Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 126823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
“Congratulations, Shabina,” Raine said. “You must be elated.”
“It’s so difficult to stay away,” Shabina admitted. “I don’t want anyone to discover the pair and disturb them. It would be horrible to lose this opportunity. I was able to record the courtship and the best part, the male’s display dance. They did eventually have one egg, which just hatched late May or the first of June. I wasn’t there to catch it when it happened, but the egg arrived on the last day of March. I did my best to stay away to keep anyone from finding them.”
“How many people know you use that trail?” Stella asked. “There had to be people you informed about the pair.”
“I documented them officially, yes, but it was considered best that we didn’t reveal the exact location until it was determined if they actually bred and produced an offspring. If anyone knew I was using that trail, they would have had to follow me. The dogs would have alerted me.”
“Think back over the last few months, Shabina,” Raine said. “Did you go up there when it snowed? You would have left tracks. No one would have had to be close.”
Shabina frowned. She’d always loved that particular trail. She nodded. “Yes. More than once.”
“Jason Briggs warned you not to go off by yourself bird-watching, remember?” Stella reminded. “When all the murders were happening before. We’d gone to the Grill after James Marley’s body was found, and I went outside to get some air, and he walked up to me and warned me to tell you to stop going into the forest alone.”
That was true. She had always brought more than one gun after that. “I worried that Bale and the others were watching me.”
“No doubt they were. They watch Zahra as well. Just because they leave her alone at the moment doesn’t mean we haven’t caught them keeping a close eye on her,” Raine said. “They’re horrible with women anyway, and if the woman is perceived to be from a different country, they consider her prey. You stand up to them, Shabina. Bale can’t take that. What you did in the café the other day will make him crazy. He’ll dwell on it.”
“How would they be able to get flowers or feathers from Saudi Arabia, let alone a Qaisumah diamond? I recognized that as well.”
“Mail order,” Raine said. “I looked it up. You can get anything on the internet.”
“Even flowers from Saudi Arabia?”
“Well, they wouldn’t necessarily have to come from there. They could be grown in a greenhouse here in the States and billed as exotic flowers. Or toxic ones,” Raine explained. “Birds aren’t that difficult to come by on the black market. You know that. If Bale wants to frame you, and Sean was helping him by getting Deacon to act like a jerk to you in front of everyone, the idea could have been for you to find the body, not Search and Rescue. Bale and the others are part of the Search and Rescue team. For all we know, they were directing others away from the trail.”
Everyone looked to Vienna, who was the head of Search and Rescue. “I gave out the assignments. Bale and Edward each headed a search party because they have so much experience. Neither was assigned to that elevation. I didn’t notice them trying to push their way into leading those groups, but I was so busy, I doubt that I would have.”
“We just can’t rule them out, Shabina,” Harlow said with a sigh. “All of us need to be on alert. Everyone knows Sean is obsessed with you, and not in a good way.”
“Bale threatened me at my house,” Shabina admitted. “He was waiting for me the other night when I came home and even told me he would burn down the café with the dogs and me in it. I definitely made an enemy there.”
“Did you call the police?” Harlow was outraged.
“I’m pulling every incident from the security tapes at the local businesses and her café over the last few months,” Raine said. “His family is in law enforcement. Rafferty, the sheriff, is his uncle. He’s always gotten away with everything. This time, I want him absolutely nailed dead to rights.” She shifted in her chair. “Before I head to bed, did you bring those feathers with you?”
Shabina shook her head. “I didn’t want them anywhere near me just in case the feds serve me with a warrant to search my house. I did put them where they couldn’t be found. When I get back to the house, if you come over, I’ll transfer them to you.”
“I think that would be best for now,” Raine agreed. “For Zahra’s sake, make certain no bear can even think we have food here before we turn in.”
Chapter Seven
Shabina met with the bird-watching tour group in the lower parking lot far below her campsite. It was a larger group than she had expected for the half-day tour. Five people had signed on at the last moment. To her shock and horror, Bale Landry, Edward Fenton and Sean Watson had booked the tour. They’d each claimed their fitness level was top of the chart. She avoided looking at them, just continued going down the names of people, checking them off the list and ensuring each person was physically in shape enough to make the planned hikes.