Page 31 of Twin Jeopardy

Tammy’s heart raced. “What did she look like?”

“About your height. Slender. She was wearing dark jeans and a dark shirt and a baseball cap. I couldn’t see her hair.”

“Did she give a name?” Jamie asked.

“No. She just said she was a reporter with theSentinel.She had a camera and a notebook, so I let her through.”

“Were the couple in the truck from Junction?” Tammy asked.

Jamie and Dwight looked at each other. “I’ll check,” Jamie said, and turned to her computer.

“Is something wrong?” Dwight asked.

Tammy explained about the running woman. “It sounds like it could have been the same woman,” Dwight said. “Maybe she was in a hurry to get back to town and file her story.”

Jamie looked up. “The couple was from North Carolina,” she said.

Tammy thanked them and hurried back to the newspaper office. From there, she telephoned the Junction paper and asked for her friend, Tyler Frazier. “Hey, Tammy!” he greeted her. “This is a nice surprise.”

“Hey, Tyler. I’m trying to locate a reporter there at the paper. She was here in Eagle Mountain last night, covering an accident we had where a couple’s truck went off the road and over a cliff.”

“Sounds like a wild story, but I don’t think we would have sent a reporter to cover it,” he said. “That’s pretty far out of our coverage area.”

“Would you mind checking for me?”

“Okay. Hold on a second.”

He put her on Hold. A song that was popular when her parents were teenagers came on, and Tammy hummed along as she studied the photos of the vandalized truck once more. She had taken one of the red footprint, left when someone—the vandal?—had stepped in the red paint. Red like blood. She shivered at the thought.

Tyler came back on the line. “No one here went down to Eagle Mountain yesterday to cover an accident or anything else,” he said. “What did this reporter look like?”

“Female, young, slender, about my height. Maybe with long hair.” The woman who had run past her had had long hair.

“That doesn’t sound like anyone we have on staff,” Tyler said. “Sorry I can’t help you.”

She hung up. Someone had posed as a reporter in order to get past the highway barrier. Had she done so specifically to get to Vince’s truck? But why? Why target him?

The phone rang, the screen showing a familiar name. “Hello, Mitch,” she said.

“Come have lunch with me,” Mitch said.

She started to tell him she was too busy. Truthfully, she wasn’t in the mood to socialize, even with Mitch.

“Please. Elisabeth will be there, and I want you to meet her.”

“All right.” She couldn’t pass up the chance to meet the woman who had captivated her brother.

“Meet us at the Rib Shack at twelve thirty.”

When she arrived at the barbecue stand near the river, she spotted Mitch already in line. Next to him was a slender, dark-haired woman about her height, whom he introduced as Elisabeth. The woman’s smile was warm, her handshake firm. “It’s nice to meet you,” she said.

“It’s good to meet you too,” Tammy said. “And welcome to Eagle Mountain. Mitch tells me you’re new in town.”

“Yes. He’s been helping me get settled.” She gave Mitch an adoring smile, which he returned. Tammy had never seen her brother this besotted. Why was that unsettling?

“What brought you to Eagle Mountain?” Tammy asked. “We’re not exactly on the beaten path.”

“I had a friend who used to live here,” she said. “She raved about how beautiful it is, and I can’t say she was wrong.”

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