Alaskan Mountain Murder
Had that been the beginning of the end?
“Jake?” Her nervousness was displayed across her features.
What kind of cruel person did she think he was to wonder if he would send her away while she was in so much danger? Especially when she had her son with her. If anything, with the way he was feeling right now, it would be a struggle to let her leave.
Not that she needed to know that. No, she’d lost the right to know his innermost feelings and thoughts when she’d left him and Raven Pass in the dust years ago. Besides, the first thing he needed to do was call the police. He slipped the cell phone out of his pocket, dialed 911 and reported the incident as Cassie had told it to him. He thought he noticed her relax a little from her place beside him, but she still looked behind her several times a minute, her grip on the boy’s shoulders seeming to get tighter. The boy squirmed. “You’re squashing my bones, Mom,” he finally said in a dry tone.
“Sorry, sweetheart.” She looked down at him, squeezed him against her in a hug. Cassie as a mom. The sight was a gut punch. She seemed good at it, comfortable with motherhood. He’d always known she would be, despite her doubts because of her own upbringing.
“Do you have any kind of description of the guy who was after you? That might help the police.” Why that was the question that came out when he had a hundred others overwhelming his mind, he didn’t know, but she looked relieved. Because she wanted to think through the trauma she’d just been through and start to process it? Or because she was glad he hadn’t tried to steer the conversation to anything personal?
She shook her head. “It was a man, probably six feet or taller. But he had a ski mask on, so I don’t know anything about his appearance beyond that.”
This wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment crime then. He’d been prepared. Had he been intending to snatch Cassie? Kill her? Or had it just been his plan to watch her and then something had triggered him to go after her?
After them? Did her would-be attacker know she had a son?
“Wait, did you say your aunt’s door was busted open?” He frowned. He’d been over there the day of her disappearance with the Raven Pass Search and Rescue Team, of which he was a part, and her house had been in pristine condition, just as she’d left it, with the exception of the few odd things they usually found when people disappeared or died suddenly—a cereal bowl in the sink, a glass on the counter, signs of a life paused midstream.
“Yes. I knew she disappeared, but I was led to believe it could have been accidental, not…whatever this is.” Cassie shook her head and Jake watched as the frown between her brows deepened, small wrinkles on her forehead pinching as her expression darkened.
“Her door wasn’t open the other day,” he said, wondering as the words left his mouth if this was the best way to let her know that he was involved in the search for her aunt. Too late now, he guessed. Cassie wouldn’t have appreciated being danced lightly around anyway. She’d always insisted she could handle the truth straight. And maybe she could. Jake had tried that once, had told her the dreams he’d had of the two of them, the family he imagined, and though they’d been engaged, she just left. Had she not wanted kids? Had the future overwhelmed her so much? Or had it been him?
He didn’t know, but the irony was inescapable and cutting. She’d gone. Had a kid without him.
It was a knife in his chest, one he felt every time he took a breath.
“Why were you there?”
May as well answer her. “I’m on a search-and-rescue team and we’ve been looking for your aunt.”
“I thought the police were looking?” Her eyebrows were raised.
“They are. It’s not unusual for them to utilize our resources out here. It’s rough country, you know that. Teamwork helps people get home safely.”
“Search and rescue? What happened to med school?”
The knock at the door announced the police officer’s arrival, and Jake was spared at least that question. This conversation was exhausting to have with the woman he’d loved enough to want to spend the rest of his life with, now that she was acting like a virtual stranger. But one who was intensely familiar with his past.
Was his past.
Jake moved to the door but noticed Cassie had tensed, her shoulders edging toward her ears as she pulled the boy closer to her again. “Cassie, it’s the police, okay?” he said once he’d confirmed the assumption through the peephole in the door. “You don’t have to worry right now.”
She swallowed hard and he watched her light green eyes flick glances around the room. She’d delivered her account of what had happened with remarkable calmness and clarity, but she was rattled, no doubt about it. Seven years ago he would have sat down with her, made her some coffee that was mostly cream, the way she liked it, and then listened while she processed out loud, the way she always did.
But everything between them had changed now and he felt like someone who didn’t understand what his next step should be. There was too much between them—had been at one time anyway—for him to be comfortable just sending her off with the police and not seeing her again, not following up at all. Then again, she’d left, hadn’t she? Left him. Who was to say she wanted him to care anymore, on any level?
He needed to remember to keep ahold of his feelings, remind himself that she hadn’t come to his house on purpose. It was coincidence, maybe some part of her subconscious at the absolute most. But she didn’t want his help. Not specifically. That was critical for him to remember.
However, at the same time…they needed to have a conversation. There were two explanations for the boy with her—either he was his father, or she’d betrayed him worse than he’d imagined, being with someone like that so soon after their breakup, or even before. One way or another he needed to know, and he couldn’t even wrap his mind around either option being true. But at the moment his main focus was on reporting this to the police and getting together a game plan to make sure Cassie didn’t have to have that kind of fear in her eyes again.
The knock came again, more forceful this time, and he hurried to open the door, having confirmed that it was the police.
“Jake. Morning.” Levi Wicks was one of the officers Jake knew best, having worked with him on a search-and-rescue case several months back. Of all the officers who could have responded, Levi was the one most likely to welcome Raven Pass Search and Rescue’s help.
“Morning, Officer Wicks.”
Levi rolled his eyes at him, but Jake wasn’t teasing him by using the title, just wanted his friend to know he respected his position and didn’t take their friendship for granted.
“Good morning, Jake.” The other officer, Christy Ames, smiled at Jake, then looked past him. “Cassie?” Her eyes widened. Jake sometimes forgot that some of his friends now had been their friends when he and Cassie were a couple. Raven Pass had grown and changed enough in the years that she’d been gone that he sometimes lost track of how many people had been in high school with them, watched them fall in love and then been around to witness the aftermath of Cassie’s departure.
“Hi, Christy.” Cassie attempted a small smile.
“You two know each other?” Levi shook his head. “I’m never going to get used to how small towns work.”
“We went to high school together,” Christy explained, then looked to Jake. “This is the woman you called and told us about who was almost abducted? And you didn’t specify who it was?”
“I figured you’d find out when you got here.” Jake shrugged.
Christy gave a slight shake of her head, then moved toward Cassie. “Rather than have this conversation standing in the entryway, why don’t we move to the living room. Sound good to you, Jake?” Christy led the way, having visited his house in high school with Cassie. His parents had left town several years back, choosing to move deep into the Alaska wilderness near Anaktuvuk Pass. Most people his parents’ age left Alaska for the warmth of the south. They didn’t opt for more Alaska when they moved, but that was just his parents. If he could be half the adventurers they’d always been, he’d be happy with his life.
Without consciously meaning to, he looked at Cassie. At the little boy beside her.
Once upon a time, he’d assumed being happy had meant being with Cassie. Funny how dreams changed. Some came true and some disappeared quicker than frost on a late spring morning.
All he could do was move on. Just like he’d been trying to do for years.
Only to end up where he was today, with Cassie back in his house, tangling up his thoughts and feelings, and making him feel like no time had passed at all.
TWO
Both officers, Levi Wicks and Christy—who Cassie was having a hard time believing was the same person she’d known in high school—were kind in their questioning, but Cassie still felt as if her head were spinning. If only she’d gotten a better look at the man. She’d done everything she could, they assured her, and while Cassie knew in her head that their words were true, she still couldn’t quite shake her guilt for putting Will in that situation. She’d had no inkling they’d be facing this kind of threat in Alaska, or she’d have… What? She had friends in Florida, ones she’d trust with Will, but not for such a long period of time. So she’d had no choice but to bring him with her. He was in the room with them now, hearing things no six-year-old should about danger, but he was playing a How to Train Your Dragon game on her phone, which Officer Wicks had brought since they’d stopped by the scene of Cassie’s accident on their way, so she could only hope his little mind was full of Night Fury dragons and not this conversation she was having with the police.
“We’ve been working this as a typical missing persons case, but no one had reported the damage to the house that you’ve just told us about,” Officer Wicks told her. He glanced down at his phone. “Excuse me just a minute.”
He stood and walked to another room to take the call, then came back.
“That was one of the other officers confirming what you said about the door and telling me about the rest of the house.”
“Was it more than just the front door?” Cassie asked, having not gotten far enough in her thoughts to wonder about that.
“Yes, the house has damage in several rooms. The office and the bedroom look like a tornado blew through, but jewelry and electronics are still there, so it’s not a random break-in.”
“Which means we need to change the way we are running the search also,” Jake said. “We’ve been looking for her, but the assumption was that there was a good chance it was a hike that went wrong.”
Did that change how the search-and-rescue team worked? Cassie wouldn’t have guessed so, but then again she didn’t know much about that kind of work.
Office Wicks spoke again. “The sooner you can meet with your team and brief them, the better. They need to know to be on guard also, in case any evidence they might uncover could make them targets.”
Jake nodded. He was still worried; she knew by the way the corners of his eyes crinkled, the blue in them shadowed ever so slightly. He looked at Christy, who seemed to understand better than Cassie what was bothering him. A fact which bothered Cassie far more than it should have when this was a man she’d given up every claim to years ago. And had driven a bigger wedge between them by keeping Will a secret, something they hadn’t talked about yet but would need to. Jake had been kind to Will, calm in his presence. Had he guessed his age? Could he see a resemblance and know it was his son? Cassie didn’t know—she’d never considered how any of this would play out, at least not in any realistic sort of way. Or did Jake think she’d been unfaithful?
That idea hurt. She would have never been untrue to him. She’d loved him, completely.
“Cassie, you need to stay with someone.” Christy didn’t bother softening the words with any kind of preamble.
“I had been planning to stay at my aunt’s house.” She scooted forward to the edge of the couch she’d been sitting on. “If you’re done with me now, I’ll just head that way.” Because if the police were finished taking her statement, then they’d be leaving soon, and no way was she sitting here alone with Jake. The conversation they needed to have could be done…another time. Right? She’d already been in his house too long and she couldn’t deal with the growing tangle of confusing feelings inside her, the guilt tormenting her.
God, forgive me. I should have told him about Will sooner.
A third prayer to a God she had never been sure existed. Cassie wanted to sort those feelings out later, figure out why it was starting to feel natural. She wished she could talk to Jake about it.
Looking over at him, his broad shoulders that had always been there to help her carry any burden she’d faced, his clear glacier-blue eyes that had never once lied to her, it was hard to remember why she’d left.
And then she remembered it had never been Jake. He’d never been the reason.
It had been all her.
They’d had their future planned. She’d doodled her first name and his last name all over her wedding notebook, had filled it with ideas for their day. And then somewhere along the line she’d realized she wasn’t just planning a wedding, wasn’t just falling in love. She was about to spend the rest of her life as someone’s wife. Jake’s wife. She’d been raised by just her dad—well, he’d had some help from his sister, her aunt who was now missing—after her mom had left him when she was two. He’d done an amazing job and had tried to give her everything she could ever need, but she had still never quite felt like part of a family. Not the kind like Jake had. Maybe that was why she’d gravitated toward him in the first place, his idyllic life, though as she’d gotten to know him and had started a relationship with him, she’d fallen head over heels for the man himself.
And then she’d realized that as much as she wanted a family, she had her mom’s DNA, her blood in her veins and…what if she turned out like her? Left Jake and some sweet blue-eyed baby? Besides that, here in town people would have expected her to be his support as his wife. She’d had dreams of her own, wanted to be a doctor just like Jake had. She couldn’t reconcile her dreams with being a traditional wife, and she’d wondered if that’s what had sent her mother away, wanting more, feeling trapped, even by love. She’d panicked. So she’d left, given them both space to pursue their dreams.
But she’d left without explanation, and she could only assume she’d broken his heart. She’d certainly broken her own.
They were all staring at her, she realized after a minute or so of being lost in her own personal memory lane.
“Would you be open to the possibility of staying somewhere else?” Officer Wicks asked, and she guessed she should be thankful he was asking and not ordering her. Not that police were allowed to order people around for no reason, but she understood the fact that she was risking her safety by going back to her aunt’s house.
But what other options did she have?
“If you both feel it’s necessary, I can consider something. I certainly don’t want to endanger Will.” She addressed her comment to the officers, hoping that despite what she’d heard about Jake getting his team involved, whatever that meant, that he’d stay out of this particular conversation.
“Then it’s settled, you’ll stay here,” Jake spoke up.
She felt the blood rush to her head and a wave of dizzy panic hit her. Cassie swallowed hard, blinked the feeling away. “I’m not staying…”
“All nice and professional. My parents turned the upstairs into sort of apartments. You’ll have privacy but I’ll be close by. The two of you will be safe there.”
Cassie opened her mouth to argue. Closed it again.
Seeming satisfied, Christy and Officer Wicks both stood and moved toward the door before Cassie could decide what to say, how to protest. She wanted to stop them, demand that they stay, but what, was she afraid to be alone with him? Surely not. Even if her…feelings hadn’t dissipated over the last decade, she was an adult. She knew when relationships weren’t healthy, and she wasn’t good enough for Jake. That should keep her away from him no matter how much looking at him, being in the same room with him, made her wish she could forget all the reasons she’d ended it in the first place.
And she would stay away from him.
Even if it was going to be infinitely harder to do while living in his house.
“Remember, if you think of anything else that could help, description-wise, give us a call anytime, okay?” Christy handed her a business card, which Cassie took as she felt herself nod. Then she stuck the card in her back pocket.
“Thanks for coming out,” Jake said, then the two officers left. Jake shut the door behind them.
And it was just the three of them. Mother. Son.
And Father who didn’t know he was one.
“We need to talk.” Jake could feel the charge in the air between them, a thousand levels of awkward and the invisible scarring that came from being so close to someone in the past only to have your shared life ripped in two and not see her again for seven years.
And she came back in danger. Needing your help.
And with a son.
“We do.” She agreed before he could follow his train of thought any further. His heart skipped a beat. Nodded. He waited for her to start, looked over at the kid who was still playing on the cell phone.
“Will?” Cassie waited until he looked up to continue. “We’re going to stay here. I…I knew Jake when I lived here before.”
He nodded. “Okay.”
“We’re going to stay here, okay?” she repeated, as if stalling for time.
“Because the guy was chasing us earlier?”
“Yeah. It’s safer if we aren’t alone, all right, bud?” She moved closer to him, pulled him into a hug and kissed the top of his head, then drew a breath.
“Maybe we could stream a movie for him?” she asked Jake. Jake nodded, understanding that whatever way this was going, Will didn’t need to hear the conversation. He turned Netflix on, scrolled through the kid options until he got to one about dragons, at which point the kid reacted enthusiastically and he offered him his Bluetooth headphones. There, they were now functionally alone. At least enough to finish this conversation.
“So…” Cassie trailed off as she took a seat on one of the chairs, her shoulders tense as she perched on the edge of the cushion. She wasn’t in any better shape than Jake was. He took a deep breath, tried to convince his shoulders to un-hunch.
“Please don’t do that, Cassie. Just…” Just what? He couldn’t very well tell her to spit it out, not when it was something this important.
“Sorry. I’m sorry. You need to know.” She took a breath.
Jake braced himself the best he could.
“He’s yours, Jake.”
He’d have said five minutes ago he was prepared to hear either, but there was no way a man could process this well. At least not that Jake could figure out. He stood, walked across the room. Back to the chair. Across.
Run. He could go running. His feet on the trail through the woods, using his body and his mind to the limit would help, but he couldn’t leave Cassie right now. Or Will.
His son.
Air. He needed air. He walked to the kitchen, as far from Cassie and Will in the living room as he dared to go without feeling like he was putting their safety in jeopardy.
After a few minutes he started back toward her. “Cassie…” He trailed off. What was there to ask? He let his eyes go back to Will, took in his features with the knowledge that he was his. His son. Again, the words echoed in the hollow spaces inside him, the ones Cassie’s leaving had caused. He had more family? Someone counting on him?
He opened his mouth to ask her another question when someone knocked on the door. He watched her shoulders tense.
“I’ll answer.” He stepped toward it, willing it to be someone who’d go away quickly. He didn’t want this conversation interrupted.
THREE
A knock sounded at the door before he could ask whatever question had been on his mind. Cassie sat up straighter, feeling every muscle in her back and shoulders bunch up and ache. Logic told her the man after her wasn’t the kind to knock, but the idea of facing him again, or facing anyone unexpectedly, made her tense.
Jake opened the door. Stepped outside. Cassie waited. A girlfriend he wanted to prep for Cassie’s sudden reappearance? She hadn’t even let herself consider that Jake could be in a relationship, but of course it made sense. Jake was a good man, the kind who deserved a family. One that lived with him, let him be the husband and father he’d always dreamed of being.
He stepped back inside, blew out a breath.
“Someone you need to talk to?” Cassie tried to keep the hurt out of her voice, reminded herself she deserved anything she had to face. She’d made her choices and believed fully that meant she had to live with them.
“They want to talk to both of us actually.” He ran a hand through his hair. Cassie had rarely seen him so rattled, but of course the news of his son, her appearance, the threat against her…it made sense it would take a toll.
“Who?”
“My team. The one I mentioned earlier.”
“The search-and-rescue team?”
Jake nodded. “They brought dinner.” He laughed. “A really late dinner.”
Cassie inhaled, held her breath for a second and let it out slowly. “Okay.”
“We’ll talk more later?”
His eyes, the ones she’d once loved looking into, losing herself in, were unreadable. Maybe it was good for him to have time to process her news, but Cassie needed to know if he forgave her. There was no way to have that conversation when there were people here, and Cassie understood that the case took priority. Assuming they’d come to work, she needed to let them do so.
“Okay,” she said again. She nodded. Jake held her gaze for one more second, looking like he was staring straight down to her heart and reading her thoughts the way he used to. But neither of them said anything. Whatever connection they’d had once was severed now.
Wasn’t it?
Jake opened the door.
“Two pepperoni pizzas, and one ham and pineapple!” A woman walked in, tall and blond, and held the pizza boxes up with a flourish. Then her eye caught Cassie’s.
“You must be Cassie. Awful night you’ve had.” Immediately her expression changed from triumphant and teasing to compassionate. “I’m Piper McAdams.”
More people pushed in behind her. Two more women, one with dark hair and skin that was a shade or two more tanned than Cassie’s Alaska-toned coloring. And one man who was a little shorter than Jake’s six feet three inches, but not by much. He had broad shoulders, like a swimmer.
Piper kept talking as they entered. “This is Adriana Steele—” the woman with dark hair smiled at Cassie “—and Ellie Hardison.” The second woman waved at Cassie. She looked like her eyes had a story and Cassie was curious about it. Of course, she was curious about all of these people. None of them was familiar to her, so they must have moved to the area within the last decade. “And Caleb Gaines.” Piper pointed to the last man.
Jake took the pizza boxes from Piper and set them on the table. “This is the team, Cassie. Raven Pass Search and Rescue.”
Cassie was impressed. Already, less than a minute in their presence, she could tell they all had very different personalities, but they must have figured out some way to work together in their searches. That took a unique kind of teamwork and community and she was excited to see it in action. It was the kind of group that would be interesting to work with. She may not have become a doctor as planned, but she’d gone to school at night, finally gotten her BSN and enjoyed working as a nurse. She knew from those experiences how important good teams were, how working in sync with each other led to good outcomes. Of course, pediatric nursing wasn’t quite the same as helping with possible medical emergencies in the backcountry and she knew that, but it would be interesting to try.
