Cutter Mountain Rendezvous (14 page)

“Who’s that?” she asked.

“Trouble.”

Chapter Twelve

Colton kept his eyes straight ahead and bared his perfect white teeth to make a snapping sound. “Anthony Pirana, aka Piranha as in man-eating fish. Or in my case, agent. You’d better head in the back way.”

“Will you still be here when I get out of the shower? Or will the Piranha have devoured you? Or possibly hauled you off to Knoxville.”

“I’ll be here.” He gave her a nudge. “Hell, Tony,” Colton’s voice rang out cheerful. “You ever hear of using a phone?”

“I’m leaving you a colorful message right now. Seems you don’t answer your phone these days.”

Kate stood behind the cabin to listen in on their conversation.

“Hey, man, can’t sit by the phone every second. But you didn’t have to show up in person.”

“My best client leaves me a message he’ll fire my ass if I talk to Seth again then doesn’t return my calls? Whatcha think? I intend to sit on my fired ass in Chicago and not come see what’s going on? I’m your agent not some go-between.”

“Don’t bullshit me. The Bullets are all over you, or you wouldn’t be here.”

Voices turned too low for Kate to hear so she hurried into the house and up the back stairs to Lindsay’s room. There she peeked around white lace curtains to the scene below. The Piranha was almost as tall as Colton, but better dressed in gray slacks and black long-sleeved shirt the same color as his hair. Silver glare from his sunglasses made it impossible to tell where he looked other than by the turn of his head: the barn, the construction pile, the woods from where Colton emerged.

His head tilted up, and she stepped deep into the shadows to hold her breath. Soon the doors of the limo slammed. The muffled sound of their voices disappeared with the vehicle. She stood in front of the window not caring who saw and clenched her fists—
liar.

Colton left, dripping wet, in his agent’s limo. She knew he would return. His beloved Bessie was here along with his new truck and belongings which had multiplied with his mysterious hiatus in Knoxville.

By the time she showered and changed into a clean pair of jeans and T-shirt, she decided it was time to ask Colton to leave rent-free. Things were escalating. Their kiss left her body humming and craving more no matter his claim he was a friend.

Tennis shoes in hand, she was surprised to find him cleaned up and rocking on the front porch. “You’re back.”

“Never left.”

“I saw you leave.”

“You were spying on me?”

His eyebrows came together over those topaz eyes that could appear anything but beautiful when he was in a snit. She grinned. “Kinda.”

“For your information, I did get into the limo but we sat out on the street. Let’s take a walk to Tom Cutter’s cabin. I’ve a major itch to see the thing before I go back to Chicago.”

“Was your agent here to take you home?”

“No.”

“Then what’d he want?”

“Nothing.”

The rocker bumped over the floorboards when he came to stand next to where she sat, putting on her shoes. He tapped her knee with his foot. “Come on. Shake a leg. Let’s see the cabin before Lindsay gets back from school.”

“Do you think you could hold up a minute?” She watched him head into the yard. “
Nothing
in your case means something bad.”

“What’s that?” Colton cupped a hand around his ear as he poked a foot at the construction pile with the toe of a new pair of tennis shoes bought in Knoxville.

“I said you’re a jerk.” She stood to head down the steps to join him.

“You say that many more times I’m going to start believing you. Lead the way. I’m at your mercy or I’d go myself.”

“Can this wait until tomorrow? It’s almost two miles away. I’m not sure we can make it there and back in time for Lindsay’s school bus. And I need to defrost meat for dinner.”

“We’ll grab Lindsay and eat at Beulah’s tonight. Go. Time’s a wastin’.”

Kate took off at a jog down the path they had just returned from Cutter Lake. She headed up river along the ridge. The broken dock bobbed in the clear waters below. Bright pennies of light bounced off the lake’s surface with the occasional circular ripple of fish hungry enough to nip at their legs.

The often chatty Colton was silent. His footsteps did all the talking and were never more than a beat or two behind her. Too prideful to slow her pace, she strained to hear if he was sucking air. Nope. She was. She stopped to pull in a deep breath. “I’m uncomfortable with you behind me. The cabin’s straight ahead along this ridge. You lead. You can’t miss it.”

Twigs broke and leaves rustled as he moved around her. “What’s wrong? You out of shape? Really, Kate. All that anger should be able to sustain you longer.”

“Look who’s talking.”

She glared at him as he passed. When he walked faster than she jogged, it became difficult to keep up. Her breathing grew labored with jumbled thoughts of his leaving when she wanted him to stay. He had stirred up emotions and asked her some hard questions she did and didn’t want to answer. Gulping in air, she stopped to rest her hands on her knees and took several deep cleansing breaths. Colton was at least a hundred yards ahead before he turned in the path to wait. When she didn’t move, he walked back to her. “What’s wrong?”

Tears clouded her vision. “My rear’s too big, my breasts too small. I can’t compete with the beauties walking on stage in country music today. My chance is gone. It’s been hard to accept, but I have. That’s why I can’t take the guitar.”

“There’s not a damned thing wrong with your body. You’ve the cutest rear this side of the Mississippi. In fact, I welcome walking in front. It keeps my thoughts out of the gutter. As for the rest of you, I’ve no idea where you’ve gotten this screwed up image of yourself. Oh, wait. Let me guess.” He put his hands on his hips and bent forward with a raised eyebrow. “Your asshole ex. Dr. Boob-eo. Walk. We need to hurry.”

When Colton took off she had no choice but to follow or make the long walk home alone. It was a relief when the overgrown clearing where the log cabin sat came into view.

Kate caught up to him as he slowed. His arm came out to keep her behind him. “Don’t you think it’s odd this path’s been beaten down the entire way?”

Studying the ground, she had to admit it hadn’t crossed her mind until he asked. “Maybe,” she said and felt excitement and heat beating off Colton.

An eerie shiver of fear crept down her spine. Like the time when she was a teenager, and Bobby brought her to see Tom’s cabin one Halloween at dusk. They were both sixteen with new driver’s licenses. Bobby tried to kiss her, forcing her to tell him in no uncertain terms to never try it again or they couldn’t be friends. He didn’t and their friendship survived. Too bad the same tactic wasn’t used on Colton. Today’s kiss made her see him in a light that suggested anything but friendship when it didn’t seem to faze him in the least.

Colton studied the scene before them with his hands on his hips. “Does everyone around here carry a gun like you?”

“Mountain folks have rifles,” she whispered. “Especially if they’re making moonshine.”

“I thought those days were long gone.”

“Not everywhere.”

“How old is that cabin?”

“Near a hundred fifty years, maybe more.”

“Except for the missing windows and door, the logs are still in place. Amazing. Although the roof’s half caved in.” He tapped her arm. “Look at the wood pile.”

Wood was stacked in a neat pile near the cabin. An old long-handled axe leaned against a chopping block. Beyond that river stone circled half burned logs.

“Hello,” Colton called out. “Anyone home?”

They stood still and listened.

Kate sidled up close to Colton’s heated skin. “Do you think our construction pile thief has been living here?”

“I’m no Einstein, but that’s my guess.” He cupped his hands around his mouth. “Hello. Anyone home?” His voice boomed loud in the quiet surround. The trees dampened the call from echoing over the ridge and the lake below. “Come on.”

Colton moved into the clearing and Kate followed. “M-maybe we should go back. I feel funny tramping over someone’s place when they’re not home.”

“No one’s supposed to be home. This is our chance to catch whoever’s been on your property.”

“I don’t know. It feels...uh, ghostlike.”

Colton laughed and headed for the fire ring. Stooping, he held a hand over the charred wood. “It’s warm. Our thief is living on fish from the lake. See the bones?” He pointed to spots of unburned bone here and there in and around the fire. “Let’s look inside the cabin.”

Catching hold of a belt loop on Colton’s jeans, Kate tried to dissuade him and wound up jogging in small steps behind him tethered to his waistband. “Let’s leave. This is spooking me out. I’ll call Dad to have his men check it out.”

“Scared?” He tossed a smirk over his shoulder.

“Yes. And I’m woman enough to admit it. Unlike you, who seems bent on poking your nose where it doesn’t belong. We need to let my dad handle it. Oh, wait. I forgot. You stick your nose in everyone’s business.”

He flicked her hand off his belt loop and disappeared inside the dark cabin. Kate stood at the entrance and did a three sixty. No movement anywhere. The only sounds came from inside the cabin as Colton shuffled around.

It suddenly seemed safer with him inside the reeking smell that wafted from the cabin door than stand a sitting duck at its doorway.

“Kate. Come look at this.”

“Oh, gawd.” She raised her shirt over her nose when she entered the dark cabin. “It stinks.”

“I’ve smelled worse.”

“
Where?
”

“A locker room. Look. Whoever’s living here is your thief. There’s a makeshift bed.”

When Kate’s eyes adjusted to the dim light inside the cabin, they widened. Half of the one-room cabin was orderly with a table, chair and rusted lantern. Pieces of plywood and drywall gleaned from Kate’s construction pile served as a makeshift bed. “Even with a sleeping bag the bed doesn’t look very comfortable.”

“This has to be a runaway kid.”

“We should head back and call Dad.”

“I’ll bet he wanted that big piece of drywall for a door. This kid’s done a helluva job making this shack livable.”

“You call this livable? It’s a mess.” Kate eyed the partially caved in roof. It looked like a rat’s nest. She couldn’t imagine being able to sleep a wink without worrying what might wander out of the tangle in the night. Or come in the door unless the table did double duty to partially block the narrow opening—creepy. Her skin prickled. “We have to leave this second or we’ll miss Lindsay’s bus.”

“You go back. I’ll hang around a while. See if he shows up.”

“Oh no. You’re coming with me. What if he’s out there in the woods? I’m not about to meet him on my own, and I don’t want Lindsay coming home to an empty house.”

“You’re right.” Colton rubbed his fingers over the old lantern. “This stuff had to come from your barn. Nothing would remain in a cabin this old.”

“I don’t know.” Kate went to the door of the cabin, her gaze darting every direction. All she saw were a few rabbit skins tossed over a limb. “He eats rabbit, too.”

“What?”

She pointed to the rabbit skins. “I found a crudely made rabbit’s foot dropped at the construction pile. Dad has it. I’d bet my silver tea set it belonged to one of those rabbits.”

Colton pulled his cell phone from his pocket and handed it to her. “Call your mom to get Lindsay from school and hold her there. We’ll go into town and talk to your dad. Then we’ll pick up Lindsay and head over to Beulah’s for dinner.”

“I’m not sure I’ll get a connection up here.”

“Try. Sometimes you get a connection by walking twenty feet.”

When Kate was able to reach her mom, her shoulders sagged in relief. Lindsay would be in her mother’s care. They were going to be late getting back to her place even if they jogged. “Let dad know we’re coming in to see him, would you?”

They headed for the same path that brought them there, knowing Tom’s wreck of a cabin was inhabited. The adrenaline boost carried them back to her place in record time.

****

Colton drove off Cutter Mountain and maneuvered a series of switchbacks before reaching the outskirts of town. The shallow bed of Bear Creek rushed alongside the road until you approached town. Then it crossed under a small bridge. Bobby’s Orange Crush Tow & Garage sat on the outer fringes of town next to an old bait shop and a two-pump gas station. A small web of streets ran off Main Street to the right and left with a variety of small houses and trailers—some neat like Claire’s place, others in need of repair and yard maintenance.

Minutes later you were in Bear Creek’s hub. How the town had escaped becoming a tourist trap was beyond him. It was old and well-maintained with a friendly main street.

The County Sheriff’s Office was the first official building to mark the business section. Three stoplights managed the meager traffic over blocks that featured a Laundromat, post office, Zips Ice Cream, Ray’s Hardware, Dandy’s Dollar Store, Trina’s Hair and Nail Salon, and an IGA grocery store. These were rounded out by a handful of variety shops and antique stores. Everything the folks of Bear Creek needed between trips into Knoxville.