Page 19 of Peak Suspicion
She groaned. “See?” he said. “It works every time.” His eyes met hers and she fought the sensation of being off-balance. As if she might float to the ceiling or slide off her stool. “Um, what do you think about the notes?” she asked. Anything to keep him from looking at her like that—as if he wanted to see past the surface, to uncover all her secrets.
Carter studied the notes again. “Nothing really stands out about this. They’re both typed—or rather, printed. Plain white paper. No envelopes?”
“No. Just the folded paper. The first one was tacked to the front door. You can still see the hole from the tack at the top there. The other one was pushed through a gap I left in my car window. It lay on the driver’s seat when I left class the day of my accident.”
At mention of the accident, he looked at her again. “How are you feeling?”
She shrugged. “A little sore. And determined to drive more carefully. My insurance is paying for a rental while they decide what to do with my Toyota.”
He nodded and returned to his study of the notes. “The message is pretty melodramatic, isn’t it?” he asked. “If not for the seriousness of the accusation, it would be almost funny.”
“There’s nothing funny about it,” she said. She hugged her arms more tightly around her.
“The timing of these notes is interesting,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“It sounds like you got them about the time someone tried to snatch that other boy—last week. The kid who got away. Maybe that’s why you received the note. The letter writer heard about the attempted abduction and was reminded of the case in Santa Fe and decided to single you out.”
“The first note came before the abduction attempt.” She reached for the can of seltzer and drank some more, focused on keeping her hand from shaking. “It’s such a creepy coincidence. And now this has happened to Bryce. I can’t help thinking he could have ended up like David.”
He swiveled to face her, their knees almost touching. “I know you said you don’t want to go to the sheriff, but why not?” he asked. “Maybe this letter writer is harmless, but what if they aren’t?”
“But what if the sheriff believes the accusations?” she asked.
“You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“No. But innocent people get accused of crimes all the time.” She shook her head. “I remember what it was like when David disappeared. People made all sorts of unfounded accusations. At one point the police there questioned his own father for something like nine hours. I don’t want that kind of attention. And maybe attention is what this person is after. I think if I ignore them, they’ll give up and move on to something else.”
“Maybe.”
“I haven’t had any new notes,” she said. “Maybe whoever this is has already moved on to someone else.”
“Maybe,” he said again. He sounded so doubtful. Had she made a mistake, confiding in him? “Please don’t tell anyone about this,” she said.
“I promised I wouldn’t,” he said. She heard no irritation in his voice, only conviction.
“Thank you,” she said.
She slid off her stool. “I just wanted you to know the truth. It feels better, telling someone.”
He stood also. “If anything else happens—more notes or anything that upsets you, call me,” he said. “You have my number.”
He seemed genuine. “Why do you care so much? You hardly know me.” Was this a ploy to get her to go out with him?
His expression remained serious. “I told you, we’re friends now. You shouldn’t have to deal with everything all by yourself.”
He was either the smoothest operator she had ever met—or he was sincere. His words brought a lump to her throat, so that she could only nod. She followed him to the door and locked up after she closed it behind him, then sank onto the sofa, overwhelmed by the events of the past few hours.
She ought to feel relieved. She had told Carter about David, but she hadn’t told him everything. The thing she didn’t want anyone to know. Especially the sheriff.
When Carter reportedto Alpine Jeep Rentals the next morning, he braced himself for his parents and sister—maybe even Dalton—to make a fuss about him being a hero for finding Bryce Atkinson. He’d gone out of his way to avoid attention at search and rescue headquarters the evening before, but if his family wanted to make a big deal out of it, that was okay.
“You have a family from Cincinnati booked to go up to Raptor Ridge at ten,” his mother said as soon as he stepped into the small office off Eagle’s Mountain’s main street.
“Right.” Carter collected a set of Jeep keys from the board and scanned the clipboard with the paperwork for a family named Packard—mom, dad, grandparents and two kids.
“Skip the overlook at Galloway Basin and stop up the road at the turnoff to Anderson Falls instead,” Mom continued.
