"Evidence of the trafficking network." Statement, not question.
"Yes."
Finn looks at me. "So here's what I've been trying to figure out since yesterday. The news says you're a corrupt FBI agent who betrayed her team." He glances at the cache box, then back to me. "But you just found exactly what you told me you were looking for. Evidence of the trafficking network. Which means everything you said about being framed, about Tom, about finishing what he started is probably all true."
"Yes," I say quietly. "All of it."
"And something like this cache has to be what Tom found before they killed him."
"Probably. Tom's notes suggested this site was significant, but I needed to see it in person to be sure."
Silence stretches between us before he asks, "So what now?"
"Now I document this and keep building the case." I meet his gaze. "Same as I've been doing."
"Alone?"
"I don't have a choice."
"You do now." His tone is firm but not unkind. "Whatever you're hunting is using my community as cover. That makes it my problem too. We figure out how deep this goes."
My breath catches. "You're going to help?"
"I've been helping since I gave you space to investigate that cache." He nods toward the box. "Document what you need. Then we head back to town and compare notes. See if what you know and what I've seen fit together."
"Just like that? You believe me?"
"I believe someone murdered Tom for investigating this network. I believe they framed you to cover it up." He holds my gaze. "And I believe you're here to stop them. That's enough."
I nod and return to photographing the cache while Finn keeps watch.
When Finn drops me at The Hollow Hearth, he doesn't drive away immediately. "I'll pick you up at the lodge at seven. Wecan go through everything you have at my cabin. See what we're really dealing with."
"Okay." I hesitate. "Thank you. For believing me."
"Thank me when we catch whoever killed Tom and framed you." He puts the truck in gear. "See you tonight, Cara."
I return to my room at the lodge and download the photographs from the cache site. The images are clear evidence, proof that Tom's suspicions were correct. Tonight I'll spread everything out at Finn's cabin.
Three years of running alone, piecing together fragments of a case I couldn't build from inside the system. Three years of wondering if I'd ever find someone I could trust with the truth. I pull out my laptop and external drives, organizing files I haven't dared share with anyone since the day I ran. Finn believes me. That might be the most dangerous thing that's happened since I arrived in Glacier Hollow.
4
FINN
I’ve got hours until I pick her up at the lodge with everything she's gathered over three years of running. Hours to decide how much to reveal about the task force, how far I'm willing to go, whether I'm making the right call trusting someone I just met.
My shoulder aches, phantom pain that always flares when the weather turns. A cold front is moving in from the north, bringing snow that will make the roads treacherous by morning.
The truck needs work before tonight. The serpentine belt's been making noise for the past week, and a breakdown with Cara in the passenger seat isn't an option. I drive around back to the small maintenance bay behind the café, pop the hood, and get to work.
Eight years in the Army taught me to maintain equipment in conditions where failure means people die. I work methodically, replacing the belt the same way I used to run pre-flight checks on MEDEVAC birds. Nerve damage from the Afghanistan crash makes my fingers slower than they used to be as I reach for the tensioner. My days of flying helicopters into hot zones are over. Pulling wounded soldiers from combat is over. But I can keep atruck running through mountains that don't forgive mechanical failures.
Sliding the belt into place, I tighten the adjustment bolt and test the fit, making sure everything runs smooth. People depend on me to keep supplies moving through this terrain, so the work matters.
I thought my life was over when the crash ended my Army career. Medically discharged with nerve damage and a future that looked nothing like the one I'd planned. Flying helicopters was all I knew, all I'd ever trained for. Losing that felt like losing my identity.
Glacier Hollow gave me a second chance. Not the career I wanted, but a purpose that matters in different ways. These supply runs aren't combat MEDEVAC missions, but they're still about keeping people alive. Raymond and Judith need their medications. Sadie needs her café supplies. The homesteaders scattered through the backcountry need someone reliable enough to reach them when weather turns nasty and roads become impassable.
