pocket. He’d call her once he got down from the high country; maybe he could reach her when he hit the highway.
Chapter 6
Wind buffeted the SUV as Mattie steered around the last curve leading into Timber Creek. After having exhausted all the potential leads on the list that Cole had given them and some additional names that Anya Yamamoto had shared, she’d decided to ditch searching by phone and drive along some of the county roads between the hot springs and Cole’s clinic. Perhaps they’d get a lucky break and she and Robo would find Adrienne’s abandoned car—if one could consider that kind of thing lucky.
Mattie’s cell phone rang as she neared the town. She glanced at the caller ID. It was Cole. She used her new vehicle’s hands-free feature to connect. “This is Mattie.”
“Hi, I’m just checking in to see how things are coming along with the search for Adrienne,” Cole said.
“Nothing solid yet.”
“So none of the people I listed could tell you anything useful?” He sounded disappointed.
“No, but thanks for helping with that. It was worth a try.”
“I’m on my way down from a stable up in the mountains. It’s looking pretty ugly up here. I’m afraid a storm is coming in.”
Mattie looked at the sky layered with gray clouds. “Yeah, it’s starting to look bad down here, too.”
A silence deepened between them, and Mattie knew they were both thinking of Adrienne and what this storm meant if she was up in the mountains somewhere, unprotected and exposed to the elements. Neither of them seemed to want to say it.
“Hey, do you want to come for dinner tomorrow night and test out Mrs. Gibbs’s cooking?” Cole asked. “It’s proving to be a winner so far. Besides, I’d like to see what you think of her.”
Why would he care about that? She was familiar with dinner invitations to the Walker home, but she couldn’t imagine that he’d seriously be curious about her opinion of the housekeeper. “I’ll have to see where we are with the case. I don’t want to say I can come and then not be able to make it.”
“Can I tell her it’s a ‘maybe’? One more person for dinner shouldn’t be a big deal, and you can come if you’re able.”
“All right.”
She could hear the smile in his voice. “Good. I hope to see you then.”
Feeling herself relax, Mattie smiled, too. After disconnecting the call, she reached to turn on the radio. She tuned to a station out of Denver to listen to a weather forecast. She didn’t have to wait long to learn what she needed to know.
“An arctic front is moving into Colorado, bringing strong winds and the first snow of the season to Colorado’s high country. Temperatures will drop to the low thirties here in Denver, and we’ll need to batten down the hatches. Expect winds around forty miles per hour with gusts up to sixty. Our snow forecast is for six to eight inches in the mountains above ten thousand feet for tonight. But don’t be disappointed, folks, we can expect snow by tomorrow night even down here in the Mile-High City. Stay tuned for more details.”
Having heard enough, Mattie switched off the radio. At about eight thousand feet, Timber Creek would most likely receive its first snow of the season by tomorrow night. The wilderness area around them would probably get hit tonight. Even without snow, she figured the temperature would plummet in the high country today from the seasonal sixties to frigid twenties with a wind-chill factor that would sink toward zero. She shivered and turned up the heat. She hoped Adrienne was someplace where she could do the same.
Back at the station, she unloaded Robo and went inside. Rainbow took off her headset and stood up from her desk.
“Mattie! I was just about to call you. Sheriff McCoy wants to see you right away. We’ve got a hit on Adrienne’s car.”
Her heart did a double step. “Where?”
Rainbow’s face paled as she said the words. “Way up Dead Man Gulch. A logger reported it to
Chapter 6
Wind buffeted the SUV as Mattie steered around the last curve leading into Timber Creek. After having exhausted all the potential leads on the list that Cole had given them and some additional names that Anya Yamamoto had shared, she’d decided to ditch searching by phone and drive along some of the county roads between the hot springs and Cole’s clinic. Perhaps they’d get a lucky break and she and Robo would find Adrienne’s abandoned car—if one could consider that kind of thing lucky.
Mattie’s cell phone rang as she neared the town. She glanced at the caller ID. It was Cole. She used her new vehicle’s hands-free feature to connect. “This is Mattie.”
“Hi, I’m just checking in to see how things are coming along with the search for Adrienne,” Cole said.
“Nothing solid yet.”
“So none of the people I listed could tell you anything useful?” He sounded disappointed.
“No, but thanks for helping with that. It was worth a try.”
“I’m on my way down from a stable up in the mountains. It’s looking pretty ugly up here. I’m afraid a storm is coming in.”
Mattie looked at the sky layered with gray clouds. “Yeah, it’s starting to look bad down here, too.”
A silence deepened between them, and Mattie knew they were both thinking of Adrienne and what this storm meant if she was up in the mountains somewhere, unprotected and exposed to the elements. Neither of them seemed to want to say it.
“Hey, do you want to come for dinner tomorrow night and test out Mrs. Gibbs’s cooking?” Cole asked. “It’s proving to be a winner so far. Besides, I’d like to see what you think of her.”
Why would he care about that? She was familiar with dinner invitations to the Walker home, but she couldn’t imagine that he’d seriously be curious about her opinion of the housekeeper. “I’ll have to see where we are with the case. I don’t want to say I can come and then not be able to make it.”
“Can I tell her it’s a ‘maybe’? One more person for dinner shouldn’t be a big deal, and you can come if you’re able.”
“All right.”
She could hear the smile in his voice. “Good. I hope to see you then.”
Feeling herself relax, Mattie smiled, too. After disconnecting the call, she reached to turn on the radio. She tuned to a station out of Denver to listen to a weather forecast. She didn’t have to wait long to learn what she needed to know.
“An arctic front is moving into Colorado, bringing strong winds and the first snow of the season to Colorado’s high country. Temperatures will drop to the low thirties here in Denver, and we’ll need to batten down the hatches. Expect winds around forty miles per hour with gusts up to sixty. Our snow forecast is for six to eight inches in the mountains above ten thousand feet for tonight. But don’t be disappointed, folks, we can expect snow by tomorrow night even down here in the Mile-High City. Stay tuned for more details.”
Having heard enough, Mattie switched off the radio. At about eight thousand feet, Timber Creek would most likely receive its first snow of the season by tomorrow night. The wilderness area around them would probably get hit tonight. Even without snow, she figured the temperature would plummet in the high country today from the seasonal sixties to frigid twenties with a wind-chill factor that would sink toward zero. She shivered and turned up the heat. She hoped Adrienne was someplace where she could do the same.
Back at the station, she unloaded Robo and went inside. Rainbow took off her headset and stood up from her desk.
“Mattie! I was just about to call you. Sheriff McCoy wants to see you right away. We’ve got a hit on Adrienne’s car.”
Her heart did a double step. “Where?”
Rainbow’s face paled as she said the words. “Way up Dead Man Gulch. A logger reported it to
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