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

And saw it a split second before Clay did, if the way she stilled was to be believed. She inhaled sharply, but didn’t look away. Neither did Clay, because that was what he’d been searching for.

The source of the smell. Fifteen or twenty yards away.

Female. Midtwenties.

Blonde.

This was a match for the serial killer’s MO after all, which meant the case had turned from bad to worse. Their worst nightmare for keeping Summer safe seemed to be coming true.

Clay had called the Moose Haven Police Department to report the discovery of the body as soon as he saw it. Summer, seeing they were going to have to wait there for a while until law enforcement showed up to secure the scene, called Kate, who agreed to hike up to Bear Creek Falls to meet the group and lead them back to the lodge. The group of tourists wasn’t going to be told about the body, though if it ended up in the paper they’d make the connection eventually. For now, it was better they not know.

Now they were waiting, one of the worst parts when something like this happened. In the movies, once a body was discovered or a crime was committed, everything sped up, but real life didn’t work that way. The Moose Haven PD was sending officers but it would take them a while to arrive at the scene and then it would have to be processed, with a methodicalness that wouldn’t allow them to rush at all, needing to see if there were any clues the killer had left behind.

“Do you know who the victim could be?” He hated to ask but needed to. The police would want to know and it helped him think through the implications of finding a body in the woods also. Besides, it gave him a reason to try to keep Summer looking at him, rather than at the body lying there on the forest floor not too far from them.

Not that either of them could forget it was there.

Summer started to shake her head and then paused. “Possibly. Someone mentioned this morning on a hiking page I follow online that a friend was missing. It didn’t jump out at me because that’s fairly common up here. When someone goes missing it’s rarely foul play, at least among missing persons cases I’ve heard of.”

“Tell me about the person who was missing. Do you remember anything specific about her?”

“Basically what you can see.” She winced. “Just that she was around my age... That she was an avid hiker and adventurer. She did some hiking videos telling people about the hikes she liked to do. Those are online somewhere.”

Clay’s heartbeat quickened. “Did she post ahead of time what hikes she’d be talking about next?” That could have given their killer a way to find her. He’d been wondering how the man had managed to track two women on mountains next to each other at the same time unless he’d known where they both were going to be ahead of time. They’d already established that Summer’s routine was set enough he’d probably been able to know exactly where she’d be, but this woman’s death and the circumstances around it were still a mystery.

Clay’s gut said that once they cracked the mystery, the answers would bring them a step closer to whoever was after Summer.

But that hadn’t happened yet, he reminded himself. He needed that investigative team to hurry up and get here.

“I think she did, yes,” Summer answered his question, nodding slowly like she’d realized why he’d asked it and was putting the pieces together for herself.

“And someone could hike that ridgeline.”

“Only someone experienced. It’s not a ridgeline I could see a novice doing with any success.”

He pressed for more details. “How experienced?”

“Intermediate.”

“Okay.” So it wouldn’t narrow their suspect list solely to expert mountain climbers, but at least it gave them a direction to look in.

Movement down the trail caught his attention. His hand immediately went to his side, the familiar bulk of his service handgun there and ready if he needed it. Thankfully he spotted Noah and a female state trooper officer coming up the trail. He moved his hand off his weapon and called to them.

Noah’s face registered the exact moment he smelled the distinct odor of decay. He felt for the police chief. Clay had kept himself and Summer there not only because the body needed to be kept under supervision until the law enforcement could come to process it, but also because he’d learned in his years of police work that the best course of action was to stay at the scene and let your nose get used to the smell. It was better than getting fresh air and coming back in, a mistake rookie cops often made. It usually didn’t take them long to learn though.

“Tell me how you found her.” Noah’s voice was all business, the strain of the day already evident in his tone, and Clay knew it was only going to get worse.

“The smell first. Then I came this way to investigate.”

“Did it occur to you that you were marching my sister into a crime scene?” Noah practically growled the words.

“Noah. Calm down. He did what needed to be done.” The trooper stuck her hand out to Clay. “Trooper Erynn Cooper.”

“Trooper... Cooper?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, never heard that before. Clever.”

Clay smiled. “Sorry, ma’am.”

“Ma’am?” Now her brows were raised. The woman had a really expressive face. “Where are you from, because it’s sure not here.”

“Georgia.”

“The South. That makes sense.”

“Could we save the introductions for later?”

Erynn rolled her eyes and gave Clay a sympathetic smile. “He’s really not always such a bear.”

Clay looked between the two of them. “Do the troopers work with Moose Haven police often?”

Erynn nodded as Noah shook his head.

Summer sighed. “They have to cooperate because Moose Haven is in such an isolated area of the Kenai Peninsula. Because of that our police force is small and sometimes needs backup.”