Tundra Threat (5 page)

“You’re doing me a favor,” she said with a smile as she released McKenna. “Checkers is good company, but he doesn’t talk back, you know?” She motioned to a dog that looked like a mix between a border collie and a terrier.

“I understand.” McKenna reached down and petted Mollie between the ears. “This is Mollie.”

The two dogs were nose to nose, sniffing each other cautiously, and then ran inside the house together.

“I think they’re going to get along fine,” Anna said with confidence. “Now, let’s get you moved in. What can I help with?”

They walked to the car and the three of them brought in McKenna’s things. Thankfully, she’d anticipated having less space in Barrow and had left a lot of her possessions in storage in Anchorage. The dumpy trailer she’d rented had come furnished, so she hadn’t needed much. It made moving into Anna’s house much easier. Will only had to make one more trip to her old house and back, one he insisted on making alone, to pick up the last of her belongings.

Over an hour later, McKenna sank into one of the chairs in the living room. “What time is it?” she asked, looking around for a clock. It was still light outside, but in September that didn’t tell her much. “I’m ready for bed.”

Will checked his watch and laughed. “It’s almost nine.”

McKenna tried to stifle a yawn. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“You have had kind of a long day,” Anna offered.

Had they really only been shot at that morning? “I guess if you don’t mind, I’m going to turn in early.”

Will stood as McKenna did. “I’m going to head over to Matt’s and say hi before I go home.” He started toward the door, then paused and faced McKenna. “Be careful, okay? I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He’d insisted on keeping her company the next day, “just in case she needed him for anything,” he’d said. She knew he was concerned about whoever was after her and felt as if he needed to look out for her. To be honest, she thought it was overkill. Moving in with Anna had ensured that she wouldn’t be alone at night anymore, which seemed like the most vulnerable time. During the day? Well, she had a gun and she knew how to use it. Personally, she thought Will should go back to work, but if she knew him at all, she knew he was stubborn—almost as stubborn as she was—and she knew telling him to do anything would be useless.

Besides, it was a little sweet that he cared.

FIVE

W
ill knocked on his friend’s door, willing himself not to shiver in the cold that crept through his jacket.

“Hey!” Matt greeted when he opened the door. “Did you get her all settled in?”

He nodded. “Yep. She and Anna seem to get along fine, so that’s good, too. It was nice of her to let McKenna move in.”

“It didn’t sound like a good situation, living alone where she was.”

Once again, Will marveled at the independence—or was it stubbornness?—McKenna continued to show. She was no longer technically a kid, but she was still young, still needed taking care of.

“You okay? You seem distracted,” Matt asked as Will followed him inside. The whole house smelled like warm cinnamon.

“I am a little. But it’s nothing that a little of whatever I smell couldn’t cure.” He looked around and found the source of the aroma—several pans of cinnamon rolls—sitting on a kitchen counter.

“Help yourself,” Lexi said with a smile as she pulled another pan out of the oven. “There are plenty.” She handed him a small plate and put a warm cinnamon roll on it.

“Thanks.” He picked up a fork and after one bite, closed his eyes and smiled. “This is epic.” He looked at Matt. “How you don’t weigh five-hundred pounds is a mystery to all of us.”

Matt laughed. “She is an amazing cook. I highly recommend this whole marriage thing.”

Will swallowed hard in the sudden silence. Lexi fixed her husband with a look.

“I’m sorry, man. I didn’t mean—” Matt started.

“It’s okay,” Will said.

“It has been a long time, Will. Maybe it is time for you to think about dating again.” Lexi said it gently, with a smile. “Tell me about your friend.”

“Who? McKenna?”

“Like there are other women I could be talking about?”

Some part of him had a hard time thinking of McKenna as a
woman.
Clearly she’d grown up and wasn’t the girl he remembered. But
woman
made her seem...

Lexi had a point, though. Who else would she be talking about? He had made a very concentrated effort to avoid getting involved with anyone since he came to town. It wasn’t too difficult since women were scarce in the area anyway. But he wasn’t ready for another relationship. He wasn’t sure his heart had recovered from the last one.

He said as much to Lexi, who just waved him off. “It’s been, what, five years since you came here? So you’ve had a long enough time, I would think.”

“Maybe you’re right.” Will shrugged. “I’ve never done this before—thought about dating after being married.”

“So, you are thinking about dating her?” Lexi, ever the matchmaker, rubbed her hands together.

Great. That hadn’t come out the way he’d meant. “No. She’s my best friend’s little sister.” He shifted uncomfortably, knowing there was more to it than that. McKenna was the kind of woman who would engage every emotion—which would only make it even easier to get his heart thoroughly shattered if something ever happened to her, the way something had happened to Rachael. He was better off single. “Hey, can I have another cinnamon roll?”

Lexi pushed the pan toward him but maintained a steady stare. She clearly wasn’t letting him get away with the change in subject.

Surely someone could use this woman’s persistence in an interrogation room somewhere. “Matt, do you want to help me out here?” he called to his friend, who was sitting on the couch in the living room, and listening to the whole conversation with what seemed like great amusement.

“Nah, you’re doing great on your own.”

Will turned back to Lexi the inquisitor. “You should stick to baking rather than matchmaking. You’re much better at it.”

She raised her eyebrows. “I didn’t say anything. You brought the subject back up, technically, which makes me think you really are interested.” She folded her arms and narrowed her eyes. “The question is, why aren’t you doing something about it?”

Will set his fork down. “Even
if
I was interested. And that’s something I’m not saying, by the way.
If
I was, she’s still my best friend’s sister.” And there was that host of other reasons, too....

“So?”

Matt laughed louder.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying this,” Will called over his shoulder.

“Oh, I am.”

“It’s just not something guys do,” Will tried to explain. “Sisters are off-limits.”

“Because that makes sense. She’s an adult, Will. Really pretty, too. I looked out the window while you guys were moving her stuff in.”

“Look, she’s off-limits, guys. Leave it alone.”

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Matt and Lexi exchange a look. They might not believe him, but he was sure of it—nothing beyond friendship could ever happen between him and McKenna Clark.

* * *

Nothing had broken all day on the case McKenna had been working so hard on. Of course, part of the problem was that no matter how hard she worked, she couldn’t give the case her full attention.

She’d learned even in the past eight hours how difficult it was to multitask when you had no coworkers to rely on for support. In Anchorage, if she’d had a case this critical, someone else would have taken the other duties she held and taken care of things like the moose that had mysteriously dropped dead too close to town and was attracting wolves. Unfortunately, he hadn’t been discovered until the meat had gone bad, so McKenna hadn’t been able to give the meat to anyone. She’d just had to load it up in the back of an old pickup and drive it farther from town where the wolves wouldn’t pose a threat to townspeople.

There hadn’t been any need for Will to go with her, since she hadn’t needed the use of a plane, so she’d sent him a text that morning to let him know she’d be fine for the day on her own.

It was funny how much she wished she’d let him tag along with her, just to provide an extra set of eyes and some company.

But this wasn’t Will’s job; it was hers. And she wanted to prove she could do it well.

McKenna walked up the steps to her and Anna’s house. She put her key in the door and opened it only to be greeted by Mollie, Checkers and the mess they’d made while she and Anna had been working.

“So you were into the tissues today, huh?” she noted as she locked the door behind her and put her bag down by the door. The living room was covered in little piles of tissues that looked almost like the snow McKenna knew would soon be blanketing the landscape outside. “Looks exciting.”

There was a bump outside, around the back of the house. McKenna tilted her head to listen but didn’t hear anything else. Feeling as if she was probably just being paranoid, she hurried to the bathroom, where the window would give her a view in that direction, and looked out.

Nothing.

She was starting to jump at shadows. The anxiety from this case was building, she could feel it in the tensing of her shoulders and the fact that her racing heart never quite seemed to calm down.

She’d had a call from Captain Wilkins earlier in the day, checking on her progress.

“It’s just...stalled,” she’d confessed, not knowing what else to say.

“That needs to change. We have enough trouble in your bureau with poachers. We don’t need an unsolved double murder, too.”

At his words
unsolved double murder,
she’d shivered. After she’d finished talking to him, she’d called the medical examiner’s office in Anchorage where the bodies had been taken. Though tox screens and all the other details usually took a few weeks to be finished, she’d hoped they’d have information for her already. Unfortunately, the person she talked to had informed her that not only was there nothing to tell yet, but also that even though they could release information to her since she was official law enforcement, it would have to be in person.

McKenna wondered how Will would feel about flying her to Anchorage in the next few weeks.

Jerking back to the present, McKenna tensed as she heard someone jangle the doorknob, then relaxed as Anna’s voiced called, “I’m home, did you miss me?”

McKenna laughed. “I did, actually.”

“This roommate thing is kinda nice so far.” Anna smiled. “Much less lonely. So. Any ideas for dinner? I’m starving.”

“Will offered to bring pizza.” McKenna had gotten a text from him just as she was leaving work and hadn’t texted back yet.

“Ooh, tell him yes. Pizza sounds great.”

McKenna texted Will, who said he’d be over soon. True to his word, he was knocking on the door ten minutes later.

“You managed to get a pizza ordered and picked up in ten minutes?” McKenna asked as she opened the door for him.

Will shook his head and grinned. “Nah. I’d already ordered it. I had a feeling you’d say yes.”

“Did you?”

“Yeah. You’ve missed me today.”

McKenna laughed. “Have I?”

He shrugged. “You may not admit it, but I know the truth.”

Their eyes locked and something fluttered inside McKenna. She swallowed it down. He was just teasing her, he’d probably consider it
brotherly
teasing. She didn’t need to read more into it than was there.

“Is that Will with the food?” Anna called from the kitchen.

McKenna tore her gaze away from Will’s. “Yeah.” She looked at him one last time and then turned away. “He’s here.”

She walked to the kitchen, Will following her. They set out the food and began to eat.

“So, nothing unusual has happened? You’re both feeling safe?” Will asked, concern lacing his tone.

Anna laughed. “Are you kidding? My roomie’s a state trooper. I feel completely safe.”

“How about you?” He turned to McKenna.

She nodded. “I have a gun, so I’m good. And it’s nice knowing Lexi and Matt are close. I’m guessing they could come to our rescue, too.”

“Well, not with a gun,” Anna corrected her. “But yeah, they’d be there if we needed them.”

McKenna frowned. “I thought everyone had a gun up here, either for safety or hunting.”

Anna’s gaze darted to Will, then back at McKenna. She shrugged and looked back to Will.

“I didn’t want to say anything because I didn’t want it to cloud your opinion of him....” Will began. Uh-oh. Nothing good ever started that way.

“But?” McKenna asked, her stomach suddenly not in the mood for pizza, or any other food, as she wondered what Will could be leading up to.

“Matt has a criminal record. The particular offense that restricts him from having a gun was actually more an incident of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but he’s not allowed to own one anyway.”

Something cold curled in the pit of McKenna’s stomach. Will had made it clear that being here with Anna would be good partially because her sister and brother-in-law lived so close and could keep an eye on them, help keep them safe. After everything that had happened, Will had asked her to entrust her safety to a convicted felon?

Had he lost his mind?

That was exactly what she asked with the look she gave him, but his eyes warned her not to ask the question out loud. Either he was worried about offending Anna, since Matt was family, or he really believed Matt was a good guy. Maybe both.

Regardless, McKenna couldn’t believe he expected her to accept that for herself without proof. She was working a murder case, and he had just told her that there was someone very close at hand who could be considered a suspect.

She looked over at Anna, who was eating her pizza, conscientiously keeping her eyes on her plate, as if she was trying not to interrupt the private fight McKenna and Will were having silently.

“Oh,” McKenna finally said. “I didn’t know.” She grasped for something to change the subject, lighten the mood. “So, does anyone want to watch a movie after dinner?”

Anna and Will both jumped at it.

As Anna went to pick a movie and Will helped her clean up the kitchen, McKenna’s mind stayed on the new revelation that Matt had a criminal past. Whether or not it would offend Anna and Will, McKenna was going to have to look into this. It was her case and she had to do as thorough a job as possible. People’s lives,
her
life, could depend on it.

* * *

Will had finally left just before midnight, and McKenna had gone straight to bed. The events of the week and the revelations from that night weighed heavily on her mind. She was sure they would keep her awake, and yet she was asleep almost the moment she hit the pillow.

“McKenna.”

In her dream, someone was shaking her. Or maybe it was an earthquake. It was hard to tell with dreams. And it was almost like someone was calling her....

“McKenna!”

She blinked her eyes open and saw Anna standing beside the bed, fully dressed. She sat up, scooting back against the pillow and willing herself awake. “What’s wrong?” A quick glance of the bedroom showed nothing out of place, and she couldn’t hear anything out of the ordinary, but it felt like the middle of the night and she didn’t know why Anna would be up.

“We’re fine. But I just got a call in to work. There’s a body on the beach just outside of town. It doesn’t look as if he died of natural causes, according to my supervisor. Since I’m on call, I’ll be one of the paramedics responsible for handling the body until it can be flown to the M.E.’s office in Anchorage. I don’t know any details yet, but wondered if you wanted to come, just in case it’s connected to your case somehow.”

McKenna was already pulling a sweatshirt on over her pajama shirt. “Give me a second to change. I’ll be right there.”

Anna left the room and McKenna changed into jeans and put shoes on in record time.

Mollie looked up with mild interest as she exited. “Go back to sleep, girl,” McKenna told her and the dog lay back down, seemingly relieved that she didn’t have to interrupt her dreams.

“We’ll have to take the ATVs. The crime scene is past the roads.”

McKenna nodded, having anticipated this. There were no roads from Barrow to another town, so if you needed to get anywhere outside of town, you had to take an all-terrain vehicle or fly.

They each jumped on their four-wheelers and Anna led the way to the place she’d been told to go.

Several emergency personnel had already gathered and the lights they’d set up around the crime scene cast a hazy orange glow on the otherwise-dark night.