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Travis goes down, reflexively doubled over with no choice but to let go of Sparrow. She immediately scrambles away from him, but one of her feet isn't holding her weight and she doesn't make good distance before she's slipping in the snow, giving that jerk a chance to grab for her.
Hislastchance.
The forty-five-millimeter rounds crack off with a series of sharp sounds that fill the canyon.
I might never know for sure if I hit him or not: Travis's eyes go wide and land directly on me, he takes a step backward, whether out of surprise or recoil, who knows? The ice under his feet cracks and the ledge gives way, dropping him off the sheer cliff and into the river just twenty feet or so before the bend where it plunges over the drop that shares its name with mine.
Hawk is coming up behind me and I hear him asking questions but the deputy's gonna have to wait.
"Shit, Birdy," I scoop her up in both arms easily and carry her toward my broken snowmobile. Her ankle is purple under the loose cuff of the soaking wet boot, and there are angry, red gouges in the skin around her wrists. "We need to get you into some dry clothes and back to the cabin for a hot bath and a fire."
"I knew you'd save me." Sparrow's head drops to my shoulder, her arms circling my neck. She's exhausted, but it's over now. She safe. She'll always be safe now that I have her.
"Looked to me like you did a damn fine job of saving yourself, Birdy."
ChapterTen
Sparrow
"Hmm, so his plan to force you over the falls with him in a murder/suicide move then?"
Deputy Hawkins takes notes as I tell him my story and I curl deeper into Vale's lap where he sits with me next to the fireplace.
"I just wanted to make sure the girl was safe," Mable Hart's voice rises in the kitchen, where she's been stationed along with Vale's grandmother Marcia, Alice McAllister, and Vera Jones.
All four of them were already at the cabin when we got back, courtesy of Deputy Hawkins' country sheriff SUV that he'd left at the trailhead.
"If you're that scared to drive back down this mountain with me, then you can have Alice take you."
"Give me my fucking keys, Mable." Alice says again. "Next time you break into my store, I want you in jail for it."
Hawk looks up at me and Vale with a sheepish grin. Apparently, he couldn't arrest Mable and her friend for the goat-napping because Mable has a set of keys to Alice's general store-- leaving everyone wondering how the heckthatcame about.
"Fine, but don't call me when you lock yourself out of that damn shop."
There's a sound of keys being dropped on a counter and some more bickering that we can't make out from where we're sitting in the cabin's long living room.
"Yes," I tell Hawk, getting back to the report, "he said we were star-crossed lovers and that we were meant to be together in eternity if not on earth."
I shudder at the memory and Vale's hands slide up my arms and then wrap around me.
"Looks to me like the only stars crossed on this mountain today are ready for me to wrap up this report so they can have some well-deserved alone time.
"Congratulations, by the way, I had no idea you two had been dating all this time."
"I don't know why I even bothered to tellyou," Mable spits at Marcia as she marches over to us.
"Because you wanted to rub it in my face that you knew something about my family before I did!" Marcia shoots back at her.
"Sweetie, I'm so glad you're okay," Mable leans in and presses a dry kiss against my cheek without a trace of the venom in her voice she was just spitting at Marcia. "You come see me at the museum and I'll fill you in on the parts of the storytheydon't even know."
Vale glares at the spot where Mable's lips touched my cheek and I can't help but laugh when his fingers come away with a smudge of bright pink where he wiped her lipstick off me.
"How areyou, Deputy?" Mable's voice is downright conspiratorial as she looks at Hawk.
"Fine, Mrs. Hart," he mumbles, "thank you for giving us the very valuable tip today, you may have saved Sparrow's life."
Mable swats the air in Hawk's direction with feigned modesty, "Oh, I don't know if I'd go that far," she says coyly.
