“Lester got his warrant. He had Trooper Reeve, Chandler, and Riley here collecting more evidence from the house, including Eugene’s laptop. There is enough on there to go after a few more of his online friends. When they showed up, that’s when Lester quit.”
“So, who’s running the police department now?”
“No one.”
“Come on. I’d think Duane had someone in line to take over.”
“He did, but Reeve wasn’t interested in hiring a guy that had a domestic violence charge in a criminal record. It’s good to hire a cop who actually hadn’t broken the law.”
“Well, they will find someone, I’m sure.”
“Maybe,” Eric said with a shrug. The indifference of lawlessness wasn’t something he panicked over. He lived through a corrupt police chief and a posse of criminals. Not having a police department for a while meant little to Eric. “Are you thinking about talking to Duane or Trooper Reeve again?”
“You are kidding, right? They don’t want me here. I don’t think Duane ever wanted me here.” She picked up the bundle of cardboard boxes leaning against her feet. “Thank you, Eric.”
He lifted his mug to Meghan. “That is why I’m here.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Meghan left the native trading post and took a deep breath. She faced the wide-open bay, staring at the enormous globs of ice that rushed by the shoreline. The floe banged and groaned, and Meghan didn’t want to think about a lost little girl caught up in that violent and frozen misery.
She turned right to make her way up the shore, walking away from the breakers. Meghan saw children playing on the bank. She swallowed and tipped her head down and turned right again on Silver Fox Road to cut between the bank and the First Baptist Church.
Before Meghan crossed in front of the bank doors, she saw someone she recognized come out of the bank. He had a flat rate priority box in his arms. Meghan thought about calling out to Cecil. She wanted to tell him that she didn’t forget about him. Something kept her tongue still in her mouth. She watched him wander out of the bank and walk with purpose along Silver Fox and turn the corner, heading down George Fox Way toward the post office. It was in the opposite direction.
She waited, standing a little way from the front of the bank. Cecil Tuktu was a bright and studious boy. He seemed in control. He seemed unsurprised by all of the news that surrounded his sister. Meghan didn’t know if Cecil knew about his uncle’s illicit business with Christine, or the fact the man killed his father. Something prompted Meghan to turn around and head back toward Shore Avenue.
Meghan picked up her feet, her boots shuffling in the wet gravel. The summer season started as soon as the ice cleared the waterways. The kids dared each other to hop on a swift-moving ice sheet. Meghan saw the tallest of the group, push on the shoulder of a small boy trying to prove something to his peers.
Meghan dropped the bundle of flatted cardboard. She snatched the tallest of the group.
“The rest of you get out of here,” she shouted. Meghan held the boy by the coat sleeve. He wasn’t going anywhere until she released him. “What are you doing?”
“Get off, pig,” he said.
Meghan saw him lean back, taking a deep breath. She knew he got ready to spit on her. Meghan flicked his throat, causing him to sputter.
“You assaulted me,” he shouted. “Hey, she’s assaulting me. Someone get this on video.”
Meghan turned her fist, forcing the teenager to bend over. No one pulled out a phone. No one came to his rescue.
“What’s your name?” Meghan asked.
“None of your business, pig.”
“You talk like an old hippie. Do you think that works for you? No one uses that term anymore.”
“Get off me,” he said, struggling.
Meghan pulled on his sleeve, kept him pinned close to her and off-balance.
“You’re on your own. Look around, you don’t have any friends. You think it’s fun to tease the kids, see if they’ll jump on the ice. How about if I threw you out there? What then? You know we lost one kid. You know that?” Meghan shook him.
“Yeah,” he said. The fight drained out of him.
“There’s no law around here anymore. I’m not a cop anymore, and you’re all alone. You watch your back because if I see you down here near the ice again, you’re not going home again.” She let go of his sleeve.
He stumbled, getting away from Meghan. She didn’t watch him run in the other direction.
Meghan left the bundled cardboard on Shore Avenue and ran toward the post office.
***
Cecil waited patiently in the line leading to the windows. Meghan saw him shifting the package weight from left to right. It was a large flat rate box. He didn’t talk to anyone. He didn’t bother looking around. Cecil stared at the address on the box or the area closest to him.
When he finally made it to the postal worker, Meghan saw Cecil paid cash for the box. He took the tracking notice, the receipt, and ignored the woman. She said something about Christine. He didn’t reply and had avoided eye contact with everyone, still waiting in line.
Meghan didn’t know how much the rest of the public knew about Eugene Tuktu. If word got out about his uncle’s arrest, it was a matter of time before the details went public. She saw a boy shying away from attention as best as possible in the small town.
Meghan stayed out of the way, watching from the corner of a post office mailbox alcove. When Cecil walked out of the building, she went to the package pick up door and rang the buzzer. After waiting too long for someone to answer, Meghan pressed the buzzer again and held it down.
“What the fu—” the young man said. “Oh, hey Chief Sheppard, what can I do for you.”
“It’s Meghan, and I’m not the police chief anymore. I want to talk to Barbara McKenzie.”
He looked as if Meghan gave him a surprise oral exam, and he didn’t know how to answer. “I can see if Barb’s around.”
“Yes, please, I need to see her.”
He closed the door, and Meghan paced a little in the lobby. She scanned the area. Looking for anyone who pointed fingers at her or wanted to give her a piece of their mind. No one paid attention to her. Even with the sunglasses and ski cap, the postal worker recognized Meghan.
“Is everything okay?” Barbara asked. She gave Meghan a small embrace.
She had tired eyes and smelled like cigarettes. The woman saw some hardship in the last year. Losing her lover, losing her mother, Barbara was a person who didn’t give up. She was the right person to request the favor.
“I need you to do something for me,” Meghan said. “It’s going to sound strange, and I don’t want you to get into trouble. But I must see the address on a package that Cecil Tuktu dropped off.”
“You know it’s—”
“I know Barbara. I understand. I mean it. If there was another way, I’d do it. But I think it is really important to see that package.”
“When did he drop it off?” she asked.
“Like a minute ago. He just walked out of here.”
“They’re loading packages for Anchorage right now. What did it look like?” she asked.
“It was a large flat rate priority box.”
Barbara nodded. “So, it looks like about five thousand other packages. Let me see if I can find it.”
“I swear, all I want to do is look at the recipient’s address.”
The door closed again. Meghan did her best to remain calm. She had a million ideas in her head. She considered how to get the information out of Cecil if Barbara couldn’t locate the package. If Meghan caught up to him near the shoreline, maybe she could threaten him like she did the random bully.
The door opened again. Barbara held a large flat rate box in her hands. “Make it quick.”
“Thank you, Barbara.” Meghan snapped a picture of the address label. It was a residence in Wasilla, Alaska.
“What’s this about?” she asked. “Does it have anything to do wit
h Christine, Cecil’s sister?”
“I don’t know yet. But as soon as I know, I promise, you will know. Thank you again.”
“Did I hear something about you quitting the police department?”
Meghan shook her head. “I didn’t quit. But I can’t talk right now.”
“We can get breakfast together tomorrow.”
“If I am still here, I will call you.”
“You won’t be here tomorrow?”
“Barbara. I have to go. Thank you so much.” Meghan hurried out of the building.
As she made her way back to the house, Meghan called the airlines to see if there was a seat left on the flight leaving Kinguyakkii. She had about an hour before the last commercial flight left town until morning. Meghan didn’t want to wait that long.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The Alaska Airlines flight touched down at the international airport after nine that night. Meghan had a backpack carry-on and didn’t have to wait for baggage check. She exited the gate in the terminal and wandered down the hallway. Local flights had very little foot traffic in North Terminal. Most of the food kiosks closed until morning. One of the fast food places stayed open all night. Travelers gathered around the service window placing orders.
Meghan moved through the hallway and down the escalators to the main lobby. She walked by the musk ox inside the wall display and the giant polar bear inside the center floor glass case. It was dark outside and Meghan walked into a haze of vape smoke from a traveler who thought the designated smoking area was meant for cigarette smokers, not electric cigarettes.
She saw Gregory Anderson leaning against the black Dodge. He talked with airport police officers. When he saw Meghan, he waved to her. The airport police moved off as Anderson stood up. He attempted to suck in his gut and adjust his belt under the blazer. Both actions didn’t work and he walked around the driver’s side as Meghan opened the passenger door.
“Thank you for picking me up,” she said.
“It’s not a problem. But your request is a little bizarre. You sure you don’t want me to take you to the hotel first?”
“I really want to drive out to Wasilla tonight.” It was almost nine-thirty. “How long before we get to that location?”
“Well, it’s about forty-five minutes on a good day. I think getting out of Anchorage takes longer than getting on the Parks Highway. We’ll probably get to the apartment around eleven.”
“Good. Thank you.”
Meghan sat back in the passenger seat, snapped the seatbelt as Anderson stepped on the accelerator. She put the backpack between her feet on the floorboard and leaned her head against the headrest.
The radio chatter reminded Meghan of the past. Years in the real-world listening to the background noise of active police calls, and chatter between agents, hearing Anderson’s police radio in the car made Meghan feel a little regret.
She’d turned her back on law enforcement. Meghan left the Bureau because of one little incident skirting death. A straight shot to the chest, a mild case of heart-stopping surgery, and a mild case of coma afterward, made Meghan rethink her career path. Leaving New York wasn’t supposed to run away from her broken marriage. She never wanted to leave her daughter behind. While Brittany was a strong and independent girl, Meghan wondered if being in her daughter’s life more would have shaped Brittany differently. They were fast friends, having a level of communication that Meghan knew other parents lacked. Meghan understood Brittany told more to Meghan than she shared with her father and his live-in girlfriend. It didn’t seem to bother Brittany that her mother took a job on the other side of the country. In the Alaskan frontier people chose to live in harsh environments because there was a sense of propriety and community unmatched in other parts of the country. Meghan turned her back on her community again, and she had to find some redemption.
Meghan had to be the maverick, the divorcée and progressive mother. She was the one who didn’t take a failed marriage out on her ex-husband. She gave Brittany a choice of where she stayed. The girl chose her father. It wasn’t because Meghan was a lousy mother. It had to do with her work, and how it took her away from Brittany. Her father had an ordinary job with regular hours. He was the one at home, awake for breakfast to see Brittany off to school. The girl grew up in a household where Meghan spent more time away than her father.
“So, I heard about that blowout with Sergeant Reeve and you,” Anderson said. His words woke Meghan from a light doze as they headed north out of Anchorage.
She opened her eyes to see the cityscape begin to thin out the further from the airport and downtown they drove.
Detective Gregory Anderson was an Alaska State Trooper investigator for the Violent Crimes Division based out of Anchorage, Alaska. Anderson was Meghan’s first random contact within the troopers during her first murder investigation in Kinguyakkii. Anderson wasn’t her point of contact in the troopers. It was something she learned to regret later, but his ranking over Sergeant Reeve meant Meghan didn’t need to step through the channels to get to the person she first had to report. Reeve hated her for it. It made him look incompetent.
“I think it is ridiculous that people care more about their careers than solving a crime. Murder is more important than another chevron on a sleeve,” Meghan said. She’d held in that tidbit for years. It felt good to get it off her chest.
“So, you quit because you solved how many violent crimes in Kin guy kiki?” Anderson said.
He had to draw out the name because he wasn’t from Alaska and it didn’t matter how many years someone lived in the environment, he didn’t work to speak the dialect. Sometimes people could roll their tongues speaking Spanish, sometimes they couldn’t. At least, he tried to pronounce it right.
“I didn’t quit, Reeve made it clear I was terminated. He suggested the feds were looking to arrest me for assault.”
“Seems to me, you took it a little too far,” he mumbled.
Meghan sucked in a deep breath. For most men across the planet, it was impossible for them to sympathize with what it meant to be groped by unwanted hands. It was the kind of thing them might empathize, but Meghan knew men were a basic creature and the idea of touching a woman’s ass appealed to more of them than they cared to admit. She held back because she didn’t want to lash out at Anderson. Not when he gave her a ride up north. They had an hour in the car together. It smelled like beef and cheese, probably from one of the many fast-food bags in the back seat Meghan saw, but he was a friend.
“I might have overreacted,” she mumbled. It was true. If the cadet needed pistol certification, it was likely a long time before he’d gain full use of his right hand again. There was a devilish delight in the idea he’d remember Meghan every time his wrist or thumb ached.
“I don’t think Emanuel is very happy with you making a citizen’s arrest either,” Anderson said.
“I did what?” It was news to her.
“I got a copy of the complaint from Acting Chief Lester Graves. Reeve passed it to me because we had another homicide attached to it, something that wasn’t on the books.”
“Oh,” Meghan said. It was the most she wanted to talk about it.
It made sense suddenly. To keep the heat off Meghan, Lester drafted the arrest report as a witness to a citizen’s arrest case. The Alaska statue allows a peace officer or a private person without a warrant to arrest someone for crimes committed in their presence. Or if they have reasonable belief the person committed a felony, even if they weren’t present. Of course, it meant the private citizen had to use nonlethal means to subdue the suspect. Meghan’s knee and shin kicking weren’t lethal or permanent.
“We got the guy on murdering his brother and the disappearance of that little girl.” Anderson rolled his shoulders in the seat. He stifled a yawn with the back of his hand. “I don’t think there’s enough evidence to charge the guy with killing the girl.”
“I don’t think that will matter.” She felt Anderson’s eyes on her. Meghan glanced at
him in the ambient interior glow of the Dodge.
“I didn’t expect to hear you say something like that,” he said. “I know you like to keep things close to the chest sometimes. I’m not questioning why you have me going out to the valley so late on a Saturday night. I know it’s your way of a surprise.”
“It’s not a surprise. I’m not trying to be vague.” Meghan stared at the darkness across the Palmer Hay Flats. The wild protected lands stretched like fertile plains from the skirt of the mountains overshadowing Eagle River on Meghan’s right. The great swampy flatland extended beyond the Knik River that snaked through the landscape.
The Chugiak Mountains butted against the Parks Highway headed north into the valley that went on for miles, a midnight jagged black under a starry sky. Sometimes, in the right light, the right time of day, commuters saw Denali Mountain peak. Once known as Mount McKinley, it was North America’s highest mountain. It was five hours north of Anchorage, and nothing but a black smudge on an inky skyline at that time of night.
Meghan took a breath again, fighting sleepiness.
“Lester and I visited Joane Tuktu while she and her boyfriend dealt with the loss of a child. I see Cecil, their thirteen-year-old son isn’t handling the girl’s disappearance the way he should,” Meghan said.
“What do you think?”
“Well, right now it’s all speculation. And who am I to judge how a child deals with the loss of a sibling. I’m following a hunch that’s cost me the price of a plane ticket, and a ride in a car with a friend.” Meghan included the description to reinforce her relationship with Gregory Anderson. She knew he was another man who resisted the urge to put his hand on her backside.
“Cecil came to me at the Memorial Day celebration last Saturday night. Cecil told me he couldn’t find Christine. I remember seeing him spending a long time looking for his sister at the dance. As soon as she heard Cecil, Dana Wyatt stepped in and took over.”
“I heard a little about your friend.”
“Well, I can’t say I blame her for the fast response. We had the Amber Alert active within an hour after we found out about the disappearance. But I think about the whole thing, I know Cecil found me. And it was a snowball from there.”
Lost in the Wild Page 13