Undercover Baby Rescue, page 6
His eyes flickered from her face to Lorenzo and back again, and it was as if she could see her own fears about trusting Lorenzo reflected back in his eyes.
She took a deep breath and reminded herself she wasn’t a cop right now, and Lorenzo wasn’t a suspect. She was Viv Cooper of Dukes Wilderness Adventures being offered a helping hand by someone who worked at a camp she was considering investing in.
She glanced at Lorenzo. “Ready?”
“Yup. We got this. Team effort.”
“On the count of three.” Violet braced herself to jump. “One, two...” Lord, please keep me safe. “Three!”
She sprung, leaving the security of the tree trunk and letting Lorenzo grab her right hand, then Justin grabbed her left and together the men pulled her over the ledge, past the broken railing. As soon as her knees hit solid ground again, Lorenzo let go, but Justin didn’t. Instead, Justin took both of her hands and helped her to her feet.
“Are you okay?” Worry pooled in his eyes.
“I’m all right.” Then without stopping to question why, she instinctively pulled her hands from his, wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. Justin hesitated, then hugged her back. She could feel his heartbeat through his chest. It was racing.
“I’ll fill you in when we’re alone,” she whispered to him.
“Why is she wearing a staff jacket?” Frank asked. Violet pulled back, and it was only then she realized Frank was there, too, standing a few feet behind Justin. “Is Ross giving them out now? They’re not exactly new.”
She’d forgotten she was wearing the same bright green jacket as the rest of the Mount Prince staff. Had someone mistaken her for Ariel from a distance? They were a similar height, and both had long dark hair. Justin followed her gaze.
“Lorenzo and I were standing outside when the video wrapped up—” Justin raised his voice loud enough that the others were included in the conversation “—when Lorenzo got a call from Ariel on the walkie-talkie saying she’d spotted a small avalanche and was worried you’d fallen over the edge. We raced here, and Frank followed us.”
So it wasn’t possible either Lorenzo or Frank had been the figure she’d seen in the woods.
“I thought I’d mentioned in the security briefing that some of the paths were unstable, and it was best not to go outside the main area on your own,” Lorenzo said, almost apologetically. “But Ariel said she’d been struggling with the bucket, and you’d agreed to help. What happened?”
Violet prayed for wisdom. She hadn’t gotten a good look at the figure in the trees. Nobody knew she’d even seen them but her. And for now, catching whoever knocked her over the edge was secondary to getting a sample of Matty’s DNA.
“My stomach was bugging me, so I slipped out of the back for bit of fresh air to settle my system and offered to help Ariel salt the path. She was kind enough to lend me a staff jacket and keep me company. She said the fake-salt product you use could stain my clothes. I’d been admiring the view when suddenly I got hit by a mini-avalanche and lost my footing. Really, I just feel so silly and embarrassed about the whole thing.”
“Well, it was good of you to help her.” She glanced at Frank, but he wasn’t even looking at her. Despite Frank’s reputation as a philanderer, Violet, with her now dirty staff jacket, scratched glasses and hair full of pine needles, might as well have been invisible. “My wife and child are the most important thing in the world to me, and I’d do anything to keep them safe from harm. Now, I’d better check in to see if they’re okay and tell them to stay put at the cottage until we get the railing fixed.”
Frank started up the path, without saying goodbye.
Lorenzo turned to Violet and Justin.
“I’m sorry about all this,” Lorenzo said. “As I’m sure you know, mini-avalanches are rare, but they do happen when there’s been a heavy buildup of snow like there’s been this season. We should head back to the lodge. Are you good to walk?”
“I’m fine. Thank you.”
The three of them walked back down through the woods together single file, with Lorenzo leading the way and Justin taking up the rear. For a while they were quiet, each of them lost in their own thoughts and listening to the sound of their feet crunching in the snow and the wind brushing the trees. Then Justin snorted.
Violet stopped. So did Lorenzo.
Her eyebrows rose. “What’s so funny?”
Justin actually managed to look embarrassed.
“I’m sorry. This is really petty of me, and I’m almost ashamed to admit it out loud. But I actually recognized Frank as one of the heirs to the DuBois Oil and Gas fortune. And I found it ironic that a man who’s that wealthy and worried about his family is complaining about something as easily fixed as a bad railing. It couldn’t have gotten that worn down overnight. Why hasn’t he stepped up and offered to help replace it before? Or for that matter helped with any of the other little repairs this place needs that would’ve impacted his wife and kid?”
Lorenzo gave a wry and somewhat knowing grin, as if the thought had crossed his mind as well and he knew the answer to the question. They turned and continued down the hill.
“I’m not going to tells stories that aren’t mine to share.” Lorenzo’s voice dropped. “But Frank’s made several trips overseas to visit his grandmother in the past year, apparently to ask for money, and Ariel has told me some stuff about their situation. Let’s just say, coming from a wealthy family doesn’t necessarily mean you get a share of the dough. I don’t know if it’s true, but Ariel even said once that she thinks he might have been cut out altogether if it wasn’t for him becoming a father.”
* * *
Frank wouldn’t have inherited his family’s money if he hadn’t produced a child? Why?
Once again, questions filled Justin’s mind. Lorenzo parted ways with them as they reached the bottom of the hill, and the triangle was sounding again, summoning them all to the lodge.
Justin glanced around. Potential investors and staff were making their way back, but none who were close enough yet to eavesdrop on their conversation.
“Sadly, I’m guessing there’s no way we can just slip off to our cabin to talk?” Justin whispered to Violet.
“Not without risking our cover or drawing any more unwanted attention to ourselves. As it is, I don’t know how I’m going to explain why I look like I got dragged through a bush backward.”
“You look fine.” More than fine, she looked beautiful. Her face was flushed from the outdoors, and the tinted lenses she was wearing did little to hide her dazzling eyes. He reached up and pulled a small pine cone from her hair. “I discovered an emergency exit by the kitchen. I’ll slip in the front door, grab your coat and then meet you by the back door so you can freshen up without anyone noticing. There are washrooms down that way, too.”
“But won’t people notice you grabbing my coat and taking it down the hallway?”
“Nah. I’ve got this.”
For a moment he thought she was going to argue with him. Instead, she turned and dashed around the side of the building. He strode through the front door, with his head held high and purpose in his step, being careful not to meet anyone’s eye.
When he opened the back door he found Violet waiting for him between the row of trash cans and woodpile.
He propped the door open while she quickly changed her coat, then she pulled a small comb and compact from her pocket and fixed her hair.
“Did anybody see you?” she asked.
“Oh, probably. But, you know as well as I do, the trick to undercover work is not to be invisible but forgettable. There were a smattering of other people in the lodge, but they were all busy in their own conversations or doing their own thing, so I was able to take advantage of their blind spots in perception.”
She turned and stared at him.
“I didn’t know you had any undercover training.”
“Actually,” Justin said. “I scored so high in interpersonal skills during basic training that Zablocie tried to recruit me to do undercover work for major crimes. Special Victims Unit specifically.”
“How come you never told me that?”
Because you and your brother both excelled in that kind of hands-on police work, but I couldn’t hack it, and I didn’t want you thinking less of me.
Ross’s voice boomed down the hall, telling whoever was in hollering range that they were about to get started.
“I’ll tell you later. We’ve got to go.”
They left the borrowed jacket and gloves in a supply closet and joined the others in the main room. It was a smaller contingency of staff this time, Justin noted, that didn’t include Frank, Emelia, Ariel or Lorenzo. Ross led them on a walking tour of the wider property, pointing out some of the main buildings inside the complex and giving everyone the opportunity to try out the indoor climbing wall and play a few rounds on the curling rink. Then they strapped themselves into snowshoes for a hike around the broader paths. Justin mapped them out in his mind as they went, noting which ones led where and the simple system of colored paint splotches on trees they used to mark the paths. Ross pointed out an outdoor zip line and climbing course that were shut down for the season, a small frozen pond that served as a swimming hole in the summer and an ice hockey rink for shimmy games in the winter.
“What about the ski lifts?” Don pointed through the wires that strung toward trees to their right.
The group was standing at a fork in the trees between the green circular path that led back to the lodge and the white one leading to the tobogganing hill.
“Oh, they’re on our list of areas of improvement.” Ross chuckled, which Justin took as a euphemism for the fact they were out of commission.
“Can we see the sledding hill?” Toby asked. “I heard it’s one of the smoothest and longest in Canada.”
“Sadly, without the gondolas working, once you get down to the bottom it’s a long hike back up. But Lorenzo keeps a snowmobile in the first aid shed at the bottom, so we’re covered if any campers try to make an unexpected trip down.” Ross turned and pointed in the opposite direction to their left. “Not to spoil the surprise, but we’ll be back here tomorrow after breakfast for some winter rock climbing. We have some wonderful cliffs and a full array of winter climbing gear just this way.”
“As long as the storm holds,” Don interjected. “As a pilot I’m quite accustomed to watching the skies, and I think we’re going to get quite the dumping tonight. Possibly some freezing rain as well.”
Ross nodded vaguely. “Well, we do get all kinds of weather up here. Now come on, we’re heading this way.” He steered them past the broken ski lift, unusable sledding hill and the cliffs they might see tomorrow.
The day wore on, and Justin watched the tapestry of thick white clouds blanket the skies above them, like someone had unspooled a roll of quilter’s cotton across the sky. With each passing hour, Justin found himself growing more and more uneasy. He hadn’t seen his nephew since the welcome reception. And as long as some combination of Frank, Emelia or Ariel were holed up in their cabin, it would be near impossible to sneak in and get something with Matty’s DNA on it without being caught.
He was hoping they’d make an appearance for dinner, so that either he or Violet could head to the cabin then, while it was empty. But unfortunately, Ross had planned a formal sit-down dinner for the investors, with none of the other staff present except for a gray-haired man in wire-framed glasses whom Ross introduced as his chief financial officer.
Justin could practically feel Violet’s frustration radiating through her at how the afternoon had unfolded as they took their seats at the long table in the lodge. Her smile was tight, almost forced, and as he reached for her hand under the table to give her a quick and reassuring squeeze her fingers were as stiff as if they’d been frozen. To be fair, his own desire to leap up, run to the cottage, snatch up his nephew and rescue him from harm burned like fire through Justin’s veins.
God, please help us get what we need and fast. You know I’ve never been good at sitting still when somebody I care about is in trouble.
Platters laden with meat, potatoes, vegetables and bread were passed around. Ross sat at the head of the table and clinked his glass like a family patriarch welcoming them to holiday dinner.
“I know you guys got a lot of information today, so I thought it would be good to have a little question-and-answer session over dinner in case there was anything more you wanted to know about.”
Justin stabbed a thick roll with his butter knife. The only question he had in his mind was why Ross had kept Lorenzo out of the whole tour and dinner, when Lorenzo seemed to be the one who had a much stronger sense of what day-to-day operations were like around the place. Unless the answer was as simple as Ross wanted to manage the camp’s image.
“I have a concern actually.” Missy, the blond real estate agent, and wife of bush pilot Don, leaned forward. When they’d met earlier, Justin had assumed she was the sunny one of the couple. But now she was all business. “We’ve only been touring a very small selection of the buildings on this property, and while it’s nice to talk about making exterior renovations—like fresh coats of paint and a shiny new ice hockey rink—if there are fundamental problems with this place’s structures and foundations, it’s all going to crumble no matter how much money you throw at it.”
She went on to ask specific questions about surveys and assessments, and while they didn’t make a lot of sense to Justin, he couldn’t help but notice the financial officer paled slightly.
“I’m really glad you brought that up,” Violet said. “Because while I don’t have a background like yours, I’ve been noticing the rodent traps and ratty furniture and wondering if it was just petty little stuff or if it was a sign that something deeper was wrong.”
Now, wasn’t that the truth.
“We’ll follow up with you after the weekend and get you everything you need,” Ross replied, lightly. “Anyone else?”
“You talked a lot about wanting to attract churches and youth groups,” Toby said. “But I didn’t hear much of a plan beyond building a couple of new bunk rooms and reminding your staff about watching their language.”
“Surface stuff,” his wife, Carol, added.
People nodded and murmured in agreement.
It seemed like a theme was developing here.
“What was missing from your presentation so far,” Toby went on, “was any kind of deeper understanding of why a community would want to come together at a place like this.”
“Actually, Lorenzo and I had a pretty good chat about that,” Scott chimed in. “We talked about my time in the Canadian Rangers and his time at youth camps, growing up. I think he really gets the importance of teamwork in building community.”
“See, I’d like to hear more about that.” Toby pointed his finger approvingly at Scott.
“I know I’m the outsider,” Scott added, looking around the table, “as I’m the only one here who’s not in full-time camp work. But I find it’s hard to build trust without honesty and vulnerability. Right now it feels like you’re hiding your flaws. We can’t work with you if we don’t even know who you are.”
Justin leaned back and listened as one potential investor after another grilled Ross about what exactly they’d seen as wrong in the place. One of the questions he’d had going into the investigation was how Emelia had been able to fake her pregnancy and get a baby smuggled in without getting caught. Now a picture was forming in his mind of a camp with some well-meaning but overwhelmed staff and an owner who was clueless about what was happening on the ground.
“How about you, Josh?” Scott asked, pointedly as the meal was wrapping up. “I can’t help but notice you’ve been pretty quiet.”
Justin forced a chuckle that he hoped sounded casual and light. “Honestly? Everyone’s done such a great job of flagging things they’re concerned about, and I’ve just been taking it all in.”
“Okay,” Scott said, and Justin wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.
As dinner ended, they were all escorted outside where a large bonfire had been built in the wide-open space in front of the lodge. Lorenzo reappeared with a guitar. He flashed them both a big smile and a thumbs-up, as if to signal to Justin and Violet that the railing had been fixed.
As they all sat on wooden logs around the fire, Violet leaned against Justin. Her head brushed his shoulder, and the warmth of her filled his core.
“I know you’re frustrated,” she whispered softly into his ear. “I am, too. But it’s going to be okay. We’re in this together, and I have faith in us.”
And until that moment he’d never realized how much something inside him had longed to hear those words, back when they’d been engaged. How much he’d hoped that if he opened up to her about everything he was going through, she’d look at him and say that it was going to be okay, and she had faith in them.
The bright orange flames danced in her gaze, as the fire licked up toward the sky. The music of the circle around them seemed to fade away as if for a moment nothing else existed but her. He found himself leaning toward her. But before Justin knew what he’d have even done if he’d let his lips get close enough to kiss Violet’s mouth, the freezing rain began to fall. Thick and relentless drops stung their skin, soaked their heads and sent up smoke as they sizzled in the fire.
The music stopped as people leaped to their feet and ran for the safety of the lodge. A s’mores station was quickly set up by the fireplace, which Justin suspected had been intended for the bonfire outside.
Violet glanced at her phone.
“It’s almost nine,” she said loudly. “I think we’re going to call it a night and get back to our cabin. I promised my brother I’d try and call him before bed.”
