TRAIL OF SECRETS

Jewel Caraway thought she’d left her mistakes in the past—but then her past arrives at her door. Though she’s thrilled to reunite with her estranged sister, something about her sister’s new husband makes Jewel uneasy. Does he know her secret? Is he the one behind the growing list of attacks against her? And if he is involved…does that mean her sister is, too? With nowhere else to turn, Jewel must rely on police chief Colin Winters—the first man to make the widow question her resolve to never love again. But will he stay by her side when her guarded secrets are revealed?

Mountain Cove: In the Alaskan wilderness, love and danger collide

Her attacker was back.

Panic sent her pulse racing. Flashlight in hand, she ran to the attic steps, taking the offensive. She wouldn’t be a victim again.

“Don’t move,” she shouted.

But it wasn’t her attacker coming up the steps. Chief Winters came toward her. She should take a step back but she couldn’t move. Something about him had her heart fluttering. He lifted her chin with his finger.

She wanted to tell him what a romantic cliché his action was, but then she’d be admitting her attraction. And she couldn’t admit that. She’d never risk her heart again. Even if she were willing, something stood between them.

“What are you doing up here again?” he asked her.

She couldn’t tell anyone what she’d done, especially not him. “Chief…”

“Jewel, don’t you think it’s about time you call me Colin?”

His voice was so gentle, she could almost forget he was here on official business. But that would be a mistake.

“Colin, I—”

But she never got a chance to speak. A scream tore through the attic.

ELIZABETH GODDARD is an award-winning author of more than twenty novels, including the romantic mystery The Camera Never Lies—winner of a prestigious Carol Award in 2011. After acquiring her computer science degree, she worked at a software firm before eventually retiring to raise her four children and become a professional writer. In addition to writing, she homeschools her children and serves with her husband in ministry.

Deception

Elizabeth Goddard

www.millsandboon.co.uk

As far as the east is from the west,

so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

—Psalms 103:12

Dedicated to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ

who paid my ransom.

Acknowledgments

My heartfelt thanks and gratitude goes out to all those who support my writing endeavors. First I thank my family, of course—my husband and boys who put up with my frequent forays into other worlds without them. We’ve been eating a lot of pizza and fast food lately, I know, but hey, don’t you love it when Mom gets that book money? I also want to thank my dear writing buddies, you know who you are, and my new writing friends—I couldn’t do this without your encouragement and support. And as always, thanks to my amazing editor, Elizabeth Mazer, for her insights into making my manuscripts the best they can be. Last and never least, I appreciate the encouragement from my agent, Steve Laube. Signing me as a client (has it already been over five years?) was a huge validation to me as a writer. Thanks, Steve!

Contents

COVER

BACK COVER TEXT

INTRODUCTION

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

TITLE PAGE

BIBLE VERSE

DEDICATION

Acknowledgements

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

Dear Reader

EXTRACT

COPYRIGHT

ONE

Dead Man Falls

Mountain Cove, Alaska

Edging closer to the precipice that overlooked the plunging waterfall, Jewel Caraway risked a glance down. Vertigo hit. Dizziness mingled with worry.

Meral and Buck should have beaten Jewel to the falls where they had planned to meet up.

“Meral!” she yelled.

The roar of the water that cascaded hundreds of feet below drowned out her calls, sucking them down with the rushing water. A foaming whirlpool twisted where the frothing, tumbling force pounded the pool at its base. Misty spray drifted up and enveloped Jewel in a sheen of moisture. The sound of her voice could never compete with the rumbling growl of the cataract.

She tugged out her cell phone before she remembered she would get no cell signal here. The only signal she ever had was in Mountain Cove proper. She put the cell away, her gaze drawn back to the waterfall.

Powerful and dangerous.

Beautiful and terrifying.

Dead Man Falls was a force to be reckoned with. That was if one were to take the plunge and get sucked into the swirling torrent at the base.

Kayakers had attempted to navigate the drop and failed.

Part of a rainbow, transparent and fading into the mist, caught her attention. Mesmerized, Jewel stood at the edge of the rocky, moss-covered ledge that was flanked by spruce and hemlock, firs and cedars in the lush, temperate rainforest. She watched the churning at the bottom of an endless vortex that would trap anyone or anything unfortunate enough to fall. She wondered what secrets it held in its depths—then flinched at the memory of how she had buried a secret of her own and never thought about it again. That was until Meral, the sister she hadn’t seen since Jewel had eloped twenty years ago, had arrived on her doorstep with her new husband.

And now they were both missing.

“Meral!” she called again. “Buck!”

Uncertainty roiled inside, tumultuous like the falls.

Those two had gotten lost somehow, which seemed impossible. They’d been hiking together when Jewel realized she’d forgotten her water and had needed to go back. They had gone on ahead of her on the well-defined trail, and the plan had been they would stop at the falls and wait until Jewel could catch up. Where could they have gone?

A twig snapped. Before she could turn, a blunt object smashed into her back. Pain erupted along with her scream as the force of the blow propelled her forward.

Airborne, Jewel plummeted through the clouds and mist, feeling as if her stomach had been left behind on the cliff’s edge.

Terror was catching up with her.

The spray of the waterfall engulfed her. At the last possible moment, she dragged in a breath and fell into the jaws of the beast she’d admired with a healthy fear only moments before. The wrath of the whirlpool plunged her deeper, twisting and tossing, bashing her against sunken boulders.

Dizziness and nausea held her captive within the vortex. The pounding water pushed her deeper, then turned her over again in the same way a crocodile rolled its meal to make it tender.

I’m not ready to die!

Lungs burning, Jewel shoved down the fear. The most important thing she’d learned from self-defense classes with local police chief Colin Winters was not to panic. The violent water was nothing more than an assailant bent on harming her. She could only escape by slipping out of its grip. On the fringe of consciousness, Jewel did a flutter kick, swimming with all her might, and forced her body down and deep below the backwash.

Then she felt it.

The smooth water.

She’d escaped!

Disoriented, unable to tell which way she should go, she allowed the current to sweep her downstream and away from the falls. Jewel opened her eyes and fought through her exhaustion to try to swim toward the surface.

I can do this.

But fear and doubt clawed at her, threatening to drag her down and keep her under. Her lungs burned and screamed as she fought her way to the surface. And in that moment, the instance before she breached, she saw rocks and trees blurred at the top of the ledge from which she’d fallen...along with a figure. A human figure.

She’d thought, she’d hoped, that a branch had fallen from a tree and somehow shoved her in the back, sending her over to plummet into the river.

The way the figure stood there, the wide, deliberate stance, she knew...she knew that he or she had pushed Jewel. Intentionally shoved her into Dead Man Falls to what should have been her death. And she hadn’t made it to safety yet. She could still die today in this river.

Why? Why had she been pushed?

The figure disappeared in the thick canopy even as the current dragged Jewel away.

Finally breaching the surface, she pulled in a breath and braced herself for a new battle to survive the river with its multiple tiered rapids and falls.

Jewel couldn’t be sure how long the river had taken her captive. How long she’d allowed herself to be carried away, floating on her back in order to save her energy for that moment, that one moment, when she might have a chance to escape. Except her reserves were almost depleted.

That moment hadn’t come.

How much longer could she keep her head above the rushing torrent?

Her limbs grew tired and numb, even with her effort to conserve energy. She searched the bank for calmer waters to swim toward. A branch to grab. Anything.

She needed out of the water before she hit the rapids and another set of falls.

God, help me!

Just ahead she spotted the trunk of a dead tree, branches sprawling and reaching. This was her chance and likely her last one before the rapids. Before she drowned.

Jewel reached, but the current, ripping and swirling as the rapids approached, twisted her away. She had no control over her own body. Her own life. She wouldn’t be able to grab the trunk.

Jewel was going to die. Despair engulfed her.

Excruciating pain stabbed across her shoulder and back. Her body suddenly jerked and her forward momentum stopped. Something had caught her. Wrenched her from the river’s grasp.

Stunned, recoiling in pain, Jewel twisted around. A branch from the fallen trunk had snagged and cut her deeply, but had saved her life even as it had wounded her. She held on with everything in her.

This was the chance she’d been hoping for. She wouldn’t lose it. After coughing up more water, she dragged in air and allowed a measure of relief to set in. Now to pass the next test.

This was no time to rest. She had to get out of the river.

She gripped the slick trunk and pulled herself up, higher out of the water until only her legs were beneath the surface. Slowly, she inched toward the bank.

Her left hand slipped, and she let out a cry as she slid deeper into the water. But she reached again, grappling with another branch to keep from slipping completely back into the river’s grasp. If only she weren’t already so weak from her injuries and exhaustion.

Finally, she reached the rocky outcropping of boulders hugging the bank and pulled herself out of the river completely. Laying flat across a slick boulder, Jewel rested her gaze on the swift river and its endless push toward the deeper waters of the channel.

I made it out. Thank You, Lord.

Jewel rallied and pushed to her knees to climb over more boulders. Every ache, every bruise, every scratch and sprain screamed in agony as the numbing power of cold water that had served as an anesthetic now seeped away.

Free of the rocky edge, Jewel crawled until the river was no longer a threat and fell face forward into the mossy loam. She clung to the dirt, breathed in the earth. She’d made it this far, and she would be grateful for small things.

She wouldn’t think about getting out of the wilderness. Maybe by now Meral and Buck would have reported her missing.

How long would they wait until they called for help? How long would it take that help to find her?

Terror snaked over and around her like a living, deadly vine and squeezed. It would crush the life out of her if she let it. She shoved her growing fear down and focused on surviving. She’d escaped the river and would draw confidence from that.

But it wasn’t just nature she had to contend with. Another danger loomed out there somewhere. Someone had pushed her into the falls. They could still be out there.

Had they watched the river carry her away? Were they tracking her now, on the verge of approaching to finish her off?

The pain in her back throbbed in rhythm with her innumerable other injuries. If the person who’d tried to kill her found her here now, nearly incapacitated after fighting and surviving Dead Man Falls and the river, Jewel wasn’t sure her self-defense classes would do her a bit of good.

But she held on to the hope they believed she had drowned in the falls as per their intent.

Since Tracy—her friend and previous employee at Jewel’s Bed and Breakfast—had dealt with a vicious stalker about two years ago, a visceral fear had taken over Jewel, a dread that followed her everywhere with the awareness of just how easily danger could get close. It had taken them all far too long to realize that the stalker, who had hidden his appearance from Tracy, had actually been staying as a guest at the B and B.

Jewel had taken the self-defense classes, hoping to instill confidence in her ability to protect herself and to push away fear. Yet now that fear twisted deeper, hooking her full and well.

If help didn’t arrive soon, Jewel would have to spend the night here and rest before she could find her own way out. She crawled forward and into the brush to hide, hoping it would be enough camouflage if the person who’d tried to kill her came looking.

* * *

All Chief Colin Winters wanted to do was take the week off. The month. Or maybe even the whole year. What would it feel like not to answer a phone? Not to have an endless list of problems vying for his attention?

But when his cell rang and he spotted the fire chief’s number, he answered.

“Winters.” Something in David Warren’s voice had Colin on edge.

“What is it?”

“It’s Jewel Caraway.”

Colin’s heart seized up. He couldn’t speak.

“She went into the river at Dead Falls Canyon.”

As police chief, Colin was trained to push down the panic and act. But at this news he couldn’t move, couldn’t think. He pressed his hand against the wall for support. “Is she...”

“Someone called the state troopers, and we have an incident number. North Face Mountain Search and Rescue is on the scene, and I’m calling you. I knew you’d want to know immediately.”

Colin heard the meaning behind David’s words. David was aware that Colin thought Jewel was a special woman. They all did.

They hadn’t found a body, but his relief was short-lived. Dead Man Falls deserved the name.

Colin had already exited his office and was making his way to the back door to get into his Jeep.

“We’re meeting at the trailhead by the mouth of the river.”

Sherry, the dispatcher, called after him. “Chief! Chief!” He ignored her.

“I’m on my way,” he spoke into the phone.

When he plowed through the back door, a truck screeched to a stop in the parking lot.

“I figured you would be.” David leaned out the open window.

Colin shoved his cell in his pocket and climbed in. He’d let the new fire chief drive. Though he was anxious to get to the river and be part of the search, his hands trembled. He wouldn’t be any good at the wheel. Nor did he want David to see how he was struggling with this news. It hit him much too personally when he had no right.

David swerved out of the parking lot and onto Main Street, going over the speed limit, but Colin wasn’t about to stop him. This was an emergency.

“You doing okay?” David glanced his way intermittently.

Colin barely nodded. “What happened? Do you know?”

“According to Tracy, she went hiking with her sister and brother-in-law. I don’t know what happened or how she fell in.”

“She’s a skilled hiker. Knows what she’s doing.” So how did this happen? He couldn’t reconcile this with what he knew about her.

“I hope she’s a better swimmer,” David said.

Colin thought he would be sick. God, please let her survive.

But it seemed impossible.

Twenty aching minutes later, David parked his truck at the boat dock. Colin hopped onto the Warren family boat. Others from the North Face Mountain Search and Rescue team had already left for the scene. But David, who was on the team, too, had stayed behind, knowing Colin would want to be there.

“Thanks, David.”

David started up the boat. “For what?”

“For waiting. For taking me there.”

“Of course. You’ve saved my skin countless times. You were the one to figure out who had put Tracy in danger.”

All part of the job. “Still, I appreciate it.”

“I knew you’d want to help find Jewel.”

The wind whipped over his face as the boat sped away from Mountain Cove. Colin stared ahead, going through all the possible scenarios in his mind, except the worst-case scenario. He couldn’t think about finding Jewel’s body.

The boat ride took far too long, and he was glad others had gotten to the trailhead and started the search before he and David arrived. Kayaks and other boats rested along the shore, all empty, all except one. Cade Warren—David’s brother—stood on the deck hovering over maps. Colin followed David over to the boat and climbed aboard to speak to Cade, who was in charge of the search at the ICC, or Incident Command Center.

“Anything?”

“Nothing yet.”

“Tracy’s here with Solomon,” Cade said. “You knew that, right?”

David straightened. Grinned at his brother. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. Jewel means the world to Tracy. Solomon’ll find her.”

Colin wasn’t surprised to hear the news. David’s wife, Tracy, was trained at search and rescue, as was her dog, Solomon. Plus, she used to work for Jewel at the B and B until the twins came along, and had a close relationship with her employer. It made sense that she’d rush out to help as soon as she learned what had happened.

“Where are they?” Colin asked.

Cade pointed at the map. “Sent them off here to search the riverbank. Later, we’ll be looking...”

When Cade glanced up at Colin, he let his sentence trail off. He was glad Cade decided not to finish. He didn’t want to think about dredging the river or this channel for a body. He was glad he wasn’t in charge of the search.

Hopping off the boat and onto the small deck, he left David and Cade behind.

“Winters! Where are you going?”

“What do you think? I’m going to look for Jewel.” He marched up the trail.

He didn’t have time for pleasant conversation.

“Hold up.” David left Cade behind to follow and jogged up to him.

Colin didn’t wait for him, hiking up a few yards, then veering off into the forest to the left toward the river. That raging, deadly river.

David gripped his arm. “We’ll find her, Winters. Though I have to say,” he added with a frown, “I didn’t realize you were in this deep.”

“What are you talking about?”

Tracy rushed up to her husband. Breathless, she pointed. “I think Solomon’s found something.”

Colin and David followed Tracy through the woods, around trees and fallen trunks, over rocks and boulders to Solomon’s bark and whine. Colin tensed at the dog’s signals. He knew Solomon had finally gotten certified as a cadaver dog.

He braced himself, unsure what they would find—a living, breathing Jewel or her body.

TWO

Something wet slid across her nose, eyes and mouth. Jewel stirred and tried to turn over to defend herself, but a bone-piercing throb coursed through her wrist.

A dog’s whimper and continued licking steadied her breathing. Calmed her fear. She recognized the animal.

“Solomon.” Her voice didn’t sound like her own.

Footsteps, twigs snapping and breaking, resounded through the undergrowth on the river’s edge.

“Jewel,” Tracy said. “Are you all right?”

Relief swelled inside. “Depends on your definition.”

Tracy spoke to someone nearby and then radioed others that Jewel had been found.

“Shouldn’t you be home with your babies? Your twins?” Jewel managed.

“Grandma Katy needs her time with them. Besides, you had to know I would come looking for you. Solomon and I.”

“Jewel!” A familiar, masculine voice joined Tracy’s.

Jewel heard the immeasurable relief in his tone. That ignited her heart. She was alive. She had survived.

“Chief Winters,” she croaked. Colin. She had always called him by his official title to keep personal feelings out of it. To keep her distance. Otherwise, the man could undo her resolve to protect her heart.

Her bruises throbbed with any movement or effort on her part. She squeezed her eyes shut, unwilling to look at him.

“We’re here now, Jewel. You’re going to be okay. You just rest now.”

As other SAR members arrived and focused in on Jewel, they crowded him out and away.

“No! No... Chief Winters.” She reached for him.

He stepped forward, closer again.

“I’m here, Jewel. I never left.” His electric blue eyes pierced hers, concern and relief spilling from them. “What is it? What do you need?”

“Someone pushed me into those falls.”

Anger rose in his gaze and maybe a little disbelief. “Can you describe him?”

“No... I...”

Chief Winters grabbed her hand. “Whoever it was, we’ll find him, Jewel. Don’t you worry. You’re in good hands now. I have to go and make sure nobody else gets hurt.”

Then he slipped out of the way of her search and rescue friends. Jewel endured the poking and prodding and assessing and finally the hefting and assisting her back to civilization.

On the helicopter ride back to Mountain Cove, Jewel closed her eyes, wanting to forget what had happened, wanting to pretend it had simply been a bad dream. Wanting to wake up with a body free of pain and evidence of the nightmare. But she couldn’t let go of the blurred image of the person she’d seen standing at the top of the falls.

There hadn’t been room for Chief Winters on the helicopter, and maybe she was glad about that so she would have time to think about what she’d seen exactly before having to answer his questions. But he was probably searching for who could have done this. Making sure others were warned a crazy person was out there.

At the small Mountain Cove hospital clinic, Doc Harland attended to all her bruises and scrapes. He didn’t like the look of the deep gash along her shoulder and back from the fallen tree trunk’s branches, but she knew that though painful, that injury had saved her life.

That particular gash needed stitches. Her sprained wrist was already wrapped. Doc assured her it would heal within a few days.

“Hold still, dear.” Doc Harland had anesthetized the gash so she couldn’t feel the needle pricks as he stitched her up. “You aren’t afraid of needles now, are you?”

“I can’t stop shaking. My body has a mind of its own. I’m sorry.”

“No need to apologize. You’ve had a scare. We’ll give you something to calm you if you like.”

“No, thank you.” Jewel needed to stay alert. Figure this out. “Are Tracy, Meral and Buck still out there in the waiting room?”

“Far as I know. You want me to send someone to check?”

“No.”

“I’ve treated a lot of folks in my life, but never anyone who has gone into those falls and survived. What happened out there?”

“If it’s all the same to you, Doc, I’d like to forget about it.” Jewel stared at the sterile wall. She might want to forget, but she knew she couldn’t.

“I want to run a few tests. Draw some blood. But not today—you’ve already been through enough. I want to see you back in a week to look at those stitches and your wrist. We’ll get the blood then.”

Was Doc wondering if she had some sort of medical condition that had caused her to fall?

“There. All done.” Doc Harland flipped down her gown.

“Jewel?” Meral peeked through the door. “I brought you some dry clothes.”

“Come on in,” Doc Harland said. “I’ll leave you to change.”

Doc Harland nodded and left to give her privacy.

Meral set the clothes—a pair of jeans, teal T-shirt, light jacket, shoes, socks and undergarments—next to Jewel. “I’m so sorry, Jewel. If we’d just stuck together this would never have happened.” She wiped at the remnants of tears on her cheeks.

She started to hug Jewel, but then acted as though she’d thought better of it. Jewel must look terribly beat up and bruised. Admittedly, a hug would hurt right now.

Meral, short for Emerald, was in her thirties and ten years younger than Jewel. She’d been a teenager when Jewel had run away to marry Silas. Beautiful as she was, she looked fragile and pale at the moment.

“Are you okay?” Jewel found herself asking.

“I’m feeling nauseous. Buck insists on taking me back now. Are you almost ready?”

“Sure, I just need to change.”

“You need help with that?”

“No, you go on now. I’ll be out in a minute.”

Meral nodded and left Jewel. Poor thing. She probably didn’t know how to take what had happened. Jewel wasn’t sure she did either. It was hard to comprehend.

Jewel took far too long to get into her clothes. Every movement, every twist and bend of her body hurt. She risked a glimpse in the mirror over the sink.

Big mistake.

She didn’t even recognize herself.

Someone knocked softly on the door. Meral had timed it just right. They were both ready to get home. But how could Jewel let her guests at the B and B see her like this?

“Come in.”

The door opened and in stepped Chief Winters, standing tall and intimidating in his official tan police uniform.

Her pulse jumped.

Whether from being startled at seeing someone other than Meral, or if it was her reaction to Chief Winters himself, she wasn’t sure.

Seeing him here, clearly concerned about her, brought her more pleasure than it should.

She reminded herself he wasn’t here for personal reasons but to question her officially. But she wasn’t sure she was ready. Everything that had happened was starting to blur together.

What had she really seen? Had she simply imagined the figure on the ledge?

Chief Winters stepped completely in and closed the door behind him. His electric blue eyes always saw everything, and now they flashed with a powerful emotion. Before she could define it, the emotion was shuttered away.

What was the man thinking?

Jewel averted her gaze. She didn’t see the chief of police often outside the self-defense class. And in the class she tried not to think about how tall and rugged he was, or the confident air he had about him. He was in his late forties, the same age as her husband, Silas, would have been if he hadn’t died a decade ago. Silas and Chief Winters had been friends, not close, but friendly enough that they were on a first-name basis. And he’d always been warm and friendly to her, as well, and somewhat protective after Silas had died. All the more reason to keep her distance.

Jewel hung her head for a moment, instinctively, hating for him to see her like this, but then she quickly lifted her chin and faced him. She couldn’t let him see how he affected her. She was surprised to see that today something new burned behind his gaze, and it wasn’t warm or friendly. It was downright terrifying.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Checking up on you. You had to know I’d come. How are you, Jewel?”

“Did you find them? The person who pushed me?”

He shook his head. “Not yet. I know you’re tired and hurt, and this isn’t the best time, but I’m going to need you to think about what happened and tell me everything. Start from the beginning. Who pushed you into the falls?”

“I don’t know.”

Jewel wanted to scream. She wanted to cry, but she wouldn’t do that in front of Chief Winters. She missed Silas—wished she had someone here to hold her. She wanted to feel strong arms around her. Someone to tell her everything was going to be all right. That someone hadn’t just tried to kill her, and she was only imagining things. And in a moment of weakness like this, Colin Winters was the only man who could fulfill those needs.

But she couldn’t let him in that deep.

She’d lived in Alaska long enough that she was well aware of how to take care of herself. She’d run her B and B near the edge of the wilderness for more years than she wanted to admit. She wouldn’t give in to that weakness.

I know how to survive.

I can do this.

Chief Winters stared at her, waiting patiently. She’d always liked that about him. But how did she answer his question? What could she tell him that would make any sense?

* * *

Jewel moved to sit in the chair against the wall. Colin didn’t rush her, giving her a moment to think on the details of what had happened.

Some days Colin hated his job, and today was one of those days. He hated having to pry answers out of people—especially people he cared about personally.

“Accidents happen, Jewel. People fall where they shouldn’t all the time, including in the shower, where some die every year.” He hated himself for this, but he had to ask her. He had to be certain. “Are you sure someone pushed you?”

She stared at the floor. Was she thinking it through?

Seeing Jewel like this undid him. Unraveled him from the inside out.

Jewel Caraway was a beautiful woman. One of the most beautiful he’d ever seen, and that included on the inside, where it mattered most. She was beautiful like Katelyn—a woman he’d loved—had been. Had a quiet elegance and grace about her, and the most captivating hazel-green, gold-flecked eyes. Colin shouldn’t be thinking about her in that way, but he couldn’t stop himself. Had never been able to stop himself for as long as he’d known her.

Except today, circles darkened Jewel’s eyes, and her usually shiny, ash-blond hair was askew. Her face was bruised in a way that turned his stomach into knots.

He was the police chief, but he was a man, too, and Jewel had caught his attention the first time he’d met her. She reflected light like a precious gem. Her parents must have known she would when they had named her. She carried herself with the confidence of experience, but she’d never looked a day over thirty to him, though she was in her mid to late forties just like Colin.

Then he remembered himself.

In a professional capacity he’d come to make sure she was all right. But his true interest in her went deeper, even though he’d never let himself act on it. Her husband had been a friend, and Colin had never let his mind or heart stray before. Nor would that happen now, even though she was a widow.

In his eyes, she’d aged ten years in the past few hours. Colin thought maybe he’d aged that much, too. Maybe more.

She could have died out there.

She pressed her face into her palms, her shoulders shaking. He’d never seen her undone like this, but it was understandable. Colin lost it then, too. He pressed his hand against her head, felt the softness of her hair. His heart thudded against his ribs.

“Please, Jewel. Talk to me.”

She drew her face up, and her haggardness caught him afresh, sending a new pang through his chest.

“Meral, Buck and I had gone kayaking. They just got married and arrived two days ago. Were excited to be here and wanted to see southeast Alaska. She’s my sister, and I haven’t seen her in twenty years.”

Jewel seemed to regret her last words, which came out rushed. An outburst to cover some deeper emotion hidden away? He’d let her tell him that story another time. Yet maybe there was something here that played a role in what had happened today.

“Go on,” Colin said, nodding.

“We secured the kayaks in the bay and decided to hike up to the falls. We planned to be out for a few hours. A day at the most. I forgot my water and went back to get it. Buck and Meral went on ahead. I said I’d catch up to them. Meet them at the falls where the trail stopped. From there you could choose between two other trails, and I didn’t want them to go farther without me. It shouldn’t have been so complicated.”

“And were they at the falls when you got there?”

“No. I stopped to watch the waterfall. Silas liked to explore waterfalls. Maybe you remember that we used to travel around to see the falls in the region, even as far south as Ketchikan. He liked to study them. Kayak over them, if possible.”

“And what about you? Did you enjoy that, too?”

She shook her head. “I’m not into thrills.”

No. He hadn’t thought so. She was adventurous, yes, but was more the kind to enjoy the beauty rather than the challenge of nature.

“So did you call for Meral and... What is his full name again?” She’d only given her brother-in-law’s first name when she’d mentioned him earlier. Colin didn’t want to be too invasive. Let her tell the story. He hadn’t met Buck yet. Apparently he’d just missed the man and Jewel’s sister when he’d got to the clinic.

“Buck Cambridge. Yes, I called out for them when I made the falls, and they were not there. I heard a twig snap behind me. Before I turned, something slammed into my back.”

Colin hated thinking about the bruises that covered the rest of her, if her face was any indication. “I’m just glad you survived. It seems...”

“Impossible. I know.”

For a moment, Colin let himself visualize her battle, experience it with her. If he let himself think about it too long, he’d be visibly shaking, trembling like she was.

“Tell me the rest.”

“After my initial panic, I swam beneath the backwash and let the current pull me away from the churning falls. I swam toward the surface to get air and happened to glance to the top of the falls.”

“And what did you see?”

“Someone. Just a figure. My vision was blurred by water, but I saw someone for a split second before the water pulled me away.”

“You sure it wasn’t Meral you saw, arriving after you’d fallen in? She was the one to call this in. Her quick thinking got the search for you going.”

Jewel closed her eyes. After a moment, she shook her head. “I don’t think so. No, I’m sure it wasn’t Meral. The jacket she’s wearing is too bright—even though I couldn’t make out the face of the person I saw, that color would have caught my eye. It was the person who pushed me in. They were standing exactly where I’d been before being pushed.”

Colin hated that her story could be picked apart, especially since she appeared so frazzled. And after his experience in Texas, he resolved to look at the facts and only the facts. He couldn’t go on gut feelings alone.

Jewel’s experience and what she’d seen could be based entirely on her emotional state. But this was Jewel Caraway. Writing her off wasn’t something he was willing to do. Colin would take her seriously. If someone truly had tried to kill her, then he would do everything he could to make sure she was safe.

He frowned. “Was the person you saw male or female?”

“I couldn’t tell.” She looked up at him again. “You do believe me, don’t you?”

“Of course.” He believed she wasn’t deliberately lying, but could her memory be faulty? Eyewitness stories almost always conflicted. Everyone had his or her own perspective. Had Jewel really seen someone? And had that person pushed her?

“Did you see anyone else on the trail during your hike?”

“No.”

“I’ll need to question your sister and her husband.” He wouldn’t divvy this out to his officers. No. This investigation belonged to Colin.

“Of course. They’re waiting out there. I’m surprised you didn’t already meet and question them. They are still out there, aren’t they?”

Colin let out a slow breath. Would she be disappointed if he told her they had already gone? A fact he found strange. What was more important to them than Jewel’s well-being?

“Oh, wait. Meral wasn’t feeling well.” Disappointment edged her voice. “Maybe Buck wanted to get her home. Maybe they decided not to wait for me to get dressed.”

Colin’s throat tightened. Nice guy. “I’ll take you home, Jewel. Don’t worry. Now can you think of any reason why someone would try to kill you?” Maybe this wasn’t a random act, though he couldn’t think of a single enemy she would have made. She was kind and generous, and her guests always raved about their experience at the B and B. But if he’d learned anything as a twenty-five-year police veteran, it was that everyone had dry bones buried in the backyard. As hard as it was to believe, Jewel would be no exception.

“I almost wish I did. Then it would be easy to find out who pushed me.”

Colin agreed. “In that case, I don’t want you to be alone until we figure this out. Do you understand?”

“That should be easy enough to comply with. After all, my sister is here now for a short visit.”

Colin didn’t bring up that she was supposed to be with her sister when someone had tried to kill her—Meral hadn’t been any protection for her then. At any rate, maybe her sister and husband would stay until this investigation was closed. “Come on. I’ll give you that ride home now. Doc give you some scripts?”

“Yeah, painkillers and an antibiotic, I think.”

“Fine. I’ll get you home first, then I’ll run those over to the pharmacy for you.”

Jewel stood, ready to leave, her confusion over the day’s events evident, mingling with exhaustion from the strain on her beaten body. Colin was glad to be the one to see her safely home. If it was actually even safe. He’d determine that when he arrived.

He pursed his lips, envisioning what he wanted to do to her attacker or attackers once he got his hands on them, and before he put them in a jail cell. But that was all it was—a vain imagining.

He opened the door and assisted her out to the waiting room, where they found Tracy with David. Tracy said she had encouraged Meral to go back to the B and B, seeing that she wasn’t feeling well, reassuring them that she and David would get Jewel home. Colin could see the relief in Jewel’s eyes that she hadn’t been abandoned, but all Colin could think was Tracy and David were behaving more like family to her than Meral and Buck. While Jewel thanked Tracy for finding her, Colin talked to David about going back to the falls to look around.

Then he ushered Jewel through the exit where his Jeep waited and assisted her into the passenger seat, taking care he didn’t hurt her. On the drive back, he took the bumps and the potholes slowly and carefully.

Anger boiled beneath the surface at the thought of her injuries. At the thought of someone actually trying to hurt her. At the image of someone pushing her into those falls.

He would have to prevent them from trying again.

But he knew firsthand how difficult it could be to stop a killer. He’d attempted and failed before, and as a result, Katelyn, the woman he’d planned to propose to, had been murdered.

And he’d known all along who had wanted to kill her, and still Colin hadn’t been able to prevent her murder. With no idea where to even look for Jewel’s attacker, how was he going to be able to keep her alive?

THREE

The next morning, Colin walked the trail with one of his officers, Terry Stratford, along with Cade and David Warren, who were friends and had been part of the search and rescue for Jewel.

He almost wished Dead Falls Canyon, both the river and several waterfalls, were far from town, where they’d be less of a danger to the people under his jurisdiction, which included the city and borough of Mountain Cove and encompassed two thousand square miles, most of that wilderness in the Tongass National Forest.

But the majestic scenery and unparalleled adventures of the region were all part of the package. The splendor, the pristine nature and magnificent views brought tourists. One of the many reasons people chose to live here.

But beauty had turned deadly more than once.

After his officers and forest rangers had searched the area yesterday and came up empty-handed, he’d decided that Jewel’s attacker was long gone, and there wasn’t reason enough to close off the whole region to nature enthusiasts.

Today’s revisiting of the crime scene hadn’t turned up any evidence or clues either, so far. Jewel’s party hadn’t been the only one to hike the trails or view the falls, so there was no way to try to trace anyone’s tracks.

Colin maintained a keen sense of his surroundings in case someone was watching him. He had that sensation as they hiked the trail, but it could simply be curious hikers wondering what had brought the police out on the trails today.

They’d walked the five-mile circular trail that led to the top where Jewel claimed to have stood and looked down. This was some of the most beautiful scenery in the world, and now it would likely be ruined for Jewel unless she could somehow put those events out of her mind.

He was asking for the impossible. Colin had moved to Mountain Cove to escape his own devastating experience in Texas. He hoped Jewel wouldn’t have to take such drastic measures.

Under normal circumstances, he’d have his officers roam the woods now, searching again for evidence, rather than coming out here himself. He had enough paperwork stacked on his desk and phone calls to answer to last a lifetime, and the tourist season was only beginning.

But this wasn’t normal. This was Jewel Caraway. The thought of losing her, that moment when he’d thought she could have been dead, had forced him to look deep, even though he knew he couldn’t make it too personal and had to tread carefully.

As police chief, loving someone would only cloud his judgment and get someone killed one day—he’d already paid that price. He would never let that happen again. He found it easy to care about someone from a distance, but better not to care at all.

David and Cade stood next to him, staring down at the crushing force of rushing water. Listened to the roar. Felt the moisture cloud envelop them. No wonder she hadn’t heard someone approach from behind until the instant before impact. And she certainly hadn’t known to be wary of someone who would push her over.

“I’m still wondering how nature could push a body under and keep it there, and that body still survive,” Cade said.

“Maybe it’s more the nature of God that she survived.” It was easy to believe that Jewel had a special place in God’s heart like she had in Colin’s.

“Why would someone try to kill her?” David asked. “Was it just a random act of violence?”

He voiced the question they were all wondering, but had no answer for yet. David had endured a fight to protect the woman he loved not long ago and understood better than most there had to be a reason. A secret not shared.

Finding the person responsible for the attacks against Tracy had taken far too long. Colin could still hear the questions from the city council echoing in his ears, and they mingled with the new questions. The same questions.

What are you going to do about it? How are you going to stop it before it happens again?

* * *

Two women approached the falls from the trail, pulling Colin from his thoughts. He nodded to David, Cade and Terry. They’d seen enough for now. They moved away from the falls and headed back down the trail.

“What do you know about her sister and brother-in-law?” Colin asked.

“Not much,” David said. “They’re newlyweds, I hear. I imagine it means a lot to Jewel that they’ve come to see her, since she’s been estranged from her family for a long time. Once when Silas and I were out fighting wildfires in the interior, he shared a little about Jewel. What a rare find she was.”

Colin wouldn’t argue with him there. Her name said it all.

“She comes from a wealthy family, and they didn’t think Silas was good enough for her. When her parents made it clear they disapproved of him, he almost walked away. He loved her too much to tear her away, but in the end, he’d been selfish, after all. He couldn’t let her go. They were young and impulsive.”

“And that’s why she hasn’t been in touch with her family all these years?” Colin asked.

“They didn’t give her much choice—her family disinherited her when she chose to marry him.”

“What kind of parents did that? Disowned or disinherited their child?” Cade asked.

“That’s just weird,” Terry spoke as he led them down the trail.

Colin couldn’t say much. Guilt and shame over how he’d treated his own family had followed him here to Alaska. He’d left his parents behind in Texas and, as they aged, his sister was forced to take sole responsibility for their care. Colin hadn’t been much of a son or a brother, but after what happened, he saw himself as a burden to his family—one they would be better off without. They must see what he wanted to forget every time they looked at him.

“She left it all behind—her family and the wealth—to follow Silas to Alaska.” David kicked a rock down the path.

“I can see why he would think she was special,” Colin said. “She must have loved the man deeply. It’s not easy to live here or to give up your family. To give up wealth on top of that.”

“You know, she could love deeply again, right?” David studied Colin.

Cade and Terry walked together up a ways. Colin was glad they hadn’t heard David’s question. He was just prying into Colin’s personal thoughts. Either that or nudging him toward a place he had no business going.

They’d almost made the trailhead where they would kayak back to Mountain Cove, following the path Jewel’s group had taken in their search. Colin eyed his friend. Understood the meaning behind his words.

“Jewel deserves someone far better than me.” And if she had a wealthy family, she was more like Katelyn than he’d realized. That wealth had come between them more than once. Her wealthy family had questioned his investigation, blamed him for her murder as if he hadn’t already been weighed down by it.

“So what do you think? Who do you believe is a suspect?”

“Hard to say at this point. The fact she has a wealthy family could be motivation for murder.”

“But how if she’s been disinherited?” David asked. “There has to be more to the story.”

“There always is.”

* * *

Meral had gone down to the kitchen to get Jewel a cup of green tea. Jewel was glad to have a minute of relative privacy. She was glad that she had people who cared about her enough to want to help her, but the hovering was already starting to feel overwhelming.

She definitely didn’t like being confined to her room, even though her body was sore and she needed to recover from her injuries. Not to mention she had guests to attend to, but neither could she let any of them see her like this. She’d give it a day or two, leaving running the B and B to her staff, and hope it didn’t take a week for her bruised body to heal. Jewel would give anything to forget about the fall and her injuries and to go back to life as usual. She needed normalcy. To get that, she would have to stop taking the painkillers. They made her groggy, and she couldn’t think straight.

When she sat up, dizziness swept over her. She made the mistake of glancing in the mirror over the dresser, and her mouth dried up.

Chief Winters saw me like this?

She shoved thoughts of what he must think of her out of her mind. His opinion shouldn’t count. She couldn’t care about that. After Silas’s death, she almost hadn’t survived the heartache. She’d given up her life and family to be with him, and now all she had left of that life were memories and heartache. The price of loving someone was too high.

She couldn’t survive that pain again.

So for now she had to focus on other things until the unwelcome feelings in her heart went away.

One question nagged her. Why would someone want to kill her? Had it simply been random? Or had she been targeted? Jewel had no enemies that she knew about. No reason for someone to push her over.

Unless...

My secret.

Jewel pressed her hands over her heart. God, please no. She needed the secret to remain dead and buried. She wasn’t the same young woman who had made that mistake. Besides, no one knew about it, so no. That couldn’t be it.

She was back to her question. And she didn’t know why someone would try to kill her. When she was a child, her parents had taught her to be on her guard, not to trust easily, because there were too many people in the world who might try to hurt her or kidnap her because of their money. But it had been years since that had been an issue for her. No one in Alaska had even known she’d once been wealthy. Until Meral and Buck arrived a few days ago.

Now suddenly her life had been threatened.

Could the two incidents be related?

And what of Meral’s new husband, Buck? What did Meral really know about the man?

Jewel should be ecstatic that she had a second chance with the family she’d given up to come to Alaska. She thought she’d gotten over that hurt, too, until Meral. She wanted to be happy to see her sister, who had only been fifteen when Jewel had left. In fact, she had not known how much she’d missed her family.

But something was wrong. Very wrong. She should thank Buck Cambridge for bringing Meral—a wedding gift, he’d said. He’d found Meral’s long-lost sister. But Jewel wasn’t sure she really wanted to be found.

Something about Buck disturbed her. He didn’t look at Meral the way Jewel’s husband had looked at her when they’d fallen in love.

But who was Jewel to judge? How could she bring up her misgivings about Buck with Meral, a sister she barely knew? They were only just reconnecting. Getting to know each other again. It wasn’t her place. She wouldn’t do anything to destroy this chance at having her family again. If Jewel questioned her sister about Buck, then she would sound just like their parents had sounded when Jewel had fallen in love.

Those memories came rushing back, crushing the breath from her.

Jewel shoved from the bed. She wouldn’t do that to Meral. She’d give her sister—a grown woman in her thirties, an experienced woman who had already been married before—the benefit of a doubt.

Jewel would let Chief Winters investigate and see what came of it without mentioning her suspicions about Buck.

She could trust Colin Winters. He was a good man and a good chief of police and had served Mountain Cove well. Maybe there were some in town who blamed him for the rise in the crime rate in recent years, accusing him of not being hard enough on suspects and criminals. Then others blamed him and his officers for using too much force. So much pressure from the community pushing him in different directions had to be brutal on him.

Jewel had never blamed him. People wanted to remove God from the equation of life and expect law and order to reign in His place. Without God ruling people’s lives, there was only chaos.

The words snagged at her heart, bringing to mind her own shortcomings. Her own hidden secret. She needed to check on it—see if it was still safe. Jewel peeked out the door into the hallway. All clear.

Jewel’s bedroom was on the second floor. She tiptoed up another flight of stairs. Though unintelligible, Meral’s voice could be heard, along with Katy Warren’s, drifting up from the kitchen.

Katy was here? The grandmother and matriarch of the Warren clan was a dear friend, and Jewel wanted to go down and greet her, but now that she had a moment alone—something she might not get for a while—she needed to take a good long look at her past.

The one she’d buried, tucked away forever, safe and sound.

Creeping to the end of the hallway, she gently pulled down the stepladder to the attic. She climbed up into the hot and stuffy room. She flicked on a light to add to the sunlight spilling through a dirty dormer window at the far end.

A raccoon had tried to nest up here, and Jewel had come up to chase it away on more than one occasion, but other than that, she hadn’t been up here for months.

Dust motes and cobwebs had taken over the space. Jewel brushed away the webs as she moved. When Silas had bought the B and B, he had believed it would keep her occupied so she wouldn’t worry about him traveling to fight wildfires. They’d hoped to turn the attic into an office or another room for a guest. Instead, it ended up serving as storage for old furniture and collectibles that Jewel planned to use to refresh the B and B decor, switching things out for seasons or special occasions.

And when he’d been away, she’d stored her more valuable collectible—if you could call it that—not just in the house but with the house.

If the house burned to the ground, her valuable would survive.

Jewel headed for the far corner, dreading what she was about to do. Acid churned in her stomach.

She moved a trunk, feeling an ache through her back and across her legs and arms. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. She might accidentally tear the stitches and open up that nasty gash.

Plus, moving the trunk had made too much noise. She had to be quiet, or Katy and Meral would hear her movements.

Creak.

She froze. Her pulse jumped.

The sound had come from the attic. The rafters settling beneath the simple plywood flooring? Or something—someone—else?

At the falls she’d heard the snap of a twig right behind her. Shuddering, she slowly turned to look. See if someone was there, fearing what would happen if they were. She couldn’t see the steps down into the hallway for the boxes and furniture stacked in her way.

Ever since Tracy’s attacker had stayed in the B and B, Jewel had known she needed more protection than the rifles stored in a gun closet or a 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol tucked away in her nightstand. She had needed to train in self-defense in case a day ever came when she would have to protect herself without the use of a firearm.

Granted, none of that had come in handy at the falls, except maybe to give her confidence to swim her way to freedom. Would she find herself using that training now? When she heard nothing more, she looked at the wall where the item was hidden behind a plank and reconsidered. Maybe she wasn’t in the right frame of mind to revisit the past.

But there was only one reason Jewel could imagine someone would want her dead. She hadn’t wanted to think about it, but as the walls of the attic closed in around her, she had to face the truth.

Another creak had her stiffening. Preparing for the worst.

“Who’s there?”

How could anyone have come up here with her? She would have heard them, right? “Meral, is that you?”

Her knees shook. She was far weaker than she wanted to be. Too weak to deal with her secret right now. Jewel would come back another day. Maybe when Chief Winters returned from his look at the falls she would tell him everything.

Except he would be disappointed in her, and she didn’t think she could bear that. She made her way through the maze of junk, heading for the steps out of the attic.

The sense of a presence and the rush of wind were all the warning she received. Someone grabbed her from behind, wrapping an arm around her neck.

There was no doubt as to his intention—to choke her to death.

Her pulse skyrocketed. Heart pounded.

But Chief Winters’s words penetrated the fear that gripped her mind and body.

First, don’t panic. Take slow, deep breaths to relax. Then assess what is happening. But do it quickly. A quick reaction can save you.

Breathe. She had to breathe. Hard to do. When. He’s. Choking. Me.

Second, grab his arms. Drop your weight.

She let herself drop, but his grip didn’t waver.

Stomp on his foot.

Jewel jabbed her heel into his foot. Then she tried to move. That was the whole point. Move and slam her fist into his groin. But he kept her pinned tightly.

She couldn’t budge. Her stomp made no noticeable difference. Again. She tried again.

Next she raised her arm, preparing to turn into her attacker and strike him with her elbow. She’d practiced this and had been successful in class demonstrations. But her attacker seemed to expect her every move and squeezed her tighter, holding her in a vice.

Breathe.

She couldn’t breathe.

Darkness edged her vision. Bright pinpoints of light sparked across her eyes.

She struggled and twisted. Had to try something else.

If you can’t get away, try to head butt. Grab his ears, nose, anything to gain an escape.

Jewel threw her head forward and then back against her attacker’s face. His grip loosened enough for Jewel to break free. She pushed forward and away. Took off running as she gasped for oxygen. No time to stop or even scream.

Had to put distance between them. Escape. She had to get away.

She ran for the only exit.

But he slammed into her back. Toppled her. Jewel fell forward, her body slamming hard against the floor. Pain sliced through her, exacerbating her previous injuries. His body weight pressed heavily against her. His breath was hot across her neck.

God, please, no!

Lungs still burning, Jewel screamed, releasing what little air she’d grabbed.

She couldn’t catch her breath, but there were two things she needed to know. “Who are...you? What do you want?”

Voices resounded from below.

Katy and Meral had heard the ruckus.

Jewel tried to scream again to let them know where she was. “Help—”

Boxes toppled, slamming down on her bruised body. Crashing into her head.

Darkness engulfed her.

FOUR

It was late afternoon by the time Colin steered his Jeep up to the B and B. Terry headed back to the police station to finish paperwork, and Cade headed home to his son, little Scotty, and wife, Leah, who was pregnant with their second child. But David had ridden along with Colin and would pick up his truck and Katy, his grandmother. Colin stepped from his Jeep and studied the house. Picturesque and peaceful. A bald eagle soared above the property. Trees rustled in a cooler-than-usual August breeze.

David climbed from the Jeep and walked around, waiting on Colin. “Quiet on the outside. I just hope there’s nothing wrong on the inside.”

“That makes two of us.”

Colin noted David’s truck and Jewel’s Durango parked to the side. He didn’t see Meral and Buck’s rental, which caused him concern. Meral had promised to stay with Jewel, but maybe her husband had the car and was running errands in town. Colin had met Meral earlier—as beautiful as her sister but several years younger—but he had yet to meet Buck Cambridge.

He wanted to know more about the husband. Meet the man and get a sense of him. See his interactions with his wife and sister-in-law.

Colin had watched Meral with Jewel and could easily see she loved her sister. In his mind, in his gut, Meral wasn’t a suspect, though she’d been conveniently missing, as had her husband, when Jewel had gone into the falls. Regardless, Colin refused to depend on his gut feeling. He’d get the facts.

He and David headed to the porch.

“What are you going to tell her?” David asked.

Jewel would be disappointed they still knew next to nothing. He didn’t like to heap more pain on her injuries.

“I’ll reassure her we’ll do our best to find whoever did this.” Colin opened the front door and stepped into the foyer.

Cell in hand and eyes wide, Meral rushed forward. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re here! It’s Jewel...” Meral fumbled and dropped her phone, but didn’t bend to pick it up. Instead, she ran away.

Colin glanced at David, his heart plunging to his knees, and took off after Meral. “What’s happened?” he called after her.

She ran up the stairs and called back to him without pausing. “She’s hurt.”

And then another flight of stairs.

“But what happened? Does she need medical attention?”

“Maybe. Boxes fell on her. I don’t know what happened. We just heard her scream and found her in the attic. I came downstairs to grab my phone and was calling 911 when you came in.”

Colin shoved past Meral and climbed the short steps up to the attic, where he found Katy hovered over Jewel. With unshed tears in her eyes, Katy looked at Colin. “She’s alive.”

Katy moved away and Colin took her place. He shoved the boxes away from Jewel to make more space. None of them were crushingly heavy, but they’d done damage nonetheless. Carefully, he examined her injuries, then realized his mistake.

What am I doing?

He moved out of David’s way.

David was a paramedic firefighter, and Colin let him determine if Jewel could be safely moved. David examined her, then started to lift her to carry her from the attic.

“Let me do it.” Colin carefully slipped his arms under her neck and knees. Holding Jewel close and tight, Colin stood, kicked junk out of his way and headed for the steps out of the attic.

In the hallway, he glanced at Meral. “Where’s her room?”

Meral led him down another set of stairs to the second floor and then into a warm, cozy room decorated with quilts and nautical decor. He gently laid her on a rumpled bed.

“Jewel, wake up.” God, please let her wake up. Please let her be okay.

“Did you call for help?” he asked. He remembered Meral dropped her cell phone when she’d seen him.

“Well... I was about to. I thought... You’re here.”

“She needs to see a doctor.”

“We could take her in. Would be faster than waiting.” David began assessing her injuries, focusing on her head. He had the credentials and experience, after all. Much more than Colin.

Yet Colin didn’t want to relinquish Jewel’s well-being into anyone else’s hands.

“Right here, feels like she has a fresh knot on her head.” David moved aside. “She likely has a concussion.”

Colin ran his hand over where David indicated, his fingers weaving into her soft hair, searching. “See if you can get Doc Harland out here. I don’t think Jewel wants to go back to the hospital.”

Katy and David shared a look that he didn’t like. He wasn’t giving Jewel special treatment. Was he?

“I’ll call Doc. See what he wants us to do.” David snagged his cell from his pocket and went into the hallway.

While David turned his attention to the call, and Meral and Katy spoke in hushed tones, Colin focused on Jewel. Lord, please let her be okay. He didn’t think his heart could take any more loss. If he’d thought he’d toughened up enough over the past twenty years since coming to Alaska to flee his bad experience in Texas, he’d been wrong.

Why had this happened on top of yesterday?

“Ladies, please tell me what happened.”

Katy pursed her lips. “Well, I don’t exactly know. We were in the kitchen.”

“I’d come down to get Jewel some tea.” Meral frowned.

“I thought we agreed she wasn’t to be left alone.” He eyed them both.

“But how could I have known that meant I couldn’t get her tea? That I couldn’t leave her room? Or that she couldn’t leave her room? I just went to get tea. It shouldn’t have been so hard.” Meral pressed her face into her hands.

“No need to blame yourself.” Guilt hit Colin for being too tough on her. “I’m just trying to protect Jewel and get to the bottom of all this.”

“To be fair, dear—” Katy sent a regretful glance Meral’s way “—we’d gotten caught up in chatting. Maybe I kept you too long.”

“Chief Winters, I’m so sorry this happened,” Meral said. “We heard noises coming from above us. I thought I heard someone cry out, so we came first to Jewel’s bedroom and that’s when we discovered she was gone.”

“Then we heard the awful crash.” Katy sat on the edge of the bed. “We ran up to the third floor and found the attic door hanging down.”

“And so we climbed the steps and found Jewel covered in boxes.” Meral fidgeted. Glanced out the bedroom door. Was she waiting on Buck? Wondering where he was? Colin certainly was. This was the second time the man seemed to be missing when Jewel was hurt.

“She could have been crushed.” Katy rubbed Jewel’s leg as if coaxing her to wake up.

“The boxes weren’t heavy enough to crush her.” But there she was in the bed, unconscious, regardless. Colin didn’t want to think about what could have happened. “I don’t know why she’d go to the attic, but she’s not in any condition to move around an obstacle course.”

A moan escaped Jewel’s lips.

He turned his attention back to her. Pressed his hand against her face. Felt her soft skin. “Jewel, can you hear me?”

Her eyelashes fluttered.

“Jewel, wake up. It’s me, Colin...er...Chief Winters.” His heart was getting the best of him. “Doc Harland is on his way.”

He hoped.

“He is,” David confirmed from behind.

When her lids finally opened, he could see the pain in her eyes. “I know, hon. I know it hurts.”

“Again?” Her question came out in a groan.

“Looks like it, yes. But you’re going to be all right. You hear me?”

“No, no, I’m not.”

“Don’t say that. You’re just fine. You have a concussion probably, and a few new bruises, but nothing worse than that. Doc will fix you up right as rain.” Colin sounded as if he was grasping for hope.

“Doc can’t fix what’s wrong with me.” Jewel frowned, clearly in pain. “Someone is trying to kill me.”

When had Jewel decided she was the specific target?

Colin eased onto the edge of the bed, sitting closer. It should feel wrong, him sitting here like this when Jewel had her sister and Katy Warren to comfort her. What was Colin doing? Hadn’t he decided he shouldn’t do this? But one close call too many had the protector in him coming out and rearing its big head. The comforter in him that he hadn’t realized resided inside was taking over.

“I’ll find him. Don’t you worry. We went to the waterfall today. We’ll find out who did this.” He hadn’t wanted to bring that up yet since he didn’t have any real leads to share, but it was all he could think to do to reassure her. His words portrayed more confidence than he’d felt, though. “In the meantime, you need to rest and recover before you start exploring on your own.”

Jewel opened her intense hazel-green eyes and turned them on Colin. His heart jolted in his chest. He couldn’t remember a time when his heart jumped into his throat this high, this forcefully. Jewel grabbed his hand on her face. “Don’t coddle me, Chief Winters. Forget about the waterfall. He was in my attic.”

* * *

Surprise mingled with disbelief in the police chief’s eyes. That hurt Jewel more than she wanted to admit.

“You’ve been injured, Jewel.” He reclaimed his hand, leaving a cold spot where warmth had been. “You’ve had a knock on the head. Think about what you’re saying.”

She wanted to tell him that his words upset her. But then she’d be admitting out loud that his opinion was important. Meral watched her, sympathy carved into her beautiful features. Did she think Jewel had imagined it, too?

“But we were all here. How could someone have been in the house without us knowing about it?” Meral asked.

“How could he have hidden in the attic all this time?” Katy joined the doubters. “We would have heard the noise.”

“You did hear noise,” David said.

“Yes, but only for a minute or so before we heard the crash.”

“I thought I heard you scream.” Meral pressed her hand over her mouth, eyes wide. “You think...you believe...he was here?”

Jewel grabbed her forehead and slowly sat up, ignoring Chief Winters’s protests, along with those of Katy and Meral.

“I don’t think. I don’t believe. I know what I’m saying. I know what I saw. I know that I fought an attacker. I know what I experienced before I was knocked out. This time, he tried to strangle me. I got free for a second, only he tackled me before I could reach the door. But I think Meral and Katy scared him off when they responded to my scream and the noise. Maybe he thought he’d killed me. He could have done just that. I should be dead right now.”

She turned her eyes to her sister and Katy. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Chief Winters lifted her chin, his touch light and gentle. He looked at her neck and his frowned deepened. Then his eyes shot back up to hers, the scolding in them well and alive. “You walked right into that attic without being suspicious or careful. You were told not to go anywhere alone.”

She knew he was right, but she couldn’t help defending herself. “I’m not accustomed to sitting around and doing nothing. I don’t like others waiting on me. I have work to do. Besides, it’s the middle of the day and this is my home. I wasn’t expecting to find an intruder in the attic.”

“You weren’t expecting someone to push you into the falls either.” He crossed his arms, leveling his gaze.

She turned away, but avoided that stupid mirror. “At least my guests are still out and about. This didn’t happen with any of them here.”

“And maybe that’s the exact reason he thought he could attack you in the middle of the day here in the B and B. That could be the reason he thought he wouldn’t get caught. But at least you got a look at him this time. Do you know who did this?”

“He attacked from behind. The attic was dimly lit, and the small window doesn’t give much light. I fought him, but he was strong and finally I had to head butt him to get free. I didn’t have time to look back—I just ran, but he toppled me.”

She eyed the nightstand drawer, wanting to pull out her Glock and hold it, keep it close, but she didn’t want to scare the others. Jewel shook her head and stared at the floor, remembering how it felt to fight for her life. Her breath caught. What good was self-defense if she couldn’t win that fight? She fully expected Chief Winters to give her some lecture on the correct moves, what she had and hadn’t done right.

Instead, his voice was gentle. “You did well, Jewel, using what you’ve learned to escape. You can’t expect the real experience to be like what we practice in class, though we can try. So take comfort in the fact you’re likely alive at this moment because you were able to fight back.”

She nodded. It gave her a measure of relief, though not much.

“You called your attacker a he,” Chief Winters said. “So you know it’s a male this time.”

“Yes. Of that I have no doubt.”

“Height, weight?”

“Taller than me by half a head or more. Strong, but not muscle-bound. Heavier than me.”

Chief Winters resisted the urge to hang his head. Her description wouldn’t do them much good, but it was more than they’d had before.

“Just one more question, Jewel.”

She rubbed her arms. Doc Harland appeared in the doorway, his brows furrowed.

“What’s that?” Jewel directed her question to Chief Winters but stared at that good doctor, wishing he would come in and save her from an interrogation.

“Why did you go to the attic?”

Why indeed.

She must have blanched, because Doc came all the way into the room, looking concerned. “Any more questions can wait until later. If everyone wants to give us some space, and Jewel some privacy, that would be appreciated.”

Everyone left except Chief Winters.

Doc gave him a stern nod. “And you, Chief. Can I see my patient alone?”

Chief Winters complied with a frown, but the look he gave Jewel told her she wasn’t off the hook. He expected an answer to the question. Jewel didn’t have one she felt comfortable delivering.

When he left the room she sighed with relief. Doc Harland paused, stethoscope midair, and looked at her. “It can’t be that bad, Jewel. You just relax. This has been too much stress on you. Falling into the river and now taking a tumble in the attic.”

How much did Doc Harland actually know?

Jewel nodded as he rambled.

“Tell me where you hurt the most.”

How could she possibly explain? More than physical pain, the emotional pain of being assaulted in her own home overwhelmed her. There were no words.

And now she could only think of one reason someone had attacked her. Jewel wished she had a confidante. Someone she could trust enough to share her secret. If she’d trusted Silas enough those twenty years ago, then maybe this wouldn’t be happening to her now. Maybe someone wouldn’t be trying to kill her.

FIVE

Frustration roiled inside as Colin crept up to the attic with a flashlight. He’d have to wait for answers from Jewel, so he’d use the time to see if the attacker had left behind any evidence.

What had Jewel been doing up here? What had been so pressing to drag her out of bed when she’d been through so much already?

Downstairs, Meral had gone to see Katy out. A nurturer, Katy had wanted to stay and help Jewel, but David insisted on taking his grandmother home. Evidently, she was already booked as a babysitter, thanks to Heidi and Isaiah Callahan.

Mountain Cove had some good people, and that encouraged Colin, kept him going when so much else seemed to be deteriorating into chaos and crime. Katy Warren and her entire family were pillars in the community and they had proven themselves to be his friends. He could always count on them.

Katy had that glow about her—loving the great-grandmother years now that they had finally arrived. For too long she hadn’t been sure any of her grandchildren would marry. But they were all happily settled now, growing their families with healthy, happy babies for her to spoil. Little wonder she was a spry one for her age.

He only hoped he could be as active when that time came. But if love and family were what kept someone young, then his prospects looked bleak.

He’d never fallen in love and gotten married after losing Katelyn, and he had no legacy. No children. He hadn’t allowed himself to think on those things. How did Jewel feel about children? She and her husband had never had them. Had they agreed not to, or was there some other reason? Or had Silas’s life been taken from him too soon? That seemed the most probable explanation. As if it was any of Colin’s business.

He shoved away the errant thoughts and focused on his investigation and protecting Jewel. He couldn’t think of anything that was more important to him at this moment.

In the attic, he flipped on the soft lighting, then added to it as he shined the flashlight beam around where Jewel had fallen. Where the attacker had possibly stood to strangle her. The dusty floor was too disturbed in the scuffle to get any footprints.

Colin wished he had gotten an answer to his question. Why had Jewel come to the attic? Had she heard a noise and come up to investigate? He couldn’t believe she would have done that alone after what had happened. Unless she thought it was that raccoon that kept nesting.

That had to be it. She hadn’t been thinking about a possible intruder, only about protecting her investment. She needed to start thinking about her safety now. The B and B was secondary. Or was it tertiary now that her sister was back in her life?

Meral held a special place in Jewel’s heart, and from a family who had hurt her, too. Disinheriting, disowning someone had to have cut Jewel in a way Colin couldn’t fathom. And now the sister and husband had suddenly shown up. Why now, after twenty years? And why was Jewel’s life in danger right after they arrived?

He didn’t want to rely on instinct, but neither did he believe in coincidence.

Why would the attacker have come to the attic? To hide? Or was there some other reason? Making assumptions was never a good idea. Colin walked around shining the light on boxes and old luggage, trunks, furniture, toys, knickknacks—some of which he’d seen decorating the B and B over the years. She could have come up here to think on moving some things down. One fact he had—he wouldn’t solve this until Jewel answered some very pointed questions. He wished he had a crime-scene division to gather fingerprints. But Mountain Cove had no budget for that. Investigating this would take good, old-fashioned police work. And anyway, gathering prints didn’t always give an answer or paint the correct picture.

Colin made his way back downstairs to look around the rest of the house for clues. He was torn between hoping that Doc Harland would give him the free and clear to question Jewel further and hoping he’d be told to leave her alone for a while longer. Every time he looked at her, asked her a question, he felt as though he was beating her up. She needed to recover fully, and Colin wasn’t helping.

But she would keep getting hurt until he found the person attacking her. And to track down the culprit, he needed answers.

He heard voices downstairs. A male voice that didn’t belong to David. Maybe one of the guests had returned? Or had Meral’s husband, Buck, finally shown up?

Colin made his way to the first floor and found Meral in the kitchen in the arms of a man nearing fifty, a good ten if not fifteen years older than Meral, around the same age as Jewel and Colin. They both tensed when they saw him. Meral stepped out of the man’s arms.

“Hello, Chief Winters,” she said. “This is my husband, Buck Cambridge.”

Stepping forward, Colin held out his hand to shake Buck’s. The man had a strong grip in return. Well-groomed, graying chestnut-brown hair and a beard framed his mostly square, tanned face. About the same height as Colin—five foot eleven. Stocky but solid. Brown eyes stared back at him, measuring. Gauging.

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