Page 58 of Reading Between the Lines
It was good, and every time we connected like this, it was easier, too. “Delaney has offered a serious bonus if we uncover something nefarious about Weston’s accident. The woman is loaded. A bonus could make a big difference. We might be able to replace those shoes.”
Tallus glanced up with a smile, hazel eyes outlined by dark-framed glasses. “Then let’s crack-a-lack this one wide open because you know something fishy is going on.”
He rose to his toes and pecked a kiss on my lips. I wanted to tell him the truth about the business’s financial situation. How shoes were the least of my concern. He didn’t know about the accumulating unpaid bills and threats of eviction. I’d danced around it for months, hinting here and there, but I’d never sat him down and had a serious talk. I wasn’t a talker. Losing the business was hard enough to process on my own, but telling Tallus his training might be for naught would break his heart. He wanted to be an investigator, and I’d promised him partnership. At this rate, I feared I wouldn’t have a place to live, let alone a company anymore.
We followed the trail. Under the protection of the forest’s canopy, it was more mud than ice. A short way in, the path joined the river, running parallel along its length. The embankment on this side was the same: a steep, perilous drop to the dangerous rushing water below. Delaney had mentioned the kids like to snowmobile along the trail in the winter, but with its proximity to the drop-off, I wouldn’t have taken the risk. But kids were stupid.
I searched the embankment for the skid marks that the police had discovered showing where the teen had fallen and tried to save himself. It had been over a week, so the likelihood of anything still being visible was slim, especially since we’d had snow and an ice storm in the interim. I looked for cigarette butts, empty pop cans or beer bottles, and other litter that might have been recently left behind by teenagers.
“I don’t get it. Why would Weston have been out here?” Tallus wondered out loud.
It was a question I’d been pondering for some time. I couldn’t see a viable reason. The location was outside of town. If he planned to attend his newspaper meeting, then why take a random hike here when the school was in the opposite direction. Weston and Londyn had supposedly been at the library, which was nowhere near the trail.
Had they been at the library? Something told me no.
We walked silently for a while, examining the side of the path next to the river. The other side of the trail was dense trees, and I didn’t know what lay beyond the forest.
I paused, staring into its depths as Tallus hiked ahead.
“Hang on. Let’s go this way.” I veered off-trail, entering the thicket of trees.
“But, D, we’re getting close to where Weston was found. The rise is less steep farther up the trail, and in a hundred yards or so, we should be level with the river. The dog walker said—”
“We’ll come back to it.”
The crunch of underbrush and steady cursing told me Tallus reluctantly followed. Before long, we came to a wire fence that stood chest-high. The rotting wooden posts holding it erect stood at ten-foot intervals. The fence itself ran as far as I could see in both directions.
“Property line,” I said, assuming.
I approached a post and shook it to test its vitality. As I suspected, it moved in the ground, rattling the rusty wire fence. The tension had gone out of it long ago. In the center of two posts, I pushed the top part of the wire fencing down far enough to lift a leg to the other side. “Come on.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s trespassing, Mr. Ex-cop.”
“I don’t see a sign.”
“I don’t think we need one. The fence is a sign.”
“I thought sleuthing was your thing. I want to know what’s on the other side of these trees because Weston was out here for some reason, and we both agree he encountered trouble. So, I’m going to take a walk on this here private property and have myself a look around. Don’t like it, wait here.”
“Dammit. You know I love a good sleuthing party.” Tallus glanced at the surrounding forest and must have decided my logic was sound.
I held the wire fence as low as possible and encouraged him to join me on the other side.
He did, but not without a full-on bitchfest about how if he caught his pants on a wire and ripped them, I was going to pay. I had a feeling he wasn’t talking financially this time, but because indulging Tallus in conversation about clothes left me bored and confused, I didn’t ask him to elaborate.
We weaved through the trees as the howling wind rattled the branches overhead. Despite being somewhat protected, cold air bit at my cheeks. I checked on my underdressed boyfriend, who trudged ten feet behind, cursing the mud and the cold and the air and the forest itself. When he called Mother Nature a menopausal bitch because we weren’t supposed to have ice and snow in November, I smiled. I learned something new about Tallus every day, and this most recent case had taught me he was not a fan of the outdoors—or hiking.
Tallus seemed to be going out of his way to keep his teeth from chattering. The tips of his ears were bright pink, and he hunched against the cold, looking ten kinds of miserable as he trailed after me.
“The weather’s changing,” I said, glimpsing the slate gray sky through the dense branches overhead. The soft patter of rain sounded a moment later, and Tallus cursed.
“Can we turn around before we end up soaked? I’m freezing as it is, and I didn’t sign up for a nature walk.”
“You’re not dressed properly.”
“Beating a dead horse, Diem. I know. When I packed for this excursion, I didn’t think we would be crawling through a muddy forest in the freezing rain. Can we please turn back? What are we expecting to find anyhow?”
He was right. I didn’t have a clue.
