“I don’t understand. What’s wrong with Jennings?”
“Let’s get in my car, and I’ll tell you everything, but I’m guessing the reason the fire wasn’t reported is because the fire isn’t actually real. It was a diversion to get Hector away from you.”
“Ann, I’m not trying to be difficult, but I’m not leaving until you give me more information. What is going on?”
“Steve and I were on our way to the ISB office to meet with Agent Andrews with some new information we had, when my phone died,” she said quickly. “I turned on our radios in our vehicles to see if I could reach out to Hector that way, but that’s when I heard Jennings get on and report the fire over our Park Serviceradios. He alerted everyone to get up there quickly and mentioned that he called me and couldn’t get ahold of me.”
“Just like we talked about,” Steve broke in to speak for the first time, looking at Ann.
Ann nodded at him and then turned to me. “Steve and I were going over some things at his place last night, and it occurred to me while we were in bed that Jennings had suspectedIwas the one who was leaking the info to Steve and he might try to come after me.”
What did she just say?She leaked information? She was also lying in bed with Steve? What in the world was happening right now?
“But then I heard Jennings say on the scanner that Hector would be heading up that way too, and I knew something was wrong.”
“A trap,” Steve interrupted. “There is no fire.”
“That’s when it hit me that you, Iris, were his real target. Not me,” Ann said. “So Steve and I diverted and drove here to check on you instead of driving to the ISB. But we still need to go there. So please grab your things and Sarge, and we will all head there together. Please.”
She pleaded that last part, and I believed her. I nodded and was about to grab Sarge’s leash, when he began barking again.
Ann and I both turned around at the same moment to see Ranger Jennings standing in the doorway.
“Ann, what are you doing here?” Jennings said, as calm as could be.
“It’s you,” Ann growled at him. “You’re the one who murdered those girls!”
“Now, Ann, you’ve been listening to this crackhead podcaster too much,” Jennings said as he nodded in Steve’s direction.
Steve had moved just to the side of the door, barely even in the house, and now stared wide-eyes at Jennings.
As Jennings stepped farther into the room, Steve bolted out the front door and took off. Jennings, realizing his mistake, reached around and pulled a gun from his back, pointing it straight at Ann.
“Now, we’re all going to take a seat and talk about this calmly,” he said, very composed but also detached and unfazed.
Sarge, however, had read the room and was now growling low at Jennings from where he had returned to my side. I saw the moment his eyes met the dog’s and realized Sarge may be a threat. His eyes changed from stoic to icy in one blink.
I stepped around Sarge, putting myself in front of him. “Do not harm him,” I told Jennings.
“Why are you doing this?” Ann asked him, bringing the attention back to her.
“Well, because this one couldn’t keep her mouth shut,” Jennings said, pointing at me. “I assumed she lied and had gone and told the podcaster all kinds of confidential information and he started to connect too many dots.”
What the hell was he talking about?
“I never talked to the podcaster!” I announced.
Jennings now turned to Ann, his voice rising. “But now…now I realize it was you. Because he knew about things that the public was not privy to.”
“It was me. I told him,” Ann said from beside me, shocking the hell out of me. “I also told the ISB, so you won’t get away with this.”
“You bitch,” he snarled, lifting his gun and firing at her.
The shot was deafening as it echoed through the house. I looked over to see Ann drop to the ground, moaning and grabbing her side. I jerked around to look at Jennings, who took the side of the gun and swung it my way. I wasn’t fast enough to react, though, and I felt a sharp blow to the side of my head. The next thing I knew, everything went black.
My head hurt so bad—it felt as though it was about to explode if I moved even the slightest bit.
I tried to close my eyes again to dull the pain, but something cool and wet hit my face. I opened my eyes to see Sarge staring back at me, looking very worried.
