Yeah, okay.
Thunder booms overhead again and lightning streaks across the western sky.
“There’s a storm coming in,” I tell her.
She looks up, seeming annoyed. “The rain is going to wash the prints away.”
“You didn’t find any?” There had to be a few, especially if she went down by the river.
I shake my head. I don’t love the idea of her down by the river by herself, no one even knowing she was out here. What if she’d slipped? Banged her head on a rock? Fell down the bank and broke her ankle? Been bitten by a snake?
What the hell am I thinking? There aren’t any venomous snakes here. I mean, there could be. I’ve seen a lot of things in my time. Nature is never completely predictable. But the chances of her coming across a snake that would hurt her are slim. If we were further west or southeast then…
I shake my head. What is going on with me? We’re not further west or southeast. We’re here. Where there are no poisonous snakes, where the riverbank is not particularly steep, and where there are no big rocks. The river is a little deep right now. We’ve had some decent rains this summer. But the current isn’t particularly strong right here and if she’s any kind of swimmer at all she would have been fine even if she’d fallen in.
Probably.
She’s muscular but thin. And maybe she doesn’t know how to swim at all. And anything can happen in nature, even if you’re totally prepared. Which it’s clear she is not.
I grind my back molars together.
“I did, but when I tried to take photos, my phone…” She sighs.
“Didn’t work,” I guess.
“Right.”
“The animals will be back. There will be more prints.” Except for the mountain lion, but she doesn’t need to know that. There are plenty of deer and small, furry, harmless animals out here for her to study.
What is she? A teacher? A college student? She looks young. Maybe a biology student.
“Yeah, but that means I have to come back out here and there’s a conservation officer who’s ticked at me now and might not like that.”
I’m still wearing my uniform, so she knows I’m here officially. That isn’t making her all that compliant though.
“He won’t like that,” I snap. “Jesus, don’t you have any friends?”
It’s dark, so I shouldn’t notice something like a flash of vulnerability cross her face, but I could swear there’s something there. And I want to know what it is.
I fist my hand and take a deep breath. I don’t have time for this. I can’t fix everything I come across today. She’s not my problem. Not really. Only as long as she’s out here with no other help. If I get her to town, I can get her off my To Do List.
Not that she’s on my To Do List. Not like that…
She’s on those other two lists I’ve got going.
And I need to get her off. No, I don’t need to get her off. Not like that…
I shove a hand through my hair and take another breath. It’s been a really long day. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow. After the storm. Grab your stuff. Let’s go.” I turn on my heel and start for my truck.
“Let’s… go?” she asks.
“Yes. I’ll take you into town. You can get someone out here to tow your car tomorrow.” Someone else. Not me. I don’t need to do it. This isn’t my problem.
I’m going to have to keep repeating that to myself.
I’m proud of myself as I don’t even turn back to see if she needs help getting anything out of her car and into my truck.
It’s going to take us twenty-five minutes, maybe more to get to town, and then it’ll take twenty minutes for Derek to make me a pizza. Unless I call ahead. I pull my phone out and start to dial, but before I can press the second number, my phone starts beeping.
