Solid as Steele by Susan Sleeman

6

As the sun woke from a good night’s sleep, Owen sat across from Ryan at the firepit and stared at the lime green tents, knowing his gaze held longing for the sleeping bag in his tent. But he’d taken every shift last night. Not that Ryan had shirked his duty. He’d taken a stint while Owen dozed a bit by the fire. Maybe Owen’s decision to stay up all night would come back to bite him today. His body screamed from the hike yesterday. From the beating. From the lack of sleep.

But at least the night awake taught him that he was made of some pretty stern stuff. Made him unreasonably proud. Maybe that would make up for the pain and fatigue.

Mackenzie crawled out of her tent. Her hair was messy, and she had that sleepy just-came-awake look. A little bewildered. A little sultry. Her breaths coming in little puffs in the near-freezing temperatures.

Did she look this way every morning?

Man, he’d like to find out.

“You guys let me sleep all night.” She stretched her arms overhead, her top lifting and showing a creamy sliver of skin above her jeans.

Ryan looked at Mackenzie. “Were you warm enough last night?”

“Perfect.” She looked at him and then at Owen. “And before either of you say anything when we leave today, you schlepped all of these things for my creature comfort, and I’m carrying the pack out.”

“Fine by me,” Ryan said.

“Me too.” Owen was struggling this morning, but still wished he didn’t have to let her do the work.

She offered them both a victorious smile that shot an arrow right to Owen’s heart. This woman got to him in a big way, but Ryan didn’t seem affected by the smile at all, confirming his platonic interest in her.

“Did either of you get any sleep?” she asked.

“I did.” Ryan glanced at Owen. “But overachiever here took watch all night. Guess he didn’t trust us to stand watch.”

I guess I don’t.“Can never be too careful.”

Ryan held up a scrambled egg MRE. “It’s gonna take a bit for the coffee and water to be ready for breakfast if you want to make a quick sweep around the area. I know it’s barely light, but you might see something.”

“Better than sitting here shivering and my muscles getting stiffer.” Owen unfolded his legs to test the strength.

Mackenzie looked at him. “I’ll come with you.”

He marched across the open space to where the UTV had stopped last night. He bent to study the tracks, his back appreciating the stretch. “Are these tracks like the ones you trailed?”

“No. Closer together. Much smaller tires. Not as deep.”

“Not the vehicle that drove toward your rental, then.”

She shook her head. “You said they took your vehicle. I wonder if those tracks belonged to your vehicle.”

“Could be, though I don’t know what I was driving, if anything. Ryan said those tracks were from a truck.” He ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

“You seem like you might be a truck kind of guy.”

“I do, do I?” He grinned as he didn’t mind her thinking that way. He felt a kinship with pickups for some reason. Maybe he was exactly what she’d pegged him to be. “Why’s that?”

“You seem like Ryan. Kind of rugged. At home in the outdoors.”

“And what do you think about that?”

“Think about it?”

“Do you like guys who are rugged?”

“I like guys who like adventure. Often that can mean rugged, but I’ve had guy friends who like adventure and aren’t overly rugged,” She locked gazes with him. “I like you, if that’s what you’re really asking.”

He was unreasonably happy by her answer. “You’re very direct.”

“Not most of the time. I’m more the peacemaker in a group and can often be found lost in my thoughts and philosophizing.”

“But this called for a direct answer?”

“I just wanted you to know I like you.”

“And what if I’m a criminal?”

“You’re not,” she said with conviction. “You went out of your way last night to be sure I was safe behind that tree. Then let me sleep all night. Those actions show me you’re very much a gentleman, even if you are a man of few words. So there.” She laughed.

He laughed with her, the moment more refreshing than a night of sleep might’ve been. He wanted to slide his fingers into that thick mane and pull her close for a kiss. But he wouldn’t. Not before he knew who he was. She was a special woman and deserved a good man. He only hoped she was right and he was that man.

“Can you take pictures of the tracks?” he asked, getting them back to the business at hand.

“Sure.” She took her phone out and snapped several photos in succession, the clicks echoing into the quiet.

He turned toward the base of the outcropping and studied every inch of the area, trying to remember the things Ryan looked for in tracking.

He squatted, and his thighs screamed in pain. “Another set of footprints. Looks like boots. Big size. Male.”

“Agreed.” Mackenzie bent and took pictures. “And a unique pattern.”

He looked at her. “You’re thinking we might be able to match it to someone’s boots.”

She stowed her phone. “If we can find a solid suspect, yes, but otherwise, no. Most of the guys around here wear boots of some kind, and it would be like playing Cinderella to find the person who made these prints.”

The sight of Mackenzie sitting in a chair and all the men of the area coming forward to show her their boots came to mind. He chuckled silently as he stood and continued along the base of the outcropping.

A blackbird swooped into a rock crevice, drawing his attention to the dusty bottom of a small winding creek. The curving indentation was several feet deep and dotted with rocks worn smooth from years of the creek flowing over them. It looked like someone had taken bags of rocks and tossed them in a random pattern when coursing water had laid them there.

“Looks like a dried-up creek bed,” she said from behind him.

He looked back at her. “I wonder how long it’s been dry.”

She joined him. “I don’t know the area well, but we’ve had some pretty dry years lately and maybe it’s been this way for a while.”

He started up the creek and wound around the outcropping of jagged rocks.

He came to a stop. Flashed a hand in the air. Tried not to gag and empty his stomach. “Stop. Don’t come around here.”

His heart thumped. Raced. But he stood strong to block Mackenzie from seeing the horrific sight.

Had this been what he’d seen to cause his memory loss? The sight before him was shocking enough to take his memory and more.

Mackenzie appreciated Owen trying to protect her. She really did. Found it endearing even. But she was a strong woman and could handle seeing whatever he’d discovered. Even if it did make his face go white.

She pushed past him. Wished she hadn’t. Came to a stop.

“Oh. Oh my.” She turned away.

“That’s why I told you not to come back here.”

“But I’m too stubborn.” Her stomach roiled. She was glad for two things. They hadn’t eaten breakfast yet, and the sun only inched above the horizon, so the horrific sight in front of her wasn’t completely visible. But in moments, the sun would beat down on the creek bed.

Still, what she’d seen was burned in her brain for all eternity.

She looked at Owen. “It’s a woman, right?”

“The clothing would suggest that.”

“Seems like the body was submerged in the creek until the water dried up to reveal her skeleton.” Mackenzie held his gaze. “I’d heard with all the drought in the west lately that’s happened with some lakes. Water receding and revealing bodies, I mean.”

“Sounds plausible.”

“And do you think this is what you were trying to forget?”

“Seems possible.” He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his tan throat. “Wish I could forget it now.”

“We need to call the authorities.”

He nodded and frowned. Dark panic consumed his expression.

“Means you’ll be fingerprinted.” No point in dodging his worries. Better to confront it head on. “Maybe even be asked for a DNA sample.”

“Yeah.”

“And you’re okay with that?”

“A woman’s likely been murdered. I have to be.”

Mackenzie got out her phone, but wasn’t surprised when the screen displayed zero bars. She’d checked her phone as they’d hiked and hadn’t gotten any bars since early yesterday morning. “No signal.”

“Maybe Ryan carries a SAT phone.”

“Yeah, I bet he does.” She scrambled back around the rock and tried to let go of the image of the skeletal remains held in some sort of large bag that had been ripped open at the top to reveal the remains. The woman was wearing a dusty pink sweatshirt and matching pants that looked like they were designed for hiking. Her ankles were tied with thick rope, and she wore hiking boots. She’d been murdered. Had to be with the rope around her ankles and the bag holding her body.

Mackenzie took a long breath and let it out. “Looks like the bag kept the skeleton intact.”

“Yeah.”

“Which would maybe help confirm that she’d skeletonized in water where predators didn’t carry bones away.”

“Makes sense.”

She didn’t like his short answers, but he was likely trying to process too. “Do you remember seeing her before?”

He tilted his head. “I keep trying, but nothing is coming back.”

“I’ll continue to pray that it does.” And she would pray for much more. Like he hadn’t killed this woman and come back to move the body and been discovered by the UTV driver.

They needed answers even more now. And she had to consider that Owen actually remembered and was lying to her. She didn’t think so, but the former law enforcement officer in her told her not to lose sight of that.

She started for the campsite. “If Ryan can get a call through, I want to get ahold of Dr. Kelsey Dunbar too. She’s a forensic anthropologist at the Veritas Center in Portland.”

“The name seems familiar.”

“The Center is a private lab devoted to forensic testing for law enforcement agencies, and they’re world renowned for their facility and skills.” Mackenzie looked at Owen. “If you’re an officer, you might’ve worked with them.”

“Maybe.”

“Anyway, due to the status of the remains, the sheriff will likely turn this investigation over to OSP, and they’d have to call in a state anthropologist. I might as well see if they’ll agree to let Kelsey recover the remains instead.”

Mackenzie paused to make strong eye contact and rest her hand on his arm, hopefully telling him that she was on his side. “You want answers, and she’s the best. On the cutting edge of research and data. If a lead can be found in those remains, she’ll find it. And I’ll ask her to bring Sierra Rice with her too. She’s their trace evidence expert.”

He frowned. “It’s going to take them time to get here.”

“Not to worry. They’re driven to help. If they agree to take the investigation, they’ll drive through the night to be here at first light.”

He offered her a tight smile. “Then let’s get back to Ryan and hope he has that phone.”

Owen paced the campsite. He was at once uncomfortable and comfortable with the sheriff department’s presence. Two young deputies—one thin and wiry, the other tall and stocky—raced onto the scene, their lights and sirens blaring when there was no one in need of warning.

Ryan had given them coordinates and asked them to approach the campsite from the south to not disturb the tire tracks. They complied. Both deputies stomped around the end of the butte and came back looking pale. They shared their story with Sheriff Wheeler when he arrived on scene.

The guy looked to be in his mid-fifties, short. Squat, but powerful. His men wore black uniforms, but he was dressed in a long-sleeved green shirt, dark jeans, and had a holster and badge clipped to his belt that sported a large gold buckle under a burgeoning belly. He marched with purpose behind the deputy he called Dahl toward the creek and disappeared behind the rocks.

Owen looked at Ryan and Mackenzie. “Either one of you know anything about the sheriff?”

“Not me,” Ryan said.

“All I remember is that he unseated a long-term sheriff by a landslide when he was elected,” Mackenzie said.

Owen nodded. “Popular guy.”

“I think it was more that there was a question about the prior sheriff’s business dealings.”

Wheeler came back around the corner and stomped toward them. His ruddy complexion remained intact. No loss of blood in his face at the sight he’d witnessed but his jaw was clamped closed as he took long steps, kicking up dust with each one.

He came to a stop in front of them. “Sheriff Sterling Wheeler. Who called this in?”

Ryan stepped forward. “I did.”

Wheeler fixed his steely blue eyes on Ryan. “And you are?”

“Ryan Maddox, guide for Mackenzie Steele and Owen, whose last name is unknown.” Ryan shared the story of why they were there and Owen’s memory loss.

That earned Owen a long look and raised eyebrow from the sheriff. “Now isn’t that something.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “You all touch anything back there?”

“No. We know better than that.” Mackenzie took a few steps closer. “I’m a former OSP detective in the investigations division, and Ryan served as a deputy in Emerson County.”

“Well, I’ll be.” Wheeler sounded like a slow-going good old boy, but his sharp gaze told Owen something else. “Good you didn’t disturb anything. After Deputy Dahl here gets the scene cordoned off, he’ll take your statements and you can be on your way.”

Translated—sit back and wait until we say you can go and don’t interfere.

“We don’t mean to step on your toes.” Mackenzie smiled. “But I wanted to make one suggestion.”

Wheeler looked put out. “One’s all I have time for.”

“With the state of the victim, I know you’ll have to call in a forensic anthropologist to recover the body.”

“And?”

“Might I recommend Dr. Dunbar at the Veritas Center in Portland?”

His forehead creased. “That frou-frou place where they charge my entire year’s budget to step into the lobby?”

Mackenzie stiffened at the comment but quickly recovered. “They often do work pro bono, and I have a connection to the partners. I’m sure they’d agree to do it for free, and they could get here far faster than the state expert.”

“Far’s I know, sixty-five miles an hour on I-84 is sixty-five miles an hour for anyone. Even a specialist who charges premium fees.” He gave a snide grin. “Unless you want to tell me they’ll be breaking the law, and in that case, I’ll be waiting for them.”

“They have access to a helicopter.”

“Right. Of course they do.”

“Dr. Dunbar can also bring a trace evidence expert with her to process the scene.”

He arched an eyebrow. “What’s in this for you? Or are you hoping to cut me out of the loop?”

She shook her head. “You’ll sign a contract with them. Unless you authorize someone other than yourself to receive reports, you’ll be the only one who will receive the info.”

“You don’t say? A contract.” He tapped his chin with his wide index finger. “The state folks are notoriously behind. I don’t have the budget to station someone out here round the clock until those remains are recovered.”

“We have a SAT phone, and I can call Dr. Dunbar right now. Maybe have her here in a few hours.”

He nodded. “Go ahead then.”

Mackenzie didn’t waste time. She raced to Ryan’s pack by the fire. She glanced at her cell phone first, then tapped a number into the SAT phone.

Wheeler turned his attention to Owen. “So no memory at all, huh?”

“The name Owen seems familiar and right. I also remembered the attack yesterday.” He described the assault and the vehicle that had come upon them last night. “I’d like to file an official report so you can investigate that too.”

“I’ll have my deputy take your information, but don’t hold out much hope. Got a Polaris dealership nearby. Means lots of Polaris UTVs in the area, so that’s not likely going to be a big help.”

Owen figured as much, but he still needed to report what had happened.

He heard Mackenzie say goodbye, and she hurried back to them. “Kelsey—Dr. Dunbar—agreed. She’ll arrange the helicopter and be here as soon as possible.”

“Good.” Wheeler gave a tight smile.

“Might you authorize the forensic person to process the area where the attacker hit me too?” Owen asked.

“If it’s free, why not? Tell my deputy where, and I’ll have him cordon off that area too.” Wheeler clapped his hands. “Then Dahl will get your statements, and you can be on your way.”

Mackenzie’s shoulders rose, and Owen was starting to recognize that look in her eyes. She was going to try to find a way to be here when the chopper landed and maybe longer. And Owen had no doubt that whatever she put her mind to, she would achieve.