Jean Thomas - Lethal Affair

“But nothing to do with us.” Casey started the Toyota and backed out onto the road. “Come on, let’s go find your waterfall.”

His intention wasn’t so simply achieved. A mile or so farther up the road Brenna caught a movement in the angled outside mirror on her side of the car. Leaning to the right for a better view, she was able to identify the green sedan tailing them.

She’d had no reason before this to check the road behind them, but it did seem that the vehicle had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Tempting as it was, she resisted the urge to call it a phantom. Casey would have loved teasing her about more ghosts.

“Casey—”

“Yeah, I see him. Spotted him in my rearview,” he said, indicating the driver’s mirror above his head.

“Um, you don’t think he’s deliberately following us? I mean, his car back at the store was headed in the direction we’re going. Now he’s somehow ended up behind us.”

“Could be he waited off on some side lane for us to pass and then pulled out.”

“But why? Why should he want to follow us?”

Casey had no explanation for her. His only response after a few seconds was a simple request. “Break out that map of yours again, will you?”

“You want me to see if that side lane behind us does exist?”

“Nope. I want you to see if there’s another road ahead of us branching off this one.”

That didn’t make sense to her. “For what reason?”

“I want to test something.”

Brenna waited for a further explanation, but again he gave her none. Grumbling to herself, she consulted the map as he’d asked.

“There is another road up ahead on the right, but it doesn’t make any more sense than your wanting to know it’s there.”

“Why is that?”

“Because after winding all over the place, it ends up looping back to join this one. And this one is a much shorter, more direct route to the falls.”

“The other road...lots of twists and turns, huh?”

“Yes.”

Casey nodded, looking satisfied. Why, she couldn’t imagine, and this time she didn’t bother asking him.

“I suppose,” she theorized, “since its being there at all doesn’t make sense when it doesn’t go anywhere but back to this road, it must have been constructed earlier. And then this one was built later, cutting off the old one to make a shorter route.”

“Sounds right. Our green sedan is still behind us,” he added, casting a fast glance into his rearview mirror. “Keep checking on it for me, will you? I’m going to be too busy before long to do it myself.”

He does love keeping me guessing, doesn’t he? Brenna thought wryly. But she obeyed his newest request, turning in her seat as much as the restraint of the belt would permit. Her view through the back window was considerably more accurate than what her outside mirror provided.

She waited a minute to report, “He’s sticking with us.”

“Coming up just ahead. Hang on.”

She did and learned why when, without slowing, Casey sharply and abruptly swung the Toyota into the side road he must have been watching for and found.

She was watching, as well. “The green demon turned, too,” she announced.

“Good.”

She understood now just what Casey was testing. He wanted to learn whether the green sedan only seemed to be following them or if this was a deliberate pursuit. Well, he’d evidently determined which was correct, but Brenna wasn’t certain it had been worth the risk.

She was even less certain of that when the Toyota bounced over a deep pothole, jolting her harshly. The road had obviously not been kept in repair. There’d been no reason to when the newer road was built. Worse than being in a rough condition with its broken pavement, it was narrow and without any guardrails. And now that they were fully in the forested highlands, with long drops over the side... Unnerving.

“Casey, this isn’t smart. The road is bad, and there’s nothing along it. If that guy tailing us is dangerous and should catch up with us out here in the middle of nowhere...”

“He won’t. I’ll lose him before that happens.”

“You’re awfully sure of yourself.”

He turned his head just long enough to favor her with one of his smug grins. “Hey, I’m an experienced FBI agent, remember? I know how to chase the bad guys and I know how to outrun them. Besides, that heap back there is in no shape to keep up with us. You’ll see.”

Maddening. He was maddening.

Moreover, Casey failed to ease his foot on the accelerator, and with the tortuous road growing more treacherous with every mile, she thought he might have realized that was imperative. He didn’t.

Brenna felt dizzy with all the rapid twists and turns. And when she found herself looking over the side into a deep gorge, and had a vision of the Toyota plunging into it, her giddiness morphed into absolute terror.

Casey’s only reaction to their perilous situation was a placid “Nice scenery up here, huh? I’d say they’re more mountains than highlands.”

“And I say I’m going to lose my breakfast if you don’t slow down.”

Much to her relief, he braked the car to, if not a crawl, at least a cautious speed. “Look,” he said.

“At what?”

“At what you were supposed to be on the lookout for. Your green demon is no longer behind us. He must have decided we weren’t worth it and headed back. Told you he’d give up.”

“Aren’t you the clever one? So, why are we stopping then?” she wondered when he pulled the Toyota over to the side and put the shift gear into Park. “The direct road can’t be much farther.”

He turned to face her. “Because I have some questions for you.”

“Such as?”

“Kind of funny, isn’t it, that some guy should turn up out of nowhere and decide to follow us?”

“Why should you imagine I would have an answer for that any more than you do?”

“I don’t know, Brenna. We had a pretty good view of him back at the store. It’s got me wondering whether you might have realized who he is.”

“What kind of question is that? Of course I don’t know who he is. Why on earth would I?”

“Maybe you saw him hanging around at the villa and recognized him from there. Could be Bradley is using thugs like him to keep tabs on you.”

“To an extent like this? That’s nuts, even if he did have a reason to have me watched, and I can’t imagine what that could possibly be. Why is it that you insist on connecting anything at all negative with Marcus?”

“Just trying to cover the possibilities.”

“Well, don’t. Can we please forget this and go on?”

“All right,” he said, shifting back into Drive, “let’s find your falls.”

She was ready to put the whole episode behind her. Wanted to do just that. Except Casey left her reluctantly remembering Julio last night outside the guesthouse.

* * *

A graveled parking area had been provided for visitors to the falls.

“Looks like we’ve got the place to ourselves,” Casey observed, pulling into the small, empty lot.

Brenna left her tote and purse in the car, taking only her camera with her. By the time Casey locked the Toyota and joined her, she had located a sign posted at the mouth of a trail, the arrow on it indicating the direction of the attraction.

“It can’t be far,” she said. “I can hear the sound of the water from here.”

The trail was wide enough to permit them to walk side by side. Although the ever-protective Casey offered no comment on this feature, Brenna knew it satisfied him to be able to keep her close. There was no point in objecting. He wouldn’t have listened.

A few hundred yards brought them through the forest to their destination. They suddenly found themselves in the open, standing on the lip of a ravine.