“Okay,” Maya said, “I’ll do that, but if you arrest him again, you detain him in Pinecone Junction, not the main county jail. That way we know he’s safe.”
“Deal. Do you need to go meet Josh right now?”
“I think it would look suspicious if I left now. I don’t know who’s watching. I would bet that someone is keeping track of everything going on here because they know law enforcement will want to find Josh right away. It’ll take Josh a while to get there on foot, and if he leaves, he’ll give me some sort of message or clue. I know it.”
“Okay, you know him better than I do.”
“I do,” Maya said. “I’ll put Juniper in her compartment and then find you and see where I’m needed.”
“I’ll wait for you here—and, Tree Cop?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry,” Lucas said.
“For what?”
“For what you’re going through. I really want to believe he’s completely innocent.”
Maya nodded. “If I didn’t know him this well, I would feel the same way. The evidence against him is strong.”
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
The moonlight helped as Josh and Elena followed the stream. They hadn’t said much, but Josh was impressed at how well Elena was doing considering how long she’d been out in the wilderness trying to survive. They made good time despite the amount of ground they had to cover.
Josh figured they were getting close to the property but probably still had about a mile to go. “Let’s stop and rest. You should drink some water.”
“Stop worrying about me,” Elena said.
“Okay, but seriously, you’ve been out here for a couple days now. Drink some water.”
Elena took her backpack off and pulled a bottle out, taking a sip. “You don’t seem like a cold-blooded killer, even though you shot that guy.”
“Oh?” Josh said. “I’m glad to hear that. But what made you come to that conclusion?”
“The fact that you seem more worried about me than the fact that there are people coming after us who want us both dead.”
“Well, you’ve been missing out here for a while. I doubt you’re used to the mountains,” Josh said.
“Why were you in the jail transport van? In prison clothes?”
“I was arrested for Amber’s murder, among other things.”
“That would do it,” Elena said.
“Yeah, I was framed for her murder and the guy whose throat you slit.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously,” Josh said.
“How did you get framed for his death?”
“Someone stole my knife and planted it at the scene. I think they rubbed the victim’s blood all over it.”
Elena shivered and put her water in her backpack. “Whoever is behind this is ruthless, and that’s terrifying. We need to stop them, but we don’t even know who it is we’re trying to stop.”
“I know. When we get to the camper, we’ll start comparing notes. There has to be something that will lead us to the right person.”
