Alaskan Mountain Pursuit

by Elizabeth Goddard

  “I was.”

  Summer liked that about him, the way he didn’t give more answer than he had to at first but didn’t attempt to dance around a direct question, either. A straight question deserved a straight answer. It seemed Clay agreed. A mark in his favor.

  “I don’t suppose you’d tell me...”

  “Not at the moment.”

  The tone of his voice didn’t change a bit, his expression didn’t flinch. But the subject was clearly closed. Interesting. She was curious, not because she necessarily doubted his ability to protect her, although maybe there was a little of that. But she also just wanted to know.

  “What do you think about the guy who’s after me?” Somehow Summer felt that if she was quiet, he’d be the one asking the questions and she wanted to avoid that for now. As long as she was asking the questions, she was the one in control.

  “We don’t know enough yet to make any kind of guesses.” He took a sip from the mug she hadn’t noticed him carrying in with him. Coffee, she’d guess. Her siblings liked the stuff. Summer preferred tea—had gotten hooked on it one summer she’d spent in Europe mountain running and climbing.

  “What do we know?”

  “I’m not part of the investigation, Summer. I’m just looking out for you.”

  “Surely they’ve talked to you about why that’s necessary.”

  “They have.”

  She let those words hang in the air for a minute while she considered them. “But you aren’t telling me.”

  “Because right now, all we have are theories. They won’t help you. They’ll just drive you crazy thinking about the possibilities. I will tell you everything I know the second I think that’s what is best for you.”

  Summer felt her shoulders tighten, the first hint of a frown on her face. He’d met her hours earlier. Who was he to decide what was best for her? She opened her mouth, ready to let him have it. Before she could say anything to him, she heard something. A doorknob being rattled? But everyone was inside already. They weren’t waiting for anyone.

  She stopped and sat up straight. “What was that?”

  Clay was already on his feet, reaching out for her hand, and she took it, the fight she’d been meaning to pick just seconds before mostly forgotten. The doorknob wasn’t making noise anymore, but in the seconds that had followed the initial rattling, there’d been a loud clatter, a small crash like one of the small tables on the porch had been knocked over.

  Someone was outside.

  “Go after him!” Summer urged.

  “I can’t. I have to stay with you.” Clay had his phone out. “Noah, I think there’s an intruder on the deck. Okay. Yes. That’s what I thought.”

  He hung up. “This way.” He pulled her toward the staircase that led to the upstairs guest rooms and some of the family’s bedrooms. Two of those were upstairs—Summer’s and Kate’s—and Noah’s and Tyler’s were in another hallway off the main floor.

  “You have to go after him,” she protested even as she followed him. “He found me, he knows where I am. He’s come after me twice now and it’s just going to keep happening unless we face it and do something about it.”

  Clay whirled to face her. “This is what needs to be done right now, Summer. You need to be kept safe and you need to stop questioning the people trying to make that happen.”

  She didn’t say anything else. Just continued up the stairs and entered her own room when he motioned her inside. It was more of a suite than a room, and the door opened into an area with a small couch, a coffee table and a drawing desk. Off that was the bedroom and bathroom.

  She stopped just inside the door. “What now?”

  “Sit down and wait.”

  Summer did it, fighting frustration. And maybe...

  Was that fear?

  Out of all her siblings, Summer considered herself one of the most fearless. Noah and Tyler weren’t overly afraid by any means, but they didn’t seek out danger the way she and Kate always had. Noah becoming the police chief had actually surprised the rest of them, but he’d explained that he’d rather face danger every day if it meant he was doing something to protect the rest of the town from it. Kate was an adventurer like Summer, but she acknowledged danger, didn’t mind staring it in the face. Summer? Summer didn’t usually notice danger. Her favorite place in the world was up on top of a ridgeline, running on it as her heart pounded, adrenaline rushing through her body, and dancing over rocks at what always felt like the tippy-top of the world.

  There was no room for fear.

  So this wasn’t a feeling she was used to. Then again, she also wasn’t used to losing her sense of control. Sure, there was a point in the run downhill when you had to lose a bit of your control and hope you didn’t end up hitting the small, loose rocks of the scree too many times and getting too scraped up. But even then, it was a voluntary surrender of control, for the sake of the race, the run, the exhilaration.

  This was control that someone was trying to take from her. Summer balked at that.

  “I’m not going to keep running. I hope he knows that. I hope he knows—”

  “Shh.” Clay had moved to the window and was looking out, watching what was going on outside.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Noah and Tyler are both out there. A trooper car just pulled up and a woman got out.”

  “Erynn. She works with Noah sometimes.” Her brother’s opposite in so many ways. Watching the two of them interact was a favorite amusement for most of the people who knew them. “No sign of anyone...who shouldn’t be here?” It was two in the morning but even as far south as Moose Haven, there would still be workable daylight—sort of a dark twilight—at this time of night in early summer.

  “Not that I can see. They’re coming inside now. We’ll wait here. Noah knows where to find us.”

  “He sent you up here?” In the moment she hadn’t even thought to wonder how he knew exactly where her room was.

  Clay nodded. “He thought it was the most secure place for us to get to. And he’s right. It’d be almost impossible for someone to get in here undetected.”

  “Almost?”

  “Can’t promise anything with 100 percent certainty,” he said with a shrug, like he was used to people taking his control away. But then again, Summer guessed he was. She doubted there was ever a “normal” day for someone in law enforcement. Noah hadn’t had to deal with as much since Moose Haven was usually a relatively quiet town—hunting violations and speeding tickets were usually the craziest things her brother dealt with, as far as Summer knew. Until this. Until today.

  Someone knocked on the door. “It’s me.” Noah’s voice.

  Clay unlocked it and Noah came in, followed by Tyler and Kate.

  “He was here.”

  Summer had never heard Noah’s voice like this. Hard. Angry.

  “How do you know?” Clay asked.

  Noah glanced at Summer. Shook his head slightly, like doing so would make her not aware of the fact that he was trying to communicate without her noticing.

  “I can handle it, Noah.”

  “You don’t need to know,” Noah insisted, Tyler and even Kate nodding. She’d have to give her sister a hard time later. The two of them had always stuck together as kids whenever their brothers turned bossy or overprotective. Boys against girls and all that.

  “I think she does,” Clay said.

  Summer swung her gaze to her unlikely ally, eyebrows raised, sure her surprise must be showing on her face.

  “You’ve read the reports,” Noah said to Clay as if she wasn’t even there. She decided to let it go for now and just listen.

  “I have. And I think it’s unfair to keep so much from her when it’s her life that’s in danger. We’re asking a lot of her to do what people say without understanding the situation, especially people like me who she doesn’t
know or have any reason to trust.”

  More than the usual amount of pause dragged out. Clay stood firm, Summer noticed, his posture giving no indication that he was backing down. She’d never thought she’d see someone willing to stand up to both her brothers, but here Clay was taking them on, plus Kate.

  It was...nice.

  “Alright.” Noah looked to Summer. “You want to know?”

  She wanted to go to sleep, wake up and realize it had all been a dream. With that not being an option... “Yes, I want to know.”

  “He was here.”

  “Who is he? You keep talking about him like he’s someone else. Someone...specific. Do you have a suspect?”

  “Not a name.”

  “But...?”

  “I have reason to believe it may be the serial killer who’s been killing women in Anchorage.”

  Summer’s mind couldn’t process, wouldn’t wrap around what her brother had just said. “You think...?”

  “The MO is incredibly similar.”

  “Surely if that were true I’d need more security than just Clay, right? No offense, Clay, it’s just that I’ve seen the news articles about that killer. People haven’t stood a chance against him.” She waited for their answers.

  No one said anything.

  Until Clay finally spoke. “The problem is,” he began, and for the first time Summer admitted to herself that the slow Southern accent calmed her, maybe just a little bit. It was easy to listen to him talk when she wasn’t feeling her independence threatened with everything he said. “The MO doesn’t fit perfectly. So we’re waiting to see if this is just our suspicion or if it’s founded.”

  “Our suspicion?” Noah asked Clay. Summer wasn’t sure what to make of that. Had Clay disagreed at first?

  Clay nodded. “I don’t feel good about this.”

  Noah’s face seemed to indicate that he agreed. “We’ll investigate more outside tomorrow. For tonight I’ll stay up and keep watch.”

  “I don’t think I can sleep,” Summer said.

  “You can and you need to.” Tyler pulled her into a hug. “Take care of yourself.”

  Summer hugged him back. It was possible she had the best brothers in the world. “I’ll try.” She offered a small smile.

  “Good night.” Kate smiled at her, but didn’t offer a hug. She wasn’t the huggiest of people, even with those she loved, so Summer didn’t mind.

  She smiled back. “Good night.”

  And then her siblings dispersed, leaving only her and Clay.

  She turned to face him, not sure what to say. At first, she’d disliked him because she’d been embarrassed. Then it had been convenient to ignore him because she hadn’t wanted his presence infringing on her independence, one of the things Summer held the most dear these days.

  Now...

  Summer wasn’t sure. But she owed him a thank-you for convincing her siblings to see reason and to keep her in the loop.

  “Thanks for getting him to talk to me,” she offered softly, sighing after she did so. “I’m not the youngest, Kate is. But for whatever reason if someone needs extra care, they always assume it’s me.”

  “Siblings are well-meaning but I hear they can be smothering.”

  “You have siblings?”

  Clay shook his head. “I’ve got a friend who’s about as close as you can get, but no, not really. Must have been nice growing up with friends around all the time.”

  Summer couldn’t argue with that.

  “Listen, they are right though—you need to sleep.”

  “I can’t sleep up here.” So far from everyone else, with no easy escape route. At least downstairs had multiple routes to the outside. Here in her room it was the door or the window. She felt trapped and exposed at the same time.

  “It’s the safest place for you, Summer. Like I said earlier, it’s all tucked back here so that you’re almost impossible to get to.”

  She wouldn’t sleep a wink. But if he was going to push the issue, she’d sit up and read all night.

  “Alright,” Summer said without further fight.

  Clay moved toward the door. “I’ll be right outside in the hall.” Then he turned toward her, his eyes focused and thoughtful. “You aren’t planning to even try to sleep, are you?”

  “Not even a little.”

  He laughed. A real, actual laugh. “May as well head downstairs, then. Maybe you’ll nod off on the couch.”

  Summer followed him down the stairs, his laughter echoing in her mind, almost pushing away the niggling fears that reminded her that someone wanted her dead.

  Almost.

  But not quite.

  * * *

  Clay didn’t know what had gotten into him earlier, snapping at Summer when she’d tried to tell him to go after the guy. He could count on one hand the number of times in his adult life he’d lost his temper. He had his own struggles, wouldn’t say he was 100 percent the man he wanted to be, but temper wasn’t usually one of his issues. It disconcerted him that fear for Summer’s safety, combined with him being upset over her persistent stubbornness, had made him lose it like that.

  He looked over at her stretched out across the couch, eyes closed. Clay had tried to convince her that her room was actually safer, tucked away and on the second floor, but she hadn’t listened, just like she hadn’t listened to her brother when he’d brought up the idea of the safe house earlier.

  She was stubborn. On one hand, the stubborn ones usually survived when they were attacked, something Summer had already proved true in her first and hopefully only encounter with the attacker. On the other, the stubborn ones were bad about taking precautions and following advice—something Summer had also proven. She clearly wasn’t going to listen to anyone, even when it would be wise, if it went against what she thought.

  Clay exhaled.

  This wasn’t what he’d wanted from his fresh start in Alaska. He’d known Tyler’s brother was in law enforcement, but he hadn’t expected to have any part in it himself. Not that he blamed them for asking for his help. It was the logical choice, Clay just wasn’t sure he was ready for it, wasn’t sure he trusted himself to have the instincts he used to have, before he’d started to doubt himself.

  But he owed it to his friend to try to keep his sister safe.

  And doing that, he was seeing now, also probably meant he couldn’t keep his distance, not even emotionally. The Dawson family needed as many people as they could get on their side convincing Summer to listen to whatever recommendations law enforcement made—and he wouldn’t be able to do that unless they were something resembling friends.

  He glanced at her again while she slept.

  It wasn’t that being Summer’s friend would be unpleasant. He admired her strength, her spunk, was intrigued by her and thought she was beautiful. Maybe those things were the problem. He had to think of her as a friend only, nothing more, because it was all she could possibly be. He wasn’t staying in Alaska long. He was friends with her brother. Reasons to keep his caring on a friend level and not allow it to go any further ran through his mind like facts on a ticker board.

  The biggest one was that he wasn’t an emotional kind of guy. He kept emotions out of his work life and he’d been a good cop, the possible exception being that last case that even his chief insisted he couldn’t have seen coming. Besides that, he’d always done a good job keeping a cool head, staying logical and by the book. Letting himself get any closer to Summer might not allow him to detach the way he needed to in order to keep his focus sharp, keep his senses on alert.

  Something he desperately needed to do. Because tonight he felt in his own gut the sinking feeling Noah had seemed to feel in his. Something about this ongoing menace toward Summer felt weightier, more heavy with evil than a random attack. Clay was almost sure Summer was the target of a serial killer. One who had been succes
sful six times so far. Who would feel he’d been robbed of his seventh victim and would likely keep coming back until he could kill her too.

  And it would be up to Clay to stop him.

  FOUR

  “Clay, you need to see this.”

  Tyler’s voice.

  Clay blinked his eyes open, exhaustion impossible to deny after the small amount of sleep he’d managed the night before. At least it had been more than anticipated—he’d planned to stay awake all night, but Tyler had come in around three thirty in the morning and told him he’d be awake doing lodge business and promised to wake him if anything happened. Clay had argued at first, but when Tyler insisted that Clay wouldn’t do them any good exhausted, he finally gave in.

  He sat up and glanced at his watch. It was 6:03 a.m. He slid his feet back into his boots, which sat beside the couch he’d slept on. Easy access. He wanted to know he could be ready at a moment’s notice. He glanced at the other couch in the room, where Summer had fallen asleep last night, though he’d known she wouldn’t be there. Kate had come down and finally convinced her to go up to her room somewhere around 3:00.

  “What is it?” Clay was up and following Tyler in seconds, as Tyler walked toward the front door. Clay’s eyes went to the stairs. “Is Summer okay?” He needed to know.

  “She’s fine. Sleeping, thankfully. She doesn’t know about this yet and I’m not sure she needs to.”

  Clay understood Summer’s siblings were only trying to protect her, but he disagreed with their methods. He didn’t plan to keep anything from her permanently, at least not as it related to the investigation, though he supposed he could see some value in carefully choosing the timing for revealing information to her. There were things about himself he might keep from her, but only because that was truly for her own good. It was in both of their interests that he keep his distance from her, be her friend on only the most basic level. Acquaintance, really. An acquaintance tasked with keeping her safe. And nothing more.