Angels Fall

fine. I'm just in a mood."
    "I could see that for myself all morning. Hearing it now, too. This ain't no cordon bleu establishment. You want fancy, you should've aimed your car toward Jackson Hole."
    "It's fine. I'm sorry."
    "Didn't ask for the first apology, and the second's just annoying. Haven't you got any backbone in there?"
    "I used to. It's still in the shop for repair."
    Whatever had caused the mood, the look in Recce's eye and the jerky way she'd been moving, was worrying. "Told you to make up what you liked for today's soup, didn't I?" Joanie kept her voice brisk. "You want something we don't have in here, you make a list. I'll think about ordering it. Maybe. If you don't have enough gumption to ask, don't stand around muttering and bitching about it later."
    "Okay."
    "Sea salt." With a derisive snort. Joanie strode over to pour herself a cup of coffee. From that angle, she could give Reece a good study without being obvious about it. The girl was on the pale side, she noted, with shadows under her eyes. "Doesn't look to me as if a day off did you much good."
    "No. it didn't."
    "Mac said you hiked up Little Angel Trail."
    "Yes."
    "Saw you come back with Brody."
    "We… we ran into each other on the trail."
    Joanie took a slow sip of coffee. " The way your hands are shaking you're going to end up slicing your hand instead of those carrots."
    Reece set the knife down, turned. "Joanie, I saw—" She broke off when Brody came into the diner. "Can I take my break?"
    Something's up, Joanie thought, as she switched the way Brody paused and waited. Something's off. "Go ahead."
    Reece didn't run around the counter but she moved fast, and she kept her eyes locked on Brody's face. Her heart slammed against her ribs. And her hand reached out for his while she was still two paces assay.
    "Did you find—"
    "Let's go outside."
    She only nodded, which was just as well since he was already pulling her to the door. "Did you find her?" Reece repeated. "Tell me. Do we know who she is?"
    He kept walking, his hand firm on her arm. until they were around the side of the building at the base of the steps to Reece's apartment.
    "We didn't find anything."
    "But… He must have thrown her into the river." She'd visualized that countless times through the night. "Oh God, he threw her body in the river."
    "I didn't say anyone, Reece. I said anything."
    "He must have…" She caught herself, sucked in a hard breath. Then she spoke very carefully. "I don't understand."
    "We went to the place where you said you'd seen them. We covered the ground from there to the road and back from different directions. We went to the five cabins closest to the area. They're empty, and there's no sign they ve been otherwise."
    The sick dread started in the center of her belly. "'They didn't have to be staying in a cabin."
    "No. But they had to get where you saw them from somewhere. There weren't any tracks, there weren't any signs."
    "'You went to the wrong place."
    "No. We didn't."
    She linked her arms now, but it wasn't the sharp spring breeze that chilled her." That's just not possible. They were there. They argued, they fought, he killed her. I saw it."
    "Didn't say otherwise. I'm telling you there's nothing out there to support that."
    "He'll get away with it. He'll just walk away and live his life." Recce sat down heavily on the steps. "Because I'm the only one who saw, and I didn't see enough, couldn't do anything."
    "Does the world always revoke around your
    She looked up then, torn between shock and misery. "And how the hell would you feel? I guess you'd just shrug it off. Gee, I did what I could, better go have a beer and stretch out in the hammock."
    "Little early yet for a beer. Sheriff's going to check on missing persons. He's going out to the guest ranch, the B and B's. hitting some of the outlying places and campgrounds. Have you got a better way to handle it?"
    "It's not my  job to handle it."
    "Mine either.''
    She shoved to her feet. "Why didn't he come back to talk to me? Because he doesn't think I saw anything," she said before he could answer. "He thinks I made it up."
    "If you want to know what he thinks, ask him. I'm telling you what I know."
    "I want to go out there, see for myself."
    "Up to you."
    "I don't know how to get there. And maybe you're the last person I
    want to ask for a goddamn favor, but you know what? You're also the only person I'm absolutely sure didn't kill that woman. Unless, among your other talents, you can