Mountain Refuge

by Sarah Varland

  “We’re not interfering,” he continued, “and we haven’t done anything illegal or unethical.”

  “Not telling me what you were up to dances close to both of those.”

  “Maybe it does. But it’s not either one and I stand by that.” Clay’s shoulders were straight, his posture not defiant but confident. Summer cracked a tiny smile. Her brother was a difficult man to stand up to but Clay was doing an admirable job.

  “Why don’t you describe exactly what you have done, if you don’t mind.”

  Summer held her breath. Waited.

  “We sorted through some ideas we both had, and compiled them in the notebook.”

  “I wrote them down. That was my fault.” Summer wasn’t proud of it, but she knew that first of all, it was true, and second of all, Noah was much less likely to be upset with her than Clay, and for some reason, she didn’t want him to have any reason to dislike Clay.

  “What else?” Noah kept going.

  Clay looked at Summer. She winced. This was where he was going to be the least happy with them.

  “We talked to some people with…connections to the case and asked them some questions.”

  “You conducted unauthorized interviews?” Noah’s eyes widened. He pressed a hand on his forehead, closing his eyes. Summer half wondered if he was counting to ten to calm himself down.

  “Again—” Clay’s voice was still steady “—we didn’t do anything unethical. Unadvisable, maybe. But we just talked to them. Summer is the one who has the most in common with the other victims and we thought she might be able to find a connection that law enforcement officers might overlook.”

  “I don’t know what to say to either of you right now.” Noah looked between the two of them. “You.” He focused on Summer. “You need to take your safety more seriously. And leave the investigating to the people who are in charge. And you.” He fixed his glare on Clay, and Summer thought it was harsher than the one she’d gotten. “You should have known better.”

  “Than what? There’s a serial killer still terrorizing south central, no law enforcement agency I’ve talked to is making progress and it’s not anyone’s fault because I’ve seen how hard people are working. I thought I might have found a way to make some progress.”

  “Involving my sister in an investigation you’re supposed to be protecting her from?”

  “I’m supposed to be protecting her from the killer. Not from a knowledge of the very real danger she’s facing.”

  “I’d prefer she was protected from both.”

  Summer threw her hands up. “Stop, both of you. Please.”

  Both men looked at her. Though neither had been out of line and Clay had kept his usual calm tone, Summer couldn’t take it anymore. “Aren’t we all on the same team?”

  “Technically I’m on a team with my officers here and the troopers, and my team is trying to keep you safe.” He directed the words at Summer.

  “Okay, then,” she began, growing more frustrated with her brother by the moment. “Doesn’t that mean Clay is on your team?”

  Her brother looked at the other man—and then his shoulders sagged a bit as the ire seemed to drain out of him. “Yes. He’s keeping you safe, doing what I ask. Yes, he is. You’re right, Summer.” He studied Clay for another moment, then stuck out his hand. “I apologize. That was unprofessional of me.”

  Clay shook it. “I understand. I care about your sister too.”

  Noah nodded, taking the words at their true face value rather than reading into them like she suspected she would do in whatever few quiet moments she had for the rest of the day.

  “The troopers will be bringing the car into town sometime tomorrow if all goes according to plan. They took it to Anchorage and the lab needs time to examine it.”

  Tomorrow? Summer wasn’t counting on it. That seemed like an unrealistically fast turnaround and besides, plans didn’t seem to mean much these days, not with the high stakes her life had turned into.

  “Thanks.” She smiled.

  “I’d like to look at that notebook when we get it back, with your permission, Summer.”

  She knew he didn’t have to ask and so she nodded. “Sure. I don’t know what we have that could help, but if there’s anything…”

  “Actually I think we should tell him what we’d come here to talk to him about,” Clay broke in.

  “I’m all ears.”

  “I told Summer that I was thinking, sort of rolling things around in my head about this case and realizing that the killer’s MO has changed substantially.”

  “Not hard to notice.”

  “No, but I think it lets us make a few assumptions or at least gives us some conjectures and possibilities to investigate.”

  “Such as?”

  “I think the killer believes Summer can identify him.”

  Noah’s brows rose. “If that’s true, then you realize security will need to be tighter.”

  Clay nodded and Summer frowned. They hadn’t talked about this. What did he mean by that? More officers, or were they going to push the safe house issue? She couldn’t imagine being stuck somewhere isolated without the freedom to hike and explore the mountains around her.

  “We can talk about that in a minute. But as for the why, think about his MO. He’s a serial killer, he does things with a purpose, deranged though it may be.”

  “I’m still following.”

  “And he isn’t trying to kill Summer in his usual way anymore. He’s realized he’s probably not going to get that chance. But rather than give up on her entirely, he’s fixated on her.”

  “Could just be some weird psychological obsession.”

  “I would agree if he kept trying to attack her with the knife that was used in the other murders. That’s personal to him.”

  Summer felt like she was going to be sick, remembering the glint of the blade. Instead she drew a deep breath and focused on the patterns in the carpet while Clay kept talking.

  “But you’re saying that now his methods of attack are so impersonal you don’t think his motives are the same.”

  Clay nodded. “Exactly. Now he just wants to eliminate her. He’s acting like he views her as a threat.”

  Summer looked up from the carpet long enough to chime in. “But I don’t know who he is, I really don’t.” She shook her head. “I’ve thought through almost everyone I know who hikes, random people I’ve seen often on the trail who might fit the build, on Facebook groups. I’ve got nothing.”

  Noah blew out a breath, slowly. “Okay. If that’s true, and I think you have a good reason for believing that it is, how does this change our investigation? Where should we be looking differently?”

  “I’m not sure it gives us any clues in that direction but it does give us some ideas about how he might continue to operate,” Clay offered.

  “How?”

  “He’s going to hit hard and he’s not going to stop until either he is captured or Summer is dead. Because at this point, he believes he has nothing to lose.”

  FIFTEEN

  Past one in the morning and Clay couldn’t sleep. The sky outside had finally darkened to something that resembled nighttime, but still he couldn’t shut off his thoughts. His body was exhausted despite the rest he’d gotten earlier in the day, but his mind refused to follow suit.

  He turned over again. Glanced at the clock one more time only to find less than one minute had passed. Noah was on watch now, since Clay had agreed to take the first sleeping shift. They were switching at two.

  An hour to sleep.

  He turned over again and closed his eyes. They snapped open and he threw back the covers. Gas. He smelled gas.

  He grabbed his jacket on the way out of the door of his room, thankful he’d slept in all his clothes.

  Noah met him in the hallway. “I smell gas downstairs.”

  “I just smelled it too. Where’s Summer?”

  “Her room. I’ll get her.” Noah threw the door open and ran inside. Clay waited in
the hall but was ready to take Summer’s hand as soon as she came out. Noah hurried ahead of the two of them. “Get Summer outside!”

  “What if it’s a trap?”

  “It’s a risk we have to take.” The other man’s expression was grim. Clay ducked back into his room, grabbed his handgun from the bedside table drawer and tucked it into the side of his waistband, then took Summer’s hand again.

  He and Summer ran outside, the cold wrapping like an unwelcome blanket around them. He felt Summer shiver and wished he’d taken the time to grab his jacket so he could offer it to her.

  Tyler and Kate both ran out only a minute later. Kate was carrying an extra jacket. “I wasn’t sure you’d have gotten yours,” she said to Summer as she handed her one.

  Summer smiled, something that surprised Clay a little. “That’s my always-prepared sister.”

  “How are you smiling?” Kate shook her head, looked at Clay. “Does she not get it?”

  “Get what?” Summer asked.

  Clay didn’t know. She didn’t seem nearly scared enough to understand the full range of danger they could be facing even now.

  Worst-case scenario now that they were outside and presumably safe was that the gas smell was some kind of trap to get them outside so the killer could pick Summer off. It wasn’t a scenario Clay wanted to consider but it had the potential to be the very one they were facing, so he made sure he stayed on alert, looking in multiple directions. There was enough light to make out shapes, a dim sort of twilight, but so far nothing looked out of place to him.

  “You don’t get that this is really bad!” Kate frowned, her frustration obviously overcoming her vocabulary in Clay’s opinion because bad didn’t begin to cover it.

  “I haven’t exactly thought a guy after me was good. Ever.”

  “No, but you’re not taking it seriously. I heard Noah talking last night, again, about how you’d be better off in a safe house.” Kate threw her hands up. “What else needs to happen to convince you to listen to him? He’s not just your brother, he’s the chief of police here and if I were you I’d do what he says.”

  “I don’t want to leave you guys, leave the lodge with no one to lead the hikes.”

  “Someone’s trying to kill you and you’re worried about leading hikes?” Kate didn’t bother to hide her disbelief.

  “I don’t want to hurt the lodge.”

  “We don’t want you hurt. That’s what matters most.” Kate glanced back at the building. “But if you don’t want to hurt the lodge, consider what happened tonight. That’s certainly not helping it.”

  Summer’s smile fell from her face, her shoulders slouched as the reality of the danger sunk in. Clay wished Kate had been more careful with her words—Summer already carried so much guilt. But gentle or not, she was right.

  Summer looked at Clay. Then back at Kate. “Alright. I’ll do it.”

  Kate nodded once. “Tell Noah when he gets out here.”

  No one said anything after that. Kate had killed any kind of optimism Summer had been showing. While Clay wished he could see her smile again, he knew that right now she needed the reminder of the seriousness of the situation.

  If they’d been trapped inside, if the gas had kept leaking, they could have succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning. It was also possible that whoever caused the leak had intended to set off an explosion.

  That scenario was probably the deadliest. Thankfully it hadn’t happened.

  But it could have.

  The building alarm went off. Clay wondered if the CO detectors hadn’t detected a problem until then or if Noah had had to set them off manually.

  It didn’t take long for the guests who were staying at the lodge to start filing out, most in what looked like pajamas and bathrobes. All of them looking understandably upset.

  Clay hated to admit it but the safe house was looking like the best option to him too. Not just for Summer’s safety, although that was his top priority, but for the safety of those around her, like Kate had pointed out. If the worst had happened tonight, the death toll would have been extreme, and would have included far too many innocent people who had no involvement in this case at all. This wasn’t something they could handle in the same way they’d been trying to. It was time to admit they needed another plan. There, standing in the darkness, he felt like he’d failed somehow. Yes, Summer was still alive, for which he was thankful, but he hadn’t been able to handle keeping her safe on his own. He hadn’t been able to eliminate the threat completely.

  He hated when it felt like the bad guys were winning. He knew that, thanks to God and His plan, evil never won in the end. Ever. But sometimes on earth that wasn’t how it felt. And it grated against his sense of justice, against all the reasons he’d become a cop after high school in the first place.

  I don’t know how to handle this, God. Help.

  Noah stepped out of the building. Shook his head.

  And Clay knew it was good that Summer had decided about the safe house on her own because at least she’d feel better about it that way.

  Because he was pretty sure Noah was no longer giving her a choice in the matter. And Clay didn’t blame him. Whoever was after her wasn’t stopping. And her life was growing more dangerous every day.

  *

  When the Moose Haven Fire Department finally left, having declared the building safe, Summer was still standing in the parking lot, staring at the lodge. A light rain had started to fall as dawn broke across the sky, but she didn’t care. Let the rain fall.

  She had to leave.

  Summer wished tears would come, anything to give her some way to work through the overwhelming wave of emotions crashing against her right now, but none did. She just stared ahead, aware that Clay was close by talking to some other police officers, that her siblings were nearby. And yet, she’d never felt more alone in her life.

  She’d fought for her chance to lead the hikes at this lodge, and she’d checked as recently as last week—occupancy at the lodge was up since she’d started doing them. Summer didn’t know why people seemed to care so much about whether or not she was there. She was a has-been mountain runner, but that one season she’d spent in Europe, even placing in some races, had helped her make just enough of a name for herself that it appeared she really was good for business.

  And now she had to leave. Because rather than helping her family’s lodge recover from economic setbacks, her presence was hurting it. Of course that was the secondary reason she was leaving—hers and everyone else’s safety being the first priority. Still, she felt the sting. For the first time since the man had grabbed her in the woods, Summer let a dark thought flicker through her mind.

  Was this all punishment for the way she’d lived a few years ago? For the choices she’d made?

  She let the thought linger. Considered it.

  “Summer?”

  She blinked. She’d almost forgotten she wasn’t alone because it felt very much like she was. She looked at Clay.

  “It’s me, you and Noah. And we need to leave as soon as possible.”

  Summer nodded, looked back at the lodge and wished one more time for tears that didn’t come. “I’ll go pack.”

  Not long after, Summer had her turquoise backpack strapped to her back and was dressed for hiking. After feeling so overwhelmed earlier, she felt strangely calm now that they were about to drive to the trailhead for their family’s cabin, the location they’d decided made the most sense as a safe house. She had failed in how she wanted to help her family, for now. But that didn’t mean this was the end. Once the danger was over and she was able to come back, she would do better, try harder, somehow make the lodge work and make up to her family for how she hadn’t been there for them in the past.

  The ride to the trailhead was quiet. Neither of the men seemed like they were in a talkative mood and Summer definitely wasn’t, so no one spoke. There was no need to talk as they began hiking, either. Summer and Noah both knew where they were going and Clay just foll
owed close behind.

  How much longer was this going to last? Summer wondered as she pushed her pace faster, not from any sense of danger but because she needed to feel her muscles burn, needed to feel alive. She’d always loved the way hiking focused her, making her feel like if she could conquer this hike she could conquer anything. But today, the hike wasn’t enough to clear her mind. How much longer would she have to live like this, with someone after her?

  She kept putting one foot in front of the other. The next right step, the next right thing, just like the pastor of the church in town her family attended had told her to do when she returned to town and wanted to know how to make things right with God, with her family.

  The next right thing with her family had been to stay at the lodge, devote herself to helping it succeed. At least, that had been the plan.

  The next right thing with God?

  Summer had never stopped long enough to figure out what it was. Only knew it was there, hovering just out of her reach and feeling like if she just tried hard enough, focused hard enough, she’d know. Whether or not it would be something she’d be willing to do, she wasn’t sure. But right now she didn’t even know what it was.

  Thinking in that direction made her feel unsettled, a feeling she’d had quite enough of lately, so she turned her thoughts to Clay.

  He’d said nothing about her past, about the conversation they’d shared. Of course when had he had the chance? They’d been too busy reacting to events they couldn’t control.

  Summer flinched when she thought that. Was that what her life had been the last three years? Just a chain of reactions to events because she knew she wasn’t ultimately in charge of her life and so she felt perpetually like she was spinning out of control?

  Oddly enough, except on ridgelines.

  Summer exhaled, managed to stop thinking so much, stop analyzing as she continued to hike through the trees. They broke through the tree line after about forty-five minutes of hard hiking, and then they were on the edge of the mountain, taking the trail that led straight up to the ridge, which they’d travel for another half a mile before reaching their family’s cabin.