Page 6 of Disappearance at Angel's Landing
“Branch. Jordan.” Risner nodded to each of them at his approach. Two rangers Branch recognized from the scene this afternoon moved past, heading to the Lookout with flashlights and field kits. The law enforcement rangers would take control of the scene, gathering the blood for analysis somewhere off-site, and confirm the samples belonged to their murder victim. “I see you two managed not to kill each other. Not sure how you pulled that off partnering with Jordan here, Branch, but thanks for saving me the paperwork.”
He didn’t miss the few inches Lila added between her and their district ranger. Or the fleck of hurt in her expressionbefore she smothered it with that smile she pasted on. Which only added to the anger he restrained on a daily basis. And there was that name again.Jordan.As if Lila didn’t deserve to be humanized by her supervisor. And, well, that just wasn’t something he could let continue. “Lila.”
He hadn’t spoken her name aloud before. The effect was something sweet and light, counter to the bitterness he’d swallowed after taking this assignment.
Risner flicked his flashlight straight into Branch’s face. “What was that?”
“Her name is Lila. Not sure why it’s so hard for you to remember.” The tingling in his fingers was back, except it’d spread to his palms. He curled his hands into fists to keep himself from launching one into Risner’s face. “Or do you call the female rangers by their last names as part of whatever sexual harassment settlement you’re involved in?”
Even in the last waning rays of sunset, Branch caught the drain of color in Risner’s face. “You’re out of line, Branch.”
“Actually, I prefer to be addressed as woman, demon or countess.” Lila’s smile slipped, her gaze bouncing between him and Risner. Pleading with him to drop this. Parted lips he hadn’t realized were a bit fuller on one side than the other jumped right back into place. Then again, he hadn’t really let himself get too close to notice. For good reason. His blood pressure had crested a few points in the past minute or so. “Whichever comes with the most amount of fear.”
The district ranger adjusted his flashlight beam to Lila, rolling his eyes. “Get back down to headquarters, Jordan. You’ll find your write-up in your locker, and HR will be waiting for you to discuss the adjustments you’ve been making to your uniform in the morning.”
She motioned toward the two law enforcement rangers. “But the scene—”
“Your shift is over, Ranger.” Risner put an end to the conversation. “Your services are no longer required on this case.”
“All right.” Lila hiked a thumb over her shoulder. “In that case, you might want to tell the law enforcement division about the rope, anchors and carabiners dangling off the north side of the Lookout.”
“What?” Risner darted for the edge, pressing up against the chains keeping him from going over. His flashlight locked on something out of Branch’s view. “Well, I’ll be damned. How did we miss that?”
Branch realized he had made this an uncomfortable situation for Lila. He’d put her in Risner’s spotlight without warning her beforehand. Potentially made her position worse. It was clear she was the only one who would suffer the consequences.Damn it.She hadn’t asked him to fight this battle for her, but he’d made her a target all the same. A growl resonated through his chest as he maneuvered down the rocky incline. This was why he didn’t get involved. Why he kept to himself and made it clear he didn’t play nice with others. It took more than a few steps for his control to slip back into place.
“Branch, not you, bud. I need you to show us where you found the blood.” Risner’s voice was nearly lost to the great valleys absorbing the sound of the wild, but there was no way Branch could ignore it.
Lila unpacked her own flashlight and headed down the decline without looking back. Angel’s Landing was easily one of the park’s most dangerous trails, but she moved with the certainty of a ranger who’d memorized every threat in the terrain. She’d been dismissed, and the heaviness in her shoulders testified to the treatment she and the rest of the female rangers had become accustomed to under Risner’s supervision.
This didn’t feel right. Lila was the first to realize Sarah Lantos had been stabbed. Not to mention she’d discovered the rope and anchors wedged along the Lookout that could’ve been utilized by the killer to escape while Branch guarded a meager pool of blood. Ranger Barbie—as much as he hated to admit it—saw more than she let on, and Branch wanted to know why she let her coworkers and supervisor think less.
Of all the rangers in the park, she should be the one to see this through. She’d earned it. He searched the stars for patience. Finding none, he turned back to the district ranger. Branch nodded toward Lila’s retreating flashlight. “Assign Lila to the case.”
“No way. You have experience with homicides from your time at the Grand Canyon. You’re the clear choice here.” Risner hiked his hands to his waist with a clear shake of his head. “What the hell has gotten into you, Branch? I thought I could count on you to keep Jordan in line. Now you’re defending her? She’s a nobody. You know she doesn’t care about this job or take it seriously. Not like we do. You really want Sarah Lantos’s family relying on her to get them answers?”
Branch gritted his teeth against the blatant backstabbing and the disrespect of a fellow ranger. Stepping up to Risner, he rode that line between letting the rage surface and walking away. “I’ll work your homicide case. Because you’re right. Sarah Lantos’s family deserves answers, and I’ve worked homicides in a national park. But I’m not doing it without Lila Jordan.”
Chapter Five
Ugh. Feelings.
No amount of Cherry Garcia was going to fix this.
Her body hurt from climbing to Angel’s Landing three times in the span of twelve hours of a single day, but worse, she couldn’t get back to that lovely space where she didn’t have to feel anything. The one place she felt safe. Numb.
The house creaked from another gust. The twelve-hundred-square-foot ranch-style house she and Sayles shared in the Watchman government housing development—when her roommate bothered to sleep here at all—was little more than a cardboard box with two bedrooms and a single bathroom. Updates hadn’t been done in years, roaches and mouse droppings weren’t uncommon, and a good portion of her sleep terrors occurred right in this very room. But it was only a quarter mile from headquarters.
Despite how often she and Sayles cleaned, there was no getting the stains out of the combination tub/shower or rid of the permanent smell of mildew. But they had put in a lot of effort to personalize everything without painting—that was against the rental agreement.
Risner’s Pepto Bismol remark might not fully apply to the flares of pink in her uniform, but it certainly applied to her bedroom. Her twin-size comforter looked as though it’d been skinned straight off a pink Muppet with matching pillows andpoofs. Lampshade, check. Curtains, check. Most of her casual outfits? Check. In the famous words of Julia Roberts inSteel Magnolias, pink was her signature color.
It was the only thing that kept her heart from turning all the way black.
Risner. She scowled merely thinking of his name. Lila scooped another double spoonful of Cherry Garcia and shoved it into her mouth, relaxing on the secondhand couch she and Sayles had found on the side of the road in Springdale. This place wasn’t anything extravagant, but it was theirs. Hers. Someplace no one could find her.
There were those feelings again. The ones she’d managed to ignore since coming to Zion, but the little buggers just didn’t get the message she wasn’t interested. Chocolate chunks and cherries weren’t going to touch this. She needed something stronger.
The romantic comedy she’d chosen for tonight—and almost every night—helped. The lonely, isolated, nerdy main character was getting all dolled up and waxed clean to enter a beauty pageant in order to catch a bomber. She just happened to find love along the way in another FBI agent, and right there was that shrapnel of hope Lila couldn’t afford. That her self-isolation and loneliness would end in happily-ever-after.
