Love By Accident (25 page)

"Hey, Cougar," Matt said, closing the distance between them.

"Officer." The older man acknowledged his greeting with a nod of his beret-clad head. "Need any help with your gear?"

"No, I've got it, thanks. Just lead the way."

They were up a logging road, in a heavily-treed area. Cougar took Matt through pine and spruce trees, over fallen branches and scattered pine cones. More than once Matt was slapped in the face by a swinging branch. The sting on his cheek was slightly less annoying than the heavy Kevlar vest underneath his shirt. It was mild today and the stupid thing was not only cumbersome, it was making him sweat.

The irony never failed to instill in him a feeling of frustration. They were required to wear a damn vest to keep them alive, but weren't allowed to carry a weapon. What exactly was he supposed to do when confronting a poacher or some drunk who was armed? Club him to death with his hazing stick?

Not that he believed the poacher was still around, but if he and Cougar happened upon him, they were both toast. Matt's hands were full and his guide was eighty if he was a day, even if he was making the hike look easy. Matt closed his mouth, tried not to look like he was out of breath. Although in all fairness he
was
carrying a load.

"How did you find this place?" Matt asked.

"I figured after talking with you the other day, it wouldn't hurt to drive up to Hinton and check out the truck stops. Thought I'd ask around some, see if any of the truckers have seen anything." He stopped at the bottom of the hill, turned a wrinkled face to Matt. "I figured if there was anything going on that wasn't on the up and up, those truckers would be the first to see anything out of the ordinary, as they drive these roads so much."

Matt grinned. "Well, hell, Cougar, you need a full time job?" He had to admit the man had come up with a plan that hadn't even entered Matt's head. It was damn humbling. The older man's eyes shone with Matt's words.

"Son," Cougar laid a weathered hand on Matt's shoulder. "You couldn't afford me."

"That's probably true," Matt laughed.

"So what brought you this far into the bush?" Matt asked, as they pushed their way further.

"A trucker mentioned he thought he'd seen an older truck parked off to the side of the road yesterday. So he brought me back here and I figured it couldn't hurt to take a little walk. I was about to give up when I scared some crows off. Kept going and found the animal."

"You know, Cougar, when I asked for your help, I never meant for you to put yourself at risk. That's
my
job."

"I know. And if I'd heard anything, I'd have called first. But I figured he was likely long gone and no harm could come of my having a look."

Death always had an odor, no matter how recent it was and Matt smelled it even before Cougar confirmed the animal was just around the next stand of Tamaracks.

Of all the bears they'd found so far, this was the freshest. Couldn't have been dead more than two days. Matt stopped Cougar where he was, not wanting anything to contaminate the site until he could do his investigation. Snapping on his gloves, he found the neat entry wound of the bullet and confirmed the gall bladder was missing. Pushing aside his anger and impotence at having been too late yet again, Matt set to work.

An hour later, he was down to the metal detector and had about as much hope of finding anything with it as he did for global warming to suddenly reverse itself.

The echoing beep of the detector in the otherwise silence jarred Matt. He swung the thing over a spot inundated with fallen needles and dead leaves and the machine squawked again. Had he finally caught a break?

Heart pumping, he slid his hand down the arm of the metal detector and dropped to his knees while keeping the large disc hovering over the spot that kept the machine beeping rhythmically.

Almost scared to hope, Matt called Cougar over.

"Hold this steady."

Using two hands, Matt slid his fingers into the forest litter and carefully felt his way. There were crispy leaves, damp, rotting ones and pokey needles that pricked his palms. But the cool round shape sliding underneath his fingers got his attention.

The detector screeched loud and steady as Matt lifted his hand and saw the gold casing of a bullet lying within it.

"Fuck me," he whispered, "now we're getting somewhere."

***

Matt didn't bother removing either his jacket or his boots. He clomped to his couch and sunk into its depth. He'd called Lauren from the office and told her he wouldn't be by. He knew by her tone she was disappointed and worried, but he didn't want to put himself in the position of lying to her yet again. So he'd switched vehicles and driven home.

Sliding his hand into his pocket he removed the gold casing and rolled it between his thumb and forefinger. The metal was cool and smooth against his skin. He hadn't said too much to Cougar, wanting to keep the information to himself for now. He'd prayed for a break. Well, he'd gotten one.

The bullet had come from an uncommon gun. Which meant there couldn't be more than a handful of locals, if even that many, who owned one of them. Since it was Sunday, he was essentially deadlocked at the moment. The gunsmith in Hinton wouldn't reopen until tomorrow. But he knew he was getting close.

"Looks like good news you're holding there. Someone getting sloppy?"

Matt's head shot up at the sound of Gil's voice and all the excitement he'd been feeling about gaining ground on the case got trampled by an acute flood of anger.

"Where the hell have you been?" Matt demanded.

Gil leaned against the wall connecting the living room from Matt's bedroom. From all appearances he seemed to be a ghost without a care in the world.
Well
, Matt thought,
fuck that
.

"Why, what's going on?"

Matt shoved to his feet. "Going on? I'll tell you what's going on. The last time your brilliant self instructed me to talk to Lauren guess what she said?"

"That I'm better looking than you?"

"No, asshole," Matt growled. "She said you hadn't loved her."

Gil's smile faded. "What else did she say?"

"Nothing! She clammed up and Mr. 'I come and go as I please' has been a no-show ever since." Matt nailed him with a glare. "Where the hell were you, Gil?"

"I was busy."

"Too busy to explain what she meant or too busy hiding from the truth? Is it even the truth?"

Gil moved to a chair and sat down. His sigh came from the depths of his soul. "It's complicated."

"So explain it to me."

"I loved her, you know I did. For years it was great."

Shit. Matt fell onto the couch. "It
was
great? When did that ever change?"

Gil swallowed. "About three months before the accident."

"But--" Matt shook his head. "I was there. I lived with you two, how could I have missed it?"

"You were busy. You had work, and you were dating Nancy at the time. You weren't always home."

Nancy Pollock. Matt had dated her about six months. She'd been at the party the night of the accident. She'd come to him in the hospital a few times afterward, all teary eyed about the accident, but Matt had been an ass to her. He'd been hurting over Gil and Lauren, been devastated about his injuries, and he'd all but told her not to bother coming back.

"Even staying at Nancy's once in a while, I'd have noticed you and Lauren fighting."

Gil looked at his shoes. "We didn't fight. We just--" he shrugged. "Lauren was a great girl but I was starting to think she wasn't the woman for me."

Matt couldn't believe his ears. Gil had been starting to fall out of love with Lauren? Why? The woman was everything. She was beautiful, smart, sexy.

"So that's what you wanted me to learn? That you and Lauren were breaking up? What's the big deal? People break up all the time."

"She didn't tell you the rest," Gil said, his voice suddenly sounding tired. "But she will. She's getting closer to telling you everything."

"What 'everything'"? This is bullshit. You're here, aren't you?
You
tell me."

"It's not supposed to be me. It was always supposed to come from her."

"But you just--"

"Once she tells you things, Matt, I'm allowed to expand on them, comment, if you will. But she has to open that door. It's the rules."

Matt growled again. "Fuck the rules, Gil. And what do you mean she's close to telling me? How the hell do you know? You can't get past her porch, remember?"

"Actually," Gil said, "I can. I've been in her house. See? You're making progress."

Matt's stomach tanked. Gil had been in Lauren's house? Shit. When? Matt cut a glance at his crotch. Yep, still dressed. But man, for a second there, he'd felt naked. He'd felt like a school kid, standing at the urinal and seeing the kid next to him eye him over and praying to God he measured up.

***

Carm, something's going on.

Great sex? Good, I want to hear all about it.

Lauren watched the yellow emoticon appear, winking at her. But she couldn't smile for the pain in her heart.

I'm serious.

Okay, I'm listening.

It's going to sound stupid, but something's going on in the Parks office and Matt won't tell me what it is.

So? I'm sure your friend Ted never told you everything.

No, but Ted never knew I used to be a ranger, either.

But Matt did, and after he'd left earlier Lauren had thought about that. How Matt never discussed work, even the mundane stuff that wasn't confidential. How Matt had hurried to hide photos and papers that day she'd stopped at his office. How he'd never said anything about the reason he had to leave when Nick and Kyle had showed up unexpectedly for lunch. How he hadn't told her why he wouldn't come over tonight.

Laur, it's likely nothing. Maybe he just doesn't like talking about work.

Then things had really changed because in Waterton, Matt had talked about work all the time. It was one of many things they'd had in common.

It's more than that, I can feel it.
She told Carm how Matt had been called away, how he'd told her he couldn't talk about it. Okay, she hated that, but she could accept it. What bothered her, though, was that he'd said he'd come for supper. Only he'd called to say he couldn't make it after all. She knew by the call display he called from home. So, if he was home, and nothing was wrong, why wasn't he coming?

You're thinking about what Gil did, aren't you?

Nausea churned in her belly.

How can I not
?

***

Considering her talk with Carm and Lauren's worry over Matt, it wasn't surprising that, once she finally fell asleep, dreams of the accident plagued her.

"I'm not proud of myself, Lauren, but you can't deny our relationship isn't what it used to be."

Of all the frigging nerve, she thought. "You can't have a relationship, Gil, when only one person is in the game."

"Oh, hell, Lauren, we were going downhill before this."

"That's not an excuse for what you did!" she yelled.

"I'm not saying it was!" he yelled right back. He took a deep breath. "I know, all right. I know what I did was wrong, I'm admitting that."

"Well, isn't that big of you," she sneered.

"God, Lauren, why are you making this so hard?"

"Because it is, Gil. Breaking up after five years should be, don't you think?"

Tears pricked her eyes and blurred her vision. She blinked them back. Her dreams were shattering all around her and there wasn't a thing she could do about it. She'd been so sure they were headed for marriage. Gil was right, they'd been having a rough patch, but she'd honestly believed they'd get through it. Not that Gil would--

Lauren clenched the wheel, focused on the white reflector posts flying past her front fender.

Gil leaned forward and touched her leg. The gesture, something he always did, broke her heart. She smacked his hand away. Already the pressure in her chest was painful, breathing was difficult. She needed to keep it together until they got home.

Home.

A sob caught in her throat and she ground her teeth and breathed through her nose until she had it under control. Just a few more kilometers. Then she could lock herself in the bathroom and let the tears flow, let the pain envelop her. She couldn't believe it was ending like this.

"When we get to the apartment, I'll pack a bag, stay at a hotel. I'll be back to talk to Matt in the morning. I'd rather he hear this from me."