Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense March 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 by Dana Mentink (good fiction books to read .txt) 📕

the air from the used firepit. Wrappers and debris seemed to be everywhere. Henry groaned aloud. “Teens?”

“If I had to guess.” Perry shifted uncomfortably to talk to Nora. “Henry reminded me you interned once as river patrol. Thanks for helping out again when we’re short on resources, but I need to remind you not to touch anything.”

Nora steeled her features, trying not to show surprise. Her time as a river patrol guide was really about educating people about the rules of the river, checking for fishing and rafting permits, and cleaning up trash. She loved every minute of those months, but she never took part in any investigations or law enforcement. While Perry hadn’t apologized for his quick dismissal last night, she knew him enough to know that his soft tone meant he’d changed his mind and was taking her seriously now.

Everyone knew the rangers were stretched thin. So why was it easier for her to forgive Perry for his mistake than Henry when he tried to arrest her sister?

“Where were you shot at?” Henry asked.

Nora pointed along the shore. “I ran from my boat to behind those boulders. Sorry I can’t be more exact. I was focused on getting to safety.”

Henry’s neck reddened, the way it did when he was upset. Perry scratched his chin before he spoke. “The waves might’ve already lapped up what we’re looking for.” Perry and Henry turned away, talking in low tones. They split up, gloves on their hands and evidence bags in their pockets.

She wanted to be wrong about the murder so they could still use Sandy Cape for rafting. So her aunt’s business wouldn’t deteriorate. So the economy and livelihoods of the townspeople wouldn’t suffer. But yet, she also wanted proof that she hadn’t been imagining things.

Wanting to know, her own mind won out. Nora ducked underneath the crime scene tape stretched between two of the boulders near the picnic table. She had no interest in revisiting the area where Dexter had been murdered just beyond the tree line—Henry and Perry could deal with that. But she knew the townspeople and teens in the area well enough that she wondered if there might be a clue as to who had ruined the crime scene.

A box of store-bought brownies was open and left on the ground. Except, there wasn’t a single frosted brownie missing. Odd. Wouldn’t teenagers want to devour that? The picnic table would need dousing with several tubs of water to remove the sticky traces of something maroon. She followed the trail and found a half-empty box of raspberry-filled donuts. And next to it, on the ground beside the firepit, lay a package of unwrapped, smoked salmon. It was still whole, as if someone had dumped the fish on the sandy ground. Most teenagers didn’t have the kind of money to be buying smoked salmon.

A pile of uneaten hot dogs rested next to the firewood. Nora stared at the scene, her eyes drifting to another hot dog, half eaten, about a half a foot away. So, if a group of teens had brought all this food, had something scared them away before they could enjoy it? She scratched her head. That didn’t really make sense, but it was actually more dangerous that they’d left out all the food.

The Sauvage tied with the Salmon River as the second deepest river gorge in North America. To protect both the area and to keep everyone safe, visitors knew to pack everything in and out so as not to attract wild animals to sites like this. The spread seemed almost like the perfect meal plan if you wanted to lure a…

Her mouth dried up as her eyes drifted back to the raspberry-filled donuts. The box looked as if it’d been dragged then left behind. Right next to the discarded box was a dusty footprint, barely discernable in the sand. Her eyes darted to the hot dogs. Three feet away, the sand mixed with mud and revealed another half a footprint. Something that most definitely had long claws.

“Henry?” She called out and looked over her shoulder to see him balancing precariously on top of one of the boulders, near where she’d hidden from the bullets.

He didn’t look up. His eyebrows were low, so intense was his focus on something roughly five feet from him.

“I’m afraid we might have some wildlife nearby,” she said, even louder. She looked around to find Perry, but it was as if the man had disappeared. She should grab a trash bag and clean the food up immediately, but she would need Perry’s permission first.

She stepped forward, following the tracks. A small cry that sounded almost like an exotic bird with a little guttural growl at the end sent chills up her spine. She squinted and, past the thick foliage, two sets of eyes peered back at her. With the softest-looking black fur, two cubs fought to climb over a fallen log. Their limbs appeared too big for their small bodies, and they stumbled over each other. If she had to guess, they looked to be roughly three months old. “Henry?” she called out again, keeping her voice friendly but loud. “I really need your attention.”

Because where there were cubs, there was often—

* * *

“Yeah, I’ll be there in one minute.” Henry held up one hand but didn’t look away from the object of his focus. Willing his eyes to zoom wasn’t working, but there was something reflective on the top edge of one of the small rocks. For all he knew, it could be a wrapper, but his gut told him it might be a bullet casing. If it turned out to be a match for the type of bullet used on Dexter, Perry would have no choice but to sound the alarm they had a murderer on the loose. And maybe, just maybe, they’d finally get another lead to solving Tommy’s Sorenson’s murder.

Trying to reach the item was proving precarious, as it was just beyond the highest boulder. The way