by Dave Daren
“You won’t make it very far,” I pointed out.
She scowled at me, but the sirens were nearly at the house by then. She wailed and then pressed her face against the mattress. She sobbed quietly, but my curiosity wouldn’t let her grieve in peace.
“Will you answer me now?” I asked her, and she lifted her head to show me her tear-streaked face. “Was it always the plan to kill Vann and find a way to pin it on your husband?”
“No,” she whispered, and I had to strain to hear her over the noise of the police arrival. “I just wanted to humiliate Harrison. I wanted to make him feel like I did when I found out he was using me. I was going to strip him naked, trash his boat, and then escape on his jet ski. His ego was so big, so I knew he’d never say anything to anyone.”
“But you gave him so much of the drug that he couldn’t move at all,” I said. “The dosage you gave him must have been lethal. He might have died even without being thrown into the Chukchi Sea.”
“He was a big guy,” she mumbled. “I thought he needed a higher dosage to be put to sleep.”
I could hear doors slamming outside so I knew we didn’t have much time before the police moved into the house.
“So the plan to kill him came only after your husband was on board,” I guessed.
“Yeah,” she confirmed. “They were both unconscious, and I realized I had an opportunity to get rid of two terrible men in my life. Then, you came along and started treating everyone like a suspect. A part of me hoped Yura would be arrested for the murder, too. Then she, Harrison, and Austin all would have gotten what they deserved.”
“Police!” I heard Ansong announce from downstairs. “Come out and put your hands where we can see them!”
“We’re upstairs,” I called to her.
I refused to move from my spot in case desperation inspired Diana to make a final attempt on grabbing the gun and taking my life. With the police and prison life closing in, it was possible she would try to take her own life, too. Either way, I was determined to keep the path to the bathroom blocked.
“Where’d you abandon the jet ski?” I asked. “Was it Northernmost Point?”
“Yeah,” she sighed. “The walk home was exhausting.”
I had several more questions I wanted to ask, but Ansong, Jackson, and Waska rushed into the room brandishing handguns. They immediately holstered the weapons when they recognized the situation wasn’t dangerous, and Jackson stepped forward as he removed a pair of handcuffs from his belt.
“Diana Morris, you are under arrest for attempted murder…” I heard the young officer begin, but I tuned him out as I turned toward Ansong.
The middle-aged officer wore a gentler expression than normal that took me by surprise when I saw it. She offered a smile, and I was too dumbfounded to return it.
“We’ll take it from here,” she said as she patted me on the shoulder. “There are paramedics waiting downstairs. You should go see them.”
I cleared my throat as I recovered from my shock, and I tried not to let my surprise show. Clearly, now that Ansong had her killer under arrest and my client was in the clear, I would finally be allowed to see the pleasant woman everyone had kept telling me existed.
“I’m fine,” I reassured her. “The most I need to worry about is a bruised rib. The gun Diana used is in the bathroom in the tub.”
“Will take care of it,” she promised and turned her attention to Diana.
I watched in awe as she rearranged her face in a tenth of a second into the steely expression I had become accustomed to. I then shifted my gaze over to Diana just to see her reaction.
The unhappy wife was the palest I’d ever seen her as she hung her head and stared at the floor. Whatever burst of energy she’d had while she tried to kill me had drained from her, and she hung limply from Jackson’s grasp. Or maybe it was simply another act, another show of weakness to mask the violent and desperate creature that lurked beneath the surface. But she wasn’t my problem anymore, and I suspected that Ansong wouldn’t let herself be fooled twice by the woman.
Since Ansong and her crew seemed to have everything in order, I decided it was time to slip away. I passed another group of officers heading up the stairs, stepped around a woman examining the bullet hole in the front door, and then stepped outside to be greeted by the flashing lights of the police cars.
Several more officers were on the lawn setting up a perimeter, and a paramedic approached me as soon as I stepped off the porch, but I dismissed her with a shake of my head and a wave of my hand. I didn’t need medical help right now, just some much deserved rest.
“Reese!” Cassandra called as she came running toward me.
“Hey--" I began, but I was cut short when she threw her arms around my waist.
“I thought you were…” she trailed off and buried her face in my chest.
“Dead?” I finished for her as I patted her on the back.
She looked up and stared at me.
“After the first gunshot, Officer Ansong put you on speakerphone and handed me the phone,” she explained as her eyes widened. “She and the other officers were getting ready to head to Morris’ house, but they paused when Diana started talking. There was another gunshot and then the call ended. I nearly had a heart attack.”
“I don’t die easily,” I reassured her as she released me.
“Yeah, seriously,” she sighed and shook her head. “I hope every case with you isn’t like this.”
“No promises,” I told her as I flashed her a smile, and she groaned.
I turned away to approach an officer inspecting my truck.
“Something tells me you’re not going to let me drive that anywhere,” I said to the officer’s back.
He turned around and nodded.
“Sorry, buddy,” he told me. “I can have another officer give you a ride, though.”
“I’d appreciate it,” I said.
He nodded and walked away to begin his search for an available officer. I sighed, leaned against the back of the truck, and folded my arms across my chest. I was dead tired, and all I really wanted to do was get back to the hotel.
But as I watched Cassandra approach me, I knew it wouldn’t be that easy. My paralegal opened her mouth to say something, but then we were all distracted by the sight of Diana emerging from the house with her hands cuffed behind her back. Jackson held her by the arm and led her to one of the three police cruisers parked on the grass in front of the empty neighboring house.
“Case closed,” Cassandra said as she watched Diana be placed into the back of a cruiser.
The paralegal took the spot next to me and leaned against the truck.
“I almost feel bad for her,” she said and then shook her head in disappointment. “But then I remember the simple solution that would have prevented this entire mess.”
“And what’s that?” I asked.
“A divorce,” she said as though it was obvious. “All she had to do was leave Morris, move to a nice sunny place like Florida or Arizona, and then live her best life.”
“I don’t think it’s that simple,” I replied. “Divorce and moving somewhere new to start over are both costly to do, and Morris didn’t exactly leave her in a position to be financially independent.”
Cassandra nodded and looked around.
“Yeah, and considering how isolated Utqiagvik is, she probably thought she was trapped here,” she added.
“That, too,” I agreed with a nod. “Hope was probably another thing keeping her here. She lied a lot to me and the police, but I think she was genuine when she said she hoped her marriage with Morris would improve.”
We stared at Diana sitting in the cruiser until Cassandra audibly clasped her hands together.
“Well, none of that changes the fact that she shouldn’t have resorted to murder,” she announced with what I thought was an inappropriate amount of cheeriness.
“Absolutely,” I agreed while I arched an eyebrow at her.
“So what’s next?” my para
legal asked as she smiled at me. “Tomorrow we visit the Inupiat Heritage Center?”
Now I understood her sudden excitement.
“Tomorrow we head home,” I answered with a laugh. “See if there are any flights we can take tomorrow, preferably in the morning. The sooner we get out of here, the better.”
“What?” she said with a frown. “Where’s the rush? We might as well make the most of our stay here. Who knows when we’ll be back, if ever.”
“Absolutely not,” I said. “Tomorrow morning we pay Mr. Morris a visit and tell him the bittersweet news, assuming no one beats us to the punch, and then we’re flying out of here. Have you forgotten how crazy the locals are?”
Cassandra made a face and shuddered.
“No, I definitely haven’t forgotten,” she answered. “But they only acted that way because they thought you were a bad guy. Now that we’ve proven Morris isn’t the killer, you’re a good guy, and that means we can enjoy our time here without you having to constantly look over your shoulder. It’ll be great!”
Just as I was about to reject her plan, Pingayak approached us with a notepad in his hand and a somber smile on his face.
“I heard you need a ride,” the overweight officer said as he stopped in front of us.
He glanced in the direction of the cruiser that contained Diana.
“Looks like you were right after all,” he continued as he returned his attention to me. “Austin wasn’t the killer, but I’m not sure this was the outcome anyone wanted or expected.”
“Definitely not,” I agreed.
The officer sighed and shook his head.
“Poor Austin,” he said and then tried to shrug off the somber mood. “Anyway, I’ve been tasked to be your chauffeur for tonight. Where are you two headed? I’m guessing after a day like this, you two would want to rest back at your hotel rooms.”
“Yeah, that would be great,” Cassandra said as she pushed herself off the truck and then looked at me. “Were you planning on going there, too, or did you have other plans? Maybe getting yourself a drink at Northern Peak? You’ve certainly earned it.”
“No, you’re right,” I said. “Resting at the hotel is exactly what I want to do right now.”
Pingayak nodded.
“We’ll be on our way as soon as I get a statement from you as to what happened here,” he promised as he pulled a pen from his front pocket.
As he scribbled on the corner of his notepad to check if his pen still had ink, I considered where my starting point should be. I decided it would be best to explain how I ended up at her house in the first place, and so I began with my offer to drive her home from the docks. When I reached the part about moving the necklace to a new hiding spot, the overweight officer hesitated for a moment to arch an eyebrow and then shook his head.
“I couldn’t exactly take it,” I explained. “You guys needed to find it in her possession.”
“Got it,” he said as he seemed to debate how to phrase that for his report.
He finally scribbled something down and then looked up at me to continue.
I told him what I could remember of the weird version of musical chairs we’d played around the truck, the gunshot in the hall bathroom, and my plan to use the parka. It suddenly occurred to me then that my parka was still upstairs, and I found myself shivering in a sudden burst of wind. But I finished my story with Diana’s confession and the arrival of the police, and both Pingayak and Cassandra were looking at me with surprise and maybe even a bit of awe as I wrapped it up.
Pingayak scribbled for a few more moments, clicked his pen, and placed it back in his front pocket.
“Quite the tale,” he said as he snapped his notepad shut.
“Yeah, tell me about it,” I sighed.
He patted my arm.
“Okay, let’s get you some rest,” he said and then gestured for me and Cassandra to follow him.
The officer led us to a cruiser that was parked on the side of the road rather than with the other vehicles on the grass. Cassandra revealed the doors were already unlocked when she climbed into the back seat before either I or Pingayak had a chance to approach our doors on the car. The officer settled into his seat just as I had put on my seat belt, started the engine, and began the drive to Top of the Mountain.
“How long before the entire town knows what happened tonight?” Cassandra asked from the back seat.
I caught her gaze in the rear-view mirror, and the sudden eye contact prompted her to wink at me. It still baffled me how much she reminded me of a child despite her impressive charisma. I had watched her make deliberate word choices to bond with others, and now she made silly faces at me in the rear-view mirror. I looked away before the thought to make a face back could cross my mind.
“Some of the officers are going to Northern Peak after their shift is done,” Pingayak said. “So I’d say a couple hundred of people will know by the end of tonight, and the entire town will know by tomorrow morning.”
“Hear that, Reese?” my paralegal said. “You’ll be a local celebrity by tomorrow morning. You should stay a couple of hours to bask in it.”
“I was already a local celebrity,” I reminded her. “Look how well that turned out.”
“That was under different circumstances,” she countered. “Things are better now. You prevented an innocent man from going to jail on false charges. You’re pretty much a hero.”
“Give it up, Cassandra,” I said. “You’re not going to convince me to stay here any longer.”
She said nothing in response to this, and so I checked her reflection in the rear-view mirror. She was already pouting as she looked out the window, but she saw me staring at her out from the corner of her eye. She made eye contact with me and frowned.
“You know you could always stay here on your own,” I said. “I’m not forcing you to get on that plane with me.”
Her frown deepened.
“That means I would have to find someone else to drag around town, and the list of people to do that is pretty much nonexistent,” she complained. “After a day like this, I don’t think Yura would be willing to entertain me, and all the buddies I’ve made in the police force have to work tomorrow. Lia might be available, but I doubt it. Besides, I haven’t accrued any days off yet. I can’t stay here unless it’s sanctioned by you.”
“You’ll just have to accept that this business trip is over,” I said. “Look forward to the next one.”
She gave an exaggerated sigh and shifted her gaze to look out the window again.
I did the same and watched Top of the World grow in size as we neared the heart of the small town. Finally, the cruiser pulled off the main street and stopped in front of the hotel.
Through the windshield, I had a clear view of the entrance to Northern Peak, and I noticed several fishermen and citizens standing outside chatting, and I picked out Tash easily enough. She had changed out of her fishing overalls and rubber boots into a pair of black jeans, ankle boots, and a flannel shirt with its sleeves pushed up to her elbows.
She was talking to a fisherman while holding a beer bottle, and the group turned their attention to focus on the police cruiser. Her eyes met mine, and she arched her eyebrows at me in confusion. She drank the rest of her beer, handed the empty bottle to a nearby woman, and then approached the vehicle. As she crossed the open space between the two venues, she turned her head back to say something to the crowd.
I heard Pingayak open his door and then Cassandra’s, and I forced myself to push open my own door.
“Thanks for the ride,” Cassandra said as she climbed out of the car.
“Yeah, thanks,” I echoed as I watched Tash come closer.
“Sure thing,” Pingayak said, and I heard Cassandra giggle.
I finally looked at my paralegal, and then I walked around the vehicle and joined Cassandra in front of the hotel. Pingayak had already climbed back into the cruiser, and he waved to both of us before pulling onto the main street and driving away.
<
br /> “Wow, she’s gorgeous,” Cassandra said under her breath as she stared at the approaching Tash and then raised her voice to speak directly to me. “Is she the first of your many adoring fans in this town?”
I chuckled.
“Being a fangirl doesn’t match her character,” I said.
Tash reached us then, and she immediately turned her attention to Cassandra. She extended a hand and a warm smile to the paralegal while I was left shifting uncomfortably on the sidelines.
“Marleen Tash,” she said as my paralegal grasped her hand.
“Oh, you’re Marleen!” Cassandra gasped. “I’ve heard so many stories about you from the police officers. You seem like a really fun person to be around.”
Tash laughed.
“Yeah, I am,” she agreed. “I’ve also heard some stories about you.”
Cassandra grinned.
“There are stories about me?” she said with glee and then turned her attention to me. “It’s a shame we won’t be staying here longer, but at least I’ve left my mark.”
“Leaving?” Marlene said as she looked at me.
“Yeah, the case is closed, and Reese doesn’t know what it means to take a break,” my paralegal explained with a disappointed shake of her head.
“The case is closed?” Tash repeated. “Is that why you two were riding in a police car? And here I was thinking I’d gotten myself involved with a bad boy.”
She gave me a seductive smile, and Cassandra arched her eyebrows at this as she glanced between me and the fisherwoman.
“Well… Reese can tell you all about his crazy escapade with the killer,” Cassandra said as she backed away toward the entrance to the hotel. “I’m off to take a nice hot shower and call it a night.”
“Oooh,” Tash cooed.
“Or maybe I should call it a day,” the paralegal joked as she pointed at the sun.
She flashed me and Tash a grin, waved goodbye, and then hurried inside. As soon as she was gone, Tash closed the space between us and wrapped her arms around my neck. She smiled up at me.
“Glad to hear the case is finally closed,” she murmured.
Any exhaustion or pain I felt instantly vanished, and desire for the woman in front of me took their place. I leaned toward her to press my forehead against hers.
