Her eyes broke contact. She looked down at her hands. It was such a vulnerable action that Caleb had a hard time not venting his disbelief that someone would do such a thing and anger at the person who had right then and there. But then the lawman side of his brain started to kick in.
“Let me get my keys,” he said instead. Nina nodded. She was still standing there when he came back out. This time she was staring off toward the fields behind the house. The very same piece of scenery he had been getting ready to enjoy. Tall grass waved lazily in the breeze as if waving hello. Unaware that something was wrong.
“I’ll follow you back to your office,” he said, breaking the spell she’d fallen under. Her expression was impassive now, yet her question was nothing but troubling.
“Caleb, if you didn’t take that picture, who did?”
Caleb completely forgot about Overlook Pass burning as soon as he saw the email that had been sent to Nina. Not only did the caption make his blood boil, the location from which the picture had been taken had him itching for answers.
“That was right next to where I was when I first saw you.” He pointed to the left corner of the picture. Caleb pictured the woods he had grown up knowing like the back of his hand. “Whoever took this was crouched down.”
Nina leaned over the back of the office chair to take another look. A few strands of hair escaped her braid. The unmistakable smell of lavender invaded his senses. It caught him off guard.
“It was obviously taken before you showed up,” she said, voice calculating and focused. “And not long after I’d first gone in. I had just wanted to cool down. I probably was only in the water for two to three minutes before I heard you. Are you sure you didn’t see or hear anything on your way to the stream?”
“No. Though I wasn’t actively trying to catalog my surroundings,” he admitted. An idea Caleb didn’t like pushed into his thoughts. He had to voice it. “I left the stream the way I came and you went out through there.” He pointed toward the tree line closer to the stream that led back out to the trail’s path. “There’s a good chance our photographer was still there when we left.”
Stress pulsed out from Nina like an electrical surge of energy. Suddenly Caleb was hyperaware of more than just her scent. The warmth of her skin radiated out to him, as if she was the flame of a candle. Licking out and taking the air around it. She tilted her chin down a fraction to run her eyes over the picture again. It brought her cheek even closer to his. In the fluorescent light her freckles took on a harsher contrast with her tanned skin. He suspected then that she had, at least in part, inherited her complexion and dark hair from a Hispanic parent. Her tan was too even, too rich, to be just from living in the sun. It made the shine of her lip gloss even more pronounced in contrast.
Caleb wondered how shiny felt before reality doused out the sudden curiosity.
“Whoever they were, they followed me.”
Nina’s voice had hollowed. Those shiny lips were downturned, sunken. Caleb returned his focus to the computer monitor.
She was right. Someone had either followed her to the trail or had already been on it before following her to the stream.
“There’s also the possibility that they were already at the stream when you showed up and took advantage when you didn’t see them,” he said without much enthusiasm. “That would be one heck of a coincidence, I’ll admit, but ruling out something just because it’s unlikely isn’t good practice either.”
It sounded scripted because it was. Caleb had had the misfortune of being partnered with Neil Stewart before Jazz had moved to Overlook. He was a man who thought so squarely inside the box that, to him, even attempting to think outside of it was criminal. Caleb had told him over and over again to look from all angles and not just one. Neil hated the advice. To say the least, he and Caleb hadn’t had the best of partnerships. The several complaints Neil had had filed against him for “conduct issues” had put a definite strain on them before Neil had finally transferred out of Overlook.
“But they sent an email to me,” Nina said. “If they took the picture because of opportunity then they sure committed to making it personal really quickly.” She pointed to the timestamp of the email. “I wasn’t even back for an hour when it came in.”
“There is that,” he conceded. It didn’t feel like a random, spur-of-the-moment thing. Still, that didn’t mean it wasn’t.
“It could have been a prank, too,” he had to say. Nina scowled and he held up his hand to stop her from attacking. “I’m not saying it’s a good one or one that should be taken lightly. But, as pretty as Overlook is, it’s dreadfully boring for the younger demographic. One time Jesse Langford stole a surveyor’s reel and a garden roller from the local hardware store and made crop circles out near the county line in Dresser’s fields. Because, as he claimed, there wasn’t anything to do in town that got his blood pumping.”
Nina stood tall, leaving only the smell of her shampoo to linger, and went around to the front of the desk. She balled her fists on the top of her hips.
“That email reads a lot more sinister than crop circles made by a bored teenager, don’t you think?”
Caleb stood, still trying to show he wasn’t trying to offend her or make light of the situation.
“I just meant that we don’t know what this is yet.” He grabbed his cowboy hat and held it against his chest. “But I promise you I’ll find out. Okay?” Nina considered him a moment before nodding. “Now, I’m going to head out to the trail and see if our photographer isn’t still out there. Are you doing anything in town today or hanging out here for a while?”
“I can stay here for now,” she decided quickly.
Caleb nodded and put on his hat. He asked for her phone number and immediately called it. Nina saved his number.
“Call if you get another email or anything else happens that seems out of the ordinary. I’ll come back by when I’m through.”
Nina thanked him but before he could clear the doorway she called his name. Her eyes bore into his with a new intensity. Caleb was caught off guard once again.
“That’s my work email for the Retreat. I’ve only used it for, and given it out to, shop owners and a few people around the ranch. It’s not even on the website yet.”
She didn’t say anything more. Caleb didn’t respond. They both already knew what that could mean.
Nina had already met whoever had taken her picture.
* * *
THE OFFICE DOOR remained shut and locked. Not that it made much of a difference if it were unlocked or even wide open. From the two large windows that sat behind her desk, she could see if any cars approached. Still, she felt better for throwing the deadbolt as soon as Caleb had left. The mysterious photographer hadn’t had a car outside of the trail that she’d seen when she’d first arrived. He hadn’t needed it to do what he’d done.
To spy on her, to take advantage of what she would have sworn was a private moment.
The email stayed open on her computer but she didn’t want to use it. Not until this person was caught. Instead, she spent the time between Caleb’s departure and when she could see his truck kicking up dirt along the road when he returned trying to stay on task. She double-checked events the town had going on through the next half year as well as notes for suggested events for the Retreat. They were already booked through the first month but she didn’t want a slump in reservations soon after.
The need to succeed pulled at the center of her gut.
She wanted to