“That is true,” she agrees. “While you’ll take your clothes off quite easily.”
She’s talking about us, I know this, but I regret telling her that I bedhopped while we were broken up. Not that it was like I cheated. I thought she was done with me. But I don’t know that she needed to know. Seems I just keep finding the sludge to muck about in.
“Only if you say please, baby,” I tease, grabbing some fire starters out of the bag I set on the chunk of wood, and not much more, being used as a coffee table. “Any luck finding that insurance?”
“None,” she says, “but I know it’s here somewhere.”
I believe her. The fishhook, the cabin that’s been prepped. This was Darius’s place. Whatever there is to find, it’s here somewhere. “I’ll help you look when I’m done here.” I throw the last log I need on the fire, and light a fire starter, using it to stoke the flames in several places.
Once the flames have cranked to a healthy glow, Ana joins me, warming her hands and smiling up at me. “You’re right. I hate to be cold.” She glances at the couch. “But that couch is so dusty that we might get dust in all the wrong places without our clothes on.”
“Good thing I bought a blanket.”
Her smile widens. “You think of everything, don’t you?”
“When it comes to getting you naked, I do.” I give the fire one last once over and pull her close. “Before we test that blanket, let’s find what we came for. Where have you looked?”
“The kitchen. That’s about it. I did find some bottled water in the fridge and a bottle of some sort of scotch.”
“Darius knew the basic necessities of life, clearly.”
Her smile fades. “He was dirty. Apparently, the basics weren’t enough.”
“Maybe there was more to the story, Ana. Maybe that’s what you’ll figure out when we find his insurance.” I kiss her forehead. “Everything is not what it seems, remember?”
“He wasn’t what he seemed,” she replies. “I’d say that fact resembles that statement completely.” Her brows dip. “There’s a deer stand he turned into a little fishing spot by the water. Let’s go down there before it gets too dark.”
“It’s all but there now.”
“We have flashlights,” she says, already sliding into her coat. “That’s the place. I know it. That’s where we get our answers.”
I want answers as badly as she does, therefore, against my better judgment, I’m easily convinced. I grab my coat as well and slide it into place. The bottom line is that if someone is out there, they will be out there later as well. If that someone attacks and we have to run, we want to run with Darius’s insurance in hand.
With flashlights in hand and our weapons on our persons, easily accessible, I open the door, and we leave the shelter of the cabin.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Luke
The snow pummels us to the point that had the ground been cold, we’d be in six inches right now instead of one. A good thing, considering we literally hike a solid mile to arrive at our destination. Considering we’re also at a high altitude and the temperature is dropping fast, while the snow shows no signs of slowing down, we need to find what we’re looking for and get back to the cabin. The lake comes into view, Ana points right, and we begin another half-mile walk.
“There it is,” Ana says, tugging my coat and pointing to a deer stand inside a cluster of trees that’s obviously been moved here with the purpose of fishing. Deer don’t exactly walk on water or swim.
With the sun rapidly crashing, our flashlights guide our path forward, and once we’re at the shelter, Ana squats down in front of it. “You coming?”
“Who doesn’t want to crawl in a deer stand in the middle of snow? Of course, I’m coming in.”
She laughs, shines her flashlight into the structure, and then crawls inside. I quickly follow, icy cold snow on my palms, the wind at my back. The space is big enough for three, and Ana and I prop our flashlights up and brush off the snow.
“Now I’m cold and ready for that fire,” she says, looking around at her surroundings and pointing up, toward some sort of tarp covering the steel roof, which seems to serve the purpose of keeping us dry. It would also make a good hiding spot and I reach to the right where it’s anchored on a nail and pull it down.
Something falls down on top of us and Ana reaches for what proves to be an insulated bag. “Jackpot,” she murmurs, as I reattach the tarp to block the snow.
Ana eagerly unzips the bag, and I aim the flashlight at the contents. There’s a notebook and a gun inside a plastic bag, and a tape recorder.