Incriminating Evidence Read Online Free Page A

she said without hesitation. Hayes was her mother’s maiden name and Isabel’s middle name. Even if Alec Ravissant had read the most detailed dossier on her, he wasn’t likely to remember that detail or, if he did, make the connection now.
    “What were you doing—five miles, you say?—deep in the woods, when you found me?”
    This was tricky. She couldn’t admit to being an archaeologist, because odds were, he would make that connection. Most non-archaeologists didn’t know a ton of archaeologists in their day-to-day lives, and whenever she mentioned her profession to someone, they immediately told her about every archaeologist they’d ever met or heard rumors about. But if she said she was just out on a day hike for fun, she had a feeling that would raise his suspicions even further. Few people hiked in bear country alone for fun.
    Hell, few people hiked alone in bear country for work. Isabel was unique in that way. Her bosses didn’t mind because it was cheaper to pay one person to survey rather than two—but she’d had to sign a dozen different release forms before they’d allowed it—and she didn’t mind because being alone meant she had the freedom to stray onto Raptor land to look for the cave Vincent had told her about. If she could find the cave, she could prove his death was no accident.
    Her brother had been murdered on Raptor land, by Raptor operatives. His death had been ruled a training accident, but what she knew of the incident, and what Vin had told her in his emails in the months before his death, didn’t add up, and she believed the wounded man lying on the floor eight feet away may well have covered up Vin’s murder.
    “I’m waiting, Jenna.”
    Pushy bastard. For someone who’d been beat to hell and who probably couldn’t take her in a staring match right now, he sure sounded confident. “I’m a geologist. I work for the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. There have been reports of poaching on some DNR mining claims.” This was true; it just hadn’t happened in this part of the forest.
    “You were out looking for poachers alone ?”
    “No. I was looking for evidence of poaching, signs of recent digging and minerals taken. I didn’t expect to run into anyone. But I found you.”
    “And you thought I was a poacher?”
    “No. If I had, I wouldn’t have dragged you here. I’d have left your sorry ass to die and returned to the office.”
    “Why didn’t you think I was a poacher?”
    “Your clothes. You’re wearing slacks, and mineral thieves don’t wear button-down, going-to-business-meeting shirts. But the kicker is your shoes. Any man who planned to walk this deep in the forest would wear a decent pair of hiking boots. Those shoes”—she twisted her lips in derision—“probably cost four times what my hiking boots cost, and they’ll fall apart at the first drop of rain. Forget hiking across a glacier in them. Or, better yet, sell tickets. I’d pay good money to watch you ruin designer shoes and break your ass traversing a glacier in your metrosexual lame excuse for footwear.”
    Alec’s mouth curved in a vague smile. “These are my campaign shoes.”
    Isabel snorted. “Good thing you’re running for office in Maryland, because in Alaska, expensive shoes with no sole will get you laughed out of contention.”
    He wiggled his feet as he studied his footwear with his one good eye. “I hate these shoes. I wore them on the flight and planned to change as soon as I got to the compound. I didn’t bring a suitcase, because I keep a full wardrobe—not the campaign kind—at the compound.”
    “So you just flew in today?”
    His brow furrowed. “I think so. What day is it?”
    “Thursday.” She glanced at her watch. “Eight forty-three p.m., Alaska time.”
    “My plane landed in Fairbanks at eleven. Today.”
    “Is that the last thing you remember?”
    His fingers drummed against the soft, rotting floorboards. “I remember driving. I was heading toward the