Dark Echoes: (Dark Falls, CO Romantic Thriller Book 7) Read online

So far in his time in here, he’d managed to examine a burned-out drug lab after it had blown up. That meant he walked through afterward and wrote up his observations. Then he watched as the local PD gathered evidence. He nodded at them that they were doing a good job. Ethan wrote an incredibly boring report for the Bureau. Then he went back to contemplating his office walls. He’d next organized a massive search for a missing girl, but the search had turned up nothing after a week. While the work had been welcome, the situation hadn’t done anything to help his mood. Or his standing with the bureau.

  He’d been one of the top graduates in his class at Quantico. His job should have been exciting. Dammit.

  Dark Falls, so far, didn’t seem to have much that the local PD couldn’t handle. He wasn’t in any position to wrestle any interesting cases away from them. And, since they weren’t necessarily his friends—the feds vs. the boys in blue and all—they weren’t letting him in on most of their cases, either. Until another case came along that had federal jurisdiction, there wasn’t anything for him to do.

  He was of two minds about the dead body. Part of him was excited for something to do that let him out from behind the desk. Even just getting out and checking to see if the call was legit gave him an escape from an office packed full of people always talking to each other and discussing cases, but never with him.

  The other part of him knew it was possible that a small child had lost her life. Right now, he was hoping Risa Caldwell—whoever she was—wasn’t a reliable source. If this missing girl was lucky, he would discover someone had left some clothes out in the woods and there was no body.

  Even though that would mean that he would be back at his desk by about…he looked at his watch…lunchtime, it was the preferred outcome here. Ethan thought about the sandwich he could get down at Mike’s. Truly, he wasn’t expecting much from this, but he led his little trio into the woods.

  “You’re frowning,” Leah Dev said, hiking the wide path beside him. The very petite woman packed more of a punch than she ought to. “Is it because of the girl?”

  He shook his head. “As of right now, there is no girl. Right now, there’s only a text.”

  “Well,” Leah said, “you’ll discover Risa isn’t prone to overreaction.”

  That statement sounded like it was going to go further, but at that moment a noise had them both looking up to see what it was.

  Ahead on the trail, a form took shape, and Ethan spotted a woman slowly making her way toward them. A large stick was tucked awkwardly under her arm, and she gripped it tightly for support as she moved jerkily along the rough path. She appeared to be working hard to keep weight off what looked like a bad ankle.

  Ethan bounded forward. “Stay where you are,” he said, waving his hand to get her attention. He peeled his suit jacket and handed it back to Miss Dev, not even taking his eyes off the woman heading his way. Her dark skin glowed with sweat from what appeared to have been a run, perhaps before the incident with her ankle. The jogging clothes made him think it wasn’t the hobbling along the trail but pushing herself that had worked her up.

  Her wide eyes glowed with surprise, and his own concern was growing. That ankle didn’t look good. He stepped in front of her and scooped her up.

  “Hey! What are you doing?” She batted at his shoulder, harder than he’d expected. Then she seemed to realize that wasn’t in her best interest.

  “Keeping you off that ankle. I’ve got you.” Though she was tall, he was taller. Though she was fit, so was he. “You’d be easier to carry,” he complained good-naturedly, “if you quit struggling.”

  She frowned at him, and his heart flipped. He was in trouble.

  “I’d be easier to carry if you’d just asked me first.”

  Well, shit. That was a valid point.

  “Apologies,” he said, wondering whether he should set her down, ask, then pick her back up. He settled for holding onto her. “Is this okay? I’m trying to save your ankle.”

  She sighed and thankfully relaxed into his hold as he headed back down the trail with the warm weight of a woman in his arms. He tried to make whatever small talk might be appropriate for this very odd situation. “Are you Risa Caldwell?”

  She nodded, and he noticed that, even though she had relaxed against him, she was still holding herself stiffly in position, making it much easier for him to carry her.

  Ethan turned sideways, avoiding a branch and said, “So tell me about this body you found.”

  “Tripped over,” she corrected him, then turned somber. “It’s a girl.”

  Chapter Four

  Ethan called for an ambulance, despite Risa’s valid protests.

  “I’m a firefighter,” she said. “I don’t need an ambulance. And I’m qualified to know that.”

  “No, you don’t need one,” he agreed, but it didn’t change the fact that he’d already called for one, or that her coworkers might be showing up for this.

  That might be her real issue, but he couldn’t help that. If she was lucky, the local EMT service would be first on the scene, and she wouldn’t have to say anything to her crew. The first responders that he knew were a tough lot and getting caught with a twisted ankle from something as simple as your morning run wouldn’t play well with that crowd.

  “You don’t need an ER or hospitalization, but the first aid kit that I have in my car isn’t going to get your ankle set properly. Are you right about there being a body in the woods?” he prodded, already knowing her answer.

  “Of course I am.”

  “Then we need to get back into those woods. Unfortunately, I’m going to need your help to do that. Which means we need an ankle brace and a set of crutches.”

  “Probably also a steroid injection,” she sighed the words out, resigned to what was coming and proving she did know more about what she needed than he did. Then she looked up at him. “I don’t think ambulances usually carry crutches.”

  “I know. That’s why I requested they bring some.”

  He watched as she frowned at him, clearly not expecting him to be as organized as he was. But what else could he be? His one job was to be ready, and sadly very little had gotten in the way of that. He’d be damned if he was going to screw that up.

  He asked Leah to open the back door of his car, and when he set Risa into the seat sideways, he realized the zing he’d felt when he picked her up wasn’t going away. Though he needed a case, he really hoped there was no body up on the trail. Mostly, he didn’t want anybody to be dead. Furthermore, he was finding he didn’t want Risa Caldwell to be his star witness. He wanted her to be saying yes to him if he asked her out for drinks.

  While they waited for the ambulance to show up, Leah fussed over her friend, asking about her ankle and her mental health. Risa offered up her own clinical diagnosis on both, which in his opinion, was relatively acceptable. Leah continued to fuss, and, as he watched, Risa put up with it.

  Unfortunately, of the four people here, one was an injured firefighter. One, Leah Dev, was a CPA with no medical experience. The third was a forensic scientist—Dr. Grace Lee—so twisted ankles were not her forte, and the last was him—an FBI agent. His medical training involved “Don’t get shot while you’re out in the field.”

  Risa looked up at him. “That was a nice princess carry back there.”

  “Princess carry?” He frowned, not understanding.

  “Yes. A fireman’s carry is much more efficient.”

  He laughed. She would know. What she was calling a “princess carry” had seemed like a more polite way to get her out of the woods. A fireman’s carry was not comfortable for the person being carried. He knew from his own tough training days at Quantico. But still he laughed. “All right. Next time, I’ll toss you over my shoulder and run.”

  At least it made her grin.

  It was another five minutes of her talking to Leah and him asking exactly what she’d seen before the ambulance showed up. Unfortunately, it did sound like she’d stumbled onto a body. She spoke in te
rms that made sense, said nothing hysterical or overwrought, and was clear about what she’d seen. Exactly as Leah Dev had predicted.

  Thirty minutes later, the paramedics from the ambulance declared her set. Her ankle was as braced as they could get it without going to the ER. She’d had the aforementioned steroid injection. And though he wouldn’t have said she was in any condition to hike the woods, that’s where they were going.

  Unfortunately, Ethan had to insist that they go as soon as possible. Though she’d brilliantly documented the body and the scene with her phone, he still needed her to find it again. She was the only one who knew which branches she’d taken on the trails. Without GPS coordinates, her statement that she’d veered off to the left and taken “the better-looking trail each time there was an option” wasn’t going to be enough. He was never going to find the body without her.

  Unfortunately, it looked like the body might be Kaylee Schulte, the local child he’d been searching for two weeks ago. That had been Risa’s guess, too. Once again, it was likely she was right.

  Dead missing children were a much more serious matter than adults, who were often presumed to have gotten themselves in trouble. Kids were considered completely innocent in regard to their status—and thus presumed lost or abducted. That meant that missing kids fell under FBI jurisdiction. Ethan was praying Risa was wrong.

  His star witness was still in her running gear, and Ethan hadn’t seen her eat anything. He wasn’t going to get his lunch after all, so he turned to her and said, “I promise I’ll buy you a meal after this. In the meantime, can I get you to eat a granola bar?”

  She shrugged and graciously accepted the meager offering, though it was more than a little smushed.

  When at last they began to head up the trail, Ethan had to turn around and tell Miss Dev she had to stay put.

  “Are you serious?” She sounded almost outraged that she wasn’t allowed into the middle of what was likely to become an official FBI investigation.

  He tried to be nice. “Those pictures look pretty solid. I can’t authorize a civilian coming along.”

  She’d pouted a moment before accepting that he wasn’t going to change his mind. Then she hugged Risa and asked, “What do you want me to do? Should I wait?”

  “Go home.” Risa shook her head and waved her friend off. “You’ve done so much, and I know you missed some work for this. Thank you.”

  “But what about your car? You shouldn’t be driving, you need to keep that foot elevated, and this hike isn’t going to help.”

  Ethan jumped at the opportunity. “I’ll take care of it. I’m the one who kept you out longer today,” he said, looking back at Risa and wondering what he was going to do about his problem of one very dead body and one very live woman.

  It was almost five minutes before Leah finally pulled out of the parking lot, supposedly headed back to work. She, too, had been dressed for an office job. Only Grace Lee was actually prepared for their expedition. He’d called her from the office, and she’d been ready to head out into the field, dressed to hike, kit in hand.

  Risa, on the other hand, was operating on little food and a twisted ankle. Ethan grimaced at the thought. At least he’d managed to get her some nice crutches, but the trail wasn’t going to be easy.

  It took a full hour for them to reach the body, even with Risa hobbling along with much better crutches than she’d used on the way back. It also included him carrying her up several steep inclines. He had to admire her gumption for taking the route in the first place, and while they walked, she explained that she now regretted it on several levels.

  Though somber, he turned to her. “This is a good thing. If that’s Kaylee Schulte, her family needs to know. It’s better that you found her.”

  When she frowned at him questioningly, Ethan elaborated. “You’re a trusted member of a community rescue organization. They’ll know you did the right thing. No one saw their daughter and ran screaming. Teenagers didn’t poke at the body wondering if it was real. You’re the best person for this.”

  She’d nodded grimly then pointed ahead. “It’s there.”

  Ethan looked up the trail and caught the slight whiff of decay. He’d been around enough dead bodies to recognize it was human.

  His heart sank.

  Chapter Five

  By the time Risa finally made it home to her apartment, the sun was setting. Her day was shot, but damn had it been eventful. She was exhausted, still in her running clothes, and she still hadn’t had the shower she’d expected to get almost ten hours ago.

  “Jesus,” she whispered to herself—finally alone in the small, empty living area. She ran her hand over her short hair. There was still so much to do, but simply hopping into the shower was now a thing of the past. There was also the issue of needing to notify her chief that she was out of commission for a while and call Noelle Gray, her Arson Investigation Trainer. Risa let her head fall back with the frustration of what she was missing out on.

  Luckily, it wasn’t a bad sprain, and she wouldn’t be out long. Unluckily, she’d not been able to do the right thing and treat the sprain immediately. It just hadn’t been possible.

  But, she thought, that little girl’s family had gotten the news today that their daughter was not going to be found alive.

  Risa sobered at the thought. Her ankle would be okay. And she’d eventually gotten food and proper treatment for her sprain. FBI Special Agent Ethan Eames had eventually called another Dark Falls officer to escort Risa back to civilization. She hadn’t heard all the instructions Ethan had handed down, but they apparently included food and a trip to urgent care for an X-ray and a proper boot for her foot.

  By the time she was out of the park, Risa had been incredibly grateful to leave despite the scene unfolding in front of her and her avid curiosity about it.

  As planned, once the ambulance EMTs had her ankle taped up, Ethan Eames had her lead him and Dr. Lee into the woods. When they’d arrived the forensic scientist praised her for not messing with the body. Then she had Risa talk her through exactly what had happened and what she’d done once she realized it was a body. So Risa had crouched down—hard to do on crutches with only one good foot. She pointed to where she had caught her foot and tripped. She showed where she’d brushed away the leaves and seen jeans-covered knees, then pointed to the pale blue sneakers smudged with dirt.

  “I didn’t smudge them. I never actually touched the body or the clothes,” Risa explained carefully.

  The leaves on the upper part of the body—the part that wasn’t hanging across the trail, remained untouched, and she was asked if she thought the body had been disturbed since she had seen it. She didn’t think so, but she pulled out her phone and all three of them checked the scene against her original pictures.

  When she explained that was mostly why she’d taken the pictures in the first place, Agent Eames and Dr. Lee had praised her for her foresight. That had been nice. The dead body of a little girl had not.

  Eventually, Risa was asked to step back, and she’d gladly gotten herself out of the way. She’d tried to find something, a tree stump or a log, to put her ankle up on, and she wound up a good five to seven yards farther down the trail. But she could still hear the two of them talking.

  Grace took professional-style pictures with an actual camera, not like Risa’s. A moment later, though, Agent Eames approached and asked her for her cell phone, then promptly confiscated it.

  Now she was home, and she still didn’t have it back! Risa was fuming. Despite Ethan’s killer smile and that red hair that had just enough length to start to curl—which was somehow both adorable and sexy—that didn’t justify stealing her phone! She gritted her teeth just thinking about it.

  “I don’t have a home phone,” she’d told him, angry. “That’s all I have! I just found the dead body of a little girl, and you just took my only communication.”

  He’d looked at her like she was nuts. Risa had stared back, but once he started talking, she underst
ood.

  “That’s exactly why I took your phone. I can’t let you tell anybody about this. You have pictures of a dead body and evidence on a now classified case. We have to at least notify her parents before gossip gets back.”

  Risa had quickly realized her mistake, and her anger fled. She hadn’t stated her case well. He had misread her, and she would forgive that. She held her hand up to stop him, but he didn’t stop.

  “You can’t share these photos! Have you uploaded any of them to the internet or social media or anything?”

  So much for misreading her, now he was being a dick. She was horrified and insulted all at the same time. She could tell from his expression that her anger was clear.

  “Good God, no!” Her voice came out a little sharper than intended. “I’m not a raving idiot, nor an asshole. No one deserves to learn about their dead child on Facebook.”

  He’d at least nodded, but then he said, “This is a federal case. You can’t talk about it and you can’t leave with a phone full of evidence.”

  She’d still had her foot propped awkwardly on the log, but she’d managed to cross her arms and glare at him. “No shit, Sherlock. What I need my phone for is the fact that somebody killed this little girl, and they might be out there. I just found her, and you’re suggesting that I go back to my apartment alone tonight with no mode of communication with the outside world. What if this killer is watching us?”

  Chapter Six

  Ethan stared blankly down the trail, away from Risa. He had dicked that up royally. Then again, he hadn’t, really. What he’d said was protocol, plain and simple.

  Though he’d royally insulted her by saying she couldn’t spread the word of her find on social media, it had needed to be stated out loud. Even if he trusted her, failing to make it incredibly clear that she could not speak of this to anyone—including her good friend Leah Dev—would not have been acceptable. The law dictated he lay out the rules in no uncertain terms. Any error would lead his superiors to question exactly what he’d said and how, to determine whether his communication was the weak point or not.