Tundra Threat (14 page)

Her shoulders shook with silent, tearless sobs. She wished she had tears to go with them, but they wouldn’t come.

A soft hand on her shoulder startled her, comforted her and made her feel self-conscious simultaneously.

“You’ll find him,” was all Will said. No empty promises that things would be okay. No awkward words of comfort. This man who knew her so well said the only thing he could say that would encourage her to keep going.

McKenna sniffed. “I can only hope so. I never should have let you talk me into staying here.” McKenna swiped a hand across her cheek, brushing another stray tear away.

“I thought it would be best.”

McKenna looked back toward the charred remains of the Dixons’ house, then had to tear her gaze away. She felt sick as she realized that, once again, her choice to stay here had caused this.

* * *

Will felt sick. He knew how hard Matt had worked to fix that house up just the way his wife had wanted it.

“Best?” McKenna turned from studying the scene and leveled him with a glare. “You call two people losing their home and everything they have, when their lives have already been turned upside down because someone shot Anna,
best?
Would you please let me handle this from now on? I don’t want anyone else to get hurt because they’re trying to help me. I’m in charge here, I need to be the one making the decisions and carrying the responsibility. As I’ve tried to tell you more than once, I can handle everything
just
fine.
”

Her words so echoed Rachael’s the night before she’d been killed that it felt almost as if she’d slapped him in the face and sent him back in time.

“It’s dangerous,” he’d told Rachael when she’d informed him of her skiing plans.

She’d only laughed.

“I mean it, Rachael. Be careful.” He’d considered his options, realized he wasn’t going to talk her out of it and then changed his tactics. “At least let me come with you. I know the wilderness—I can read signs that might point to animal danger or avalanches. Let me help.”

“I don’t need help, Will. I’m perfectly capable and can handle a ski trip just fine on my own. But thanks for the offer.”

She’d left the next morning and he’d never seen her alive again.

He jerked out of his memory back into the present, the smell of smoke highlighting the danger this stubborn woman in front of him was trying to ignore.

“Just let me help.”

“No!”

The past and present tangled as his frustration rose. “You’re being unreasonable, Rachael!”

He realized his mistake milliseconds before hurt flashed in McKenna’s eyes.

“McKenna...” Will reached for her arm.

“No, Will. I’m not her.” She swallowed hard and for a moment he thought she might cry. She didn’t. “And I don’t need your help.”

This time it was his turn to take a step back. He wanted to protect her, to help her end this case safely.

But it seemed she’d made her choice. Independent McKenna didn’t need anyone. He should have known all along this was what she wanted—to be left alone.

He walked straight to his truck, climbed in and drove away without looking back, heading out of town toward the wilderness. Maybe he’d sit by one of the lakes outside town for a little while. The space might give him the room he needed to think.

All this time, he’d wanted to help and protect her, just as he had when she was a kid. But that urge to look out for her, to fix things for her, had backfired, driving her away.

McKenna didn’t need him. And now, it seemed, she didn’t even want him around.

He’d been foolish to think she did. When he’d run into her, literally, at the grocery store, he’d noticed she was all grown up. He would have had to be blind not to. And this new woman version of McKenna he had gotten to know was the woman he was falling for, had probably already fallen for. Maybe he was guilty of being a little overprotective. But was it so wrong to want to protect the woman he cared so much about?

He pulled up beside one of the lakes, opened the door of his truck and listened to the quiet, the peacefulness of the arctic air contrasting with the churning in his gut from the events of that night.

There in the darkness, understanding about where he’d messed up finally hit him. Different as the two women were, different as his
feelings
for them were, he’d treated the situation as if it was Rachael all over again. His slip earlier—calling McKenna by Rachael’s name—had proven that, his heart admitting it subconsciously before his mind was able to.

“Why, God?” he let himself ask aloud. “What’s so wrong with trying to be a protector?”

Scenes of his life flashed through his mind. Choices he’d made. Choices Rachael had made. He’d always wanted to take care of his wife, give her everything she could ever want and treat her like a princess. That hadn’t been what Rachael had had in mind—she’d wanted to take care of herself, to choose her own adventures without his interference and his need to keep her safe. Maybe they hadn’t been a perfectly compatible match. But that hadn’t meant he’d loved her any less. Will wished she’d lived, wished he’d been able to do more to convince her not to ski that day.

But she’d made her own choices.

“Is that it, God?”

Pieces of a long-undone puzzle fell together in Will’s mind. He’d given McKenna a hard time about her lack of trust in God, her desire to be in control, yet didn’t he struggle with the same thing? Maybe his struggle looked a little different. But he was guilty at times of wanting to
over
protect.

But Will wasn’t God. And in the end, people made choices and only God could watch over them. Will couldn’t always be enough. Not for Rachael. McKenna had been right. Her death hadn’t been his fault.

He couldn’t be enough for McKenna, either.

But with God’s help, Will would do the best he could. If McKenna would let him.

He pulled his phone from his pocket and glanced at it, knowing he needed to give her some space but wishing she’d call. Text. Something.

Will might have finally made peace with his past, decided he was ready to move on. But that didn’t mean McKenna would welcome him back into her life.

* * *

“I have news. Did you want to wait for Will to come back?” the man from the fire department asked McKenna.

She shrugged.
Was
Will coming back? As much as she’d been hurt by his slip—calling her Rachael, reminding her once again that Will had been in love before, with a woman she could never measure up to—she hadn’t expected that her words would drive him away. But somehow she’d seen the hurt she felt mirrored in his eyes when she’d refused his help and told him to leave her alone. She sensed that he wasn’t coming back anytime soon. Maybe not ever. “You’d better just go ahead and tell me,” she decided.

“Are you ready?” the man asked carefully, looking as if he was preparing to gauge her reaction.

McKenna sighed. “Sure.”

“It’s arson. No doubt about it. The burn pattern indicates it clearly already. There will be more of an investigation. The guys from the police department will probably be out to help and we’ll need to send samples off to the lab to confirm our preliminary ruling and see what kind of accelerant was used. But yeah, someone wanted to burn this house down.” He shook his head. “Any idea why?”

None she was willing to share. McKenna shrugged again and the firefighter walked away. She stood and surveyed the damage for herself, then walked closer to the house, which was now a stark contrast between piles of ash and broken glass and parts of the house looking the way they always had. Matt’s study had definitely gotten the worst of it. She’d be willing to bet that’s where the fire had started.

“Excuse me.” She motioned over the man who had spoken to her. “Can you tell me where it started?”

“Officially we can’t say yet.”

“But...?”

He weighed his words. “I’d guess it started right there.” He gestured toward the study.

“Thank you.” McKenna couldn’t have been less surprised. Whoever was here hadn’t only been trying to kill her, although she was sure that would have been a bonus. They’d also been trying to destroy her notes on this case and the evidence she’d gathered, likely guessing she’d been using the study as an at-home office.

It was a good thing she’d forgotten to put that backpack away last night.

He also must have known she was taking her notes back to the house where she was staying, because otherwise the trooper post, not the house, would have been the target.

It couldn’t have been ten whole seconds from when she had that thought to when half the firefighters suddenly packed up and jumped back onto their trucks, clearly preparing to face another fire.

Goose bumps crawled down her arms and she motioned for Mollie to stay while she ran toward one of the trucks that was leaving. “Excuse me,” she began, praying her gut feeling was wrong this time. “Where are you headed?”

The man blinked, looking surprised to see her. “Aren’t you the new wildlife trooper?”

She nodded.

“I figured you’d called it in. We’re headed to another fire. This one at the trooper post.”

McKenna motioned for Mollie and jumped into her own car, following them to another fire that looked eerily like the first.

“It’s burning just like the house did,” she heard one of the men shout as they struggled to extinguish the blaze. Most likely the same accelerant had been used—further proof that the two fires had been set by the same person.

She watched the already exhausted men give everything they had to get the fire under control. But this time the fire was too strong, too fast, for the little building.

In a matter of minutes, the entire structure was gone. McKenna tried to blink away the shock but couldn’t process the scene before her. She was so deep into this case, felt as if she was so close to solving it, and now this. Her office was destroyed—all the files stored in the office were gone. Most of those had only existed as hard copies, since her predecessor hadn’t believed in digitizing his office. The notes in her backpack were all she had left.

She hoped that would be enough.

FOURTEEN

“H
ello?” Will picked up the landline the next morning, rubbing his eyes, which were dry from lack of sleep, before he glanced at the caller ID and saw the call was coming from Truman Hunting Expeditions.

“You coming in to work today?” Rick’s voice sounded more harried than usual.

“I’d planned to take the day off. I don’t have any hunts scheduled.” Will glanced at the clock. Just past six.

“Change those plans. I’ve got a group in from Washington that wants to go out today.”

“We should have left already to get good time in.”

“Am I the boss here, or are you?”

Will let several seconds of silence tick by before he sighed. He may as well work today. It wasn’t as if he was going to do anyone any good sticking around town. “I’ll be there in thirty minutes,” he said and hung up.

Will picked up his cell phone out of habit. No missed calls or texts, which was a good sign. McKenna must have had a quiet night after the fire was taken care of.

Of course, she might not be letting him know those things anymore. After all,
she
was in charge of this investigation and could handle it herself.

The words she’d thrown at him yesterday still burned, despite the revelations he’d had last night. He was sorry he’d called her Rachael. But if she’d only been in his head, she’d understand why the situations had seemed so similar, why the wrong name had slipped even though he knew full well which woman he was with.

He’d originally taken today off work to help McKenna. But he doubted she’d welcome his help after yesterday.

Actually, he was sure of it. She’d made it clear she didn’t need him.

He’d probably be better off if he could get used to that idea. And in the process somehow convince his heart he didn’t need her either.

He was still staring at the phone when it rang, showing Matt’s number. He answered immediately. “Hey, what’s up? Everything all right with Anna?”

“Yeah, she’s doing great. That’s why I’m calling. We’ve decided Lexi’s going to stay here with her and I’m coming back to Barrow.”

“You’re sure that’s a good idea?” Since no further attempts had been made on Anna’s life while she’d been hospitalized, he was less worried about her than he’d been initially, but it had still made sense for Matt to stay with his sister-in-law, offer some level of protection.

“Lexi insists. And you know her—she can handle anything. She just lets me pretend to be the protector.” He laughed.

Will knew his friend was probably right. His own heart clenched as he thought about the similarities in Lexi and McKenna’s personalities. He knew, somewhere deep in his heart, that McKenna was capable. Would it hurt for her to humor him and let him feel as if he was helping her somehow?

Or maybe he was being overly protective. Behaving more like a brother than a man who was in love with her, treating her like a child instead of acknowledging her as a smart, competent woman. After all, her fiercely independent streak was one of the reasons she’d stolen his heart in the first place.

He shrugged away the thoughts of McKenna. He’d had enough introspection for the day. “I’ll be glad when you’re back. It’s not the same here without you to talk to after work.”

“My flight lands late this afternoon. Think you can pick me up at the airport?”

“Yeah. But we need to talk about your house.”

“McKenna already called last night and told Lexi about the fire.”

“You’re okay?”

“It’s just a house. Seeing Anna hurt like she was really put things in perspective. We’ll build another one. For now, just pick me up at the airport and let me know what I can do to help with the case.”

“You’re not exactly the top pick on the troopers’ list of people to confide in.” He laughed as he said the words, knowing Matt was able to handle a little ribbing.

“That life feels like a thousand years ago. Besides, you wouldn’t believe some of the people I know and things I’ve learned from them. Maybe I can figure out how this guy thinks, help you and McKenna catch him somehow.”

“Yeah, we should talk about McKenna, too.”

“The fact that you’re in love with her? Figured that out about two weeks ago.”

“About the fact that she’s not talking to me after I said the wrong thing last night.”

“Double murders, woman troubles... You do have a mess on your hands. Just lay low for today. Give her some space. I’ll do whatever I can to help you get her back, man. I haven’t seen you so...
alive
since you got to Barrow.”

Will knew he was right. The truth was that he
hadn’t
felt so alive since he moved here. “Lay low?” He felt uneasy at the idea of leaving her alone when someone was after her, but hadn’t she asked for that? If him showing up to talk to her would make her angry or distracted then it could put her off her game at a time when she badly needed to stay focused.

“Look, you don’t sound as if you like the idea. Maybe I’m the wrong person to talk to. What would Luke tell you to do?”

“Lay low.”

“Maybe it’s not a bad idea then.”

Will knew it wasn’t. He’d take his friend’s advice and leave her alone, at least for today. Although he’d probably drive by her office later, just to make sure she was there and everything seemed normal. Sometime tomorrow, he’d be on her doorstep, ready to plead his case. Because he wasn’t letting her go without at least trying.

* * *

He wasn’t two hours into his day at work when Will finally admitted to himself that putting McKenna out of his thoughts—even for a day—was never going to work.

Everything about her was ingrained in his life. Her laugh. The way the sun glinted off her shiny red hair. The stubborn lift of her chin.

He’d give anything to pawn off this latest batch of clients to someone else and get back to her. She was invading his mind even more than usual and he couldn’t shake the feeling he’d made the wrong choice going in to work today.

“How many caribou do you think we’ll get today?” one of the clients asked from behind him.

“It depends,” Will answered without taking his eyes from the plane’s dash. Rick had loaned him a plane since Will’s had been unfixable and he hadn’t gotten insurance money to replace it yet.

“You like the taste of ʼem?” another man asked the first.

He laughed. “Nah. Just need another trophy for my wall.”

Will bristled. McKenna was right about men like these. The local wildlife
needed
protection from them.

He hated to tell her about days like this, though, because it reflected badly on hunters in general. And plenty of men, himself and Matt included, liked to hunt and did so responsibly.

Unfortunately the clients at Truman Hunting Expeditions who respected the wildlife and the land were few and far between these days. The situation had only been getting worse in the past couple of months.

Will was beginning to think the business was in trouble. Rick used to have higher standards for screening clients, always making sure they were capable and had received some instruction before heading out on a hunting trip. He’d also heard Rick on the phone recently talking about money in a low, tense voice. Maybe that was what was driving him to be less choosy about the clients he signed up for packages.

Not that it was really any of Will’s business.

“Wait while I get us set up,” he instructed the men, eyeing one of them who seemed to be having a little trouble with his muzzle control. When he’d exited the plane, he’d been a little too relaxed in his handling of the rifle. And as he talked to one of the other guys in the group, he’d swept the front of the gun across several people. Will had cringed at the violation of basic gun safety—never point a gun at anything you don’t mean to shoot, and treat every gun as if it was loaded.

Thankfully, that one wasn’t. Yet. Will rubbed at his temples, feeling a headache coming on. This was going to be a long day. He glanced up at the herd of caribou in the distance. Not close enough yet, but maybe in a few minutes.

He laid his pack across the ground as a rifle rest and waited.

“I see them right there!” one of the men exclaimed, gesturing with the business end of his rifle.

“Keep that pointed at the ground until we’re ready to shoot,” Will directed him. The man scowled but did as instructed.

He really needed to start his business. And soon. Maybe sooner than he’d thought.

Will watched the herd for another minute. Several of the caribou wandered close enough that they might have had a shot, but they were turned the wrong way, facing away from them. While it might be possible to get one at this range, a clean shot through the heart wasn’t likely, and nothing else would be a humane kill.

“I’m beginning to think you didn’t bring us out here to get anything, after all,” one of the men said in an angry tone.

“I’m gonna get one anyway,” his friend announced, kneeling down to use the rest Will had set up.

“Not yet. We don’t have a good shot.”

The man loaded and chambered the rifle. Will told him again to take the gun out of shooting position and wait, but he didn’t listen, so Will used his foot to nudge the rest away so the man had nothing to balance his rifle on.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he growled at Will. “Fine.” He stood and before Will could react, he aimed his rifle and took a cheap shot. Will cringed, knowing what that shot would do to an animal if it hit. It was an inhumane shot, that was all there was to it. Fortunately, the man had terrible aim and didn’t manage to hit anything at all.

Will watched as the caribou herd started to run, startled by the clap of gunfire.

“None of you has a good enough shot. Put the guns down or I will get in that plane and leave all three of you for the bears.”

“We have guns.”

“Loaded with a round that may or may not be heavy enough to stop a grizzly.” Will shrugged and turned to the plane. “Your choice.”

In his peripheral vision, he saw them look at one another and then reluctantly lower their weapons.

“We’ll shoot when we have a good opportunity. A humane one,” Will said, his voice firm. No wonder McKenna viewed some hunters the way she did. The way this group had been acting, he didn’t feel like any of them deserved a chance to bag a caribou today. But for the sake of his job, he’d give it one more try. Then he could legitimately call their day over, to give them enough time to get back to Barrow.

Three hours later, Will drove away from Truman Hunting Expeditions, his pesky cargo finally no longer his responsibility. He let out a deep breath, trying to calm the pounding of his heart. It could have been a lot worse. At least no one had gotten hurt with the sloppy way they’d handled those guns. Any of them could easily have killed one of their hunting partners.

The scene on the tundra that McKenna had described popped into his mind. Two dead. He’d have to ask her if it was possible that it could have been a hunting trip gone wrong, maybe not murder, after all.

Though that didn’t explain why someone was after McKenna for investigating it.

Will let out a deep breath, the stress of both the case and the day pressing on him with a weight almost too heavy to handle. He couldn’t take any more of this. He was close enough to the amount in savings he’d wanted to have before he started his business. Will would call Rick as soon as he got home and ask for a meeting, maybe even for the next day.

He couldn’t leave this company soon enough.

* * *

McKenna hadn’t expected to sleep, being back in the house where Anna had been shot, but exhaustion had overcome her and she’d slept all the way through the night.

She’d called Lexi the night before to let her know about the fire. Lexi hadn’t seemed as concerned about the house as she had been about McKenna’s safety. She could hear Matt in the background, sounding as if he felt the same way.

McKenna hadn’t known what to say or do, other than to apologize profusely for her part in their house’s destruction, and to try to reassure them she’d be as careful as she could. They’d told her that Anna was improving and should be out of the hospital within a week.

That gave her a week to get this case wrapped up. There was no way her friend needed to come back to a town where the person who had tried to kill her was still at large. As McKenna drained a cup of strong coffee and looked out into the clear fall day, she didn’t feel as if she’d need a week. She had almost everything she needed.

McKenna pulled out the notes she’d been taking on the case, lingering for a long time on the ones she’d taken after she and Will talked about the profile of a hunter.

She frowned.

Flipped back a couple of pages in the notebook, to the night Anna had brought her to the murder scene on the beach—Seth Davison.

She’d jotted down descriptions of everything she’d seen. Even the fact that the camo pants and jacket Seth was wearing had looked brand-new. McKenna flipped back to the notes from her conversation with Will, reliving what he’d said again in her mind. Would an experienced hunter wear brand-new gear on a hunt? Maybe....

But something else struck her. Only his wallet and a cell phone had been recovered from the scene of the crime, and when she’d checked with the hotel he’d been checked into, the room where he’d stayed was empty.

If he was in town to hunt...where was his rifle?

What if he hadn’t been there to hunt at all?

The thought morphed from a tickle in the back of her mind, to a clear thought, to a solid suspicion. Seth Davison hadn’t been in Barrow to hunt. He’d been in Barrow to investigate the deaths of his friends.

If that was true—
if
—it told her several things. First, he’d thought the hunting industry had been connected to the deaths somehow, a hunch that may or may not be true. Second, he’d believed his friends’ deaths to be the result of foul play. Third, he didn’t trust anyone else to investigate the murders. It was a lot of trouble to fly up and investigate on his own, especially if McKenna’s hunch was correct and Seth wasn’t a hunter himself.

McKenna almost had it. She was sure of it. She just needed to think through everything and connect the dots. A shiver of anticipation went up her arms as she realized that this really could be the day this nightmare ended.