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

getting harder to keep her eyelids open. At least the troopers had let an EMT see to her leg wound first. As she’d suspected it was only a graze, though a bit of a nasty one. She’d gotten worse gashes falling down scree slopes on mountains before though, so she knew she could handle it. Summer yawned. She supposed she should just be thankful that she’d had the burst of energy that enabled her to run so much that night without any rest.

“But I’ve got to talk to you now and get some answers while things are still fresh in your mind.” Her voice was apologetic.

“Just ask her the questions, Erynn. Don’t waste her time,” Noah snapped as he walked up.

“Noah.”

“I’m sorry.” He looked at Summer, then at Erynn. “Sorry, Erynn.”

“I get it, she’s your sister. But you’ve got to keep it together if you’re going to help her at all. Not to mention if you want to be part of this investigation with how close you are to it.”

Summer looked at her brother, who’d raised his eyebrows. “I’m the police chief of a town who’s had a murder and an attempted murder in the last week. I’m staying on this case.”

“She’s your sister. Do you really have the right to ignore that connection and how it might be affecting you?”

“It’s a small town. We’re all connected somehow. It wouldn’t make sense for me not to be on it. And I don’t technically report to you, I’d like to remind you.”

Summer looked back at Erynn, exhausted but still awake enough to be slightly amused by the familiar tension and banter between her brother and the other law enforcement officer.

“Let’s focus on your sister and not jurisdiction, alright? I’m sorry I said anything.” She looked back at Summer. “Can you tell me what happened yesterday in your own words, starting from the beginning?”

“I can. You know about the break-in here...”

“It was more than that. It was attempted kidnapping,” Noah interjected.

Summer shuddered.

“We all know, Noah.” Erynn spoke softly, her eyes never leaving Summer. “Keep going.”

Summer knew her brother was getting testy because he was so concerned, and appreciated Erynn ignoring his displays of crankiness. She also appreciated Erynn’s quiet voice. Her head was starting to hurt a little. Lack of sleep and dehydration, she guessed.

With that in mind, she reached for the water bottle Clay had brought her before he’d been taken in another direction to give his statement. Summer wished they hadn’t been split up, but she supposed she understood why they’d all want to talk to the two of them separately, see if their stories had any differences or if they’d both noticed the same details.

She took a long drink and then looked up. “Clay and I went to Anchorage because...” She hesitated. Neither of them was technically supposed to be investigating so she wasn’t sure how to phrase what their intentions had been without giving that away. Noah had been the one to suggest they talk to APD, but Summer still feared if she phrased it wrong they’d know she’d been investigating. “We felt like the case had reached a dead end and hoped talking to the officers at APD might help, since they’ve been working the case longer.” There, that was vague but true.

Erynn nodded.

“They had nothing and then we were run off the road while we were driving in Anchorage. We didn’t feel safe staying in town so we headed back to Moose Haven. We’d been driving awhile outside Turnagain Pass—”

“Can you guess how far?”

“I’m not sure. We’d crossed Silvertip Creek but hadn’t reached the Canyon Creek rest area yet. That’s the best I can tell you.” Even when they’d gotten into the car earlier, it had taken Summer about twenty minutes to focus and realize she should have been paying attention when they passed landmarks to give herself a better idea of exactly where they’d been. Thankfully if someone drove her back, she believed she should be able to pinpoint their location fairly accurately. Mountain trails tended to imprint themselves on her memory.

“That’s pretty good. That’s the area troopers went to just now after they got Clay’s call.”

Summer thought again about how he’d been genuinely concerned for the well-being of the man who’d been after them. Something about that messed with her mind. What a weird balance a man in his line of work—former line of work, technically—had to maintain, between justice and mercy. Summer wasn’t sure she could keep both of them in mind like that so well.

“We’d slowed down, I think. I was asleep, but when I woke up we were almost stopped, so I assume Clay had slowed. There were construction cones, I do remember that, so maybe that was some kind of setup.”

“Extremely likely, I’d say based on gut instinct, but we should know more when the team out there is finished investigating.”

“The man shot at us, at the tires, I think, and then Clay told me to get out and run, so I did.”

“And you ran for how long?”

“I have no idea. Miles? Hours?” She shook her head. “It’s hard to think about either when you know someone behind you has a gun and wants you dead. Maybe Clay will know. I do know we stopped eventually, near a large canyon wall-type area of Six Mile Creek. Clay thought we should rest a bit, I think he’d planned on at least me getting some sleep, though that didn’t happen. He was hoping to reach either the Hope Cutoff or the Seward Highway, whichever made more sense to get to, to get help.”

“And you did, right?”

Summer shrugged. “Basically. But while we were stopped the shooter caught up with us and shot at us.” She motioned to her leg. “That’s when I was grazed, not when he shot at us on the highway.” Frowning, she looked at Noah. “Where is the car anyway?”

“Troopers are going to retrieve it and take it to the state crime lab in Anchorage for processing. It’s possible the