Edge of the Heat 2 (Westwood Harbor Corruption) by Lisa Ladew Read Free Book Online

anything out. Even the smallest detail could be important.” He grabbed a pen and hovered his hand over a pad of paper on the table.
    Emma thought back to this morning at 10 o ’clock. 12 hours seemed like two lifetimes ago. So much had happened between then and now. Now that she had seen Craig was in no immediate danger and now that she was sitting, exhaustion overtook her. Hunger raged a quick second. When was the last time she had eaten anything? Or drank anything?
    She started to tell how she had headed up the mountain an d her conversation with the Captain. When she recounted exactly what she had said, the agent’s eyes narrowed and he interrupted her.
    “ Wait, Craig hasn’t been threatened lately,” Hawk said.
    Emma thought back. Why had she said that? Her thoughts were thick and slow. Her vision started to blur and she felt nauseous.
    Her head pitched forward and she fell slowly out of her chair. She tried to stay upright but had no strength in her body at all.
    Once on the ground, her vision cleared and her head swam less. Agent Kinkaid swore under his breath and was around the small desk in an instant. “Are you OK? What happened?”
    “ I haven’t eaten or drank anything in 24 hours. I need some food and water.”
    “ Are you sure that’s it? Should I go get a doctor?”
    “ No, I’m fine,” she said, pushing herself into a sitting position. “I just need something to drink especially. Some food would be good too though.”
    He jumped up and practically ran behind the desk. He came back out with a thermos and a bottle of water.
    “Here,” he said, kneeling down and thrusting them at her.
    She uncapped the water and drank greedily. Her throat hurt as it went down but it was still the best water she had ever tasted. She opened the thermos and smelled. Heavenly. “ Chicken noodle?”
    He smiled, the first one she ’d seen. It changed his face from hard and stern to pleasant, inviting. “Yep. My best friend made it. He’s a fantastic cook.”
    Emma wondered if that was code for lover. Probably not, but could be. She poured some soup and sipped it. Her stomach woke up and d emanded more. She tried not to slurp.
    A thought struck her. “ Wait, she said, looking at him. How did you know my name? And why is the FBI investigating this? Why not the local police?” Another question hit her in the gut. “And why was Craig wearing a bulletproof vest?”
    Agent Kinkaid eyed her, smile gone, face not giving an inch.
    He stood up and walked back behind the desk. “I understand that you have questions Miss Hill, but I need mine answered first. When you think you are ready,” he said with an air of finality.
    Emma pushed herself back up onto the chair. Her brain was working again.
    “I guess I didn’t start at the beginning before. The reason I thought that something criminal might have happened to Craig was my ex-husband said something that made me scared for him.”
    This time Emma started from the night before. She told how she had been leaving the Crystal Creek wildfire after fighting it all day. She had heard someone yell in the smoldering woods and went in to investigate. She had found the hunter with t he broken leg, built a travois to carry him out, and almost pulled him completely out of the fire when a falling tree had knocked her head-first into a rock, knocking her out. Craig had found her, put her in a helicopter and promised to pick her up at 8 o’clock in the morning. For some reason this part embarrassed her but she pushed that aside.
    She watched the agent ’s face closely as she told the story. Something was going on here and she wanted to find out what. Agent Kinkaid was a closed book, but when she told him how she had first seen Craig and thought for sure he was dead her eyes teared up. She could have sworn the agent’s did too. Stranger and stranger.
    He asked many questions about the forest and the clearing and the building and even exactly how C raig was laying on the ground.