“I’m here to do a job, and it’s important for me to view the scene.” Although she was going to freeze. Hopefully his UTV contained a heater. “Either we go together, or I find a UTV myself and drive up there. I believe it would be much more efficient if we worked this in tandem.” In fact, she could use his knowledge of the area. Though she’d grown up in Genesis Valley, she had left at age eleven, so it wasn’t as if she truly knew her way around.
“I don’t have time to babysit you on the mountain,” he said, his voice a low growl that most people probably heeded.
Laurel had dealt with a few of the darkest criminal minds there were. One cranky mountain man couldn’t deter her. “I don’t require a babysitter. I do, however, require an authorized Fish and Wildlife officer to escort me out into the wilderness and provide background information. Are you, or are you not, that officer?”
Instead of answering, he strode to a hall closet and quickly unlocked a safe cemented into the wall above the top shelf. Without turning, he withdrew a badge on a chain and a black gun that looked like a Smith & Wesson M&P 2.0. She made another mental note about him. Washington’s Fish and Wildlife officers were fully commissioned police officers. He strapped a tactical holster to his left thigh and around his waist, tucking the gun safely against his leg. “Lady? I don’t need you with me.”
“It’s agent, not lady, and I don’t care what you need.” She kept her temper at bay because it would serve no purpose to become angry.
His low sigh was long suffering. “Fine. You can come with me, because I’ll just be called out to rescue your ass if you go alone.”
Her temper started to stir, apparently not caring that it would accomplish nothing to smack him on the nose. “As much as I appreciate your belief that not only do I need a knight in slightly muddy armor, but that you could also possibly be that rescuer, I promise I require only your knowledge and not any of yourno doubtimpressive mountain-man skills.” Her voice was just calm enough to sound slightly haughty, and she was fine with that fact. So much for using his protective nature to get her way.
His grin was quick and a surprise, making him look much more approachable. Almost human. Then it disappeared completely. “You’re cute when you get your panties in a bunch.”
He did not just say “panties” to her. Was he trying to tick her off enough that she’d leave in a huff? Since he waited for a response, that had obviously been his plan of attack. So she smiled. “I’m not wearing any, Captain.” Then she met his gaze, and it was his turn to be thrown off stride.
His eyes slowly darkened from light topaz to the deep stout color of a good beer. “Fair enough.” With that very minor concession, he turned back to the closet and tossed her a dark blue parka. “Why aren’t you dressed for the weather?”
“I was in LA,” she said, slipping her arms into the thick material and zipping it up. The coat engulfed her, reaching to her knees.
He grabbed gloves and a knit hat for her, before looking down at her feet. “I don’t have snow boots your size.” Shaking his head, he reached into the rear of the closet on the floor and dragged out well-worn, women’s leather hiking boots. “These aren’t for snow, but they’re better than what you’re wearing.” He pushed them her way.
“Thanks. Whose boots?” She slipped out of her flats and inserted her feet in the scratched boots, even though she was just wearing thin socks. The boots were slightly too small, so she didn’t ask to borrow heavier socks. They wouldn’t fit.
“Old girlfriend’s,” he said. “Broke up a while ago.”
Apparently the ex didn’t need her boots. Laurel might not be a PR person, but even she knew how to extend an olive branch so the remainder of the evening would go more smoothly. She did need his assistance, after all. “I appreciate your assistance.”
He pulled leather gloves on his hands. “I’m not a helpful guy, so please remember that in the future and don’t end up abandoned on my doorstep again. For now, I’m going to check out the crime scene, and you might as well come along. But walk where I tell you to walk and don’t cause me any more problems than you already have.”
Well. All right then.
Chapter Four
After unloading his personal UTV from the truck they’d driven as far as they could up the mountain, Huck waited until she’d buckled in to the leather seat and then made sure the heat was on high enough to warm the woman next to him. Laurel Snow. She looked like an actress pretending to be an FBI agent on a television show. The stunning colors in her hair had caught his attention immediately, with the reddish brown nearly glowing in the storm. Then he’d caught sight of her incredible eyes. One was a light translucent green and one was a midnight blue with a star of green in the upper-right part of the iris.
The fact that she didn’t wear colored contacts to hide the difference revealed both confidence and acceptance of life’s challenges. Plus, she’d known the origin of Aeneas’s name, which showed she at least had education if not brains. Something told him that she also had brains.
“Would you turn down the heat?” She studied the storm outside with an intensity he could feel inside the small cab.
Huck flipped the dial, and the blast of heat weakened.
Laurel leveled that intriguing gaze on him. “Thank you.” She settled back in the seat. “Do you mind answering some questions?”
He did mind, so he grunted and kept an eye on the trail. His left leg ached, letting him know the storm was getting even stronger.
“Why Snowblood Peak?” she asked. “Could it be the name? If this is a serial killer and not some weird graveyard, then could the dumping of the bodies there be as simple as the name of the mountain?”
He slowed down to drive over several chunks of rapidly freezing mud. The UTV bounced and he kept it squarely on the trail.
“Captain Rivers? What do you think?” she asked.
He didn’t think anything yet. “Over a cliff is a good place to hide bodies.”
She nodded. “That’s what I figured. I only snowmobiled the mountain once with my uncles, but I studied a map en route to your home.”
A map? He barely kept from shaking his head. The answers she wanted weren’t going to be found in any map. “What unit are you with, Agent Snow?” he asked. Maybe his boss could call hers and get her out of his way.
