Aurora's Gold

by K. J. Gillenwater

  “All right. But no mayo on mine.” Although everything in my head said, get away from this potential murderer; my heart said to trust. “Mayonnaise is disgusting,” I quipped, keeping the conversation light.

  Ben rubbed a hand across his beard. “Got it. No mayo. 5 am. See you there.” He waved briefly as we parted ways and climbed on his ATV.

  “Yep, see you.” I waved as he drove off.

  *

  Stella hunched over her laptop at the counter. She had a wrinkle between her thin brows. The room had emptied of patrons. Between breakfast and lunch the crowd had slowed considerably.

  “What’s this about a murder?” I said casually. I hoped she’d over-reacted, made a mistake. I smiled and set aside the fact that the wrinkle got deeper.

  “Here. You read it. I can’t.” She turned her laptop around so I could see what had her looking so concerned.

  The first thing I saw was a picture of Ben. Although he now had a heavy beard and much longer hair, the face in the newspaper article was undeniably his. Wearing his Navy uniform, his mouth a grim line. The headline screamed at me, “Local Veteran Charged With Fiancée’s Murder.”

  November 20, 2018

  The fiance of the Boise woman who was found dead in her apartment three days ago has been charged with second-degree murder.

  Benjamin John Abel, 28, of Eagle and a veteran of the U.S. Navy has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of 27-year-old Laura Snow. Snow was last seen by neighbors in her apartment complex the night of November 17, 2018. Her body was discovered the next morning after a neighbor called about a disturbance in Abel’s apartment.

  Neighbors recall loud arguing and thumping in the early morning hours of November 17. One neighbor, Alicia Cortez, revealed she had considered calling the police about the noise earlier in the evening, but had changed her mind. She stated that she feared Abel as he had threatened her in the past when she complained about the couple fighting on previous occasions.

  On Monday, police announced that they had issued a warrant for the arrest of a suspect in connection with Snow’s death.

  According to Snow’s Facebook account, the pair were to be married on December 31, 2018.

  A cause of death has not been released.

  Abel has yet to be arrested, and anyone with information about his whereabouts or any other information about this incident, who has not already spoken with police, is asked to call the Idaho State Police.

  My mind blanked. “How did you find this?”

  Stella had a grim twist to her mouth. “You know me. I get curious. After we looked up that Nugget story, and we found his Facebook page with so little information, I went digging.”

  I knew. Stella had a curious mind and a knack for research.

  Years ago, when we were girls and didn’t have more than MySpace accounts with ridiculous puppy pictures and flashing graphics that would make your eyes burn, Stella had decided to be my personal private investigator. We were 13 or 14 at the time.

  Although I’d handled my mother’s sudden disappearance pretty well the year before, by my teens I had grown more curious. She had taken off and abandoned me. It didn’t feel good to think she despised me so much that she’d rather cut out and disappear than stick around. I’d wanted to believe there had been a reason, something that would make sense. With the rabid curiosity only an 8th grade girl could have, I’d grown determined to find out more.

  Stella knew my deepest darkest secrets. What middle school aged girl didn’t confess all to her closest friend?

  So Stella decided to take it upon herself to track down my mother. She’d asked me questions about my mom that most kids should know: Where was she born? What high school did she go to? What was her hometown? What was her maiden name?

  Some I could answer. Some I could not. I mean, honestly, how many kids at that age know much about their parents? I had a vague understanding of who she was, but I had been more interested in what she was doing for me as a mother. What she represented. How that had affected me and my life. A mother was just supposed to be there. Through thick and thin. The kids were the ones who were supposed to have the tantrums. Not the parents.

  Stella had found out pretty much nothing back then. My mother hadn’t been very active online. Instead, I’d contacted my grandmother in Tucson and hoped she knew something. When I’d called her late one night, after screwing up my courage, she didn’t even realize my mother had been missing. Henry had called me the next day and berated me over the phone for doing such a thing. He’d told me it had been his information to share, and that I’d broken a ‘sacred connection’ between husband and wife. Or something like that. At the time I’d felt terrible. I’d told Stella to drop it.

  But looking back as an adult, I realize my stepfather had likely been embarrassed. I’d revealed a horrible secret he’d been keeping from his mother. His marriage was on the rocks. His wife had left him. Again.

  The internet could be a vast place of personal information, and Stella knew how to take advantage. Did I want to go further? Did I want to find out more about Ben? If Ben had been guilty of murder would he really be free to come to Alaska with no restrictions?

  I was curious and horrified at the same time.

  “That was almost a year ago. Did you find anything else?” I clicked on the reporter’s name hoping there might be additional stories on the topic. A page popped up blocking me from reading more without an account to the newspaper.

  “And that’s why I didn’t get any further since I found the article about 15 minutes ago.” Stella shrugged. “I mean, if you really want to know, we could cough up the $9.99 a month for unlimited digital access.” She navigated to the page with subscription information.

  I took a breath and thought about it. What would finding out the details tell me? Either Ben was a murderer or he wasn’t. And, no matter the truth of the situation, I’d still need a diver. “If he’s here in Alaska, I think it’s a safe bet that he’s innocent.” I wanted to believe my own words, but I knew it hadn’t come out very confidently.

  “How can you be so sure?” Stella went back to his Facebook page. “She’s dead, Rory.” Stella clicked on Ben’s photo album and scrolled until she found an album labeled “Laura.”

  Laura Snow had been a beautiful woman. Thin, blonde, blue eyes, a perfect smile that was wide and full of white teeth. Laura skiing. Laura boating. Laura fishing. Laura being Laura in her car, in a restaurant, outside a movie theater, on a mountain surrounded by trees and sunlight.

  “Could I get a glass of water?” I cleared my throat.

  “Sure thing.” Stella skipped over to the drinks station near the kitchen pass-through and filled a plastic drinking glass with ice and water.

  I couldn’t grasp all of this new information. Ben had been short with me only minutes ago when I asked about his personal life. Now maybe I had a concept as to why. But was that because he’d been grieving the loss of his fiancée? Or was it because he’d murdered her and was trying to keep it from me?

  “Here you go.” Stella set the glass of water on the counter.

  “Thanks.” I took massive gulps. I didn’t realize my mouth had been so dry.

  “So what are you going to do?” Stella blew a piece of her curly brown hair out of her eyes. “Fire him?”

  “What? No.” Ben was an excellent diver. He’d never done anything to harm me. I’d felt safe around him. I didn’t quite know how to process the news article.

  Stella looked at me aghast. “So you’re totally fine being out on the water—alone—with a murderer?” Her voice rose.

  I shushed her. I didn’t need the whole world knowing Ben’s secret. “A suspected murderer. There’s a difference.”

  “Not to me.”

  “What about ‘innocent until proven guilty?’” Even I didn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth. I wanted to. I really did. But I’d seen the Beast in Ben last night. It existed. A scary, powerful, dark thing inside of him.

&nbs
p; Stella bit her lip. “I don’t know…”

  I wrestled with my emotions. Ben had done nothing to make me distrust him when we were alone together. I could believe every word of the story in the news, freak out, fire him and then where would I be? I needed Ben. The summer dredging season was short. I didn’t really have the luxury of dithering over whether or not Ben was a danger to me.

  “I’ve got to trust that if he were dangerous, if he really did harm his fiancée, he wouldn’t be here in Alaska. He’d be back in Idaho.” I drank the last of the water.

  Stella gave me a look. “Promise me you’ll be careful.” She fingered a thin gold chain around her neck.

  “I promise.”

  “And if you ever need me or Matt, that you’ll call right away?” She had an earnest smile on her face that wavered. “Not handle things by yourself?”

  I knew she worried for me. I suppose I didn’t blame her. She knew Ben even less than I did, and he was intimidating by appearance alone. To read that someone was accused of murder, well, I could certainly understand why Stella might be fearful.

  “I’ll call.” I squeezed her hand. “And I’ll make sure I always have my dad’s pocket knife. How about that?”

  That seemed to calm her down. “Yes, do that.”

  As I left the diner my thoughts drifted from Ben my rescuer to Ben the possible murderer. Was he only protective of me because he needed me? Maybe he was on the run from the law and need quick money. With his skills as a diver and Nome’s reputation as a very fly-by-night sort of place with seasonal work paid in mostly cash, it’d be a good place to hide out while finding a way to fund your escape. Nome was miles from anywhere. Not easy to get to. No way to drive here from the lower half of the state. Everything was fly-in or float-in.

  Would an innocent man choose to come to Nome, alone, in the middle of the summer mining season? I had no idea.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  I shivered in my jeans and t-shirt on board the Alaska Darling. Five in the morning, even with the sun in the sky for almost a full 24 hours, did not equal ‘warm.’ But it did help me possibly avoid another uncomfortable encounter with Nate. My father usually lit out for the day around six, so I expected Nate would still be asleep or recovering from a hangover.

  The water appeared incredibly calm, like glass. We might be able to get in more dredging before other boats appeared to interfere with our mojo. Although there were maritime rules about distance between dredges, most dredgers rarely adhered to it. If a less experienced dredger needed some help finding the gold, they learned right away which dredges knew what they were doing. The newbies would try to horn in on the pay streak. Not safe and not much tolerated either. However, instead of calling the authorities to deal with the infraction, the disagreement was settled with punches and foul language.

  As I went through the motions of prepping the dredge, I couldn’t help but circle back around to the news story Stella had found yesterday. I filled the tank of the generator with fuel. I sent a silent prayer skyward in thanks for the gold that kept us going. I’d also stocked the cooler with drinks and snacks. Today Ben would be treated a little bit better than before. When you were on the gold, it was a good idea to keep the help happy. And my help just happened to be an accused murderer.

  The dredge dipped slightly.

  “Ham and Swiss okay?”

  I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sound of Ben’s voice. “Jeez, you shouldn’t sneak up on people like that.” I gave him a hard glare.

  “Sorry.” He set his bag stuffed with his diving gear on the deck. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Heads up.” I tossed him a wrench. “Double check the fittings on the air hoses.” Not that loose fittings was the cause of my problem the last time we were on the water, but I needed him to be doing something useful rather than standing there. I’d almost finished prepping the boat.

  “Got it.” Ben immediately tightened every fitting he could find.

  His presence alone set me on edge, which annoyed me. The small amount of trust we’d built had been damaged by what Stella had discovered and, until I could find out exactly what his involvement was with the death of his fiancée, it would be hard for me to relax.

  I left him busy on the deck while I checked on the systems inside the wheelhouse. I turned on the GPS to get us back to where we’d been before the weather turned. It had been a good patch of gold. Could be the Goldfinger and Kyle had sucked up the rest, but I had to go back to make sure before I spent time testing out new ground. No one had been out on the water yesterday, so a slight chance existed we could follow the streak and play it out without competition. I scanned the small boat harbor. Only two other dredges appeared manned for work this early in the day.

  I switched on the comms systems. It crackled to life.

  Good to go.

  “Cast off. We’re good.” I hollered to Ben.

  Ben untied the Alaska Darling.

  I throttled us slowly out around the jetty and into the open water. The early morning glow of the sun lit up the horizon with a pink-white light. Above, wisps of white clouds dotted the expanse of a dark blue sky. Already the days were noticeably shorter than they’d been earlier in the summer. Each day past the summer solstice several minutes of precious sunlight slipped away until the ice came and the sun disappeared for most of the winter.

  Ben joined me in the wheelhouse. “Nice morning to be out.”

  “Yes, you don’t get many days like this on the Bering.”

  He stood to my left, a short distance away. We both stared out at the calm sea. His close warmth caused goosebumps on my arms. I closed my eyes for a moment at the betrayal of my body. Was it the fact he was a possible murderer that gave me some kind of thrill?

  “My grandpa used to love this place.” Ben leaned against the doorway and crossed his arms.

  “Oh, I didn’t realize you’d been to Nome before.” The new bit was a better explanation for why Ben had come to Nome—beyond the need for money or to hide out from the authorities.

  “I haven’t.” He crossed his arms and tensed his shoulders.

  His short, cryptic answer raised even more questions in my mind, but his demeanor indicated to me I should let the topic drop.

  “I’ll dive first.” I craved the silence of the ocean today. Plus, I wanted to test the extent of my trust for Ben. Maybe I would pay the $9.99 when I got back to town to check out the rest of the news on Ben. “You go after lunch?” I could handle six hours under water. I think my max dive had been eight. Not typical for me, but possible. My dad had always limited my dives maybe out of some sort of protective gesture. But I didn’t have that luxury anymore. Two divers. A full day of clear weather. Both Ben and I needed to be able to work our butts off to ensure a successful week.

  I steered the dredge toward the marked spot on the GPS. The other two dredges I’d seen earlier swiftly headed away from our spot and toward the east. I wondered fleetingly if one of those dredges was the Goldfinger.

  “Sounds like a plan.” Ben coiled the dock line. The earlier tenseness gone. “I think I’m starting to get a feel for it.”

  I turned my gaze to the horizon. “Definitely. Our take was good last week. It helps when you’re an experienced diver. You can focus on the material—too sandy, you aren’t going to find anything. It’s a certain kind of cobble that really holds the gold.”

  I powered down the throttle as we approached our spot. Not too far from shore. By some miracle this area hadn’t been hit before except by the Alaska Darling and the Goldfinger. But it was a little deeper than most liked to dive. Some smaller dredges wouldn’t even try this depth. With the public claims growing busier and busier each year, dredges that wanted a chance of making it had to take some risk, dive deeper, stay down longer.

  I knew Ben could handle the depth, though. In fact, I thought he’d relish the challenge with his background. Half the time a new diver would quit because of the conditions—the cold water, the air hose getting tan
gled, working the suction hose. Not exactly reef diving. There were a lot of moving parts you needed to get right. Ben handled all with aplomb.

  “I’ll get us back on the gold,” I said, “and then you can follow me.”

  My phone rang as I set anchor over our marked location.

  The hospital.

  “Change of plans.” My phone vibrated and jumped across the surface of the plywood that served as a dashboard. “You suit up. I have to answer this.”

  Ben agreed and went to grab his dive gear.

  “Hello?”

  “Ms. Darling, sorry to call so early, but I thought you’d like to know: your father woke up a few hours ago. His doctor wanted me to get in touch with you right away.”

  Tears of relief pricked my eyes. “Can I talk to him?”

  Ben brushed past me to hook himself up to the hot water line. I followed him out onto the deck to make sure the hoses didn’t get in his way when he entered the water.

  “Maybe in a few hours. He’s being taken off the breathing machine. His voice might be a little hoarse. We need to assess his state of consciousness and then we’ll go from there.”

  I knew a definite possibility existed he’d end up with some brain damage from his accident. He’d been without oxygen for a time after the heart attack. No one was sure exactly how long. “Okay. Can you call me after the assessment?”

  Ben looked at me, but continued his dive preparations silently.

  “Of course, Ms. Darling. I know it can be difficult when a loved one can’t be here personally for a debrief.”

  Ben gave me a thumbs up with a quizzical look on his face.

  I gave him a return thumbs up. What else could I do? Yes, it was good news my father came out of his coma, but so much unknown remained about his future and his health. He needed surgery, so the positive progress made that more likely, which also put more pressure on me to come up with the money he’d need for the procedure.

  Ben smiled.

  “I’ll be reachable for the next six hours or so. Can you let the doctor know?”