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He studied her and appeared to make a decision. Terra would love to know what he was thinking.
“We don’t need an audience,” Jack said. “Sarnes, can you get rid of the sightseers?”
Terra replaced her sunglasses and murmured to Case. “Our cue to head out too. Our assistance is no longer needed.” To the larger group, she said, “Case and I will be happy to hike out with them.”
“I’d like you to stay, Special Agent Connors.” Those intense eyes pinned her again. “Terra...”
Oh? She glanced at Case. He shrugged.
“Okay then,” Case said. “I guess I’ve been dismissed.”
As SAR volunteers exited the area, the forest swallowed them up, and Terra turned her attention to Jack.
“I’m happy to assist, Jack.” Since he’d used her first name, she would return the favor. “What do you need?”
“National forest is your jurisdiction,” he said.
“Of course, but this, whatever it is, isn’t something I would investigate. What are you getting at?”
Clearing her throat, she grabbed more water from her pack, giving her an excuse to look anywhere except at Jack.
“You know this forest like no one else. You spent your life in these woods.” His professional county-detective tone had shifted to something more familiar and personal.
Chugging her water, she considered her response. When she finished, she capped the bottle and faced him. “You’re talking millions of acres. I didn’t spend my childhood in all of millions of acres.”
“I’m asking for a little assistance, that’s all.” He offered the hint of a smile as he studied her, then his expression turned serious again as he shifted his attention to the body. “What do you think happened here?”
“Are you working a case now? As in, this could be murder?”
“I haven’t been officially assigned, no. But we’re here now. Sheriff Gibson wants me to assess things while we wait for the deputy coroner. I brought up the FBI. This is federal lands, after all.”
“Are they coming?”
“He said they’ve deferred murder investigations to his department in the past, but of course will likely offer assistance if we need it, and he would keep them informed.” Jack rubbed his neck. “They rarely investigate murders unless it involves a serial killer or crosses state lines.”
“They just want to focus on politicians and terrorists?” She sent him a wry grin.
He barely nodded, his lips shifting into a grim line. Terra wondered if he would feel awkward working with the FBI, now as a county detective, if it came to that.
As for awkward, that feeling wrapped around her but for an entirely different reason. That, and well, this felt far too surreal. Why did it have to be Jack Tanner standing there asking her for help? Of all the places she could be right now and of all the people she could be with, why Jack?
And he looked good. Too good. She hadn’t seen him in almost six years. Those years had been good to him in some ways—she hadn’t thought he could be more attractive, but she was wrong on that point. In other ways, he seemed rougher. Like life hadn’t been good to him, when she hadn’t thought his life could get any harder. Terra realized she hadn’t given him an answer.
She dusted off her pants and stared up at the trees. “Case suggested maybe he was taking a selfie. You know how people are doing that and fall these days. Happens too often.”
“I don’t know. This guy was in his fifties, and he’s up there on the cliff, out there alone?”
“Right. He doesn’t seem to be dressed for the hike. No pack, unless it’s up top. Worn cowboy boots, not the best for hiking, though people do often set out for a breath of fresh air, then end up hiking farther than they planned.” And got lost sometimes.
Jack walked around the body. “Pine needles in his hair and clothes. A small black wire protruding from his hand.”
She could almost imagine Jack was the deputy coroner. “A black wire? What do you think it is?”
Jack scratched his chin. “No idea. It’ll be sent to the state lab to see what they make of it.”
Terra approached the body too. She couldn’t very well give Jack her opinion without getting closer, and she kept her features cool and calm.
Jack crouched much like Case had done but touched nothing.
“Terra.” The way he said her name sent alarms through her head. He gestured for her to come to his side of the body.
Dread built in her belly, and she strove to keep it from spilling out and crawling over her. In all her imagining—and, unfortunately, she had spent too long doing just that—she never could have dreamed up meeting Jack again in this moment, under these circumstances.
She marched around the form and forced herself to crouch next to this man from her past, only to peer down at a familiar face.
