Buried

FOUR

He survived.

Everything tilted. Leah gripped the seat, unsure if Cade’s unwitting confirmation that Snyder had been the “witness” had sent her world spinning or if the helicopter had simply angled sharply.

Or did he have a coconspirator? She doubted that, whatever he was up to, he was working alone. It seemed too hard to pull off a cover-up as a detective without someone else watching your back. But that remained for her to investigate. Before today, she had seen no one else at the cabin. No one other than Snyder had pursued her. Unless there’d been someone else dressed exactly the same that happened to be in a position to witness the avalanche and make the call. That would be far too coincidental.

Pulse throbbing in her neck, Leah looked out the window and away from Cade. He was too perceptive and would see her distress. She’d held on to a sliver of hope that Snyder had been buried in the avalanche today. That would have at least bought her time to investigate, discover why Tim had been murdered and who else, if anyone, was involved, before she went to the authorities—the ones she could trust, anyway.

But now...she’d have to keep running for her life. Her nightmare wasn’t over, not by a long shot, and she doubted Snyder would give her much time before his next attack.

Images of him killing Tim in cold blood flashed through her thoughts. His words resounded in her head. “Give me what I want, Leah.”

He’d called for a rescue team. That he needed her alive was obvious. She’d thought he only wanted to kill her because she’d witnessed Tim’s murder, but his words on the mountain told a much different story.

No. He needed something from her first and then he’d kill her. An image of his knife flashed in her mind. Leah shuddered.

“Are you okay?” Cade asked.

What should she tell him? What explanation could she possibly give? The truth wasn’t an option.

“Leah, is everything all right?” he asked again.

Leah rubbed her arms. “I’m fine.” The events of the past few hours played through her thoughts, images of her icy tomb wrapping around her once again.

She’d come here to hide, to stay alive, to investigate Tim’s murder from a safe distance. But now she had to add one more thing to that list: finding out what Snyder wanted from her.

Thankfully, Cade seemed to sense her need to process everything because he didn’t ask more questions. The helicopter landed and Cade assisted her onto the pavement of the parking area swarming with emergency vehicles with flashing lights.

A rescue worker approached Cade. “A storm’s moving in.”

Cade frowned, eyeing Leah. “They’re giving up the search for the other victim then?”

“The incident commander suspended the search. He’ll reevaluate at first light,” the guy said, then left Cade alone with Leah.

“There’s no point in risking more lives.” Cade’s intense gaze studied Leah. “Unless they found something to indicate they were close to finding him. Skies, gloves or poles. Something like that.”

Her throat constricted. Shouldn’t she tell him that there wasn’t another victim? Except, what if she was wrong? What if Snyder had been buried in the avalanche? The witness had said there were two people who had gone down in the avalanche. If Snyder had survived and made that call, then why would he lie about the number of people needing rescue?

To throw her off? Maybe he believed that if she thought he was dead, she’d let down her guard so he’d have the advantage again. Leah wrapped her arms around herself, wishing she could tell Cade everything. But it wouldn’t help—they would still need to search for another possible victim if there was any chance someone was still trapped out there. Besides, she couldn’t tell anyone about her predicament. Not until she knew who she could trust.

Dropping her hands, she eyed the man who had pulled her out of the snow. He hovered over her as though he was afraid to let her out of his sight.

She didn’t need some overprotective rescuer getting involved in her life, putting himself in danger for her any more than he already had.

She needed to find a way to get her things from the cabin and get out. But as Cade had pointed out, she didn’t have her vehicle. It was parked in the shed at the cabin along with a snowmobile. Besides, the road would be treacherous and maybe unnavigable in the dark with the storm moving in.

At least Tim had paid some guy to keep the drive to the cabin plowed. There was only one way in and one way out and considering she had a killer after her, she liked it that way. But now that her hiding place had been discovered, she couldn’t afford to stay there.

“If you’re still willing to give me a ride back to the cabin, I could use that.”

He nodded, as if he’d only been waiting for her to see the obvious. “I know the road well. I can get you there.”

“I appreciate your help.” She hung her head. “I hope it’s not too much trouble.”

“I like to finish the job. Make sure you’re safe and secure, tucked away at home. The only problem is that with the storm coming in, I don’t know if that cabin is fully secure. You sure it’s a safe place to stay?” He lifted a brow.

No. But not for the reasons he might think. She held her hand to her forehead. “Look, I’m tired. I need to get back.” She wouldn’t call it home. Leah couldn’t return to her real home—a small apartment a few miles from Tim’s office. But one thing at a time. One day at a time. She had to survive this night first.

“Okay, then.” He watched her for a few seconds longer than necessary. What was he thinking? Then he turned his attention to finding a ride. He spoke with a police officer, and Leah stiffened. She turned away, concealing her shudder. Snyder had driven home her reasons to fear people who were sworn to protect. But then, her past had already done that for her. She’d watched helplessly from the sidelines as people sworn to protect had put an innocent woman in prison. Put her mother in prison.

Someone agreed to transport Cade and Leah to Cade’s vehicle. From there, he could take her to the cabin. She climbed into the backseat of the sedan, while Cade sat in the passenger seat. He and his buddy spent the drive talking about the avalanche. They didn’t engage her in their conversation, which was just as well. But she knew that wouldn’t last. Cade was all too clearly the inquisitive type. She couldn’t really hold it against him—she was the same way. It was one small part of why she’d become an investigator. But any digging that Cade did into her situation was only going to cause trouble for them both.

Once Cade got her alone, she had a feeling his interrogation would start. He was perceptive, and she’d read in his eyes that he had questions. She wasn’t sure how to evade them, but she had to try. She hadn’t done a good job of hiding her emotions, but maybe she could convince him that her state of mind was all due to the avalanche. Involving someone else in her dilemma, possibly putting them in danger, wasn’t something she would willingly do.

Leaning her head against the headrest, she closed her eyes. This brief respite, this was the first time in hours she could shut off what was going on around her, if only for a few moments, as Cade and his friend talked about the approaching storm. Another one. She thought that southeast Alaska, with the temperate rainforest, was supposed to be milder than interior Alaska. Maybe it was—but it sure didn’t seem that way to her.

Ignoring the words, she let Cade’s smooth voice wrap around her again, reminding her of when he’d spoken reassuringly to her as he’d dug her out. She couldn’t ignore that the whole rescue-hero thing was more than attractive. Add to that, the guy seemed so selfless. His concern for her, when he had no reason to care about her at all, was disconcerting. So unlike any of the men she’d known. But there had to be some reason she couldn’t trust him. Even if she didn’t know it yet, she’d find it. Men couldn’t be trusted—her boss and trusted hero Detective Nick Snyder were prime examples. This Cade guy had a secret, a side to him he kept well hidden.

Everyone did.

They arrived at the avalanche center, which shared space with other businesses in a five-story building along the main thoroughfare in Mountain Cove. Cade and Leah got out, and Cade thanked the guy for the ride before leading Leah to his vehicle.

It was only four-thirty in the afternoon in February, and the sun was already setting. She’d only had three days at the cabin, but had learned quickly how limited the daylight hours were in the dead of winter. Parking lot lights illuminated Cade’s big blue truck sitting at the side of the building along with other vehicles. But his was the only vehicle with a plow attached to the front.

She glanced at him and he shot her a grin. “I live up a long drive. It’s a little higher elevation than the town, and snows a lot more.”

Leah couldn’t help herself. She smiled back, the first genuine smile to cross her face in days. But she couldn’t let herself get too comfortable with him. She needed to vanish. Once he took her to the cabin, she could pack her stuff and leave.

Disappear.

If only there was another place on earth farther away than a lone, off-grid cabin in Alaska.

* * *

Sitting in the warm cab of his truck, Cade glanced at his passenger. He hated the awkward silence, but what had he expected?

Snow filled his headlights as he drove away from Mountain Cove on the one road out of town. The only problem was that the thirty-mile road didn’t go anywhere. Just came to an abrupt end. To say the town was isolated was an understatement, but this was southeast Alaska where “remote” took on a whole new meaning. The only way in and out of Mountain Cove was by boat, floatplane or helicopter.

At least Cade could get to the road to Devon’s cabin this way. Accessing most off-grid cabins required serious trekking by snowshoeing, skiing or snowmobiling for miles.

Up in the mountains, sometimes even the cabins got buried in the snow. That’s why uncertainty about Leah’s stay in the place gnawed at him. Devon had known how to dig himself out of the snow up there, but Leah looked like anything but a mountain girl.

It didn’t help that his protective instincts had kicked up a few notches after he’d pulled her from the snow, and they hadn’t shut down. No. In fact, if anything, the thought of her staying in that cabin in the heart of avalanche country—especially with another storm rolling in—put his protective instincts on high alert.

He reminded himself he didn’t know enough about her to make that kind of judgment call. She might be completely capable of handling a stay at the cabin during a harsh winter—and this one was certainly looking that way.

“You warm enough?” he asked. “Need more heat?”

“No, I’m good. Thanks.”

That was all she said. His neck tensed. How did he get her talking? He wanted her to open up for a lot of reasons. For one, he wanted to know what she’d been doing out there today. She’d almost died. The panic and fear he’d seen in her eyes was because she’d been shell-shocked from having barely survived an avalanche. But the natural disaster didn’t explain all of her reactions. When she’d asked about the witness, and he’d told her, she’d all but freaked out. He’d seen her eyes before she’d turned her face from him in an attempt to hide her reaction.

What was that about? Cade couldn’t shake the sense that she knew something vital she had no intention of sharing.

He pursed his lips and watched the road, the glow of the dash lights contrasting to the darkness outside. He had to be honest with himself. Sure, he wanted to help her, but he also wanted to know whatever Leah could tell him about Devon Hemphill and why she was in his cabin.

More than anything, he wanted answers to the story behind his father’s quarrel with the man. He wanted answers to explain the reasons behind his father’s tragic death. Those were answers he doubted he’d ever get. But he had to try. Leah might know something. She might be able to give him a clue.

When Cade finally made the turnoff to the cabin, he was surprised to see the drive had recently been plowed, but snow was already piling up again. He glanced at Leah. Maybe she was more capable than he’d given her credit for. Still the new snowfall would make the drive long and tedious.

He stopped.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Have to engage the plow.” He climbed out, lowered the blade and then got back in the truck, Leah watching him.

“So, I knew the guy who used to own the cabin where you’re staying. Devon Hemphill. You related to him or something?”

Leah stiffened and grabbed the armrest. Whether from the question or the slipperiness of the road, he couldn’t tell.

“A friend inherited the place. They are letting me stay for a little while.”

Cade glanced over again. A friend, huh? She conveniently left off if the friend was male or female. Not that it mattered to him. All he cared about was finding answers to his questions and making sure she was safe. He had a feeling, a very strong feeling, her life was in need of rescuing again. Cade scraped a hand down his face—was he even up to that task?

More importantly, did it matter if he wasn’t up to it? He couldn’t abandon someone who needed help. He just wished she’d tell him what was going on. Maybe if he gave up something private and personal, she would, too. Reach out to her and then she’d reach back. He could pull her the rest of the way.

What are you doing?

“Devon Hemphill and my father knew each other well.” Maybe a little too well. “They had an ongoing disagreement about something. I never could figure out what. It seemed to escalate as the years went by.”

He’d tried to ask about it so many times but all his father would tell him was to mind his own business. Completely out of character, considering Cade and his father were close. So Cade had tried to learn more by digging for answers in other ways, but none of them had panned out. “My father and I argued about that the day he died.”

“I’m sorry,” she said.

He waited, hoping for more.

“I didn’t get the chance to say anything else to him before he got the call for a search and rescue. Didn’t get the chance to say I was sorry.”

He kept his eyes on the road, reliving that day. In his peripheral vision he saw Leah watching him, waiting for the rest of the story. He wasn’t sure he could keep going, especially with a perfect stranger. But maybe that was exactly the person he could tell, say it out loud to. Face his battles head-on.

“The stranded person was Devon.”

Leah gave a slight gasp. “What happened?”

“I never saw my father alive again. Devon walked away and my father died during the rescue mission to save that man. A man he detested. I still don’t understood why.” Cade blinked back the memory of pulling his father’s body from the avalanche and pushed the rising anger down. “My father liked everyone, and was liked by everyone. Except Devon.”

He felt as though he’d said too much. But maybe in the telling he could stir things up and get information. “I never got an answer from Devon about what had happened between them, and then he died, leaving me with nothing but questions.”

“Now here I am, staying in his home,” she said.

Cade didn’t reply. It was her turn to talk.

When the truck’s high beams illuminated Devon’s cabin in the distance, Cade thought he saw someone in the trees behind the pile of old tires and barrels of diesel for the generator. Had to be the shadows dancing off his lights. Who would be out here at this hour in the middle of nowhere, especially with a storm moving in? Unless Leah wasn’t alone in the cabin. But that couldn’t be the case, could it? She’d told him there was no one he could call.

Stopping the truck at the end of the drive, he shifted into Park but left the motor idling. A soft glow emanated from one of the cabin windows. At least she wouldn’t have to enter a completely dark house, although she’d have to hike the final twenty-five yards. He couldn’t get the truck between those trees.

“And here we are at Devon’s once-empty cabin, now your vacation home away from home.” He repeated what she’d said earlier, thinking that might ignite more conversation on the topic. He hid a wince at the sound of his own gruff tone, which had been way more accusatory than he’d intended.

“Look, I didn’t happen upon the cabin and find it empty and decide to stay.”

Yeah, she’d heard it in his voice, too. “I didn’t mean to insinuate otherwise.” He blew out a breath, hoping she understood. “Thinking about everything that happened frustrates me in ways you can’t understand.”

“You’re wrong. I do understand. You blame yourself for your father’s death. You think you should have been with him that day.”

Cade nodded, surprised at her words. “If I had been, maybe he would still be alive.”

“Or maybe you would have died instead.” She stared at her hands in her lap. “I know how you feel. I have my own regrets. Things I wish I had done differently. But we can’t change the past.”

“No, we can’t.”

“I can’t help you find the answers, Cade, if that’s what you’re thinking. My friend who inherited the place never said anything about the man who used to live here. I’m sure he...doesn’t know. But I’m sorry you lost your father. I’m sure he was very proud to have a son like you.”

Her words were clearly meant to heal and reassure, but instead they scraped across his wound.

“I don’t know.”

Cade strived to live up to the kind of man his father was, but always felt as if he fell short. An awkward silence filled the cab again. He’d gotten too personal.

She clutched the door handle, glancing back at Cade. “Thank you for saving me today and for bringing me here.”

“Wait,” he said. “Are you sure you should stay here by yourself after the rough day you’ve had? Especially with the storm coming?”

“I’ll be fine, I promise.” Something contrary to her words flashed in her eyes.

Cade was skeptical, but what could he do? “I’ll come in and get the fire stoked.”

He shoved on his door and the cold air blasted into the cab of the truck, swirling icy snowflakes around them.

“No,” she said, the force of her words meant to convince. “No, Cade. Please, go home. You’ve done enough.”

Cade nodded reluctantly, recognizing when he’d been dismissed. He shut the door as she opened hers and stepped out.

Headlights illuminated the cabin while he continued to wait, thinking he’d watch her go safely inside. For the longest time, he’d been about saving people. She might have sent him away, but the anxiety lurking in the shadows of her blue-greens said she still needed his help.

How could he turn his head now? As long as he could keep his heart in a safe place.

Out of danger.

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