Cold Pursuit - Carla Neggers [97]
She looked down at her nightshirt and her cold feet and thought of last night. “No.”
“I didn’t think so,” Francona said, then blew out a breath. “By the way, your young friend got a sixty-eight on a calculus test yesterday. That’s the kind of grade I’d get. He always aces his tests. Doesn’t matter what subject. He doesn’t get D’s.”
“Did someone ask him about it?”
“Yeah. He said it was a D-plus.”
Francona disconnected, and Jo poured herself more coffee and headed for Elijah’s bedroom and a pair of his socks. But his phone rang again. She snatched it up and said a tight hello, expecting her boss or Charlie on the other end.
“Elijah isn’t answering his cell phone,” a man with an easy Southern accent said. “Special Agent Harper, I presume?”
“And you would be—”
“Elijah’s friend Grit.”
She eased back onto the bar stool with her coffee. “The SEAL.”
“Yes, ma’am. I saw your Internet video. You’re as cute now as you were at seventeen.”
“How would you know?”
But he’d hung up.
Jo slipped back into her clothes, grabbed her Sig, left her bath salts and got out of Elijah’s house before she gave in to temptation and looked for old pictures of them together. Not only would it be a violation of trust, she didn’t want to know. What would be worse, finding out he’d carried her picture off to war, or finding out he hadn’t thought twice about her after he’d left Black Falls?
She had to remind herself she wasn’t that hurt teenager anymore.
Maybe his SEAL friend had just decided to have a little fun with her and didn’t have a clue what she’d looked like at seventeen.
She returned to her cabin, which was much colder than Elijah’s house, and took a quick shower, got dressed and pondered whether she should have regrets about last night. She decided she shouldn’t. It had been inevitable, she and Elijah in bed together. She’d known it would happen, on some level, the moment she’d spotted him walking down the road with Charlie’s lilies.
On her way up to the ridge road above the lake, she listened to the forecast on her car radio. Snow was expected to start by midday and continue on and off through the night. It wouldn’t be a huge storm by northern New England standards, but higher elevations could get up to a foot of snow.
Black Falls Lodge was quiet, just a few cars in the parking lot. Jo recognized Thomas and Melanie’s rental. She pulled in next to Elijah’s truck and climbed out. The air was close with the drop in pressure and rise in moisture, signaling the approaching storm. Skiers and snowshoers would welcome the snow. Devin—and Elijah—wouldn’t care one way or the other. Jo wasn’t as sure about Nora. Did she even know a storm was on the way?
As she crossed the lot to the lodge, she noticed A.J. out on the stone terrace. He gave her a curt wave and walked down to meet her. He had a mug of coffee with him and wore a canvas jacket, but no hat or gloves. “Thomas Asher and his fiancée just took off for the falls trail,” he said.
“Everyone’s up and at it, I see. Rigby?”
“He left early. Said he’d try up by the falls first. He’s convinced Nora won’t want to get too far out from the lodge.”
“A lot of nervous people, A.J.”
He cupped his mug in his hands and glanced across the road at the mountain, blue-gray under the clouds. “Elijah’s gone up there.”
“I know.”
Just the barest smile from Elijah’s older brother. “I thought you might.”
“A.J…. your father…”
His gaze darkened. “Whatever happened up there in April, it had nothing to do with my brother living or dying in that firefight.”
A.J. obviously wasn’t looking for moral support from her, but Jo nodded anyway. “Agreed.”
He frowned at her. “You’ll need gear if you’re going after Elijah. Go see Lauren. She’s down at the shop. Help yourself.”
“Thanks, A.J.”
He dumped the dregs of his coffee in the dirt. “I called Scott Thorne, just in case. He’s on his way up here.”
Jo nodded and said nothing.
“Stay safe,” A.J. said, and headed back inside.
Twenty-Six
Nora knew she needed to calm down and keep herself from