Chapter 36

After a couple of hours of peaceful sleep, Laurel rolled over in the bed to find Huck staring at the ceiling. "You okay?" she asked, snuggling into his side.

"I'm good. It was a relief to find those girls last night. It hit me how easy it is to lose a kid."

She chuckled, happy he'd been able to find them. "Those kids were fine. They went the wrong way, they found a shelter, and they waited for you to save them. You are now that girl's mom's hero for life, though, you know?"

"She did mention in a text that she'd bake me some cookies." Huck slipped an arm around Laurel and drew her near. He kissed the top of her head. "Aeneas did a good job. That is one smart dog."

He was a sweetheart of a dog, too. But he'd been slightly injured in the rescue, so Huck had brought him immediately home. "Is his paw okay?"

"Yeah, it's going to be sore, but I put some medicine on it after I took out the brambles he stepped in. The guy kept going anyway until we found the girls. He's going to have to take it easy for a couple of days."

"That's all right. Monty enjoyed being the hero when he brought the girls home to their families, but we all know it was you."

Huck chuckled. "I don't mind sharing the glory with Monty. He deserves it. The guy should be home in bed for the next three weeks, but he keeps going out on calls."

Laurel cleared her throat. "How much trouble do you think you're going to be in for disobeying orders and attending a search and rescue call?"

"We'll find out," Huck said. "I did disobey a direct order. However, the media recorded me carrying one of the girls out of the woods, so maybe it'll balance out. What are your plans on this fine Sunday?"

Laurel didn't have time to take a day off. "I need to figure out if Jason Abbott was the killer of those blondes. And if so, how he found your mother. Was it just happenstance?" She hated the thought, but it was possible. "Or am I missing something?" She felt as if the truth remained just out of her conscious. "The fact that the killer dyed your mom's hair blond or talked her into doing it is bothering me. Why?"

"Hell if I know. Instead of asking questions, let's come up with a plan."

"I'm bringing in both Pastors John and Zeke to question them. Because Teri Bearing's body was found at the church, I have the right—and because Opal said that your mom headed north to meet a pastor. Of course, all we have is Opal's word that Delta mentioned a pastor. And how many pastors are there between here and Santa Fe? It's inadmissible. It doesn't mean anything. And yet . . ."

Huck finished the sentence for her. "It means everything."

A pounding on the door had Huck sitting upright. Laurel frowned and slid from the bed to don his heavy sweatshirt over her thin camisole and shorts.

The pounding increased in volume. Huck yanked on jeans. "Stay here." He walked around the bed.

"No." She placed her gun in her pocket and followed him into the living room.

Aeneas barked wildly from his bed by the fire, and even Fred looked up, his body tensing.

Huck opened the door. Laurel leaned around him to see Deputy Chief Mert Wright and Captain Monty Buckley standing on the other side with two uniformed police officers behind them.

"What the hell's going on?" Huck asked.

Monty stared at his boots. "I'm sorry about this, Huck."

Huck looked from one to the other. "What is happening?"

Mert Wright frowned and reached for cuffs. "Captain Huck Rivers, you are under arrest for the kidnapping and assault of Rachel Raprenzi and for the murders of Delta Rivers, Teri Bearing, and Haylee Johnson."

* * *

Huck wasn't entirely sure he'd ever been this angry before, so he'd remained entirely silent until he sat on the other side of the interrogation table from Captain Monty Buckley, who looked as if he needed to cry, and Deputy Chief Mert Wright, who looked as if he wanted to break into song.

"Did you say attack on Rachel Raprenzi?" Huck asked finally, his hands still in cuffs.

"Uncuff him," Monty said.

"Not a chance," Wright retorted. "He's dangerous."

Huck couldn't argue. He was feeling pretty damn dangerous. "What happened to Rachel?"

"Like you don't know," Wright sneered.

Huck focused on Monty. "What happened to Rachel?"

Monty leaned over and released Huck's cuffs, dragging them across the table and tossing them on the floor. "She got kidnapped last night, thrown into a dog crate, and nearly drowned by the river after somebody cut holes in the ice."

Huck stiffened. "When?"

"After the search and rescue operation, which made it quite handy for you, didn't it?" Wright asked.

Huck tried to wrap his head around this new development. "Is she all right?" They were no longer engaged, but he didn't want any harm to befall her.

Monty nodded. "Yeah, she kicked the guy and ran into the forest, eluding him. She also punched him in the face, and I don't see a bruise on yours."

Huck sat back. She'd eluded the serial killer? Sure, Rachel kept herself in decent shape, but this killer operated with meticulous precision. No way a kick-and-punch combo would've taken him down.

"Luck certainly favored her," Monty said.

Huck stared at his friend. "Does that make sense to you?"

"You're not asking the questions here." Wright slammed his fist down on the table, scrutinizing Huck's face. "Not everyone bruises easily, you know. It's possible she punched you and didn't hurt you. We're going to go through this my way. You are in custody, Captain. Your job is over. Now, we're talking about your freedom."

Monty looked at the empty chair next to Huck. "I think you should have an attorney present."

Wright whirled on him. "It's not your job to give advice to the accused."

The accused. Huck was actually the accused. He shook his head and pressed his fingers against his right eye. He was getting a hell of a headache. "I waive the right to an attorney for now. For the record, I didn't kidnap Rachel."

"She was stuffed into a dog crate. You don't seem to understand." Wright punctuated each word with a chopping motion of his hand. "We have collected dog hair from her coat. Aeneas's fur is on record with Seattle from a case a while back."

Huck thought back. Oh, yeah, during the Snowblood Peak cases. He'd had to give Aeneas's fur for a sample. "Did they match?"

Wright sat back, his shoulders up and his chest out. "We don't know yet. However, I can tell you that I had the sample taken from her coat driven directly to the lab this morning and put at the front of the list. We should know within the hour."

"Huh?" Huck thought back. Since Aeneas had been injured, he'd let the dog sit in the front seat with him as he drove home. He hadn't even looked in the back crate. He usually kept a couple of blankets in there, and he most likely hadn't locked the truck. "Wait a second. If Aeneas had been in the front seat, she would've heard him. If she screamed, and I'm sure she did, he would've barked."

Wright sneered. "She thinks you put the dog in the back bed of the truck."

This might not be good. Maybe he should have an attorney.

"How angry were you with Rachel Raprenzi for constantly attacking you?" Wright asked.

Huck cocked his head. "I wasn't angry. I just found her to be annoying."

"So annoying you needed to kill her, to shut her up, to drown her, so she couldn't talk any longer?" Wright spit out.

Huck just looked at him. "No."

Monty sagged back in his chair. "I don't think there's any way Huck kidnapped Rachel last night."

Wright hissed. "There was time. You had all disbanded. He could have easily done it. He rammed her car and then tried to kill her, but she got away." He smiled, showing sharp canines. "How does that feel?"

Huck frowned. "Rammed her car? Did you check my truck out?"

"Yes," Wright said. "Those trucks are made to withstand damage. But don't worry, we're going to test the paint on both. That could take a week or so."

Huck sat back and put his hands on his head. This was interesting.

Wright cleared his throat. "When did you find out your mother returned to town?"

"I didn't."

Wright opened a file folder in front of him and took out a stapled stack of paper. "Do you know what this is?"

"No clue," Huck said, looking at the paper.

"This is the GPS record of your phone the night that Delta Rivers was murdered. Your cell phone pinged off the closest cell tower to Snowblood Peak and Iceberg River."

"Well, yeah," Huck said. "We've already covered this. I was across the river on a case."

Wright slammed his hand on the file folder. "We did cover this. You were in the vicinity of all four of the murders . . . excuse me, the three murders and the one kidnapping. Don't you find that to be an incredible coincidence, Captain Rivers?"

Huck actually found it to be pretty damn unfortunate.

Wright leaned toward him, his nose leading the way. "What are the odds that the same guy was actually at the location of every single one of the murders? If I also recall, based on witness statements, you don't have an alibi for Haylee Johnson's murder, do you?"

Huck thought back. Laurel had stayed with her mother that night. They hadn't been together. He looked at Monty. "I would like to get that lawyer now."