Cold Pursuit - Carla Neggers [39]
But Jo would be gaining on him. He kept going, rounding the hairpin turn, then dropping off the thick roots of a giant spruce tree, landing in front of her. “Agent Harper,” he said amiably. “Nice day for a hike, but watch out for wet spots this time of year. We don’t want to contribute to trail erosion.”
She wasn’t breathing all that hard for someone who’d hiked up the mountain as rapidly as she had. She looked past him. “Where’s Devin headed?”
“He didn’t say. Why? He hasn’t done anything to alert the Secret Service, has he?”
Jo ignored his bantering tone. “What about Nora Asher?”
“I haven’t seen her.”
“Has Devin?”
“Didn’t say.”
“Is he meeting her?”
“Likewise, he didn’t say.” Elijah noticed the color high in Jo’s cheeks—wind, exertion, irritation. A sense of purpose. “Getting banished to Vermont must be rough when you have an ambassador turn up dead in Washington. Nora taking off into the woods by itself isn’t a big deal, but it reminds you that you have nothing to do. So you turn it into something—”
“Elijah.”
“So intense, Jo.” He grinned at her. “Damn, but you have pretty eyes. The copper highlights bring out the turquoise.”
“Elijah, we can do this nice, or I can shoot you. Which will it be?”
“You’re not supposed to talk like that. You’re a professional.”
“No witnesses.”
“You didn’t think there were witnesses at the Neals’, either.”
“No, I didn’t care if there were. There’s a difference.”
Jo did have a way about her. Elijah jumped lightly onto a flat, gray rock. A breeze rustled through the trees. “Devin’s not a bad kid, and if Nora’s decided to try winter camping, for whatever reason, she knows what to do.”
“A lot of people who know what to do end up in trouble up here.”
His father, for one.
Jo seemed to read his mind and took a sharp breath. “Elijah, I’m sorry.”
“Forget it. You just stated a fact. I understand Nora’s father is worried about her, but she’s got a good head start on us. Even if we find her, we’ll probably run out of daylight before we can get her off the mountain. I’m prepared to spend the night up here. You’re not.”
“She is?”
He shrugged. “If she packed the gear she showed me, absolutely.”
“Devin?”
“He’s a natural. Give him a jackknife, and he could survive Antarctica.” But Elijah saw that Jo wasn’t going to respond to his humor, and he said, “I’m not worried about Devin. Let’s get moving before we end up in trouble ourselves.” He nodded down the trail. “You walk point. I’d rather look at your butt than have you look at mine.”
“Elijah…”
“You’re blushing, Agent Harper. I thought I’d never see the day. Even fifteen years ago when we were—”
“Right now, Elijah, I’m looking for a good spot to hide your body.”
She tried to pull off a scowl but couldn’t do it, and he laughed, appreciating that she hadn’t let mention of his father’s death stop her from reacting exactly the way he’d expected, the way he’d wanted her to—sharp-tongued, feisty, smart.
She lifted a foot onto a knee-high boulder and stretched her calf muscles, and he couldn’t help but notice the curve of her hip. “You’re wearing jeans,” he said. “Jeans aren’t good in the cold.”
“I’m aware of that, and, if you’ll notice, you’re also in jeans.”
He patted the strap of his daypack. “But I have a change of clothes. Not carrying any water, either?”
She didn’t answer and dropped her foot back to the trail.
“I have more than enough water to share,” Elijah said.
“Thank you. I’ll let you know if I get thirsty.”
“When was the last time you were up here on your own?”
“Years,” she said, and left it at that as she about-faced and plunged back down the trail.
Her butt really wasn’t hard to look at, Elijah noted. It never had been.
She stopped abruptly and turned to him. “I want to know what you and A.J. aren’t telling me.”
He stepped down next to her. “I don’t know about A.J., but I’m debating the wisdom of telling you that you have mud splattered