Alaskan Mountain Pursuit Elizabeth Goddard (best short novels .TXT) 📖

the way as they hurried up the steps with as much stealth as possible until they made it to the wrought-iron spiral staircase. This house was a veritable maze. When they made it to the main floor, Will headed for the front door, but Sylvie held him back.

“Wait,” she whispered. “Where are you going?”

“Out.”

“I need my purse, my wallet, bank card, and don’t forget the keys from your room. We aren’t going anywhere without those.”

“Hurry, then.” Will kept close to Sylvie as they crept up another set of steps, and felt like the eyes from the old Masters family portraits were watching. He held tight to the brick. What he wouldn’t give to have a real weapon.

Together they walked by the room Will would have slept in if they were staying. He opened the door and flipped on the lights, prepared to face off with Diverman. He snatched his keys from the dresser and the small pack he’d brought and together they headed to Sylvie’s room.

Reaching for the door she paused and looked at Will, caution in her gaze. Would Diverman be inside, waiting for her? If so, Will would be there to stop him this time, just as he had twice before. He urged her out of the way and shoved through the door, prepared to protect her.

Cautiously, they entered the room. When it appeared empty, Sylvie slipped by Will and went for the bed to grab her purse.

A woman stood at the window, with her back to them.

Ashley turned from the window.

“What are you doing here?” Sylvie glanced at Will. They had believed the room empty. “I thought you left with Damon.”

Come to think of it, she hadn’t actually seen Ashley leave. Should Sylvie tell Ashley about Diverman? None of them were safe here. But something in the subtle shake of Will’s head let her know he was advocating caution. They didn’t know whom they could trust.

Not yet.

Ashley rushed to Sylvie’s side, her smile tenuous. “I was supposed to go. But we both agreed that I should stay and make sure you’re okay until the bodyguard arrives. And when I found your room empty I was more than worried. Where have you been?”

Her gaze leaped from Sylvie to Will as she rubbed her forefinger over the edge of an envelope she held.

“Just showing Will around the house. What’s going on, Ashley?” Sylvie eyed the envelope.

Ashley hesitated, studying Will.

“It’s okay. You can talk in front of him.”

The woman nodded. “The company is in trouble, or else Damon...your stepfather would have stayed here with you himself. But this gave me the opportunity I needed to speak with you.”

Sylvie released a sigh. “Oh, good. I had wanted to talk to you, too. But you start—what did you want to tell me?”

“Since we were friends, your stepfather had me box your mother’s things away a few weeks ago. I was here working with him, along with the others, on a specific project for a weekend work retreat, if you can imagine that. He was too heartbroken to face it. You can blame me, if you want. I’m the one who persuaded him to let me. I worked on the bedroom first and those things are in boxes in the basement. I hadn’t started on her office until last week, and that’s when I found this letter addressed to you.”

Sylvie’s heart jumped. “A letter?” Why not an email? Or a phone call? But then her mother had called her before she left and given her a vague warning.

Ashley handed the envelope over. “I’m sorry I hadn’t gotten it to you sooner. It has a stamp. Obviously, your mother intended to mail it. Maybe she changed her mind. I probably should have mailed it as soon as I found it, but given the circumstances I thought I should deliver it personally. And here you are.”

Sylvie held the envelope, wanting to tear into it. “And you haven’t opened it?”

“No. Of course not. But Sylvie, I know that she was...”

“What? Tell me.”

“Scared.” Ashley moved back to the window and stood against the wall, looking out as though she feared someone watched them.

“Scared of what or who? Did you tell the police?” Will asked.

“Yes. I told a detective that she was scared. Left in a hurry and then died in a plane crash.”

Sylvie understood the frustration in Ashley’s voice and found a measure of reassurance that she and Will weren’t alone in their suspicions that there was something sinister about her mother’s death. But Sylvie also knew that, in the end, the authorities did not seem to suspect foul play. They were treating the attack on Sylvie as an unrelated incident. Without a plane or bodies, nothing was being done to satisfy Sylvie regarding her and Will’s mothers’ deaths.

She ripped open the envelope and reached for the letter inside.

“I’m just going to wait out here in the hall,” Ashley said.

“There’s no need. You can stay.”

“No, I think you should have privacy. I’ll be right out here. Who knows, maybe that bodyguard will arrive.”

She glanced at Will as she moved to the door.

“I’m staying,” he said.

Nodding, she slipped outside into the hall. Will rushed to Sylvie, who turned her back to him. She wanted to read the letter alone.

“Sylvie, what are you doing? Let’s take the letter with us. We can read it once we’re somewhere safe.”

“Somewhere safe? Where would that be?” She hated the defensiveness in her voice. “I can’t wait one second longer. This could be the key to everything.”

“Or the key to nothing. A ploy to keep you here.”

She unfolded the letter to see that it had been neatly printed out instead of in her mother’s flowing handwriting. “We’re safe at the moment with Ashley here, at least until the bodyguard arrives. Diverman won’t act with witnesses.”

“Really? Remember what happened on the ferry?” Will paced the room.

“Nothing can happen here, at my stepfather’s house, that would bring him into question.” At least that’s what she was counting on at the moment.

Rotor blades resounded outside,