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

ways the killer might have met me. Things like that. I thought that might help?”

“It might. It’s worth a try as long as you’re staying out of danger.” He looked at Clay. “Do you have her in a safe house?”

He shook his head. “The situation in Moose Haven currently makes more sense if we don’t. I know you’ve talked to her brother Chief Noah Dawson, and he’ll change her protection plan if it seems our current plan isn’t sufficient.”

“She has someone with her 24/7 though. Right?”

Clay nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Good.” The other man looked relieved, Clay noted. He was glad that the Anchorage police were taking the threat as seriously as they were, liked that someone else had Summer’s back, even if it was from a distance.

“Can you tell me in your own words what happened last night?” he asked Summer.

Summer did so and Clay listened, impressed at the way she was able to share everything with so much confidence, apparently unaffected. He knew better than to believe she was as nonchalant as she seemed. He knew how much the idea of someone being after her shook her. But he appreciated how she was able to deliver information in a detached sort of way.

When she’d finished giving her answer, the detective nodded and then slowly stood. “I’m going to pass this information on to the rest of the team. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you coming up. I know it’s a long drive.”

“We have other things to do in Anchorage anyway,” Summer said with a smile. Clay tried not to react but wished she hadn’t shared that particular tidbit.

Thankfully the detective didn’t ask questions, he just saw them out politely and then they were climbing back into Clay’s car.

“That went well, right?” Summer asked when they were both buckled in.

“It did.” Though it hadn’t been quite as informative as he had hoped. For the first time since he’d left Georgia, Clay honestly wished he had his badge back. He’d love to know what was going on in the police department right now, what leads were going to be pursued with the new information they’d been provided. He had guesses, of course, based on how he would handle it, but that wasn’t the same thing as knowing.

He was surprised by how much his civilian status stung.

He glanced over at Summer. Was it endangering her, being protected by someone who didn’t have the full power of the law behind him? It was better than nothing for sure, but he’d have to talk with Noah. The other man had floated the idea of Clay being sworn in as a Moose Haven reserve officer once, but Clay had brushed him off.

Maybe it was time to accept that offer. Anything that would keep Summer safer.

Summer gave Clay the address of the first house she wanted to visit. That of the first victim’s parents. Not every victim had relatives living in the state, so it worked out well for Summer that the first one had. She wanted to start at the beginning, talk to people who knew the victims while following the order of their disappearances just in case that was somehow significant.

The farther into the neighborhood they drove the heavier the pit in Summer’s stomach grew. She reached for the thermos of tea she’d brought and took a sip. Lukewarm. She winced. She’d known when she came up with this idea that it would be difficult, tracing the killer’s movements from one grieving family to another. Especially when her own emotions seemed to be waging a war between thankfulness that she was alive, that her family wasn’t one on the list, and at the same time feeling guilty. Why her? Why was she alive when these other women were dead?

Classic survivor’s guilt, Summer knew and was able to acknowledge. But it didn’t change the weight that seemed to sit on her, that made it a little harder to breathe. And also drove her to answer the whispered question from somewhere inside herself. It doesn’t matter why. You’re alive. What are you going to do about it?

What was she going to do?

“Which way here?” Clay asked.

Summer smiled at the irony of his timing. “Turn left,” she said after looking down at the directions she’d pulled up on her phone.

Working at the lodge was the right thing to do, she told herself as they approached the first house. There had to be a way to make it feel more like her passion. She already knew it was worth doing because it made her family happy and family was important, that was a lesson she should have learned long ago.

She wasn’t going to make that mistake again.

“This one?” Clay nodded toward a blue two-story house.

“Yes.” He pulled into the driveway.

She didn’t move, didn’t unbuckle. She suddenly couldn’t. Summer swallowed hard, tried to remind herself of all the reasons this was a good idea. Maybe their only chance.

“Ready?” Clay asked, his voice gentle and not pressuring. She smiled a little even as she still fought to keep herself from spiraling into panic.

“I’m not sure.”

“Nervous?”

“I don’t know what I am. Too many emotions to name, I guess.”

He nodded. “I understand.”

“You do?”

“It’s hard to face someone who’s been through this kind of tragedy, much less to ask them questions. Your part in this case, the fact that you’re not just someone investigating, that’s got to make it harder.”

She nodded.

He started to reach his hand over, then seemed to remember earlier and pulled it back.

Summer took his, accepted the squeeze he gave once she had and gave him a small smile. “I can use all the encouragement I can get right now.”

“I think what you’re doing is smart.”

“You’re coming with me, right?” The thought of facing the family without Clay hadn’t occurred to her.

“Yes,” he answered before she could worry any longer. She exhaled, let go of his hand and opened the car door. “I’m ready as I’ll get.”

She crossed the driveway and followed the sidewalk up to the