Hope White - Witness Pursuit

“No, Cassie, I’m not okay,” he interrupted. “What were you thinking coming out here so late?”

“It’s only eight o’clock.”

“But by yourself without protection?”

“What, like a bodyguard?” She smiled.

Which only frustrated him more.

“It’s Echo Mountain,” she said. “Besides, I have pepper spray in my bag, not that I could get to it because it was on the counter and I was hiding in the front hallway.”

“Pepper spray?” he said.

“Yeah.”

“You think pepper spray is going to protect you from guys like this?”

“Guys like what? I don’t even know who he was.”

“Well, he knows you.” He immediately regretted his words when her face went white.

“How is that possible?” she said.

“Didn’t you hear him calling your name from above?”

She shook her head. “How did you hear him?”

“You left your phone on. Dispatch put it through. Speaking of which, give me your phone.” He stuck out his hand.

The dog dived between Nate and Cassie, frantically barking.

“It’s okay, Dasher,” Cassie said. “He’s not really angry. That’s just Chief Walsh.” She restrained the dog with one hand and gave Nate her phone with the other.

“Dispatch, this is Chief Walsh. I’m with Cassie McBride. Rescue is on the way. I’m closing the line, over.” He handed it back to her.

“If you give me a boost I can climb back up and save search-and-rescue from having to come get me.”

“I’d rather you relax until they arrive.”

“This is silly.” She struggled to stand.

Since she wasn’t going to listen to him, Nate reached out to steady her. That’s when he noticed the blood smearing her sleeve.

“Cassie, did you touch the body in the cabin?”

“Only to feel for a pulse, why?”

“You’ve got blood on your jacket.” He motioned to her sleeve.

“Oh, wow, I didn’t see that before. You’d think I would have noticed, especially since it’s so...bright.” Her legs buckled.

Nate caught her as she went down, the dog wedged between them. He lowered her to the ground and examined the wound. It wasn’t bad, yet it had caused her to pass out. Concerned, he ran his hands over her clothes searching for other wounds, but found none.

Then he remembered her reaction when her brother had suffered a knife wound last year.

“Can’t handle the sight of blood,” he said under his breath.

It was okay; she was okay. He examined her wound closer. The four-inch gash didn’t look deep. She probably snagged her arm on a sharp branch on her descent.

He pulled gauze from the earlier rescue out of his jacket and wrapped her wound as the dog hovered close by. They hadn’t even discussed how she’d ended up with the dog. He knew she didn’t own a dog, because it would interfere with her travel plans. Which meant she’d rescued a dog while being stalked by a killer and rappelled down the side of a mountain with the pup in her arms. This woman was...

“Nate, the team’s here,” Aiden called from above.

“Great!” Nate called back.

* * *

Cassie awoke in an ambulance, confused and worried.

“Where’s Dasher?” she asked her cousin Madeline, the EMT.

“Who?”

“My dog.”

“You don’t have a dog.”

“I had him on the ledge with me. What happened to him? You didn’t just let him go, did you? He could get eaten by wild animals or—”

“I didn’t do anything but tend to the laceration on your arm and check your vitals. You were passed out cold. Didn’t even wake up when they strapped you to a litter and lifted you up the mountain.”

“I need to find Dasher.”

“Cassie—”

“Please Madeline, I need to find him!”

“Calm down. I’ll have Rocky call and check on the dog, okay?”

Cassie nodded, unsure why she was freaking out about a little dog that wasn’t even hers. But there was something about him—his protectiveness and vulnerability—that made her feel connected to the terrier mix.

Then there was the way Chief Walsh interacted with Dasher, how Nate’s tone softened when he praised the dog for protecting Cassie.

Good dog. Now let me have a look.

She’d heard him speak, although she thought she was dreaming at the time. Then she cracked open her eyes and saw Chief Walsh’s intense expression studying her. With a gentle touch, he brushed hair off her face. Who would have guessed such a hardened man could be so caring?

She blinked away a tear. She was being ridiculous, yet the truth was she’d felt safe when he touched her. All the trepidation that flooded her system had dissolved in the very instant she felt the warmth of his fingertips against her cheek.

“What’s wrong?” Madeline asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re crying.”

“Allergies.”

“Cassie,” Madeline said in that motherly tone, the tone everyone in Cassie’s family used when speaking to her.

That’s why she needed to get out of town, to explore other places in the world where people didn’t know her as Baby McBride with the strange autoimmune disease.

“Cassie?” Madeline pressed.

“I’m fine,” she said, closing her eyes.

“You’re not fine. Do you want to talk about it?”

“Nothing to talk about.”

“Finding a dead body—”

Cassie’s eyes popped open. “So she was dead?”

“You didn’t know?”

Cassie shook her head.

“I’m sorry.” Madeline patted Cassie’s shoulder.

It was just the beginning, Cassie thought, the beginning of her family and friends smothering her until she could no longer breathe.

God, please help me cope.

She suspected all the prayer in the world wouldn’t change the way people looked at her: like a fragile doll, a sick little girl who could barely manage on her own. But she wasn’t a little girl anymore, and she’d outgrown her illness, although the technical term was remission.

That fact wouldn’t change the way people treated her. She decided to take the offensive.

“Have you assessed my injuries?” she asked her cousin.

“Your arm will need a few stiches, and the ER doc will probably order a CT scan of your head.”

“I didn’t hit my head.”

“You might not remember hitting your head, but you’re exhibiting symptoms of head trauma.”

“Like what?”

“Obsessing over a random dog.”

“An orphaned dog.”

“And you’re anxious.”

“Rocky’s driving too fast.”

Madeline shook her head and bit back a smile. “Rocky, this is base, over,” a voice said over the radio.

“Go ahead.”

“Chief Walsh has the dog, over.”

“You hear that, Cassie?” Rocky said over his shoulder.

“Yeah, thanks.”

“Okay?” Madeline said.

Cassie nodded and closed her eyes, wanting to avoid arguing with her cousin. She’d save her energy because she knew there’d be more discussion, more arguments about her choices today as she defended herself to her mother, older brother, sister and whoever else jumped on the “help Cassie” bandwagon.

She thought about her bank account, now up to two thousand dollars and change. It wasn’t enough to support herself for six months to a year overseas, even if she stayed in hostels. After tonight’s fiasco, she might lose the awesome-paying property manager job. At the very least, her family would forbid her from going anywhere by herself for a while.

They reached the hospital, and Rocky and Madeline wheeled Cassie inside. Once transferred to an ER bed, Madeline slid the curtain closed.

“The doctor will be here shortly. I think Dr. Rush is on duty. You’ll like her,” Madeline said.

“I need to speak with Chief Walsh.”