Page 81 of Fire Peak

That was how it was with Charlie. Two steps forward, one step back. Nick was getting used to the pattern by now. He was patient. He could work with it.

“So what about strike one and two?” Charlie asked, gazing out the window as they reached the first slope of Fire Peak. “Is someone threatening April?”

“Maybe, but to me it feels more like blackmail. Like someone wants something from her, and they’re putting on the pressure.”

Charlie snapped her fingers, then pulled out her phone.

“No service,” he reminded her.

“No, what you just said made me think of the Chechen couple outside the camper.” She found the recording and read aloud the translation.

“Vasily wants to turn up the heat. The woman is dragging her feet.”

“We need to be patient. Why is he being so crazy?”

“There’s a history. But we need Vasily. Without him, we have nothing. What can we do?”

“We can find out…Shhh. What’s that noise?”

“This sounds to me like they’re blackmailing April, and the younger two wanted to learn more about Vasily’s history here, that’s why the man was hanging out at The Fang. That’s why he jumped you.”

“There you go. That’s brilliant deducing right there.” Nick grinned and offered his hand for a high-five, or perhaps more of a side-five. She went along with it, then pulled away quickly.

“A high-five doesn’t mean we’re okay.”

“Got it.” He returned his hand to the steering wheel.

“I mean, I’m grateful. I understand that you protected my dad and possibly kept me out of jail. Don’t think I don’t see that.”

Sunshine gleamed on her hair, but no smile curved her lips. He wanted her smile back, her sassiness, her freewheeling humor, her bright energy. He wanted everything about her.

So he needed to be totally, completely honest.

“It was Hailey,” he said softly. “She likes you almost as much as I do. I didn’t want?—”

She went as stiff as one of the spruce trees whipping past them. “I get it. You didn’t want a bad influence. Understandable. Say no more.”

“Charlie, that’s not exactly?—”

“I said I get it. It’s okay. We’re just fooling around anyway. Look, there’s the lodge. Let’s move on.”

Goddamnit. He wanted to explain more, say how much she meant to him, how incredible she was, how it wasn’t just fooling around for him, how uncertain he was about how to be a father to Hailey…but it was all so hard to express while they were bouncing in a Jeep up a mountain road on their way to interrogate a murder suspect.

“To be continued,” he said, but she gave no answer to that.

They found April weeding in the clear plastic “high-tunnel” greenhouse, fifty yards of protected space filled with raised beds of herbs and vegetables. The air smelled of fresh earth and tomato plants, a fragrant haven of growing things.

“Don’t let the rabbits in,” she called as they made their way past rows of basil and bok choi and salad greens. “One got in last night and ate half my cabbage.”

She straightened up as they reached her, and her gaze swept across Charlie. “You’re walking better. Maybe you ought to be back at work.”

Clearly, April was in a mood. Nick couldn’t blame her, if she was being blackmailed.

On the other hand, if she was being blackmailed, that meant she’d done something bad, and he shouldn’t be so sympathetic.

It was just a theory, he reminded himself. He shot Charlie a glance, letting her know she could take the lead here. She had a relationship with April, and he didn’t.

“I’m feeling a lot better, thanks, April. And I will get back to work.” Charlie hauled in a long breath of moist greenhouse air. “But first we have to warn you about something.”

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