Dad must have sensed the words I didn’t say. “They won't return to the lookout with the search parties and police crawling all over.”
Tate raised an eyebrow at him, but remained wordless. Observing.
“You have no other lookouts left on the west side of the park,” I said to Leonard. “Can you really spare me?”
He ran a hand down his face, just as exhausted as the rest of us. “I don’t want you out there if you feel threatened or unsafe. Anytime you need to go, call me, okay?”
“Thanks,” I said. “I just need my supplies flown out tomorrow. I can hike in and meet the helicopter in the afternoon like I normally would.”
He shook his head. “They won’t have multiple lookouts to service, so you can catch a ride with them again. No sense in hiking through the woods alone if you don’t need to.”
“You can’t go back out unless you’re armed,” Tate cut in firmly. He was quiet up until now, and again, I had the sense he was assessing, searching for something. “It’s idiotic. I’m not saying you’ve gotta carry everywhere you go, but you need to be able to protect yourself.”
I nodded. I'd feel better knowing I had something stronger than bear spray to defend myself with if they came back.
“I’ll sort you out in that regard,” Dad said, clapping a hand on my shoulder.
“Glad that’s settled,” Tate said. “Now, we’re set up in a conference room in the back. Are you ready to give your statement?”
Brow furrowed, I asked, “Why not at the police station?” It was only a few minutes away, and I’d assumed Tate would prefer it over the ranger station, which was fairly busy in the summer months. It served as a main hub for Forest Service workers as well as tourists and backcountry hikers logging their routes through the national park.
Tate’s face did something funny before he quickly schooled his features. “You’ll be busy prepping to fly back out tomorrow, and we’re already here. Might as well.”
“Excellent. Glad I arrived just in time, then,” a deep voice boomed behind me.
I whipped around to find a stranger sauntering our way.
Ahugestranger.
He had dark, close-cropped hair and wore heavily tinted sunglasses. His fitted black T-shirt only highlighted just how many muscles coiled around his broad shoulders. A sleeve of tattoos wound up his left arm, and his dark green ripstop pants clung in all the most interesting places.
Goddamn.
Tate scowled at him. “Oh, good. So glad you found the place.”
He did not sound anywhere nearglad.
The newcomer gave him a cool smile. “The directions you sent had me nearly out of town before I realized I must have read them wrong.”
“It’s easy to get turned around out here. Sorry about that,” Tate replied.
I almost snorted at the dripping sarcasm.
“Luckily, there’s a GPS in the SUV,” Sunglasses said, before he turned to me. “Now, you must be the guy who got chased out of the woods last night. You had Tate here all worked up about it this morning. I’m Luke Waters, Special Agent.”
I shook his offered hand and raised an eyebrow. “Uh,Special Agent?”
“He means FBI,” Tate grumbled.
“The FBI’s investigating?” Dad asked sharply.
Luke waved a hand. “I’m just here to scope out if we could be helpful first, before there’s any official involvement. Shall we?” He finished, gesturing for us all to file inside.
I had a feeling there was more to it than that. The FBI was a lot of things, butcasually involvedwasn’t one of them.
Shouldering past Special Agent Waters, who merely smirked at his retreating backside, Tate led the way in. “Let’s go,” he grumbled.
I raised an eyebrow at Dad.
