“Bartholomew,” Kori murmured.
“Yes. I recognized his name as soon as he said it. I remembered you talking about that case.” Mackenzie pulled at a loose thread on her sleeve. “Flint had just come off a frustrating stretch with the Forest Service. There were bureaucratic problems as well as permits being blocked and important projects getting shelved. He was angry, and this man—Bartholomew—offered Flint a community of people who shared his frustrations.”
“Then they had him,” Wyatt said.
“Then they had him.” Mackenzie blew out a breath. “It took some time to build a relationship, but these people eventually brainwashed Flint. He was all in. Once he was, they asked Flint to stay in his position so he could feed them information aboutwhat the Forest Service knew and give them advance warning if anyone was getting close to discovering them.”
“It sounds like Flint believed in their mission,” Caleb said.
“He did. Then he tried to recruit me. He even gave me a necklace with the group’s symbol on it.”
“We found that in your bag,” Kori said.
“I decided to go along with it and see what I could find out.”
“How did they take you?” Millie asked.
“I got careless. I think they began to suspect my motives weren’t all pure” Mackenzie said the words plainly and without self-pity. “I got a message saying I needed to come now and come alone. I knew what it meant. I knew you would be in danger if I didn’t listen. So I went. As soon as I realized it was a setup, I ran. But it was too late. They caught me, and I was trapped.”
Ruby appeared from the kitchen with the pot and made her way around the room, refilling bowls without asking.
Caleb looked at Max. “By the way, have you heard how Kendra’s mom is doing?”
Max’s expression was careful. “She’s stable, from what I understand. They think she’ll go home in a day or two.” He turned his bowl slowly in his hands. “Kendra’s not doing great, though. The breakup hit her harder than I expected. I’m not going to get into all of it. But I’d ask you all to pray for her.”
“Of course,” Naomi said.
Several others nodded.
The conversation shifted gradually—lighter now as the weight of the last several days began to slowly lift.
Kori leaned back in her chair and let the room wash over her.
She thought about DC. About the missed calls from her office, the flagged emails, and the courtroom that had been running without her for days. It would all still be there when she got back. Everything would require her attention soon enough.
But not tonight.
She looked across the table.
Wyatt was watching her.
She thought about the logging road. About his hands raised as he stood in the snow. About when she’d kissed him.
There were still things left unsaid between them. Questions that hadn’t been asked yet and answers that would take more than a crowded room to give.
But as Kori held Wyatt’s gaze across the room, she realized she wasn’t in any hurry to look away.
Wyatt caught Kori’s eye across the room and tilted his head toward the back of the house.
She slipped away from the group without a word and followed him through the back door and onto the screened porch.
The cold immediately settled around them. The yard beyond the screens was quiet and white.
As Wyatt propped open the back door, Thunder pushed past them both, trotted down the steps, and disappeared toward the dog run.
Wyatt leaned against a post and looked at Kori.
She pulled her sleeves down over her hands and looked back at him. “I keep trying to find the right way to thank you for what you did up there.”
