Avalanche Of Trouble

“Then you would have a fight on your hands,” she said. “And when it comes to people I love, I’m not afraid to fight dirty.”

“The scary thing about that,” Gage said, “is that I absolutely believe you.”

“Why is that scary?”

“Let’s just say, I never met a teacher like you. I’m still making up my mind whether I like that or not.”

“You don’t have to like it. Just don’t stand in the way of me taking care of my niece.”

“I won’t stand in your way,” he said. “Unless you’re in mine. But I think we’re on the same side in this matter. Just respect that I have a job to do. I want to find your niece as much as you do, but I also need to find your sister’s killer. I think we can do both.”

“Are you going to take me with you this morning or not?”

She waited a long, tense moment for him to answer. If she had to, she would go to his brother, the sheriff. Or she would get the press on her side—there was bound to be a reporter at the site, surely.

“All right, you can come with me,” he said. “But if I sense anything dangerous, I’m taking you right back to camp—no arguments.”

“All right.” That would have to do—for now. Maya had meant it when she told Gage she would do anything to protect her niece. Anything at all.

Chapter Five (#u0142938a-4ece-51c9-bc9b-d2cb412a5857)

Gage wasn’t used to people pushing back against decisions he made as an officer of the law, and his first instinct with Maya had been to shut her down. But he had heard the determination in her voice and seen the grief in her eyes, and recognized a fight he couldn’t win. He didn’t really expect to run into any danger on Henry Hake’s land, and if they did, he was confident he could protect them both.

He parked behind Travis’s SUV and the sheriff walked out to meet them. “The first group of searchers just went out,” he reported. “Lorna has her dog with her, and a couple of other people say they know a little sign language, so if they see Casey, they can try to communicate with her.”

“Thank you,” Maya said. She looked pale in the early morning light, and Gage read the disappointment in her eyes. She had been hoping for word of her niece when they arrived—she wanted to hear that the little girl had already been found.

Gage put a hand on her shoulder. “Wait over by the fire for me. I need to talk to the sheriff for a minute.”

She nodded and moved toward the fire, a sad but determined woman. Gage didn’t know if he would be as strong if he were in her position.

“What did you find out at the high school?” Travis asked, bringing Gage’s attention back to work.

“I talked to the head coach. He says they’re missing three gym mats, a climbing rope and some weights.”

Travis’s brow furrowed. “Nothing anyone could really sell, and I don’t see how any of those things could be used to manufacture drugs.”

“Right,” Gage said. “So maybe it’s just kids?”

“Maybe,” Travis said. “Though when kids vandalize a school, they do it to make a mess—graffiti, tearing things up. This doesn’t feel like that.”

“Yeah,” Gage agreed. “It feels like someone went in there looking for some specific items, grabbed them and got out.”

“More than one person, probably,” Travis said. “That’s a lot to carry. Those mats are bulky and the weights are heavy.”

“The mats are bright blue,” Gage said. “We’ll keep our eyes open around town—maybe we’ll spot them.”

“In the meantime, we’ll put extra patrols around the school,” Travis said.

“I want to take a look on Henry Hake’s property this morning,” Gage said. “It’s close enough Casey might have wandered over there. She might be hiding out in one of the buildings.”

“It’s a long way for a kid that little to walk,” Travis said.

“Only about a mile cross-country,” Gage said. “That little boy who was lost last year was over three miles away from the place his folks had last seen him.”

“Give it a go then. Has the mayor talked to you yet?”

Gage frowned. “He stopped me last night, blathering something about the press and the town looking bad.”

Travis nodded. “He called me first thing this morning. He’s worried Eagle Mountain is getting a reputation as an unsafe town.”

“What did you tell him?”

“I told him we were doing our best to find the person responsible for these murders and I didn’t think anyone else was in danger.”

“What did he expect?” Gage asked. “That you could wave a magic wand and make all the bad things disappear?”

“He’s just doing his job, looking out for the town’s reputation,” Travis said.

“Then he needs to leave us alone to do our jobs.”

“If he bothers you again, send him to me,” Travis said. “Do you have anything new on this case?”

“Paige told me she was up here with members of her environmental group two days ago and she saw the Hoods unloading their car,” Gage said. “The group had heard a report that the public trail that runs alongside Hake’s property had been blocked and they came to check it out. Paige said someone had put up a gate and the addition was recent. You haven’t heard anything about any new activity at the resort, have you?”

“No,” Travis said. “Henry Hake is still missing, and as far as I know, the injunction against his development is still in effect.”

“I’ll check it out. I’m taking Maya with me.” Gage didn’t mention she had insisted on coming with him.

“I got a preliminary report this morning on the Hood murders,” Travis said. “They were both shot with a nine millimeter. Close range, one bullet each. Killer took the spent shells with him.”

“So they weren’t killed during a struggle,” Gage said.

“I don’t think they had a chance. I think they were jumped, tied up and shot. Two, but I’m guessing three people to do the job.”

“And where was the little girl while all this was going on?” Gage asked.

“The coroner puts the time of death around 9:00 p.m., so maybe she was in the tent, asleep.”

“The killers would have gone in looking for her.”

“Not if they didn’t know she existed. Or maybe she woke up when her parents were attacked and crawled out of the tent and ran.”

“Tents don’t have back doors,” Gage pointed out.

“No, but this one had a good-sized tear in the back window screen. A frightened little kid could have gotten out that way.”

“And the killers didn’t hear her?”