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

him. “After the summer, if you stay in Moose Haven I’d like to talk to you about a job. The city is increasing our budget for next year and adding you to the force would be money well spent.”

“I appreciate you saying so.”

He didn’t respond any further to the suggestion. Interesting, at least to Summer. Was he not planning to stay in town? It wasn’t uncommon for people to come up to Alaska to work only during the summers, but it still surprised her a bit anyway. Or maybe it had more to do with the offer of the job in particular?

“What we did learn is that both of us agree on the ‘why’ you were asking about earlier,” Clay offered.

“And what did you decide?”

Noah spoke up. “It’s odd for someone to try to kill you and then de-escalate, essentially, to trying to scare you. With that in mind, the only logical motive is that he wanted to unnerve you, keep you off balance, basically scare you as a tactic to feel like he still has you under control.”

“Why would he do that? Just because he’s mentally unstable?”

“It’s not that simple,” Clay replied. “We can’t guess anything about his mental state besides the fact that he has a disregard for human life. Some serial killers are mentally unstable for sure. And some are people who seem to have all their faculties and then just...snap.”

“Did you get a lot of serial killers where you’re from?” Summer couldn’t help the snarky comment as she hadn’t really wanted to hear any of Clay’s opinions. She trusted her brother.

“We got more crime than you might expect.” Something in his face had changed, hardened, and Summer knew she’d crossed some kind of line—she hadn’t expected her words to affect him to the degree they had.

“Besides,” Clay continued, “the FBI-led academies I’ve been to, the conferences I’ve learned at, all of which have taught me plenty, thanks.”

It appeared two of them could play the “let’s be short with each other now” game.

Summer exhaled. Why was she doing this? Just because of a little goading by her brother? She should know better.

“I’m sorry.”

Noah looked at her oddly and she shook her head slightly. Better to drop it and try to be normal around Clay, at least to the best of her ability.

“So that’s why you think he’s doing this?” Summer tried to redirect the conversation.

Clay looked to Noah to answer, apparently sensing that Summer was taking him more seriously. She felt bad about that. The truth was that she trusted Clay’s opinion a great deal and didn’t want to.

“That’s the working theory.”

“And do you think it’s the serial killer or not?”

“No.”

“Yes.”

The two men answered at the same time. Noah’s answer was more reassuring...

But Summer felt somewhere inside that Clay’s was probably right.

“What do you think?” The question came from Clay.

Summer had to take a minute to compose herself before she reacted to his question. Had her expression given away that she agreed with him or had he just really wondered what she thought?

“I think it’s him.” She exhaled as she voiced the words she’d hoped to keep inside. Something about saying them out loud made the threat seem more real.

“Why?”

Now she knew he was interested in what she thought. With that in mind, Summer considered her answer carefully.

“Just the way it felt when he had me, with the knife...” she began. Images flashed in her mind and she squeezed her eyes shut tight for a second. Gut instinct said to push the images away, to try to forget about them, but Summer made herself focus on them instead, hopeful that some detail would stand out that she hadn’t noticed before. Anything that would help them make progress in this case. Because if someone was after her, she wasn’t going to sit around and hide. She was going to do something about it.

“I’ve got my team working on it and I’ve also alerted the troopers.” Noah’s words were meant for reassurance, but they could only do so much. Nothing changed the fact that someone was after her.

“Thanks.”

“I’ll keep you posted on what I learn today, alright? Thanks for telling me as much as you did yesterday. I’ve got some calls in, and a forensic artist in Anchorage is doing a full body sketch today based on the description you gave me.”

“I didn’t notice much.” At least, Summer wouldn’t have expected it would be enough to help.

“You’d be surprised what those guys can do with just a little bit of information,” Noah said. “It doesn’t always give an exact picture, but often it’s close enough that someone recognizes them.”

“Let us know,” Clay said.

Noah nodded. “I’m going to climb up there, process the message for evidence and then head back to work. What are your plans?”

“I’d hoped to take the tourists who arrived last night on a hike,” Summer said.

“No.”

“Noah, this is my job.”

“And no job is worth your life.”

Summer knew that but also didn’t think Noah understood how important her job at the family’s lodge was to her.

Or why. But that was understandable. She tried not to talk about the why, tried not to think about it.

“I understand you want to keep me safe. Believe me, I want that too, but I can’t stop everything because of some what-ifs.”

“Someone has already grabbed you and then tracked you down to threaten you. I hardly think anything we are considering in any arena is as far-fetched as a what-if at this point. It’s just what is, Summer. Someone wants you dead.”

“I know. And they’re going to want me dead whether I’m doing my job or not.”

FIVE

Clay watched Summer plead her case with her brother with a little bit of amusement and a lot of observation about both of them that he was mentally filing away. He respected Noah so far—he seemed like a decent guy. And Summer... Clay couldn’t get a handle on her. One minute she was friendly. Then next she acted like she couldn’t stand his presence.

In either