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Right now an elastic bandage and a dry towel would have been a hell of a lot more useful to him, and they’d be a damned sight cheaper.
    Shouldering his backpack, he revved his motorcycle and headed back the way he had come.
    It was done, Jess thought. Her report was finished, sent via e-mail, and she couldn’t wait to hit the road.
    She tossed her single suitcase into the back of her Jeep, shivering in the cold rain. Despite the storm, she meant to push south without a break until she reached Portland.
    As she started her car, Jess glanced over her shoulder nervously. Inspectors had one ironclad rule in her occupation: check out and
then
file the report. Those who forgot the rule risked verbal harassment or physical retaliation. In her case, she figured the harassment had already begun. She was lucky she’d come away with no more than a few bruises.
    Anxiety made her floor the Jeep down the hotel’s main driveway. Her cell phone began to ring, but she ignored it, peering into the gray light as the road twisted through fingers of mist.
    After a brief pause, the shrill peals began again.
    Muttering, she dug into her purse for her phone. “I can’t talk now,” she snapped. “I just turned in a report.”
    “Did they pay you this time?” a dry female voice asked.
    “I
always
get paid.” It was a lie, she knew. Her checks usually arrived several months late, stretching her finances perilously thin. “I’m fine, I’m happy, and I’ll call you in thirty minutes, Summer. I want to get away from the hotel. Especially
this
hotel.”
    “Why?” Jess’s twin sister said sharply. “Did something happen to you?”
    “Nothing’s happened, but I have to go. The fog’s getting worse.”
    “What fog?” Summer Mulcahey’s voice changed, more worried than irritated. “Where the heck are you, Jess? You’re breaking up.”
    “I just checked out of a hotel on the Olympic Peninsula. Sorry, Summer, but I’ve really got to go.”
    “Okay, call me, hear? Make it soon.”
    A few minutes after Jess cut the connection, lights flashed on a gravel road that wound down to the beach. She had meant to explore the cove, but she never had. As usual, there had been too much work to do.
    She shivered a little, bumping up the heat while the motor whined. She realized she needed to clean her carburetor and check the idle. Though she loved her Jeep, it had seen plenty of off-road miles and was in need of some major repairs, none of which she could currently afford.
    One more consequence of being incredibly stupid and trusting people she barely knew.
    Suddenly car lights cut across the highway. A commercial delivery van swerved from its lane and passed a farm truck, headed directly for her.
    Braking hard, Jess turned onto the shoulder, her tires spinning in the mud. The van fishtailed, its lights leaving her temporarily blinded, and she swung hard to the right to avoid impact. Her Jeep took a half-circle through the mud and the van raced past her with inches to spare.
    A black shape flashed through the trees on her left. Jess jerked the wheel hard, trying to maneuver out of the mud and back onto the road while the farm truck rumbled toward her, also on the left. Somewhere ahead of her came the powerful whine of a motorcycle traveling off-road.
    In the Jeep’s headlights Jess suddenly saw a black helmet, sleek chrome exhaust pipes and a driver in a black jacket. Because of the sharp curve and the farm truck blocking his view, Jess realized he wouldn’t be able to see her until he was nearly on top of her.
    As she churned through the mud, clouds drifted over the trees, veiling the road. When the rider took the turn without slowing, Jess wrenched the wheel sharply, trying to clear a path for him, but she spun out in the mud, struck a boulder and then fishtailed sideways.
    The sickening
thump
she heard next was the sound of a body slamming against her front fender.

chapter 4
    J ess crouched in the rain, fighting panic. She’d struck a man