Fateful Fall Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Other Books by Erin Unger

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  Thank you

  You Can Help!

  God Can Help!

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  Fateful Fall

  Erin Unger

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  Fateful Fall

  COPYRIGHT 2019 by Erin Unger

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or Pelican Ventures, LLC except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  eBook editions are licensed for your personal enjoyment only. eBooks may not be re-sold, copied or given to other people. If you would like to share an eBook edition, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with.

  Contact Information: [email protected]

  Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated are taken from the King James translation, public domain.

  Cover Art by Nicola Martinez

  White Rose Publishing, a division of Pelican Ventures, LLC

  www.pelicanbookgroup.com PO Box 1738 *Aztec, NM * 87410

  White Rose Publishing Circle and Rosebud logo is a trademark of Pelican Ventures, LLC

  Publishing History

  Hope Springs, 2016

  First White Rose Edition, 2019

  Paperback Edition ISBN 978-1-5223-0236-0

  Electronic Edition ISBN 978-1-5223-0235-3

  Published in the United States of America

  Dedication

  To Heather Gray, the most amazing writing friend in the world, who has guided and encouraged me on this long journey to publication.

  Psalms 27:13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

  Books by Erin Unger

  Practicing Murder

  Fateful Fall

  Summer Flash Burn

  1

  Ava

  Worthington Detective Agency might die before it really had a chance to breathe if I got trampled by deer or eaten by a bear out in the middle of nowhere on my first real murder case. By nowhere, I mean deep country—mountains straight ahead. They touched the rolling hills where I stood. Why had I ever let one of my best friends and business partners take charge of this trip?

  My stomach soured as the dream of working our first big case in a comfy lodge also crumbled. At least I could appreciate the fluttering orange foliage of the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains in contrast to the purple of the dying sky above.

  Once the awe of the awful moment dissipated, I found my voice but clenched my teeth in an effort to control my tone. “What. Is. That?”

  Shauna strutted in front of me and my other business partner, Jillian Rory. She tossed her glossy black hair over her shoulder as her brown eyes twinkled. “It’s a yurt, you know? A round tent. Semi-permanent. Bigger than a hotel room. See, I thought we’d be able to stay under cover better out here.”

  The yurt’s ripped screen door hung ajar. The corner of my eye started to twitch. “So you changed our accommodations to this?”

  Jillian touched my arm with light fingers. “Umm, she might be right. This is a little secluded. Might make things easier.”

  How was I supposed to relax when not working the case? I’d been dreaming of my own suite since we’d gotten the job.

  I never was good at keeping my opinions to myself. “I can’t imagine this thing has indoor plumbing,” my words torpedoed out. “And the walls look awfully thin. How do you propose keeping wildlife out of it?” Shauna expected me to walk across the mountain to use the restroom, where wild animals could snack on me? In the middle of the night? I didn’t manage to stop a groan. “How far away is the bathhouse?”

  Shauna ducked her head. “Umm, it’s over that hill but…there’s an outhouse real close.” Her last words rushed out. “I get first dibs.” She headed past me and winked. “But we could share if it’s a two-seater like my grandmas.”

  “A what? Are you kidding me? Eww.”

  She lifted her hands. “Just joking.”

  Shauna’s military background made her less shy than most women, but still. That was way gross—no matter how bad I had to go. I spun in a circle and squinted into the distance. No building in sight. No real bathroom. Ugh. The outhouse it was.

  As I sprinted up to her, my boots crunched on the withering yellow and orange leaves covering most of the ground. A long ride coupled with a ginormous sweet tea was doing its work on my bladder. “Not if I get there first.”

  I scanned the rising hill then jogged past Shauna. Except for the thought of sleeping in the wild, it was perfect up here, cool breezes and all. But perfect wouldn’t fix my problems. Not now. Not after… No use rehashing the past.

  Shauna used to be a runner in high school. My chances of doing the potty dance while I waited for her to finish were highly in my favor.

  A low growl rumbled nearby. Wincing, I stopped in my tracks as my heart rate jumped to ninety miles an hour. Oh, it couldn’t be. Not my worst fear. “Did you hear that?”

  Jillian and Shauna took a step back.

  Shauna yelped. “Yeah. Bear?”

  Hands tingling, I skipped back a few steps. Maybe the damaged yurt door wasn’t simply poor maintenance. The SUV seemed miles away, too far to jump into fast enough.

  A high-pitched snarl emanated from the yurt. Yep, the bear was in my temporary home probably eating my bed right now. Racing back, heart pounding, I grabbed Jillian’s arm and whispered, “Come on, you two.”

  “Let me get a look. It might not be as bad as you think.” Shauna switched directions and headed to the yurt door.

  Curse her for being so outdoorsy and fearless. “Let’s get out of here.” In retreat, I pulled Jillian along. “Please, God, let us get back to the SUV before that animal comes out of the tent thingy.”

  The yurt shifted, and something wooden splintered inside. I couldn’t hold in the girly scream as it blew past my lips. I broke into a full run, Jillian at my side. “Shauna, run. Jillian, take out the keys. Unlock. Unlock. Now.”

  We hurtled against the trunk door of the SUV.

  The door locks were still down.

  “Jillian, hit unlock,” I screeched.

  The growls no longer sounded muffled. They seemed to ricochet off the mountains.

  Another unauthorized squeal broke free from me before the door handle yielded in my white-knuckled grip. I
threw myself into the backseat.

  Jillian landed against my thigh. “Move. I can’t close the door.”

  Shauna smacked into the front passenger door but then managed to climb in and slam it. She turned in her seat and weaved like a cobra as she tried to see past me and Jillian to the back window. “That bear isn’t as big as I imagined.”

  Even if her voice hadn’t been trembling, she couldn’t have sold that idea. I grabbed my thundering chest. “Someone better be driving this thing out of here, like now. Who cares if it’s the smallest bear in these mountains?”

  “Shauna’s not touching my baby.” Jillian pushed herself out of the backseat and braced her feet, one in front and one behind the middle console. Her hands shook as her knobby elbows caught the two front seats and she propelled her thin body into the driver seat. Fire-red-dyed hair clung to her face as she swiped at it with minimal success.

  I swung around and watched as the bear loped out the door. “He’s leaving?” Yeah, it came out more as a question. “Wait.”

  The bear turned in our direction and parked itself on the dirt path in front of us. Dirt clung to the locks of its shaggy black coat. It roared and swatted at a piece of material and some feathers wrapped over one shoulder. Was that what was left of a down comforter?

  I held in a shudder as the SUV engine turned over. Jillian jettisoned down the drive. “I don’t know where I’m going. GPS lost signal.”

  Shauna ran her hands through her hair. “Yeah, and we have no phone service out here either. But I studied the map of this place. Stay on this road. The lodge should be on the left, past the river, where the main reception area is.”

  I looked over my shoulder. No bear following.

  No way was I going back. I squeezed my eyes closed. “You better hope Mr. Connell has our original rooms available, Shauna. You know they’re pretty much booked this whole week. If we’d gone to check in first, maybe we wouldn’t have been face to face with a killer.”

  Shauna frowned. “Well, I thought it’d be nice to see our accommodations before we got immersed in the case, so shoot me.”

  Don’t tempt me. “Right.”

  “Well, why’d you pick the festival weekend to investigate?”

  “I. Need. The. Money. You know that.” I worked the tightness out of my jaw. Arguing wasn’t fixing anything. Right now, I needed to focus on the case and prepare myself for our initial visit with Mr. Connell, father of the murder victim.

  “Sorry.” Shauna pulled down the visor and stared at me through the built-in mini mirror. “I didn’t think. It was…well, you know I like roughing it.” She averted her eyes a moment. “But if you hadn’t quit—”

  I put up my hand. “Let’s not talk about it now.”

  As the silence stretched between us, Jillian glanced back at me in the rearview mirror but said nothing. She had to be thinking about the monumental mess I’d made with my father last week, but I just wanted to forget about it and work my case.

  I looked out the driver side window. The trees opened to a wide field that angled up the mountain. A few lampposts illuminated a rocky river and swinging footbridge that swayed in the wind. A timbered lodge sat stark and beautiful against the steep incline. Now that was my idea of a good vacation. Shauna was more than welcome to stay out in the wild if she wanted.

  After Jillian parked, I jumped out and pushed the door closed a little too hard. A quick peek at Jillian’s flying hands said it all. “Sorry. I’ll go let them know about the bear.”

  I didn’t wait for Shauna. At the front desk, I fought the urge to drum my fingers on the hardwood desktop as the reception guy turned away to finish a conversation on the phone—one I was sure involved some hot college girl and not a customer needing fresh linens.

  Shauna was only doing what she thought was best. I better lay off her.

  When he set down the phone and faced me, his expression shifted from a smirking smile to straight-faced business. What a professional look he wore for such a young guy, all pressed and perfect in his polo and khaki pants. “Hello. Welcome to Stone Ridge Lodge and Farms.”

  “Hello, we,” I pulled back. “—umm, we just had a bear attack—”

  “What?” He almost came over the counter, dislocating the hard-center folds of his pants. “How bad?”

  I stopped short. “What I mean is…there was a bear in our yurt. He tore it up. We’re fine. But what’s a bear doing out here?” Dumb question. They were in the Blue Ridge Mountains in the middle of the fall. “I mean, how safe can it be with those things roaming everywhere?”

  Reception guy blew out his cheeks. “You can expect that this time of year. See this poster here? It says danger, bears—”

  “Right.” Sarcasm. Now I felt better. Not.

  He continued, with an accusatory tone, “Well, bears don’t usually tear things up unless someone leaves out food.”

  I sucked in a stream of air through my nostrils. The rich odor of burning logs tickled my nose. “We stopped to see our lodgings before check-in. We didn’t have any food out, I can assure you.”

  He looked past my shoulder and straightened, his voice becoming as sweet as the tea I’d sucked down all afternoon. “Of course, ma’am.”

  A thick, baritone voice slid over me like sweet molasses. “Is there a problem, Parker?”

  “Apparently,” he couldn’t have raised his nose any higher, “there’s a bear in the yurt on lot…?”

  It took a second to realize he was waiting for me to answer. I turned and stared at the man striding toward us but managed to throw an answer over my shoulder, even though my guts were suddenly flip-flopping at the sight of him. “Oh, thirty-seven.”

  Short chestnut hair. Deep brown eyes. White cowboy hat. Yep, I had the perfect view, and it didn’t involve the peak of the outside fall foliage.

  I shook myself. Work—and nothing else—was happening here. But yikes. If anyone had lost a cowboy off the cover of their romance novel, they could find him here.

  2

  Cory

  Whew-hoo. Where did this woman come from? Even with her flannel shirt and knee-high boots, no one would mistake her for a country girl. But I wasn’t a country boy, myself. Even if I looked the part. All I wanted was to blend in. But her…she stuck out like a lock of hair after a windstorm. I couldn’t help but stare at her unembellished beauty. I tried to hold in a snicker and a spark of interest. Little tendrils of brown hair, which had escaped her ponytail, crimped around her face. Teal flecks enriched her hazel eyes. The ones slanted in annoyance.

  I left my hidden smile in the dust. There wasn’t time for one more customer situation, but the mention of a bear had my heartburn in full flare-up mode. “Did you say bear attack? Nobody’s hurt?”

  “No, nothing like that. We stopped to see our lodgings, and there was a bear inside. I think it broke the tent—yurt.”

  Well, she shouldn’t look so relieved. I stepped back and appraised her once more. That yurt had cost a small fortune to set up and furnish. My boss wasn’t going to like this bad news. “And you are…?”

  “Ava Worthington.”

  The woman here to investigate—but she’d better stay out of my secrets. They were fine right where they were. I extended a hand, imagining how her fingers would feel wrapped in mine. “Nice to meet you. I’m Cory Mortel, general manager of the farm.”

  I was wrong. No soft fingers met mine. Instead, callouses and a firm grip made me want to reassess every label I had planted on her in my mind. I was impressed. “Make yourself comfortable.” I motioned toward the cozy couches and chairs in the ample foyer. “I need to check it out first then we can go from there.”

  She introduced me to her two partners, but I had a hard time concentrating for some reason.

  I stretched a hand toward the dark-haired chick. Her camo shirt and pants spoke volumes. Hunter? Military?

  “Shauna Pratley of—ow.”

  Ava had elbowed her in the ribs. They were supposed to keep quiet about the investigation.
But they didn’t know this place. Quiet was almost impossible. And once they started talking to the factory workers, the whole countryside would be on full alert.

  The redhead didn’t take my offered hand but held back behind Ava and gave a slight wave. “Jillian Rory.” Ava crossed her arms. “Take a gun with you. I wish I’d had mine handy.”

  Surveying her with the least amount of obviousness, I didn’t manage to stop my roving eyes from checking for any place she could possibly carry a concealed weapon. Not that I needed to. Her jeans weren’t capable of holding anything but a little phone.

  Her chin lifted and eyes squinted. “Need something?”

  I stammered, “Uh…I’ll be right back.”

  What had gotten into me? I wasn’t here to check out women. I was here to stay as far away from them as I could.

  On my way to Old Holler, my truck, I squeezed my hands into fists and fought the urge to kick a rock. She’d picked up on my attempt to check her out. But I wasn’t. Not really. Just wanted to see her gun—if she had one. It was embarrassing to be caught.

  I refocused on all the other problems threatening to bury me. First a busted pipe in one of the cottages, then the horses decided to break out of their fencing and go for a joy ride through the northern field. Once they were all corralled, Josh called in with an injured hunter. Good thing the guy didn’t need stitches. And now this. The bear was long gone by now for sure, but I needed to survey the damage and see if Ava and her party were going to need new sleeping arrangements.

  I floored the truck out of the employee parking lot and sped around the mountain. Old Holler threatened to give up the ghost, but I rubbed the dashboard with my right hand. “If you wouldn’t creak and moan like an old lady, I wouldn’t have given you such a name. You aren’t dying on me yet, so quit trying.”

  One minute of inspection was enough to condemn the torn up, broken-jointed building. This bear had it out for the yurt. And at the worst possible time. The new down comforter lay in a shredded mess, feathers all over the place. The wheeled snack bar lay on its side, chip and cracker packets torn to pieces.