“Any ideas for how we are going to talk?”
“Excuse me?” He glanced over at her, then back at the road.
Yeah, okay, so she’d asked for that, with her blatant avoidance of conversations today.
“How are we going to share anything we find while we are on the trip? I mean...” She tried to ignore the slight heaviness in her stomach. Dread. Anxiety. Whatever name you gave it, she hated it, hated feeling weak and like her emotions were all in control of her.
“I hadn’t figured that out yet. A lot of it depends on what the situation looks like.”
“But you agree we should try?”
“If at all possible. We need to be able to share observations and...”
“Narrow down the possibilities?” Ellie asked. She felt that with the solid connection between the CEO of Raven Pass Expeditions, a company with means to ship illegal product between their small town and the bigger city, they likely had their man to watch, if nothing else.
But...they both needed to remember that it was never over until it was over, and that everyone needed to be investigated.
At least, everyone on this trip. If Liz was right that someone from the company was smuggling drugs, whoever was behind it might not be on this trip. Ellie was expecting to wrap everything up after this undercover investigation. It was just the first step in getting to interact with the people at the company, see if any of them belonged on the suspect list.
“Exactly.” He nodded.
“Who all is going?” She hadn’t remembered to ask that before.
“You know, I didn’t ask. I thought about it last night, and I’m assuming a couple workers from RPE, maybe a chef for excursions like this, as fancy as they are.”
Ellie nodded. “I guess we’ll see.”
“I guess we will.”
They pulled the truck into the parking lot of the shopping center where RPE was located and stared at the building for a second.
“You ready?” she asked him.
“I am.” He met her eyes. “You?”
She nodded slowly, not wanting to break the connection between them. When they were undercover, they didn’t have to pretend not to know each other or anything. Nothing was changing, not really, besides the fact that they were going deeper into this investigation.
Even though it felt like everything was.
They opened the doors and stepped out.
“You made it!” Brandt Bowker, the CEO, waved from the door. He was dressed in warm outdoor gear.
“Hi!” Ellie waved, turned to Seth slightly as she tucked her hair behind her ear. “I didn’t expect he’d be coming,” she said, voice lowered.
“Me, either.”
“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that the two of you were willing to step in,” he said, shaking both their hands once they’d reached the front of the store. “And not eloping right before the trip.” He laughed, and they did, too, but Ellie could tell Seth’s laughter was as strained as hers.
“Anytime. More than happy to help.”
“And you’re punctual. Another good quality.”
Brandt Bowker was full of enthusiasm and friendliness, and Ellie couldn’t decide if she would automatically have assumed his demeanor was too much, were it not for his connection to Aaron. But with that connection in mind, his joy was overwhelming. She tried to keep her shoulders relaxed, but already the idea of being semiundercover grated on her. She didn’t know why; her name was the same, she wasn’t pretending not to know Seth and there were no intensely stressful or delicate elements like that.
But just knowing that she had a connection to the case she was investigating and that she had someone out there who already wanted her dead heightened the stakes for her a little. Right up to the line of what she was comfortable with.
She thought of her conversation with Seth last night. She’d been motivated by fear for so long, and she was tired of it but didn’t want to be like that anymore.
“So orientation is first?” she asked, just to keep up the front of being able to have a decent conversation, something her real self barely felt capable of at the moment.
“Yes. Our three clients will be arriving—” Brandt checked his watch “—within the half hour, and we will meet with them inside in the Summit Room. Here, come in, I’ll show you and explain how this works.” He held the door open for both of them, and they stepped inside the lobby.
“Hello.” The woman they’d met the other day—Halley, Ellie was pretty sure was her name—was standing at the front counter, also dressed in winter outdoor gear.
The entire company seemed like a larger outfit than just the two of them, but so far they’d not seen anyone else working there.
“Hello,” Seth and Ellie said together.
“I’m taking them to the Summit Room to show them how we do things.”
Halley nodded. “All right, I’ll keep prepping. Have fun! It’s going to be a great trip!”
They’d just reached the room when Ellie thought she heard the office phone ring, and then seconds later Halley stuck her head in.
“Sir, I’m sorry to interrupt.”
“Can’t interrupt what we haven’t been able to start yet. Yes?” A flash of impatience crossed his features, and then his expression was neutral again. “I’m sorry, Halley, pretrip jitters. What did you need?”
Huh. Interesting that he’d apologized so quickly.
“Your nephew is on the phone.”
Seth and Ellie looked at each other. Then looked away quickly. Ellie kept listening as the woman continued, “He says he was going to come visit this weekend but wants to know when you’ll be back.”
“I’ve explained this to him before. It depends on many variables about the trip.” He shook his head and moved toward the door. “Excuse me, will you? I’ll be right back.”
They were left alone in the room, silence echoing around them, but Ellie didn’t feel comfortable talking. Not inside the company’s building, knowing there could be, well, listening devices. It sounded overdramatic to her ears, but if they were responsible for running a highly profitable and illegal drug operation that had already resulted in several deaths? Then no amount of drama would be past them, and Ellie and Seth needed to keep their guard up.
Still, Seth raised his eyebrows slightly. Ellie nodded. Then they looked down at the pile of equipment in the corner.
“That’s a lot of gear,” she commented.
“It’s smart to be prepared for a trip like this. And customers of somewhere like RPE will be expecting a higher standard, like we talked about. They want things a certain way.”
The door shut and echoed in the back. Ellie jumped.
“They certainly do, don’t they?” Brandt reentered and laughed, his face looking more stressed than it had when he left. “I apologize for that interruption. But you’re right, our clients do expect a certain standard.”
“I’ve always been curious about businesses like this. How do you balance a genuine experience with the luxury clients want?” Ellie asked.
His eyebrows rose. “Insightful question. I like to think we accomplish that mostly by being prepared. We are taking risks with our clients. They know when they sign up that participation is potentially dangerous, but we also try to mitigate hazards. Each sled has a tracker, the kind many dog mushers use in races.”
“I’m familiar with those. I’ve done some races.” Seth nodded.
“And you?” Brandt asked Ellie.
Ellie felt her chest tighten and tried not to look accusingly at Seth. They’d have to stretch the truth here and there, for their safety and the investigation, but anything like this could be easily checked out. As soon as he checked her story, he’d see there was no record of her in the dog mushing world at all.
“I’m more of a recreational musher,” she answered with a s
mile. “But I do know how trackers work.”
He nodded, not asking for any more explanation than that, which relieved her. “Excellent. As I was about to say before we were interrupted...” Ellie got the impression he was trying to do his presentation from the beginning, like a businessman who was used to giving the same speech before every excursion.
“Raven Pass Expeditions was founded in 1988 out of a desire to bring more people to the backcountry...”
TWELVE
Seth was listening to Brandt’s talk about starting his business from the ground up while simultaneously trying to sort out his thoughts on the man himself. Even with the connection to his sister’s former boyfriend, it was too soon to mentally try the man, he knew that. But he wasn’t sure he trusted Brandt, the way he talked so smoothly, like his program was rehearsed.
Halley was another question mark. She seemed loyal to her boss and the company, genuinely friendly. Seth knew, though, that first impressions weren’t always right and that women could commit crimes, too. He tended to think of Liz’s killer in terms of he, but he knew he might be wrong about that.
“So what staff go on the trips?” Ellie asked, and Seth tuned back in.
“It varies.” Brandt shrugged. “Typically I go, as does Halley, sometimes Peter, my business partner, and then we have a chef join us, as well. Then it’s the clients and the mushers.”
“So three clients?” Seth asked.
“Three. We have one more musher joining us.” He flipped his wrist to see his watch and frowned. “He should be here by now. Hopefully there are no more problems. I’ve had enough of those for one trip. Excuse me again while I make a call to him.” He flashed a quick smile. “Feel free to peruse the brochures on the table—that’s what the clients will see. They should start arriving in about ten minutes.” He left the room.
“Not a lot of info for an orientation, huh?” Ellie said to Seth with a smile as she reached for a brochure. She seemed more relaxed now, and he wished he knew if it was because she was starting to feel like they could solve this case or for another reason.
“It could have been longer.” That was for sure. He had guesses but still wasn’t completely sure how the logistics were supposed to work. He assumed they would each have a client to assist. But he didn’t know if they were expected to mush on the sleds with them, or hook up to a tag sled, or have the client in the sled bag... “I’ve got a few more questions I need to ask,” he admitted.
“Me, too. But I figured we’ll probably find out during the client orientation. Rolling with the unexpected is going to work better for me, I think.” She nodded, and Seth recognized now that she was in cop mode. All that stressing on her part, the worry she had about letting people down—once she was back in that sort of work mode, she was fully capable of handling this.
That was something he’d like to tell her if they got a chance to talk on this trip. She was stronger than she thought she was. Whatever regrets she was carrying, whatever fears she’d alluded to, she was stronger than those.
He turned to her, trying to decide if he could put his thoughts into words, but was interrupted by the sound of the door.
“Seth, Ellie, this is Wade Randall, another musher who will be helping out this weekend.”
Seth nodded, recognizing a man he’d seen at multiple races and talked to a couple of times. “We’ve met.”
“And Ellie?” Brandt asked.
“Like I said,” she said with a smile, not appearing rattled at all, “I stick to my home trails. Maybe I’ll get into the race scene eventually. I’m Ellie Hamilton.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“The clients will be here soon. Wade has worked with us before so he knows all this, but we will have tag sleds for you to use hooked behind your sled. That’s what we’ve found is the best way to give clients the experience of mushing without them having full responsibility for a team of dogs. We value the safety not just of our clients and staff but the dogs, too, who we view as another level of staff.” He smiled again. “We have several clients this time, a man on his own fulfilling a bucket-list dream, he’s in his forties, and a couple who are up here for their fortieth wedding anniversary. I figured that Wade, you’ll take the bucket-list man. His name is Austin Kline. Ellie and Seth can take the couple, Darci and Todd Hanson.”
Seth felt relief flood him. If they were assigned to a couple, chances were better their charges would both want to take breaks together, ride close together and overall give him a good reason to keep Ellie close to him. God was working this out in ways Seth hadn’t thought to ask for, and he was grateful for that.
The clients arrived soon thereafter. Brandt told the three mushers to take a seat in the back of the room and listen. In addition to the clients, Halley had come into the room, as had Peter, Brandt’s business partner. There was also another man Seth thought he recognized as the owner of The Sandwich Shop, who would work as the chef.
All he knew was they might possibly be sitting in a room now with a killer. Someone who wanted them dead. Seth and Ellie might have suspicions, but they were operating under assumptions and guesses, not facts.
The people who were after him? They knew for sure what he looked like. And chances were good they knew what Ellie looked like, also—unless they’d just been shooting at her because of how often she was in proximity to him.
Either way, they weren’t disguised. They were here, open and vulnerable targets, counting on the fact that surely not everyone in the party was guilty. The murderer, whoever it was, wouldn’t want to kill them publicly.
That might keep them safe.
Or it might not... They were about to find out.
* * *
Ellie couldn’t believe how much Wade looked like a stereotypical musher. He was probably ten years older than she and Seth were and had a mountain-man beard that no doubt many men would be jealous of; she wasn’t sure why men had such a fascination with beards. Seth often had that layer of scruff, like the perpetual start of a beard, and she admitted to herself she might actually like it.
Still, it didn’t have the same wild, mountain-man feeling as a full, inches-long beard. But while Wade might not have been her type, he certainly fit the trip well. He looked as though he’d been born outside in the wilds of Alaska and had been adventuring ever since. In contrast, Ellie felt she might still fit in pretty well on a ski slope near Anchorage. Her outdoor gear was top-notch but also had been bought with some degree of style in mind, and she hoped she didn’t disappoint the client assigned to her by not fitting what she’d been expecting.
Worrying about clients, she reminded herself as she listened to Brandt, was only her job as far as it positioned her to investigate undercover. She needed to remember that her first priority was to find out who had killed Liz and hopefully get a better idea of why.
She was glad she and Seth had had time to talk last night, even if it had ended so badly. Researching the people associated with RPE had been helpful in her understanding of Liz’s letter. She was still not sure about several of them, and while it was tempting to suspect everyone, all the way down to the chef that was part of the expedition, she knew that the likelihood of all of them being involved was slim.
Unless Raven Pass Expeditions really was entirely a front. But in that case, would clients be in on the smuggling, also? No, that all seemed too far-fetched for Ellie to give serious consideration to.
“Any questions?” Brandt was saying, clearly signaling the presentation was finishing up.
“Do we need to go hook up the dogs or anything? Are we supposed to be ready to leave right now?” Ellie should have paid closer attention, she knew, but she’d just been too distracted.
The corners of Seth’s mouth tugged up, and she knew that he could tell she’d been distracted, too. He gave a slight shake of his head. “No, our clients want to have the entire authentic experience, so we will hook up
with their help.”
“What about the trail?” This time Seth asked Brandt the question.
“It’s well marked. We always use the same trail. Mushers seem to stick together pretty well.”
Seth frowned. He might be more comfortable with that, but Ellie didn’t have much experience. He’d have preferred a map. “I really think...”
“I’ll mention the maps to Halley and she’ll get them to you. Excuse me, I have a few things I have to see to before we leave. But don’t worry, the trail is very easy to find.”
Had she really considered how difficult this was going to be? It was all in service of finding Liz’s killer, though, and uncovering information to solve this case.
“Let’s get started. Please find your musher and do what they tell you to. The RPE team will be packing your gear onto our snow machines, which will follow behind or go ahead during the trip, depending on trail conditions. Your adventure begins now.”
Ellie wished she had the luxury for a regular adventure. Instead she was stuck in this investigation, in a place where it was safer to take risks than to sit around, waiting for danger to strike.
A woman in her midsixties, dressed in expensive gear from head to toe but with a warm smile, approached Ellie. “You must be Ellie. I’m Darci Hanson. I’m just so excited about all of this!”
The woman seemed genuine, and Ellie smiled at her. “Nice to meet you. Ready to get started?”
Her enthusiastic nod was the push Ellie needed. Resisting the urge to look over her shoulder for Seth, she started outside. She and Seth had talked about needing to stay close to each other if possible, to keep an eye out for threats, make sure the other was okay, but Ellie also knew that to do that too much would draw undue attention to them and could end up compromising their cover. Right now, while they were still in town, Ellie needed to make sure she kept her distance from Seth to a certain degree, so it wouldn’t look like they were overly attached to each other.
Alaska Secrets Page 13
