Russ’s hands drifted to his waist. “You need to leave that to me.”

  “Or me,” Finn said, as he wasn’t going to step back for anyone, not even the law, and the good sheriff needed to know that.

  Russ’s eyebrows rose. “And you are?”

  “Finn Durham. Shadow Lake Logging security manager.”

  “Oh, right,” Russ shifted his belt. “The former SEAL Tobias is bragging all over town about snagging for the job. I’m Russ Maddox. Emerson County Sheriff.”

  “Maddox?” Finn asked, as when Ryleigh mentioned her summers up here when he was dating her, she’d said there was more than one Maddox boy that she’d hung out with. “Any relation to Ryan?”

  “Brother.”

  “Small world.”

  “Even smaller than you think,” Ryleigh said. “I also worked with their oldest brother at the FBI. Reid was an agent too, but now he runs their family business.”

  Russ gave Finn a quick once over. “You must’ve drawn the short straw if you went from a SEAL to this gig.”

  “It’s complicated,” Finn said, giving him as vague of an answer as he’d given Ryleigh.

  All they needed to know right now was that he was here, had his sights set on finding the bomber, and he wasn’t going anywhere until he had eyes on his target.

  Thankful Russ trained his attention on Finn, Ryleigh took a long breath. She needed to get her act together and appear more in charge for Russ. Finn too. She especially had to stop letting Finn take over.

  He probably wasn’t doing it to get at her. Or at least she didn’t think he was. But taking control came naturally to him, the reason he’d risen to commander of his SEAL team. Hard to compete with those innate skills.

  She lifted her shoulders and crossed her arms. No. Stop. That just emphasized her short nails that she’d polished a soft pink, making her even more girly looking.

  She shoved her hands into her pockets instead. “I know you want me to leave this alone, Russ, but I can’t. Won’t. So you’ll just have to accept that.”

  Russ shook his head. “This’s just like the time you thought you could swim well enough to go into the river. I’d warned you about the current and ended up rescuing you from it.”

  Grrr. Why bring that up now? “You can’t judge me for something that happened when I was a kid. I’m older and wiser and have law enforcement training now.”

  Russ smiled politely, a practiced smile he probably used to pacify people on the job. “I was surprised you became a law enforcement officer like the rest of the family. Thought there were too many rules for a free spirit like you.”

  Fine. Try to pigeonhole her. She’d faced that her whole career and knew how to handle it. She lifted her chin. “I served a little over five years with the FBI. Left two months ago to join the family firm.”

  He continued to eye her skeptically. “I still can’t let you two impede my investigation.”

  His bossy tone grated on her, and Finn’s rigid posture said he agreed.

  Russ took a wide stance, his boots planting on the ground and kicking up dust. “And I won’t take kindly to you siccing the feds on me either.”

  “I don’t plan to.” She held his gaze even when it felt uncomfortable to do so. “But you have to call the ATF.”

  “Do I?”

  Now he was just being ornery.

  “Come on, Russ. You can’t avoid the feds. You’re an excellent sheriff, but we both know the ATF handles bombings. Plus, my research into the prior threats says this could well be the work of ecoterrorists, so the FBI will likely be pulled in too.”

  Russ took a few steps closer. “Are you forgetting the victim in the ruins? Because I’m not. Murder falls under my jurisdiction, and I’m not passing that off to anyone. And I’m sure not calling anyone in—feds or otherwise—until I do further discovery.”

  Risky decision for sure. “You’re willing to face the fallout from that move?”

  “I’ve been at this job long enough to know what I’m doing. Leave things to me. You too, Durham.” His last words were fired at Finn like Russ had lifted his gun and discharged a bullet.

  No way she would give up. But…“I’ll back off while you assess the scene. Give you at least that much, but I’d like to offer a suggestion.”

  “Go ahead.” He crossed his arms.

  Grudging agreement. More than she expected. “You can gather the information you need faster with professionals at your fingertips.”

  “That’s a given, so explain.”

  “The body is too badly burned for an ME to handle, and you’ll need a forensic anthropologist to recover the remains. The Veritas Center in Portland has an expert forensic anthropologist who I would recommend using.”

  He snorted and lifted his hands. “You know my budget would never stretch to that and their pro bono funds might not cover such a large investigation.”

  He didn’t outright say no, so… “Doesn’t hurt to ask. They could also process this scene for forensics. And they just hired a guy with extensive experience with explosives. He could analyze the blast and bomb fragments. Plus, you won’t find anyone better at collecting evidence than Sierra Rice. I could ask for their help pro bono.”

  Ryleigh expected Russ to scoff at the offer, but he gave a sharp nod. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Great. Now she had to close the deal. “Let me give you my cell number, and I can work on that for you.”

  “I said I’ll keep it in mind.” He took his mask from his belt. “I’ll get your contact info when I take your statement. Stay here until I come back.” He strapped on his mask and marched off.

  She glanced at Finn. He didn’t move, but his gaze tracked Russ. “Nice guy.”

  “Do I detect a hint of sarcasm in your tone?”

  “Just a hint?” He chuckled.

  She might be battling Russ, but she didn’t like Finn dissing her old friend. “He actually is a great guy. Or at least when I knew him he was, but he was always the serious one of the family, and a lot of people take him the wrong way. Right now, he’s just doing his job as sheriff to keep us in line and protect his investigation.”

  Finn changed his focus to her and leaned against his dusty truck. “Which you plan to ignore.”

  Busted. “As do you.”

  “Yeah. As do I.” He searched her face. “What if we stopped arguing and agreed to work together? Pool our resources.”

  Seriously? How would that be a good idea? It wouldn’t be. Not at all. “With our past? I don’t think so.”

  “I’m sure we can put that aside to locate a bomber. At least I can.”

  “Of course you can. You were the one who walked away without a backward glance.” The words came out harsher than she’d planned.

  He recoiled. “I had to go.”

  “Because you couldn’t leave your SEAL team.” She paused, letting her comment linger on the smoke while she tamped down the feelings threatening to steal her ability to think clearly. “Like I said before. Here you are. No SEAL team in sight.”

  “Trust me,” he said, but she didn’t. “It wasn’t my choice. I had to leave.”

  Nearly overwhelmed with emotion, she couldn’t form the right words, so she eyed him, challenging him to explain,

  He let out a sigh. “You remember my friend Felicia? She died a couple of months ago and left her daughter in my care. When Avery was born, Felicia asked me to take care of her if something happened to Felicia. Man, I…”

  He shook his head, his eyes darkening. “I never thought it would happen. So I said yes and didn’t give it another thought. Then Felicia did die, and I had a decision to make. Come take care of Avery or let her go to foster care.”

  He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing as if he was fighting to get his emotions under control. “I can’t be a single parent to Avery and still be deployed all the time.”

  “Oh, Finn.” Ryleigh clutched his arm.

  He jerked back, sliding along his truck and resembling a captured animal trying to escape.

  Oh, man. Wow. The second time she’d touched him, and the second time he retreated.

  What was up with that? Now was not the time to ask. Now was the time to offer her sympathy at the loss of his friend who’d been by his side since his parents died when he was ten.

  She shoved her hands in her pockets so she didn’t try to touch him again. “I’m so sorry, Finn. I know how close you were to Felicia.”

  His eyes were vacant and panicked at the same time. Gone was the invincible man she’d known. He moved even further toward his truck’s tailgate and lifted his shoulders. “I’m just trying to trust that God has a plan for this and do my best to move on and help Avery deal.”

  His tone lacked conviction. Like he was repeating words he knew he should believe but didn’t. She wanted to know more, but she wouldn’t press him. They didn’t have that kind of relationship anymore. Any relationship. The hours they’d once spent under the stars, talking and getting to know each other were over.

  Way over.

  Better to stick to facts. “How old is Avery now?”

  “Seven.” He lifted his mask to scratch his face, but she noted he was chewing the inside of his cheek, a habit she remembered well, proving his uncertainty. “But losing her mom has made her grow up pretty fast.”

  Ryleigh would struggle mightily to survive if she lost her mother. “I can’t even imagine.”

  “Sadly, I can.”

  She raised a hand to clap it over her mouth, then felt her mask and let it fall. “How insensitive of me.”

  “No worries.” He looked away as if he was trying not to remember that day on the slopes when the avalanche had spared him and Hadley, but took both of their parents. “Anyway, it helps me understand Avery when she lashes out or even when she cries inconsolably. So there’s that.”

  How was he even dealing with this? Coping? His life had been upended in so many ways, and he was obviously struggling big time.

  She had to cut him some slack. A lot of slack, actually. “Was Felicia sick or was her death unexpected?”

  “Unexpected. Sudden.” He rested his arm on the truck bed as if trying to keep that rigid SEAL persona in place. “She had an undiagnosed brain aneurism and collapsed during one of her shifts at the ER. You’d think if a rupture happened in a hospital, they could save her. But no way.”

  “Oh, man. How rough for everyone. I’ll keep you and Avery in my prayers,” Ryleigh said sincerely. They both needed prayer right now like they needed to breathe. “And we can work together on this.”

  His eyes flashed wide open and he stared at her.

  She would be staring too, if she were him. Did this mean she forgave him for choosing his career over her? Not hardly. Or was she letting his loss color her decisions, and she felt sorry for him so she agreed to join him in this investigation? She honestly didn’t know how she felt and sure shouldn’t make hasty decisions. Especially one she was already regretting.

  Maybe it could work. He did have strong investigative skills from his SEAL days. Carefully scrutinizing situations that arose on a mission was a must-have ability for a SEAL. That, combined with her law enforcement experience, could make them a power couple in the investigation.

  They’d been a real power couple in life too, but that ended far too soon.

  He bent forward, grabbing her attention. “Are you planning on calling your friends at the FBI?”

  She shook her head. “Russ should be able to handle the investigation his way. Besides, friends or not, my former associates are even less likely than Russ to share findings with us.”

  “Then what do you propose?”

  “No agency will provide us with official forensics results. That’s a given. But if I get Veritas onboard, maybe Russ will let them share the info with us.”

  “You think he will?”

  Did she? “He’s by the book and our odds aren’t good. Not unless it serves his purpose.”

  “Not having access to forensics results would be a real blow. The bomber will likely be identified by the forensics.”

  “Or it could just confirm any suspect we discover.”

  His eyebrow went up. “And how do you propose we go about finding legit suspects?”

  Yeah, how? She glanced around until an idea came to mind. “While we wait to give our statements, we move as close to the action as we can to listen in. Maybe we’ll overhear something of value. Then if Ryan is still battling the fire, we wait until we can talk to him.”

  “And if he has nothing to offer?”

  “We call in our own expert. I’ve investigated the recent bomb threats Tobias has received. I believe this is the work of Sovereign Earth, a nationwide ecoterrorist group. Problem is, I’ve struck out on actually pinning the threats to them.” She planted her hands on her hips, a habit she picked up in the FBI to try to make herself seem more forceful. “So instead of wasting time on going through my research again, we get help.”

  “I take it you have someone in mind.”

  “Yeah, someone who can run circles around me on the computer.”

  “Whoa!” Finn pushed off the truck. “Ryleigh Steele modest about her IT skills? Never thought I’d see the day. This person must be something else.”

  She laughed. He was right. She did tout her skills—not an unusual thing in the IT world. “I have two people in mind, actually. Nick Thorn at Veritas is the top IT expert in the area. He doesn’t have a background in terrorism, but he has top-of-the-line equipment and mad skills to run deep searches. Then there’s Colin Graham, who I worked with at the FBI. He ran the IT aspect for their domestic terrorism team but recently left the agency too.”

  “Where is he now?”

  “Oddly enough, he works at Shadow Lake Survival. The Maddox family business.”

  “You think he’ll help us?”

  “I hope he will, but he left the FBI because he was burned out on all the bad out there. Especially the terrorism aspect. He might run the other way, but it might help convince him to join in the search if I ask in person.”

  “Then that sounds like our first stop.” He held her gaze. “After we interrogate Ryan.”

  She flashed up a hand. “Hold up there. You might have interrogated people while serving as a SEAL, but in the civilian world, we just question.”

  Hopefully, he would keep her warning in mind, but would he?

  Any hint that Ryan was holding back on them, and Finn would likely revert to his SEAL training and find a way to make Ryan talk. Something she would have to stop if they had any hope of succeeding in this investigation.

  3

  Ryleigh tore her gaze from the fire that smoldered and smoked in the charred tree line where firefighters seemed to be winning the war right now. She focused on Tobias Hogan, stepping their way. He wore jeans and a plaid shirt and resembled a skinny Santa Claus. Or at least Ryleigh had always thought of him that way.

  He usually had the jolly personality too, but today the wrinkles around his eyes were even deeper, and his mouth was pursed behind his flowing white beard. He stopped short of her and Finn, where they’d been waiting on a truck tailgate for Ryan.

  Tobias plunged his hand into his silvery hair. “Any news on Uri?”

  Finn stood and shook his head. “I called him, and it went to voicemail. Then I sent one of the men over to check on him, and he didn’t answer his door. And we didn’t find his vehicle either.”

  “Sheriff Maddox will do a welfare check,” Ryleigh added. “This gives him probable cause for a forced entry, so he can go inside Gates’s house.”

  Tobias frowned.

  “Any idea why he might’ve been here at this time of day?” Finn asked.

  Tobias fired a heated look at Finn. “Not setting off a bomb, if that’s what you’re getting at. He’s an upstanding guy as far as I know.”

  “I meant no offense, sir.” Finn’s apprehension surprised Ryleigh. “It’s just that he hasn’t been working with us all that long. There might be something he’s hiding, and we’ve yet to find out.”

  “Find out what? You know I ran background checks on all my employees after we got the first threat. None of the guys have a criminal record or hint of radicalism.”

  Ryleigh stood too. “I mean no offense either, but that only tells us that he was never apprehended, not that he didn’t commit crimes. He could easily be affiliated with an extremist group, and the check you did wouldn’t have that information.”

  Tobias pressed his full lips together. “You know a lot about all that cyber gibberish. Can’t you check into him that way?”

  She wished that the earlier work she’d done had paid off, and she had a lead to share right now. Maybe then Tobias would be more apt to keep her family’s company on. But she didn’t, so she worked extra hard not to let the disappointment in her failure show. “I can look into him, and we’ll also ask a former FBI agent and the IT expert at the Veritas Center to research him too. A three-pronged attack could result in finding the key piece of information we need.”

  He gave a sharp nod, and his beard whispered over his chest. “What about working with the sheriff?”

  “Ryleigh offered her services to Maddox,” Finn said. “He refused and was closemouthed about his findings before he took off.”

  Tobias’s eyes pinched tight. “That won’t help any of us. Let me give him a call. Our families go way back, and he owes me a few favors.”

  “Family friends or not, Russ does have to follow proper procedures,” she said, though she really didn’t want to defend him right now.

  Tobias frowned. “Still, I’ll work on him.”

  She appreciated Tobias’s help, but it was better for her to work on Russ directly. He wasn’t easily influenced, and he would do what he would do despite Tobias’s pressure. “I know we’ve been through all of this before when the threats started coming in, but have you thought of anyone other than ecoterrorists who might want to do something like this?”

  Tobias shook his head. “And I’ve been thinking about it. A lot. But no one else comes to mind. Gotta be those Sovereign Earth people. That’s the only thing that makes any sense.”