Mountain Secrets

by Elizabeth Goddard

  “Anything?”

  “Nothing yet.”

  “Tracy’s here with Solomon,” Cade said. “You knew that, right?”

  David straightened. Grinned at his brother. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. Jewel means the world to Tracy. Solomon’ll find her.”

  Colin wasn’t surprised to hear the news. David’s wife, Tracy, was trained at search and rescue, as was her dog, Solomon. Plus, she used to work for Jewel at the B and B until the twins came along, and had a close relationship with her employer. It made sense that she’d rush out to help as soon as she learned what had happened.

  “Where are they?” Colin asked.

  Cade pointed at the map. “Sent them off here to search the riverbank. Later, we’ll be looking...”

  When Cade glanced up at Colin, he let his sentence trail off. He was glad Cade decided not to finish. He didn’t want to think about dredging the river or this channel for a body. He was glad he wasn’t in charge of the search.

  Hopping off the boat and onto the small deck, he left David and Cade behind.

  “Winters! Where are you going?”

  “What do you think? I’m going to look for Jewel.” He marched up the trail.

  He didn’t have time for pleasant conversation.

  “Hold up.” David left Cade behind to follow and jogged up to him.

  Colin didn’t wait for him, hiking up a few yards, then veering off into the forest to the left toward the river. That raging, deadly river.

  David gripped his arm. “We’ll find her, Winters. Though I have to say,” he added with a frown, “I didn’t realize you were in this deep.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  Tracy rushed up to her husband. Breathless, she pointed. “I think Solomon’s found something.”

  Colin and David followed Tracy through the woods, around trees and fallen trunks, over rocks and boulders to Solomon’s bark and whine. Colin tensed at the dog’s signals. He knew Solomon had finally gotten certified as a cadaver dog.

  He braced himself, unsure what they would find—a living, breathing Jewel or her body.

  TWO

  Something wet slid across her nose, eyes and mouth. Jewel stirred and tried to turn over to defend herself, but a bone-piercing throb coursed through her wrist.

  A dog’s whimper and continued licking steadied her breathing. Calmed her fear. She recognized the animal.

  “Solomon.” Her voice didn’t sound like her own.

  Footsteps, twigs snapping and breaking, resounded through the undergrowth on the river’s edge.

  “Jewel,” Tracy said. “Are you all right?”

  Relief swelled inside. “Depends on your definition.”

  Tracy spoke to someone nearby and then radioed others that Jewel had been found.

  “Shouldn’t you be home with your babies? Your twins?” Jewel managed.

  “Grandma Katy needs her time with them. Besides, you had to know I would come looking for you. Solomon and I.”

  “Jewel!” A familiar, masculine voice joined Tracy’s.

  Jewel heard the immeasurable relief in his tone. That ignited her heart. She was alive. She had survived.

  “Chief Winters,” she croaked. Colin. She had always called him by his official title to keep personal feelings out of it. To keep her distance. Otherwise, the man could undo her resolve to protect her heart.

  Her bruises throbbed with any movement or effort on her part. She squeezed her eyes shut, unwilling to look at him.

  “We’re here now, Jewel. You’re going to be okay. You just rest now.”

  As other SAR members arrived and focused in on Jewel, they crowded him out and away.

  “No! No... Chief Winters.” She reached for him.

  He stepped forward, closer again.

  “I’m here, Jewel. I never left.” His electric blue eyes pierced hers, concern and relief spilling from them. “What is it? What do you need?”

  “Someone pushed me into those falls.”

  Anger rose in his gaze and maybe a little disbelief. “Can you describe him?”

  “No... I...”

  Chief Winters grabbed her hand. “Whoever it was, we’ll find him, Jewel. Don’t you worry. You’re in good hands now. I have to go and make sure nobody else gets hurt.”

  Then he slipped out of the way of her search and rescue friends. Jewel endured the poking and prodding and assessing and finally the hefting and assisting her back to civilization.

  On the helicopter ride back to Mountain Cove, Jewel closed her eyes, wanting to forget what had happened, wanting to pretend it had simply been a bad dream. Wanting to wake up with a body free of pain and evidence of the nightmare. But she couldn’t let go of the blurred image of the person she’d seen standing at the top of the falls.

  There hadn’t been room for Chief Winters on the helicopter, and maybe she was glad about that so she would have time to think about what she’d seen exactly before having to answer his questions. But he was probably searching for who could have done this. Making sure others were warned a crazy person was out there.

  At the small Mountain Cove hospital clinic, Doc Harland attended to all her bruises and scrapes. He didn’t like the look of the deep gash along her shoulder and back from the fallen tree trunk’s branches, but she knew that though painful, that injury had saved her life.

  That particular gash needed stitches. Her sprained wrist was already wrapped. Doc assured her it would heal within a few days.

  “Hold still, dear.” Doc Harland had anesthetized the gash so she couldn’t feel the needle pricks as he stitched her up. “You aren’t afraid of needles now, are you?”

  “I can’t stop shaking. My body has a mind of its own. I’m sorry.”

  “No need to apologize. You’ve had a scare. We’ll give you something to calm you if you like.”

  “No, thank you.” Jewel needed to stay alert. Figure this out. “Are Tracy, Meral and Buck still out there in the waiting room?”

  “Far as I know. You want me to send someone to check?”

  “No.”

  “I’ve treated a lot of folks in my life, but never anyone who has gone into those falls and survived. What happened out there?”

  “If it’s all the same to you, Doc, I’d like to forget about it.” Jewel stared at the sterile wall. She might want to forget, but she knew she couldn’t.

  “I want to run a few tests. Draw some blood. But not today—you’ve already been through enough. I want to see you back in a week to look at those stitches and your wrist. We’ll get the blood then.”

  Was Doc wondering if she had some sort of medical condition that had caused her to fall?

  “There. All done.” Doc Harland flipped down her gown.

  “Jewel?” Meral peeked through the door. “I brought you some dry clothes.”

  “Come on in,” Doc Harland said. “I’ll leave you to change.”

  Doc Harland nodded and left to give her privacy.

  Meral set the clothes—a pair of jeans, teal T-shirt, light jacket, shoes, socks and undergarments—next to Jewel. “I’m so sorry, Jewel. If we’d just stuck together this would never have happened.” She wiped at the remnants of tears on her cheeks.

  She started to hug Jewel, but then acted as though she’d thought better of it. Jewel must look terribly beat up and bruised. Admittedly, a hug would hurt right now.

  Meral, short for Emerald, was in her thirties and ten years younger than Jewel. She’d been a teenager when Jewel had run away to marry Silas. Beautiful as she was, she looked fragile and pale at the moment.

  “Are you okay?” Jewel found herself asking.

  “I’m feeling nauseous. Buck insists on taking me back now. Are you almost ready?”

  “Sure, I just need to change.”

  “You need help with t
hat?”

  “No, you go on now. I’ll be out in a minute.”

  Meral nodded and left Jewel. Poor thing. She probably didn’t know how to take what had happened. Jewel wasn’t sure she did either. It was hard to comprehend.

  Jewel took far too long to get into her clothes. Every movement, every twist and bend of her body hurt. She risked a glimpse in the mirror over the sink.

  Big mistake.

  She didn’t even recognize herself.

  Someone knocked softly on the door. Meral had timed it just right. They were both ready to get home. But how could Jewel let her guests at the B and B see her like this?

  “Come in.”

  The door opened and in stepped Chief Winters, standing tall and intimidating in his official tan police uniform.

  Her pulse jumped.

  Whether from being startled at seeing someone other than Meral, or if it was her reaction to Chief Winters himself, she wasn’t sure.

  Seeing him here, clearly concerned about her, brought her more pleasure than it should.

  She reminded herself he wasn’t here for personal reasons but to question her officially. But she wasn’t sure she was ready. Everything that had happened was starting to blur together.

  What had she really seen? Had she simply imagined the figure on the ledge?

  Chief Winters stepped completely in and closed the door behind him. His electric blue eyes always saw everything, and now they flashed with a powerful emotion. Before she could define it, the emotion was shuttered away.

  What was the man thinking?

  Jewel averted her gaze. She didn’t see the chief of police often outside the self-defense class. And in the class she tried not to think about how tall and rugged he was, or the confident air he had about him. He was in his late forties, the same age as her husband, Silas, would have been if he hadn’t died a decade ago. Silas and Chief Winters had been friends, not close, but friendly enough that they were on a first-name basis. And he’d always been warm and friendly to her, as well, and somewhat protective after Silas had died. All the more reason to keep her distance.

  Jewel hung her head for a moment, instinctively, hating for him to see her like this, but then she quickly lifted her chin and faced him. She couldn’t let him see how he affected her. She was surprised to see that today something new burned behind his gaze, and it wasn’t warm or friendly. It was downright terrifying.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  “Checking up on you. You had to know I’d come. How are you, Jewel?”

  “Did you find them? The person who pushed me?”

  He shook his head. “Not yet. I know you’re tired and hurt, and this isn’t the best time, but I’m going to need you to think about what happened and tell me everything. Start from the beginning. Who pushed you into the falls?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Jewel wanted to scream. She wanted to cry, but she wouldn’t do that in front of Chief Winters. She missed Silas—wished she had someone here to hold her. She wanted to feel strong arms around her. Someone to tell her everything was going to be all right. That someone hadn’t just tried to kill her, and she was only imagining things. And in a moment of weakness like this, Colin Winters was the only man who could fulfill those needs.

  But she couldn’t let him in that deep.

  She’d lived in Alaska long enough that she was well aware of how to take care of herself. She’d run her B and B near the edge of the wilderness for more years than she wanted to admit. She wouldn’t give in to that weakness.

  I know how to survive.

  I can do this.

  Chief Winters stared at her, waiting patiently. She’d always liked that about him. But how did she answer his question? What could she tell him that would make any sense?

  * * *

  Jewel moved to sit in the chair against the wall. Colin didn’t rush her, giving her a moment to think on the details of what had happened.

  Some days Colin hated his job, and today was one of those days. He hated having to pry answers out of people—especially people he cared about personally.

  “Accidents happen, Jewel. People fall where they shouldn’t all the time, including in the shower, where some die every year.” He hated himself for this, but he had to ask her. He had to be certain. “Are you sure someone pushed you?”

  She stared at the floor. Was she thinking it through?

  Seeing Jewel like this undid him. Unraveled him from the inside out.

  Jewel Caraway was a beautiful woman. One of the most beautiful he’d ever seen, and that included on the inside, where it mattered most. She was beautiful like Katelyn—a woman he’d loved—had been. Had a quiet elegance and grace about her, and the most captivating hazel-green, gold-flecked eyes. Colin shouldn’t be thinking about her in that way, but he couldn’t stop himself. Had never been able to stop himself for as long as he’d known her.

  Except today, circles darkened Jewel’s eyes, and her usually shiny, ash-blond hair was askew. Her face was bruised in a way that turned his stomach into knots.

  He was the police chief, but he was a man, too, and Jewel had caught his attention the first time he’d met her. She reflected light like a precious gem. Her parents must have known she would when they had named her. She carried herself with the confidence of experience, but she’d never looked a day over thirty to him, though she was in her mid to late forties just like Colin.

  Then he remembered himself.

  In a professional capacity he’d come to make sure she was all right. But his true interest in her went deeper, even though he’d never let himself act on it. Her husband had been a friend, and Colin had never let his mind or heart stray before. Nor would that happen now, even though she was a widow.

  In his eyes, she’d aged ten years in the past few hours. Colin thought maybe he’d aged that much, too. Maybe more.

  She could have died out there.

  She pressed her face into her palms, her shoulders shaking. He’d never seen her undone like this, but it was understandable. Colin lost it then, too. He pressed his hand against her head, felt the softness of her hair. His heart thudded against his ribs.

  “Please, Jewel. Talk to me.”

  She drew her face up, and her haggardness caught him afresh, sending a new pang through his chest.

  “Meral, Buck and I had gone kayaking. They just got married and arrived two days ago. Were excited to be here and wanted to see southeast Alaska. She’s my sister, and I haven’t seen her in twenty years.”

  Jewel seemed to regret her last words, which came out rushed. An outburst to cover some deeper emotion hidden away? He’d let her tell him that story another time. Yet maybe there was something here that played a role in what had happened today.

  “Go on,” Colin said, nodding.

  “We secured the kayaks in the bay and decided to hike up to the falls. We planned to be out for a few hours. A day at the most. I forgot my water and went back to get it. Buck and Meral went on ahead. I said I’d catch up to them. Meet them at the falls where the trail stopped. From there you could choose between two other trails, and I didn’t want them to go farther without me. It shouldn’t have been so complicated.”

  “And were they at the falls when you got there?”

  “No. I stopped to watch the waterfall. Silas liked to explore waterfalls. Maybe you remember that we used to travel around to see the falls in the region, even as far south as Ketchikan. He liked to study them. Kayak over them, if possible.”

  “And what about you? Did you enjoy that, too?”

  She shook her head. “I’m not into thrills.”

  No. He hadn’t thought so. She was adventurous, yes, but was more the kind to enjoy the beauty rather than the challenge of nature.

  “So did you call for Meral and... What is his full name again?” She’d only given h
er brother-in-law’s first name when she’d mentioned him earlier. Colin didn’t want to be too invasive. Let her tell the story. He hadn’t met Buck yet. Apparently he’d just missed the man and Jewel’s sister when he’d got to the clinic.

  “Buck Cambridge. Yes, I called out for them when I made the falls, and they were not there. I heard a twig snap behind me. Before I turned, something slammed into my back.”

  Colin hated thinking about the bruises that covered the rest of her, if her face was any indication. “I’m just glad you survived. It seems...”

  “Impossible. I know.”

  For a moment, Colin let himself visualize her battle, experience it with her. If he let himself think about it too long, he’d be visibly shaking, trembling like she was.

  “Tell me the rest.”

  “After my initial panic, I swam beneath the backwash and let the current pull me away from the churning falls. I swam toward the surface to get air and happened to glance to the top of the falls.”

  “And what did you see?”

  “Someone. Just a figure. My vision was blurred by water, but I saw someone for a split second before the water pulled me away.”

  “You sure it wasn’t Meral you saw, arriving after you’d fallen in? She was the one to call this in. Her quick thinking got the search for you going.”

  Jewel closed her eyes. After a moment, she shook her head. “I don’t think so. No, I’m sure it wasn’t Meral. The jacket she’s wearing is too bright—even though I couldn’t make out the face of the person I saw, that color would have caught my eye. It was the person who pushed me in. They were standing exactly where I’d been before being pushed.”

  Colin hated that her story could be picked apart, especially since she appeared so frazzled. And after his experience in Texas, he resolved to look at the facts and only the facts. He couldn’t go on gut feelings alone.