“Are you going to be all right on that horse going down?” Stella asked.
“I can handle it. You?”
Stella shrugged. “Piece a cake. You’ll check in at the station when you get back?”
“I’ll call on my way and stop in as soon as I get to town.”
“Good.” Stella studied her for a few beats. “Take care going through these trees when you search. Make sure someone stays with you. This place makes my skin crawl.”
Mattie nodded, glad she wasn’t the only one. “Will do.”
The party of three mounted up and left while Mattie untied her pack. Slinging it over one shoulder, she headed back toward the gravesite. Robo darted in front of her, whirling to face her and then trotting sideways.
She could deny him no longer. Setting aside her determination to get the job done, she put down her pack and removed his ball from her utility belt. Finding a relatively flat place and utilizing the space on the trail, she tossed Robo’s ball out about twenty feet. He dashed forward and pounced on it, looking ecstatic as he brought it back, clutching the neon-yellow ball between his sharp teeth.
She tried to forget the grisly reason they were here so she could give Robo his due. After all, this was his version of a coffee break.
EIGHT
Even though Mattie was an expert at hiding her feelings, Cole could still read her anxiety. She scanned the area constantly and jumped at the slightest sound. Something was bothering her. The grotesque corpse certainly qualified as enough to disturb anyone, but he could tell there was something more that had her on edge.
After Cole finished a search of the upper trail near the stream, he stood watch at the gravesite while Mattie and Brody combed the area for further evidence. They’d been at it for hours and hadn’t yet come up with anything. He glimpsed Robo running through some willows off to his left and then saw Mattie following close behind. She looked tired, her brow etched with a frown.
She wouldn’t like it, but he couldn’t help but worry about her. A few months ago, she’d withdrawn from him and his kids. He didn’t know the details, but she’d told him that she was working with a counselor on issues from her past and she needed a little space. She was a hard woman to read, and he was trying to respect her need for privacy by not pushing too hard. He didn’t want to spook her and make her shy away from him again.
Since Sophie’s kidnapping, Mattie seemed most comfortable spending time with the kids and him at their house. She accepted his casual embrace and even his kisses, but she avoided talking about their relationship. He could tell her past still haunted her.
Mattie turned away and directed Robo back out from the gravesite, with Brody trailing behind. It looked like she was making giant loops, giving her dog freedom to run and sniff wherever his nose would take him. By now they’d almost completed a circle around the gravesite, searching everyplace the rugged terrain would allow. The brook that separated the crime scene from the trail flowed toward the south, spilling over a sharp drop-off into a steep-sided canyon that defied penetration, but it appeared they were combing through the rest of the area.
Last fall, Mattie had told him that her father had been an alcoholic, and he’d frequently smacked his family around when he drank. One night the abuse had gone too far, and six-year-old Mattie had called the police. Cole winced when he imagined such a thing happening to a little kid, but he believed it said something about Mattie’s fortitude, even as a child.
Mattie’s father had been killed while serving time in prison—Cole’s vengeful side couldn’t help but rejoice a little bit about that—but she’d never heard from her mother again, and that seemed to be the root from which her pain stemmed.
Lately, her pain had become his, because he’d found himself falling in love with her, and whatever affected her affected him as well.
Cole spotted her again, approaching through the trees. This time she kept coming and made eye contact, so he put his thoughts about her past away. She gave him a shrug, telling him she’d found nothing.
Brody materialized through the thick pine soon after and followed her and Robo into the clearing. He unslung his rifle from his back and carried it in his hands the last distance.
“That was damn disappointing,” Brody said. Cole had grown used to the man cutting right to the chase, his words often sharpened with a sarcastic edge.
Mattie nodded her agreement, her face showing her fatigue. Knowing that she battled insomnia most of the time, Cole wondered if she’d been able to sleep last night. He was glad the sheriff had told her to return to town instead of spending the night with a corpse.
Cole checked the time. “It’s about four o’clock. I expect someone will be arriving with supplies soon.”
“You two might as well start back down the mountain,” Brody said. “I can take it from here.”
A shadow of concern flickered across Mattie’s face, Cole catching it before it disappeared. “I need to play with Robo again,” she said. “Even though he didn’t find anything, he still worked hard and needs his reward.”
Brody shrugged. “Do what you need to, and then you can go.”
Mattie started to leave the gravesite, but turned back to face Brody. “I think we need to do one more search between here and the stone ring of the campfire. And I want Robo to sweep the sides of the trail, just in case he can find something in the foliage.”
“Are you trying to delay so you don’t leave me here alone?” Brody asked, his brow furrowed with a scowl.
Mattie looked at him. “You wouldn’t leave me without backup.”
“I did once, remember?”
Brody must’ve been talking about last fall, when he’d left Mattie guarding a gravesite while he went down the mountain to organize an investigative team. Cole took a step back. This was between the two of them, none of his business.
“That was different. You had to,” Mattie said. “But I’ve got this strange feeling, Brody, like we’re being watched. I’m not going to leave until backup arrives.”
Brody stared at her with that measuring look he tended to give people.
Mattie turned away, leaving no space for argument. As she departed, she spoke over her shoulder. “I’m going to play with Robo, and then we’ll finish a sweep of the trail. By then, someone will have arrived with supplies.”
Brody shot a glance at Cole. “She’s always been stubborn like that,” he grumbled. “But you can’t argue with protocol, and it’s best to keep two people together if possible. We’re taking over your whole day.”
“Don’t worry about me, Ken. I’m prepared to stay up here as long as you need me.”
“Appreciate it.” Brody picked up his rifle, shouldered it, and put his eye to the scope. He raised it high and used the telescopic lens to scan the ridge and crags surrounding the area. “What do you think about eyes watching us out there?”
“Hard to say. I haven’t felt it, but I wouldn’t discount it either. It might not necessarily be a human. Maybe an animal … a cougar or another predator.”
“The more Cobb works with that dog, the more she seems to sense things. You got a set of binoculars?”
“I do. I’ll go get them.”
Cole crossed the stepping-stones and headed downhill on the trail. The horses were tethered fifty yards away and about halfway there, he found Mattie and Robo. The large dog was scampering after the tennis ball like a puppy, taking it back to Mattie with a jaunty wave of his tail.
“I’m headed to the horses to get binoculars. You want me to bring you anything?”