Page 27 of Manhunt in the Narrows
Elias had to focus on his next steps to keep himself from face-planting in the middle of the river. “What makes you say that?”
“Nothing. Never mind.” She shook her head, pushing them forward. “It probably doesn’t mean anything.”
His heart jerked in his chest. Reaching out, he secured his fingers around her elbow and dragged her to a stop. He could see it then, the signs of a person who’d been convinced she’d meant nothing. That she wasn’t important enough or deserving of someone’s time, least of all when it came to matters of an investigation. Elias’s teeth protested as a burn of rage at the bastard responsible for ever making this woman feel less than took over. “Of the two of us you’re the only one who’s had a real conversation with this guy. I want to know what you think.”
“I just… I got the impression there’s something waiting for him at the end of the trail.” Her shoulder rose on a deep inhale, but Sayles refused to look at him. “Like he didn’t so much want to escape, but rather get to something or someone waiting for him there. It’s ridiculous, I know. I’m probably reading too deep into it. He’d threatened me, and I was scared—”
“No.” Her body heat seeped into his hand, kept him grounded and calm in the face of the chaos and confusion closing in around them. He wasn’t sure he’d ever experienced that because of another person. At least not since his dad had been killed. “During my training, instructors and training officers would always encourage recruits to look at facts and evidence. They didn’t want us making assumptions or taking an investigation off course because of our bias. Logically, it makes sense, but some of the best calls I’ve made in cases like this are fromlistening to my gut. That instinct has saved lives over the course of my career, and I trust yours. Especially out here.”
She wanted to brush his reasoning off, to pretend that she was nothing and nobody to him and this investigation, but that just wasn’t the truth. In a matter of days, she’d taken up more of his thoughts than he was willing to admit and sure as hell never would to Grant or his special agent in charge back at the home office. “I’m not in law enforcement. I’m not trained to theorize killers’ motives.”
“But you know people.” That was how trauma worked. The terror of it could never be erased. Not from the victim’s nervous system and not as the brain physically rewired itself to stay on alert and absorb the slightest shift or possibility of a threat. “You know what they’re capable of and how to read the smallest signs that something isn’t right. You’ve been doing it for years, and I trust you, Sayles.”
His words hit a barrier in her emotions, as he’d expected. Her bastard of an ex had done a thorough job in tearing her down, but Elias wanted nothing more than to erase that pain. To show her how to believe in herself again. As she’d done for him without even realizing it. In the way she’d relaxed in his arms the two nights they’d camped in that too-small tent. In the way she’d challenged him to reconsider his priorities in life, to allow something other than his job to consume him. In the way she’d shown him what real strength looked like as she’d fought for her life instead of waiting for anyone else to save her. He shifted his weight between both legs, leveling his gaze with hers. “You talked with him. He told you things about himself, so what would a man like Patrick kill five people for if not to escape arrest?”
The muscles in her jaw ticked as she considered him for a few moments, unsure of herself and her own theory, but he noted themoment she decided to take a chance. “I think he’s looking for someone.”
Pride heated through him, and Elias stood a bit taller. There she was. The woman he imagined she’d been before her ex had gotten a hold of her. One forged of single-mindedness and mission, who wouldn’t let anyone stop her from getting what she wanted. “Do you know who?”
“He didn’t even tell me that much. I just…” Doubt bled from her gaze, leaving nothing behind but a flare of excitement. How long had she been waiting for someone to believe her? To take her word for it? To see her? “I have a feeling it’s someone important.”
“All right.” Elias nodded once. It was a vague detail that could risk the investigation if she ended up being wrong, but one they didn’t really have a choice other than to take. He’d meant what he’d said. He trusted her. He wasn’t sure when it’d started. Maybe when she’d hauled him out of the raging river’s path during that first flash flood. Maybe when she’d called his name from the edge of that cliff, telling him she trusted him to help. Maybe when he’d kissed her in the aftermath and something in him had snapped at coming so close to losing her. All it meant was she’d been right about him. There was more out there than his job and running himself into the ground case after case. More to live for than the mistakes he’d made and the people he’d let down, including his dad. “Then we proceed on that assumption.”
“Why?” There was that question again. Her need to understand why he believed her above his own training, why he’d even consider trusting her when no one else had.
Elias didn’t have an answer. At least not one that would satisfy the doubt she’d lived with for so long. Stepping into her personal space, he framed her chin with his thumb and index finger and pressed his mouth to hers. Not as he had on thattrail they’d left behind, full of desperation for something real and solid to hold on to. But intentionally forcing himself to slow down, to feel every sensation and sweep of her lips against his. And his defenses crumbled. Desire, unlike anything he’d experienced with all those meaningless dates, surged through his veins. He wanted to be the one she trusted, the one who cracked that careful control she’d put into place to protect herself against any further hurt. Coaxing her lips apart with the tip of his tongue, Elias tightened his hold on her chin as she jerked against him. Then she softened into him, opened for him. Allowed him to take control, and his whole body shuddered in response.
Hell, it wasn’t his first kiss, and it sure as hell wasn’t hers considering she’d been married—it wasn’t even their first kiss with each other—but it felt as though something new was building between them now. A bridge between damaged souls who’d gone through this life long enough without each other and had finally come home.
She’d fisted her cut and bruised hands in his shirt as though afraid the river would sweep him away, but he wasn’t going anywhere. Not now and not after he closed this case. He wasn’t sure how it would work between her here in Zion and him based out of Las Vegas, but a few hundred miles between them wasn’t going to make a damn bit of difference. He’d make sure of it.
A screech echoed off the canyon walls, and Elias broke the kiss to assess the oncoming threat.
Spotting a lone turkey fanning his brown-gray wings in a sliver of sunshine upriver.
Elias blinked to clear his head. Hard to do when all he could think about was Sayles. “Either I’m severely malnourished and dehydrated, or there’s a turkey sunbathing on that rock.”
She craned her head over one shoulder but kept her hands locked in his shirt. “That’s Frank. He lives in the park.”
“You named it.” Of course she had. His stomach growled, reminding him he hadn’t eaten since they’d set out a couple hours ago. “I don’t suppose we’re allowed to eat him.”
Sayles smacked her hand against his chest. Almost hard enough to knock him off-balance. Thankfully she wouldn’t be witnessing that blunder. “You can’t eat mascots, but if I’m being honest, turkey sounds really good right now.”
“I’ll get you some when we’re back at the visitors’ center.” He just wouldn’t tell Frank about that. “So tell me, Ranger Green, how do we get to Big Spring before the killer does?”
Chapter Twenty-One
She could’ve gone another lifetime without seeing this trail again.
They’d taken a gamble in hiking the 1,500-foot incline that crested the west canyon wall hiding the Narrows in its base. Her toes slipped on the next ascent, nearly launching her back into Elias. His hands framed her hips as she righted herself, keeping her from falling, but the rains from the past couple of days dissolved any sort of traction. One wrong move, and they’d lose the game the Hitchhiker Killer had set in motion. She had to be more careful. Breath crushed from her chest and aggravated the bruising along her ribs. “Thanks.”
“I was hoping never to do this again.” Elias struggled to even his breathing at her back, and she only hoped they hadn’t ascended too fast and triggered altitude sickness. He was assigned out of the Las Vegas FBI office. Well below the park’s elevation. “Can’t promise I won’t have a heart attack before we get to the top.”
“Almost there.” Using the goat trail gave them the slimmest chance of getting ahead of the killer by avoiding the river’s current and any debris and obstacles in their way if he’d kept to the official Narrows trail. It was the only option they had despite the anxiety-tense muscle strain memories of yesterday tightening down her spine, but she’d never hiked the rim of the canyon. Her knowledge extended to the main trails in andaround Zion. Elias had hired her as a guide, but this was foreign territory where any number of dangers could bite them in the ass.
Sun blinded her a split second before the ground under her feet evened out. Clear skies stretched as far as the eye could see. Miles and miles of barren red rock spread out before her in every direction, and a lightness she’d initially felt on the trails prickled the hair on the back of her neck. Wispy clouds played against the velvet of the sky, almost dancing on the breeze that untucked her hair from its crude braid. This. This was what she’d chased all those months after leaving Colorado. A fullness she couldn’t find anywhere else. Except she’d felt it down in that canyon, with Elias’s mouth pressed to hers. With every stroke of his tongue and shift of his hand on her face.
The kiss had been sweet and coaxing and freeing all in the same breath. Unlike anything she’d experienced before and a reminder of how little she’d been cared for in the past. But the anger—the disappointment—wasn’t there anymore. She waited for the shame to rear its ugly head. It never showed, and Sayles didn’t know what to think about that. What to do with that.
