* * *
Whoever said that things would look better in the morning had never had a serial killer after him, Erynn decided. The bruises across her shoulder and chest, which came from the seat belt, had left a deep ache and she still had a slight headache. She was on her second cup of coffee, brewed by Noah while she’d been sleeping on the couch. And nothing looked any different.
She stole a look at the kitchen, where Noah was cooking them breakfast. Over the first cup of coffee, he’d told her his plan for the day, which involved following the trail Madison had left up until her death. Noah told her that while she’d been asleep last night he’d discovered Madison’s credit card had been last used in Seward, not far from Moose Haven, a few days before she’d been killed.
Today they were going to go to Seward to see if there was still any trail to follow three years after Madison’s death. Erynn didn’t want to get her hopes up. Seward was a tourist hub in the summer, with cruise ships often docking and swelling the town’s growth to many times its usual size. The chances that someone would remember Madison weren’t huge. Unless, of course, she had given them a reason to remember her. Had she had any suspicion that her life was in danger?
During the Foster Kid Killer’s reign of terror, over a span of two years, no foster kid in Anchorage seemed safe. Even though police had suspected the killer was targeting a group with more in common than being foster kids, they hadn’t quite been able to narrow it down.
Now that Erynn knew for sure her dad’s concerns about her being in danger had been well-founded and that Janie and Madison had also become targets...perhaps that would make finding him more doable.
Wait, hadn’t the killer said she was the last one he was after? Erynn frowned. “Noah, that note that was left on your porch the other day. What exactly did it say again?”
His face wrinkled into a frown. How could he still be so handsome, even with an expression like that? He must not have shaved this morning, because even from here she could see the stubble lining his jaw. It seemed appropriate for Noah. Mostly clean-cut, but with rough edges, enough of an adventure-seeking personality to keep life interesting.
“‘She’s mine. You’re next. And then it’s over.’ Something like that.” He looked back at breakfast then at Erynn again. “Why?”
“Just thinking.” That implied he’d killed everyone else he’d intended to. Surely she’d be able to find another link between them all now. And if she could figure out who’d had enough access to them to decide he wanted them all dead...
Then they’d have the killer’s identity and it would just be a hunt to find him.
Of course, if this trip to Seward turned up any information, that would also help.
Noah set a plate down in front of her. “You need to eat.”
“Bossy this morning, aren’t we?” The teasing words flew from her mouth before she could stop them. She was close to apologizing when she noticed Noah was smiling. Maybe that was because they were back to their regular banter. That would make her feel relieved... So instead she said nothing, just ate the food like he’d told her to.
The last time she’d been this hungry was...? Days ago. Apparently her crying last night had cleansed some part of her that had been holding stress inside and had given her just a bit more preparedness to face today.
“Did you call the Seward police to tell them we’re coming?”
Noah shook his head. “Not yet. At this point it would be pointless to let them know. Nothing indicates that the crime took place there for sure. We just know she was in Seward. If we need to loop them in, we will.” He glanced in her direction. Looked back at the road. Then looked at her again.
“What, Noah?”
“So, did you talk to the troopers yesterday?”
There was a bit of reality she’d been trying to put off dealing with as long as she could. Sometimes, denial was such a nice place to live.
“I did.”
“And?”
She shifted in her seat to face him. “I think it’s probably what you expected. I’m off the case, not working currently. I’m supposed to lay low, stay safe.” Like it was that easy. On either count.
“You’re welcome to tag along with me anywhere I go.”
“That’s what my boss suggested. You weren’t the one to give him that idea?”
Noah shook his head.
Neither of them said anything for a minute before Noah spoke again. “Do you realize yet that neither of us was against you? That this was the right thing to do?”
She did, but that didn’t mean she had to like or admit it.
“Yes, I do.” On second thought, better to say the truth aloud. There was enough between the two of them already. She didn’t need to add to it by holding a grudge.
“Thanks, Erynn.”
They ate the rest of the meal in silence. “Ready to go?” Noah finally asked.
“Yes.”
Erynn started toward the door, Noah close behind her. He said nothing until they were in the car and buckled in. After he’d turned the key, he looked at her. “Listen, Erynn...”
She waited, felt herself holding her breath almost unconsciously. Surely he wasn’t going to elaborate on their earlier, one-sided conversation.
“I think you know him.”
Her heart pounded in her chest, but for a different reason than she’d anticipated. “The killer?” She didn’t know why she asked. She knew what he meant.
“Yes. After we’re done in Seward today, I’d like to sit down with you and compile a list of suspects, people we should be looking at, anything like that.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
Wading deeper into her past with Noah was enough to make her want to crawl in a hole and hide until everything was over. Not because it was so difficult to face, but because she didn’t want Noah to think of her this way. She wanted him to see her as strong, capable.
But if anything had the capacity to break her, it was this case, her past.
And he’d have a front-row seat to the fallout.
TEN
Noah did not know for sure that they were being followed on their trip to Seward, but he’d started to feel uncomfortable as soon as he’d left his driveway. Erynn didn’t seem to have noticed anything, and since she couldn’t do anything to help even if she knew he was concerned, he hadn’t said anything to her.
Something she would yell at him for later, Noah was fairly certain.
For now she was sitting in the passenger seat with a notebook and pen she’d pulled out of his glove box, writing something down. He assumed it was the list he’d told her he wanted to work on later.
She’d asked about the words left on the note, seemed to think they’d carried some significance. Because the killer said she was the last one? Or because it gave her a hint as to who could be behind this?
Noah tightened his grip on the wheel, glanced in the rearview mirror again. Still no sign of any cars too many times in a row, no one driving too close. He was being paranoid; that had to be it.
It was different, working a normal case compared to trying to keep a friend safe and knowing there was someone close who wanted her dead. He’d have never guessed at the amount of pressure. He might owe all his siblings an apology for keeping so calm when they’d been in similar situations with the ones they loved. At the time he’d thought he was being the steady one. The oldest. Now he just wondered if he hadn’t realized how it felt to care this much about someone who wasn’t family.
Yet.
He swallowed hard against the thought. He had no right to consider the idea of being a family with Erynn anytime, but especially not now. When he’d made his ill-timed confession, she’d said they’d talk later, but Noah could tell by the way she’d acted since then that it wasn’t the best idea to put too much hope in that. She didn’t want him to be part of her life the way he wanted her to be par
t of his. He loved her enough to accept that.
“So what’s your plan when we get to Seward? Just walk to the different places we know she visited and see if anyone can help us?”
“That’s the plan at the moment.” Noah was still deciding if it was foolish for Erynn to be out in the open that long. And did she really feel physically capable or were her injuries from last night worse than she’d let on? He could only trust her assertion that she was fine physically. And he would be with her, wasn’t planning to let her out of his sight. And they needed to have boots on the ground for this kind of work, read people’s facial expressions when they saw the picture of Madison he planned to show them. Asking questions over the phone wouldn’t give the same kind of results. And Noah hadn’t wanted to come without Erynn.
“Something’s wrong, isn’t it?”
He kept driving, glanced over at her.
“You’re unusually quiet, Noah. I’m upset by everything but I’m not stupid. Is someone following us?”
He admired the way she kept her voice calm, even after all she’d been through the last time someone had followed her. He couldn’t keep his suspicions from her anymore.
Noah nodded.
“Do you know who?”
“No. I don’t see anything out of the ordinary. Just a bad feeling.”
“I trust your bad feelings.”
Her voice was sweet, gentle. And, yes, trusting. He’d worked hard at this job for years, determined to be the kind of man people could rely on. But no one’s dependence upon him had ever meant as much to him as Erynn’s.
He wanted to deserve it. Did not want to let her down.
“Still, Erynn, there’s no reason to worry.”
“There’s a man out there who wants me dead. I think that’s plenty of reason to be at least mildly worried.”
He couldn’t argue with that.
They drove the rest of the way to Seward in silence and, before long, Noah was pulling his car into the parking lot across from the Sea Breeze Inn and Restaurant. The credit card charges he’d found for Madison hadn’t been time-stamped, so all he had was a list of places they needed to visit.
“Keep your guard up, okay?” he said to Erynn after coming around to her side of the car to open her door. He had his duty weapon at his side, as did Erynn, but guns weren’t a guarantee of safety. Their first defense was good situational awareness. They were across from the Seward harbor, an open expanse of docks and boats just in front of and below them. The shops in this part of town were lined up on the other side of the street, adjacent to the parking lot.
“I will pay attention but I’m not sure what good it will do if you haven’t seen anything.” There it was again, that faith in him that Noah wasn’t sure he deserved but desperately wanted to be worthy of.
Noah put his arm around Erynn, his hand resting on her upper arm, and pulled her closer to him. She looked up at him, eyes a little wider than usual.
“Easier to keep you safe if there’s less space between us.” Noah smiled a little. “But if you’d rather just walk next to me that’s fine.”
If anything, she moved closer, and they walked in sync to the restaurant and through the front door.
The waitress approached them. “How many?”
Noah was already reaching into his pocket for his badge. “Hi, I’m Chief Noah Dawson from the Moose Haven Police Department. I wanted to ask someone a couple of questions about a customer you had.”
“Sure, when? I’ve got to warn you, a lot of people come through here.”
Noah glanced at Erynn, whose face already looked half a second from wincing at the unlikeliness of this panning out.
“Three years ago.”
The waitress shook her head. “I didn’t work here then, I’m sorry. Would you like a table, though? Anything to eat? We serve breakfast for another hour.”
“No, thanks, we’ve already eaten. Is there someone who worked here back then that we could talk to?”
The waitress shrugged. “Maybe? I’m not sure. I’ll go ask.” She disappeared behind the swinging kitchen door.
“Not feeling like we’re going to make a lot of progress here,” Erynn whispered as they stood there. Some of the diners had started looking at them and beside him he felt Erynn shift, her discomfort evident.
“We need to stay and see what she says.”
She didn’t argue, but when Noah looked at her he wasn’t sure she agreed. The waitress came back out almost immediately. She was shaking her head. “The chef is on his way out to talk to you. He’s the only one who was here three years ago.”
“If these people’s breakfasts are delayed, I’m pretty sure some of them are going to riot,” Erynn mumbled.
The door swung open. “I’m Manny.” The burly man looked like he had enjoyed quite a few dishes of his own cooking, Noah noted, but his face was open enough. If he was made nervous by their presence, he didn’t show it.
“I understand you worked here three years ago.”
Several people walked through the front door just then and had to make their way around Noah and Erynn, stepping between them and Manny.
“Is there somewhere we could go to talk?” Noah asked. He was eager for their investigation, which they wanted to keep low-key, not to be the center of attention in this diner anymore.
Manny shrugged. “I can’t have you in the kitchen. Insurance reasons. Too many fire hazards, you could cough on my food, make someone sick. It’s a bad idea all around. Just ask me what you need to ask me.”
“Do you remember ever seeing this woman?” Noah pulled the picture of Madison from his pocket and watched Manny’s face as he studied it, but the man gave nothing away.
Manny shook his head. “I’m sorry. I don’t see many of the customers since I’m in the back cooking, but since I’m the only one who was here, I wanted to come see if I could help you.”
“She doesn’t look familiar?”
Again he shook his head. “I’m sorry, but no.”
“Does this place have security footage?” Erynn gestured toward a camera in the corner.
The man laughed. “It’s fake. My son put it there to deter people, but no, no actual footage.”
Disappointment sunk like a rock in Noah’s stomach.
“Thanks for your time.” Noah put the picture back in his pocket.
“I hope you find something.” The man disappeared back behind the double doors.
Erynn sighed. “I’d hoped maybe we would find out more than I thought we would.”
“Eh, there are always dead ends. Maybe we’ll get all of ours out of the way early and find someone soon who remembers Madison, recognizes her at least.”
“Where to next?” Erynn asked, pushing the door open as they walked and stepping onto the sidewalk.
Noah glanced at the car and debated walking to their next stop.
“Let’s get back in the car.” It didn’t take him long to decide. It kept Erynn safer and that was his top priority. Though solving this case was, too, obviously, since he couldn’t keep her safe in the long term until they had the man who wanted her dead behind bars.
They drove to the next place he wanted to check out: a local bookstore.
“Welcome to Between the Lines.” A woman’s voice greeted them and Noah turned to see who had spoken. The proprietor was probably midsixties, her white hair cut close to her head. Her expression was warm, welcoming.
“I think she’ll help us,” Erynn whispered.
He did not know why she had the same feeling he did, but it was a good sign. Hopefully.
“Hi, ma’am. I’m looking for a woman I think may have shopped here, purchased something?” He kept the police part quiet for now since it hadn’t made much of an impact on how his investigation at the restaurant had gone and he truly did want to keep their search low-key.
“Well, depending on who you are, I may be able to help.” The woman’s voice was friendly enough but Noah thought he saw a hint of something in her eyes. She knew more than she was letting on. She had to, for the very mention of him looking for someone to catch her attention and put her on guard to such a degree.
“It’s a woman who shopped here three years ago.” He waited for her to react, but she just kept watching him. “I have her picture.” Noah slid it out of his pocket.
The woman glanced down at it then looked back up at Noah. “And who are you?”
He pulled his badge and ID from his pocket again. “Chief Noah Dawson, Moose Haven Police.”
The woman’s shoulders sagged and she started to cry. “Something happened to her, didn’t it? I’ve wondered for three years, hoped that maybe she was wrong...”
Wrong about what? Noah wanted to ask, but they needed to start at the beginning.
“She was killed.” Erynn spoke up.
“Are you from the Moose Haven Police Department, also?”
Erynn shook her head. “No, Alaska State Troopers.”
Noah glanced at her, shook his head. Tried to remind her that this was his case now, and he needed to be the one asking the questions. For her own safety, for the integrity of the case should it ever come to prosecution, he needed her to stay quiet.
“Ma’am, I’d really like to talk to you about this woman’s disappearance.” Noah glanced around at the empty store. As far as he could tell, they were alone. “Is now a good time?”
She moved from behind the counter, already heading for the front door, where she reached for the Open sign, flipped it to Closed. “Yes. I would like to talk about it now.”
“First, what’s your name, ma’am?”
“Sabrina Baxter.”
“Thank you, ma’am. I just want to make sure I know your name so I can be back in touch with you if I have more questions after our talk today. So, you remember this woman from three years ago. Can you tell me why?”
Sabrina nodded. “She was upset when she came in here, asked me to keep an eye out, and if anyone followed her, to call the police. I did watch her the entire time she was in here, and saw her leave. She went from here toward town. She mentioned she was heading to Exit Glacier to meet someone. But I don’t know who. And I don’t know if she was followed.”
Alaskan Christmas Cold Case Page 10