Page 10 of Canyon Killer
“Her brother didn’t seem too happy about her being here with me.”
“They’re a close family.”
“I met one of her other brothers when I rented the Jeep. They come across as a little overprotective.”
“I have two daughters,” Gage said. “Having a job like mine, where you see all the terrible things people do to each other, it feels like there’s no such thing as overprotective.”
Ian couldn’t argue with that. “Do I need to be worried about those two skeletons?” he asked. “I mean, whoever killed them is probably long gone, right?”
“Probably,” the sergeant said. “I’d like to know what happened to them, but I don’t know if we ever will. It’s hard to investigate a murder so long after the fact. The best we can do is try to identify them. At least then we might give their families some closure.” He glanced toward the cliff face, which now had a line of people making their way up the trail and swarming around the caves. “We’ll be out of your way in a few hours, I expect. If we have any questions, we’ll let you know.”
Ian went back into his office and tried to focus on work, but his mind kept replaying the events of the afternoon. Not just finding the bones, but being with Bethany. She had left without saying goodbye. She probably never wanted to see him again. Nothing to put a damper on a budding friendship like a couple of skeletons.
CHAPTER FOUR
“So were they dry bones, like a Halloween skeleton, or was there rotting flesh and stuff?” Carter sat across the dinner table from Bethany and helped himself to mashed potatoes.
“I’m trying to eat,” Bethany said. Though she didn’t have much of an appetite. Her dream of keeping the afternoon’s discovery from her family had been shattered when Carter and Dalton had burst in to report they’d heard about the find from fellow search and rescue volunteers Ryan and Eldon, who had seen the parade of sheriff’s department vehicles headed toward Humboldt Canyon and gotten the details from a 911 dispatcher Ryan knew.
“I don’t like the idea of you being involved in any of this,” Mom said from one end of the table.
“I’m not involved in anything,” she said.
“You and Ian Seabrook got friendly really fast,” Dalton said.
“He rented a Jeep and I delivered it,” she said.
“And stuck around to take a hike with him. Where he showed you a couple of human skeletons.” Carter made a face. “Not my idea of a fun date.”
“It wasn’t a date. And it was my idea to go up to those caves, not Ian’s,” she said. “He was just as shocked as I was to find those bones up there.”
“I think you should stay away from the whole thing.” Her father, a tall, broad-shouldered man whose dark hair showed slashes of silver at the front, looked up from his hamburger steak and gravy. “From what your brothers tell me, this young man doesn’t have the best reputation.”
“He’s only been in Eagle Mountain two days,” she protested.
“All the more reason to stay away from him,” her mother said. “We don’t know anything about him.”
“He talked about his plans for the via ferrata,” she said. “I think it’s going to be something a lot of people will enjoy.”
“People who have no business climbing, you mean,” Carter said.
“Who are you to say who can climb and who can’t?” Bethany countered.
“That’s enough, children,” their mother said.
Bethany pushed back her chair. “May I be excused? I have a search and rescue meeting.”
“So do we.” Dalton pushed back his chair, and Carter did as well.
Bethany didn’t wait for her brothers. She headed out in her Subaru and arrived at search and rescue headquarters ahead of them. Then she sat in the parking lot for a few minutes and pulled herself together. Time to put aside her frustrations over family and lingering upset over the afternoon’s events. She was here to focus on her search and rescue training and learning how to better help other people.
The large training room was already filling up by the time she made her way inside. “Hey, Bethany,” her best friend, Chris, greeted her. The two friends embraced.
“It’s been ages since I’ve seen you,” Bethany said.
“I know. But I’ve been so busy with the wedding and Serena and everything.” Chris and her fiancé had recently adopted a little girl and were getting ready for their wedding this fall. As happy as Bethany was for them, she couldn’t help but feel her friend was slipping away. Chris had other priorities now, some of which Bethany could admit she envied.
But she was determined not to reveal any of that. She turned to greet the other volunteers around her. Across the room, she heard Carter and Dalton arrive. They were quickly surrounded by other young men in the group.
