Page 33 of Disappearance at Angel's Landing
“Looks like it’s just you and me now, Ranger Jordan.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
The rubber band around his heart snapped harder than ever before.
Branch struggled to take his next breath as he met up with the mouth of the canyon that would lead north. Lila had been right before. This was the only escape that made sense to get the killer out of the park as fast as possible and without ranger interference. It was also the most dangerous. Though he hadn’t caught sight of Fluffy yet, flash floods weren’t uncommon in the area. With the storm bearing down, he could get swept away without more than a few seconds’ warning. There was a chance the mountain lion had sought shelter during the storm, which just went to prove how out of it Branch really was.
Or maybe he was looking to punish himself.
He couldn’t stop the accusations he’d thrown at her from circling his head. Every step punctuated by another vile word. He’d accused her of lying to him. Not just about what she’d kept from him during the investigation but of using her past to manipulate him. Like her mother had. Like the other rangers had. Like the killer had.
Damn it, it was the most detestable thing he’d ever done. Worse than taking a baseball bat to his best friend’s car the minute Brand caught him and his ex-wife in bed together. It’d felt good at the time—like lifting a weight he hadn’t realized hadbeen crushing him for months—but he didn’t have that feeling now.
All he could think about was Lila’s flinch, as though he’d physically struck her. The dullness in her eyes. The way she’d hugged herself to keep from breaking in front of him.
Branch pushed himself harder, wanting nothing more than to ease the regret churning in his gut, but the relief never came. He’d messed up. He’d taken something beautiful and delicate and crushed it the moment he got attached.
That was what he did though, wasn’t it? He took and took without giving back. And then he took some more. It was why his ex-wife had started looking to his best friend for intimacy. It was why she hadn’t told him about the pregnancy immediately. Why she’d made a life-changing decision without considering what he’d wanted. At some point, she’d felt he couldn’t be trusted.
The moment Lila had given him her trust by telling him all the ways her family failed her and the blame she’d shouldered alone for so long, a switch had flipped. He’d shut down any part of himself that allowed emotion and connection, but with her… It’d all come rushing back.
It was as though he’d been standing outside his bedroom door, right back on the edge of that cliff, knowing one more step would change his life, and he’d been afraid of falling. Moans of pleasure puncturing through the thin wood, his hand on the cold doorknob, his heart in his throat. Out there in the middle of the desert with Lila, he’d been back at that door. One step away from claiming the support and connection he’d wanted since the divorce or retreating to safety where he didn’t have to worry about corrupting another woman into resenting him. Where no one could touch him.
He’d made his choice.
Only now, Branch couldn’t stop rubbing his chest. Knowing if he allowed himself to slow down, the ache would consume himfrom the inside. He’d survived losing the woman he’d planned on spending the rest of his life with, but this…this was different.
Somehow, deep down, he understood this pain would only get worse the more distance he added between him and Ranger Barbie. And, damn it, he deserved to live in it. To feel every twinge of agony for what he’d said to her. He wasn’t good enough for a woman like Lila Jordan who put everyone else before herself, who cheered for the very people working to tear her down, who never gave up. He was hard where she was soft, demanding where she compromised, unforgiving and intolerable where she accepted every facet of his grumpy ass. And he’d thrown it all in her face out of fear. Fear of destroying every good thing that made her the beautiful creature she was.
The tug to turn back intensified until it stole his next breath. Sarah Lantos’s killer had targeted Lila. It made sense for him to make sure the son of a bitch couldn’t come back for his partner, but there wouldn’t be a woman to save if he left things like this between them. Branch pulled up short of the very cave he’d found her cornered by the killer. He had a choice. Duty to his job and this park or choosing Lila. It wasn’t much of a choice.
Turning around, he navigated the smooth riverbed, his pace picking up once he reached the mouth of the canyon. That invisible thread connecting him and Lila had grown taut, pulling him back to Angel’s Landing. To her.
The valley stretched out in front of him. Lightning struck the ground about a half mile away, raising the hairs along his forearm as he stepped out into the open. His nervous system screamed danger as he navigated forgotten boulders and exposed roots. The trees here had already burned due to a lightning strike two years ago, but that didn’t mean another fire couldn’t erupt without notice. The first few drops of the next storm spit against his face. His legs ached under the weight ofhis pack as he jogged across the expanse. Lungs on fire, Branch ignored the pounding in his head.
Seconds stretched into minutes. Minutes into hours. Every single one of them etched deep into his skin as he closed the distance between them. Lila had most likely already met up with the search and rescue team, but the storm would slow them down. He could still catch her. He’d beg for her forgiveness, then let her go if that was what she chose. It would hurt, but it was nothing short of what he deserved. To live the rest of his life alone and regretful.
The ache in his chest doubled in size, spreading like a wildfire through his arms and legs as he crested the bowl-like incline of the valley. Angel’s Landing wasn’t too much farther, and it would take time for the entire SAR team to ascend the cliffside leading to the lookout with their gear. Just another mile or so. His pulse thudded in rhythm to his steps as he followed the curved upper rim of the valley.
Then he saw them. The search team.
An added burst of energy shot down his legs. Within seconds, he closed in on Risner huddled under a rocky outcropping blocking out the rain, but he couldn’t pick out the pink nightmare he’d been searching for in the group. Every ranger had donned their Stetsons, throwing him off, but it was clear within a few seconds that Lila wasn’t among them. Had she pushed ahead?
The district ranger raised his attention, setting beady dark eyes on him. Risner’s thin frame towered over the others in the team, most likely providing the supervisor with a power trip he hadn’t earned. “Branch, it’s about time. We’ve been waiting for you. What the hell is going on out here? I got reports of a landslide but no seismic activity. You know anything about that?”
“The killer used dynamite to trigger the landslide.” Trying to catch his breath, Branch studied the canyons ahead, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. He’d told her to wait for the SAR team, but knowing her, she’d decided to head back to headquarters alone. Despite the fact that was where she would be safest, he couldn’t help but wonder if she’d be there when he returned. “Ranger Jordan and I were caught in the fallout. We’ve been tracking the killer. We barely escaped with our lives. You got anything on this guy? A way to identify him?”
Risner jumped at the opportunity to take the lead. “The medical examiner concluded Sarah Lantos was dead before she hit the ground. The stab wound to her side severed the superior…mercenary artery. Something like that.”
“Superior mesenteric artery.” Another member of the team tossed out a tarp to set up a temporary campsite.
“Right. That. The victim bled out in seconds. The ME says the killer must’ve had some knowledge of anatomy or he just got lucky killing her that quickly. I’m thinking the latter, considering he’s messing around with dynamite. Nobody mentally stable risks their own life with materials like that.” Risner swiped the back of his hand beneath his nose to catch the water dripping off the birdlike cartilage. “The blood found on the lookout belongs to the victim. There were no traces of the killer left behind, not even on the gear and ropes. Killer must’ve worn gloves. Best we can tell, Sarah Lantos was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
That didn’t feel right. Not after everything he and Lila had gone through. “Lila said the killer wanted Sarah Lantos to suffer, that she deserved to pay for what she’d done to him for years. She thinks this is personal to him. Did you run a background check on the victim? Does she have any priors, incidents or family members with records?”
Branch was with Lila on this. He didn’t have a whole lot of experience studying motives and modes of operation, but heknew there were warning signs leading up to someone taking a life. Something that might pinpoint who’d killed the victim. And tried to kill Lila.
“She thinks this is personal, huh? Well, since your partner isn’t here, we’ll have to operate on the assumption the people who actually investigate homicides around here are right.” Risner scanned the landscape beyond Branch’s shoulders, hands on his hips as though ready to dole out long-awaited punishment for his metaphorical punching bag. “Where is Jordan, by the way? You were both supposed to wait for the SAR team.”
