Mountain Angel

Chapter 1-2

“What is this?” he asked.

“The biggest favor I’ll ever ask of you. Aelissm called me two days ago. I told you that she moved back to Northstar but not why. Adam Winters—” Bill tapped the picture from the file. “—won’t leave her alone. We filed a restraining order against him, and he’s broken it, but he’s off the grid. I can’t find him to arrest him.”

“So you want me to find him.”

“Yes and no. There’s more to it. The night Aeli’s boyfriend, Brent Ellington died, he tried to r**e her. Adam heard her scream, came to her rescue and started to strangle Brent. Aeli ran out. Brent died a few hours later of a burst aneurysm, possibly brought about by being throttled, but there’s no way to prove that. A neighbor saw Brent stumbling back to his apartment later that night. She thought he was drunk, and he was. By that time, Adam was long gone, so Brent was still alive after Adam left. The landlord found Brent’s body in the morning when he entered the apartment for a routine testing of the smoke alarms. It’s a mess.”

“Sounds like it.”

“Anyhow, a copy of the statements and records of Brent’s death are in the back there, along with the statements Aeli gave to get the restraining order and what she dictated to me over the phone the day before yesterday.” Bill paused and took a deep breath. “Adam has had a thing for her since they met a couple years ago. At first, she was flattered, and I thought he would have been a better match for her. Until this mess happened, I liked him. I still want to like him because I think he’s a good man beneath it all, but something snapped that night. He’s become obsessed with her.”

“Obsessed how?”

“Calling her, writing her letters, and proclaiming his love for her. A couple times, she arrived home to find him sitting on her couch.”

“Sounds like a bit of a creep.”

“I hate to say it, but yes. She changed her number a couple times, and when she decided she had no desire to finish her master’s degree in Seattle, she moved in with her parents here in Indianola for a few months, but he didn’t get the message.”

“And now she’s in Northstar. How did that come about?”

“Her grandparents called about six months ago and asked if she was interested in taking over operations of their inn. Her grandmother also works at the local post office, and the inn is getting to be too much work. She said yes, and the move has been good for her because she enjoys the work at the inn and the blacksmithing class she teaches one night a week at the college in Devyn, and she’s been able to unwind. Until Adam called her two nights ago.”

“So, how do I fit in to all this?”

“This is your vacation. I want you to go to Montana, take a couple months to relax and clear your head. And, while you’re at it, find anything you can about Adam Winters and protect my niece if the need arises.”

Pat considered Bill’s request, then laughed. “Good one, Bill. You almost had me, what with the file and the story.”

Bill’s eyes hardened. “I wish to God this was a joke. There isn’t much Aeli can’t do, but when she told me Adam had called again, she was in tears. I don’t trust anyone else to do this, Pat, and even if I did, I’m not kidding about wanting you to take a break. You need to get away for a while, take a step back, and forget about Sara.”

“It’s not that simple, Bill.”

“I understand that. I also know that working yourself half to death hasn’t done you a bit of good. I’m hoping a good, long vacation away from everything that reminds you of her will succeed where distraction has failed.”

“I suppose you have it all figured out,” Pat said sharply. He winced. He hadn’t meant that to come out so harshly.

“You’ll stay with Aelissm, of course. She could probably use a little extra help at the Bedspread, and it would give you something to do.” Bill held Pat’s gaze for a moment. “I love you both. I hate to see either of you struggling.”

“How long do you expect me to stay there?”

“As long as necessary, on both counts, even if I have to pay you out of my own pocket.”

Pat sat back in his chair, stunned. This was one hell of a favor, and he wasn’t sure if he was up to the challenge. He glanced at Bill, saw the silent plea in the older man’s gaze, and considered it. He very briefly thought about turning Bill down, but his boss—his friend—had done a lot for him over the years.

“Do you need a day to think about it?”

Pat shook his head. “I’ll do it. And I’m sure you’re right that I should get away for a while. Maybe it will help.”

Bill scribbled some notes on a piece of paper and stuffed it in the file. “All right, then. It’s all here. We’ve notified the local law enforcement about the restraining order, so if you do find Adam, he can be dealt with legally. Aaron Hammond lives in the valley and is a sheriff’s deputy, so if you need any help, call him. I’ve included his contact information in the file as well as all the numbers for the Devyn Police Department and the county sheriff’s office. I really hope you won’t need any of it. I keep hoping Adam will come to his senses and just leave Aelissm alone.”

Mary’s return with dinner brought an end to their head-spinning conversation. They talked about other things while they ate, but as Pat listened and talked and laughed with his friends, his thoughts were focused on what he might be facing and how he could best tackle the task. It was… refreshing.

“I really appreciate this, Pat,” Bill said as Pat was leaving. “You have no idea what peace of mind I’ll have knowing you’re there with Aeli.”

Pat nodded and tucked the file under his arm. He leaned down to embrace Mary and thank her for dinner. As he drove away, he began to wonder what he’d gotten himself into. When he got home, he picked up his road atlas and glanced at the notes Bill had scribbled as he studied the map of Montana. There it was, a tiny dot in the southwest corner of the state. The nearest town of any size was Devyn to the east with a population that nearly matched its elevation of just over five thousand feet. Beyond that, the closest city was Butte, many miles more to the north. His eyes traveled back to the little dot that would be his home for the next little while.

“Northstar, here I come,” he sighed. Then he chuckled as he recalled the picture of Bill’s niece with her buck. “Looks like someday is just around the corner. It’ll be nice to finally meet you, Aelissm Davis.”

“Uncle Bill, I didn’t want you to send me a protector. That’s the last thing I need.”

“Then you shouldn’t have called me.”

“You’re wasting his time.” Aeli glanced at her friend, rolled her eyes, and sighed. “When I called you the other night, I only wanted to let you know Adam had called me again. That’s all.”

“You’re not fooling anyone, Aelissm, except maybe yourself.”

“I don’t know how Adam got the phone number here, but he can’t find me. Hell, Unk, you couldn’t find this place last summer, and you’ve been here before.”

“You thought Adam wouldn’t find you when you moved to your parents’ house, too, remember?”

“Yes, but—”

“Humor me, Aelissm.”

“I don’t need someone to watch over me like I’m a child.”

“I know you can take care of yourself, Aeli darling, but Adam is not the same man he used to be.” Her uncle sighed, and she pictured him sitting in his recliner at home, massaging his temples. “I chose Pat because I trust him and because I know he can protect you. Knowing he’s there will ease my old heart.”

“Old? Ha!”

“I’m serious.”

“I know you are. All right, fine. It might be nice to have a man around.”

Bill laughed. “I know that tone. You’re a devil, you know that?”

“Yep. Anything else?”

“Yes, actually. Make sure Pat relaxes while he’s there.”

“Will he be here on vacation or to protect me, Unk? Because that seems a little contradictory.”

“Both. He went through a bad break up a few years ago and hasn’t given himself the chance to get past it, so I’m using one stone to kill two birds.”

“A bad break up, huh? You’re not playing matchmaker again, are you?”

“No, but it certainly wouldn’t break my heart if the two of you got together.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Just make sure he gets some rest while he’s there, will you?”

“I’ll see what I can do. Well, I should probably get off this thing. I don’t want to run up June’s phone bill.”

“All right. Love you, Aeli Girl.”

“Love you, too, Unk. G’night.”

She set the cordless phone back in its cradle and glanced at her friend, who sat on the couch with her scrawny, twelve-year-old foster son, Luke, curled up beside her. It amazed Aelissm how much their lives had changed in the last year. And yet, here they were, together in Northstar again. Suddenly, she was very grateful her grandparents had asked her to start taking over management of the Bedspread Inn because, until she’d returned to Northstar six months ago, she hadn’t realized just how much she’d needed to come here. The utter peacefulness of the remote valley was such a welcome relief to the constant pulse of Seattle. Besides, this was home.

She flopped on June’s matching love seat and exhaled.

“I take it Uncle Bill is sending one of his detectives over?” June asked.

“Yeah. Patrick O’Neil.”

“O’Neil? As in…?”

“The son of Uncle Bill and Aunt Mary’s friends from college, yes.”

“Why do I get the feeling Uncle Bill is meddling again?”

“Because he probably is. You know Unk.”

June glanced at Luke and smiled fondly. “Yes, I do. When’s your bodyguard supposed to get here?”

“Most likely in the next couple days. I don’t need someone to protect me.”

“Maybe you do.”

June’s tendency for being right was sometimes very aggravating, Aeli mused, but it was also nice to be slapped with the truth now and again. She’d thought that coming out here, to Northstar, would end her problems with Adam, and for a pleasant six months, it had. Then, two days ago, he’d called her parents’ cabin. She’d held the phone against her ear with a trembling hand, frightened beyond words at the sound of his voice. Just leave me alone, she’d finally told him. Then she’d hung up. Running away never solved the problem, she thought, only postponed it.

“It’s almost like old times, isn’t it?” June asked. “Back in college when we used to sit up in your cabin, reading and snacking on Spaghetti-O’s while it snowed.”

Aelissm smiled, and some of the tension she hadn’t realized was binding her shoulders slipped away. “Those were good times.”

“Grandma Davis told me about you singing Christmas carols at the top of your lungs,” Luke said.

“While we were out chopping wood,” Aeli remarked. She tried not to look surprised that he’d spoken, but the boy was usually so quiet that it was hard not to. “I guess we were making a bit of a racket.”

“I like it up here,” the boy said.

June pulled her fingers through the boy’s blond hair. Aelissm wondered, as she often did, what had possessed June to agree to Uncle Bill’s plea that she take him. Luke was a good kid—very quiet, well behaved, and disturbingly tidy—but June wasn’t even twenty-five yet. A little voice in the back of Aeli’s mind retorted rather coldly, What possessed you to go out with Brent? It wasn’t a question she was willing to ponder. Chalk it up to a disastrous lack of judgment, she told herself, and leave it at that.