Page 35 of Threat of Danger
“I’d like to check it out.”
“I’ve only been inside once,” she said, “on a dare. It’s been closed to the public for about eleven years now.”
When the Versquatchers began investigating it for signs of sasquatch habitation, one of them fell down the hundred-foot chimney and broke his neck. Park service put a metal grate on all three entrances and padlocked them. No admittance.
The accident had happened during the summer of Jess’s junior year in high school. She remembered it because Derek was in the journalism club and wrote the article on the tragedy, and Jess, of course, read every word.
Eliot lit up at the thought of a cave that had been sealed for more than a decade. He looked irresistible with that boyishly eager excitement on his face. “You think I could apply for a permit to get in?”
If the person handing out the permits is a woman, no problem.“You could try,” she said. “Short Stack has a chimney too. The main entrance to the cave is to the south, at the foot of the rock base. All locked up, same as this one.”
He toed the grate once again with his boots. “It’s pretty rusty. Somebody heavy enough jumps on the bars, they might fall through. Not too safe.”
He always thought of safety first, in every situation, which made him an excellent stunt coordinator. Jess, for one, appreciated that he was a stickler for protecting his team.
“I’ll tell Chuck. He’ll know who to call.”
“Chuck?”
“The foreman at the farm. He runs things now.”
With a last wistful look at the blocked cave entrance, Eliot moved on.
Jess followed after him, all the way to the edge of the cliff, to look at the hundred-foot drop below them. Eliot took her hand as he scanned the view, the river gorge and treed hills. He snapped some pictures with his phone. Grinned at her.
“It’ll make the guys back home cry with envy.”
After he posted his best photo on Instagram, he turned to Jess and claimed both of her hands, focused on her face. “I’d like to stay a couple of days, if that’s OK.”
“Yes.” That easily, her plan to return to LA was set aside.
His gaze swept the vista, then returned to her. “You know I’ve been thinking about a training camp. Somewhere I can take the team between movies. A place to practice, to teach new recruits the ropes. Someplace quiet and private where spectators wouldn’t be a distraction.”
She nodded, hyperaware of her hands in his. For as long as she’d known Eliot, his own training camp had been his dream. Someplace where he could set up everything the way he wanted, instead of using whatever was available at the places he rented.
“I think this might be it,” he said. “We could do some pretty good high jumps from these cliffs. I have some new equipment from Switzerland I want to test.”
Like every other stunt coordinator, he was always looking to make stunts bigger and safer.
He tilted his head. “You think I can talk the owner into selling me some land? You know who owns this? Tell me it’s not a national park or something.”
She grinned. “It’s Taylor land on the other side of the river.”
He grinned back—that easy, sexy grin she loved so much. “You think your mother would sell?”
The whole farm, no. But a few acres out here? A week ago, Jess would have said no to that too, but her motherhadsold a couple of acres to Principal Crane. “Maybe.”
A teasing light came into Eliot’s eyes. “I need some tips on how to make her like me.”
“You can come to the hospital with me and talk to her. Praise her maple syrup. Tell her it’s the sweetest you’ve ever tasted.”
Eliot kept smiling as he leaned toward Jess and brushed his lips over hers. “Maybe second sweetest,” he murmured. “I think I have the sweetest right here.”
This was it, what Jess wanted, but before she could let herself relax into the moment, movement caught her eye down by the river. She pulled back to look. Derek was walking on the riverbank, with another long stick, rooting in last year’s mud and fallen leaves. Almost as if he was looking for something. Maybe he’d lost his phone down there yesterday.
Eliot drew Jess closer. “Who’s that?”
“Our neighbor. Derek Daley.”
