Page 146 of Blue Moon

“Hebert’s idea of a first date involved a roofie and a ride in the trunk.”

“A reasonable point.”

Turned out that the reason Brianna Shelton wasn’t answering the phone was because she’d gone on a digital detox, so her roommate told us when she staggered home at three o’clock in the morning and found us sitting on her porch. Now Brianna was somewhere in Glacier National Park, wild camping with her current boyfriend, and she wasn’t expected back until Thursday. We couldn’t wait until Thursday, so we’d hopped back on board the jet and headed north. Blackwood’s carbon offsetting programme was taking a real hammering this weekend. We were going to have to buy another chunk of rainforest.

If I’d realised the job would have involved hiking in Montana, I’d have brought Gage instead of Slater because Gage grew up in Montana and was at least familiar with the terrain. But Slater was what I had. Slater and Echo, who was scouring real-time satellite feeds for our target. Gage had contacted a childhood friend of his who worked as a guide in the area, and she was going to meet us at the park entrance. Plus he’d already called in another favour with another acquaintance and we knew Brianna had a pass to camp in the Nyack/Coal Creek zone tonight, so at least we didn’t have to scour the entire park.

I only hoped she’d be able to help.

The roommate didn’t know much about Hebert, only that he was an asshole Brianna refused to discuss. Apparently, she wished she could erase the brief foray to Vegas from her life, and she was never leaving Montana again.

Slater’s phone pinged.

“Echo has three possibilities in the right area.”

Gage’s friend Jacqueline met us at the entrance and led us to a parking space. We’d take her truck into the park, thank fuck. She was a short, stout woman who looked as if she knew her way around a can of bear spray, and when she opened a packet of candy and offered me a sucky sweet, I liked her immediately.

“Thanks for offering to help us.”

“Gage said you’d pay double if I came on my day off. Tell me he wasn’t kidding?”

“I can pay in cash, by credit card, or even with cupcakes.”

“Cash is perfect. My kid fell off his bike and damaged his braces, and do you know how much orthodontists cost?”

“Thankfully, I have no idea.” I handed her five hundred bucks and loaded Echo’s satellite image onto my tablet. “We have three possible locations to check out. Can you take us there?”

“Wow, where did you get that picture? You can see the logo on the freaking tent.”

“You didn’t see this, and it doesn’t exist.”

Her eyes widened. “Wow, seriously? What did these folks do?”

“Nothing. The girl used to date an asshole, and he did something. We’re just after whatever information she can give us.”

It took four hours for us to find Brianna Shelton, and while we were trekking through the trees, Dan called with an update on the situation in Alexandria. Anton’s mum had shacked up with a serial killer? Guess that explained a few things.

Brianna was understandably alarmed to see us, mainly because she was in a rather compromising position when we popped out from behind a large boulder. Jacqueline gasped as she saw what was going on. Brianna’s boyfriend stumbled backwards, arms windmilling, pecker bobbing, and landed in a creek. Great. This was going well.

“Help him,” I said to Slater, whose lips were twitching as he tried not to laugh.

“Who are you?” Brianna scrambled to her feet, face reddening. “Do you get off on sneaking up on people?”

“We need to talk.”

“We do not need to talk. You need to get lost.”

Slater hauled the dripping boyfriend out of the water and took a polite step back while the dude struggled to pull up wet jeans. That five-minute delay on the satellite photos was a killer.

“Two words: Anton Hebert.”

Scarlet turned to white as the blood drained from Brianna’s face. “Did he send you? Did that jerk send you to ruin my life again?”

Again? Interesting.

“Who the hell are you people?” the boyfriend demanded, finally finding his tongue.

“My name is Emmy, and I work for Blackwood Security. We’re currently looking for a missing woman, and we have reason to believe Anton took her.”

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