Page 21 of Shadow of Hope
They crossed to the other side of the campsite to where he’d pitched his tent yesterday to be as far away from her as possible.Hah!Yesterday he hadn’t wanted the temptation she presented for him, and he’d just ensured she’d be glued to his side for the foreseeable future.
Help me to do the right thing at all times. Please.
He dug the SAT phone from his pack and shoved it into one of his cargo pockets, then went back to Kari. No Ava.Ava.He hadn’t even given her real name much thought. Would be hard to start thinking of her that way, but Ava fit her better. More regal sounding. Less casual.
“After you.” He pointed at the path to her latrine.
She led the way, moving at a fast clip. Her cargo pants appeared to be new and a blue turtleneck clung to her every curve. Thankfully it was a chilly morning, and she’d slipped into her vest and zipped it to her neck. Too bad she hadn’t put it on before he’d seen the curves.
Didn’t matter. The moment they reached the catapult area, all thoughts of Ava as a woman fled from his brain. Well, except for thinking of her as a vulnerable woman who needed his protection.
Facing the trail in case anyone followed, he crouched and studied the catapult. “Whoever built this knew what they were doing. Had to be made in advance as these don’t look like scavenged pieces.”
Ava squatted next to him. “Jamal and Buck said they’d attended several of these survival sessions. Maybe they learned how to make a catapult there.”
“It can be used in hunting to bring down an animal, so it’s possible, I suppose.” He pointed at a boot print in the mud. “Fresh and definitely not your size.”
“Not at all.” She leaned closer to it. “Could be from Jamal. Maybe this is why he was wandering around last night, because he set this up.”
“Could be.”
She stared at the wood. “Too bad we don’t have phones to take a picture of it.”
“I got it covered.” He retrieved his phone and snapped several pictures.
She blinked at him. “You said phones were off limits.”
“They are for class participants, but I need one for safety reasons. What if one of you got injured, and we needed urgent medical assistance?”
“Good point.”
“But I don’t let anyone know I have it, or they’d ask to use it, which defeats the purpose of the no phone policy.” He checked the quality of his pictures and considered other places a catapult might show up other than as a hunting device. “Catapults were often used in medieval times and could be used today in Live Action Role Playing. Anyone mention being into that?”
“I don’t know if anyone is into LARPING.” She tapped her chin. “We could subtly question them.”
“Like you did last night at the fire?” Satisfied with the photo detail, he shoved the phone into his pocket.
“Guess I wasn’t so subtle if you caught on.”
“No, you did a good job. The others didn’t seem suspicious at all, but my years in investigations make me more attuned to what’s going on around me.”
“I could see that. Which is why you knew I wasn’t being honest with you.”
“Exactly.”
“I’m sorry about that. I’m not one to lie. I just…” She looked away, but not before he caught the pain in her expression.
He couldn’t let that sway him. “You should know the first thing I’ll do is have our IT expert do a deep dive on your real name. If there’s anything you need to tell me, now would be the time to do it.”
“There’s nothing. I’m really a boring person. Work and home. Some social events, but that’s pretty much it.”
“No boyfriend? Someone you’re dating?” Now why did he have to go and ask that?
“No one right now, but if we can prove my innocence, I do hope to find the right guy someday and get married. I especially want to have kids.”
He did too, and he wanted to find the right woman. But not at this time in his life, which was even more reason to ignore his interest in her. “So at breakfast you could bring up hobbies. If we have a LARPer, he might mention it.”
“Or not. I’ve worked with a few guys into LARPing. I think other people don’t understand it, and my coworkers were hesitant to mention their involvement.”
