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

in the woods with ease, which was why her being disoriented after the attack and not recognizing where she was had cut so deep and disconcerted her so much.

“He can’t just have disappeared.”

Noah shook his head. “I’ll stay with Summer if you want to investigate.”

Summer watched the two of them stare each other down. There seemed to be something going on that she wasn’t aware of, some sort of unspoken conversation happening between the two of them.

Feeling frustrated that she was once again being left out of the loop, she tried to think of a way she could help. “Listen, I can go check myself if you want.”

“You won’t be leaving the house until it’s time for you to go to a safe house, which is as soon as I get a place cleared and set up.” Noah’s voice didn’t leave any room for argument.

Didn’t faze Summer.

“I’m not going to a safe house.”

“We’ll talk about it later.”

She shook her head. “No. Not unless you can be absolutely certain I’d be any safer there.” Besides, even if running and hiding did appeal to some cowardly place inside her, not only did Summer refuse to give in to that, she also needed to be here at the lodge. Her hikes were usually some of the best-rated amenities the lodge offered. It wasn’t so much that she did anything that was so different from anyone they could have hired to lead the hikes, but rather because she was something of a minor celebrity in athletic circles. If people were fascinated by her mountain running credentials and the brief note in her bio about the time she’d spent in Europe running with some of the world’s elite on some of the most stunning peaks on the globe, then that was fine with her—as long as it brought more business to the lodge. It meant she was finally doing something for her family, contributing.

Atoning.

“I’m not leaving.” Her voice was just as firm.

Noah exhaled. “Fine. I’ll leave it for the moment. For now, get dressed.” He looked at Clay. “Someone else will cover your assigned tasks at the lodge for both of you today. You need to go to Anchorage to talk to some of the officers who have been working this case. I’ve communicated to them everything you’ve told me, but maybe a face-to-face will help and they’ll uncover something that will point us to our target. We need a break in this case. This guy is too good.”

Clay was nodding. “I’d been thinking we should go up there.”

Summer’s heartbeat quickened. She’d been planning a trip to Alaska’s largest city also, but for slightly different case-related reasons. “Alright, when do we leave?”

Noah raised his eyebrows. Surprised by her easy acquiescence? She wasn’t sure. But she didn’t flinch, didn’t lower her shoulders.

“As soon as you’re ready,” Clay answered.

She glanced at the clock. It was 3:52 a.m. She wasn’t going back to sleep. “Give me five minutes.”

“We might need to stay in Anchorage through tomorrow.” Summer waited till they were well down the Seward Highway headed toward Anchorage before she started sharing the pieces of her plan with Clay. They were out of cell phone signal range right now, so she knew he couldn’t call Noah to get his thoughts on it, a detail that may or may not have factored into her decision to broach the subject right now.

“Why is that?” Clay looked over at her, only briefly as he put his eyes right back on the road, but it was long enough for her to wonder about the thoughts behind what she saw in his eyes. He’d weathered the situation well, showing up in town right as everything in her family went crazy and jumping right in to help. She remembered Tyler talking about him from college but hadn’t realized they were that close—close enough for Clay to put himself in danger to protect Tyler’s family.

Or maybe Clay was just like that. That wouldn’t surprise her. He seemed like the kind of classic Southern boy who would pull his friends’ trucks out of ditches in the middle of the night, no questions asked, like the kind you heard about in songs. Until now she hadn’t been sure they actually existed. Alaskans had their own code of honor, committed to taking care of their own, but it still wasn’t the same as whatever she saw in Clay.

She wondered how much of it had to do with his faith. She’d seen him reading his Bible on more than one occasion when they’d been sitting in the lodge. Really reading, like he was paying attention too, not just holding it and staring into the distance like she’d done the last few times she’d tried it.

Before she’d acknowledged that maybe, possibly, it was too late for her.

She shrugged the uncomfortable thoughts away before they could settle too deeply in her mind. “Because I have a plan.”

“Go on.”

His voice was cautious. Hesitant, but not necessarily filled with any kind of opposition. Not yet anyway.

“After we talk to the police, I want to talk to some of the victims’ families.”

“The police will have handled that, Summer. And I’m not sure they’ll give us access to that—though it’s likely something Noah can get ahold of if he feels like he should.”

“Hear me out.”

Another glance. Some crazy part of her wanted to reach out her hand, hold his again like she had in the early hours of this morning and see if the same electricity shot through her, the heart-shaking, unsettling but so-very-welcome kind.

Welcome?

No. That kind of heat was dangerous. Lack of sleep and extremely close proximity to Clay were just getting to her, that was all. People had all kinds of weird emotions when they were stuck with someone in these kinds of emotional, tense situations.

She shook her head, focusing on what she’d been saying. “I just need to talk to them myself and ask some questions I don’t think the police would have asked.”

“The police are good at what they