Murder at Sunrise Lake

She sat in the middle of the bed, up high by the headboard, and thought about what she would do if Sam left. She had done that a few times when she worried that Zahra might decide to relocate somewhere. She knew sometimes Zahra worried that she wasn’t as free as she thought she was from her past, and she would get the sudden urge to run. Stella only knew part of her story, that Zahra’s parents had arranged a marriage for her— a common practice in her small village— and she had fled. Stella knew the consequences were dire and Zahra could never go back, could never see her family. They had disowned her. Whenever she thought about losing Zahra, she would panic, just as she felt panicky at the thought of losing Sam.

“What’s going on, Satine?” Sam asked, handing her a mug of chocolate. “Talk to me.”

She made a face at him. “Relationships are difficult when you’ve never had them.”

He took the chair across the room from her, sprawling his long legs out in front of him. She was pretty certain he wasn’t drinking hot chocolate in his mug.

She shrugged, trying to be casual. “I do rely on you in a lot of ways. The thought of you leaving scares me a little.”

He took a sip from his mug and regarded her through the steam. “Why would you think I would leave?”

“I don’t know. Everyone leaves, don’t they?” That sounded lame and not at all like her. She was honest and she wanted honesty between them. “I didn’t understand when you said you’d rather we be together while this is happening. That implied when this is over, you intend to move on.”

His dark eyes held hers captive. “Babe, try to keep up. I’m in this for the long haul. I made that very clear with you. I moved into your house in order to keep you safe and be here if these nightmares persisted, not to make you uncomfortable. I don’t want you thinking I expect anything from you. Do I prefer to stay? Yes. Hopefully I’ll manage to seduce you into letting me stay in your bed with you before you kick me out. If that doesn’t happen, I’ll need to work a little harder.”

Okay then, so much for insecurities.

“VIENNA FOUND THE body,” Denver said. He put his hand on Vienna’s shoulder in sympathy as he explained to Stella what had happened on day three of the search.

Vienna kept her head down, looking into her drink, her beautiful features an unreadable mask. No one would ever suspect that behind that gorgeous face with its classic bone structure and her runway body, she could easily be a member of Mensa and had held several patents that she sold, turning her ideas into gold mines. She made money playing cards in Vegas, and was quite passionate about playing poker.

She excelled at being an emergency and trauma nurse. Her love of the Sierras kept her in their small town. She was head of Search and Rescue and had been for the past few years. Due to her organizational skills, she had managed to get much-needed equipment and funding for them as well as new recruits. Those recruits, like Sam and a few others, were very skilled on various terrains.

“We have to be sworn in as a sheriff’s deputy when we work on the team,” Bruce pointed out. “I always sort of wonder if Sean and Bale won’t get hit by lightning when they take the oath. Both of them were fishing out on the lake the morning of the assault on Sam. They had Bale’s boat out. Griffen’s people searched their boat and truck for scuba gear. Neither man was wet, he said, but by the time anyone got to them, the sun was out.” He sounded disappointed that Bale or Sean wasn’t the culprit trying to kill Sam.

“I always forget they’re part of Search and Rescue,” Stella said.

Vienna looked up. “Bale and Edward are local boys and both are good in the snow. They hunt and fish. They grew up here and know the area. Jason and Sean have been their friends since college and have been members of the community for a few years. They’re all pretty tight. They’re solid when it comes to rescue, particularly Bale and Edward. They’re all business.”

Denver nodded. “That’s true. As much as they annoy me sometimes, never during an actual search and rescue mission. They all knew James Marley. We all did.”

“He was a good man,” Raine said. “Loved his family. There’s no way this was an accident, not with it being the same way Sam was attacked. I looked at the rocks where he was fishing. Griffen took tons of pictures. There was a kind of skid mark where it looked as if one of his waders slid along the algae on the rock.”