“A moose!” she muttered, and shook her head. She’d never felt so close to nature. And the air here! It smelled crisp and clean. She could see the appeal of such a place—with all the wide-open spaces, the freedom, the simplicity—and feared her sister could, too. Would the last great frontier, and the best-looking man Brianne had ever laid eyes on, tempt her sister into moving here permanently?
The answer to that question terrified Brianne. She’d been as tolerant of Evelyn’s passion for knowledge as anyone, had tried to support her and her goals even when their parents were negative about her getting involved in this kind of research. Brianne didn’t want to be a selfish jerk, but Evelyn had been gone long enough. She needed her sister. Who else was she going to turn to now that she’d be raising a child alone? She couldn’t rely on her parents. With what they’d been through, nearly losing Evelyn and then having to wonder for the past twenty-two years if and when Jasper might strike again, their mother was almost a basket case, and Lara’s many episodes of anxiety and depression took a toll on their father.
She passed a small motel, a diner, a guns and ammo store that looked relatively new and the bar where Evelyn had taken her last night. It had a big parking lot to one side—evidence that it was the most popular place in town—and moose antlers over the door. She stopped to take a picture, since it was light enough. She thought Jeff would get a kick out of this quaint place—and then reminded herself that she couldn’t send it to him. She’d made him choose, and he’d chosen someone else. He was getting texts and calls from the new woman in his life these days. He didn’t even seem to care that she was pregnant, which convinced her he’d never really loved her in the first place.
Besides, there was no cell service here. She couldn’t send pictures or texts to anyone, not from her phone, not unless the bar was open and she could go inside to use their Internet.
She frowned as she shoved her phone back in her purse. She hadn’t told Evelyn about the baby yet, hadn’t been able to bring herself to start the trip that way. But she should have. Last night hadn’t gone well. Evelyn had guessed something was wrong but hadn’t been willing to push, so they’d talked about everything except the real problem. Or, rather, problems …
Since she was at the edge of town, she almost turned back. But then she saw another building a little distance off. Once she realized it was some sort of grocery store, she kept driving.
“Quigley’s Quick Stop,” she read from a crude hand-lettered sign on top of the building as she pulled in to see what they had. Poor Amarok had been working night and day. And Evelyn was stressed out of her mind. So Brianne decided to make them dinner.
There were two other vehicles in the parking lot. A large, barrel-chested man walked out as she walked in. The driver of the second car had his back to her two aisles away as the clerk, an older gentleman, looked up and nodded in lieu of a greeting.
She selected what she needed to make meatloaf and mashed potatoes and approached the cashier at the same time as the other patron—a prison guard from Hanover House, judging by his uniform.
“You go ahead,” he said, even though he was carrying only a bottle of Tylenol.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m in no hurry.”
She smiled and thanked him. If she hadn’t been so brokenhearted and in such an unenviable situation, she might’ve found him attractive. Tall, with thick, dark hair, blue eyes and a close-cropped beard, he had a muscular build and a ready smile that revealed a set of perfect teeth.
The cashier, who had to be in his seventies, considering the gray hair, the slope to his shoulders and the fine network of blue veins in his nose, started ringing her up. “You new in town or just visiting?”
“Just visiting,” she replied.
He hesitated, one arthritic hand gripping her loaf of bread. “That’s a Boston accent I hear, ain’t it?”
“It is.”
“You come from the doc’s neck of the woods, then.”
“If you mean Dr. Talbot, yes. I’m here visiting her. I’m her sister, Brianne.”
He made a clicking sound with his tongue. “Hell of a time to come to town, Miss Brianne, with what we got going on.”
“You mean the missing woman…”
“I mean the murdered woman. Two bodies have shown up so far. Who knows what’s going on? We could be looking at even more.”
“True. But I’m sure you’re aware my sister is no stranger to violence.”
The scanner beeped as he ran the UPC symbol on the bread. “You’re not afraid?”
“Probably more than she is,” she admitted.
“How old were you when she was kidnapped?”
“I’m younger by two years, so I was only fourteen. I’ll never forget what it was like when she went missing.” Or what it’d been like when she was found. Brianne had sat with their mom and dad in Evelyn’s hospital room day in and day out, hoping and praying and wondering whether her sister would survive.
“From what I hear, it’s a miracle she lived through that first attack,” the man behind her chimed in.
She turned to include him in the conversation. “You work at Hanover House?”
“I do. Been there eight months.”
“How do you like it?”
“It’s a job.” He winked at her. “I certainly don’t feel as passionate about it as your sister does.”
“I’m afraid her passion for that place is going to get her killed,” Brianne grumbled.
“She might already be dead if not for him.” The cashier gestured toward the officer behind her.
Brianne lifted her eyebrows. “What do you mean?”
“You don’t know who he is?”
She glanced between them in confusion. “No.…”
“This is Andy Smith, the man who saved your sister’s life when Lyman Bishop came back for revenge.”
Smith modestly waved his words away. “My timing was good, that’s all. I just happened to show up at a critical moment.”
“You’re the one who interrupted Lyman Bishop?” Brianne asked. If she’d heard or read his name, she’d forgotten it.
“I was looking for the sergeant—and found Lyman Bishop trying to give your sister a frontal lobotomy. Like I said, it was a lucky interruption.”
“It was a very narrow escape for her.”
“She didn’t tell you about it?” The cashier sounded surprised.
“I saw it on the news. And I have a Google alert on her name, so I read about it online. But when I asked her about the incident, she said the media made it sound much worse than it was.”
“I’m sure she didn’t want you to worry,” Smith said. “How long will you be staying in Alaska?”
“A week. I have to get back to my job after that.”
The cashier finished ringing her up and bagged her groceries. “Have a great stay.”
“Thanks.” She sent the Hanover House guard who’d saved her sister’s life a farewell smile. Almost all the men in Alaska seemed to be good-looking.…
She was just starting Evelyn’s Land Cruiser when Smith came out and tapped on her window.
She rolled it down so they could hear each other, and he handed her his card.
“My number,” he said with a grin. “And don’t worry. I’m not hitting on you, only offering friendship. I know your sister’s involved in what’s going on right now, and I’d hate for you to be left sitting around, bored, while you’re on vacation. There’s so much to see and do here. Just give me a call if you’d like me to show you around Anchorage. That’s where I live.”
Impressed that he’d make such a nice offer, she put the card in her purse. “I appreciate that,” she said. “I’ll keep it in mind.”
19
“Look at him. He looks positively haggard,” Samantha Boyce confided to her best friend, Hannah Wilson. “What’s that crazy woman he’s living with doing to him?”
Hannah twisted around to take a peek but had to wait for Cindy Brandt, one of the waitresses at The Dinky Diner, to step out of the way before she could see Amarok sitting at the bar, finishing an open-face turkey sandwich and drinking a cup of coffee. “He still looks pretty darn good to me,” she joked.
“Because he can’t not look good, but”—Samantha slid over in the booth to get a better view—“she doesn’t even cook for him! He deserves better.”