Page 31 of Mile High Mystery

“I’d better go,” Todd said. “It was good to see you guys again.” He slid out of the booth and hurried away.

“I didn’t mean to scare off your friend,” Janie said as she slid into the booth next to Zach. She sat close, almost touching him.

“It’s okay,” Zach said. “Um, Eldon, this is Janie. She was one of the campers we evacuated from the Piñon Creek campground.”

“I remember.” Eldon was still grinning.

“It’s nice to see you again, too.” She offered him her hand. Her nails were painted pale blue, and her bare arms were tanned, as if she’d spent a week at the beach.

They shook hands. “Where are you from?” he asked.

“I’m from a little town outside of Houston,” she said.

“I’m from Houston,” Zach said.

He felt the impact of her smile again, heating him up from the inside. “It’s a small world, isn’t it?” she said.

Houston was a big city, and lots of people from Texas visited Colorado, so it wasn’t so surprising he should run into someone from near his hometown. Still, it was a little connection between them. “Would you like a drink?” Zach asked.

“Oh, just a Diet Coke.” She hit him with the full force of her smile—white teeth, generous pink lips and brilliant blue eyes that sparkled.

The server arrived, and she ordered a Diet Coke, while he and Eldon asked for two more beers. “Did our friend pick up the tab for the first round?” Eldon asked.

“’Fraid not,” said their server, a redhead named Kiki.

“I figured,” Eldon said.

“Some friend,” Kiki said, and sauntered away.

“You should let me pay,” Janie said. “Since I sort of ran him off.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Zach said.

“Are you camping by yourself?” Eldon asked. “Or with friends? A boyfriend?” He smirked at Zach.

“Just some friends.” She smiled at Kiki as the server set a glass of Diet Coke in front of her, along with Zach’s and Eldon’s beers. “Thanks.” She sipped the drink, then added, “Actually, they left today to head out to Moab. I decided to stick around a few more days.” She moved her leg so that she brushed against Zach. “I was hoping I’d run into you again.”

“Uh, yeah. It’s good to see you again, too.” He sipped his beer, aware of her still touching him. He was flattered by her attention, but why was she coming on so strong? She didn’t know anything about him. And all he knew about her was that she was gorgeous and not at all shy.

“How long have you two volunteered with Search and Rescue?” she asked, including Eldon in the conversation.

“A couple of years,” Eldon said. “Zach is still a rookie.”

“It’s really amazing that you give so much of your time and energy to helping others,” she said.

“It’s a pretty amazing group,” Eldon said.

Janie was still looking at Eldon, but her hand was stroking Zach’s thigh. Maybe this wasn’t even happening. Maybe it was a dream. Any minute now, firefighters would rush in and start spraying him down with a fire hose, or the server would show up with a live duck on a silver tray, or some other bizarre thing would occur to let him know that he definitely wasn’t in the real world anymore.

“Now this is interesting,” Eldon said. He was looking over Zach’s shoulder.

Zach turned his head to see Shelby striding toward them. Like Janie, she was dressed in jeans, but she also wore a light jacket and a grim expression. She stopped beside the table, and her gaze flicked over Eldon and Janie before settling on Zach. “We need to talk,” she said.

“Zach’s a little busy right now,” Janie said. Her voice was pleasant enough, but Zach still flinched at the look she directed at Shelby. He half expected to smell singed hair.

“Janie, this is Shelby,” Zach said. “Shelby, this is Janie.”

“Agent Shelby Dryden, FBI,” Shelby said.