Page 33 of Stranded with the Billionaire
Chapter Six
Never had Sterling been so happy to see anyone. When she’d woken to the sound of snowmobiles and then had them come right to the cabin where she was standing in the doorway, she’d just about danced for joy despite her aching knee. Rescued at last.
“Miss Hawkins?” the uniformed woman asked as she took off her helmet.
“Yes,” Sterling wanted to cry in relief, but she held the tears back. “That’s me. Have you found Jake Ramesly? He set out yesterday morning for Urts Siding. Is he okay?”
“We found him,” came the curt reply. “Will you be alright to ride on one of the snowmobiles? Otherwise, we’ll have to hook up a sled and I’d prefer not to do that in the dark.”
“I can ride,” Sterling confirmed. Her reporter’s sense kicked in to what the officer had said. Visions of them finding Jake half buried in a snowbank filled her with worry. “You found Jake. Is he alright? He isn’t hurt?”
“He’s fine,” the male snowmobiler said as he held out a gloved hand. “Larry Walsh.”
“Sara Hawkins,” Sterling returned the handshake, relieved that Jake was really okay.
“This is Sheriff Terrywinkle,” Larry gestured to the woman who was pulling a bag of snowmobiler’s gear out of a compartment. “We’ve got some warmer clothes for you.”
“Thank you,” Sterling smiled. “I can’t thank you both enough.”
Terrywinkle helped her to get dressed since Sterling’s swollen knee made it difficult to get the snow pants on.
“You wouldn’t happen to be one of the Terrywinkle’s from the Terrywinkle homestead mentioned on Mr. Waldo’s map?” Sterling asked.
“My parents still live there,” the Sheriff helped Sterling with the boots that they had brought along. “Cauld Sideroad doesn’t get plowed in the winter months so I check on them weekly. I live in Carvers Bend.”
“What happened to Urts Siding?” Sterling frowned. “Jake had been headed in that direction.”
“Urts Siding is a ghost town. Shut down when the mining operation went bust twenty years ago. It just wasn’t profitable anymore, so everyone moved away,” Terrywittle explained.
“That’s too bad,” Sterling zipped up the coat and put on her gloves. “It happens to a lot of small towns based on one large company business.”
Sterling knew all about that. Her hometown was built around farming and one large employer who was struggling to keep its doors open.
“We’ll take you to Carvers Bend. I have Doc Luce waiting to examine your knee,” Terrywittle said. “He should have examined Mr. Ramesly by now.”
Sterling nodded and accepted Larry’s arm to hop outside to the snowmobiles. Terrywittle closed the door after them and then they were on their way through the falling snow, retracing the tracks back to the truck then on to Carvers Bend.
When they pulled up to the police station, Larry and Terrywittle helped Sterling out of the truck. She hopped into the warm building, happy to be someplace safe. Sterling looked around but all she saw was a deputy, sourly typing with one finger at an ancient computer.
“Where’s Jake?” Sterling looked around but didn’t see him.
“He left,” the deputy supplied unhelpfully.
“Where did he go Justin? Did Doc Luce take him to the clinic?” Terrywinkle removed her gloves, tossing them on a desk.
“Mr. Rich Guy ordered a private helicopter to pick him up at the medivac site,” Justin shrugged. “Didn’t even wait for Doc Luce.”
“A helicopter? In this weather?” Terrywinkle frowned. “That’s dangerous.”
“I told him so, but he wouldn’t listen. Said he had to get to New York and he managed to hire someone to do it,” Justin pulled a pencil from behind his ear, tapping it on the desk. “I drove him to the pad myself.”
“He just left?” Sterling was a little disappointed. She thought he’d at least wait to see that she was safe before returning to his world. It had seemed like they had become friends during their ordeal of being stranded on the mountain. She ignored the little ache that his leaving left.
“Oh, he said something about how I could tell Sterling Denver that she was done messing with his family,” Justin shook his head. “I think being out in the cold has affected his brain.”
“Who is Sterling Denver?” Terrywittle questioned.
“She’s some tabloid writer from New York,” Justin motioned to his computer. “She writes for Dubious.”
