Page 13 of Disappearance at Angel's Landing
He’d probably bite her hand off if she tried.
“Yeah. I guess it’s possible.” The breeze kicked up, cooling the sweat at her temples and increasing the intensity of cedar. Lila forced herself to stand, to get some distance on the pretense of searching the campsite for evidence when all she really wanted to do was clear her head of Branch. “Problem is we don’t really know anything about her. Whether she was armed or capable of hurting him.”
All they had was the driver’s license attached to the permit Sarah Lantos had applied for to hike Angel’s Landing. The license itself had been issued by the state of Washington and listed the woman’s birthday and address, but that didn’t mean that was where the victim had called home. The law enforcement division would take that information and run with it, but it didn’t tell Lila if Sarah was married, if she had children, what she enjoyed in her down time or what kind of books she liked to read. She’d been a donor, but Lila couldn’t imagine any of her organs helping someone else after a six-thousand-foot drop. As of right now, Sarah Lantos was only a body. A piece of a puzzle they had yet to figure out, and maybe that was what had sent Lila into two pints of Cherry Garcia last night after Risner dismissed her from the case.
Everyone needed someone on their side.
“How do you do it?” Branch kept his attention on the revealed pattern in the dirt. “See things the other rangers don’t.”
“Not sure what you mean, Grizzly Bear.” Ice threaded through Lila’s veins as she backed away from the treads. Not once in the four months, three weeks and two days BranchThompson had set foot in Zion National Park had he ever asked her a personal question, and she wasn’t entirely sure what to do with it now.
Branch straightened to his full height. That startling difference between them was enough to make her question every single daydream and fantasy she’d ever had. Not just physically. Mentally, emotionally.
Every move he made was calculated beforehand where she jumped at any opportunity that distracted her from the incessant thoughts in her head. He set out to push everyone away—to punish them or himself, she didn’t know—when all she wanted was connection. Someone who surprised her with her favorite soda or brought her a cookie because they’d been thinking about her. Someone she could talk to, really talk to, without having to rely on death threats and sarcasm. Someone who knew all the bad but loved her anyway. In what world would a man like Branch choose to be with her?
“I worked homicides in Grand Canyon as a law enforcement ranger before coming to Zion. A lot of suicides, too.” He stared out over the campsite. “It was an accident, really. Something I kind of fell into after the divorce four years ago. I didn’t really know what to do with myself. I couldn’t stay in the house we’d shared, couldn’t see myself going back to work at a job she’d pushed me into for the income. Telling me it would be good for our family.”
Every cell in Lila’s body went still, as if one wrong move would break the spell of him opening up.
Branch scrubbed a hand down his face. “After I signed the papers, I found myself on the road, going from one park to the other, trying to figure out what came next. But standing in the middle of the most beautiful places on the planet, I felt… I just felt. For the first time in months, the anger, the hurt, the betrayal—none of it could get to me.”
The half-hearted laugh that escaped his throat shocked her straight to the core. She’d never heard a more freeing sound and set a goal right then and there to make him laugh as much as possible. Just for the effect it had on releasing the tightness in her chest.
“I’d only been on the road a couple weeks, but I walked straight up to a ranger in Acadia National Park and asked how I could do his job. Within three months, I’d graduated the law enforcement training program, got my EMT certification, had a job with NPS and was assigned to work at the Grand Canyon.” Turning, Branch set all that intensity on Lila, his expression unreadable but not as hard as she’d come to expect. “In my program, they taught you patrol procedures, enforcement operations, over a hundred hours of legal and behavioral science and firearms. Everything you need to protect people in the park, but even with all that training, NPS can’t teach anyone how to pick up on the changes in your environment like you do. That comes from years of being stuck in survival mode. Of being afraid.”
Her throat threatened to close in on itself, and the mask she’d become so accustomed to wearing slipped. Leaving her as exposed as a raw nerve. She couldn’t seem to force her brain to catch up, the shock holding her hostage.
“Who made you afraid, Lila?” His question didn’t come with a lick of expectation or forcefulness but threatened to crack her open all the same.
“I’m not sure there’s anything else we can get from this campsite, but if the killer’s injury is fresh, we could catch up. He couldn’t have got too much farther ahead in the past couple of hours.” A tremor shook her hands, and she fisted her fingers to regain just a sliver of control.
Problem was, Branch always seemed to barrel through her ability to keep her head on straight. Lila headed for the man-sizespace between two bushes, the most logical path the killer had taken into the valley below. As long as she kept moving, she had a chance.
“And I know what you’re thinking. It’s presumptuous to assume the killer we’re chasing identifies as male, but up to seventy percent of female homicide victims are killed by a male attacker, most of those by someone they knew before their deaths.”
“Lila.” Branch had no problem staying on her heels.
A rumble filtered through the panic clawing into her chest. Like thunder. Though there weren’t many clouds in the sky. Keep moving. She just had to keep moving, and everything would be okay. And talking. And—
The rumble boiled into a full-blown roar, and she slowed.
“Lila!” Hard muscle slammed into her back.
Her feet left the ground. Strong arms locked around her chest and hauled her closer to the mountain wall. Pain ignited down her side at the impact. “Branch—”
A shadow blocked out the sun, and a boulder exploded mere feet from her. Right where she’d been standing.
Chapter Ten
Heavy breathing punctured the ringing in his ears. Branch’s lungs worked to discharge the dust he’d inhaled. It still danced in the air, clouding him and Lila in their own personal dirty snow globe.
The boulder that’d crashed to the earth mere feet away splintered down the middle. Chunks had broken off on impact, and it was all too easy to imagine the damage it would have caused had Branch not gotten them off the path.
His fingers protested as he loosened his grip on her arms. Damn, he’d held onto her tight enough, he was sure he’d left bruises on her flawless, sun-kissed skin. “Talk to me.”
Her coughs vibrated through her pack into his chest. Jerky and irregular. “I’m alive. You can let go of me.”
Right. The danger had passed—as far as he knew. So why did it take so much effort to command his hands to let go? Branch peeled his body from hers one inch at a time, instantly aware of the loss of her warmth.
