Page 10 of My Mountain Man Rescuer

Trauma could do that. Maybe he wouldn’t have nightmares.

“What about Penny?”

“She thinks the killer destroyed the camera that covers that section of property. We don’t have any footage.”

Yeah, he tampered with it. No doubt about it.

Officer Thompson pulled Greg aside, and I tried to stay out of the way of the CSIs that arrived to photograph the scene and collect evidence.

Something wasn’t adding up. I remembered seeing a big group of young people heading toward the exit right before I found Carly inside the shed, talking on her phone. My body stiffened as I made the connection. The killer didn’t want the girl on the ground. He had already chosen.

He wanted Carly.

The scraping of his machete on the shed. Stalking and corralling her to a more remote part of the venue. Chasing her as I rushed off with her in my arms. I wondered if she saw him at any other point in the night. Did he run into her first? Something happened to snare his interest.

She wasn’t safe. He might not know where she’s staying for now, but he would find her. Carly had just become his obsession. That was how freaks like him operated.

I needed to see her. Even if it was late and she might already be in bed.

Sheriff Townsend approached me as I walked back to the parking lot. “Beau.”

“Sheriff. What can I do for you?”

“Help me catch this unhinged predator.”

Right. “I’ve got some leads to pursue. It won’t be long before we set a trap and catch him.”

“I hope so.” He turned to the ME who parked his van. “Enough bodies. I’m done burying tourists.”

Tourists? Why didn’t I think of that? All the victims were tourists. No locals. “Give me a few hours. I’m working on something.” I didn’t want to tell him about Carly yet. Part of me needed to protect her from the shit show that would follow if I named her as a possible target.

“I’ll be here late. Catch up with me around noon.”

It was already after midnight. “I will.”

“Unless you got something solid and we need to move on the intel. Then, for fuck’s sake, don’t make me wait.”

Yeah, I understood. “No problem.”

He marched off to catch up to the ME, and I strode toward my truck. This couldn’t wait. I had to know if the killer shifted his focus to Carly.

She wasn’t going to like me showing up at her door. I knew that before I arrived. But her safety and this case trumped her feelings. If that made me an asshole, so be it.

Chapter 5 Carly

Icouldn’t sleep. After twenty minutes, I hopped out of bed and checked all the windows and doors to be sure they were locked. Even though I had already done it twice. After that, I filled a kettle with water and placed it on the stove.

Nervous energy flowed through me. I should have been exhausted, but I wasn’t. Far from it. Maybe it was shock at being picked up and carried off by a big mountain man, or adrenaline that made my body quake with fear when I realized someone with a real machete was chasing us. Or the fact that I was alone in the mountains, with no one close enough if I got into trouble. My cabin couldn’t be seen from the lodge. Nobody would hear me scream either.

Ugh. I should have booked the lodge instead.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when someone knocked on the front door. I jumped up from my seat at the table and looked around for a weapon. In my panic, I grabbed a butcher knife. It seemed the most logical at the time. Stalking to the door, I peeked out from behind the curtain.

The fucking mountain man was back.

Pursing my lips, I cracked the door open. “What do you want?”

“I know it’s late, but we need to talk.”