Page 12 of After the Fall

“Let’s follow the river upstream and set some traps near the deeper pools. If he’s trying to conceal his scent in the water, he’ll need more than this pissy creek.”

Atticus nodded and we trudged on to higher ground, following the stream north, our legs coated in mud. It was a genius way to get through the woods, but there was no way Harper’s dad could’ve spent the last ten years wading the waters of Stirling County.

We needed answers.

We needed to find him. Alive.

A flash of color caught my eye, and I hopped down the bank to the river. A tattered backpack was wedged under a slippery rock, its straps fluttering in the light current. I grabbed the soaked strap and tugged, but it resisted. “It’s really stuck in there.” I grunted and pulled harder.

“Wait.” Atticus landed next to me with a thud. “Look. It’s been sunk. On purpose.”

The backpack was squarely underneath a rock. The odds that it had sunk in the river only to get wedged beneath a rock like that, were miniscule. “Shit.” I lifted the rock and pulled the backpack free from the mud. “It hasn’t spent a season out here.” The color was still vibrant, and it didn’t look like there had been any decay.

“Why would someone do that?” Atticus took the dripping bag from me and unzipped it. “Do you think we’re going to find a head in here?”

I knew that he was making a joke, but it wouldn’t have been the first time we had come across body parts in the county. My thoughts ran to the headlines that had dominated the Seattle news cycle all summer.

The rogue that we’d killed had been responsible for the disappearance of several hikers, but since the rogue had been captured, hikers were still going missing. It wasn’t necessarily a new phenomenon. The forest was a dangerous place, and there were plenty of natural things that could kill a human – cliffs, exposure, bears, cougars…

We had brushed off the whole serial killer thing, but while bears will sometimes hide and guard their kill, and cougars will drag their lunch into the trees, neither of those creatures would sink and hide a pink Lululemon backpack in the bottom of a creek bed.

“Open it.” I wasn’t in the mood for jokes. If there was a serial killer in Stirling County, we needed to find and take care of him.But if the serial killer was the man who my girlfriend called dad? Well, that would make things a hell of a lot trickier.

Atticus opened the bag and dumped its contents onto the ground. My stomach sank when I saw the protein bars. A bear would’ve torn the bag to shreds for food. Inside the bag were a few typical hiking essentials – a small stove, some teabags, one of those filter straws – but no wallet and no identifying tags.

“Should we tell the police?” Atticus shoved the items back into the bag.

“No.” I grabbed it from him and stuffed it into the top pocket of my rucksack. “There’s already too much action in the county. And they’re fucking useless. If we want to figure out who…” I hesitated for a moment, “or what is doing this, we’re going to have to do it ourselves. Come on. Let’s set some traps and catch this thing.”

Atticus nodded, his lips drawn into a thin line. “You think it was her dad?”

“I don’t know.” I scrambled up the bank. “But we’re going to find out.”

My words sounded stronger than they felt. Harper’s dad had warned us of danger, but could the danger actually be her father?

SIX

HARPER

The morning passed quickly,a blur of internet sleuthing and research. The leather of Wyatt’s chair felt buttery against my skin as I squinted at the computer screen. Meanwhile, Brown Dog curled up lazily at my feet, content to spend the day napping.

Maximus Carder had a sordid history. When he was in his twenties, he was kicked out of Harvard University, and enrolled in the military. But that too had ended badly, with a dishonorable discharge. The trail went cold after that.

His wife was an even bigger mystery. Other than their wedding announcement, Michelle Carder had no past and no ascertainable history. It was like she’d materialized out of thin air, marrying into the Carder family fortune.

When the Carder family patriarch died unexpectedly, Maximus had inherited the bulk of the family fortune, creating the Carder Corporation and turning it into the conglomerate it was today. The Carder portfolio now contained more than fifty companies in a variety of industries, including technology, energy, and real estate. And Genocorp.

Their hostile takeover of The Seattle Sun seemed to fit their business profile, but Sun Valley didn’t. What was the connection? There had to be one. And where was the danger my dad had warned about?

And how exactly did my dad fit into all of this? How had he become a… I shuddered, not wanting to think the word, though it sat at the tip of my tongue.

Monster.

Even Wyatt and his crew of large, powerful creatures, seemed fearful of what my father had become.

Had the Carders done that to him?

I needed more information. I needed to call in the big guns.

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