Alaskan Christmas Cold Case. Sarah Varland

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СКАЧАТЬ door opened just then and Miller walked in. “Whoa, you don’t look so good.”

      The kid had barely met the minimum age requirement for the troopers—at least, that was Erynn’s guess. He made her feel light-years old and, at just barely thirty, she didn’t appreciate it.

      “Not feeling so great, to be honest.”

      “Go ahead and head out. I’ve got this.”

      “I’ll wait till it’s officially time.” Miller was a decent kid so far, and Erynn trusted him, but he wasn’t the stickler for protocol that older officers she’d worked with had been. Good for some situations, not that she’d admit that on the record, but bad for others.

      Noah still hadn’t showed by the time she was ready to head home. Erynn hesitated half a second at the door then shook her head and went outside. She’d been a State Trooper for years. She’d taken self-defense courses, had a sidearm on her right side concealed under her windbreaker right now.

      She wasn’t technically in any more danger than she had been for years. She had known she’d never truly be safe.

      Not until the Ice Maiden Killer—who, it seemed, was also the Foster Kid Killer—was in custody.

      “What are you doing?”

      Noah’s voice was hard as she came around the corner of the building and almost ran into him.

      “I can’t stay here all night.” Not that she’d sleep at home. Maybe she should stay here, sleep on the office couch, but it would invite too many questions. Her job was one of the only things she had left, was the most important part of her life. She couldn’t lose it, too.

      “I told you to stay put.”

      Maybe it was the coldness in his voice. Maybe it was the fact that the day had had more surprises than she could handle on the amount of sleep she was running on currently, but she’d lost all her patience.

      “You aren’t in charge of me, Noah. I’m an adult and make my own decisions.”

      “I want to hear more about why she’d say you’d obstructed justice. And why you didn’t deny a word of it.”

      She turned to him, mouth open, but nothing came out. She didn’t know what she wanted to say anyway, just couldn’t believe he was looking at her that way.

      Like she was guilty of something.

      Her shoulders fell. At the very least, she could assure him that wasn’t the case—though, yes, it would have been better for her to have spoken up three years ago when the Ice Maiden case had come across their desks. She could have told him that she’d worried that Janie’s “death” had been the work of the Foster Kid Killer, as Janie dying accidentally when so many people she’d known had been killed had seemed too coincidental to her. But when the other officers had ruled it an accidental death, something far too common in the Alaskan wilderness, she’d hoped it was true. Thought maybe she was paranoid. Hadn’t wanted to believe they were all wrong and she was right.

      It had been murder.

      But she hadn’t obstructed justice. She’d just...stayed quiet. Erynn rubbed a hand across her forehead, winced against the throbbing of her building headache. She’d wanted so badly to be free from the fear, that entire chapter of her life, that she’d ignored the coincidence it would have been that a former foster kid she’d known had ended up dead.

      She exhaled. “Okay. Where do you want to go?”

      “My house.”

      She nodded. “I’ll follow you there.”

      “No. You can ride with me.”

      She didn’t have the energy to argue.

      Noah did not have anything to say on their drive. What was there to say? “Hi, I’m Noah Dawson. Who are you really?” He’d known the woman for five years and she’d never once mentioned a connection to a serial killer case in Anchorage, or the fact that her life was ever in danger at all. She’d acted like a Moose Haven native, hanging out at the diner, doing the polar plunge into the bay in January, but she had secrets.

      He’d never even imagined that. Maybe that’s why it hurt so much.

      He turned down the gravel drive to his place, stealing a glance at Erynn as he parked the car.

      She was just looking out the window. Silent and more serious than he’d ever seen her. Wasn’t she the one always telling him to loosen up? Calm down? She’d been a steadying influence more than once, but now he felt like he didn’t even know this woman next to him.

      “Erynn?” He finally broke the silence after they’d been sitting for a full minute and she still hadn’t moved.

      “I’m sorry.” She unbuckled, turned to him when he didn’t move. “Are you ready?”

      Was he? He didn’t know. “Just waiting for you.”

      True in more ways than she knew.

      She pushed her door open. He did the same, stood to follow her to his front door, eyes open and scanning—he didn’t think she faced danger but better safe than—

      Erynn stopped.

      Noah did the same. Seeing nothing. “What is it?”

      “On your porch. What’s that on the table?”

      He squinted. The sun was still high in the sky even at this time of evening, due to Alaska’s midnight sun, and the rays were in his eyes. He didn’t see what had her so riled.

      Noah stepped forward. There it was. A piece of paper?

      Part of him rebelled against the idea that she could be spooked by pieces of paper. That wasn’t the woman he knew. And this was Moose Haven. He’d worked quite a few crimes here, but the town as a whole was still sort of an Alaskan coastal Mayberry. It felt wrong for her to be so on edge here.

      Still, before his brother, Tyler, had gotten married, someone had been after his future wife, Emma. Tyler had been able to reassure Emma that she was safe and Emma had trusted him.

      Erynn knew too much to be that easily reassured. A threat could come out of nowhere. And if she was acting like this, there was a reason.

      God, help me listen when she’s ready to talk. And help me know what to do. He prayed in his head, even as he started toward Erynn. He wasn’t going to be able to do this on his own. “Stay with me. We’ll go check it out together.”

      She swallowed hard but offered him a small smile. At least he’d said the right thing this time.

      He fought the urge to reach for her hand, settling instead for a hand on her back as he guided her along. Perfectly platonic. Not at all over the firm boundaries of their friendship and history as coworkers.

      Again, nothing like his brother had been through. Or his sisters, for that matter. His siblings СКАЧАТЬ