Had he really once just jogged through the mountains without a single problem? Because he had to stop and take a long breath.
He needed to get back into shape. He was perfectly healthy. He jogged five miles every single day, but it was on a treadmill. The mountains were different. The mountains didn’t care that he could run like a mouse on a wheel.
Mel stopped. “I can see the place from here.”
Logan picked up the small binoculars he was wearing around his neck. “Yeah. This might be the right spot. I can definitely see the window from here. Nate, can you see me?”
He was talking on the walkie-talkie. The sheriff was watching out of the bedroom Logan had used last night.
Nate’s reply came over the radio. “I don’t see anything, man. Are you sure you’re not a little bit paranoid?”
Mel shook his head, giving Logan a pat on the shoulder. “Don’t let them tell you that, son. You’re only paranoid if they aren’t really all out to get you, and we know they are.”
Seth looked down and there was a line of tracks. Athletic shoes like the one on the porch. “I think this is the spot. Look.”
Logan looked down. “Damn. Tell me that’s not the same shape as the one on our porch.”
“Aliens don’t wear sneakers,” Mel explained. “Unless they’re possessing human bodies. I’ve heard that’s been happening a lot lately. I’m not so sure about Doc. I think they might have taken him over. I’ve heard it makes a person grumpy, having two people in one body.”
From what Seth had heard, Doc Burke didn’t need an alien possession to be grumpy. He did just fine on his own. “Give me the binoculars. I want to try something.”
Logan was taking a look around the area. He passed the binoculars before kneeling down. “Fucker smokes. I see two butts here. He hiked in from the road and was here for at least thirty minutes, unless he smokes really fast. These are down to the filter.”
Seth looked through the binoculars. He had to adjust them, but he could plainly see the cabin in all its glory. It rose from the lush riverfront. It was everything he’d dreamed of when he was a kid, right down to the woman who was living there. Before he’d gone into town with Logan, he’d moved all of Georgia’s things into the master bedroom. She was right where she should be, and the idea of someone watching them had Seth’s heart racing.
“Do you see any other tracks, Mel?” Logan asked. “It looks like he hiked back out the same way he came in.”
Seth could hear them moving around behind him, searching for clues, but he was focused on what this guy had been looking for. From this vantage point, he couldn’t see into the master, but he could see the room Logan had taken over. He couldn’t see inside. Perhaps at night he would be able to, but Logan said the man had been watching them this morning.
Seth turned the glasses slightly, and Henry walked across the lawn, moving from his small cabin to Seth’s.
The walkie-talkie squawked and the sheriff’s voice came over the radio. “There it was. I can see it. Wherever you have the binoculars pointed right now is where this guy was looking. ”
Logan started talking to Nate, but all Seth could see was Henry making his way across the lawn, the way he likely did ten times a day.
Was the person who stood here earlier watching the house or was he watching Henry?
Either way, Seth had to find out.
Chapter Twelve
Logan looked up from his desk. The day seemed to drag on though he’d only been at the office for the last two hours. Somehow time seemed to have slowed to a near stop. Logan had to admit to himself that he enjoyed certain parts of the job. He really did enjoy helping people, but the rest of it kind of sucked. How had he ever thought he would be able to work here for the rest of his life?
But he was starting to think he couldn’t just work the dungeon at The Club forever either.
There was always school. He would be an older freshman, but it wasn’t like he was an old dude or anything. There was the small problem of money, though.
Gemma stood up, slinging her enormous leather bag over her shoulder. “It’s noon. I’m heading to lunch. Can I bring something back from Stella’s for you? Cade is already there. He called to let me know that today is soufflé day. Apparently Hal is on a rampage and everyone has to be super quiet. They’ve made it into a game.”
Logan shook his head. He wasn’t hungry. He hadn’t been all day. He was stuck and couldn’t figure out how to fucking move. Since he’d returned home, it felt like a hundred paths had been laid out for him, and he couldn’t take a single step down any of them. “Nah. I got a sandwich in the fridge.”
Gemma’s perfectly plucked brows formed a V. “Really? I didn’t take you to be the kind of guy who made his own lunch. You seem like a grab-a-burger guy.”
He had been. Except Georgia had made him a sandwich on his way out. Ham and Swiss with hot mustard and one tomato, and absolutely no disgusting lettuce. Just like he liked it. He’d seen her talking to his ma as she put the sandwich in a bag along with some chips and the cookies that had been miraculously saved. He said miraculously because he’d actually tried one and, holy shit, they were fantastic. But he wasn’t about to tell Gemma Wells that his almost sub had taken the time to make his lunch and send him on his way with a thermos of coffee and a kiss on the cheek he’d pretended didn’t mean anything. “I’m trying to cut back on the burgers.”
“You know the sandwich would keep,” Gemma pointed out. “Come on. Come meet my guys. They’re curious about you. You’re kind of a legend around these parts, as the locals would say.”
Yes, he was a legend for getting his ass kicked and hard. “You go on and have fun. I’m going to keep watch here. Nate is dealing with a problem at the art gallery. Apparently Max and Rachel got into something on Main Street and then took it inside, and now they’re locked in a closet. Nate’s waiting on a locksmith, but Max keeps screaming something about how nice Rachel’s new shoes are. It’s a typical Bliss cluster fuck. Literally. I’ll stay here. I don’t want us to be shorthanded.”
Gemma frowned. “Come on, Logan. What’s going to happen if you step away for lunch?”
Alien invasion? Bigfoot sighting? Assassins. Hell, they had it all in Bliss. He sent Gemma a pointed look.
She shrugged. “Fine. I’ll be back in an hour or two.”
She swept out of the room, and Logan was left alone thinking about what his momma had said this morning. The thought of Marie Warner having problems with her heart damn near brought him to his knees. She was so strong, so solid. He’d thrown his father out there as a way of getting her off the scent. The truth was he didn’t much think about the man who had donated half of his DNA. Momma Marie had been the one to throw baseballs with him. She’d been the one to teach him to fish and how to haul himself up and keep trying when he fell off a horse. He didn’t need a man to have a father. He’d had two loving parents, and they had been enough.
He was the problem. He wasn’t really trying. She’d been right about that. He’d found a safe place where he didn’t ache all the time and he was willing to stay right there. Georgia was forcing him to want more.
It wasn’t just Georgia. Hell, Seth was making him want more. That little kid he’d thought had died so long ago was making a return appearance, poking out like a turtle popping its head out of his shell. He’d reached for those dumb comic books not fifteen minutes ago, just out of curiosity at first, and then he’d started rereading the story and it was only Gemma walking in from the break room that made him shove that shit aside.
Being home after months of therapy with Leo was doing very bad things to his defenses.