Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

A ndi, Duke, and Tim darted from Juniper’s house toward the commotion in the distance.

They paused when they reached Juniper. She and Tundra stood outside the lodge, and Juniper wrung her hands with a worried look on her face.

“Juniper?” Tim started. “What happened?”

She seemed to snap out of her shock as she turned to them. “Darren was fishing with four of our guests when the ice broke and one of the guests fell through.”

“What?” Tim muttered. “I told you that lake wasn’t ready for ice fishing yet.”

“Caleb said it was.” Juniper’s conviction died a little with every word.

“Caleb doesn’t know what he’s talking about!” Tim snapped.

“You guys can argue about that later.” Duke stepped forward as if to referee. “What’s the current status of the situation?”

“They pulled the woman out. I already called 911, and an ambulance is on its way. Again,” she added feebly.

“Is this common around here?” Andi hated to ask the question, but she had to. “All these accidents?”

Juniper glanced at her uncle, a shadow darkening her gaze.

There was clearly something the two of them knew that they weren’t sharing, and Andi wanted to know what it was.

“It’s becoming more common.” Tim narrowed his gaze at Juniper. “All because of poor decision making. I’ve told you before, and I’ll tell you this again. You’re not cut out to manage this camp, Juniper. You don’t know a thing about safety.”

A surge of protectiveness rose in Andi as she glanced at Juniper and saw the doubt flash through her eyes.

Andi wanted to stand up for the woman. To tell her she could do this.

But she didn’t know enough about what had happened at the camp to say that with confidence. Maybe Juniper really wasn’t cut out to manage this place, not when so many risks were involved.

“The team is headed out there to help bring her back right now,” Juniper finally said, her confidence wavering. “We followed all the procedures set in place just in case something like this happened.”

Tim stared at her with what could only be described as contempt before taking a step back. “I’m going to monitor everything out there myself, something you should be doing. As the owner of this place, you should have been one of the first people on the scene.”

Juniper squeezed the skin between her eyes and lowered her head.

The words had been like a physical blow to her—which was, no doubt, exactly what Tim intended.

Without saying anything else, Tim stormed toward a UTV in the distance and jumped behind the wheel. Andi and Duke stayed with Juniper.

Andi definitely had more questions.

She hoped Juniper would answer them.

Duke and Andi escorted Juniper back inside and into her office in the main lodge.

People had begun to gawk at Juniper, and Duke wanted to get her out of public view. She was the face of the camp, and if she looked panicked, everyone else would panic.

They had some hard-hitting questions to ask—preferably before Tim got back to demean her anymore and before the ambulance arrived.

Duke figured they probably had at least fifteen minutes tops.

He leveled his gaze at Juniper. “You need to tell us what’s going on.”

Andi kept a hand on Juniper’s arm as she lowered her into a seat in the corner. Andi then knelt in front of her, probably not wanting to move far away.

Duke got a better look at Juniper under the bright fluorescent lights. Saw her red eyes. Her shaky limbs.

Self-doubt was written across each and every action.

His heart panged with compassion for her. But maybe she was in over her head. Plus, she was dealing with a lot of grief right now, and grief could cloud a person’s judgment. She should have stepped back after Pepper’s death and let Tim take over for a few days, at least.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen.” Juniper’s voice trembled.

“What do you mean it ‘wasn’t supposed to happen’?” Andi questioned, her eyes narrowed.

“I know you were here yesterday when Peppermint was found. Now you’re here today for this incident. It seems as if things are escalating.”

“Have there been more people injured or put in danger recently?” Duke was concerned for everyone here if that was the case.

“I promise you I’m following all the rules. I’m trying to do everything with the utmost safety of the guests in mind. But it seems like Tim is working against me. He wants me to fail. He wants me to think this is my fault. Maybe it’s starting to work.” Tears rolled down her cheeks.

“What are you talking about?” Andi cocked her head to the side. “If you want our help, then you need to tell us what’s going on.”

“I should just sell this place . . .”

“Who would you even sell it to?” Duke asked.

“I have a man—Dudley Something or Other—who keeps calling me and making me offers,” she said. “I keep turning him down.”

“So what’s been going on here, Juniper?” Andi waited for an answer.

Juniper grabbed some tissues from a nearby box and dabbed her eyes. “The truth is dangerous things keep happening here at the camp, and I almost feel as if someone is trying to sabotage us.”

Duke didn’t like the sound of that. “What else has happened?”

“Really, they’re things that seem simple at first glance. But when you add them all together . . .” Juniper swung her head back and forth before blowing out a shaky breath. “We had a small kitchen fire one day after a burner was ‘accidentally’ left on. One of our families got lost in the woods for five hours after the trail markers somehow got switched. A UTV flipped, and we discovered later that air had been let out of two tires. Thankfully, in each of those cases, everything turned out okay. But they were still scary.”

“It sounds like it,” Andi murmured.

“Then some of guests thought they saw people in the woods.”

Duke sucked in a breath. “What do you mean?”

“IT’s probably nothing.” Juniper closed her eyes and shook her head. “Just some hunters who didn’t realize where our property lines were. But it’s unnerved some people and made them feel unsafe. Maybe I should see if this Dudley man is still interested . . .”

Duke ran a hand over his face. The truth was, they could be dealing with multiple mysteries here: The mystery of who killed Pepper. The mystery of who was trying to sabotage this camp. And the mystery of who the December Dismemberer was.

These events may or may not be connected.

But they were all dangerous and posed a serious threat.