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  CASCADE COURIER

  Timber Falls Cloaked in Mystery as Rainy Season Begins

  by Charity Jenkins

  Sheriff Mitch Tanner had his hands full when just hours before the rainy season began Bigfoot was spotted on the edge of town by our local bread delivery man. This is not the first Bigfoot sighting here—nor the last—but the real mystery is the disappearance of Dennison Ducks decoy painter Nina Monroe! The sheriff refused to confirm reports that foul play might have been involved, but one source said Nina’s boss, Wade Dennison, was very upset when she didn’t show for work this morning. Nina has been in town for only a month and little is known about her. But never fear, this reporter will get to the bottom of it….

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  MOUNTAIN SHERIFF

  B.J. DANIELS

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  A former award-winning journalist, B.J. Daniels had thirty-six short stories published before her first romantic suspense, Odd Man Out, came out in 1995. B.J. lives in Montana with her husband, Parker, two springer spaniels, Zoey and Scout, and a temperamental tomcat named Jeff. She is a member of Kiss of Death, the Bozeman Writers Group and Romance Writers of America. When she isn’t writing, she snowboards in the winters and camps and boats in the summers. All year she plays her favorite sport, tennis. To contact her, write: P.O. Box 183, Bozeman, MT 59771 or visit her Web site at www.bjdanielsweb.com.

  Books by B.J. Daniels

  HARLEQUIN INTRIGUE

  312—ODD MAN OUT

  353—OUTLAWED!

  417—HOTSHOT P.I.

  446—UNDERCOVER CHRISTMAS

  493—A FATHER FOR HER BABY

  533—STOLEN MOMENTS

  555—LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

  566—INTIMATE SECRETS

  585—THE AGENT’S SECRET CHILD

  604—MYSTERY BRIDE

  617—SECRET BODYGUARD

  643—A WOMAN WITH A MYSTERY

  654—HOWLING IN THE DARKNESS

  687—PREMEDITATED MARRIAGE

  716—THE MASKED MAN

  744—MOUNTAIN SHERIFF*

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  Charity Jenkins—She’s set her sights on confirmed bachelor Sheriff Mitch Tanner—and the newspaper story she’s working on could get her killed.

  Mitch Tanner—The rainy season in Timber Falls is always bad, but this year it starts with a murder.

  Nina Monroe—The duck-decoy painter lied about who she was and why she was in town—and now she’s gone missing.

  Wade Dennison—The owner of Dennison Ducks is hiding something. But is it murder?

  Daisy Dennison—She became a recluse when her baby daughter, Angela, was stolen from her crib twenty-seven years ago.

  Angela Dennison—Twenty-seven years ago Angela was stolen from her crib and never seen again.

  Alma Bromdale—The nanny had been sleeping soundly in the room next to Angela’s…

  Desiree Dennison—For years she’s had to live in her missing younger sister’s shadow. The last thing she wants is Angela to turn up now in the flesh.

  Jesse Tanner—Is it just a coincidence that Mitch’s outlaw older brother shows up in Timber Falls now?

  Ethel Whiting—She knows the Dennison family better than anyone in town. Maybe too well.

  Sheryl Bends—Did the painter hate Nina Monroe enough for stealing one of her duck designs that she could have killed her?

  Bud Farnsworth—The production manger at Dennsion Ducks has a chip on his shoulder and a mean temper.

  Kyle L. Rogers—The P.I. doesn’t know it, but he was hired to make sure the kidnapper’s identity stays a secret.

  This book is dedicated with much appreciation to JoAnn Brehm. Thank you for sharing your stories about life in Oregon and the long rainy season.

  Oregon is a beautiful, diverse state and one I found both fascinating and a little mystifying. Especially in the deepest, darkest woods on the rain shadow side of the Cascades, where it takes little imagination to believe that Bigfoot watches from the shadows.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Epilogue

  Chapter One

  Tuesday, October 27

  Darkness pressed against the window. Beyond the glass, something moved at the edge of the tangle of growth.

  Under the glow of the desk lamp, Nina Monroe feathered the paint along one side of the wooden duck decoy.

  She’d forgotten she was alone in the isolated Dennison Ducks decoy plant. Nor had she noticed how late it was. Her mind had been on her future.

  For the first time in her twenty-seven years of life, her future looked good. Not just good. Dazzling. Almost blinding. Sometimes she had to pinch herself it was so hard to believe. Soon she would have everything she’d ever wanted. Soon she wouldn’t be painting duck decoys in the middle of nowhere, that was for sure.

  A voice in her head warned her not to count her chickens before they’d hatched. The voice was that of her old-maid aunt Harriet and she shut it out, just as she had all of her life. Aunt Harriet the doomsayer.

  After tonight, Nina would finally have what she deserved. It had been a long time coming. She smiled at the thought of blowing this dinky boring town knowing she’d never look back, never even give Timber Falls, Oregon, another thought. She felt dazed by the possibilities. And filled with righteous indignation that it had taken so long for justice to finally be done.

  She’d picked Halloween. A perfect time to unmask the true villains. By Halloween, she’d be long gone—but not forgotten. She would have it all, the money—and—the revenge. Who said revenge wasn’t sweet?

  A noise at the window made her look up. From the darkness appeared a distorted face. It filled the window, the eyes like empty sockets.

  She let out a strangled cry, dropping her paintbrush as she shoved back her chair and stumbled to her feet.

  Just as suddenly as it had appeared, the face was gone. She snapped off the lamp, the only light in her corner of the decoy plant, and stood in the dark staring out at the night.

  Beyond the glass was a jungle of ferns, vines, moss and trees that fought for space in the suffocating rain forest on the Pacific Ocean side of the Oregon Cascades. Sometimes she felt so closed in here she wanted to scream.

  Like right now. The trees moved restlessly in the wind. Shadows flickered over the glass from what little moonlight pierced the forest.

  She took a breath and tried to calm herself. There was no one out there. It had just been a trick of moonlight and shadows. Hadn’t her life always been full of shadows? But not for much longer.

  So close to finally getting everything she wanted, she felt nervous, jittery, excited and maybe a little spooked. Spooked because something could go wrong.

  But she knew that was just her aunt Harriet talking. After all those years with the pessimistic old woman, Nina could hear Harriet in her head. The voice of negativity. The voice of defeat.

  She pushed all thoughts of Harriet away as she looked out the window again and saw nothing but the movement of trees and ferns in the faint moonlight.

  Glancing at her watch, with its glowing dial, Nina saw that she had at least another hour to wait. She wanted to try to finish this duck decoy, hating to admit that over the past month, she’d come to enjoy the painting.

  It required an exactness that appealed to her. She’d found she ha
d a talent for it that surprised—and pleased—her.

  From behind her, she heard a soft click. The sound of the door, on the other side of the building, opening?

  She turned slowly. A single small bulb illuminated the employee entrance, casting the dark images of hundreds of ducks over her. Mallard and canvasback, pintail and greenwing, buffalohead and widgeon decoys filled the shelves from the floor to ceiling.

  From where she stood, she couldn’t see past the shelves covered with ducks. Had she imagined the sound, just as she’d imagined the face at the window?

  “Sure, that’s all it was,” she could hear Aunt Harriet sneer. “Fool.”

  Something moved across the light on the other side of the building. A flicker of dark shadow followed by the soft scuff of a shoe on concrete. The scent of damp night air cut through the sweeter scent of freshly carved pine. She heard another click. The door closing?

  It was too early. Unless there’d been a change in plans. But then, wouldn’t she have gotten a call? After all, tonight was supposed to be the last time they would meet. Once she had the money…

  She glanced up at Wade Dennison’s second-story glassed-in office, half expecting to see the owner of the plant watching her as he so often did. But the office was dark, just as she knew it would be, and there was no one behind the glass.

  Another soft scuff of a shoe, closer this time. She told herself it had to be one of the employees. No one else had a key to get in. Unless in her excitement she’d forgotten to lock the door.

  Her heart lodged in her throat as she frantically tried to remember locking the door.

  Maybe meeting here hadn’t been such a good idea. But usually she had the place to herself, preferring to work at night. Her co-workers thought she worked late to impress the boss and resented her for it—as if she cared. But that was why meeting here had seemed ideal. No one ever came around at night and she didn’t have to worry about her nosy old landlady eavesdropping.

  “Who’s there?” she called out, expecting an answer.

  Silence.

  She hadn’t been afraid, hadn’t had any reason to be afraid. Until now.

  She heard Aunt Harriet snickering inside her head. “Told you this scheme would get you killed.”

  Nina hadn’t considered how vulnerable she was, alone here in the plant. Dennison Ducks was ten miles from town and a good two miles from the nearest house, which was Wade Dennison’s.

  Another soft scuff of a shoe on the concrete. This one much closer. Her pulse jumped. Who was in the building with her? Someone who’d seen her car in the parking lot, known she was in here alone, maybe even knew exactly where she was in the building? Or one of the people she’d been expecting, only earlier? Either of them would have answered her. So who was in the building with her?

  She could feel a presence on the other side of the row of ducks, someone moving slowly, purposefully, between the shelves toward her.

  Panic filled her. She grabbed the duck off the table, smearing the wet paint. She could make a run for it around the opposite end of the shelves, dash for the door, but she knew it would be too easy for the person to cut her off before she got out—even if he didn’t have a weapon.

  She could hear breathing on the other side of the dense wall of carved ducks. It had to be someone who knew why she’d come to Timber Falls. Knew why she’d wanted to work at Dennison Ducks so badly. Someone who’d found out about her meeting here tonight. Someone who thought he could keep her from getting what she deserved. That narrowed it down considerably.

  But which one was dumb enough to try to stop her? She thought she knew as she waited, clutching the large wooden duck in her fist, determined not to let anyone take what was rightfully hers. Not again.

  She listened as the footsteps moved closer and closer—stopping at the end of the ceiling-high shelf filled with ducks nearest her.

  Quietly she slipped to the end of the row and raised the duck over her head. Come on. Just a few more steps…

  The figure came around the end of the wall of duck-filled shelves.

  Nina stared in confusion. For an instant, she almost laughed she was so relieved. She lowered the duck. She had nothing to fear.

  She couldn’t have been more mistaken.

  Chapter Two

  Wednesday, October 28

  Early the next morning, an ill wind whirled through Timber Falls. It started at the north end of Main, down by the Ho Hum Motel. Just a breeze. But by the time it reached Betty’s Café, it had picked up speed, dirt and dried leaves, stripping Lydia Abernathy’s maple tree bare.

  Now a dust devil, it reeled past the Spit Curl, the post office and the Timber Falls Courier, discarding leaves and dust like unwelcome offerings in each doorway of the small Oregon town.

  By the time the dust devil swept past Harry’s Hardware and the Duck-In bar, the sky was dark as mud.

  As if sensing more than an ill wind had blown into town, Sheriff Mitch Tanner got up from his desk at Town Hall to close the window moments before the panes began to rattle. Dirt and debris clattered against the glass. The dense wall of rain forest surrounding town shimmered in the dull light, a flickering of dark shadows from within.

  Just as suddenly as it had begun, the wind died, the dust and debris settled, leaves floated gently to the ground and the first drops of rain plinked against the window.

  The rainy season in Timber Falls had begun.

  Mitch groaned. Trouble always seemed to accompany the rain. And he feared, this year both had come early. To make matters worse, Halloween was only days away and he’d heard that the Duck-In bar was hosting a costume party. He could figure on a long night of breaking up fights and trying to get locals home safely.

  Behind him, Wade Dennison cleared his throat. “As I was saying, Sheriff…”

  Mitch dragged his gaze from the rain-streaked window, trying to shake an ominous sense of dread as he turned his attention back to the man sitting across the desk from him.

  Over sixty, his dark hair peppered with gray, Wade Dennison had a look of privilege about him.

  “It just isn’t like Nina not to show for work.” Wade was a soft-spoken man, but a powerful one in this town. He owned Dennison Ducks, Timber Falls’s claim to fame—and its main source of income.

  Mitch nodded, wondering why Wade was in such a tizzy. This couldn’t be the first employee who hadn’t shown up for work.

  “I called. Her landlady said she didn’t come home last night,” Wade was saying.

  “She doesn’t have a cell phone?”

  Wade shook his head, worry in his gaze. Maybe more worry than was warranted? More worry than was appropriate for a young and attractive female employee?

  “Could be she stayed over at a friend’s or a boyfriend’s,” Mitch suggested. “Or maybe she’s with family.”

  Wade shook his head. “She doesn’t have any family. No boyfriend, either. Or friends.”

  Mitch raised a brow.

  “At least not that I know of,” Wade added. “She’s only been in town a month.”

  A month was plenty long enough to make friends, let alone a boyfriend. But Mitch didn’t say anything.

  Wade shifted in his chair. “Nina’s…shy. Keeps to herself. She’s real serious, you know?”

  He didn’t. But he was curious about how Wade knew all this. Mitch had seen Nina Monroe only a few times around town and just in passing, but he remembered her as being attractive with long dark hair and dark eyes. “Serious how?”

  “She’s a good worker, always on time,” Wade was saying. “In fact, she works late a lot, real serious about her job.” The older man cleared his throat again. “That’s why I’m worried something might have happened to her.”

  Mitch’s radar clicked on. “Like what?”

  Wade shook his head. “I’m just saying she would have called if she wasn’t coming in.”

  A shadow filled the open office doorway. Town clerk Sissy Walker stood, hands on her ample hips, a look of irritation on her fa
ce. He knew the look only too well.

  “Ms. Jenkins on line two,” she said. “It’s the fifth time she’s called this morning. She says if you don’t talk to her, she’ll track you down like a dog.”

  Mitch groaned, knowing that was no idle threat. “Wade, I have the information on Nina that you gave me. Let me do some checking and get back to you.”

  Wade Dennison slowly rose to his feet. “You’ll let me know as soon as you hear something.”

  It wasn’t a question. “You know I will.” After Wade closed the office door behind him, Mitch picked up the phone and hit line two. “Charity?” It was never good news when Charity Jenkins called.

  “Hello, Mitch,” she said, a hint of humor in her tone. No doubt because she’d managed to get him on the line—in more ways than one over the years.

  “You know threatening a sheriff is against the law,” he said, always surprised by what just the sound of her voice did to him.

  She laughed. She had a great laugh. “You gonna lock me up?” She made it sound like something she wouldn’t mind.

  He tried to imagine Charity in one of his cells and shook his head at even the thought. “What’s so important that you’ve got Sissy ticked off already this morning?”

  “Sissy is always ticked off,” Charity said. “I called about the latest news.”

  He wasn’t sure what news that might be. Knowing Charity, she’d probably already gotten wind of Nina Monroe’s alleged disappearance. The woman was a bloodhound.