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

killer could have done something to it while you were in the woods, and you know we don’t have the capability to check for threats the way the state lab does.”

“What do you mean? You’ve looked at it before,” she reminded Noah.

“We’ve checked for signs of mechanical tampering, bombs. We looked for tracking devices once.” Noah shook his head. “But I don’t like how it seems like this guy always appears to know where you are. Either he has a source on the inside or he’s tracking you somehow.”

Summer understood. And shivered.

“Those are all the questions I have for now,” Erynn said and looked at Noah. “Did you have any to add?”

“You covered it well.” He looked at Summer. “I did get your text about the knife shop in Anchorage. Did you send that before you were run off the road?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “A little while before. I’m not sure how long, but I didn’t figure it would send until we were almost home. I just didn’t want to forget to ask you.”

“Well, I got it. And good thinking, but I called APD and they actually already checked out that guy. The knife shop was on their radar because of the weapon the killer has used. It may be from that shop, based on some evidence I can’t tell you about, so they already checked him out and they don’t believe it’s him.”

Summer didn’t know whether she should feel relief or not. On one hand, she was glad it wasn’t that particular acquaintance, but on the other hand, her attempts to come up with a suspect list hadn’t been very helpful.

And she was exhausted. Inside and out.

“Can I go sleep now?” Summer asked Noah, feeling like she was on the edge of falling apart emotionally, something she didn’t want Clay to see. He’d seen her at her most vulnerable already, earlier when they were talking, and she needed to maintain just a little distance.

He nodded. “Yes. I’m going to stay close. I’ll probably just sit in one of those chairs in your room once you fall asleep.”

She wanted to ask if that was necessary, but knew that it was. Besides, after what had happened the last time she’d fallen asleep in her room, she didn’t think she’d be able to rest peacefully without having someone there with her. So without arguing, she stood and walked to the stairs, then up to her room where she laid down in her dirty clothes and fell asleep within seconds.

FOURTEEN

When Clay woke from his nap the sun was high in the sky, not that that told him much about what time it was. He reached for his phone, which sat on the bedside table. Just past 2:00 p.m.

He threw back the covers, stretched and counted. Better than six hours of sleep, which was like gold in an investigation like this. Noah would have understood how much he was helping Clay by letting him take a break this long.

Clay took a quick shower and changed into clean clothes, then hurried down the stairs, wondering if Summer had slept, if she was awake yet.

She wasn’t downstairs in the family’s living room, so he headed out into the main great room of the lodge.

“How are you doing?” Tyler asked from behind the desk, coming around to look Clay over. “You look pretty good. No injuries that I can see. Why’d you let my sister get shot?”

“You know I’d have taken the bullet for her if I’d been given the choice.” Clay said the words and meant them, realizing too late that the tone of his voice would probably convince Tyler all too well how much he meant them.

Sure enough, his friend studied him. “I asked for one thing.”

Clay shook his head, ran a hand through his hair. “It wasn’t on purpose, okay?”

“But you are falling for her.”

Was he? Maybe. Yes. No. Clay just needed to keep them both alive long enough to find out. “I care. A lot.” It was what he knew was true, so it was what he told Tyler. He didn’t want to hide anything from his friend.

“She’s been through a lot.”

“I know.”

“No, you don’t know this part. There was a guy—”

“I know all of it.”

Tyler looked at him.

Clay nodded.

“All of it?”

“Yes. I’m sure.”

“Don’t break her heart, Clay. That’s all I ever wanted, was to keep her heart from getting broken. You’re here for the summer and then what?”

“I’d planned to leave.”

It was the worst time for him to catch sight of Summer coming down the main stairs, but there she was. Clay didn’t know how much she’d heard. The last part without context sounded pretty bad. But he didn’t know if he was ready for her to understand how much he felt for her. How dangerously close to crazy about her he was.

“You’re leaving?” she asked quietly as she approached where the two of them stood.

Clay looked over at Tyler.

“Not right now,” Tyler said. “I just meant he’d only asked for a job for the summer.”

Clay watched Summer’s defenses go up again and wished he could do something about that, but having that conversation in front of her brother wasn’t something she’d appreciate, he was sure.

“I’ve got to get back to work,” Tyler said to Clay. “We’ll talk more later?”

“Sure.” He’d have agreed to almost anything to have Tyler leave so he could get Summer alone to explain. “How did you sleep?” he asked her.

“Pretty good. I woke up around half an hour ago and just laid there being thankful I wasn’t in the woods anymore.” She smiled a little. “Dry socks never felt so good, either,” she added, holding up one wool sock–clad foot.

“I’m sure. I wanted to talk to you about today. Mind if we sit somewhere?”

“Let’s go back to the family room.” Summer led the way and they each took a seat on the sofa. She only sat two feet from him but it felt farther, with the way her arms were crossed defensively, shutting him out.

“I know you