“No, I’m afraid it’s something much worse. We smelled human remains about two hours north of our cabin. The location is the Wolf Run Trail heading up to the Silver Falls. We’re about a quarter of a mile from taking the trail up to the cliff overlooking the Greater and Lesser Silver Falls.”

  She was still following Nate when he suddenly turned around and returned to her. “The smell is strongest where we came from, and it’s coming from across the river. That’s why we were smelling the odor so strongly back there,” Nate said, rubbing her arms in a soothing caress and kissing her forehead.

  “Okay. Peter, I’ll give you our coordinates as soon as we reach the spot where we smelled the odor the worst.” She and Nate backtracked and then headed to the river. She gave Peter the GPS coordinates. “We’re going to swim across the river and make sure there’s no one injured over there.”

  “Okay, I’m getting an investigative team together as we speak.”

  “All right, thanks.”

  “Be careful crossing the river.”

  “We will be.”

  Kayla wanted to wait for the sheriff and his men to come to investigate this, but because Nate was a private investigator and a reserve deputy sheriff in case of emergencies, she knew he had to check it out and learn what he could. If someone was in need of help, she also wanted to assist. He was an excellent swimmer, and so was she, so she didn’t worry about the two of them navigating the river, though that could always be a hazard too.

  They left their walking sticks on the ground and pulled off their backpacks. She tucked the satellite phone in his backpack while he removed his shirt. They kept their hiking boots on in case there were any submerged logs or branches, jagged rocks, broken glass, even fishing tackle stuck in the rocks and hidden in the river. Then he gave her a hug and kiss, and she gave him a heartfelt hug and kiss back before they entered the water.

  They began to wade into the river until it was deep enough and then started to swim against the strong currents.

  She felt awful that anyone would have died out here. As she swam across the river, she watched Nate fight the strong current like she was doing. He kept looking back over his shoulder to make sure she was okay. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. Just go. I’ll get there,” she called out to him. But he wasn’t taking any chances and continued to glance back to ensure she was still making it. She loved him for it.

  Then he stopped and treaded water, fighting the current. “I’m waiting for you.” He looked ready to return to rescue her if she needed it.

  He didn’t need to. She was getting there. As soon as she caught up to him, he swam toward shore again, more slowly though, trying to stay with her.

  Before she reached the shore, she belatedly worried that they might run into a predator eating the remains.

  After fighting the current for about twenty minutes, he finally reached the targeted shore and climbed out. “Do you see anything?” she called out to him. Bare-chested, wet, his shorts clinging to him… Despite the situation, she thought how sexy he looked.

  He motioned to the woods. “The odor gets stronger in that direction. The person must be in the woods.”

  “Okay.” As soon as she was close to the shore, he stepped into the water to help her out and pulled her into his arms and hugged her tight. She took a deep breath. “Let’s do this.”

  “Yeah. Let’s get it done.”

  They headed into the woods and could smell the odor of decay grow stronger.

  “Do you see the body yet?” she asked as she and he started looking in different directions, but they were staying within sight of each other. She was also smelling for any sign of anyone else.

  “Not yet, but it’s somewhere near here.” Then a few minutes later, he said, “I found him over here, covered with twigs, leaves, and pine needles. He’s…uh, in a bad state of decomposition. You don’t need to see this.”

  “Are you sure you can’t use my help?” She wished Nate hadn’t seen the victim either.

  “No. Not on something like this. There’s nothing you could do anyway. I’m just looking for evidence to see if I can learn who the victim is and trying to determine what happened. I don’t think anybody else is over here.”

  “You’re right. I don’t smell any sign of anyone else either.”

  “Just the one man and he’s wearing a black ski mask.”

  “In this heat?” She couldn’t believe it.

  “Yeah, it’s chilly at night, and if he was trying to stay hidden from whoever shot him before he expired, wearing the ski mask could have hidden his face better.”

  “Shot him? Someone murdered him?”

  “Yeah. I can see three gunshot wounds.”

  “Oh, that’s awful.” She frowned. “It still seems odd that he had been carrying a ski mask during the day in this heat unless he had been up to no good. Can you tell how and when he died?”

  “It looks like he died about a week ago, though the doc will have to confirm the actual time frame of his death. It appears he was shot twice in the chest and once in the leg.”

  “Okay, well, that isn’t good. That means we have a murder on our hands.”

  About twenty minutes later, she heard men coming on ATVs on the trail across the river and hoped they were the sheriff and others of their pack and not trespassers whom they wouldn’t want to get involved. Thankfully, with their superior wolf hearing, only second in strength to their sense of smell, they could hear sounds six to ten miles away.

  “I’ll go see if that’s Peter,” she said.

  “All right. Let him know where we found the body,” Nate said. “I’m still looking for some ID.”

  “Sure thing.” She backtracked the way they had come and headed to the river. She saw Peter in the lead and waved at him and the other men from the shore. “Peter’s here with a team of investigators,” she called out to Nate.

  Peter pulled up and parked on the trail. CJ, Tom, and Jake Silver were all behind him with a raft and other gear.

  “Did you find the body?” Peter asked Kayla.

  She motioned to the direction the body was located. “That way, a hundred yards into the woods.”

  “Some of our men are taking the bridge south on the river to reach the area. Though it’s even more rugged to travel on that side of the river. Our medical examiner, Doc Featherston, is on his way to examine the body,” Peter said as they began to get the boat ready to launch.

  “Oh, good,” Kayla said. “We didn’t find anyone else here.”

  “Hey,” Jake said to Kayla, “do you want one of us to take you back to the cabin so you can wait for Nate to return there?”

  “No, thanks. I’ll wait until Nate comes back.” She wasn’t leaving without Nate, and she wanted to finish her hike with him to the waterfalls if he still wanted to. She’d feel better if they did what they had come here to do.

  Peter and the other men got into the boat and began rowing over to meet up with them.

  Then Nate came out of the woods and headed for the shore. “Hey, I’m done here, honey.”

  “We’ll ferry the two of you across,” Jake said.

  “What did you find?” Peter asked.

  “The man was shot three times. There are no bullet casings anywhere around the area that I could find. It appears he was shot somewhere else and then most likely swam across the river, managed to crawl or stumble into the woods, cover himself up with a few twigs and other forest debris, and died. It doesn’t appear like anyone covered him up to hide his body, and we smelled no signs of anyone else who had been in the area. He’s wearing a black ski mask, maybe to hide himself from whoever shot him. But it makes you wonder why he had a ski mask in the heat of summer. I didn’t find any ID on him, no car or house keys, but I did find a key card. It’s for the Timberline Ski Lodge.”

  “Oh, great,” Kayla said, not in a good way.

  “I’ll take it into evidence,” Peter said.

  “I figured that. I left it in his pocket. I didn’t disturb anything, except for finding the key card, and I was careful not to leave fingerprints on it. Kayla’s family can probably determine which room it went to and maybe identify the man.”

  “Okay, we’ll take it from here. Good job,” Peter said, and slapped Nate on the back.

  CJ and Tom ferried Nate and Kayla back across the river, while Jake and Peter headed into the woods.

  After dropping Nate off on the shore, CJ and Tom headed back across the river to join the others in investigating the death of the man.

  Nate hugged Kayla. “Knowing what we do now, I figure we could have waited for Peter and his men to arrive.”

  “Oh, no, I’m so glad we found him. Making sure no one else was there was important too. He could have been there for who knows how long. His family and friends need closure.”

  “Yeah, once Peter can identify him.” Nate pulled on his shirt and then lifted his backpack onto his shoulders.

  He helped her on with hers, took her hand, and then turned on the path in the direction of the cabin.

  “I still want to go to the waterfalls unless you really don’t want to. Are you going to be okay?” She realized after he saw the remains, Nate might feel somewhat traumatized.

  “Yeah.”

  “So what do you think?”

  “Well, he was wearing hiking boots, a black T-shirt, and blue jeans, and he had nothing on him that I could easily locate—like ID, water bottle, hiking pack. Just the key card. I’m wondering if it happened at night, he was shot and crossed the water, or even if the gunman fired at him when he was trying to cross the water or had reached the other side and the gunman couldn’t locate him afterward.”

  “Oh, how awful. If he’d been shot on the other bank, we would have found shell casings on the other side.”

  “Good point.”

  “The ski mask sure doesn’t fit. Why would someone wear it during the heat of the summer?”

  “I agree. Peter will take the key card back with him to see if your sister or brothers can determine who stayed in the room.” Nate looked down at Kayla and rubbed her arms with a gentle caress. “Do you want to keep going?”

  “Oh, yes. We’re so close now to the falls. I want to remember something good about this hike and not that we just found a dead body.” She couldn’t believe the man could have been one of their former guests. That made it seem worse somehow—like they should have protected their guest better.

  “Yeah, I agree.”

  “I sure can’t wait to hear who the key card belonged to.”

  Nate nodded. “You’re just like me, loving to solve mysteries. Of course, when it involves your lodge, I’m sure you have even more of an interest.”

  “I do. It’s driving me crazy. I want to know just who it is and if we might have seen him on the security videos with someone who could have been the last one to see him alive, once we learn who he was. Though he’s probably not recognizable right now.”

  “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. He was wearing the ski mask, so I couldn’t see his features. Once we get back to the cabin, which will give your siblings time to research it, why don’t you call them and see if they’ve learned anything?” Nate asked.

  She laughed. “We are a pair. Here we are on a vacation from work, and we are both itching to help solve the case.”

  “Yeah, but that’s because it sort of fell into our laps.”

  “That’s true. At least we got cooled off in the river after our swim.”

  “We did. By the time we reach the falls, we’ll be thoroughly dry in this heat.”

  “And ready to stand in the spray of the waterfall and dip our hands in the spring before we climb to the top, and that’ll cool us off again.”

  “That’s just what I’ll do.”

  Chapter 16

  Nate and Kayla headed up the trail and had to navigate over rocks, being careful to watch for rattlesnakes. With their enhanced hearing, they could hear the slightest rattle shaking, though the delightful sound of the rippling flow of the waterfalls was filling their ears too.

  Signs were posted up here for hikers to stay off the edge of the waterfalls. Loose, slippery rocks could mean a hiker’s death if he fell from the top of either of the waterfalls. Of course that didn’t stop some people—humans or wolves—from wanting to take pictures close to the edge. At least three humans had paid the price in the past for being daredevils, but that had happened before Kayla and Nate moved here.

  When they reached the bottom of the waterfalls where they poured into the river, she and Nate navigated over mossy stepping stones and stood in the light spray. Their clothes were already dry, and they didn’t want to get drenched again, just to cool off.

  Then they climbed up the rocky cliff to the top of the waterfalls.

  They had just reached the crest where they could see the water spilling over the edge of the cliff, and she had to admit it was tempting to wade into the stream of clear water and peer over. Not that she would do it, but she did have the natural urge to do so.

  “It’s tempting, isn’t it?” Nate asked as he pulled out his cell phone and took some pictures of her smiling at him.

  “Yeah.”

  He wrapped his arm around her and took pictures of the two of them kissing each other.

  She leaned down at the stream and dipped her hands in and splashed the cool water on her arms and her neck. “Hmm, that feels cool and refreshing.”

  He did the same. “Yeah, it does.”

  They heard hikers arriving, and Kayla sighed. The hazard of taking a vacation like this in summer. Even though the resort had lots of skiers all winter long, there were tons of visitors to the area hiking in the summer, even more guests than in the winter. All the lodging in town and their own ski lodge were full at this time of year.

  At night, that was different. They could run as wolves with most humans settled down at campsites in the San Isabel National Forest or having fun in town, not hiking out in the wilderness. Too treacherous. Too easy to twist an ankle or break a leg. Kayla and Nate would run as wolves on private pack territory at night, and they shouldn’t have any trouble with humans. They might end up bumping into other wolves though—out for a run in their wolf coats, having a good time. But wolves were okay.

  “Do you want to go to the cabin now and get some lunch?” Nate asked.

  It was later than they had planned to hike because of them swimming across the river and checking on the deceased man, so by the time they hiked back, it would make for a late lunch.

  “In a moment. The men coming up the path will be in our way when we make the trek down.” Plus, she didn’t want to be “chased” off when they had come all this way to enjoy the waterfalls from the top of the ridgeline.

  “Bet you won’t get close to the edge and take a selfie, LJ,” a black-haired man taunted his buddy.

  “I’m not that foolhardy, Chris,” a blond-haired man said.

  “Hey, LJ’s getting married, Chris. He doesn’t want to do anything to mess that up. Besides, his bride-to-be would give him hell,” another dark-haired man said.

  The others laughed.

  “You go first, Chris,” the dark-haired man said. “You’re always the risk-taker.”

  “I will, Alex. Watch me.”

  “Whoa, we’re not alone,” Chris said as he saw Kayla and Nate up on the rocks beside the stream. He gave her an appreciative smile, like he was some kind of lady’s man and could change her mind about being with Nate. As if.

  They all greeted each other.

  Chris dropped his backpack on the bank before he started to walk across the stream as if to prove to his friends and Kayla and Nate that he had what it took to impress everyone.

  “Hey, Chris, we agreed before we made the climb that none of us were going to wade out there,” LJ said.

  “Seriously, LJ?” Alex said, removing his backpack, setting it on the rocks, then walking across the stream, slipping immediately on slick rocks and falling on his butt, water splashing everywhere.

  Everyone laughed. Kayla couldn’t help it. She hadn’t meant to, but it was funny.

  “Do you want to leave?” Nate asked her.

  She wanted to say something to the guy who was getting closer to the edge of the waterfall, the other sitting in the stream finally standing up and taking another spill. She and Nate didn’t laugh this time, but their friend who was standing on the rocks next to them did. It was dangerous, the rocks slippery. As wolves, they could navigate it, but as humans, it could be treacherous.

  She figured it didn’t matter what she said to the black-haired man who was still inching his way to the edge. The signs were posted. They didn’t pertain to him. Maybe he had a death wish. What did she know?

  Nate finally spoke up. “I wouldn’t get too close to the edge. The rocks are loose there, they’re slippery, and if you fall the eighty feet, it’s to your death. Over the years, three people have died that way.” Then before anyone could say anything, Nate raised his brows at Kayla, silently asking her if she wanted to go now.

  She was glad he’d warned them. Hopefully, the guy would have enough sense to return to the safety of the rocks where they were standing. Then she and Nate headed down the rocks to the narrow path and made their way to more level ground.

  “I figured if I said anything, they’d ignore me because I was a woman,” Kayla said to Nate.

  “I almost didn’t say anything. The signs are posted, warning of the danger. People like that don’t care. They just have to prove something to themselves or others. Or they believe it will never happen to them. Probably if he wasn’t trying to show off to his friends how brave he is, he would not have done it.”

  “Well, hopefully, we won’t be finding any more dead bodies—this one downriver from the waterfall.” She took Nate’s hand as the path widened. “I’m so ready to have lunch. I’m starving. And I can’t wait to take a swim and cool down!”

  “Oh, hell, look what I found. Wait, I lost it. Grab it!” Alex shouted from up above the falls. “It’s got to be worth a fortune.”

  “It’s too close to the edge of the falls,” Chris said. “Wait…I–I got it.”