“Bella!” I called to her. “Where are your manners?”
“It’s alright. I love animals,” Stormy said. Her mouth opened in a surprised O as she stared at me. “I guess I love animals.”
Bella barked at her, then at me, then scampered away again. She’d been locked up the whole night, so I wasn’t surprised she needed some time outside.
Stormy and I chuckled and went inside. I lit a fire to warm the place and made a pot of coffee. She let Bella in while I made our coffees. We sat on the couch in front of the fire and sipped our hot drinks. Stormy was being really quiet, and I hoped she wasn’t starting to regret what had happened last night.
“Are you okay?” I asked her. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she said at first. I gave her a moment. “I had a dream last night. About those two guys,” she said, looking at me.
“The two hillbillies?” I asked, grinning.
“Yes, the hillbillies.” She finally smiled.
“What about them?” I asked. “Do you remember something?”
“Maybe. I’m not sure,” she paused for a moment. “I think I saw them doing something. Like something bad. And they saw me, and I ran from them.”
“Do you know when this happened?” I asked, concerned. It really did seem like she was having a real memory, and I was beginning to worry that these men had something to do with her accident.
“Recently,” she answered, nodding, her brow furrowed. “I was running from them when I crashed the car. I’m not entirely sure about that, though. I don’t remember anything after I started to run.”
“What were you running from? I mean, why were the men chasing you to begin with?”
She put her hand to her forehead and thought for a minute. The bandage the doctor had put on was falling off already. I felt bad for pushing her, but maybe that’s what she needed to remember.
She closed her eyes for a moment and started talking. “I was watching them. They had a rolled-up carpet,” she mumbled, her eyes widening in fear. “I’m not sure, but I was taking pictures of them, I think.”
“And, they saw you taking the pictures?”
“Yes, the toothless one looked over just as I snapped a picture of him. I saw him through my lens. They must have chased me because I turned and ran. That’s all I can remember.”
“Can you remember anything else? Like where you were? Any landmarks?”
“No. Everything is white.”
“White? Like snow?”
“Yes, it could be snow,” she said hesitantly, rubbing her temples as if she had a headache. “If I were outside, that would make sense. But I don’t see anything besides the snow.”
I decided not to push her any further for now. If she had this one memory prior to her accident, hopefully she would eventually remember more. Time would tell.
Stormy looked disappointed that she couldn’t remember any more.
“Don’t push yourself. I think this is a good start. If this part is coming back, everything else will, too,” I reassured her.
“I hope so,” she murmured, still in thought. Then she blurted, “I think I witnessed a crime. Those two men were up to no good. That’s why they chased me. When they discovered me taking pictures of them, I ran because they didn’t want me to get away with the pictures.”
“Where’s the camera?” I asked her.
“I…don’t know. When I came to after the accident, I didn’t see a camera in the SUV,” she replied. “I’m not sure. I wasn’t clear-headed, though. Maybe it’s still there, and I just didn’t see it.”
“Maybe,” I said, thinking about the two men and the camera. If they were committing a crime, those pictures were direct evidence of it. What if they were still after Stormy? “Maybe we should go look for the SUV. See if we can find any clues. Maybe the camera, if those two men didn’t already find it.”
Stormy was silent for a moment, then grunted as she clenched her fists. “I just wish I could remember more! Do you think they had a body in that carpet?” she asked me, wide-eyed.
“It’s possible. Why would two men be out in the woods with a rolled-up carpet?” I asked her. She nodded, chewing on her lip. “Bella’s a good tracker. I trained her as a puppy to be a hunting dog. Can you take us to the SUV?”
She sighed, releasing her lip, and I randomly wanted to kiss her. “I don’t know. I came through the woods. My tracks are probably covered by the snow by now. I’m not even sure how far I walked before I got here.”
“We can try to go through the woods. Either that or we just drive around all the off roads until we find a wrecked SUV. Problem with that is I don’t know how far you came, and I don’t know all the off roads around here.”
“I thought you’ve lived here your whole life?”
“They aren’t mapped. Are there any landmarks you can remember?”
“Not on the road. But when I was hiking here, I followed a point on a distant mountaintop so I would walk in the same direction. And I made a camp between some big boulders. My campfire ashes should still be there. If we can head in the right direction and find the camp, maybe we can find the road somewhere beyond that.”
“I don’t know…” I frowned as I thought. “You were out there for two days before you reached my cabin. We can’t hike for two days. Not in your condition.”
“Well, I got lost for one of the days. I made a big circle. And I didn’t even start walking until late in the afternoon on the first day. It got dark right after I saw your smoke and I left the road. So it’s probably not as far as we think. Plus, I was hurt, so it was slow going.”
“Alright,” I said, nodding. “I have an idea. If you can show me that point on the distant mountainside you followed to arrive behind my cabin, maybe we won’t have to hike at all. I can look at the map and try to determine where the road is . I say we try that first.”
“That’s a good idea. Maybe I can see it from here?” Stormy suggested.
We went outside, and she faced what she thought was the right direction, which would be looking toward the resort as opposed to the back of my house where I’d found her.
“There!” Stormy exclaimed after a few moments. “I was looking at that big bald spot up there. The spot without any snow,” she said, pointing.
At first, I couldn’t see what she was referring to, but I squinted and did. “Okay, I think I see it. Let’s go back inside and look at a map.”
Inside, I unfolded a paper map over the small table in the kitchen. Based on what she’d told me about how long it had taken her to walk here and on the direction of the landmark on the mountaintop, I marked several roads as well as other places where I thought would be good places to look for the wrecked SUV.
“I just hope those men didn’t find the SUV,” Stormy commented.
“I know. Did they have a car? Or the means to follow you?” I asked her.
“I don’t think so. I don’t know for sure. Like I said, once I started to run, it’s all a blank. But I’m sure they had something,” she mused. “Otherwise, how did they get a body or whatever was in that carpet up there?”
“Good point. We’ll go check it out. It’s early, so we can go today if you want to,” I suggested.
“Yes, let’s go,” she agreed.
“I need to talk with my brothers first. I don’t want to alarm you, but if those men were good trackers and they did follow you, they might know you’re here.”
Stormy’s eyes widened with fear, and she inhaled sharply. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“You don’t have to be afraid. I won’t let anything happen to you,” I promised her, taking her hand. “Just keep your eyes open and be aware that they might know you’re here. And I need to tell my brothers to do the same. If we can get that camera, we can find out who those guys are.”
“That would be good.”
“I’m gonna call all of my brothers and tell them to come over so we can talk with them,” I told her, going over to the phone.
* * *
&nb
sp; Brad, Dax, and Harley showed up about a half of an hour later. I filled them in on Stormy’s story as best as I could, considering the situation.
“Do you really think going to look for the SUV is the right thing to do?” Brad asked me.
“I’d like to find that camera and check for any clues. When Stormy left the SUV, she wasn’t thinking clearly and maybe left something behind. Not only of her identity but of those two men,” I told my brothers.
Dax was nodding. “I think you should give it a try. If those guys are out there, we need to know about it.”
“I agree,” I said.
“Yeah, not only for Stormy’s sake but because they’re too close for comfort, in general. The place where they buried the carpet could be closer than we think,” Harley added.
“You guys are right,” Brad finally agreed after a hefty sigh. “The last thing we need is two psychos sneaking around outside the resort. I’ve got kids. And the guests’ safety is our top priority.”
“Take your gun,” Dax said.
“I will,” I assured him. “I’d ask you guys to come, but I can’t take you away from your jobs here. We’ve got too many guests right now.” Brad gave me a worried look. “I’ll be fine.” “Yeah, someone would have to be crazy to mess with big Cole,” Harley joked.
“Even though my muscles are bigger, I think Cole can handle himself,” Dax said, grinning.
I laughed. “Dax, we’ve been over this. My muscles are the biggest. And I think I proved this by cutting all that wood in one afternoon,” I added.
I remembered we had a guest in the room and looked at Stormy, who was watching us with amusement in her eyes. “You guys argue over whose muscles are bigger?” she asked, smiling at our juvenile behavior. I could just imagine what she was thinking.
“Yep, they do,” Harley answered her. “Little do they know that mine are the biggest,” he put in, flexing. “I just let them think they have bigger muscles.”
“Guys. Guys. I thought we agreed at breakfast the other day that mine were the biggest,” Brad chimed in, grinning.
* * *
I took one of my rifles out of the gun cabinet and loaded it. I added more ammo to my vest pocket, just in case. I made sure the safety was on and put it into the back seat of the truck cab.
Bella jumped in to sit between Stormy and me, and we headed in the direction of the first X on the map. I drove out of the resort and turned on the same mountain road that led down to town, just in the opposite direction. Following the road past the resort took us up the mountain farther. Nothing was up there except good hunting spots and dirt off-road trails.
I did know some of the trails from hunting up here. My hunting shack wasn’t too far from some of them, and I used them to navigate with my quad. Many others were made from people four-wheeling and snowmobiling and just became ground-in over the years.
When we reached the end of the main road, we could either park and get out and walk or turn onto several of the trails that started here. I put my truck in 4-wheel drive and turned on the trail at the end of the road. I was hoping this was the one. Using my compass and landmarks, I tried to keep track of my direction.
As we drove slowly on the trail, it kept turning up the mountainside more and more. As it got steeper, I had my doubts that we were on the right one. “When you were walking, did the road go up the hill or down the hill?”
“Neither really. Not up like this. The road did start to rise, but I turned into the woods before it got steeper. While I was hiking through the woods, the ground stayed pretty flat,” she replied.
“This doesn’t seem right, then. Let’s go back and try the one down the road more. I think that trail might take us down the mountain, and it sounds like you were down a little bit more and came up some.”
“Yes, now that I’m seeing the landscape, I think I was down the mountain more,” she agreed.
We navigated back to the main mountain road and turned on the lower off-road trail. This time, the trail did take us around to the other side of the ridge and slanted downhill some.
“I think this might be the one,” I told Stormy, looking at my compass. “Makes sense that we’d want to be east of the resort.”
“Okay, good.”
We kept driving over the uneven terrain and eventually came out on a bigger dirt road. I stopped, trying to decide which way to turn.
“Turn right,” Stormy announced.
“Okay.”
We drove for a little bit as Stormy looked for any familiar signs. We were coming down the hillside now.
“I think this is where I turned into the woods,” Stormy exclaimed, pointing to the left.
“How can you tell?” I asked her.
“Because this is where I saw the smoke. I remember thinking I wasn’t comfortable leaving the road, and I had to make a decision. When I looked up the road, it got steeper, which it does behind us. So I decided to hike in the woods toward the smoke,” she told me, excitedly looking around.
“Is this the road you crashed on?” I asked her, checking my compass. Her story added up. My cabin was in the direction she was saying.
“Yes! I think so,” she replied, smiling. We drove about a mile further down the road, and Stormy told me to stop. “There,” she said, pointing down an embankment. “This is the embankment I had to climb up to get to the road. I remember how wide the road was here.”
I pulled over, and just as she said, there was the wrecked SUV.
“Wow! You are lucky to be alive,” I exclaimed, glancing at Stormy. “Look at that wreck!”
“It’s worse than I remember,” she admitted. Tears started to fall from her eyes.
I hated seeing her cry. “It’s okay now,” I reminded her.
“I know. Thanks to you,” she replied.
I reached over and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “You ready to do this?”
“Yes, let’s go.”
Lindsay
Stormy
The SUV was head-on smashed into a huge pine tree. The tree was actually leaning over the SUV, ready to fall on it at any minute. If the vehicle would have hit it any harder, the tree would have fallen and crushed me.
Also, the front end of the SUV was smashed in almost to the windshield. Again, I should have been crushed to death, but somehow, I wasn’t. I took a deep breath. The sight was incomprehensible and scary.
Cole reached around back and grabbed his gun before getting out of the truck. “I guess we didn’t need Bella’s professional tracking skills after all,” he joked, patting her on the head. “She’s still a good watchdog and will let us know if anyone tries to sneak up on us,” he added.
“I do feel better having Bella here,” I confessed.
“Me too,” Cole agreed. “Let’s go.”
We got out of the truck, and Bella took off down the embankment ahead of us as if she knew what we were doing here. Cole held my arm on the way down the rocky and snowy hillside. I slipped twice, but his strong arms held me up.
We reached the SUV, and the sight was even more alarming close-up. I gave Cole the keys, and he struggled to open the passenger door. It was not only all bent but frozen shut as well.
As he was working on the passenger side door, I went around to the driver's side, which was still ajar, just as I’d left it. I didn’t see any footprints, not even my own. But there was a fresh snow, so that didn’t mean anything.
I looked into the car but didn’t see anything different than I remembered from the last time I was here.
Cole was still struggling with the other door, and with one final tug, he managed to yank it open. It creaked loudly, protesting at being pulled from its resting place. He climbed inside the SUV and opened the glove compartment. Nothing in there. He looked under both visors, in the center console, and under the front seats. He also checked the passenger side door compartment. Nothing. He hopped back out of the SUV and bent in to look under the passenger’s side seat.
“I think I found something,” he gru
nted. I hurried around to see what he found. “It’s stuck,” he said, pushing himself further into the SUV. “My arms are too big to fit under this seat. Can you try and wiggle it out?”
“Yes, let me try.”
Cole moved, and I maneuvered inside the passenger side as he had. I first looked under the seat. My heart began to race. I couldn’t look under the seat and reach under it at the same time, so I had to feel for the strap that was stuck on the bottom of the seat. I didn’t want to break it but would if I had to. I really wanted to see the photos on this camera.
With a little patience, I was able to free the strap and pull the camera loose. I turned to face Cole and saw that he was excited to see the camera too.
“Will it turn on?” he asked.
I hoped it wasn’t broken from the crash or had a dead battery. I pushed the on button, and the screen’s welcome message appeared. I smiled to myself. After another moment, all the pictures I’d taken loaded. I began to flip through the pictures. The latest ones were of the two men. They looked just as I had envisioned them in my flashback and dream.
“I see why you called them hillbillies,” Cole mused, looking at the pictures with me. “Those are some ugly mugs. Look, that one has a big ass scar running down his entire face. Wonder what he did to get that?”
“Really,” I agreed. “I got close-ups of both of them. And see, that’s a rolled-up carpet. An oriental rug. And there’s a shovel in the skinny guy’s hand in this photo.”
“Yep, you caught them red-handed, so to speak,” he agreed. “Nice work. We can give these to the sheriff.”
“Okay,” I agreed. “We should go back to the resort and upload them to the laptop first. And show your family. Just in case the sheriff confiscates the camera. He should just take a copy of the pictures, but we shouldn’t take that chance.”
“You’re right,” Cole agreed.
“There are hundreds of pictures on here. Maybe I can figure out who I am,” I said excitedly and started to flip through the pictures.
Take a Mountain Man Home for Christmas: A Mountain Man Romance Christmas Collection Page 28