Chapter 48

CHAPTER 48

G ibson went to question Jared. He hadn’t let Andi and Duke go with him—not that Andi had expected him to.

While he did that, she and Duke had decided to grab a quick bite to eat before heading back. She knew cell phone service at the camp would be sketchy, and she desperately wanted an update from Gibson before they left Fairbanks.

What if Jared was behind this? If he’d killed Emmett? Maybe he was even working with his father.

Andi had to wonder if they were next in line to inherit the camp. That might be motive enough for murder. Although . . . if they wanted the place to turn a profit, they probably shouldn’t want too many dead bodies to turn up.

Tim did have money problems, according to what people had said.

There were so many possibilities right now.

She and Duke went to an old boathouse restaurant located on the Tanana River. The rustic place had fantastic salmon chowder, which sounded good on a cold day like today. The savory scent of the fish and the stew filled the air and made Andi’s stomach rumble.

They were seated by the window overlooking the snowy, white river. She had no doubt the water was frozen over by now. This whole area was a frozen wonderland.

As soon as the waitress had taken their orders, the sound of a TV blaring overhead caught Andi’s ear. The weather report was talking about the onslaught of snow coming their way.

She shivered.

They really didn’t have much time to get back to the camp. And even then, once they got there, they’d probably be stuck for a while. But they need to be there to keep investigating.

The killer would strike again soon if they didn’t stop him.

Then the news story changed. As soon as Andi heard the name Victor Goodman, she tensed.

She hadn’t listened to the news in a couple of days. It had been a nice break, truthfully. She tended to listen to news whenever she could, which didn’t always leave her in a great state of mind.

“The upcoming trial of oil tycoon and business mogul Victor Goodman is slated to start in three months,” the reporter said. “Many experts think this will be the trial of the decade, and the media storm around the event has already begun.”

His picture flashed on the screen, and her gut churned with revulsion. If that monster had had his way, she’d be dead right now.

Duke squeezed her hand. “He’s behind bars. He’s going to pay for everything he did. You don’t have to worry about him anymore.”

Andi offered a faint smile, wishing she believed him. But Victor was clever, and she wouldn’t put it past him to figure out a way to be cleared of the charges—including witness intimidation. She’d be testifying also.

She’d been keeping her eyes open for any signs of trouble, knowing good and well the lengths Victor would go through.

“I know,” Andi finally said. “I just put so much energy into bringing him down . . . now that it’s done, I hardly know what to do with myself.”

“You got your license to practice law back. You’re working to get it here in Alaska. You’ve been busy with new cases. I’d say you’re adjusting pretty well.”

She couldn’t argue with his statement. Duke always knew how to help ground her when her thoughts got out of control.

Was she beginning to need him? She’d never felt that way before. She’d always prided herself on being self-sufficient. But so much had changed in the past couple of years.

Andi studied his face a moment. The familiar rush of attraction swept through her—the one she always felt when she looked at him. She’d never felt this way about anyone before.

But right now, she felt damaged. She hated that feeling. The sentiment was foreign to her. She’d always been the confident one who’d charged forward, even when it was foolhardy.

“What are you thinking?” Duke took a sip of his water.

Her heart pounded harder. Was he talking about their relationship?

When he didn’t explain, she realized he was referring to the case.

She nearly laughed at herself. Why was she acting so paranoid?

She absently began to straighten her silverware. “There’s so much to sort through, really. I feel like we’re looking for Calvin and Mary’s killer. But I still have trouble connecting him with the person who murdered Pepper. Something is missing, and I really don’t understand why.”

“It is perplexing. This guy has to have some type of reason for what he’s doing.”

She used her index finger to absently trace the condensation on her glass. “If we don’t figure it out soon, he’ll strike again.”

“Maybe the gang found something back at the camp.”

“We can hope,” Andi said. “Or maybe Jared will have more answers for Gibson than he had for us. Maybe he even knows where his father is.”

Duke’s phone rang. “It’s Ranger. Maybe they discovered something.”

Andi wanted to ask him to put it on speaker, but since they were in public, she didn’t. Instead, she listened to the one-sided conversation with bated breath.

When the call ended, Duke locked gazes with her. She knew whatever Ranger had told Duke excited him.

“It turns out that Tim has a history of being a bit of a nomad. He worked as a janitor at the planetarium for a while, and he worked maintenance for the hospital—both places where the December Dismemberer’s victims worked.”

“And he works at the camp. Now he’s missing . . .” Her voice caught.

His eyes glimmered with hope. “Maybe the killer has been right under our nose the whole time . . . only we didn’t realize it until too late because now he’s missing.”

As Duke ate his salmon and baked potato, his mind raced with possibilities. Maybe they were finally onto something.

They just needed to figure out where Tim had gone.

But they could do none of that right now. Instead, he decided to relax just a moment and to enjoy this time with Andi. Between the holidays and Andi working on passing the Alaska state bar exam, they hadn’t had a lot of quality time together. Plus, signing over ownership of his travel company to the man who’d bought it had been more time consuming than he’d thought.

“We’ve come a long way haven’t we?” Duke studied Andi’s face from across the table as the gentle candlelight softened her features.

She offered a lazy but sad smile. “We really have, and it hasn’t even been a year yet.”

For a moment, Duke forgot about their circumstances. He wanted to pretend like everything was right in his world.

And it almost was . . . other than a killer being after them.

And other than the walls Andi had put up, walls he didn’t understand.

Why wasn’t she letting him in? Had he done something to make Andi think she couldn’t trust him?

“Who would have thought that day that I came across your truck broken down on the side of the Dalton Highway that we’d be here right now?” Maybe reminiscing would make things feel normal for a moment.

“And that we would solve so many crimes together.” Her smile widened.

Duke reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “In case I haven’t told you, I’m really proud of you.”

Her cheeks practically glowed. “Thank you. I could have never done all this without you.”

“I beg to differ. You would have totally done this without me.”

Her smile gave away the truth. She would have foolhardily charged ahead to bring down Victor with or without him. She would have also fought with every last lick of energy she had to restore all the wrongs around her.

But it had probably been easier with his encouragement.

Just then, Duke’s phone rang. He glanced at the screen.

“It’s Gibson calling back.”

Then he answered.