Morgan's Hunter (11 page)

He punched in Sarah’s number, needing to hear her voice. Her easy friendship always settled him.

Refreshed and steadier, Morgan opened the bathroom door in comfy jeans and a gray scoop neck t-shirt. Thoughts of work crowded her mind until snatches of Hunter’s one-sided conversation registered. He sounded different somehow—more relaxed and happy.

Curious, Morgan walked past the bedrooms, down the hall toward the office. She stopped just shy of entering the room.

“Yeah, put her on. Hey, baby girl, how are you? You almost have it. You’re so close, it’s Uncle Hunter,” he over enunciated. “Oh, did you play at the park? Ducks, yes.”

Hunter made a quacking sound, and Morgan’s eyes widened with surprise. She peeked around the corner, saw him grinning while he looked out the window. Sun blazed into his eyes, making the brilliant blue more shocking. He chuckled and her heart stuttered as she nibbled her lower lip.

“All right, baby girl, give the phone to Mommy. Love you. Sarah, are you sure you two are okay? Ethan’s checking on you? I’m trying. I’ll talk to you soon. If you need anything…” He grinned again. “I know. I love you.”

Who was this man? Hunter sounded so kind, so gentle. Morgan suddenly and desperately envied the woman on the other end. His unexpected sweetness tugged at her, pulling until she was helpless against it.

She felt herself softening, knew nothing good could come from it. If she were smart, she would sprint in the opposite direction.

Hunter moved to the desk, hung up, and turned. His gaze met hers; his smile disappeared. Morgan watched the warmth vanish from his eyes. Her chin rose slightly, automatically, before she walked to the bedroom, trying to shrug off the unexpected hurt of his cool reaction.

She had a job to do, reports to write. Who cared what he thought anyway
.

An hour later, Hunter stood in the bedroom door. Morgan sat on the mattress closest to the wall with her back against the paneled wood. Her laptop rested on her crossed, outstretched legs. She stared down at the papers next to her, typing rapidly while she muttered to herself.

“Knock knock.”

She glanced up, eyes unfocused in her concentration. “What?”

“We need to go out for awhile.”

“No,
we
don’t.” She returned her gaze to the laptop. “I’ve got stuff to do. If you need to leave, go ahead.”

He stepped inside the room. “Come on, Morgan, I don’t have time for this.”

She stopped typing again. “I have reports to finish before we can head into backcountry. I wasn’t planning on hiking the trails anymore today. Your ‘memorable lesson’ did the trick. Nice work, champ. I’ll be a good little girl and won’t leave my room, promise.”

He swore as he rubbed his hands over his face. “Damn it, Morgan, you are the most unbelievably stubborn person I’ve ever met. I have somewhere to be, and you have to come. That’s how this works, remember? I can’t protect you if I’m not with you.”

“I have an idea. You do what you need to, and I’ll stay here and do the same. We’ll pretend you did your job. Hell, I’ll even sign off saying you were with me the entire time. No one has to know. I’m safe, completely free of danger. I’m in the ranger’s station, for God’s sake.” She turned the page in her notebook with a snap and got back to her work. “See you later.” She took her hand off the keyboard long enough to wave in dismissal.

He didn’t move. “That’s data for the animal you need to track, right?”

She let out a frustrated breath. “Yes, among other things. Now go away. I can’t concentrate with you hovering over me.”

Hunter ripped the papers off the bed. “You want these back, you’ll get your ass up and get ready to leave. I have an appointment in an hour and we’re going to be there.”

Morgan crawled over the beds and stood. “Why are you doing this? Why won’t you just leave me alone? You don’t care about me or my safety. Just get out of here. Get in the damn car, go away, and don’t come back.”

“You’re my job, Morgan, my responsibility. I get paid to keep you safe, to pretend to give a shit. If you don’t like that, talk to your father. Unfortunately, we’re stuck with each other for the next month, so deal with it.”

Something moved through her eyes as she glanced away. He closed his, blew out a breath. “Okay, that was a little harsh. I—”

She shook her head. “No, you’re right. I apologize. I keep forgetting you’re as stuck with me as I am with you. I’m giving you my word that from this point forward, I’ll cooperate with you, fully. It’ll make things smoother all the way around. The sooner I track and tag these animals, the faster we can get the hell out of here.” She grabbed her purse and jacket and walked to the door. “Let’s go. You’re going to be late.”

They arrived in Merkly forty minutes later. The small, tidy town of ten thousand bustled with its own rendition of rush hour. Main Street was a hot bed of action as pickups stopped at traffic lights in front of refurbished brick buildings that had been built in the early nineteen hundreds.

“I’m meeting my pal in there.” Hunter pointed to the busy diner across the street. He spotted the PI sitting in a booth by the window, sipping coffee and talking to a waitress.

“Fine, I’ll browse the bookstore right next door, or I can take a different table in the restaurant if you’d rather.”

“No, go ahead and get yourself a book, but don’t go anywhere else.”

Morgan got out, shut her door. “If I’m finished before your meeting’s over, I’ll come sit here.” She gestured to a wrought iron bench shaded by a tree close to the vehicle.

Hunter nodded. He’d be able to see her exit the bookstore and would have full view of her from the diner window. “I shouldn’t be too long. Do you want me to grab you anything to eat?”

“No, thanks. I’m fine.” Her voice lacked its normal enthusiasm and fire.

Hunter walked her across the street.

Morgan opened the door to the pretty little shop and stepped inside. Her eyes met his briefly. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

He watched her walk to a stack of books and browse the selection.

On their silent drive to Merkly, Hunter realized he’d hurt her. He hadn’t meant to—didn’t know he could—but she’d pissed him the hell off. She was very good at that. Letting out a deep breath, he walked to the next door and let himself into the diner.

Chapter 11

H
UNTER SCRUTINIZED THE CRIME SCENE photos of Morgan’s team. “I just can’t believe they don’t have anything. How can that be?”

“I don’t know what to tell you.” Darren Norwell shrugged as he took a bite of his apple pie ala mode. “They were out in the middle of nowhere. There were no witnesses, no signs of struggle.”

“It doesn’t add up, though. The woman, Shelly—” Hunter tapped the picture showcasing Shelly’s grisly wound and blank, staring eyes. “She turned on her GPS out of the blue. She knew she was in trouble, so why didn’t she radio in to the rangers?”

“Like I said, I don’t know, but from what I’ve been able to find out, it doesn’t seem like the boys in blue are working all that hard to figure this case out.”

Hunter flipped to the next picture. “And doesn’t that seem off to you? These people were biologists working on a project for the federal government. You’d think this would be top priority at the local level. Did you run the names of the rangers Ethan gave you?”

“Yeah, they came up clean. The Robert character has an armed forces background. He’s decorated. Apparently he’s an expert tracker and quite handy with a gun. The kid’s from up north of here. He’s a couple years removed from college and clean as a whistle.”

Hunter glanced at Darren. “You know what they say about whistles. They’re not that clean.”

“Well, according to the law and anything else I could find, he’s your average boy next door.”

Hunter shook his head. “Something feels off. Not quite right. I don’t know what it is yet, but I got a bad vibe. I want to take these pictures with me and the police reports, look them over again. How did you get this stuff?”

Darren smiled. His gray beady eyes almost disappeared in the folds of his fleshy face. “Trade secrets, my friend, trade secrets.”

Hunter opened his mouth to speak, but closed it as he watched Morgan exit the bookstore, cross the street, and sit on the bench by the large shade tree. She peeled a banana, took a bite, opened her book. A light breeze played with her silky brown locks. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her.

“That your assignment?”

“Yeah.”

“Jesus,
look
at her.”

Hunter narrowed his eyes at the blatant lust in his colleague’s. “Should we get you another napkin to wipe the drool from your chin?”

Darren’s gaze darted to Hunter’s. “Well, well, well.”

“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”

Darren smiled. “Not a thing.” He took a last bite of pie, stood. “I should probably head out. Don’t want to miss my flight. I’ll see you back in L.A., Phillips.”

Morgan glanced up as someone approached.

With a file folder in hand, Hunter walked toward her. She studied his smooth, confident strides and begrudgingly admitted he was simply spectacular. A lock of blond hair fell loose against his forehead before he swiped it back. His black t-shirt fit over his muscled torso like a second skin. Her gaze wandered down, noting the small grass stain on the knee of his jeans from where he’d tackled her like a damn linebacker.

Surges of pleasure careened through her system as she thought of his firm mouth on hers, of his bold tongue diving deep and tangling with hers. Blowing out a quiet breath, she stared down at her book, desperately trying to rein in her revving hormones.

Hunter stopped in front of her. “I’m ready whenever you are.”

She dog-eared her page and hoped she appeared unaffected as she stood. “Let’s go then. I have a lot of work to do.”

They walked side-by-side until they reached the car. Hunter frowned, placed the folder on the trunk, bent down to examine one of the tires. “Looks like the air’s getting a little low. We’ll have to put some in when we stop for gas.” He moved along to the next tire, pushing against the rubber with his thumbs.

“Let’s make it fast. I want to get back to the station. I figure we can be in backcountry by the end of the week if I get all of my paperwork finished in the next day or two and submitted to the Bureau. The red tape of working between dual agencies is unbelievable.” As she spoke, she picked up the folder, opened it. “I’m eager to…”

She caught sight of the photograph of Shelly, dropped the folder as if it scalded her. Pictures scattered on the pavement. Morgan stared in horror, stunned, unable to look away from the gruesome images of her friends in death.

Shelly’s eyes were open and staring. A single drop of blood had run from her forehead into her hair. She couldn’t tell if Ian’s or Tom’s eyes were opened or closed. The exit wounds at the top of their heads had left a mess.