SHIVER

by Tiffinie Helmer

  “Okay.” She turned right and headed toward Earl’s. Chatanika wasn’t a big town, and it didn’t take her long to pull behind the SUV he’d rented. She parked and turned off the engine and pocketed her keys.

  He raised a brow.

  “What? You think I was going to just drop you off without seeing if this place is even liveable?” She scoffed. “I’m not that heartless, and I don’t want to come out here in a few days and find you dead.”

  There were worse things than being dead. He kept his mouth shut and climbed out of the rig. Grabbing the parka, he left the bag with the gloves for Fox in the car. “I’ll need the crutches,” he said.

  Raven went around the back and retrieved them. “Probably a good idea. You aren’t walking too steady.”

  And here he thought he was doing really well. He took one of the crutches from her and used them more as a cane than crutch. They walked through the gate, to the side of the house, and Aidan stopped. “We’re going to need Fox. The snow covered up the path he had made to the back door. I don’t know where the booby traps are.”

  “Fox actually knew how to get to Earl’s back door?”

  “Yeah. Walked in like he’d done it many times before.”

  Furrows appeared on her brow. “I need to have a talk with him. We could use the crutches as walking sticks. Set off any traps before we step.”

  He rolled his lips and shook his head. “Nope. I don’t want to take any chance that you might get caught in a trap.” He swore. “I will personally get rid of any booby traps Earl set. The bastard.”

  “No arguments here. All right, let’s head back. I wonder what Mom fixed for lunch.”

  His stomach growled. “Let me grab a change of clothes from the rental.”

  They walked back to the road and dug out the snow-buried vehicle. Aidan went to open the SUV, but found it already unlocked. Had he been so out of it the night he’d arrived he’d failed to lock the door? That wasn’t like him. Even though he’d grown up in an area that didn’t have a crime rate, other than what his own family had added to the community, he was careful. He’d lived in the big city of Seattle long enough to make locking his doors a habit.

  He opened the door to find his clothes thrown all over the back of the vehicle. His suitcase lay gutted along with his carry-on bag.

  “Do you always travel with such a mess?”

  “Someone’s been through my things.” Who would ransack his car way out here? And what the hell were they looking for?

  CHAPTER TEN

  Aidan pushed his plate aside.

  “I need to borrow a gun.”

  “Do you really think a gun is necessary?” Raven asked. She didn’t care for guns, even though she knew how to handle one. They’d returned from Earl’s, and had grabbed something to eat in Fiona’s kitchen. Well, at least, she had eaten. Aidan had picked at his tuna fish sandwich. She could tell he was shaken up over his stuff being ransacked. “It was probably some kids causing mischief. You know what it’s like in the winter with nothing to do. You find something to do. Legal or not just to kill the time.”

  Aidan held her gaze, his eyes dark with secrets. “I need a gun. Whether you think it’s necessary or not, I’d rather be prepared.”

  “What aren’t you telling me?” She placed her hands on the table when he didn’t answer her. “I’m not taking my son back to that hellhole without knowing what you know.”

  He pursed his lips. “My Uncle Roland is wanted for questioning.”

  “Questioning in what?”

  “Murder.”

  She rolled her eyes and twisted her lips. “Birds of a feather.”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard it before.”

  “Fine. So you think he might be here?” She remembered Roland Harte well from when he visited his brother. He was a crafty bastard who had enjoyed the misfortunes of others. “Why would he be here?”

  “I don’t know.” He raked a hand through his hair. “All right, this is what I need. I want Fox to draw me a map. I don’t want him anywhere near Earl’s place—”

  “No arguments there.”

  “—and I need a gun.”

  “I don’t have a gun.”

  It was his turn to roll his eyes. “This is Alaska. Everyone has a gun.”

  She couldn’t argue that.

  “When will Lynx be back?”

  “I have no idea. He’s on an eagle rescue, remember?”

  “Pike. He won’t have any problem loaning me one of his.”

  “You aren’t going to get Packin’ Pike involved in this. When Dad was killed, he put us all into lockdown. He was so afraid something would happen to us that he went overboard. It took years to get him back on track.”

  “Yet you still managed to get knocked up with a guy you met in a bar.”

  She sucked in her breath feeling as though he’d sucker punched her.

  “God. Raven, I’m sorry.” He threw his hand up and shook his head. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

  “I’m sure you haven’t been the perfect Boy Scout in all these years.”

  He scoffed and looked down at his feet. “No. That I haven’t. I really am sorry, Raven.”

  The door slammed, and in trotted Fox. Raven stiffened. Fiona had noticed the dimple and it was only a matter of time before someone else did. What if that someone else was Aidan? Then what would she do? She didn’t want to find out.

  “Hey, guys.” Fox smiled, happy to see them. “Whatcha ya doing?” Fox hung up his coat and scurried over, dragging his backpack.

  “Nothing.” Raven reached out and gave him a hug, which he barely tolerated. “How was school?”

  “Stupid.” Fox took a seat. Raven and Aidan sat across from each other, now Fox sat between them. Raven saw the irony in the situation. If Aidan found out who Fox’s father was, the poor kid would always be caught in the middle.

  “Why stupid?” Aidan cocked his head much the way Fox always did.

  “I don’t like math.”

  “Now, Fox.”

  “What, Mom? Math sucks.”

  “You owe the swear jar a dollar, young man.”

  Fox slouched in his chair. “Man, this day bites.” He looked at Aidan under his lashes. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t apologize to me,” Aidan said. “This day does bite.”

  “Why? What happened with you? Are you okay?”

  “Yeah. Just a stupid trip to the doctor’s.”

  Raven was glad Aidan stopped there and didn’t reveal that someone had gone through his things at Earl’s place.

  “Yeah, that su—bites as bad as math,” Fox said with a quick look at Raven to see if she’d caught his ‘s’ word slip-up. She let it pass.

  “What’s the matter with math?” she asked. He usually did well in the subject.

  “I don’t get how anyone can find a value of x.” Fox looked at both of them. “Two plus two equals four. I get that. But 5x minus 2 equals 0? Give me a break. How does someone wrap their mind around that?”

  Aidan chuckled. Raven shot him a “be quiet” look. He shrugged his shoulders and smiled.

  “I’ll help you with your homework later,” she said. “You’d better get on your chores before it gets any darker. It’s supposed to drop to twenty below tonight. Might want to give the dogs extra bedding.”

  “All right.” Fox eyed Aidan’s leftover sandwich. “Are you going to finish that?”

  “Help yourself.” Aidan pushed the plate toward him.

  Fox picked up the sandwich and took a large bite. “Yum.” He opened the sandwich to see what was in it. “I like this mustard. Spicy,” he said around the food in his mouth. He swallowed. “What is it?”

  “Dijon. Your grandmother had some in the fridge.”

  “I like it.”

  Great. First Reubens and now Dijon mustard. Dimples weren’t going to be her only problem.

  Fox swallowed another bite and glanced at Aidan. “You wanta see my dogs?”

  Raven cleared her throat, trying to
get Aidan’s attention, but he ignored her.

  “Yes, I’d like that,” he said. “I used to have a sled dog when I was a few years younger than you.” He looked off to the side, his expression sobered. “She was my best friend.”

  Raven remembered. Earl had shot Aidan’s dog one night in a fit of rage. Right in front of him.

  “What was her name?” Fox asked, his tone reverent as he picked up on Aidan’s sorrow. Her kid was a sharp one. Another reason she needed to keep him and Aidan apart. What if Fox guessed the truth? She’d explained to him, when he was younger, that circumstances prevented his father from being a part of his life. He’d been four and hadn’t brought up the subject again until he was seven. Then he’d suddenly stopped asking her questions and seemed to have accepted that he didn’t have a father in his life. The dogs, she figured were a huge part of that. She’d gotten him a husky around that time, hoping to take his mind off the subject. It had seemed to work because she hadn’t been plagued with questions since.

  “Her name was Nugget,” Aidan said. “She was a golden Malamute with the deepest blue eyes I’ve ever seen.”

  “She sounds beautiful.”

  “Yeah, she was.” Aidan straightened his shoulders and collected himself. “You want to show me your dogs now?”

  “No,” Raven said a little too loud. Both of them turned and stared at her with surprise. “You can’t. You need to put that leg up. Rest.” Anything but spend time with her son.

  “I’m fine. I took some of the pain pills the doc gave me.” He studied her curiously. “Checking on dogs isn’t going to do me in.”

  She wanted to object further but knew if she did it would only raise more questions. “I thought you wanted to head back to Earl’s?”

  Aidan turned to Fox. “That’s another thing. Can you draw me a map on how to get past the booby traps? The snow covered up the tracks.”

  Fox’s face brightened. “I’ll go with you.”

  “No,” Raven said, her tone hard. “I don’t want you out there.”

  “Neither do I,” Aidan agreed. “It’s too dangerous. Until I can find all the traps around the place, I don’t want anyone out there, but I do need you to draw me a map.”

  “But—”

  “No buts, Fox,” Raven said. “And I want to know how you knew where the booby traps were to begin with?”

  Fox swallowed the last bite of his sandwich, looking from Raven to Aidan. “Uh…”

  She waited. Fox glanced from both of them again, looking for an escape that wasn’t coming.

  “Fox?” she prompted with her no-nonsense mother’s tone.

  “Uh…I watched him…a couple of times.” He looked down at his plate.

  “Why were you watching him? I told you to stay away from him.”

  “I don’t know.” Fox shrugged his shoulders. “I guess I wanted to know why everyone thought he was dangerous.”

  “So you put yourself in danger to find out?” Obviously she’d allowed the boy too much freedom.

  “She’s right, Fox,” Aidan said. “Earl was a loose cannon. Unpredictable.”

  Raven shot him a look that said she didn’t need his help with her son. He must have gotten the message for Aidan leaned back in his chair, separating himself from the conversation.

  “We’ll talk about this later,” Raven said. “Right now, get on your chores, okay?”

  “Yes, Mom.” Fox glanced at Aidan. “Still want to see my dogs?”

  “Fox, that isn’t a good idea,” Raven said.

  “Yes, I’d like to.” Aidan stared at Raven, the look a challenge of sorts. “That is if it’s all right with your mother.”

  Sure, make her the bad guy. Fox beseeched her with his large brown eyes. While letting Aidan and her son do anything together went against everything screaming inside of her, she couldn’t see a way out of it. “Fine.” She glared at Aidan. “I don’t want to hear it if you hurt yourself.”

  He flashed her a smile, his dimple shining bright like a neon sign. “Thanks for worrying about me.”

  She scowled. “I’m not worrying about you. I want you healthy so you can move on.”

  “Mom,” Fox said, his tone chastising.

  Crap. She needed to watch her tone. “Sorry,” she gritted out. Aidan’s smile got bigger. He was obviously enjoying the situation.

  “Come on.” Fox jumped to his feet. “One of my dogs has a golden coat too. You’ll love her.”

  Aidan slowly stood, hobbled to the door, grabbed his new parka, and put it on.

  “Don’t over do,” Raven warned.

  Aidan winked at her as he left. She should go with them, but didn’t miss that her son hadn’t invited her along. She understood he was of the age where he was looking for a father figure. He had Lynx and Pike. Why did he need another?

  It was just a phase. Fox had saved Aidan’s life so he felt connected to him. That would pass as soon as Aidan left.

  The sooner he left the better.

  For all of them.

  Aidan followed Fox down the well-worn path from the lodge toward Fool’s Cove. The beauty of the area slapped him as sharp as the cold. Scrawny Spruce trees, their pine needles heavy with snow bordered the trail, while branches of birch trees, were a drastic contrast with their white and black parchment bark. It was quiet here, the sound of their feet crunching in the snow and their breathing the only sound. No traffic, no horns, or the squeal of brakes. No people. Just him and Fox traipsing through the woods.

  A chickadee sang a song to its mate, while a ptarmigan dressed in its white-feathered coat darted across their path, surprising Aidan. Fox took it in stride.

  “So why haven’t you come back home before now?” Fox asked.

  “I promised never to return last time I was here.”

  “Why?”

  Where did he start? He should have started with watching how he’d answered Fox’s question in the first place. “If you haven’t noticed, I’m not wanted around here.”

  “Yeah, I noticed. But nobody’s told me why. I thought I’d develop my own opinion from the source. You.”

  Smart kid. “Bad things happened the last summer I was here.” Some great things had happened, too. Lying with Raven. Loving Raven.

  “Yeah, I know. My grandfather was killed. I’m named after him, you know.”

  Aidan smiled. “I figured that out.”

  Fox flashed him a smile in return. A dimple peeked for a moment and then was gone. Cute kid.

  “I also know Mr. Harte was suspected to have some part in his death. But nobody tells me anything. Just that I needed to stay away from him.”

  Aidan tightened the gloves on his hands. How much should he tell young Fox? It wasn’t his place. Actually it was, since his own father had caused the death of his grandfather, a great man. “Earl had everything to do with your grandfather’s death.”

  “Why?”

  Again with the whys. “There was a land dispute. Earl thought your grandfather’s gold mine was his.”

  “Was it?”

  “I think the word used by the property surveyor was ‘undetermined.’ But Earl was adamant that the mine belonged to him.”

  “Why?”

  The more information he gave Fox, the more questions the kid came up with. “A lot of the land around here was homesteaded. Claims were laid on mines that sometimes had more than one claim attached. My mother’s people and your grandfather’s apparently were partners years back and laid claim to the Trapper’s Creek mine. No gold was ever found, until about fifteen years ago. Your grandfather found the gold. And Earl found a deed to the claim. But there were questions, because the claim was in my mother’s name, and she’d died by then.”

  “So, Mr. Harte could have had a rightful claim to the mine?”

  “Whether he had a legal right to it or not, it didn’t justify the means he used to get his hands on it. And all of it was for nothing.”

  “Because after the first strike my grandfather found, no other gold was recovered
?”

  Aidan had been right, this kid was one smart cookie. “Right. Greed always brings out the worst in people.”

  “That’s what Mom always says too.”

  “She’s right. You need to listen to her.” They turned a corner on the path, and the trees opened up to reveal a home. A two story log cabin blended with the wilderness, adding rather than taking away. A smaller building was connected to the cabin by an enclosed walkway. He knew without being told that the building was Raven’s studio. He wanted a peek. The workspace of an artist told so much about them. He wanted a chance to get to know this new side of Raven he never knew existed.

  To the left was Fox’s team. Six dogs sat or lay next to their own dog houses dotting the open land. Bales of straw were spread next to the houses, adding much needed insulation for the extreme winter temperatures. The huskies caught sight of Fox and leaped to their feet, their excited yips and howls echoing over the open area.

  Fox beamed and ran to his dogs, ruffling the fur around their necks, allowing them to lick his face. It was clear that they loved him and vice versa. Aidan found a wide grin splitting his face as he watched the interaction. Every boy needed something like the unconditional love that these animals had for Fox.

  Fox motioned him over. “Come meet my team.”

  Aidan limped into the writhing bodies of fur. The first dog—must be the alpha male—stuck out his nose, his nostrils flaring, his mismatched brown and blue eyes flickering. Aidan offered his hand, palm up. It was sniffed and then the husky rubbed his head against him. Aidan smiled, his heart swelling as he was accepted into the pack. No judgment to be found here. The others followed suit. They had no idea who he was. Who he came from. But judged and accepted him with their own insightful brand of measurement. Why couldn’t it be that easy with people?

  “Fox, you are the luckiest kid in the world.” Aidan smiled. “I’d have loved this.” He laughed as one of the dogs pushed him over and licked his face.

  “Yeah, they’re really cool.” Joy lit Fox from within. “Wanta go for a ride with me? Not now, it’s getting too late, and Mom will say no. But maybe Saturday?”