Man's Best Alibi

by Tara Meyers

  “Because…I guess, I just thought that maybe you were upset with me.”

  “Why would I be upset with you for following through on an accurate hunch?” Nathan picked the tablet up and tilted it under the light while he continued talking. “You’re a grown woman, Ember. You can do what you want. Not to mention, you did find something we missed.”

  Blushing, Ember didn’t know whether to feel good about the compliment or further embarrassment over making a wrong assumption. “The main reason I wanted to go back really was for the tags,” she clarified. She’d already told him the story about the name, so he understood why it was important to her. “But you’re right; I figured it would also give me an opportunity to take another look around. As much as I wanted to let it go, that gnawing sensation that there’s more to this wouldn’t go away.”

  Smiling, Nathan flipped the cover closed and set the notebook on the seat beside him. Ember figured he’d keep it, so she’d already scanned all the images into her computer.

  “You remind me of my mom,” he said, picking his fork back up.

  “I hope that’s a good thing.” Ember forced herself to start eating a chicken strip. Although she was starving after the day-long hike and the deep-fried food had sounded good, she was struggling now. It happened every time she went out with Nathan. Something about being alone with him stripped her of an appetite and replaced it with the fluttering of thousands of butterflies.

  “I have a lot of respect for my mother,” Nathan said. “She’s battled a chronic illness for most of her adult life, but she never let it interfere with how she raised me and my brother. After our dad left, it was all on her, and she bore the weight without flinching. Part of her ability to persevere is that she has the tenacity of a rhino. Once she sets her sights on something, you’d better jump on board or get out of the way. I learned early on how to dodge with expertise.”

  It was the most Nathan had said about his family. All Ember knew was that his mom and brother still lived on the reservation in North Dakota. A different one than her own grandmother. His brother was a couple of years older and came out to visit once a year, but she hadn’t met him yet.

  “Well, you already know that my dad died when I was only a baby,” Ember answered.

  Unlike Nathan, she’d gotten into quite a lot of her past during the few times they’d been hiking. He mostly listened, interjecting to ask questions and gain more insight into her life, but he rarely added his own history. He talked a lot about his job as a ranger, but nothing too personal, and Ember was okay with that. She understood that for some people, opening up was difficult and required a certain level of trust. She hoped this meant she was getting to a point where he felt she merited it.

  “I suppose my mom could be described in a similar way,” she continued. Dipping her chicken into a big cup of ranch dressing, the first stirring of hunger pains emerged. “I didn’t realize until recently how difficult it all must have been for her. I mean, I always respected her, too, but I think I took a lot of things for granted.”

  “Kids always do,” Nathan agreed. “Part of growing up is learning to appreciate the important things.”

  Ember did her best not to choke on the bite of food in her mouth. Did his eyes drift toward her when he said that? Was it her imagination? The butterflies suddenly intensifying again, she drained the last of the iced tea and gave him a shy smile.

  “Didn’t you say you had two things to show me?” he asked.

  Glad for the change of subject, Ember dug the odd object out of her pocket. She was calling it a rock because she had no idea what it was. “I found it hidden in a travel mug. Mel thinks it’s a meteorite, but it isn’t magnetic. I checked.”

  “Hidden?” Frowning, Nathan took the “rock.” He ran a finger over its mostly smooth surface and then bounced it in his palm, gauging its weight.

  “Why else would he have put it there?” Ember challenged. “Have you ever seen anything like it?”

  “No.” Picking up a steak knife, Nathan attempted to scratch the silver surface. When he failed to make a mark, he pushed harder. “Huh.”

  “Odd. Right?” Ember watched with some amusement as he went through some of the same things she’d done the hour before in her own kitchen. But she’d also smelled it, hit it with a hammer, ran it under hot water, and, eventually, licked it. “It absorbs heat, is harder than hell, and has no smell or taste.”

  Looking up at her last comment, Nathan raised an eyebrow.

  “I ran out of ideas. Anyway,” she continued, waving off the unasked question, “I was going to take it over to my neighbor if you don’t mind letting me keep it for a couple of days. He used to work in a mine and knows a ton about geology.” She made sure to say the correct word that time.

  Shrugging, Nathan tossed the rock back at her. “Go for it. Technically, since we already closed the case, I would say anything still up there is considered disposed of. But I would like to send a copy of the drawings to the Seattle office. While I don’t think it’ll be compelling enough for them to look into, it’s one more oddity. Who knows? Maybe we’ll eventually have enough things come up that it will force a new evaluation.”

  “What would it take?”

  Nathan paused and looked at her, his eyes piercing. “What aren’t you telling me, Ember?”

  “There was someone else up there,” she blurted. “Hiding. Watching us. We heard him moving around, and when I called out, they ran off. But not before whoever it was failed to turn off their radio. Or something that was broadcasting what sounded like a dispatcher.”

  His demeanor changing, Nathan literally pushed his plate aside, clearing a space for him to lean in closer. “Why didn’t you call me?”

  In that moment, Ember realized that Nathan had already come to the same conclusion she had. That someone had killed Kurt Donaldson and covered it up to make it look like a suicide. But until that moment, he’d assumed whoever it was was long gone, hoping the body would never be discovered. A stalker at the scene of the death a few days after the body recovery implied several different scenarios. None of them good.

  “Because by the time I got back into cell reception, they were long gone.” Ember reached out and placed a hand over one of Nathan’s clenched fists. She was moved by his obvious concern. “And loitering in the woods is hardly a criminal offense. I figured there wasn’t anything to be done about it.”

  Turning his hand over so that he could intertwine his fingers with hers, Nathan squeezed and pulled her in closer. “Promise me you won’t go back up there without me or Walker.”

  Finding it hard to make the words form in her mouth, Ember swallowed. “I promise.”

  Giving a final squeeze for emphasis, he let go and visibly forced himself to relax. The last of his food apparently forgotten, he put the composite of drawings back on the table in its place. “I’ll do what I can to get permission to look into a few things, but if I don’t get it, I can’t go around questioning people. There’s a heightened atmosphere right now for law enforcement overreaching, so I have to be careful.”

  “I know,” Ember said. “I’m not asking you to do anything.”

  “But I want to,” Nathan stated flatly. “If there’s a killer lurking around, I want to know who, and I want to know why.”

  “Maybe it was just Ernest Tucker up there,” Ember suggested. “That would make more sense than a possible killer returning to the scene of the crime four months after the fact. I mean, he was the guy’s guide originally. He could have heard about his body being found and went to check it out.”

  “You’re right,” Nathan answered without hesitation. “He’d also be a good place to start asking questions. He might have seen or overheard something when he was guiding him that might explain why Donaldson kept going back up there.”

  Grinning, Ember traced a pattern on the tabletop. “Well…I have been wanting to get a new bench for my front deck, and I could always use a new coffee mug.”

  “Coffee mug?”

/>   “Oh, I don’t think I told you,” Ember explained. “That rock thing was in a custom-made mug from the Haven Outfitters place. I know it’s a reach, but I figured someone there might remember seeing him.”

  “I think you’d be fine by yourself in that supply store,” Nathan said. “But that Devil’s Elbow place is something else. I should go along to help you to—ah…pick out the chair.”

  “You mean a bench.”

  “Right. A bench.” Chuckling, Nathan motioned at their waitress to bring the check. “It’s still pretty early,” he said once the woman had gone to run his credit card. “Are you up for a game of pool and maybe a drink? That is, if your sitter can stay up that late.”

  Eating her last french fry, Ember made a face at his joke. Mel was watching Daenerys for her. She’d felt bad after leaving her penned up in the backyard by herself all day, and Mel had been glad to have the company.

  “I think I could talk her into it.” The idea of spending a couple of more hours with Nathan was very appealing.

  As if on cue at the mention of her name, Ember heard a familiar voice suddenly calling for her.

  “Ember!”

  Jumping, Ember spun in her seat in time to see Mel running across the restaurant, a look of panic on her normally composed features. Spotting Ember, her shoulders sagged in relief.

  “Ember, you have to hurry.” Near tears, Mel pulled at her arm. “I need you at the clinic! There’s an emergency!”

  THIRTEEN

  Ember tried but failed to stifle a loud yawn as she entered Haven Backcountry Outfitters. She’d spent most of the previous night with the same chocolate lab she’d treated the week before. His symptoms had returned with a vengeance, except this time, he nearly died.

  A small bell chimed overhead as she pushed through the heavy wooden door, Daenerys close on her heels. A lot of the local stores were pet-friendly, and Ember didn’t like to leave her in the car when it could be avoided. Two people standing nearby turned toward the sound. Smiling weakly at them, she nodded a hello to the man nearest her. She couldn’t remember his name, but he’d brought his puppy in for a well-check the previous month.

  “Morning, Dr. Burns!”

  “Hello! How is little Chloe doing?” While she had no idea who the man was, she could always remember the pets’ names.

  “Great! I’ll need to schedule her next visit soon. She’s loving the dog food you recommended.”

  Waving a farewell as he walked past her, Ember slowly wandered deeper into the vast store. She had to tug several times on Daenerys’s leash as the labradoodle found every spot any other dog had dared to leave a trace behind.

  The original plan had been to stop in on her way to work that morning, but it was almost lunchtime. Even so, she’d only managed a few hours’ sleep. The scene from the night before flashed brightly at the thought, and Ember paused.

  Mel had mistakenly thought she’d be able to take care of the lab on her own when she first saw him, but by the time she’d gotten Ember, Hershey was going into respiratory distress. They’d almost had to intubate him.

  Serves me right for turning my phone off!

  It was rare that Ember was unavailable, and she hardly ever turned her phone off unless she was out of range in the mountains. Those times, either Mel was on call or she’d forward her number to an answering service that would put clients in touch with one of the vets in a nearby town. While Ember recognized the need for a social life, she also accepted the responsibility of running a business that required her complete commitment. She felt like she’d let Mel down.

  Fortunately, Hershey started responding to the medications right away, and his respiratory drive improved. While the lab was still quite ill, he was recovering. But his owner was beside herself.

  Susan Carpenter was so sure that her dog had gotten into her pain medication the last time that she hadn’t limited any of his activities. As a result, he’d been running around outside for the past three days. Now, Susan was convinced one of her remote neighbors poisoned him as retribution for letting him roam free and mess in their yard.

  Since the dog’s owner refused to let Ember run any tests previously, they never confirmed if the dog even had drugs in his system. This time, Ember offered to pay for the labs herself. She didn’t believe in coincidences and was afraid the similar illnesses had more to do with a virus than nasty neighbors.

  Ember closed her eyes momentarily in an attempt to block out the memory of the 1:00 a.m. conversation with Susan. Reaching out blindly, she steadied herself against the nearest shelf. Maybe it was time to focus more on the clinic and less on Kurt Donaldson. Or at least take a nap first.

  Daenerys whined impatiently at her.

  Making up her mind to do the later as soon as she got a chance, Ember put a comforting hand on her dog’s head and then looked around to get her bearings. She needed to find the store owner and ask him some questions. While she wasn’t hopeful it would lead to anything useful, her gut told her it was a good place to start. And she was learning lately that her gut was surprisingly accurate.

  It was a big place. From the outside, it looked like a massive log house, but the inside was gutted to make way for the apparel. It sat on the northern outskirts of town, and she passed it on her way to and from the clinic every day. Although she’d been inside twice before, she wandered blindly for a few minutes before finding the check-out counter.

  “Can I help you?”

  Ember smiled at the young woman behind the counter. Her dark hair was up in a sporty hairdo, and her face was clear of any makeup. She was dressed in the newest hiking fashion and was the perfect walking advertisement for any tourist wannabe-trekkers that stopped to shop.

  “I’m looking for the owner.”

  “Mr. Parker?” the clerk asked, her smile widening. “Sure! He’s in the back.” Without asking who Ember was or what she wanted, the girl spun on her heel and disappeared through a door behind the counter.

  While Ember waited, she pulled a folded paper from her back jeans’ pocket and laid it on the counter, smoothing out the creases. It was a color printout of Kurt Donaldson’s Facebook profile picture. It was a total shot in the dark, but while the store was large, there were very few employees. She was counting on the owner being the same person as when the Outfitter opened just a few years before. If Kurt stopped in several times during his visits to the woods, it was possible he might be a known customer. Maybe.

  The door banged back open, and a man in his thirties stepped through. Ember recognized him from around town and the few times she’d been in the store herself. He was of average build and physically fit, but when he took his ball cap off, premature balding made him look older than he really was.

  After glancing quickly behind Ember to confirm no one else was waiting, he flashed her a warm smile and held out a shaky hand. “Hello! You were looking for me? I’m the owner, Colton Parker.”

  Taking the offered hand in a firm grip, Ember nodded in confirmation. Looking into his direct blue eyes, she was struck by the similarities to another well-known Parker. “Any relation to the Parker family?”

  Spreading his hands and tipping his head in a mock bow, Colton smiled wider. “Guilty as charged. I figure I’ll have to live in Sanctuary for at least ten years before I wear that stain off.”

  His personality could have easily come off as phony, but there was something charming about him. Ember found it intriguing that one of the Parkers would have chosen to build their business in Sanctuary, although any direct rivalry was in the distant past. Well, except for the current water rights issue.

  “I grew up in Sanctuary, but since I was labeled a deserter when I left for college, I’m also undergoing a rights-of-passage,” Ember shared. “I hope I don’t have ten years to go, though. This first one has been hard enough.”

  “Aren’t you the new vet?” Colton asked. “As much I enjoy animals, I don’t currently have any pets.”

  “Yes,” Ember confirmed. “I own the Sanctuary Anim
al Clinic, but that’s not why I’m here. I was wondering if you might remember seeing this man in here over the past couple of years?”

  Colton frowned as he took the picture and then tilted his head slightly. After a moment, he snapped his fingers. “The radios!”

  Surprised at the exclamation and the possibility that he might actually know the guy, Ember’s chest swelled with anticipation. “Radios? What do you mean? Do you recognize him?”

  “Yeah. Yeah, I recognize him. Both him and the dog.” Apparently noticing Daenerys for the first time, his frown deepened. “You a relative or something?”

  “No. I, uh…” Ember hadn’t actually considered what she would say. Mentally chastising herself for not planning it out well enough, she fumbled for the right words. “Mr. Donaldson was, um—found north of here in the mountains recently. I mean, his remains were found. I adopted his dog this past July, not knowing who she belonged to.”

  Colton Parker stared hard at her for a moment before relaxing again. “Donaldson! Yup. That’s the name. He the guy they pulled out of there a few days ago? That’s a shame. Heard it was a suicide.”

  Ember was once again impressed with how fast information passed around the small town. But she wasn’t surprised by it. “That’s what they’re saying,” she replied noncommittally. “What were you saying about radios?”

  “That’s why I remember him. It was well over a year ago, maybe even two. I hadn’t been open long and was still stocking quite of bit of things. He came in and bought up several hundred dollars’ worth of supplies and special-ordered a set of radios.”

  “A set?”

  “Yeah, you know, so you can talk to each other. The hand-held type that works long range, even in the mountains.” Colton pointed at the wall behind him. Half of it was a large plexiglass case that housed firearms. The other side displayed expensive items that included several brands of radios. “I stock ’em now. He insisted he needed it right away, so I overnighted it. Cost a fortune, but the guy didn’t even blink.”

  Ember studied the radios. There was something about the garish red coloring with a bright yellow lightning bolt across the front that looked familiar. “Can I see that one?” she asked, pointing to the red-and-yellow handset.