Hanging Falls Read online

  She pulled the sheriff’s coat tightly around her and sat shivering, hugging herself while she waited for the engine to run long enough to warm the heater’s outflow. A musty odor tainted with firewood smoke from her damp clothing filled the truck’s cab. Trying to watch Cole from the back window, Robo darted back and forth behind the console, still energetic despite his trek in the mountains.

  She could hear Cole decline Brody’s offer to help unsaddle the horses before they said good-bye, and then Cole opened the driver’s side door and stepped up into the truck to take his seat.

  He looked at her with concern and reached out his hand. “How ya doin’?”

  She slipped her cold fingers into his warm grasp and spoke between chattering teeth that she’d given up trying to control. “I got chilled this morning and haven’t been able to warm up. Even the hike down the mountain didn’t do it.”

  He flipped on the seat warmers, turned up the heater, and began to rub her hand. “You need to get out of those wet clothes. I think I have a clean coverall in the back. I’ll get it for you.”

  Cole leaned between the bucket seats, nudged Robo out of the way, and began rummaging around. “Here,” he said, laying the coverall on the console. “Let me help you get your boots off.”

  He exited his side of the truck and dashed around the front to hers. Mattie had shrugged off the sheriff’s coat and set it aside and was now wrestling around to pull off her slicker, twisted and pinned beneath her. By now, the heater’s warm output had combined with the humidity to fog up the windows. All of the others had pulled away from the parking lot, leaving them alone in the dark.

  Cole opened her door and reached for her boots, untying the laces and pulling them off her cold feet. He stripped off her wet socks while she succeeded in shedding the slicker. “Unzip your pants,” he said.

  This was no time for modesty, and besides, Cole had seen her without clothing several times before. But still, this level of intimacy was unfamiliar, and a warm flush rose on her cheeks, the first warmth she’d felt since she’d hovered over Glenna’s fire this morning.

  She unzipped and bridged off the seat enough to wriggle her wet pants down to her thighs. From there Cole grasped the waistband, his warm fingers creating a frisson of pleasure and a cascade of memories. He tugged her pants off.

  “Under different circumstances, darlin’, this could be a lot more fun,” he murmured, giving her legs and feet a brisk rubdown as their eyes met. “Here, hand me that coverall before I get too distracted.”

  Torn between welcoming the distraction and the shivers, Mattie grabbed the coverall and with Cole’s help quickly pulled the dry garment up to cover her legs. She slipped her shirt over her head, and in response to his muttered “Lord, have mercy!” she snorted with laughter. She held his gaze, flirting with him as she shrugged into the upper part of the coverall and slowly zipped it closed. It amazed her how fast she could switch from embarrassed to flirtatious when she was with this man.

  He was tucking the extra pants length over her cold feet and placing them against the heat vent. “I don’t have any spare socks, so keep these cold puppies right there. Is that coat dry enough to cover you?”

  “It’ll work.” Actually, the few minutes it had taken to change into dry clothes and the touch of his hands had definitely helped warm her blood. Her teeth were no longer chattering.

  He placed his hand at the back of her head and drew her close for a kiss that warmed her a considerable amount more. “Is that better?” he murmured against her lips.

  “Much,” she replied, kissing him again.

  He smiled as Robo barked, ending the kiss. “I’ve been needing that all day.”

  She touched his cheek. “Evidently I have too.”

  He closed her door gently, trotted around to his side, and climbed in. He diverted some of the heat to the defroster and began wiping the inside of the windshield. “I’ll get that heat back on your feet full force as soon as I can.”

  “It’s all right,” she said, loving this man for always thinking of her well-being, something she’d experienced only from Mama T, her foster mother, before meeting Cole. She shifted to sit cross-legged, tucking her feet under her before settling into the warmth of the bucket seat. “This seat warmer is already doing the trick. This is heaven.”

  “It certainly is,” he said, putting the truck in gear before reaching for her hand. “We have ten miles to go, and I have you all to myself.”

  Robo settled down in the back and went to sleep while they rode in silence, Mattie savoring the cocoon of warmth and love that Cole had spun. But then her mind went back to the dead man she’d fished out of the lake. She wouldn’t be able to push aside the memory of his cold flesh and the terrible marks on his body anytime soon. What significance did the word PAY carved on his chest have? Would it eventually give them a lead?

  How were they going to identify him and notify his family? Family notification had gained much more significance during the last few weeks since she’d found hers.

  “I’m going to have to call Julia and tell her I can’t leave for a couple of days,” she said, worried about disappointing her sister.

  “I heard you tell the sheriff.” Cole gave her a sympathetic glance. “Sorry this has come up at the last minute. But good grief, Mattie, a body in the lake? So you’re sure it wasn’t an accidental drowning?”

  Cole must not have seen the condition of the corpse before coming up the trail to find her. He’d helped the department time and again with their investigations, and at this point she felt no hesitation whatsoever in discussing the case with him. “We’re sure. He has marks on his torso that might have been made by a whip of some kind. And someone carved the word pay on his chest.”

  “Pay?” Cole frowned as he considered it. “As in payback for something?”

  “Who knows, but I think that’s probably it. For what, I have no idea.”

  Mattie thought it over for a few minutes before breaking the silence. “That guy Robo tracked down could be the man who killed him, but I don’t want to jump to any conclusions. We can’t even be certain the knife he was carrying was involved.”

  He frowned at her. She knew he worried about her more than he should, because they’d been down this road before, but at least he was holding his tongue tonight. To put his mind at ease, she told him how the guy had surrendered as soon as he spotted Robo. The tale seemed to restore some humor to his expression.

  Cole tossed her an amused smile. “It’s a little hard to believe the guy’s a vicious killer when he caved at the sight of a dog. Although I have to give Robo his due—he can look pretty scary when he wants to.”

  Mattie agreed and returned the smile, enjoying their companionship. “There’s one thing about the victim that was unusual—besides the marks, of course. His pants were denim, but they looked homemade.”

  Cole got a funny look on his face, and he shifted his attention between her and the road as he spoke. “I met a new client this morning, a woman who came in with a German shepherd.” He went on to tell Mattie about Ruth Vaughn and her children and their manner of dress. “I doubt if their clothing was store-bought. And at a farm call I made, a farrier showed up and talked about my clients’ neighbors. Said the men wore pants that looked homemade. No zippers, only buttons.”

  Mattie remembered the placket in their victim’s pants and the five navy-blue buttons sewn there, an image that gave her a much-needed spurt of adrenaline. “I think you’ve just given us a lead, Cole. The sooner we can identify this man, the faster we can gather information about him.”

  She reached for her backpack to get her phone. “I’ll text Stella tonight about it, and we can get on this early tomorrow morning. Where does this family live?”

  “I don’t have their address off the top of my head, but I can get it for you at the clinic.”

  “I’ll let her know. We’ve got to check missing person reports and do some research before we go out there to talk to them,” Mattie said, wh
ile she texted Stella.

  The streetlights of Timber Creek cast a warm glow on the horizon as they approached the town. Mattie hated for her time alone with Cole to come to an end. Cole evidently did too, because he slowed more than necessary when they reached the last curve into town.

  As they passed the lane that led to his house, Mattie thought of his kids. “How are the girls?”

  “They’re fine.”

  This time Cole didn’t look at her, which seemed unusual, since the road was straight and free of traffic. “What did they do today while you were gone?”

  “Angie spent some time with Riley, and Sophie was at home with Mrs. Gibbs.”

  Yep, he was definitely avoiding her gaze. “And how was Angie today? Is she any friendlier?”

  “We had a talk. She’s starting to come around.”

  “Did she tell you exactly what’s been bothering her?” Mattie had her suspicions that Angie was upset about Cole developing a relationship with her, and his behavior seemed to confirm that.

  “She’s having trouble with all the changes in her life. You know, the trip we took to Denver a couple weeks ago for the kids to see their mom was against her wishes, although I was proud of the way she conducted herself. Sophie is happy with the way things are going, and Angie will come around.”

  Again, no eye contact as they drove into the town limits. “She’s upset about you and me, right?”

  This time he looked at her before moving his gaze back to the road. “I think what upsets her most is change. It has nothing to do with you. She loves you.”

  Mattie knew Angie and Sophie were fond of her, but the thought of causing them discomfort made her heart ache. “Would it help for me to talk to her?”

  Cole shook his head. “Not right away. Let me see what I can do over the next few days. Maybe after your trip, we could all sit down together. We’ll see what feels right then.”

  She gazed out the window, the mellow feeling from being with Cole melting away. Falling in love with this man had been the absolute best thing that had ever happened, but she didn’t want to reach out for that blessing at the expense of his children.

  Cole extended his hand, palm up. “Don’t worry, Mattie. This will all work out. Angie cares too much about you to take a hard stand. She’s just struggling with a lot of stuff right now. We’ll be okay.”

  “Her happiness means a lot to me.”

  “I know. Me too. But you and I have a right to happiness too, and we can work this out for the best for all of us.”

  Mattie turned to him, and their gaze met for as long as it could before he focused back on his driving. He turned onto the street where she lived and pulled up to her small home, a snug one-bedroom made of adobe bricks covered with tan stucco. After turning off the engine, he drew her as close as the console between them allowed.

  His kiss was meant to reassure her, but instead it created a mixture of sadness and foreboding. Would the joy she found with this man last? Or would it be as fleeting as the other moments of happiness in her life?

  Robo awakened and popped up in back, pressing his nose between them. Cole ruffled Robo’s ears and gave Mattie one more quick kiss before opening his door to get out. “Let me help you inside.”

  Only time would give her the answers to her questions, because for now, the only thing she could imagine was to stay the course. It would take more gumption than she had in her to push this man and his kids out of her life.

  EIGHT

  Saturday Morning

  Mattie awakened to the warm, orangy glow of sunrise in her room, an infrequent phenomenon this summer. She’d worn her winter sweats to bed and cuddled under the quilt Mama T had made for her as a high school graduation gift, warming up enough to fall into a deep sleep. Though the night had been short, she’d slept without nightmares, which had dwindled during the past month.

  But as she stretched under the covers, the horrible image of the dead man filled her mind. She shook it off, threw back the covers, and reached for Robo, who’d arisen from his cushion to greet her. He placed his chin on her knee, allowing her to pet his fine head and kiss him between the ears before he whirled to run into the hallway, obviously anxious to go outside.

  She’d slept with woolen hiking socks on her feet, and she padded after him to open the door to the backyard. Though this side of her house had a western exposure, she could tell that the entire sky was awash with shades of rose and pink reflecting off the storm clouds that hung over the mountains.

  Robo ranged around the yard, which was enclosed by a seven-foot chain-link fence topped with razor wire that the county had installed to protect him. Mattie went around to the side gate to make sure the heavy-duty lock on it was secure and undamaged, and while she was there, she admired the streaks of color throughout the sky.

  The red sky might be beautiful now and the gentle sunshine welcome, but it didn’t necessarily bode well for the rest of the day.

  After letting Robo back into the kitchen, she fed him his kibble and then made herself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for breakfast. She never invested in a lot of food, relying on energy bars, peanut butter, and bread as her staples.

  Her cell phone jingled on the counter top where she’d left it. She glanced at the clock—quarter to six. Unfortunately, in her line of business, early-morning calls often brought bad news and a flurry to get to work. But not always. One person in her life called frequently this time of day. Mama T. And caller ID said her foster mom waited on the other end of the connection.

  “Good morning, Mama.”

  “Good morning, mijita.”

  Mattie never tired of the endearment. Being called my little daughter by her Mama T was one of the small pleasures in her life. “I see you’re up with the sunshine this morning.”

  Mama chuckled. “Always. Are you packed and ready to go?”

  The words reminded her of a different phone call she needed to make before going to work, the one to her sister, one that wouldn’t give her much pleasure. “I have to put my trip off for a day or two, Mama.”

  “Oh no! Why is that?” Her disappointment was palpable; Mama T had been almost as excited as Mattie for her to meet her sister and grandmother.

  “I have work that I need to do.”

  Mama scoffed. “Mijita, no work is that important. You must go today.”

  Although she didn’t want to tell Mama T the details, she shared that they had found a body in the wilderness. “Robo and I need to search for evidence, and there was too much flooding up there for us to do it yesterday. Maybe with this break in the rain, we can get it done today.”

  “I don’t like the sound of that.” And indeed, her foster mother sounded worried. “You must be careful. Don’t take any chances.”

  “I won’t, Mama. That’s why we came home last night.” Mattie didn’t add that she’d come down from the high country against her wishes. “I need to call Julia and tell her I’ll be a couple days late.”

  “Your poor abuela. She’ll be so disappointed.”

  Mattie didn’t want to make the situation into something worse than it was. “Not as long as she knows I’m still coming. I’ll be able to leave soon, Mama.”

  After talking for a few more minutes, Mattie wrapped up the conversation, ending it with a promise that she would come by before she left for California to pick up some tamales that Mama T had made for her to take with her, a gift for her new relatives. She glanced at the time, which was now six—five o’clock in California. Maybe too early, but she needed to make the call before going to work.

  She swiped to her contacts and tapped the entry for Julia. She listened to the phone ring several times and was mentally constructing a message when her sister suddenly connected the call.

  “Mattie, good morning! Are you already on the road, mi hermana?” Julia’s voice was low-pitched and rich, and like Mattie, she had no Spanish accent unless she was speaking that language. She sounded sleepy and spoke in a hushed voice.

  “I’m s
orry I woke you.”

  “I was only dozing. I woke up about a half hour ago, so excited that this day was finally here. Just a minute.” Mattie heard Julia speak quietly to her husband and then in a normal tone when she came back on the line. “There, I moved into the living room so we can talk. Jeff is going back to sleep.”

  Mattie wasn’t sure how to begin, so she decided to just say it. “Julia, I need to stay here another day or two. I’m sorry to have to wake you up with this news, but I wanted to tell you before I have to go in to work this morning.”

  “Go to work? But you have today off … your vacation starts today.”

  Mattie hated that her sister sounded upset. “I know, but we have some urgent business I have to take care of before I go.”

  “What do you mean, urgent business? What could be so urgent?”

  “We’ve had a homicide in our county, and I need to do my part of the investigation before I leave.”

  “Can’t someone else do it, Mattie? This is your vacation.”

  “Timber Creek is a very small town. Robo and I are the only ones who can do this type of work.” Mattie tried to reassure her. “I’m still going to come.”

  There was a long pause before Julia spoke. “Abuela and I were just talking last night, saying we want to come see where you live and meet your people someday soon. Maybe that time is now.”

  That took Mattie by surprise. “You’re always welcome, but that’s not necessary. At the latest, I can leave in a few days.”

  “No, we can’t take the chance. What if you still can’t leave by then?” Julia sounded adamant. “If we leave this morning, we’ll be able to see you by midday tomorrow. By the time we get there, maybe your work will be done.”

  Mattie wasn’t certain she could finish by then, and much as she wanted to see her family, she didn’t know if this was a good idea. The case would probably consume the entire weekend. She explained as much to her sister.