler with each picture.
Jonah thought that had to have been the worst. He was wrong. Her stomach audibly heaved with the seventeenth picture. This time, the saw had kicked out sideways and severed the man’s left arm before chewing into his chest. Zury closed her eyes before she thumbed to the next photo. When she opened them, the bright glaze of tears filled them.
“¡Qué barbaridad! How could anyone do such things?”
More coroners’ images preceded snapshots of metal forced into trees and more blood-speckled woodlands. Jonah regretted that last beer. It rumbled in his belly like an angry wasps’ nest. The rest of the images were less gruesome but no less traumatic to view. Nails imbedded in the stomachs, arms, thighs and cheeks of living men. Burned-out metal hulls that used to be grappling arms and log skidders. Charred remains of leather seats and melted tires. Flash burns that had stripped the bark from trees, leaving the raw wood blackened and exposed. Blistered skin with seared material embedded into the wounds.
The final pictures were almost innocent, which made them all the more macabre. While protesters marched in a misty rain, a skinny red-haired man stared directly into the lens, a challenging sneer plain on his face. Behind him, the red and blue lights of a sheriff’s car created an ominous backdrop.
“Is this him? Redbear?”
“Yeah.” Jonah took the tablet from her, setting it on the chair edge before pulling her into his arms. His mouth brushed her ear. “Fight Hawkins all you wa
nt, Zury, but stay away from this lunatic.”
“¡Santísima Virgen de la Caridad!” Her whisper squeezed his chest. “What have I done?”
“You didn’t know.”
She was like iron in his embrace. “We should go. It’s late.”
Something empty echoed in her voice. An ancient instinct swelled in Jonah’s gut, the urge to scoop her up and run, to whisk her away from what had inflicted her pain. He wanted to plant his feet, bare his teeth and guard her from all hurt. But he was a modern man. So he did the modern version, sliding his arm around her shoulders and aiming for the Jeep.
Zury was in a weird stunned zombie state. She allowed him to lead her from the porch without objection. Wordlessly, she handed him her keys, crawled in the passenger side and dragged an old fleece sweatshirt from under the seat. She pulled it over her head, tucking her hands in the sleeves as if she was freezing.
“Zury?”
“I want to go home, Jonah. Please.” So soft, so fragile, her plea carved into his heart like a sharpened blade.
The night air made her silky hair cool beneath his palm. “All right.”
Matt met him on the driver’s side. “She’s almost in shock. She really didn’t know, did she?”
“No. She’d never hurt anyone, not even to save the Canyon.” Jonah fingered her keys. She had a silly pink crab keychain. It was a stupid thing to focus on but it was a lot less unsettling than the shell of a vibrant woman in the passenger’s seat. He’d seen her livid, defiant, aroused and amused but this worried him. She looked...beaten. Not even crouched below her beloved and dying abuelo tree had she looked so lost.
“Here.” Matt handed him a glass flask of clear liquid. “Get some of this in her before you take off.”
Jonah took a whiff. His nose started running and his eyes watered. The moonshine was high grade and potent as hell. “This’ll burn blue.”
“Squeak Iverson boils more than maple syrup. This is his high-test shit. Peach, I think.” Remorse stiffened his lip. “I didn’t mean to freak her out, man. Tell her I’m sorry, okay?”