CHAPTER NINETEEN

Michael returned fifteen minutes later with some TV dinners and a couple of apples. "Here you go," he said, tossing Faith one of the apples. "Keep the doctor away."

"Thanks. Um, Michael. Forget what I said earlier. I was—"

"I won't forget it," he said. "I also won't talk about it right now. And neither will you. We have a case to solve. We'll deal with the rest later."

She lowered her eyes. She hated leaving the air unclear between them, but he was right. They needed to focus on the case. Personal issues had to wait. If only it wasn't so much easier said than done. "Right. Sorry."

He sighed. "It's okay. Just… stop bringing it up, all right?"

She looked away, then, so she didn't look too obviously upset, she bit into her apple. Michael started one of the TV dinners and said, "I'm going to reach out to Kelly's neighbor again. Graham Nash's personal life is a black hole, but hers isn't. I'm going to talk to the neighbor and see if I can figure out where she might be. Why don't you call Jake back and get his impression of Graham Nash? I'm sick of sitting around, so if we can find anything that gives us an excuse to get out of this hotel, I'm all for it."

She nodded. "Yeah. That sounds good."

"Good."

She dialed Jake's number, and when he answered, she said, "I realize I forgot to talk to you about Graham Nash."

"Graham? Was he one of the victims, too?"

"No. But the killer is targeting members of Nature's Guardians, so Graham is either a target himself, or he's… well, he could be the killer."

"Huh. You know, that wouldn't surprise me."

Faith's eyes widened. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. He was an asshole."

"Really? How so?"

"He was… I guess asshole isn't the right word. He was just a big shit-talker. You know, he always had to act like he was better than everyone else. And he was good, don't get me wrong. It's just tiring to hear someone talk about themselves all the time."

She frowned. "Interesting. We heard from Lisa that he mostly kept to himself."

"Really? That's surprising. He couldn't shut up. He talked almost as much as Lisa."

Faith leaned back in her chair. "Why would Lisa lie to us about that?"

"I don't know. She liked him. Not the way I liked Kelly, but she admired him. She bought into his bullshit, I guess. He acted like he was the greatest survivalist the world had ever seen, and she believed him. The rest of us all thought he was full of hot air. It got to the point where we couldn't take it anymore. We voted to kick him out of the group."

Faith's frown deepened. "Lisa told us he left of his own accord."

"I mean… you could say that. We had a meeting, and we all told Lisa our thoughts. He told us we could… Well, he made a very rude comment. When we all said that either he left or we did, he repeated his sentiment and stormed off. Lisa chewed us all out, called us names and didn't speak to us again for days. We had the camping trip the following week, and she was cheery and polite again, but the tension was there. I left after the camping trip, like I already told you, so I don't know how much Graham's departure influenced the end of the group, but I do know that he was Lisa's favorite, and she was very upset when he left."

Faith tried to wrap her head around this new information. "He almost never texted any of you, though. Not even Lisa."

"How do you know that? Were you spying on our cell phones?"

"We pulled your phone records for this investigation, yes."

"You don't need a warrant for that?"

"We got one. I'll send you a copy."

He sighed. "Jesus. Okay, before I talk anymore, is there anything else I should know? Anything else you did without my consent?"

Faith resisted the urge to snap at him about being more concerned for his privacy than his safety and the safety of others, but she kept herself in check. It was forever the struggle of law enforcement to know how to balance safety and privacy. Law enforcement—used to liars who leveraged dishonesty to hide criminal activity—pushed for a greater focus on safety. Understandably, private citizens who rarely if ever found themselves victims of a crime, felt differently.

Unless they were the ones left murdered in a remote Alaskan cabin, of course. "So far, no, but just so we're clear, you're still a person of interest in the case. You might not have been present at the scene of the murders, but that doesn't mean that we won't need more information from you. I'll tell you in advance about any further warrants, though. I apologize for not keeping you in the loop."

He chuckled, and the frustration he felt was evident in his voice when he replied, "Wonderful. No, he didn't text any of us. He preferred to tell us all how wonderful he was and how shitty we were to our faces."

"Do you know if Graham contacted anyone after he left the group?"

"Not that I'm aware of. He never talked to me, that's for sure. Everyone assumed he found some other group to terrorize."

"Do you think it's possible he could be behind the murders?"

"That sounds like your job a lot more than my job. But to answer your question, I would be very surprised. I always thought he was full of hot air. He didn't strike me as the kind of person who could back up what he said."

"I see. Final question."

"Forever or for now?"

She rolled her eyes. "For now. Are you sure you have no idea where Kelly Connor could be?"

"No idea. I cut off contact with her when I left the group. It was part of my attempt to reconcile with my wife. Didn't work."

"And after it didn't work, you didn't try to reconnect with her?"

"No. She wasn't… I wasn't in love with her. She was just young, adventurous, and beautiful and… I guess I missed when my wife was the same way. I thought that I could recapture that feeling for a moment. Anyway, now my life has fallen apart, and if I could go back, I would leave the group before I ever even saw her. No offense to Kelly. It's not her fault I couldn't control myself. I just… no, I haven't tried to reconnect with her."

Faith sighed. "Okay. Thank you. Keep your phone on, and don't leave for the wilderness until we capture this killer."

"All right."

After he hung up, Faith leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. Jake had just painted her a very different picture of Graham Nash. Clearly his and Lisa's versions couldn't both be true. Either Lisa was lying, or Jake was. Or maybe Graham behaved differently around the others than he did around Lisa.

But why would either of them lie? They both had solid alibis for the nights of the murders. Lisa could have been covering for Graham, and her murder could have been just eliminating a witness. Or Jake could be lying about Graham to deflect from the real suspect. She had a hard time believing Kelly could be responsible for all of this, but stranger things had happened. And he could always be covering for someone they hadn't identified yet.

It was so frustrating. Every time they found a lead, it either led nowhere or forced them to question everything they knew so far. Usually both. And it took so much time and effort to find these leads. It was sobering to think that this killer really could strike and then just vanish until the clouds obscured the evidence of his crimes. Or hers. Or theirs.

She looked at Turk. "What do you think, buddy? What am I missing?"

Turk walked to her and laid his head on her lap to comfort her. She smiled down at him and scratched him behind his ears. "You're a good dog."

He gave her a toothy grin, and she laughed and pulled him close for a hug. "I'm not going to let them put you out to pasture," she said. "You're not ready."

She felt a pang in her chest when she said that. It was Faith who wasn't ready. It had nothing to do with Turk.

But that didn't mean she was wrong. Turk was a strong and capable dog who thrived when he was on an assignment. With nothing to do all day but play, he would lose his purpose, and without purpose, all he was doing was waiting around to die. She couldn't let him waste away like that. At least let him go out doing something meaningful.

The door opened, and Michael walked back into the room.

"I didn't even realize you stepped outside," Faith said.

"I couldn't hear what Kelly's neighbor was saying while you were talking to Jake."

"Got it. Well, wait until I tell you what Jake told me about Graham Nash."

Michael gave her a grim expression. "You need to listen to me first. Kelly Connor is missing."

Faith's blood froze. "What?"

"She went on a solo hiking trip two days ago, and no one's heard from her since. She's supposed to check in with her neighbor once a day, but she hasn't."

"Shit. Did she tell her where she was going?"

"Him, but I guess that's not really relevant. She was going to hike to the mouth of the Tazlina River, follow it to the Copper River and then hike back to a cabin she has on St. Anne Lake. I don't know where any of those places are, though."

"Find out and get authorities and rescue services there ASAP. Get Wyatt to put search parties out too. If he protests, tell him we'll name him as part of the reason this girl dies."

Michael nodded. "I'll make the calls."

"Good. As soon as we get locations, we're going out looking for her. Dress warmly. We might be out all night."

Michael dialed Wyatt while Faith dressed in her parka and boots. Turk looked at her, and his eyes showed similar concern.

Kelly had left two days ago. Lisa Blackwood was murdered last night. The killer could be out hunting Kelly right now.

Or she was already dead.