Chapter 14
14
Ani locked herself into a stall in the women’s restroom and let out a long breath. Things kept getting stranger, and now she was back at the Blackbear airport where this had all started. If she could have spoken to her previous self, maybe she could have warned her—avoid that sweating, ill man at all costs.
But she was a doctor to her core and couldn’t ignore someone in need of help.
Besides, then she wouldn’t have met Gil. Never would have felt the sweet comfort of strong male arms protecting her. She’d never quite had that feeling before.
In the stall, she stripped off her dirty clothes and slipped into a pair of blue jeans and a tunic top with gold and copper threads sent to her by her great-aunt in Tamil. And new underwear, most important of all. Fresh clothes made her feel a thousand times better.
At the sink, she splashed water on her face, then patted her skin dry with a paper towel. As she was balling up the towel to toss it into the trash, a young woman came into the bathroom. Tears streaked down her face and her eyes welled with yet more. She bent over the sink, barely aware that she had a witness, and gagged.
Ani had seen her before, she realized. The last time she’d been here, this girl had been checking people in for flights to Fairbanks. She worked for another outfit, not the one Ani had flown. In fact—Ani was nearly certain—she’d checked in Victor Canseco for his flight.
“Are you okay?” Ani asked the girl gently.
Maybe she was pregnant. Ani’s stomach twisted with the reminder of that painful topic. For the last few days, all these dramatic events had distracted her from that nightmare.
Come to think of it, maybe that was why she’d plunged herself into this mess.
The girl made an incoherent sound, and stuck out her hand to feel for the paper towel holder. Ani pulled a few out and handed them to her.
She wiped her face, her mouth, then splashed water on her cheeks and eyes. Poor girl. Or woman, rather. Ani thought she was in her mid-twenties, with tilted dark eyes and skin a few shades lighter than her own. Native Alaskan, at a guess. The fluorescent lights picked up a streak of green in her hair, and a stud in her left nostril.
“Can I help?” Ani asked when the girl had straightened up. “I’m a doctor.”
The girl shot her an indifferent look. “No, I don’t need a doctor. I gotta go.”
She turned around and headed for the door. Ani called after her. “Wait. You work for one of the flight services, right? You fly back and forth from Firelight Ridge.”
“So?” At the door, the girl turned around. She really didn’t look well. Beads of sweat dotted her forehead.
“A friend of mine came through here about a week ago. He had just come from Firelight Ridge, and I’m pretty sure he used your flight service. I was hoping I could talk to the pilot who flew that plane.”
The girl’s expression changed so suddenly that Ani wondered if she’d misunderstood the question. “You can’t.”
Taken aback, she asked, “Why? How do you even know who it was?”
“We only have one pilot. He’s the owner. And he’s dead, and so now we have no pilots and I have to find another job. Sam probably won’t take me back because I quit on him, cuz the other guy paid me better. So I’m shit out of luck and now I have to go home anyway.”
Shocked, Ani gripped the sink counter behind her. “What do you mean, the pilot’s dead? When did that happen? Did he…” She drew in a quick gasp. “Did he crash?”
“No, he didn’t crash. The plane is sitting right there on the tarmac just like normal. He just didn’t come into work today. I had to call all the passengers and refund them. Another pilot went to his house to see if maybe he overslept or his phone was off or something. He was dead in the backyard.”
“My God. Was he…do you know what…how he died?”
“I don’t know, but he was fine when I saw him—” She clenched her teeth. “Why is it your business? Shit, I’m out of here.”
As the girl disappeared out the door, Ani felt a shudder travel through her.
Victor’s pilot was dead.
Was his death connected to all of this? If not, it would be another very strange coincidence, that the pilot who had flown Victor to Blackbear had now turned up deceased. And the girl who had checked him in was now sick too.
The girl had said “he was fine when I saw him,” which made it sound as if some medical crisis had killed him. She hadn’t said that he was murdered or that a bear had gotten into his yard, or that he’d eaten peanuts even though he was allergic. “He was fine when I saw him.”
Suddenly it all fell into place. Victor, the military presence, the high security, the pilot…
She pulled out her phone and texted Gil. It’s not a drug. It’s a contagion.