“What’s going on, Cobie?” Laura asked, looking from Adam to Cobie. Nate didn’t merit a glance.
Cobie told them about the man who had tried to strangle her to death at the cave. About the jump off the bluff. And about how she’d almost drowned before Adam pulled her out.
Jen leaned against the wall and slid down. “Gotta sit down. My legs are shaking.”
“Mine, too.” Cobie joined her on the floor. Laura was next.
Tears welled in all three women’s eyes. Adam looked away. He couldn’t take watching them cry. It wasn’t that he had a hard heart. No. It was the exact opposite. He was too softhearted for his own good, and that had always gotten him into trouble. He had to work hard to protect himself. At least Cobie’s friends were here to comfort her. Adam wanted to join them in their efforts, but he couldn’t afford to let his heart grow soft again when it came to Cobie.
Nate shifted around the cabin, drawing Adam’s attention. He moved closer to his friend, away from the women who huddled next to Cobie, talking among themselves.
“The guy could still be here,” Nate said under his breath. “We need to keep our guard up.”
“Yep. Wish Ray would get here.”
Adam looked around at Cobie’s things all over the floor. Man, she’d brought a lot of stuff. How long had she been planning to stay? But then she’d need fresh clothing after she explored the cave, and maybe after she stepped outside, too. This could have gotten awkward real fast, considering he and his friends had planned to use this cabin while they mapped the cave. Had Cobie made a reservation, too? Or had someone overbooked the cabin?
“Cobie, you missing anything?”
“I don’t know. What could I have that anyone would want?”
Someone knocked on the door. The women against the wall yelped. Laura stood, pressed her hand against her gun. Adam frowned. “You might be good with your weapon, but I don’t need you shooting a hole in my friend.”
She scowled. “How do you know it’s him?”
“Is Cobie’s attacker going to knock?”
“Stranger things have happened.” Jen was on her feet, pulling Cobie up with her.
Adam’s gut churned. What if? He pressed his hand against the sidearm in his shoulder holster. Approached the door.
“Nate? Adam? You in there? It’s Ray.”
Relief flooded Adam and he opened the door to his stern-faced friend.
“I told you to stay put.”
Adam shrugged and swung the door wider. “Might as well come in.”
Ray stepped inside the cabin followed by another shorter man, about ten years older—probably the friend Ray had mentioned he’d invited to explore the cave. “Ladies, this is Ray Hamburg,” Adam said. “He’s a special agent with the Law Enforcement and Investigation division of the Forest Service.”
Ray didn’t give Adam his usual warm grin; he kept his authoritative expression in place. He’d been a park ranger before moving over to LEI. Maybe he would solve this quickly. “And this is Mel Timbrook. Also LEI. Looks like we have an investigation to get behind us. I headed off the Coast Guard. We’re usually not the first to respond, but I’m already here and this is my region.”
Mel and Ray looked around the room. Then Ray spoke again. “Looks like the cave-mapping expedition has turned into something much different. Someone want to tell me what’s going on?”
Face pale, Cobie stepped forward. “I... Someone tried to kill me.”
Adam didn’t miss Ray’s attention on Cobie’s neck or the anger that he worked to suppress as she told him how a man had tried to strangle her to death. Adam experienced the same rage after the initial shock of pulling Cobie from the water. That someone could do that to anyone. That someone could do that to Cobie MacBride.
Her voice shook as she relayed the facts, and Adam relived every terrifying detail with her. He remembered the moment when he’d seen someone jump from the bluff. The image of her underneath the water before he was able to grab her—her face pale, the terror of certain death in her eyes. And that moment when he realized the jumper was Cobie hit him like a blunt object.
The big adventure he’d planned away from Alaska over the next few months had been an attempt to escape the past he shared with this woman. Instead he was getting sucked right back in. But he had to keep her safe. Find this guy before he succeeded in killing her.
How could he protect Cobie? How could he be part of her life again and get his life back at the same time? Because there was no way he wanted to get wrapped up in her world again. If he had to, in order to protect her, in order to find this guy, then how could he possibly protect his heart?
She thought Ray’s questions would never end.
Cobie leaned against the wall on the far side of the small log cabin as though that would give them privacy. Mel hung back and listened. Outside, the wind gusted, bringing more rain and blowing the wet weather through the island. Though a couple of portable lamps burned in the corners, the cabin grew darker with the storm. Nate started a fire in the fireplace that sent shadows dancing along the walls. She’d taken off her rain gear and, though she was still layered in Adam’s flannel shirt over a T-shirt, she grew chilled, in body and spirit.
To his credit, Ray was attentive and concerned while he took notes, never showing any skepticism, although the story Cobie told sounded implausible, even to her own ears. Still, Adam and his friends had seen her jump. And her neck revealed evidence that someone had assaulted her. Had the villain stood at the top of the bluff and looked down just to make sure she didn’t resurface? She certainly hadn’t looked back to check, and Adam and his friends had been focused on her. Did her would-be killer know she was still alive?
Ray flipped to a new page in his notebook. “Tell me again why you’d come alone?”
She fought the need to roll her eyes. “My friends were on their way. Would have been here within the hour. I didn’t see the harm in going by the cave first to get the lay of the land. It shouldn’t have been dangerous. There’s not supposed to be anyone else on this island.”
“Normally that’s true enough, and I haven’t seen any DTO activity in this area, either.”
“DTO?”
“Drug traffic organization.”
Cobie hugged herself tighter. “Maybe...maybe they’re hiding drugs in the cave and didn’t want anyone to find it? Could be that’s why the man tried to kill me.”
Ray studied her, considering her words. “We’ll find out soon enough.” He reviewed his notes. “You said you knew about the cavers planning to map the cave, and you wanted to go in ahead of them. Why?”
“The truth is I wanted the cave to myself, and my friends wouldn’t distract me as much as another group might. They might prevent us or interfere with our plans.”
Ray’s manner was easygoing and so far he’d kept his face unreadable, but Cobie caught suspicion in the angle of his head. “How so?”
“What does it matter? What does any of this have to do with the man who tried to kill me?” His question made her feel as if she’d been the one to commit a crime, but she didn’t dare say that. That would give him ammunition to ask more questions about why she was getting defensive. Or if she had committed a crime, which she hadn’t.
“Humor me. Maybe it has nothing at all to do with your attacker, but I’m