Cold River Page 15

  “Sean Cameron and his business partner, Nick Martini, met each other when they were full-time smoke jumpers.”

  Grit waited. The cold didn’t bother him that much. The lake and the surrounding hills were white and shades of gray and evergreen under a clear blue winter sky. It was a nice view. He could stay out here awhile.

  “The sister—Rose Cameron—trains and handles search-and-rescue dogs,” Charlie said. “She’s a search management expert. Very experienced. She’s been at the scene of a number of devastating western wildfires.”

  Grit was unimpressed. “The Camerons are active types. I’ve been chopping and hauling wood and running and fixing things since I got to Vermont. Jo’s the same. She had me up on the roof of her cabin the other day looking for how bats get in.”

  “Bats can squeeze into—”

  “Don’t start with me, and forget what you’re thinking.”

  “Firefighters are sometimes themselves firebugs. A volunteer firefighter started horrible fires in Australia that killed hundreds. It’s unfortunate, but it happens.” Charlie paused. “Sean Cameron and Nick Martini both are volunteers now.”

  “So?”

  “So who blew up Melanie Kendall’s car? Who blew up Myrtle Smith’s house?”

  “A Cameron didn’t.”

  “But maybe someone the Camerons know did.”

  “It’s a thought. Keep it to yourself.”

  “I’m not telling anyone but you.”

  Great. Lucky him. “When’s school start?”

  “Couple more weeks. Public school starts up right after New Year’s. Talk to me, Petty Officer. I haven’t actually met Elijah, but we’ve spoken on the phone. He’s a disciplined soldier—”

  “Sergeant Cameron. Mr. Cameron. Either one’s okay. Not Elijah.”

  “He said I could call him by his first name.”

  “I didn’t say you could, and you’re talking to me.”

  “He’s a hero. What about Sean and Rose? A.J.?”

  “Go back to un-lighting Santa Claus, Charlie.”

  “It’s a crèche. Again, private school. You should keep your eyes open.”

  “Always, my friend. Always.”

  “Sean Cameron, Rose Cameron, Nick Martini, firebugs. I’m telling you. There’s something there.”

  Grit disconnected and debated walking down to Elijah’s house and telling Jo that the vice president’s son was back at it, sticking his nose into a criminal investigation. At least Charlie was just speculating and not showing up at a murder scene as he had in November. Everyone in Black Falls was speculating. No harm in that.

  Sean Cameron seemed to fit in just fine with his mountain man brothers. The only difference was that he fought fires out west and had a tan and a lot more money. Grit was a warrior sailor whose family made honey in the Florida Panhandle. His idea of having money was a hundred-dollar bill in his pocket.

  Grit sighed. What to do on a cold winter day in Vermont?

  He could call Admiral Jenkins back. The admiral, whom Grit had heard of but did not know, had left messages six times in the past week. Grit was to get in touch with him. It was an unofficial summons and undoubtedly had to do with the admiral having an idea about a wounded Navy SEAL’s future.

  It didn’t do not to return an admiral’s call, but Grit figured he could always blame bad service up here in the boonies.

  He decided he’d have breakfast with Jo and Elijah and maybe work Sean and Rose and firebugs into the conversation.

  He headed down the trail through the snow. Ever since helping to pinpoint the identity of the killers who’d targeted Drew Cameron and Alexander Bruni and dealing with the mischievous, genius son of the vice president of the United States, Grit had been thinking less and less about his leg. Dealing with it was becoming more routine, more automatic.

  He didn’t know if he liked that. He didn’t know if he was ready to leave behind the man he’d been and the life he’d led.

  Fifteen

  “I dreamed about…you know.”

  Devin rubbed a hand over his head, awkward and, in his own way, self-conscious, uncomfortable about sharing his emotions—his vulnerabilities. Hannah sat with him at a small table by the café’s front door. It was early, the café cold as the heat kicked in for the day. Since surviving his ordeal on Cameron Mountain, Devin had insisted he was okay, but he had recurring nightmares, reliving the shots Rigby had fired into the cabin and then the shots Elijah had fired. Finally, the silence, and the knowledge that one of the two men was dead.

  He stared out the café window at Main Street. “I think California will help. The change of scenery will do me good.”

  “I hope so,” Hannah said. The swelling on her cheek had died down overnight. Her wrist had turned shades of purple and blue. “If you get homesick if you need to talk to someone just do it, okay? Don’t wait. You’re as tough and resilient as anyone, but you went through hell last month.”

  “Yeah. We all could have died up on the mountain in about ten different ways. Beaten to death. Frozen. Shot.” He turned from the window and sipped hot cocoa from an evergreen mug. “Rigby wasn’t a maniac, you know.”

  “I know, Dev. He was a cold-blooded killer.”

  Her brother raised his eyes, still haunted from his nightmare. “What was he like when you talked to him?”

  “Convincing.” They’d gone over this ground before. “I didn’t question that he was a mountain rescuer. No one did. It makes me sick to think I gave him any information that helped him find you.”

  “He already knew about the cabin from when he and Melanie Kendall killed Drew. They must have followed Drew up there one day or something. I didn’t know about it until Nora found it in November. She pretty much stumbled onto it.” Devin licked chocolate foam off his lips. “I keep hearing the shots that killed Rigby.” He paused, staring into his mug. “Elijah saved my life. He and Jo. I was useless.”

  “So was I, Dev. We all did what we could, but maybe events unfolded the way they were meant to.” Hannah smiled, hoping to help shake Devin out of the aftereffects of his nightmare. “Look at Jo and Elijah now.”

  Devin gave a small smile back at her. “Planning a wedding.”

  “Nora was so excited when she found Drew’s cabin. I’d told her I’d brought supplies up there, and she was determined to figure out what he’d been up to.”

  “She’d never have made it back there in the storm if you hadn’t warned her about Rigby.”

  “He nearly beat me to death.”

  “But you got away from him and found Jo and Elijah—”

  “I was lucky,” Devin said.

  “You made your own luck. You were able to show Jo where the cabin was and take shelter there. Elijah knew he had to find Nora before she succumbed to hypothermia. He got her to the cabin.” Hannah sat back in her chair. She’d had coffee, but she wasn’t hungry. She hadn’t slept that well herself. “You held your own with experienced pros.”

  Toby bounded into the café from the center-hall door and grabbed a corn muffin off a tray on the glass case. “Hey, Dev, Hannah,” he said. “Tomorrow’s the big day. All set for our adventure, Dev?”

  “Yeah, I guess,” Devin said.

  “We better not annoy Sean. Don’t want him to pitch us out of his airplane.” Toby grinned, obviously not worried about any such thing. “I wonder if he has any parachutes on board. Probably, given his other life as a smoke jumper.”

  Toby bit into his muffin, crumbs falling into his lap. He hadn’t grabbed a plate or a napkin, no butter, no jam. He ate all the time—he’d probably had scrambled eggs before heading down to the café.

  “What’re you up to this morning?” Hannah asked him.

  “I’m hitting the weight room at school. It’s open.”

  “I can drop you off—”

  “Nah. I’ll walk. It’ll be above zero by the time I get out of here. Dev, you want to go with me?”

  Devin shook his head. “I’m working up at the lodge today. My las
t day.”

  Even if he hadn’t been working, Hannah knew he wouldn’t weight-lift with his younger brother. Toby was a competitive athlete, and while Devin was fit, he was more likely to hike than to spend time in a gym. Neither brother was the student she’d been, but Devin’s grades had really suffered after Drew Cameron’s death in April. He almost hadn’t graduated. Then came a summer of aimlessness and trouble. His friendship with Nora Asher after her move to Black Falls had offered a glimmer of hope. They’d both had to sort out their options.

  Lowell and Vivian Whittaker entered the café with Everett and Ginny Robinson. Hannah got to her feet. “Duty calls,” she said to her brothers with a wink.

  They grabbed muffins and headed out through the café kitchen. Hannah dipped behind the glass case, the two couples having made up their minds about what they wanted. From what she gathered, they’d run into each other on Main Street and come into the café together.

  As Hannah took their orders and gathered muffins and scones, Everett quizzed her about her plans for studying. “Are you keeping your law books handy?”

  “I’m still getting organized,” she said.

  The Whittakers decided to have their muffins and coffee to go. “Lowell and I want to be at the guesthouse when Bowie O’Rourke starts work there today,” Vivian Whittaker said. “I think that’s always for the best. I really do hope repainting will help. I can’t get rid of the memories of those two killers on our property.”

  “At least nothing actually happened there,” Lowell said.

  “That does make a difference,” his wife said. “I wish the same were true for the Camerons’ lodge. Alex Bruni stayed there many times and loved it there, but I can’t imagine how it will recover. I wouldn’t want to stay in a place where someone blew up in a car.”

  Judge Robinson looked a little shocked at Vivian’s bluntness. “I’m sure it will be easier once the police find the person who triggered the bomb.”

  “Assuming they can.” Vivian picked up two coffees from the counter where Hannah had set them. “It’s been weeks. I’m not convinced we’ll ever know who it was. Of course, we all want to find the rest of these people before they can hurt anyone else.”

  Lowell quickly paid, and he and Vivian left, the Robinsons heading to a table. Hannah wanted to avoid Everett’s scrutiny and went into the kitchen while there was a lull in customers.

  Dominique looked up from the worktable, where she was filling muffin tins with thick batter. “I had to step outside for a minute, and I saw the Camerons arriving in force. Any idea what they’re doing here?”

  “I haven’t seen them yet.”

  Dominique frowned. “Do you want me—”

  “No, I’ll go.”

  Hannah returned to the dining room just as the Cameron men entered the café. A.J., usually busy with the lodge or his two young children, was a rare presence. He and his brothers left on their coats as they approached her behind the glass case. Their sister, Rose, wasn’t with them.

  All three men looked focused and edgy, understandable, Hannah reminded herself, given the circumstances. Then again, when hadn’t a Cameron looked focused and edgy?

  “Dominique just pulled cinnamon scones out of the oven,” she said. “Interested?”

  “Just coffee,” A.J. said.

  “Where’s Jo? Usually she’s with you—”

  “She’s taking a look at the crypt in daylight,” Elijah said.

  “I guess that makes sense,” Hannah said.

  A.J.’s gaze was hard on her. “I guess it does.”

  He took his coffee to a table by the window. She noticed that Sean was back to normal, whatever had bubbled up between them last night well below the surface again now. She got coffee and muffins for them, and they joined A.J. at his table by the river.

  Dominique came through the swinging door with a bowl of homemade yogurt that she placed in the glass case. She sighed at Hannah and nodded toward the Cameron table. “You want to go butt heads with them, don’t you?”

  “I think it’s the other way around.”

  “Go ahead. I’ll keep an eye out here.”

  “If you need me,” Hannah said, “just let me know and I’ll come right back.”

  Leaving on her evergreen apron, Hannah headed across the dining room to the Cameron men. Sean was seated next to A.J., their backs to the river, the morning sun glinting on the ice formations and drifts of undisturbed snow.

  Elijah was at the end of the table, his long legs stretched out. With one foot, he slid out a chair. “Have a seat,” he said.

  As she sat down, Hannah tried to look casual rather than irritated, self-conscious or guilty, when, in fact, she felt a little of each. “Is Rose joining you?”

  “She’s snowshoeing with Ranger,” A.J. said. “We’ve finally started cleaning out our folks’ place. It’s not easy on any of us, but it’s especially hard on her.”

  “She and your mom were close. It hasn’t been long since you lost her, either. It’s good you all have one another.”

  No one spoke for a moment. “So, Hannah,” A.J. said, “how are you after your hike up to the cabin and your incident at Four Corners yesterday?”

  “Sore.”

  A.J. bristled at her response, but he kept his temper in check. “It’s still hard to figure out what went on in the cemetery—if Bowie just knocked the wrong rock and the whole thing came tumbling down, if it was the wind or what. Your face looks good.” He nodded to her wrist. “That’s not pretty. Any other scrapes and bruises?”

  “Nothing I’m worried about.”

  Hannah realized her breathing was light, rapid. She figured they’d decided that Sean had failed on his own and now the three of them would try to get answers out of her. But she had no answers, and she wasn’t accustomed to such scrutiny.

  “Why go alone up to the cabin?” A.J. asked. “Any of us would have gone with you.”

  “So Sean told me yesterday. I appreciate that. I know I was on Cameron land, but—”

  “That’s not the point. Hiking alone in winter conditions isn’t safe. Why did you do it?”

  “I knew I could count on you Camerons to come rescue me,” Hannah said with a deliberately fake smile.

  A.J. didn’t so much as crack a smile back at her. Sean and Elijah drank their coffee, letting their older brother do the interrogating. They’d probably figured it out in advance. Of the three brothers, A.J. had the least patience with her and had never treated her with kid gloves. But she’d never been intimidated by him, either.

  “What were you looking for?” he asked.

  “Peace of mind.”

  Technically it was true. She didn’t care if she was being obstinate. She didn’t want to drag them on a wild-goose chase—and she didn’t want to subject Bowie to unfair scrutiny.

  A.J. gave a small hiss of irritation. Sean didn’t move. Elijah leaned forward and placed a hand on Hannah’s arm, probably aware his older brother was about to throttle her. “We’re not ganging up on you, Hannah. We want to help.”

  “Help with what? The leak in the cellar? The lunch menu?”

  A.J. shot to his feet. “I knew this would be a waste of time.”

  If Jo Harper had a knack for rubbing her the wrong way, Hannah thought, she, on the other hand, had a knack for rubbing A.J. Cameron the wrong way. He was as hard-bitten as his father had been, and as devoted to Black Falls.

  His expression softened slightly as he glared down at her. “We’re on the same side. Keep that in mind.”

  As he stalked out of the café, Hannah wanted to jump up and run, but where to? The kitchen? Upstairs to her apartment? She supposed she could lock herself in the cellar with the water leak and the spiders. The Camerons and the Harpers were two of the most prominent and beloved families in Black Falls, and she didn’t like being confronted—targeted—by them.

  Elijah tried again. “Hannah, this isn’t an inquisition. We know the past month’s been tough on you. You almost lost Devin. We’re here to h
elp.”

  But how could they? She’d been truthful with Sean last night. She didn’t want to distract them with some useless tidbits when they had enough on their minds. After five weeks, all of them—herself included—were ripe to latch onto the slightest lead, no matter how unsubstantiated or ridiculous or wrong-headed.

  “I just want to see my brothers off to California.” Rising abruptly, she forced herself to stay steady, contained, and turned to Sean. “They’re excited about their trip. They’ll be ready tomorrow whenever you are.”

  Before Sean could respond, she pivoted and headed back across the café and behind the glass case. Dominique mumbled that she’d be back in the kitchen and ducked through the swinging door.

  Beth Harper passed A.J. in the main entrance, taking in the scene as she approached Hannah. “Uh-oh. A Cameron gathering.”

  Hannah managed a smile in spite of her tension. “They had a few questions for me, which I’ve answered. Would you mind staying out here while I—”

  “Go ahead. Do what you have to do.” Beth’s eyes narrowed. “Hannah, you’re not going to cry, are you?”

  “Not because of them,” she said, and fled into the kitchen.

  Dominique was in the storage room. Hannah ripped paper towels off a roll, dampened them with cold water and applied them to her cheeks as she fought back tears. Did they all have to come to the café?

  If they thought she was holding back something that would help them find out who’d ordered Drew Cameron’s death, yes.

  She couldn’t very well blame them.

  She heard the swinging door open and shut and assumed it was Dominique or Beth, but the footsteps on the old wood floor had a distinctly male sound to them. Resisting the impulse to turn around, Hannah tossed the paper towels in the trash and got out of there, grabbing her car keys and her jacket and charging out the back door.

  Sean followed her out to her car. “I’ll go with you.”

  “You don’t even know where I’m headed.”

  “To see Bowie.”