Holiday on the run...

Can they prove her innocence?

DNA technician Dani Jones can’t believe she’s being framed. But there’s no other explanation for the illegal drugs in her trunk—or the deadly target on her back. Though former DEA agent Gideon Marshall has learned to stay guarded, he won’t let Dani go down without a fight. But can Gideon and his retired drug-sniffing dog make sure she survives long enough to clear her name?

JAYCEE BULLARD hails from Minnesota, where a thirty-degree day in January is reason to break out short-sleeved shirts. In the ten years since graduating with a degree in classical languages, Jaycee has worked as a paralegal, an office manager and a Montessori teacher. An earlier version of Framed for Christmas won the 2016 ACFW Genesis award for Romantic Suspense. Check in and say hi on Facebook at Facebook.com/jaycee.bullard.1.

Also By Jaycee Bullard

Framed for Christmas

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Framed for Christmas

Jaycee Bullard

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-08629-5

FRAMED FOR CHRISTMAS

© 2018 Jean Bullard

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

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“I just found twenty kilos of cocaine in the back of your van.”

Dani blinked. Twice. And then asked him to repeat the statement.

“I found ten bags of cocaine in the trunk of your vehicle.” Gideon enunciated each word with careful precision. “Actually, Lou did. I’d estimate its street value to be close to a million dollars.”

She gave a gasp of surprise. “Your dog found cocaine in our van?” This had to be a joke. “Is he some sort of supersecret agent canine trained to sniff out drugs?”

The muscle flexing along Gideon’s jaw and the firm set of his mouth showed that this was no laughing matter.

“He is. And he’s got the medals to prove it. It took him less than five minutes to locate the stash of drugs hidden with the Bibles. Ironic, don’t you think?”

Her mind scrambled to make sense of this information. She supposed that, if true, it was rather ironic, but at the moment, that was the least of her concern. “Who put them there?”

“I was hoping you could tell me.”

Dear Reader,

It was 1985 when forensic scientists first tapped into the evidence encoded in our genes—DNA. Unique as fingerprints, samples of blood, hair, bone and tissue discovered at a crime scene could be analyzed, and a match to a likely suspect could be made. Over the past thirty years, DNA testing has become standard procedure in cases like the one involving Dani’s sister. It was this evidence that enabled police to find her murderer and bring closure to her grieving family. No wonder Dani dedicated her life to unlocking the mysteries of DNA.

Although I am not a scientist, I have always been fascinated by DNA. How incredible to consider these intricate details of God’s creation, which were once hidden and are now evident for all to see. We have only to look to Genesis 4:10 to find a hint about the information God has concealed in our genes. “And He said, ‘What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.’”

Thank you for joining Gideon and Dani on their winter adventure. I’d be honored to hear from you. You can email me at JayceeABullard@gmail.com, or friend me at Facebook.com/Jaycee.Bullard.1.

Warm regards,

Jaycee Bullard

To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

—Jude 1:25

Dedicated to my family. Mom and Dad, Nate, Clare, William and Nick. Paul, Jenny, Jen and Mallory. I couldn’t have done it without your love and support.

To my friends and colleagues at SPTS—Mark, Jim, Jeff, Courtney, Chris and Kathy—thank you for giving me those Thursday afternoons off to work on my writing. It meant more than you can know.

And to Dina Davis, my editor at Harlequin. I am deeply grateful for all your kindness and support.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Dear Reader

Bible Verse

Dedication

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

EPILOGUE

Extract

About the Publisher

ONE

Dani Jones kept her head low as she lifted the nozzle from the fuel tank and set it back on the pump. It was a simple task, but her hands were trembling as she fumbled with the gas cap, trying to screw it on tight. Her eyes flickered toward the tan SUV parked behind her. It was the same vehicle that had been following her since Iowa. Same plates, same driver and passenger, with their ball caps pulled low and their eyes determinedly avoiding contact. She took a deep breath and repeated the familiar words that always steadied her nerves and calmed her racing heart. “I am safe. God is with me. No one is trying to hurt me.”

It had been more than fifteen years since her twin sister Ali’s brutal murder. Fifteen years without a single incident. She hadn’t been mugged, attacked or threatened in any way. But none of that mattered. The anxiety remained.

She inhaled. Exhaled. But she couldn’t relax. The weather had taken a turn for the worse, and the small canopy over the pumps offered little protection from the blowing snow. Squeegee in hand, she set to work swiping through ribbons of sludge on the van’s rear window, until a reflection in the glass caused her breath to hitch. The tan SUV behind her was no longer stationary. It was steamrollering forward on a collision course with the back of the van—and her.

Her knees buckled and panic threaded through her senses.

“Stop!” Her strangled cry had no effect. “Hit the brake!” she screamed as she raced to dodge the speeding vehicle. She stumbled onto the raised curb seconds before the SUV slammed into her bumper with a bone-cracking thump, ramming the van forward into the lot.

Indignation trumped fear as she sprinted toward the vehicle, brandishing the dripping squeegee. “Do you know you almost hit me?” she yelled. Her answer came in a spray of pebbles and slush as the driver spun into Reverse and headed toward the exit.

Seconds later, the kids in her mission group tumbled through the service station door. All seven of them in a gaggle of oblivious teenage excitement, sliding along the snow-covered pavement, their voices loud and high-pitched as they raced through the lot and climbed into the van. Their boisterous enthusiasm distracted her from the feelings of unease swirling in her stomach. Why hadn’t the driver seen her? Had his brakes failed, or was it something more sinister? Surely the accident hadn’t been deliberate. But then, why the rush to flee the scene? She could have been pinned between the vehicles. Crushed. Broken. Dead.

But she couldn’t allow herself to think about that now, with the blizzard increasing in intensity and streams of white powder roiling across the road. There was nothing to do but forge ahead. They were less than fifty miles from the nearest town, and more than an hour from their destination. Slow and steady, that was the trick. She just needed to stay alert until they reached the reservation.

She climbed back into the van and signaled her turn onto the highway, her eyes darting in every direction, searching for signs of the tan SUV. So far so good. She tightened her grip on the wheel and directed her focus to the road ahead. An hour passed, and still there were no other cars behind her. According to the GPS, they were five miles from the town of Dagger Lake. Just in time, too. Visibility had decreased to near zero, and thick flakes were blanketing the windshield as quickly as the wipers worked to clear her view. In the rearview mirror, she could see the faces of the kids in the back seat. Two hours ago, they were laughing and singing Christmas carols, but now seven sets of worried eyes watched her every move.

“We’re almost there.” She tried to sound reassuring, but she was finding it hard to disguise the anxious tremor in her voice. Dread coiled up within her as a set of headlights flashed in the mirror, closing in fast. “Once we make the turn onto 81, we’ll—”

The rest of her sentence hung in the air. A bump shook the chassis, and the van heaved forward, spinning onto a sheet of black ice and careening sideways across the pavement. Frantically, she tried to remember what she had been taught when she learned to drive.

Foot off the accelerator.

Steer in the direction of the slide.

It sounded good in theory, but the tires felt like skis, locked in position and built to glide. Her hands cranked the wheel all the way to the left, but the van was out of control. A second later, the hood tipped off the road, and they were headed down a steep embankment on a slow-motion roller-coaster ride through a pillowy quilt of snow.

She pumped the brakes in a desperate attempt to avoid the tall pine that had appeared out of nowhere directly in their path. The tree loomed larger and larger as the teens in the back seat shrieked in fear. In three seconds flat, her brain went from white-knuckle terror to stunned relief as the brakes finally engaged and the van lurched to a stop just inches from the spiky trunk.

She took a steadying breath and turned to check on the kids.

“Everybody okay?” She craned her neck to peer into the back seat. It was suddenly very dark inside the van as a shower of soft flakes fell from the branches and covered the windows with a frosty mantle of snow.

“We’re all fine,” Josh, one of the younger boys, reported. “If we had been moving faster, it might have been fun.”

Fun?

Stuck in a snowdrift somewhere in North Dakota in the middle of a raging winter storm with no bars on her phone and no way to call for help. Fun wouldn’t be the word she’d have chosen to describe their predicament.

A sense of dread washed over her as she tried shifting into Reverse, but the vehicle’s back wheels only spun deeper into the rut.

“Do you want us to get in front and push?” Josh asked.

It was a tempting thought. But mixing seven excitable teens, a five-thousand-pound conversion van and a thirty-foot tree seemed like a recipe for disaster.

“Maybe we can try it as a last resort.” She gave the teenager an encouraging smile as she rechecked the reception on her phone.

There was a sudden movement outside the van as a patch of gray light opened up on the windshield, courtesy of a flat yellow mitten pushing away the snow. Her heartbeat revved as she conjured the faces of the men in the tan SUV. Had they followed the van down into the ditch? A scream caught in her throat as the circle grew wider to reveal the face of a huge hairy stranger with icicles dangling from his beard. White clouds from his breath lingered above his frozen eyebrows, and she stared at him with openmouthed alarm.

She peered through the windshield, her body frozen with indecision. She needed to think fast while dusk was still a memory in the darkening sky. Pulse racing, she slid sideways on the seat and turned to face the kids. “Sit tight while I check things out.” As she pushed the door open and stepped outside, a mini avalanche of snowflakes fell on her head.

“Are you okay?” the man asked in a voice that was low and husky. “Lou and I were coming through the trees when we saw you take a nosedive into the ditch.”

Lou? Who was Lou? She looked past him into the white wilderness but didn’t see anyone else. Still, the stranger’s concern was heartening. Relief bubbled up in her throat. “Did you notice another car on the road?”

He shook his head. “With the whiteout conditions, the highway was a blur. Why? Was there some sort of problem?”

“I felt a bump right before the accident, and I thought that maybe...” What exactly had she thought? That the tan SUV had pushed the van off the tarmac? Given the slippery road conditions, the idea seemed far-fetched.

“Miss Jones?” Lucy’s piping voice trilled from the back seat, pulling Dani’s attention to the van. “Are we still going to the reservation?”

“I hope so.” Dani turned to once again face the stranger. “Any chance you have a vehicle that can pull us out of here?”

He shook his head. “My truck is out of commission. Even so, it would probably take something with a lot more horsepower to haul a van of this size out of a ditch.”

She reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell. “I thought about calling for a tow, but I haven’t been able to get any reception. Do you have a landline we could use?”

“Sorry. I don’t. I heard on the radio that all of the cell towers are down.”

Helplessness washed over her. Something nudged her from the side, and she turned to find a massive German shepherd intent on checking her out. She flinched and took a step closer to the open door. So, this was Lou. The shepherd growled softly and watched her through glowing eyes. Her back stiffened. This probably wasn’t a good time to mention her fear of big dogs, especially ones who seemed determined to push their way uninvited into the van.

The man must have sensed her unease, because he looped a mittened hand around the edge of the dog’s collar and held him fast. “Lou and I seem to be forgetting our manners. The name’s Gideon Marshall, ma’am.” He raised his voice to be heard over the gusting wind.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Marshall. I’m Dani Jones. The kids and I are headed to the Dagger Lake reservation as part of a mission outreach from our local church.” She looked up at the dark sky through the thick flakes that seemed to be falling faster by the minute. “But it doesn’t look like we’re going to make it tonight.”

“My cabin is just across the ridge. You’re welcome to camp out on my floor until you can arrange for a tow.”

Then he smiled, and, despite his huge stature, there was something warm in his crinkling brown eyes that quelled her anxiety.

Lou strained against his master’s hold, nudging his large wet nose closer to the van’s open door. A stinging gust of wind flicked the end of her scarf across her face and issued a sharp reminder of the dwindling number of options available to her at the moment. She needed to make a decision, and fast.

She stuck her head into the van to address her charges.

“Hey, gang. Mr. Marshall has invited us to crash at his place until we can call for help. Bundle up, grab your gear and get ready to go.”

The winds were picking up speed as they climbed up the embankment and began the slow trek to the cabin. Packed-down footholds merged into three-foot-high drifts where the wind had pushed the snow willy-nilly along the path. Dani tried not to overthink her decision to trust the grizzled backwoodsman, but her imagination was running wild, picturing their destination as a run-down shack filled with animal skins and mounted antlers. Or worse.

Gideon strode ahead, undeterred by the blowing and drifting snow. Behind him came a line of stragglers slipping and sliding as they struggled to match his pace. Dani slowed so that she could walk with Lucy, at twelve and a half the youngest of the group. The girl’s face was crumpled, and she was on the verge of tears.

“What’s going to happen if we don’t show up for the opening ceremony at the reservation?” Her voice trembled. “Will someone call our parents and tell them we’re missing? What if we get stuck here and don’t make it home for Christmas?”

Dani squeezed the young girl’s hand through her glove. “No worries, Luce. By tomorrow night, this will all seem like a great adventure.”

Or a bad memory. She shivered as a trickle of snow melted into the liner of her thin leather boots. Clearly, she should have chosen more appropriate footwear when packing for this trip, but she hadn’t expected to be trekking through a foot of hard-packed snow.

She was panting from exertion by the time they reached the top of the ridge where Gideon stood waiting, his arm stretched out, pointing toward a thick stand of pines. From a distance, the neat little cabin nestled in the center of the grove of trees looked like a scene painted by Thomas Kincaid. To the left of the main building was a barn with a red roof, and set back in the trees, a small garage. Billows of smoke poured out of the cabin’s twin chimneys, offering the promise of a warm fire and protection from the storm.

Gideon caught her surprised look and smiled.

“I built the place two years ago when I retired. From here it looks small, but inside there’s a large open space where you and the kids can bunk for the night.”

“You’re retired?” Josh sidled up beside them and joined the conversation. “I thought you had to be at least sixty before you did that.”

“Most people are,” Gideon said. “Not me.”

Josh nodded, accepting the answer, but Dani sneaked a surreptitious glance at their host. He walked with the easy gait of someone accustomed to a lot of exercise. She’d guess his age to be late thirties, at the oldest, though it was difficult to tell through his insulating gear.

And then there was the beard. Bristly, untrimmed and peppered with flecks of gray, it looked like a throwback to a different age. But none of the kids seemed bothered by the fact that their host was twice as big as any of them, and three times hairier. They were smiling as they made their way down the ridge, joking about their rescue from the storm. But try as she might, Dani couldn’t help feeling just a little bit nervous about entrusting their lives to a stranger, especially one as large and imposing as Gideon Marshall.

Gideon stopped at the bottom of the steep slope and waited for the group to catch up. He hadn’t expected the journey to be so slow and arduous. It didn’t help that most of the kids were wearing thin canvas sneakers that offered little traction in the deep snow. What had they been thinking when they packed for their trip? It was, after all, mid-December, and a sudden change in the weather was not uncommon for this time of year.

It was hard to blame the kids when their chaperone appeared to be equally unprepared. In her fancy boots and white wool coat, Dani Jones looked like she was heading to a tea party, not a Sioux reservation. Still, he had to give her credit for one thing—he had yet to hear her complain. Lots of people in her position would be grousing about the treacherous conditions, but apparently, she was made of sterner stuff. The expression on her face was kind and sympathetic as she trudged along, offering encouragement to the kids.

Although he had moderated his pace to accommodate the group, Lou showed no such restraint. The high-spirited shepherd leaped from one snowbank to another like a nimble jackrabbit on the chase. At first, Gideon assumed that his dog was just excited to have company along for his walk. But then he began to notice that Lou kept circling back toward the road, his ears perked up on high alert.

The last time he had seen Lou this agitated was during a drug bust on the outskirts of Miami. That had been three years ago, but Gideon could still picture the reactions of the three criminals when the shepherd sniffed out the cache of contraband hidden under the tiles of their kitchen floor.

He hated to say it, but given the way Lou was acting, there was good reason to suspect that there were drugs hidden somewhere in the van. He shot an assessing glance at each of the kids. Three boys and four girls. He wasn’t great at estimating ages, but he’d say they all looked to be in their early teens. Sixth or seventh graders, he’d hazard a guess, wholesome and rambunctious with their colorful parkas and expedition backpacks.

Which left Dani Jones. The chaperone. At first glance, she appeared to be a nice enough woman. Pretty, too, with her dark curly hair and bright flashing eyes. But if there was one thing he had learned in his fifteen years on the job at the DEA, it was that appearances could be deceiving. And she sure had acted nervous when Lou tried to put his front paws inside the van. Of course, there was always the chance she was just afraid of dogs, but his gut told him it was more than that. He had seen panic in her eyes when she’d stepped down from the driver’s seat, a look of dread that seemed to mask something deeper and more profound. He hoped he wouldn’t come to regret inviting the group to his home. Then again, it wasn’t as if he had much choice in the matter. He wasn’t about to leave them at the bottom of the ravine in the middle of a raging snowstorm.

It was going to be strange to have company after two years of living alone. But being hospitable didn’t mean turning a blind eye to signs that something was amiss. Gideon watched as his dog ran in wide circles around the kids, his excitement evident in his every move. Even though Lou couldn’t use words to communicate, he knew how to make his thoughts known in other ways. There was a definite set to the shepherd’s eyes, a tension in his jaw. And when he started pawing at the ground, as he had been doing when they were back at the van, it was a signal that he was on aggressive alert.

Gideon made a split-second decision as he waited for Dani and the teens to make their way down the incline. As soon as they were settled in for the night, he’d double back to investigate. Even though he no longer worked for the DEA, he still had a responsibility as a citizen. If there were drugs in the cargo hold of the van, he would do his part to stop them from reaching the reservation.

Inside the cabin, he showed the kids where to stow their gear and offered a two-second tour. “Bathroom, bedroom and open space for all the rest.” The kids shuffled into the main room and made a beeline for the floor-to-ceiling windows, which offered a panoramic view of a full moon illuminating the frozen lake.

“Wow!” one of the older boys said as he peered through the glass. “How far is it to the other side?”

“About three miles straight across.” Gideon tossed a couple of logs onto the fire and then pointed to a cluster of lights on the other side of the shore. “That’s the town over there. Tomorrow morning, if it’s clear, you’ll be able to see the reservation on the left.”

As the kids gathered for a glimpse of Dagger Lake, he rummaged through his cabinets and located a couple of bags of chips. He set them on the counter next to a jug of orange juice and a stack of plastic cups. “Make yourselves at home. I have a few things to do outside, but I’ll work on supper as soon as I get back.” Five minutes inside a one-bedroom cabin with seven noisy teenagers, and he was more than ready for another walk with Lou in the brisk night air.

The snow was still coming down hard, and a sharp north wind had buried the remnants of their footprints under heavy drifts. Not for the first time, Gideon was thankful for the insulating layers of clothing he was wearing underneath his parka. He had learned early the benefits of trapping his body warmth to keep his core at a comfortable temperature, even when it was below zero.

He’d been five when he experienced his first North Dakota winter, a city boy unaccustomed to the harsh winds and cold temperatures of the northern plains. His father’s unexpected passing had left his Sioux mother shattered and bereft, so it fell on her brother, a tribal elder, to take his nephew under his wing. And thirty years later, those early life lessons still remained a part of Gideon’s daily routine.

Slipping a high-beam flashlight from his pocket, he flicked it on, even though it didn’t look like he was going to need it to help him find his way. The sun had set an hour ago, but the moonshine reflected against a ceiling of light clouds cast a polished brightness on the snow.

In places, the drifts were several feet deep, but he made quick time as he covered the distance between the cabin and the ridge. It was familiar territory. He and Lou hiked this path almost every day. He couldn’t recall a time when his loyal shepherd wasn’t ready for a walk, and tonight was no exception. Lou might be over-the-hill when compared to his canine colleagues at the DEA, but in many ways, he still seemed like an energetic puppy, always ready to play. But at the moment, Lou stuck close beside him, almost as if he recognized that this particular trek was for work and not pleasure.

As Gideon reached the top of the ridge, he stopped for a moment to enjoy the sharp bite of bitter cold that always made him feel especially alive. This was his favorite time of the year, even though these short days of mid-December held the promise of even chillier weather in the weeks to come. Usually, when he got to this point in his walk, he would hear the gentle hum of traffic on the road ahead. But because of the travel advisory, most people had opted to stay inside for the night. Except... Now, that was odd. A tan SUV with tinted windows and a cracked bumper was parked on the shoulder, its engine idling.

His suspicions clicked to high alert as he approached the vehicle. When he was two feet away, the driver’s-side door opened, and a bald man in a navy windbreaker stepped out.

“Hey,” the man said. “Quite the night for a walk, eh?”

“It’s cold,” Gideon agreed as he bent to look at the passenger inside the car. Clean-shaven, stocky build, probably not much of a talker if he were to guess from the man’s gloomy countenance. “Do you gentlemen need help?”

“Nope. We’re fine.” The guy in the navy windbreaker dismissed his concerns with a flick of the wrist. “We’re in from Fargo, but we didn’t expect this much snow cover on the highway.”

“You might want to head home and try back later. The storm’s still blowing in, so it’ll be rough for a while.”

“Thanks,” the driver said. “Appreciate the advice.” He slid behind the wheel and did a U-turn on the tarmac.

Gideon watched the taillights of the SUV disappear down the road. When it was completely out of sight, he made his way down the embankment toward the van. His eyes fixed on the rear bumper of the disabled vehicle. The V-shaped fold in the center matched the crack he had noticed on the front of the SUV, a fact he filed away for later consideration.

Using a blade from his pocketknife, he pried open the lock on the gate of the trunk. The kids had taken most of their gear when they left for the cabin, but a few random personal items and bits of trash remained. He tossed a notebook and a bag of Twizzlers into the back seat and whistled for Lou. The shepherd jumped into the cargo hold and began sniffing at the floor. Good thing he was trained to ignore food smells. Wrappers and stained paper napkins were scattered everywhere. But Lou was as single-minded as he was tenacious. His nose twitched as he pawed the top of one of the cardboard boxes that had been shoved toward the back of the trunk.

“What’s in there, boy?” he asked as he reached over and slid open the flap of a box marked BIBLES FOR THE RESERVATION. The pleasant scent of new books assailed his nostrils, and for a minute, he entertained the notion that Lou had been mistaken.

He should have known better. Underneath the top layer of Bibles, a dozen or so plastic bags of loose powder formed a soft white nest. His stomach dropped. Even though this was what he’d been expecting, he had hoped for a different outcome. Packets of loose white powder always meant the same thing. Drugs. He fumbled in his pocket and located his phone, which he used to snap a dozen or so pictures of the stash. Good thing he still had a narcotics identification kit at the cabin. He’d test the powder when he got home, but his gut told him it was cocaine. He loaded the packets into his oversize backpack and shoved the box back where he had found it. This wasn’t the way they did things back at the DEA, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

At least he was wearing gloves.

His ears still upright, Lou nudged a second box and then a third one. The contents were all the same. Anger surged through Gideon’s body like a flame. Even now, two years off the job, the sight of such a huge cache of drugs filled him with revulsion. And fear. There was enough white powder in the back of the van to make someone desperate enough to kill.

TWO

“This place is awesome,” Josh exclaimed. “All the furniture is supersized.”

“Mr. Marshall has good taste,” Mary Kate agreed as she ran her fingers along the cushion of one of the leather sofas in the center of the room. “And look how the gold design of the rug matches the rest of the decor.”

“But there’s no TV,” Gabe pointed out.

“And no Christmas tree, either.” Annalise complained. “You’d think with all the pines around here it wouldn’t be that hard to chop one down.”

“Speaking of trees, did anyone notice the massive pile of wood by the barn?” Josh asked. “It must have taken hours to split all those logs.”

“I don’t think it was a problem.” Joe flexed his biceps in a show of solidarity with their host. “Did you see his arms? He must work out constantly to have muscles that size.”

“Let’s take a break from the personal analysis of our host and review the plan.” Dani blushed self-consciously as she glanced nervously at the door. She had also noticed Gideon’s strong arms, but it would be embarrassing if he walked in and overheard any part of their conversation, especially the comments concerning his physique.

“When do you think we’ll get to the reservation?” Lucy asked. “I can’t wait to see all the kids we met last summer.”

“Soon, I hope.” She tried again to get reception on her cell and frowned at the blank screen. “By tomorrow, for sure.”

Definitely by tomorrow, if she had anything to say about it. She had been quick to reassure Lucy, but the fact of the matter was that all of their parents would be worried sick when they found out the group hadn’t arrived as expected. And, with the phones down, there was no way to let them know that everyone was safe.

“Hey, Miss Jones,” Josh called out. “You want a bowl of chips?” He was standing by the kitchen counter, acting like the mayor of Dagger Lake as he dispensed snacks and drinks to the rest of the kids.

“No, thanks,” she said. Given the knot in her stomach, it was unlikely she’d have any appetite for dinner. An image flashed through her brain of the expressionless faces of the men at the gas station. Who were they, and why were they following her? She wanted to believe that any sinister thoughts she might conjure were the work of an overactive imagination. But part of her—the part that could never forget what had happened to her sister, Ali—knew that no one was ever safe.

The door banged open and Gideon walked into the cabin, a string of cleaned perch in his hand. “Here’s today’s main course,” he said. “Caught fresh this morning from the best ice fishing hole on the lake.”

“I hate fish,” Ellie moaned.

“You’ll like these,” he assured her. “And if you don’t, you can close your eyes and pretend you’re eating chicken.”

Despite the lighthearted banter, there was a marked change in Gideon’s demeanor, and Dani wondered what had happened since he left to finish his chores. His mouth was set in an anxious frown, and his eyes were wary. He placed the fish on the counter and turned to face the group.

“Before I start to make dinner, I need to grab a few things from the barn. Maybe your leader can give me a hand. You kids can set the table while we’re gone. Paper plates are in the cupboard above the sink, and folding chairs are stacked in the closet by the door.”

The edge to his tone made Dani suspect there was more on the agenda than retrieving supplies. As she slipped on her coat and followed him outside, she found herself wondering what could possibly have happened to explain the shift in his attitude.

She trailed Gideon and Lou along the tramped-down path to the barn, a ramshackle building with a painted red door. Gideon pulled out a set of keys to unlatch the rusty padlock, then opened the door and flicked on a light switch, bathing the space in a shadowy glow. She detected the scent of fresh hay and a slight whiff of something that smelled like oil. In the center of the room was an aluminum boat with a shiny new motor set next to it on a tarp. Along the back wall, an old push lawn mower, some power tools and a few broken chairs shared space with a beat-up snowmobile with a black leather seat held together by duct tape.

Gideon sat on a bale of straw and, with a curt nod, indicated that she should do the same. Lou shot her a look of supreme disillusionment as he curled into a ball beside his master’s booted feet.

“I thought we could have a little talk without the kids around.” Gideon’s face was a mask of shadows in the dim light.

She nodded. She couldn’t imagine what he needed to talk to her about, unless he was rethinking his decision to allow the group to stay in the cabin. Maybe he was about to suggest that they set up camp in the barn, which would be fine, though slightly chilly for those whose sleeping bags lacked extra insulation.

But any type of shelter was better than the alternative. She smiled encouragingly, which caused him to glare back at her. He seemed to be expecting a different sort of response, and when he finally spoke, his words could not have been more surprising.

“I just found twenty kilos of cocaine in the back of your van.”

She blinked. Twice. And then asked him to repeat the statement.

“I found ten bags of cocaine in the trunk of your vehicle.” Gideon enunciated each word with careful precision. “Actually, Lou did. I’d estimate its street value to be close to a million dollars.”

She gasped. “Your dog found cocaine in our van?” This had to be a joke. “Is he some sort of super-secret-agent canine trained to sniff out drugs?”

The muscle flexing along Gideon’s jaw and the firm set of his mouth showed that this was no laughing matter, even before his words confirmed it.

“He is. And he’s got the medals to prove it. It took him less than five minutes to locate the stash of drugs hidden with the Bibles. Ironic, don’t you think?”

She scrambled to make sense of this information. After all, she was a scientist who worked with DNA, trained to observe even the smallest detail, but she had neglected to examine any of the boxes before stowing them in the cargo area of the van. She supposed that, if what Gideon said about the drugs was true, it was rather ironic, but at the moment, that was the least of her concerns. “Who put them there?”

“I was hoping you could tell me.” His cool, dark eyes lingered on her face as if searching for answers. “I’m at a loss here, trying to figure out what to think about this. You seem like a nice enough lady. And the kids in your group appear to be straightforward and friendly, as well. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that transporting drugs over state lines is a felony. I noticed that your van has Iowa plates, which makes me wonder about your reasons for visiting the reservation. It’s hard to imagine why anyone would choose to travel this distance in a raging snowstorm with a bunch of kids who are supposed to be in school.”

She bristled at his tone, her dismay giving way to resentment at his innuendo. Who did Gideon Marshall think he was? Yes, he was allowing them to use his home and offering shelter from the storm. And yes, he did look like he could star in his own superhero movie with his broad shoulders and strong arms straining the sleeves of his red flannel shirt. But that didn’t give him the right to make those kinds of wild accusations.

“You may find this hard to believe, Mr. Marshall, but I’m just as surprised as you are by all of this. Maybe you should start by explaining what led you to discover these so-called drugs in the first place.”

Instead of the look of chagrin she had expected, his lips formed a satisfied smile. “Lou was acting skittish when we came upon you in the ditch, so I decided I needed to check out the situation for myself.”

“So you broke into our vehicle and rummaged through our stuff?”

“Exactly.” He cocked his head to one side, seeming pleased to admit he had violated their privacy. “And it turned out that Lou was correct, which isn’t surprising, since his nose is never wrong. Believe me, Miss Jones, this is not a small amount of contraband we’re dealing with. So it would behoove you to answer my question. Why bring a van full of kids from Iowa to North Dakota in the middle of a snowstorm?”

She stared at Gideon Marshall with barely contained irritation. Okay, maybe he knew what he was talking about when he claimed to have found drugs in the van, but they didn’t belong to her or anyone in the mission group. She took a deep breath and willed herself to be civil to this man who—she needed to remind herself—had rescued them from an uncertain fate in the North Dakota wilderness.

“We came to Dagger Lake because the new community center on the reservation is opening this weekend. The kids were here this past summer on a mission trip to help out after the flood. As a thank-you, the chief and the council of elders invited them to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday night.” She paused to cast a withering glance in his direction. “Apparently, their parents thought the experience was worthwhile enough for them to miss school.”

Gideon’s lips turned down in a scowl. “Do you have any reason to suspect that anyone in the group might be dealing drugs?”

This was getting more absurd by the moment. “Absolutely not. I can personally vouch for each and every one of these kids.” Her voice quavered with anger as she met and held his gaze. “I’ve known all of them for years, and I can’t imagine any of them being involved in something like this. They are all honor students who spend their free time volunteering and doing service projects with our church.” An idea occurred to her. “Is it possible that the stuff you found is talcum powder?”

Gideon gave a bitter laugh. “Let me assure you, Miss Jones, that I can tell the difference between talcum powder and cocaine.”

“Fine,” she huffed. “Let’s say for the sake of argument that there really are drugs in the back of the van—”

“Were.” He interrupted. “They aren’t there anymore. I’ve secured them in a safe place until I can turn them over to the sheriff.” He shot her another hard stare. “I get the feeling you doubt my credentials. Maybe you see me as some sort of crazy backwoodsman who doesn’t know the difference between oregano and pot.”

She felt the blood drain from her face. “You found pot in the van, as well?”

“I was just using that as an example to make my point,” he said, his voice thick with frustration. “Listen. I should have said this right at the outset. I used to work for the DEA, which means that I’ve had plenty of experience dealing with illegal drugs. This isn’t just a hunch. It is fact. I used a testing kit to confirm that the powder is definitely cocaine. So you can see that I’m not making an idle accusation. I know what I’m talking about, and when I tell you someone in your group is guilty of smuggling drugs, you can be assured I don’t make the accusation lightly. Which brings us back to the question—who hid the stash in your van?”

“I have no idea.” Her head was spinning as she tried to wrap her brain around what Gideon had just said. Had he just called her a criminal? Maybe not directly, but certainly by inference. And what was a DEA agent doing living in the middle of nowhere? Scratch that. A retired DEA agent. Dani looked again at the man sitting across from her. She wanted to tell herself he was a fraud or, to use his own words, a crazy backwoodsman, but something in her gut told her that, despite his disreputable appearance and intimidating size, Gideon Marshall was telling the truth.

“Let’s try it another way. Start with a list of people who had access to your vehicle, and we’ll work forward from there.”

This would be the moment to tell Gideon about the two men in the tan SUV. And yet, she hesitated. Who knew how he’d react to the news that she had failed to report the incident at the gas station? He already thought that she was irresponsible for driving through the blizzard. Why add fuel to the fire?

“My name would be the only one on that list. I packed the trunk myself last night after the kids dropped their gear off at church. Once everything was loaded, I pulled the van into the garage where it stayed until this morning.”

“Where did the boxes with the Bibles come from?” Gideon leaned forward, his chin in his hands and his elbows on his knees.

Was it her imagination, or was this “little talk” turning into a full-scale interrogation? If she and Gideon were actors in a TV crime drama, this would be the moment when she’d refuse to answer any more questions until she talked to her lawyer.

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “They were stacked by the pile of gear, and the boxes were marked BIBLES FOR THE RESERVATION.”

“No signature?”

She shook her head.

“Didn’t that make you suspicious?”

She bit her lip. At the very least, it should have made her curious, but she had been in such a hurry to finish packing that she hadn’t given it a second thought. “This was my first time chaperoning, so I just assumed that bringing along Bibles was part of the routine. We are a church group, after all.”

Gideon shifted forward. “I noticed the name of your congregation stenciled on the side door of the van. Who’s in charge of maintenance for the vehicle?”

“The custodian at the church. But there’s no way he’s involved in this. He’s been around for as long as I can remember. And he’s at least seventy-five, with a bad back, so clearly, he doesn’t fit the profile.”

“Doesn’t fit the profile?” Gideon repeated her words with more than a trace of cynicism. “When you’ve worked with the DEA for as many years as I did, you learn that just about everyone fits the profile.”

Gideon turned up the heat under the frying pan as he prepared to sear the fillets. A shortage of supplies had forced him to keep the menu simple—fresh fish, a green salad, a dozen or so cut-up oranges and a crisped loaf of day-old bread. He was glad he’d made it to the grocery store yesterday before the storm. He just hoped there would be enough food to satisfy a group of hungry teens.

As he added a couple of pats of butter to the pan, he took a moment to consider the likelihood that Dani Jones was not the innocent chaperone she seemed to be and was instead the ringleader of a major drug-smuggling operation.

The jury was still out on that one. In his experience, beautiful women tended to attract trouble, and Dani Jones was definitely beautiful. On their walk back from the barn, he’d noticed how the snowflakes stuck to her long dark lashes and how her cheeks glowed from the cold. He did admire her spunk and loyalty when she rallied to the defense of the kids. A woman like that had courage. And she had seemed genuinely surprised that the Bibles had been used as decoys to hide cocaine. But sincerity could be used to mask duplicity, and very few people were who they pretended to be.

He’d learned that lesson the hard way, first as a child growing up on the reservation, and later at the DEA, when Jonas—his partner, a man he had trusted with his life—set him up to take the fall for the death of an innocent witness. Gideon still found it hard to wrap his head around the facts of the betrayal. A seemingly airtight case against a ruthless drug lord that hinged on the testimony of a brave young woman. It should have been a slam dunk. But, instead, he had let his guard down and allowed Jonas to take the lead on the investigation, unaware of his partner’s sinister agenda. Could the same type of subterfuge be true of Dani? What sort of deceit was she hiding behind that guileless face?

Complicating matters was the unlikely coincidence of the tan SUV with the dented bumper idling near the spot where the church van had skidded off the road. Did that prove that Dani was telling the truth, at least in her suspicions about being knocked off the road? Without more conclusive data, it was impossible to say.

As the group took their seats around the table, he set two heaping platters of fish in the center and then slid into an open chair between two of the kids. But before he could give the call to dig in, the petite blond-haired girl on his left—Lucy, if he remembered correctly from Dani’s introductions—reached over and took his hand. He glanced at her to see what she wanted, but her eyes were shut. So were Dani’s as she began to pray.

“Lord Jesus, thank You for the warmth of this cabin and for the companionship of good friends. Thank You for keeping us safe and for helping us find shelter from the storm. And thank You for the food You have provided to nourish our bodies and for our host, who rescued us from the ditch and cooked this meal before us on the table. We are grateful for his hospitality and kindness.”

Beside him, Gideon’s neighbor gave his fingers a quick squeeze before releasing his hand.

He let out a long breath. It was hard enough having his personal space invaded by a small army of excitable teens. But now he was being forced to hold hands and say grace. Talk about being pushed out of his comfort zone.

For over two years, he had been preparing and eating meals at the cabin, and this was the first time he had even thought about thanking God for his food. After what had happened to his family, he wasn’t exactly on friendly terms with the Man Upstairs, so it wasn’t all that surprising.

Still, the kids and their chaperone seemed to take comfort in spending time in fellowship and prayer. Maybe he could take advantage of their relaxed mood to do a little digging into the circumstances of their visit to Dagger Lake.

“Miss Jones tells me that your youth group is based out of Mason City. Go, Hawkeyes, right?”

“We’re from Blooming Prairie, actually,” Josh corrected. “And most of us prefer the Cardinals.”

Gideon raised an amused brow. “Good to know. And were all of you part of the original group who visited the reservation this past summer?”

“Yup.” Josh seemed comfortable assuming the role of spokesman. “Only, Mr. Anderson was our chaperone the first time we came.”

“Mr. Anderson, huh? What’s he like?”

At the far end of the table, Joe grinned. “He’s okay. He’s the choir director at our church, and he’s really big into Gregorian chants. We actually prefer Miss Jones.”

Gideon nodded. It wasn’t hard to see why. Before sitting down to dinner, Dani had pulled her hair back in a braid, and her clear gray eyes seemed to sparkle every time she turned to face the kids. With her calm demeanor and sympathetic smile, she clearly was one of those people who related well to teenagers. He would definitely have been one of the boys crushing on her when he was their age. Unfortunately, that was then and this was now. At the moment, she was his number one suspect in a drug-smuggling case. “What kinds of things did you do at the reservation?”

“A little bit of everything,” Josh answered again. The kid acted like he was thirteen going on thirty. “Babysitting. Playing basketball with the younger kids. A few of us lent a hand helping restore one of the murals that was damaged in the flood.”

Gideon settled back in his chair and listened to the kids talk about the jobs they had done on their first visit to Dagger Lake. Many of the homes on the reservation had been ravaged by the high waters of the early-spring floods, and it was difficult not to admire the group’s willingness to travel such a distance to help out. The kids were direct in answering his questions, but their leader was acting skittish. In the last five minutes, Dani Jones had spilled a glass of water, knocked over a saltshaker and twice dropped her napkin onto the floor. He was starting to think there was something about him that made her nervous.

He must have been staring again, because she gave him an inscrutable look when she met his eye.

“This is a lovely cabin, Gideon.” Gid-ee-yun. She drew out the syllables of his first name, making it sound foreign and exotic. “How long did you say you’ve been living here?”

“Two years,” he replied. He was amused to see she was doing a little interrogating of her own. “But I’ve owned the land for quite some time. I used to keep a trailer on the property for fishing in the winter.”

“Cool,” Joe exclaimed. “I still can’t believe you can catch perch through a hole in the ice.”

“It’s pretty easy, actually. I use a hand auger to cut a seven-inch circle, and then all I need to do is drop in my line and see what I can pull up. The ice is already pretty thick this year. Some of the guys in town haul out their shacks in early December, but I usually wait until January.”

He noticed that Dani was frowning as she peered across the room. Apparently, she didn’t find his description of ice fishing all that scintillating.

“Is everything all right?” he asked.

Dani nodded. Something was bothering her, but if she didn’t want to tell him, he wasn’t going to pry it out of her. And before the group got too comfortable, he needed to review the plan for the evening and next day.

“Why don’t we take a moment to discuss the sleeping arrangements for tonight? Gentlemen, how about we let the ladies have the bedroom, and we’ll set up on the living room floor?” When no one protested, he continued. “Tomorrow morning, I’ll do my best to get you to the reservation. Unless you’d prefer to stay here indefinitely to hang out with Lou and me.” He forced a wry grin to show that he was joking. “I’d like to get an early start, so all of you need to be prepared for a 7:00 a.m. departure.”

A couple of the kids groaned.

“Are we going to walk across the lake?” Lucy asked.

He shook his head. For the second time that evening, he kicked himself for not ordering the parts to fix his truck. “The drifts are too deep for that. I’m going to take you by snowmobile, but I can only fit one at a time.”

“Fun!” Gabe exclaimed.

“That might be an overstatement, but it shouldn’t be too bad. I have extra gear to help you stay warm. Like I said before, it’s a pretty straight shot from my dock to the sheriff’s office on the other side. When we get there, you can call your parents and let them know you’re okay. Sheriff Stanek may want to ask you a few questions, but after that, he’ll arrange to get you to the reservation in time for the ceremony.”

“Questions about what?” Josh homed in on the million-dollar detail.

Gideon stood and walked over to the stove to pour himself a cup of hot water from the kettle, taking his time to stir in a tablespoon of coffee granules before rejoining the group. The kids were young, but that didn’t mean that they shouldn’t know the truth. Besides, they were going to find out soon enough. “Earlier this evening, I discovered a significant quantity of cocaine in the back of your van. I discussed the situation with Miss Jones, and she was quick to assure me that no one in your group is involved with either taking or smuggling drugs. So, unless someone wants to make a confession, I’m going to operate on that assumption, but only temporarily. If you don’t mind, I’d like to ask you a few questions about your preparations for the trip. Are you all okay with that?”

Seven heads nodded in unison. Their solemn faces reflected the seriousness of his request.

“Good. Let’s start at the beginning, then. Miss Jones has already explained most of the details of your mission trip. But as you think about the days leading up to your departure, I’d like you to try to remember if you noticed anything out of the ordinary that caught your attention. Maybe it was something as simple as spotting someone carrying a box through the parking lot when you arrived with your gear. Or maybe it was a person you didn’t know very well who was asking too many questions about your plans. Basically, I’m interested in anything and everything you might have seen or heard that relates to your visit to the reservation.”

There was a long silence. Josh and Gabe shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

“Gentlemen?” Gideon asked. “Do you have something to add to the discussion?”

Josh suddenly looked a lot less confident as he turned to meet Gideon’s eyes. “I... We...don’t really know if this is the kind of thing you’re looking for, but after Gabe and I left our stuff at the church, we thought we saw a car that looked like my mom’s at the far end of the lot. The driver was slumped down, talking on his phone. When he saw us approaching, he reached across to the passenger seat, picked up a gun and held it in front of the window.” Josh gave a nervous laugh. “We took off running and didn’t look back. At least I didn’t,” he added with a shrug.

Dani gasped. “A gun? Boys! Did you tell Josh’s mom?”

Josh looked at Gabe, who shrugged sheepishly.

“We thought that if we said something, our parents might not let us go on the trip,” Gabe explained. “And when we talked about it later, we decided it was probably a toy and the guy was just trying to scare us so we’d leave him alone.”

“Did you happen to notice the plates on the vehicle?” Gideon wanted to know.

“No,” Josh admitted. “But it was a white Jeep.”

A white Jeep, not a tan SUV. Interesting. “And you didn’t recognize the driver?”

Josh’s laugh was high-pitched. “No. He was wearing a hoodie, so I didn’t get a good look at his face.”

“How about the rest of you?” Gideon asked. “Did anyone else see or hear anything unusual?” His eyes made a loop of the circle, finally coming to rest on Dani. There was something nervous and wary in her eyes. It was a look he had seen often during his years at the DEA, although it was usually the victims, not the perpetrators, who wore that expression of panicked confusion. It was as if there was something she wanted to share but didn’t know quite how to bring it up. “Dani? Is everything okay?”

Dani’s fingers trembled as she raised them to her lips. “I just saw a shadow of something moving outside.”

Gideon pushed back his chair and walked over to the large picture window. “It’s probably a deer looking for food. I’m surprised Lou’s so quiet. He usually sounds the alarm when anyone gets close to the house.”

On cue, the dog perked his ears and began to bark.

“Like I said, there’s a good chance that it’s just a hungry animal, but it can’t hurt to check things out.” He slipped on his coat, grabbed a flashlight from the shelf and pointed at Lou. The shepherd jumped up. Clearly, he didn’t need to be asked twice.

For a moment, no one spoke. Then Joe stood and folded his arms across his chest.

“I’ll bet it’s a bobcat,” he said. “Don’t worry, Miss Jones. Lou will scare it away.”

“Or maybe it’s a moose,” Gabe suggested. “Or a mountain lion?”

“Or a gray wolf or a coyote?” Josh almost spilled his glass of juice in his excitement. “Maybe we men should help Mr. Marshall look for tracks.”

Gideon shook his head. “Thanks for the offer, boys, but it might be best if you stay back and help with the chores.” Given the fact that the drugs were now hidden in his barn, he couldn’t discount the likelihood of a far deadlier threat.

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