“Oh, and you call me superstitious?” Jenna slipped out of the truck and crunched through the snow to the gate.
He waited for Jenna to open the old steel gate and drove through. When she climbed back inside, bringing the scent of winter with her, he took off slowly along the track, winding through a dense wooded area. Mostly tall pines lined the way and the denser the forest became the less snow-crusted the trail. “Why haven’t you mentioned owning this land before now?”
“I don’t know.” Jenna shrugged. “It never came up. It’s not like I need to secure it. There’s nothing here to steal.” She looked at him. “I bet you have things you haven’t told me about either.”
Kane barked a laugh. “Too many to count. Some I’ll tell you about; some I can’t. But you know that, right?” He drove around a fallen log and moved slowly through the darkening woods. The trail seemed to close in around them, and he switched on the headlights.
“Oooooh, do tell.” Jenna waved a hand. “This place is creepy good. Tell me a secret.”
“Okay.” Kane kept the Beast moving. “Let me see… something you don’t know about me… um… I’m obsessed with new socks. I buy heaps of them. When they get those little bobbly bits on them, I throw them in the trash.”
“That’s not a secret.” Jenna peered ahead. “Give me something really juicy.”
“Oh Lord.” Kane grinned at her. “I don’t have anything that interesting in my arsenal. Ah, I speak six languages.”
“That’s not juicy.” Jenna frowned. “You know almost everything about me. This isn’t fair. You know my real name and I know for a fact you’ll never tell me yours.”
“My real name is David Kane and I have a birth certificate to prove it.” He grinned at her glare. “Okay, okay, something personal. About my family then? My grandpa made his own wine. I think that’s where my appreciation of a great wine comes from. His apparently was really good.”
“You didn’t get to taste any?” Jenna frowned. “That’s a shame.”
Kane pushed away memories of his past life. “No, I was too young to drink when he died. There may have been some left in the house. I don’t know. After my sister died, I had the place razed to the ground.”
“You burned down your grandparents’ place?” She gaped at him. “Why?”
Unable to continue, Kane shrugged. “I’ve said too much already. You know, it’s dangerous to talk about our pasts. Please, let it go, Jenna.”
“Sure.” Jenna leaned back in her chair and folded her arms over her chest with a sigh. “One thing and I won’t ask another question: You told Carter your dad was a two-star general, was that true or a lie?”
Dammit. “That guy gets under my skin sometimes, but yeah, that was the truth. I let slip a clue to my past that could get everyone I care about killed. You, Wolfe and his family, Rowley… everyone. It doesn’t take a genius to trace the families of two-stars and see who has a missing son, does it?” He stopped driving and looked at her. “I have a bounty on my head and, trust me, there are people out there who would pay a fortune to take me down.”
“I already gathered that, Dave. It seems to be par for the course when it comes to snipers of your caliber. Don’t worry, I understand the need for secrecy, and Carter is a patriot. He might be curious, but I?
?m sure you can trust him. Wolfe does and he’s never been wrong yet.” She squeezed his arm. “When we get through the woods, take a sharp left and there’ll be another gate for me to open.”
Relieved, Kane resumed the bumpy trip through the woods. The light blinded them as they came out of the darkness. He looked both ways along the highway and whistled. “I figure we should come home this way. It was slow the first time, but apart from the fallen log, it was safer than taking the highway.”
“I’ll call the mayor later and ask him to salt the road to the ranch. We might need to get to town in a hurry in an emergency.” She slid from the truck to open the gate.
Kane moved through the gate and waited for her to climb back in. He examined the blacktop. The salt spreader had layered the highway, and the snow was melting on contact. “It looks like we’re good to go. If it’s as good as this all the way to the ski resort, we’ll be there in no time.”
“I just hope driving through the cursed woods back there hasn’t changed our luck.” Jenna frowned. “All we need is a murder to start the week.”
Three
The drive to the ski resort was uneventful, although as they climbed higher up the mountain, the majestic vista was a sight to behold. The deadly yet beautiful snowscape changed the familiar views into a different world, making landmarks hard to detect. Even from this great height, Jenna could see just how many roads the recent heavy snowfalls had blocked. Rows of houses had vanished into the snow and the only clue they existed came from the woodsmoke streaming out of the chimneys. In the distance she made out snowplows, blowing small streams of exhaust into the air as they cut their way through the endless white, leaving a blackened path behind them. Reluctantly, Jenna dragged her attention back to the road. As promised, snowplows had cleared the highway all the way to the top of the mountain. The blacktop glistened with the recent application of salt, and as they turned into the resort entrance, they passed a snowplow heading back down the mountain. Jenna turned to Kane. “Will Duke be okay? It’s freezing out there and the chill factor with the added wind will be way too cold for him. He’ll get frostbite.”
“He’s wearing his coat. If he gets too cold, he’ll let me know.” Kane tugged down double woolen caps over his ears and pulled up his hood. “I don’t like it this cold either. The headaches from the metal plate in my head are still causing me problems.”
It hadn’t been easy for Kane. He’d ended up with a metal plate in his head courtesy of a car bombing that killed his wife. Jenna glanced at him. The last thing he appreciated was her worrying about him, so she just nodded, tucked her hair into her hood, and opened the door. “Okay let’s do this.” She jumped down, slipped her backpack over one shoulder, and bending her head against the blinding snow, slipped and slid her way from the parking lot to the main entrance. She couldn’t resist turning round to Kane and inhaling the crisp clean pine-scented air. “It smells so good up here. We must get a few days skiing in after the convention. Maybe we can see if they have rooms available.”
“Hush, don’t tempt fate.” Kane’s sunglasses reflected her image. “Before we make plans, let’s see what’s going on here first.”
As Jenna headed through the double doors and made her way to the front desk, she couldn’t help noticing the attention she and Kane were getting from the guests. It wasn’t the usual worried glances. People poked each other in the ribs and pointed as if they’d just witnessed an alien encounter. She leaned on the desk and a young woman dressed in a warm uniform grinned at her. “Our guests will be so glad to see you. They’ve asked about you and Aunt Betty’s Café since they arrived for the convention.”
Beside her, Kane chuckled and Jenna rolled her eyes at him before returning her attention to the woman. “I hope you didn’t drag us up here just to parade us in front of your guests?”
“Oh no, of course not, but the author of the Black Rock Falls series gave a reading last night and it was very popular. I was on duty until late and the place was still buzzing with excitement.” The receptionist glanced at Kane, and when he raised both eyebrows at her, she blushed and turned to Jenna. “We called because Agnes, one of the room service staff, delivered breakfast to Miss Storm out at one of our chalets. On her way back past the pond beside the cabin, she claims to have seen a shoe in the water. Our manager, Joe Brightway, went to take a look but couldn’t see anything. Then we received a call from the convention organizers. They’ve been calling Miss Storm since early, to finalize her list of author interviews this morning, but she hasn’t picked up or returned their messages. Mr. Brightway went to check on her and found her room empty. She is nowhere on the premises as far as we can tell.” She blinked at Jenna. “Mr. Brightway said I was to send you right in when you arrived. His office is just over there.” She pointed across the foyer.