Page 77 of Fire Peak

She paced from one end of the little cabin to the next. Her puzzle was finished. She’d washed the dishes—the chore she’d claimed because she liked warm soapy water. There was literally nothing left to do except count her footsteps and wish her “father” hadn’t turned into one of those patriarchal authoritarian types with no freaking warning.

At the back of the cabin, she pressed her nose against the sliding glass door that led out to the back deck. It wasn’t much of a deck, and the rental agreement had a clause that said you weren’t supposed to go out there. She could see why—rotting boards, no railing. But if she didn’t go to the edge, just stuck close to the cabin, it would probably be safe. The deck wouldn’t count as “outside,” would it? She needed some freaking oxygen.

A tap on the front door made her jump. Elias! Finally! She hurried to the door, but when she opened it, she didn’t see Elias. She saw a small redheaded child who she figured was one of his brothers, based on the weird clothes he wore. All the Chilkoots wore handmade clothes with fabric they wove themselves. It made them easily identifiable.

Even though Elias didn’t live with the Chilkoots anymore, he still cared about his little brothers and sisters. They’d all been told that outsiders were bad, so they only hung out with the other members of the Chilkoot clan. She was his first real friend outside the family.

Maybe that explained why the little boy looked so frightened right now. He was maybe eight, she figured.

She gave him a big smile. “Hi. Are you Elias’ brother?”

The boy nodded, still tongue-tied as he stared at her. She wondered if she had food in her teeth or a giant zit on her nose.

“Did Elias send you? Do you have a message for me? He was supposed to be here a while ago.”

The boy shook his head. “Is this where the smart man lives? The one who found who kept taking Ruth’s truck?”

The smart man. Hailey experienced a moment of pride, followed by irritation. The “smart man” was her brand-new father, and this was supposed to be their vacation, their time to get to know each other. And he’d waltzed off with his girlfriend leaving her trapped in her tower like Rapunzel.

“Yes, but he’s not here right now. I’m his daughter. Maybe I can help you.”

Like father, like daughter, right? She’d prove that Nick Perini wasn’t so special. By the time he got back, she would have solved a crime.

The redheaded boy lowered his voice to a whisper. “I saw a bad man take Elias.”

A jolt of fear shot through her. “Take him where?”

“I don’t know. He hit Elias on the head and put him into a truck.”

This was way over her head. “We have to tell someone. Like, a policeman or something.” Then she remembered there wasn’t such a thing out here. That was why everyone kept coming to her dad for help. “How about your mom and dad, or uncles or whatever?” The Chilkoot clan confused her, she could never tell what people’s relationships were.

“Everyone’s at home. It’s really far from here.”

Come to think of it, how did he get here? She peered past him and saw there was a four-wheeler parked on the side of the road. The fact that eight-year-olds were allowed to drive four-wheelers out here was both super-cool and slightly terrifying.

She racked her brain about who else to turn to. Charlie would be the next best option, seeing as she was totally badass. But she was with Nick. Dad. Whatever. Maybe Charlie’s friends? Molly or Lila or—yes! Bear!

Bear was the guy Lila worked for at The Fang, and talk about badass. He was intimidatingly huge, but also pretty nice. Sometimes he played volleyball with them, and he’d just stand by the net and wait for a pass so he could spike it.

He could almost always be found at The Fang, which was right down the road.

“I know who can help us,” she told the boy. “Mind if we take your four-wheeler? It’ll be quicker.”

He nodded, and she grabbed her jacket off the peg by the door. Should she leave a note? She was only going to The Fang, it would take just a couple minutes. But technically, she’d be breaking her father’s new, very unreasonable rules.

She pictured Nick’s face if he came back and found her gone, with no note and no way to reach her. Back in Arizona, her mother always knew where she was because of that stupid app on her phone. As pissed as she was at Nick, she couldn’t do that to her newly discovered father.

She scribbled a quick note and left it pinned to the fridge with a magnet shaped like a bear cub.

Went to The Fang to help Elias’ little brother find him.

If Elias was in trouble, she couldn’t just sit here and do nothing. Her father would understand. He would do exactly the same thing.

“We’ve told you everything we know.” Charlie let out an exasperated sigh. When Solomon first pulled the gun, she’d been filled with fear. But she’d taken a cue from Nick’s calm, patient manner. Solomon had no reason to shoot them. He was just trying to find out about the perilium. “Like we keep saying, we found it in my wound.”

“You gotta know more than that. Why’d you come here asking questions? It’s a piece of fucking dirt if you don’t know what you’re looking at. Why didn’t you just toss it in the trash?”

“We thought it might help us figure out who shot Charlie, that’s all,” Nick said soothingly. “I’m an investigator, it’s what I do. You hired me yourself.”

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