Page 54 of Bait and Switch
“How can that mean you’re okay?” Gabe wanted to know. “It’s fucking dark out.”
“What happened?” Elton asked. “Who attacked you?”
“Asshole caught me by surprise. Snuck up on me, didn’t they?” Casey shifted to his knees and twisted around, looking for something or someone. “Is Perkins still hanging around? It wasn’t him who hit me,” he was quick to add.
Gabe couldn’t begin to process the thundercloud of emotion that was close to choking him. He simultaneously wanted to beat the living daylights out of whoever had done this and wrap Casey up in cotton. So, like a normal male person, he ignored it. Wasn’t easy.
“Who was it?” Elton repeated. “Did you get a look at them at all?” He put his hand on Gabe’s shoulder and squeezed it, as if he somehow realized Gabe was a heartbeat away from losing his shit.
“Dunno,” Casey mumbled, rolling his neck. “Never got a good look at them and they didn’t give me their name.”
With a grunt, Gabe knelt in the muddy snow next to Casey, ignoring the pounding of his heart. The panicked thumps had zero to do with adrenaline and everything to do with Casey’s irritating self, which, regardless of his personality, had managed to become important to Gabe. With care, Gabe eased the hood of Casey’s coat off his head and removed the wool cap he wore.
“Con man and EMT? That’s quite a skill set.”
“Fuck off,” Gabe said mildly. The reality was, if Casey could snark, he wasn’t on death’s doorstep. Gabe’s heartbeat slowed to a reasonable pace. “I’ll have you know, I’m qualified. Mom bought me a doctor’s kit for my eighth birthday. Definitelyqualified enough to say you are one lucky fucker. That hideous hat must’ve absorbed a lot of the impact.”
“My toque was given to me by a friend.”
“A friend with no fashion sense.”
“I work for the Forest Service, notGQ.”
“Focus, you two,” Elton interjected. “What do you think you were hit with?”
“Whatever it was, it was hard and heavy. Maybe firewood, a branch, something like that. Did you see Perkins?” he asked again.
“No. Did you see him, Elton?” Gabe pushed to his feet and glanced around. Still dark, still nothing that he could see. Only the pile of snapping embers that had once been Gordon’s shed, and the single tree that had caught.
“Nope. But the fire truck’s finally made it.”
Elton gestured toward the Forest Service water truck that had rumbled past Casey and Elton’s vehicles and parked as close to what remained of the fire as they could get. Two people in full gear jumped out and presumably began to drag hoses from the tank toward the blaze.
“I had Greta call it in. Help me up.” Casey had one hand raised Gabe’s direction.
“No.”
“Gabriel,” Casey said with a sigh, lowering his hand. “Calvin had something with him—I didn’t see what it was before the attack. Is it still over there?” He pointed generally toward the emergency responders. “Kind of to the right, I think. If it’s still there, I want to know what it is before it gets hosed off.”
“I’m on it.” Gabe gingerly made his way to the spot Casey had indicated. Elton could watch over Casey.
Sure enough, there was something sitting on the ground twenty or so feet away from the flames.
“It’s still here,” he called back to Casey. “Should I be worried? This is Perkins, after all.”
“Just—can you grab it and bring it over here?”
Rolling his eyes, Gabe darted around the spray of water from the fire hose as the responders doused the cedar tree. Hoisting the black bag off the ground, Gabe carried it back to where Elton and Casey were impatiently waiting.
Whatever was encased in the black plastic bag wasn’t excessively heavy. The bag itself had been wrapped with what appeared to be silver duct tape, but the adhesive had dried and cracked so it no longer stuck to the plastic.
“What do you think’s inside?” he asked as he set the bag down again.
“Dunno. I think we’re going to have to open it to find out. You got a knife in your pocket, Elton?”
Gabe couldn’t read Casey and Elton’s thoughts, but technically, they were disturbing a crime scene. But no one had come to check on them yet, so was it an official crime scene? And who knew what side the cops were on in this scenario. Gabe’s experience thus far did not have him rushing to put his trust in the TCSO.
Elton stuck a hand in his pants pocket and brought out a penknife with a bone handle. “Always prepared.”
