Carla Neggers - Cold Pursuit

It wasn’t that hard to do.

The falls trail started closer to the lodge, which allowed guests to get to it on foot without a long trek along the ridge road. The lane where Devin had parked was farther down the road, but the trail up to the falls was shorter. Also more difficult, though Elijah didn’t mind that part.

The chickadees danced off into the wilderness as he came to the falls trail. He followed it around a level curve, hearing the water rushing down off the mountain.

The air wasn’t that cold. He was warm enough in his fleece without resorting to the extra layers in his pack.

He ducked under the low branches of a red oak and made his way to a ledge above the falls. Water swirled below him in an endless cascade that smoothed and shaped the wall of gray granite.

He remembered holding hands with Jo under this same oak as she told him she wanted to marry him at the falls. It was just like her not to wait to be asked. She’d been so full of dreams, so eager to leave Vermont and their small hometown. He’d been clueless about anything beyond his desire to get Jo Harper into bed.

“Some things don’t change,” he muttered, and warned himself to focus on the task at hand.

Find Devin, find Nora. Go from there.

In his winter-camping class, Nora Asher had been dedicated and self-conscious-a perfectionist who didn’t want to be the yahoo Ivy Leaguer who got lost in the woods and had to be rescued. She hated, she’d said during their afternoon break, the idea of a bunch of Vermonters searching for her and thinking here was another dumb-assed flatlander in a self-inflicted mess.

Not that anyone would think that, but that was how Nora saw the world.

She’d also wanted to prove she was tough. In Elijah’s experience, that was as sure a way into trouble as being an idiot was. But it didn’t matter.

“Forget your pride if you get in a jam and ask for help,” he’d told her. “Just get home alive.”

She’d given him the sort of look that he’d become accustomed to-the one that said she knew she couldn’t imagine the brushes with death he’d had and wasn’t sure she wanted to.

As he turned back toward the trail, he caught a movement just below him, on the other side of the falls. Devin emerged from a cluster of hemlocks and stared up at Elijah, then spun back around on his heels.

Seeing the danger, Elijah called to him. “Devin-don’t run.”

But he paid no attention and bolted toward the cover of the evergreens, losing his footing on the wet ground and going down hard on one knee. Unable to get himself back under control, he slid, flailing, yelling, down the slippery rock outcropping, finally stopping just short of a deep coppery pool.

Elijah was already moving. He ran up through the trees to the stream that fed the falls and leaped onto a dry boulder in the middle of the shallow, sparkling water, then jumped to the opposite bank. The ground was soft, covered with freshly fallen maple and birch leaves. Avoiding slippery rocks, he ducked among the hemlocks and made his way quickly down the steep hill to Devin. As he got closer to the falls, Elijah could hear the whoosh of the tumbling water and Devin’s uninhibited swearing.

“Hang on,” Elijah said. “Don’t move.”

“I can’t move. I’m stuck.” He sounded more frustrated than panicked.

Elijah eased out from behind a hemlock. “Hit your head?”

Devin grimaced. “No-I just slid under this damn rock.”

“Ribs?”

“I’m okay.” He gulped in a breath and sank back against the steep rock incline. He had on a canvas vest over a hooded sweatshirt. And jeans. But he didn’t look cold. He squeezed his eyes shut in pain. “Just go on. I don’t need you to rescue me.”

“It’d be easier on you if I did.”

Devin swore at him, but Elijah squatted in the muck to get a better look at the situation. Devin’s momentum had shoved his lower right leg down into the muck and under a basketball-size boulder, dislodging the boulder and trapping him from midcalf down. If not for the spongy ground, he probably would have broken his leg.

“Not smart,” Elijah said. “Running from me. Slipping like that. You’re used to being up here.”

“Go to hell.”

“I can get you out of here.”

“I don’t need your help.”

“It’ll be faster, easier with my help. Where’s Nora?”

“Who the hell cares?”

So that was it. Elijah shrugged off his pack and set it on dry leaves. He had a first-aid kit, but Devin didn’t appear to be more than scraped, bruised and distressed about his predicament. “I found your truck. You spent the night up here?”

He didn’t answer, but his breathing was calmer. And he’d stopped swearing.

“There’s a spot up above the falls where we all used to camp as kids,” Elijah said. “Did A.J. tell you about it?”

“He didn’t have to. I already know.” Devin gritted his teeth and groaned as he grasped his right knee with both hands. “Just get me out.”

“Did you tell Nora about it?”

“Beth Harper did.” He hissed through his teeth. “Elijah, hurry up, will you?”

“I don’t want to make a wrong move and end up crushing your leg.”

“That’d be bad.” He sniffed and looked up at the sky, streaked now with high clouds. “I wanted to make sure Nora was okay. I didn’t bug her. I just-I keep a daypack with a bivy sac in my truck. I slept under the stars a little ways down some from where she camped.”

“Did she know?” Elijah asked as he inspected every inch he could get to of the boulder that had Devin pinned.

“Probably. I think so. I tried not to scare her. She left at first light, while I was still asleep.” He blinked back tears, embarrassed, angry. “I would never hurt her, Elijah, and I’m not a thief.”

“Are you dehydrated? Cold?”

“No. I’m fine. Just get me out.”

Elijah paused and looked at Devin. “You’ll talk to me?”

“Yeah. Whatever.”

“Where’s your pack?”

“It’s up in the trees. My walking stick, too. I set them down when I heard something. I thought it might be Nora.”

“You got me instead. No wonder you went ass over teakettle.”

Devin attempted a smile, but he made a face and groaned. “Crap. Not her.”

Jo. Elijah followed Devin’s gaze and, sure enough, there she was under the oak tree he had just vacated on the other side of the falls. She gave them a critical look, then disappeared back through the trees. Elijah stood up and eyed Devin, who probably would have shrunk himself to slug size and slithered under the boulder if he could have. Elijah couldn’t blame him. “Two minutes until the law arrives,” he said. “Anything you want to tell me in the meantime?”

“I’m sorry I ran.”

“Yeah.” Elijah saw Jo already charging down toward them and thought of her smile at eighteen-the hope, love and promises it held-then shifted back to Devin. “Sometimes it’s just easier to run.”

“I bet you never run.”

“We all run, Devin. At some point in our lives,” he said, squatting back down, “we all run. Let’s get you out of here.”

Jo arrived and immediately assessed the situation with an air of authority and competence that didn’t surprise Elijah. “What happened?” she asked.

“I slipped,” Devin said. “It was an accident. Elijah startled me.”

“Let’s get him unstuck,” Elijah said. “Then we can sort out the rest.”

Jo got down into the muck to help but kept up with the questions. “Did you see any other hikers?”

Devin winced. “I’m in pain, Jo.”

She narrowed her eyes on him. “You don’t want to lie to me, Devin.”

“Jo.” Elijah kept his voice even, but he decided he’d been indulging in too many fantasies and regrets. She wasn’t eighteen anymore. She wasn’t in love with him anymore. She was a federal agent who could hold her own when it came to shooting and fighting. “You want to help, or you want to interrogate him?”