Sighing, Jenna smiled at his concern. Over Halloween, Jenna had been alone when an intruder trashed her ranch house. “No, I’m good, but I was a bit jumpy living here alone. I’m fine now Dave is staying with me.”
“That’s good to know.” Carter cleared his throat. “Ah… Jo sends her love and is begging you to call us if you, and I quote, ‘Get anything juicy.’” Carter chuckled. “We’re running out of things to do. Jo’s writing a book and I’m whittling.”
“Really? Is she writing about criminal behavior?” Jenna collected her things and headed for the front door.
“What else?” Carter laughed. “Okay, I’d better let you go. Chat soon.”
“Bye.” Jenna disconnected and pulled on her hat and gloves. She looked at Kane. “Ready?”
“Yeah, as soon as I’ve put Duke’s coat on. Come here, boy.” Kane bent to secure the coat and stood. “Let’s go.”
Jenna stepped out into the cold and surveyed the pure-white landscape. It sure was pretty in winter. It was a shame the deep snowfalls and ice became treacherous. The tall mountain peaks and frosted pines held a deadly deception. The sudden drop in temperature could cause massive tree limbs to shatter, blocking roads and causing damage to houses. The sidewalk or blacktop could freeze in
seconds and just making it to the curb to put out your trash could be deadly. As she climbed into the Beast her phone chimed again. She stared at the caller ID. “Hi Jake, what’s up?”
“Probably nothing.” Deputy Jake Rowley sounded exhausted. “I just had a call from the ski resort. Apparently one of the room service people found a guest missing and thinks she saw a shoe floating in the fishing hole near one of the cabins. I can’t get much from the manager. He said he went and had a look, but the fishing hole is frozen over and covered with snow. They’re looking for the guest. That’s all the details I have.”
Jenna leaned back in the seat and thought for a beat. “We’ll go up and take a look. Are you okay running the office with Rio until we get back?”
“Sure.” Rowley yawned. “Sorry, I had a long night. I took Sandy to the hospital but it ended up to be a false alarm. I dropped her at her parents’ house. It’s closer to the hospital and her mom will keep an eye on her today.”
Rowley’s wife was expecting twins at the end of the month, but they’d all laid bets that the babies would arrive early. Jenna nodded to herself. “Well, if you need a couple of hours shut-eye, leave Rio in charge and head down to the cells. It’s nice and warm in there. I’d rather have you alert than exhausted from lack of sleep. I’ll wake you when we get back, if need be.”
“Thank you. That’s a very tempting offer.” Rowley gave a raspy cough. “I’ll have some coffee and I’ll be okay for a time. Are you dropping by the office first?”
Jenna checked the time. “No, we’ll head straight to the ski resort. Catch you later.” She disconnected and rolled her eyes at Kane. “Let’s hope this isn’t anything to worry about.”
“It’s a ski resort. The guest is probably in someone else’s room.” Kane shrugged. “Or she’s fallen into a snowdrift and is a Popsicle. Worse case, she’s been murdered.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her. “The cold weather doesn’t seem to slow down killers around here.”
“That would complicate things.” Jenna blew out a steamy sigh. “I just wanted one hour to have some fun, one itsy-bitsy little hour. Trust me, one more murder in the dead of winter and I’m moving to Hawaii.”
Two
The dark clouds surrounding Black Rock Falls had dropped so low in the last hour they appeared to have cut the mountain range in half. They carried the gray ominous hue that meant more heavy snowfalls and blizzards would soon be making life difficult. Snowflakes built up on the wipers as Kane negotiated the driveway. He pushed on his sunglasses to view the blinding-white vista spreading in all directions. The road ahead was deceptively dangerous and, although he’d equipped his truck with snow tires and had the snowplow attachment fitted, the drive to town would be slow. Due to the sudden drop in temperature, the carpet of white hid a deadly layer of black ice on the blacktop, and unless the salt spreaders had followed the snowplow earlier, the road up the mountain would take some negotiating. The Beast could handle just about any conditions, but if he made one wrong move, it would slide around on the treacherous black ice the same as every other vehicle.
“It’s fate, isn’t it?” Jenna turned in her seat to look at him. “You know, us wanting to go to the ski resort and we get a call about something suspicious out there.”
Dave scanned the blacktop ahead, noting the damp patches. They couldn’t be water, not in temperatures this low. “Maybe. Hang on, I’m going off-road.” He eased the Beast over the dirty gray mound left by the snowplow and onto the snow-covered grassy verge alongside the highway. “The truck can handle the drifts, but I don’t like the look of the ice. It might be a bumpy ride, but as long as we don’t run into an open gate or fence, we should be fine.”
“Then why don’t you take the pastoral trails?” Jenna gripped the seat. “They go through the woods from the end of my ranch and come back around to the highway about half a mile closer to town. There’s a chance the snow won’t be deep there. The trees will have given the trail shelter. It’s worth the chance.”
Unsure, Kane glanced at her. “I’ve only been along that trail once in all the time I’ve been here, when we were searching for a killer. We’ve no idea what condition it’s in. No one has used it for years.”
“We should try. I know the Beast can handle an overgrown track and it’s wide.” Jenna chuckled. “Let’s live on the edge, Dave. It will be exciting.”
He shrugged at her enthusiastic expression. “Okay. I guess we do have a snowplow with us if we get into trouble.”
“See the gate about twenty yards on the right?” Jenna pointed ahead. “Let me out and I’ll open it.”
Dave puffed out a sigh. “It’s not posted, is it? I don’t want the owner taking potshots at us for trespassing.”
“Don’t worry.” Jenna chuckled. “I won’t shoot you.” She grinned at him. “I purchased this parcel of land when the Old Mitcham Ranch was split up. Nobody wanted it because they believed it was cursed. As it borders my ranch, I bought it. It’s over one hundred acres of natural woodlands. How can something so beautiful be cursed?”
For someone so superstitious, Jenna’s enthusiasm surprised Kane. He raised an eyebrow and pulled up in front of the gate. “We haven’t been that lucky, Jenna. Just how long have you owned this land?”
“Oh, I got it just before you arrived.” Jenna frowned. “It actually cost me one dollar. It had to be sold, not given. I went to the auction just to see who my new neighbor was going to be. I didn’t intend on buying anything.”
Trying hard not to grin, Kane shook his head slowly. “Not cursed, huh?” He met her gaze. “I thought bad luck had followed me here and now I discover it was just sitting here waiting for me to arrive.”