Before He Envies. Блейк Пирс

of nowhere in the middle of it all. It felt like the universe was trying to sway her in her decision-making.

      “Mackenzie?”

      She was torn away from the absurdity of it all by Nancy Yule’s voice. She smiled and shook her head. “Sorry. Zoned out for a bit.”

      “Seemed like an intense call,” Nancy said. “Is everything okay?”

      Mackenzie surprised herself a bit when she nodded and said: “Yes. I think everything is just fine, actually.”

      CHAPTER EIGHT

      Seven hours later, she was in the sky somewhere over northern Nebraska, headed for Wyoming. Everything had happened so quickly that she had not had a chance (or any proper location available) to print out the materials that McGrath sent over to her concerning the case out at Grand Teton National Park. Because of that, she was forced to go over all of it on her iPhone.

      There honestly wasn’t too much to go over. The police reports were scant at best, as were the forensics reports. When a body fell from such a height, the cause of death wasn’t typically debated all that much. She scanned the documents several times but found nothing—not because of her own skills, but because of a lack of information. Even the details she’d received on the victims wasn’t much to go on. Two people had been involved in fatal rock climbing accidents, but there was evidence to suggest that they may not have been accidents at all. There was a severed rope involved in one of the cases, and a wound on one of the bodies that did not seem to line up with injuries expected from a fall.

      Mackenzie made some notes in her phone, wondering if the father had some sort of tie to the cause of his son’s murder. It wasn’t much to go on but given the lack of information she had, at least it was something.

      As the plane made its descent into Jackson Hole airport, Mackenzie was able to look out her window and see the peaks of mountains from Grand Teton National Park. It was quite beautiful in the crisp blue sky of the evening, making the idea that there might be a killer running rampant down there all the more unnerving.

      The sight also stirred an ache in her heart—an ache for Kevin. She felt like a failure for leaving him behind, like a heartless mother who had already placed certain priorities over her child. But she had read more than enough information on this sort of thing; she knew that such feelings were typical for new parents. Still, it didn’t make the feeling any less real.

      When she stepped off of the plane several moments later, she didn’t quite feel like she was on a case. She had come into Jackson Hole in the same clothes she had been wearing when she had walked into the police station and spoke to Nancy Yule. She had obviously not packed her bureau attire for her trip to see her mother, nor had she packed her service weapon. This was something she’d have to sort out with the local PD. Hopefully there would be no hold-ups because there was no FBI field office in Wyoming; the office out of Denver covered the states of Colorado and Wyoming.

      This realization made her feel like she was in the middle of nowhere—a feeling that only intensified when she stepped into the airport. It was a nice enough airport for sure, but the thin stream of bodies moving through it made the bustle of Dulles back in DC absolutely chaotic.

      It was the lack of human traffic walking through the concourse that made it very easy for Mackenzie to see the woman standing at the end of her gate, dressed in police blues. She looked to be about forty or so, her blonde hair hitched up in a ponytail to reveal a pretty and angular face. She seemed to be watching each and every person that got off of Mackenzie’s flight. When they locked eyes, the female officer nodded politely and met Mackenzie on the concourse floor.

      “Are you Agent White?” the woman asked. The silver tag above her left breast identified her as Timbrook.

      “I am.”

      “Good. I’m Sergeant Shelly Timbrook. I figured I’d meet you here and save you the trouble of renting a car. Besides…the sooner I can get you out to the site, the better. The second victim—a twenty-two-year-old male named Bryce Evans—was found at the bottom of Logan’s View and since that’s located within the park, there’s the worry of the public eye and all that.”

      “How far from here is the park entrance?” Mackenzie asked.

      “Not even ten minutes. Add another five to that to get us to Logan’s View.”

      “Then lead the way,” Mackenzie said.

      Timbrook took the lead and headed for the airport exit. Mackenzie followed behind, texting Ellington to let him know that she had arrived and met with local PD. When she had called to tell him about the call from McGrath, he had already known; he said McGrath had called him right after he’d gotten off the phone with her. Ellington had seemed excited for the opportunity, claiming it seemed just like the sort of thing she’d need to get focus.

      The hell of it was that he was right. And she wished he could be there with her. Not only was it the longest she had been away from Kevin since he’d been born, but she and Ellington had not spent any more than ten hours apart ever since her maternity leave had started one month before Kevin had arrived.

      She missed him. It made her feel far too young and immature, but it was the truth. But she managed to push it to the side for now. She’d make sure to Facetime him and Kevin whenever she was able to check into a hotel. But based on the terrible lack of information in the police reports, she suspected she was in for a rather long afternoon.

***

      “I’ll go ahead and get this out of the way,” Timbrook said. “I’m sort of a fan of yours. I know that sounds stupid. But when that whole Scarecrow Killer thing went down in Nebraska a couple year years ago, that was impressive. Do you mind me asking…is that how you ended up with the FBI?”

      “More or less.”

      “It was refreshing to see you—a young woman—take charge of a force that was primarily men. Made me feel good.”

      Mackenzie wasn’t sure how to handle that sort of compliment, so she skipped it entirely and went straight to business.

      “I’ve studied the reports on both of the victims and there’s very little there,” she said. “I know the second victim was only discovered yesterday, but why the hold-up on any details for the first victim?”

      “Because for the first half a day or so, everyone assumed it was just a tragic accident. Or maybe a suicide. I was even thinking along those lines myself. The body was found at the bottom of Exum Ridge. Mostly likely had been there for several days.”

      “How far apart at Logan’s View and Exum Ridge?”

      “It’s about two and a half miles. There are a few central trails that run between the two.”

      “And the murders are believed to be about four days apart, right?”

      “As far as we can tell. That’s based on that the coroners are saying. You have to keep in mind…both bodies were discovered by hikers. We have no way of knowing for sure how long the bodies had been there. Speaking to family and putting together the schedules of the victims, we can only come up with a pretty good idea, but nothing absolute.”

      “Can you walk me through what you know of the first victim?”

      “Sure. A woman named Mandy Yorke, twenty-three years of age. Her body was discovered at the base of Exum Ridge. She was a good distance away from any of the normal advertised climbing spots, indicating that she was something of a pro. It happens a lot…climbers that get quite good don’t stick to the traditional climbs. They’ll go off the beaten path to find something more challenging. That’s why it was assumed her death was an accident. But when we started looking over the evidence from the crime scene, we saw that her climbing rope had been cut.”

      “Intentionally?”

      “Sure looked like it. It was a clean cut. We compared it to some old broken ropes at the park. The difference in appearance. A rope that had been frayed and Yorke’s clean-cut one were very different.”

      “Any idea where the rope was cut?”

      “At