by Margaret Kay
“Yeah, that makes no sense,” Sherman agreed. “So, whoever benefited from those entries did not expect for her to ever have that chance.”
“What are you saying?” Mother asked.
“Just that she was not ever meant to walk out of that cabin.”
“Maybe we do need to look harder at Keeling. Maybe he was an obsessed stalker who planned to keep her at that cabin indefinitely,” Shepherd said. “There is no other theory presented that explains any of this. Stay on top of the exploration of his devices. Make sure they share with you anything they find.”
“Even though the operating manager is out of town, we plan to pay a visit to the assistant manager at the operating office of that offshore platform tomorrow, the platform too if needed,” Lambchop said.
“I’ll be at the research office with Annaka to protect her as well as dig a little more into Patrick Keeling’s work. His research assistant will be there. I plan to push him hard to see if Keeling was doing his job or anything extracurricular. If there is any link between his work and the oil companies, I’ll find it,” Mother said.
“I authorize you to be on the ground two more days. Come up with something concrete, gentlemen,” Shepherd said. He nodded his head. Then the transmission cut.
Two more days, that was all. Mother sure hoped they could figure this out in two days. If not, he wasn’t sure what he’d do. He’d still have a few days of leave left. He could spend it with Annaka and keep investigating. Or he could ask her if she’d fly back with them. Yeah, New Year’s Eve with her in Chicago could be fun.
“Okay, you heard Shepherd, two more days,” Lambchop said. “Let’s make it count. BT, tomorrow you’ll come with me to talk to platform C-Three’s operations office. Sherman, I want you to get back in touch with Alfrejd and run down what they found on Keeling’s phone and Laptop.” His eyes went to Mother. “Talk with Remi tomorrow and see if you can find out how big of a deal the entries on that report really are. We need to know if there are any consequences to the oil company, like fines, for the leak. Money is always one hell of a motivator.”
Mother nodded his head.
“Let’s keep one man up on guard duty tonight,” Lambchop said. “I’m not tired. I’ll take the first shift.” His eyes swept over the team. “Whoever wants the second, sack out on the couch. The others can take the second bedroom.”
“Annaka asked me to sleep in with her tonight,” Mother said softly.
Sherman laughed. “And I thought Brielle was the only woman who did the snuggle in bed with a stranger thing.”
“I’m not a stranger to her,” Mother defended Annaka. “We’ve been texting for years.”
Sherman laughed again. “That’s one fucked up relationship. Why didn’t you find out who she was before now? And don’t tell me you haven’t had a thing for her because we all know you did.”
“It’s complicated,” Mother said. “I didn’t want to be the stalker. I did think about asking her for a more normal out of the game relationship often, but I never acted on it until Christmas Eve. I asked her that night about talking on the phone. It would have been a first step,” he admitted.
Golf
The hot downpour felt good. Annaka lingered much longer than it took to wash her hair and body. Her thoughts were active. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became at the State Trooper, assuming that Patrick was a stalker and he’d kidnapped her because he had a twisted fantasy that the two of them would be together. There was absolutely nothing to support that theory.
She knew she hadn’t mentally dealt with the fact that Patrick wasn’t a fellow hostage. He had freely been sitting in the living room area of the cabin with a gun which he fired at Danny’s group when they arrived to rescue her. So, why the ruse at the research facility? And who were those two men who made her enter the false data into the report. They knew exactly what data was needed. Patrick would not have.
Then her thoughts went to Danny. A smile curved her lips. He had a feeling she was in trouble and he came to find her. Wow! He changed his holiday travel plans, and he came to help her. That was incredible, and the fact that he had endeared him to her.
She wouldn’t lie to herself and not admit that she was attracted to him. He was masculine, his facial features appealing, his body strong and solid. The brief moments he’d held her had felt good. It went beyond feeling comforted. She knew she had thought about kissing him before his friend’s call interrupted. Silly, something she shouldn’t be thinking about right now, she knew, but she was.
By the time she turned the water off, her thoughts had circled back to everything several times. Even though she’d had decaf tea at her house, it was as though she’d just chugged a pot of coffee, as though caffeine surged through her, making her thoughts race.
After she blew dry her hair and dressed in a long-sleeved Henley shirt and flannel pants in shades of blue, her favorite color, she stepped out into the main room, where the four men sat. She went to the sink and got a glass of water to bring to bed with her.
“Do you feel better, now that you’ve had a shower?” Mother asked, coming to his feet. He glanced over her features. Her hair was smooth and shiny. It looked soft. He wanted to run his fingers through the locks.
“Yes, thank you,” she replied. She stood awkwardly for a few moments, her eyes bouncing off each man, who watched her with focus. “I wish I had my phone. I normally play my games before I go to sleep.”
Mother chuckled. He pulled his phone from his pocket. “You can play my moves against my other opponents if you want.”
“Annaka, one of us will be up on guard duty all night,” Lambchop said. “You are perfectly safe here.”
“Thank you,” she said. “But I’d prefer Danny is in the room with me tonight rather than out here guarding,” she added with no shyness.
“Whatever you want,” Lambchop said.
Annaka nodded. “Well, good night. I’m going to try to go to sleep now. Thank you again for finding me. I’m glad Patrick didn’t hurt any of you when he fired at you.” She stepped back to the room.
Mother followed and closed the door. He watched her set the glass of water onto the nightstand. Then she pulled the covers back. There was a lounge chair by the window. “Can I sleep in the bed, or do you prefer I take the chair?” He pointed to it.
“The bed. I think it’s big enough for us both.”
“I wasn’t sure what your intentions were,” Mother admitted.
“Just sleep.”
“My momma always said it’s not the sleeping that will get you in trouble,” Mother joked.
Annaka smiled and laughed softly. “I just don’t want to be alone, like I have been since I was locked in that room. I keep thinking I’ll wake up to find this has been some sort of twisted nightmare.”
Mother approached the bed and pulled the covers back on the other side. He sat down, facing Annaka. “Unfortunately, this has all been real.”
“I heard you through the door, that you had wanted to ask me to talk on the phone, had wanted to take steps to meet for a while. Why didn’t you?”
Mother’s lips twisted into an expression she couldn’t read. “I didn’t want to cross a line and freak you out. I didn’t want to risk losing the friendship we had. When you didn’t answer my messages, I thought that could have been why you weren’t answering.”
“You could have found me anytime sooner, couldn’t you have?”
Mother smiled. “Yes, but that wasn’t a line I’d cross in the trust you had in me. And it would have been an abuse of the government resources I have access to.”
“I wasn’t wrong in trusting you with my real first name. You’re a good man, Danny.” She laid down and pulled the covers over herself.
After a good half-hour of tossing and turning, Annaka punched the flattened pillow in an attempt to fluff it up. “I’m sorry I’m keeping you awake,” she whispered, assuming Danny was awake.
“No worries,” Mother mumbled. He laid on his ba
ck. He rolled over to face her. He wrapped his arms around her. “Snuggle in close to me for a minute, since you can’t sleep.”
Annaka wrapped her arm around his waist and laid her head against his chest.
“Are you comfortable?”
“Yes.” The closeness felt good.
“Since you can’t sleep, let’s talk. I’m sure there is a lot rattling around up in your brain, keeping you awake.”
“I don’t want to talk about it, don’t even want to think about it.”
“But you are, thinking about it. Maybe if you let some of those words out, you’ll be able to go to sleep.”
She yawned deeply. “I don’t believe that Patrick had some weird fixation on me. I think the State Trooper is wrong.”
“What motive would Keeling have to make you falsify that report? Is he chummy with anyone from the oil companies?”
“Not that I know of. The truth is, outside of the office, I really don’t know much about him.”
“A couple of your coworkers said they thought there might be something going on between you and Keeling.”
Annaka huffed out. “You’ve been talking with Ayla. I told her a few times there was nothing going on. I think it was wishful thinking on her part. She told me a few times she wished I would find someone. Why do married people want their single friends to be in relationships too?”
Mother chuckled softly. He remembered the conversation with Brielle on Christmas morning. “I don’t know. I think that’s more of a female thing.”
“None of this makes sense to me, Danny. What did anyone really have to gain by making me falsify that report?”
“How big of a deal is the oil leak by that platform?”
“Remi will know the regulatory implications better, but I don’t think it is that big of a deal, not enough to commit a crime to cover up. Environmentally, it’s a bigger deal. Even so, threatening me really doesn’t accomplish much. Another water sample would be drawn in a week and the levels would be checked again.”
“But it would give the platform another week to fix the problem.”
“Again, I’m not sure it would matter much, regulatory-wise.” She yawned again.
She felt a kiss press to the top of her head and felt a warmth spread through her.
“So, now tell me about what’s really keeping you awake. You’ve been through a scary ordeal.”
“When a person is threatened, their fight-or-flight response kicks in, and the body is flooded with hormones including adrenalin. I don’t think mine has calmed down yet. I think that’s why I can’t sleep.”
“We have a team shrink who always says that talking about it will calm the body’s natural response. Do you want to give it a try?”
She giggled nervously. “I’m not sure it will help. I’m not even sure it’s really over, not knowing who those two other men were or if they’ll come after me again.”
So that was it. That’s what she was afraid of. “Well, I don’t have to be back at work until January third. I’ll stay with you here and protect you till then. Our boss sanctioned the team to be here investigating for two more days, but I’ll stay when the others head back if we haven’t figured out who those two men were.”
“And if you haven’t figured any more out by the time you have to go? Then what?”
“You could come back with me, if you wanted,” Mother suggested.
“I can’t do that. I have work to do.”
“You were planning a January vacation. It could be with me in Chicago while we continue to look into this.”
“Don’t think I’m not grateful, because I am. Your team came and found me. You’ll spend two more days trying to figure this out, but this isn’t your job, not your responsibility. I know that. Your boss was very nice to let you come and use your official standing to help me. But I know this isn’t a federal case.”
“We don’t know what this is yet. Let’s see what the next two days bring. Until then, I’m not leaving your side. I’ll keep you safe, Annaka.”
She yawned again and relaxed against him. She did feel safe with him. She was wrapped in his warmth. Her mind drifted. The next thing she knew, she woke to the muffled sounds of male voices and the smell of coffee. She was alone in the bed.
Checking the clock on the nightstand, she discovered it was six a.m. She got up and quickly dressed. She entered the living room area to find the four men sitting around the room with coffee cups in their hands. Sherman was on his phone. “Good morning,” she said softly, glancing at the men.
“Good morning,” Mother said. He pointed to the coffee pot on the counter. “I just made a fresh pot. There is no sugar or creamer that we could find though. Do you want me to run over to the diner and get some for you?”
“That’s okay. I can drink it black,” Annaka said, crossing the room. A clean cup sat beside the coffee machine. “Before coming to Alaska, I was addicted to my Starbucks, all the yummy sugary concoctions. There are a few coffee shops in Anchor Point and in Homer, and I spend a lot of my money in them.” She paused and chuckled. “But I’ve gotten used to regular coffee at the office too. I work long hours, often into the night. It’s been more a matter of necessity.”
Mother’s lips tipped into a grin. “Yeah, us too.”
“Okay, baby, I’ve got to go,” Sherman said into his phone. “I’ll talk to you later.” He ended the call. “Brielle’s nearly got everything set up and unpacked in the house already. Bobby helped for a few hours, but he worked last night and works tonight. Sienna’s there now, helping with the last few boxes.” He smiled and shook his head. His girl was incredible. He should have known that she’d have the house squared away in no time.
“So, the closing went well yesterday?” BT asked.
“Yeah, no problems, but we didn’t expect any.”
Annaka sipped her coffee, watching and listening. She realized that Sherman was the friend staying with Danny that he’d told her about. She felt bad. This man was here, helping her, instead of with his fiancé when she was moving into their new home.
“Congratulations on your new home,” Annaka said. “I’m sorry you’re here and not at home.”
Sherman smiled. “Don’t be. I prefer it this way. I wanted Brielle to put everything where she wants it, so she feels it’s her house too. Why do you women feel that anything you haven’t financially contributed to isn’t yours? She needed a car, so we bought her a car with money I had saved. She argued with me about putting it in her name because she didn’t pay for it. Same was true for the mortgage, but with both, I insisted her name be on everything. We’re a team, what’s mine is hers.”
Annaka had to keep herself from laughing out loud. He didn’t realize how lucky he was. Many women she knew would gladly assume everything their man had was hers. “She’s a lucky lady.”
Sherman shook his head. “I’m the one that’s lucky.”
“We have a plan for the day,” Lambchop said. “Mother will stay with you all day at the research office.” He pointed to BT. “We are going to go talk to the operating office for platform C-Three, and Sherman is going to stay on Alfrejd and the investigation into Keeling’s laptop and phone. If they can’t make any progress, we might take over and get them to our people.”
“Alfrejd will just love that,” Mother remarked.
The other men chuckled.
Annaka stood. “Should I take my backpack with me or will I be coming back here tonight?”
“I think you should plan to stay here again tonight,” Mother said.
“Are you ready to make your public return?” Lambchop asked. “Breakfast sitting with us in the diner?”
Her eyes went to Danny’s. “I guess I’m going to have to sooner or later.”
“It doesn’t have to be this morning if you’re not ready yet. We can order and eat here.”
Annaka shook her head no. “I’m going to have to do it. I might as well do it now.” She grabbed her purse from the bedroom and put her coat on as the others
did as well.
The five of them walked over to the diner. The workers and about a dozen customers were inside. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at her when they entered.
“A table for five, please, Katie,” she said to one of the waitresses she knew who always worked the early morning shift.
“Sorry, yes, of course,” Katie said. “I’m just surprised, happy to see you,” she stumbled through her words.
“It’s okay,” Annaka said, taking her hand. “I’m fine. I’m sure news of what happened will be coming out today or tomorrow. Do me a favor and don’t believe everything you hear if it’s not from the police. You know how rumors are around here.”