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Drake slipped into the driver’s seat and started the engine.
“I feel on edge,” Cassie said.
Drake shot a glance in her direction as he turned the truck around. “Like we’re on the verge of cracking this case?”
“Yes. I’m eager to get to the truth and, at the same time, apprehensive.”
Drake nodded. “Whoever we’re dealing with has killed and tried to kill us in that avalanche. We’re getting close, and it’s making him nervous.”
Cassie laughed. “Me, too.”
“Where to first?” Drake asked. “Margaret’s place or the sheriff’s office?”
“Sheriff’s office,” Cassie said. “I need to check in and see if he’s heard anything more from the M.E., and we need to tell him what we learned in Idaho.”
“You left your vehicle there, right?”
“I did,” she said.
“If it’s all right with you, I’ll leave you with the sheriff and let you give him the updates while I run out to talk to Margaret.”
Cassie nodded. “Sounds good. I’ll have my vehicle if I need to go anywhere or if we need to meet somewhere.”
As they drove into Eagle Rock, it looked the same as it did every day to Cassie. But it felt different. So much had happened in the past week. So many revelations. The small town she’d known all her life held secrets she’d never expected.
Drake pulled into the parking lot in front of the sheriff’s office.
“Good, the sheriff is in,” Cassie said as she unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed down from the truck. “See you in a few,” she said with a wave and entered the building.
“Deputy Douglas…Cassie.” Sheriff Barron crossed the room and pulled her into a crushing hug. “Woman, you scared the life out of me last night.”
She laughed. “You can’t possibly be as terrified as I was as we were swept down the hill in that avalanche.”
The sheriff set her at arm’s length, his gaze raking over her. “Have you been to see a doctor? Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine other than a few bruises. Drake’s truck is toast. Buried to the windows in the half of the mountain that slipped down that hill.” She studied her boss.
The man actually had tears in his eyes.
“I’m okay,” she assured him. “I lived to work another day. You won’t be stuck manning all the shifts.”
“Shifts be damned. It’s you I was worried about. This case is getting too dangerous. I’d pull you off it if I thought that would keep you out of trouble.”
Cassie shook her head. “You can’t pull me. We’re getting too close to the answers. We know who the victim is. Now, we need to nail her killer.”
“The fact that you’re getting close is what has me scared and has the killer worried. I don’t want what happened to Earl to happen to you.” He gripped her arms. “And it almost did. That avalanche happened on purpose. I’ve heard from a number of sources that they heard a cannon go off right before the landslide.”
“We heard it, too,” Cassie said. “And I believe it was aimed at us.” She lifted her chin. “All the more reason to push to the finish. He’s scared and trying to keep people from knowing the truth. His actions are going to get him caught.”
The sheriff’s eyebrows formed a V over his nose. “Let’s catch him before he claims another victim. I don’t want the next victim to be you.”
Cassie’s heart warmed at the sheriff’s words. The man had taken her under his wing after her parents’ passing. He’d given her a job as a deputy and put her through the training, knowing she might eventually go back to law school and finish her degree. He wanted her to be successful, even if it wasn’t with the sheriff’s department.
He cared.
“Come into my office and tell me everything you got from your exciting trip to Idaho.”
The sheriff settled behind his desk, and Cassie sat in one of the chairs in front of him. In the next fifteen minutes, she told him everything they’d learned about Beth Anderson and her love affair with a construction worker.
