Murder at Sunrise Lake - Christine Feehan Page 0,104

put out a hit on him anyway.”

“Do you believe it was Mr. Rossi?”

“At this point, I have no idea who did it. For all I know, it was one of my father’s business partners. They lost men, sons. Brothers. Cousins. And a lot of money. They should have put the hit out on me. It would make more sense.” Raine sighed. “That’s why I live in the Sierras, Stella. I find my peace here. We’ve formed our own family. We might be strange and a little dysfunctional with all of our secrets, but we work and we’re loyal to one another.”

They could hear the sound of the helicopter in the distance. It would set down in the meadow far enough from the house. Raine glanced at her watch. “I’d better free the hound. Daisy is going to have to do her business and run around like a maniac before we get on that bird.”

“Be safe, Raine.”

“You too. I hope Sam doesn’t get too upset about his father being here without him.”

Stella hoped for that very thing as well.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Was everyone from Search and Rescue in the near vicinity?” Stella whispered to Sam. “That seems a little unusual.” She tried not to look suspiciously at Sean, Bale, Edward and Jason.

Sean had every reason to be in the park. His work took him there, after all. She supposed Bale, Edward and Jason could go see him while he worked. There was nothing that said they couldn’t. Yosemite was beautiful and the various campsites would be closed soon. She just pictured them leering at all the female campers.

Denver often guided hikers through the park to some of the off-the-beaten-path trails and he, apparently, had taken a small group into the park, so he was close when the call went out for Search and Rescue as well.

Stella’s nighttime security guard, Sonny Leven, had taken his brother out to the park for a hike. They had a permit to hike up the back side of Whitney. What were the chances?

“Not everyone, but it was good they were close to help,” Sam said. “The recovery wasn’t easy.” He sounded tired and Stella leaned into him. She knew that he was just as upset over the fact that they were unsuccessful in saving the two hikers—maybe more so.

“Vienna examined both bodies as we waited for the sheriff to get there. Multiple broken bones of course, you’d expect that. The strange thing was, because you had said that about the killer grabbing at their fingers, she really paid attention and both bodies had two breaks in exactly the same place on the ring finger of their left hand.”

Stella frowned and laid her head on his shoulder. Sam wrapped his arm around her. Immediately there was a small silence. Several others at the bar had ceased conversing and were staring at the two of them in astonishment. She realized it was the first time Sam had ever really shown any kind of public display of affection toward her. She didn’t move and simply waited for the Search and Rescue crew to begin their normal dissecting of their operation in the way they did.

“Didn’t James Marley have two breaks on his finger as well from the fishing line or something like that?” she asked.

“I don’t think it was from the fishing line, Stella. I think the killer has a signature, but we can’t risk being overheard here.”

She turned her face into his neck, keeping her voice very low. “You’re right, but I just have to know how they were missed at Trail Crest. It doesn’t make sense, Sam. You and Vienna were there.”

He nuzzled her temple and then her ear. “They had a permit for three people. His brother was supposed to be with them and couldn’t make it at the last minute. We were only looking through the database for couples with permits.”

She closed her eyes. Such a simple mistake. The permit had been for three people, not two, and Vienna and Sam had been focused on looking for permits for couples only.

“We need to talk about my father showing up and you letting him in.”

“I think I got that it wasn’t such a good idea, Sam.” She sat up straight and took a sip of her mojito. It suddenly didn’t taste so good and she pushed it away.

The Grill was filled with members of Search and Rescue, sitting at the bar or at the big round table, eating from the platters of the various appetizers Alek Donovan, the