Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

A ndi woke with a start the next morning.

She glanced around, uncertain where she was or what time it might be.

Then she realized she’d fallen asleep in Duke’s arms.

No wonder she’d slept so well. Being with him always made her feel safe.

After the events of last night, she hadn’t been able to calm down. So the two of them had talked on the couch. She must have drifted to sleep in his arms.

She settled back against him now, not ready to start the day.

The skies outside were gray, which probably meant it was morning and the sun was hovering on the horizon.

Slowly but surely, Andi was becoming accustomed to the Alaskan way of life. Endless snow, the Midnight Sun in the summer and hours of darkness in the winter, seeing the northern lights . . . those things felt like home.

She leaned into Duke. She felt bad that they’d come so far in their relationship and overcome so many obstacles only for her to take a step back. But she knew it was the right thing.

Before she committed to any type of relationship she needed to make sure things were as right as possible with herself. Not that things would ever be perfect or that she’d ever be without flaws or issues needing to be addressed.

But the trauma she’d gone through needed to be dealt with. The last thing she wanted was to carry that baggage with her into a long-term, committed relationship. She needed to handle the emotional struggles that came with her trauma, so she didn’t end up taking those issues out on those around her.

Duke had been so patient with her in the process.

At the thought of him, she turned to study his face. The strong lines. The barely there beard. The slight wave to his dark hair.

He was so handsome. The man of her dreams, really.

His eyes fluttered open as if he sensed her looking at him.

Andi loved that sleepy look in his gaze. She truly hoped that one day they could wake up beside each other for the rest of their lives.

She just needed more time first.

He blinked before raking a hand through his hair and sitting up.

“Hey.” His voice sounded hoarse and throaty.

“I guess we fell asleep out here.” She glanced around, and her gaze stopped at the dining room table.

Ranger sat there with a cup of coffee in his hand, the man practically a shadow. She hadn’t seen him earlier. She hadn’t looked.

“Sorry,” he muttered nonchalantly. “Didn’t want to wake you. But I didn’t want to wake Simmy either, so I just tried to make myself a ghost.”

Andi stood and stretched. “Don’t apologize. We must have fallen asleep out here. We stayed up late talking.”

“I understand,” Ranger said. “It was a long night.”

She shivered when she remembered hearing the music begin blaring. When she remembered finding that snowman ornament.

She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she trudged toward the kitchen. “You have enough coffee to share?”

“Of course.” Ranger nodded toward the pot behind him. “Help yourself.”

As she grabbed two mugs, she prepared herself to get busy. They had a lot of work to do.

She glanced at the table and saw Ranger had papers spread in front of him. As her vision cleared, she noticed it was a list of current camp employees, a list of employees who’d left in the past year, and a list of all the guests here on the night of the murder.

Leave it to Ranger to always do his homework. Juniper must have sent this over either late last night or early this morning.

Duke joined her at the table, and Andi handed him his coffee.

Andi took a seat and glanced at Ranger. “Have you found anything of note on these lists? I assume you’ve been examining these names already.”

“I’m just getting started.” Ranger rubbed his beard. He’d trimmed it and kept it neater now that he’d gotten married. He used to have a much gruffer, mountain-man look. “But so far, there is one person who stands out.”

“Who is that?” Andi took another sip of her coffee, relishing the warm liquid as it washed over her tongue and down her throat.

She waited to hear what Ranger had discovered, hoping it was a lead, something that might guide them to finding answers.

“This is Bert Sims.” Ranger pushed forward a piece of paper with the picture of a man with a long face and a mop of curly, dark hair. “He was a guest at the camp on the night of Calvin and Mary’s murder. He currently works as a mechanic for the city of Fairbanks.”

“Why did he catch your attention?” Duke examined the man’s picture. The guy appeared harmless. But his looks didn’t necessarily mean anything.

“I did a quick internet search on him and found a couple of mentions,” Ranger said. “He has some anger management issues. I found a couple of charges against him for assault and battery. That’s a red flag. But he was also very vocal about how unhappy he was about his stay here at the camp. He ranted about it, posting on several places, like he wanted to ruin the reputation of this place.”

“Definitely sus.” Andi took another sip of her coffee. “Where is this guy now?”

“From what I can tell, he currently lives in the Ester area near Fairbanks.”

“Maybe a couple of us can head out to chat with him today or tomorrow,” Duke suggested.

“That’s a good idea,” Ranger said. “We have a few other things to figure out first—starting with digging into the backgrounds of each of these staff members and guests.”

They continued to quietly sip their coffee and review the lists.

Several minutes later, the sound of a vehicle coming toward their cabin filled the air. Andi peered outside and saw Juniper pull up in a UTV. Andi hurried toward the door to let her inside.

Juniper paused in the doorway and raised a basket in her hands. “I have breakfast. I thought you might want to eat here so you can work.”

She set the basket on the table and pulled out two glass containers—one with biscuits inside and the other with sausage gravy. The savory scents of the rich gravy floated through the room, making Andi’s stomach grumble.

She also brought some fruit and muffins.

“Looks perfect,” Andi said. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Juniper’s voice sounded lackluster.

“How are you today?” Andi asked.

“Peppermint’s death keeps hitting me. I think I was in shock yesterday, but now it’s becoming real.” She shrugged. “Anyway, I guess I’m hanging in. In other news . . . did you all find anything?”

“Not yet,” Ranger said. “But we’re still combing through things.”

“Of course. If you need to talk to anyone on staff, let me know, and I’ll make it happen.”

Andi stepped closer. “Listen, last night . . . something strange happened.”

They told her about the music.

“That’s eerie.” Juniper rubbed her arms as if suddenly chilled.

“Any idea who might have access to the HomePod?” Duke took a sip of his coffee as he waited for her answer.

Her eyebrows shot up. “We don’t monitor it. So every guest who uses this place can sign into it and should also sign out. I . . . I really don’t know who would have done something like that.”

Then Andi carefully picked up the snowman ornament. “Do you remember this?”

Juniper’s face went pale. “Where did you get that?”

“It was on the tree last night,” Andi explained. “But I don’t remember it being there earlier.”

“Put it down.”

Andi blinked, confused by her response. “What?”

“Put it down. I don’t want to see it.”

Andi set it on the table, still confused. “You recognize the ornament, don’t you?”

“It belonged to my parents. My dad whittled it himself. After they were killed, I put it in the attic. I never wanted to see it again.”

Then the truth hit Andi. What if the person who’d broken into Juniper’s house yesterday had been in the attic? What if he’d grabbed this ornament?

Was someone playing some kind of twisted game? That was how it seemed.

Shivers raced up and down her spine.

Duke shifted in his seat. “Is there anything you want to tell us, Juniper?”

“Someone is determined to make my life miserable,” she blurted. “To take away the people I care about. To ruin any good memories I have of them. There’s nothing else to tell.”

“Sweetie . . .” Andi stepped closer, tapping into her inner Simmy.

But Juniper scooted away. “I’m sorry. I don’t like to get emotional. I . . . I just don’t understand.”

“We’re trying to get to the bottom of things,” Ranger assured her. “That’s all.”

“I know, and I appreciate that.” She took another step back and swallowed hard. “Listen, I have a lot to do, so I’ll let you guys eat. But I’ll be in touch later.”

They barely had a chance to thank her before she hurried from the cabin.

What was with that reaction? Duke wondered. Juniper knew more than she was letting on, didn’t she?

Right now, he and Andi needed to talk to Tim. He hoped they might be able to see Pepper’s place as well.

The countdown for murder was on, and they had to concentrate on stopping a killer. That was their first priority.