Why couldn’t she remember what came before that? Her flashback in the plane had gone into more detail than she remembered ever feeling or imagining before. The darkness and sense of discomfort, fear—that was familiar to her. But the yelling she could now remember hearing? That was new. What else would she remember if she let herself? And were these memories finally resurfacing because of the island?
All her life, through family tree school projects and health history forms, Elsie had thought she’d wanted to know who she was, where she’d come from.
What happened if those answers weren’t what she wanted them to be? Did she still want to know?
A rustle in the branches stopped her short, caught her breath.
Wyatt’s voice was low and steady in her ears. “Just a bird. You’re doing okay.”
It shouldn’t have calmed her as much as it did, but she felt the tension leave her shoulders and she took a long breath in and out.
Elsie sensed the tension in Willow as they approached the location where the shots had been fired. She had taken the dog’s vest off to let Willow know they weren’t searching anymore officially, but her natural instincts still had her smelling the air for lingering scent. She clearly didn’t understand why they’d be returning to an unsafe place.
“Around here,” she finally said when they’d reached the spot. “I heard him talk somewhere over there.” She motioned. “And then he started shooting.” Chills threatened again, and she rubbed her arms almost without realizing it.
Trooper Holland seemed to notice her discomfort. With a glance at his partner, he spoke up. “This isn’t conventional, but maybe the two of you should head back to the cover of the plane.”
His partner nodded in agreement.
Clearly they were unwilling to expose them to danger longer than necessary, which Elsie appreciated, even if she did dislike being coddled as a rule.
The cold, damp air of the island was chilling her all the way to the inside, and much to her shame, Elsie knew that if the troopers or Wyatt insisted she stop searching, she would be tempted to listen. But she knew equally that she couldn’t do that, not and live with herself.
“I understand why it’s not safe for us to stick around here, but I do need to keep searching somewhere on the island,” Elsie made herself say, her shoulders as squared as she could make them, though she couldn’t say if that physical show of confidence was to convince the troopers or herself.
She felt Wyatt’s gaze on her and could only guess at his emotions. Fighting to keep her breathing steady, she waited to hear what the troopers would say. Technically they’d contracted her services. They could decide to call off the search if they deemed it unsafe.
“Let’s hold off until tomorrow,” one of them finally said, then looked to Wyatt. “If you could get the K-9 team back home, then come back for us, we should know more then.”
Blinking back tears, determined not to let them show and risk coming across as unprofessional, Elsie nodded. She never cried, almost never. But this place seemed to lay her bare emotionally.
Neither she nor Wyatt said anything as they walked back toward the plane. The woods here didn’t feel like comfort to Elsie. They felt empty, like the emptiness was a tangible thing. There was too much to consider, too many things from her past and present confusing Elsie, for her to make any sense of her mind right now.
“You okay?” Wyatt asked as they emerged from the woods back onto the rocky shoreline.
How to even answer that? Elsie shook her head.
“How can I help?”
“You’ve done enough, really. I appreciated you being out there today.”
“What if I did it again? Whenever they let you come back and search. Tomorrow. If there’s a day you’re working there after that. If there’s another case after this and the threat against you still hasn’t been dealt with.”
He was offering more than she could imagine, someone to watch her back while she watched her dog’s, to be her voice when she was busy being Willow’s.
“I don’t think I can ask that of you.” She’d vowed to be more honest with him, and this level of honesty was almost brutal. She’d thought it was just the island that made her feel defenseless and vulnerable, but maybe Wyatt was part of it, too. She rarely looked so deeply and truly at herself, her motivations or the goings-on around her with the same level of black-and-white clarity that Wyatt seemed to.
“You’re not asking. I’m offering.”
His eyes met hers.
Dark, warm eyes. A brown that reminded her of the Alaskan woods in the best way. What if she said yes to him and she couldn’t protect her heart? He was a man with broad shoulders, kind eyes and an easy laugh who seemed bound and determined to keep her safe. She knew better than to fall for a guy like Wyatt, even if he had supposedly reformed.
What if she said no to him and it cost her her life? Someone else their life?
Elsie held her breath. Closed her eyes. Waited to know what to say. And wished for a second that she had someone else to ask for help. Lindsay would pray at a time like this. Elsie wondered what it would be like to have that kind of support, what it would be like to finally not be so alone.
SIX
“Yes.” The word left Elsie’s mouth like a whisper and Wyatt could breathe again, releasing the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.
“Good.” He readied the plane for takeoff, not sure what else there was to say.
The flight back to Destruction Point was quiet. He had questions for her, but with his earlier frustration and fear at the danger facing her in mind, he waited till he’d landed safely. Then he turned to her before she exited the plane. He almost reached for her, but after the shock that had gone through his body at her simple touch earlier, he wasn’t willing to play with that kind of fire again. Besides the obvious reasons—like the fact that she deserved a man who’d always been decent and hadn’t just started to turn his life around recently—he also wanted to focus on keeping her safe right now. He couldn’t afford any other feelings.
“You said that the intruder the first night said something.”
Her eyes got that guarded look again, like a shield had gone up.
“Would you tell me what they said?”
She didn’t answer him, though a look of fear crossed her face. She opened the airplane door and climbed out, her dog following behind her. Wyatt made himself stay quiet. He was learning that pushing Elsie was a surefire way to meet resistance. It would be much better to wait.
“I don’t remember exactly.”
“Like you didn’t remember today?”
She raised an eyebrow at him as a slow smile inched across her tense facial features. “You caught that, huh?”
