“Why’s there a dead body in that cabin?”

“You don’t know that for certain,” she argued. “You said you didn’t actually see it.”

“I know something was in there.”

“Maybe an animal went in while Violet was getting me out. That could be what you smelled.”

“I don’t think animals rush toward fire and smoke.”

Gianna threw up her hands. Clearly they were of two minds about what had happened. “I don’t know what to tell you. Yes, there was a trail outside and I’m sure you smelled something that burned, but I’m not going to sit here and stress. Until we go back and look, we’ll never know what happened. But you don’t want to go back.”

“You can’t.”

Frustration raced through her. The stubborn man was absolutely right. She glanced at the wall clock. It was barely the middle of the afternoon. He expects me to wait until tomorrow for answers?

She picked up her coffee cup and leaned back into the couch cushions, faking an attitude of relaxation.

He exhaled. “I get your frustration. I feel it, too. But the smart thing to do is wait.”

She nodded, tamping down her irritation at her situation. Waiting wasn’t one of her strong points.

Chris got up. “I’ll grill some sandwiches. Food always helps.” He pulled a cast iron pan and a loaf of bread out of a cupboard. Oro lifted his head, his ears at full attention and his gaze on the food-maker.

“You’ll be working with Seth Rutledge at the examiner’s office?” Chris asked as he prepared the food on the small kitchen island. “And his anthropologist, Victoria Peres?”

Surprise washed over her. “You know them?”

“My brother knows them better. I’ve crossed paths with them a few times.”

“Small world. I finished up a forensic pathology fellowship in New York City and saw Oregon was hiring an assistant ME. I did a visit and interview a few months ago and got the job.” She paused, remembering her first stunning view of Mount Hood as her plane flew into Oregon. “I loved how clean the air smelled, and everything was green. I hoped Portland would be a good place for Violet and me to put down some new roots. Violet hasn’t been herself. Her grandmother died six months ago, and she’d always been Violet’s caretaker while I worked.”

“A lot of people move here for a fresh start.” He deftly cut thick slices of cheese and arranged them on the bread.

She watched, slightly surprised she’d told him about her mother-in-law’s death. But they possibly had a long time to wait and nothing to do but talk. She was good at small talk, and he seemed like the type who didn’t mind listening.

“Yes. And I wanted to get her away from where her grandmother died. I knew she wasn’t going to cheer when I told her, but I didn’t expect the outright anger.”

“She left behind friends. Maybe she feels as if she left her grandmother behind even though her soul is long gone.”

An air of sadness surrounded Chris, and she suspected he spoke from personal experience. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask who’d died, but she quelled her curiosity.

She didn’t know this man. Don’t be so nosy.

“Is there someone we need to notify that you’re okay?” Chris asked. “If the roads are clear, we can call them tomorrow when we get out.”

“I haven’t been in town long enough to meet anyone other than a few people I’ll be working with,” said Gianna. “I didn’t tell anyone we were coming up here.”

He looked across the stove at her and raised a brow.

“I know,” she confessed. “Not smart when you’re heading out to the wilderness, but I didn’t think my friends in New York would care that I was renting a cabin for a week.”

“Violet’s father?”

“Eddie. He’s deceased.”

“I’m sorry.” Sympathy flashed in his eyes.

“It was a long time ago,” she said softly. She knew the hole in her heart from Eddie’s death had shrunk as small as it was going to get. She’d learned to live with the abrupt aches from the open wound. “This truly is a fresh start for us. It’s just the two of us. My parents died a long time ago, and when Eddie’s mother passed last spring, we felt very alone, but I saw it as a chance to do something new. Some people pack up their kids and move abroad. They go to Costa Rica and raise their kids while surfing. Others move to France and immerse themselves in a new culture and end up with bilingual kids. I’m too big of a chicken to do either one, but I thought I could handle a move to the opposite coast.” She paused. “I don’t think I made a mistake.”

“Of course not. It’s way too early to tell if it’s a mistake.”

His logical statement and serious face made her grin. Clearly Chris Jacobs didn’t sugarcoat his words. She took a closer look at their rescuer. He’d removed his cap, exposing light-brown hair that needed a cut. She noticed it covered the scars on his neck and figured that was the reason he left it long. His eyes were a penetrating light hazel and studied her like a hawk’s. They never gazed at anything for too long. Even when he sat perfectly still and his attention was on her, she knew he was aware of everything that moved in the room. She wondered if he ever loosened up or if he stayed in a perpetually alert state. She had a sense that one ear was constantly listening for noise outside. Twice he’d turned his head to the sound of ice breaking a branch a split second before the noise registered in her brain.