You don’t have to. You can at least give me your name—or whatever name you’re going by out here.”
Fair enough. “My name is Carmen. Carmen Redhorse.”
“Well, Officer Redhorse, the fact that you’re here means something is going on in camp that has the cops suspicious. And that means my sister and my mother don’t belong there.”
“Then you need to talk to your mother and stop lurking in the wilderness,” she said. “Some people might get the wrong idea.”
“You’re the only person who knows I’m here. I can’t control whether your ideas about me are wrong or not.”
Had he meant the comment to sound vaguely sexual? Was he trying to provoke her, or was it just his nature? She glanced toward the canyon rim. The other women were long out of sight now. She had told them she wanted to walk back alone, to think about some things, and had promised to catch up with them later. But how long could she stay away before someone came looking for her? “Are you going to talk to your mom?” she asked Lohmiller.
“I’ll talk to her,” he said. “And what do you think she’ll tell me?”
“I have no idea.”
“Yes, you do. You’ve been hanging out with her for at least three days. You must have made some judgments about her. So, tell me what you think she’ll say when I ask her to leave Metwater’s little cult and come live with me?”
“She’ll tell you she and Sophie are happy here, that Daniel Metwater changed her life and she doesn’t want to go with you.”
He nodded. “Exactly. So talking to her isn’t going to be enough. I have to find a way to convince her to leave—with Sophie.”
“That’s between you and your mother. I can’t help you.” She started to turn away, but his hand on her arm stopped her.
“I think you can help me,” he said. “In fact, I insist.”
She pulled away from him, resisting the urge to rub the place on her arm where he had touched her, where she imagined she could still feel the heat of his touch. She might have known he was the type who thought he could boss her around. “You can insist all you want, but I’m not going to help you.”
“One thing I learned reading Metwater’s writings is that he hates cops,” he said. “What do you think he’ll do if I tell him he’s got one living with him, lying about who she is and spying on him?”
Metwater would be furious if he learned she was a cop, but that didn’t mean he would do anything more than kick her out of his camp. But even though she didn’t have any proof that he was involved in anything illegal, everything she knew about him told her he was capable of violence. Still, she was a cop. She knew how to look after herself. “I could have you arrested for interfering with an investigation,” she said.
“You could. But you’d have to deal with Metwater first.” He removed his sunglasses, and she found herself held by the intensity of his sapphire-blue eyes. His voice was a low, sexy rumble she was sure was intentional. “I’m thinking maybe you would prefer to deal with me.”
Jake knew his words had gotten through the tough attitude she wore like a shield. A rosy flush burnished Officer Redhorse’s cheeks, and he could almost see the sparks of anger in her eyes at what he could admit was his clumsily delivered threat. He wasn’t sure if she would scream at him or go ahead and shoot him, so he hastened to try to repair the damage.
“Look, all I’m asking is for you to help me out a little,” he said.
“I can’t help you,” she said.
“You can talk to my mother. Tell her you think it’s a good idea for her and Sophie to come with me.”
“I hardly know your mother,” she said. “Why would she listen to me? And I know even less about you. I have no way of knowing if going with you is a good idea or not.”
Couldn’t she see that he was a good guy? Well, maybe not. “Check me out,” he said. “You’ll see I don’t even have a traffic ticket.”
“Just because you’ve never broken a law doesn’t make you a good guy. Daniel Metwater doesn’t have any traffic tickets, either.”
He winced. Then another idea occurred to him. “Does Metwater trust you?” he asked.
She looked as if she had tasted something sour. “I’m not sure trust is the right word.”
“But he likes you,” Jake said. “He’s attracted to you. You’re a beautiful woman, and you’re a novelty.”
“Because I’m not his usual white and desperate type?”
Because that tough, don’t-touch-me attitude of yours is sexy as all get-out. But he thought better of saying that. He was already in enough trouble here. “From what I’ve seen and heard, the Prophet likes pretty much all young, attractive women—at least, the ones who follow him around and hang on his every word. If you’re working undercover in his camp, I assume you’re playing the part of devoted disciple.”
She pressed her lips together but didn’t comment.
“Maybe I can help you out,” he said.
“I don’t need your help.”
“I might be able to find out things you can’t. I could talk to the men in camp, let you know what I hear.”
She shook her head. “Talk to your mother, but leave me out of it.” She turned and walked away.
He watched her leave, her back straight and her confident stride quickly lengthening the distance between them. Should he follow her? He was going to have to go to Metwater’s camp sooner or later to confront his mother. He would have liked to have had the pretty cop on his side. The meeting with Phoenix wasn’t going to be an easy one, and it would have been good to have an ally. But, if he had to, he’d do the job alone. He was used to working solo—he’d been on his own since he was a teenager. And he knew how to tackle tough jobs. He had already let his sister down once. He wouldn’t let that happen again.
He waited a moment to let Carmen get ahead of him, then started to follow. He would see what she did when she got to camp, then make his decision about when to approach his mother.
Before they reached camp, however, Carmen caught up with the other women. He was too far away to hear what was said, but it appeared that a couple of the women greeted her. Then a figure broke from the group and ran up to Carmen. Though Jake couldn’t hear what the girl was saying, he recognized Sophie, and she was clearly agitated. Carmen put a hand on the girl’s shoulder, listening, then she and Sophie turned and headed back toward Jake.
He walked out to meet them. Sophie stared at him, eyes wide. “Jake? Is that really you?”
“It’s me, sis.” He held out his arms, and she ran to him and buried her head against his shoulder. The feel of her—bigger than the last time he had seen her, but still so slight and
