Chapter 11
11
One more great thing about Lachlan—he wasn’t one to say “I told you so.” Her head still achy, Maura was beyond grateful for that quality as they drove out to the Chilkoots’ property. When he’d picked her up at Pinky’s, he’d offered only a casual, “How’re you feeling?” before she climbed in beside him.
“Yeah. Good. Thanks.”
Pinky lived in the opposite direction from the Chilkoots; they were closer to Ice Falls, while he lived near Wind Valley, and closer to town. When she’d first come to Firelight Ridge, she’d thought his place was remote, but it turned out that a fair number of people considered him to be a town-dweller. Old Solomon even teased him about it. How do you city-folk stand all that damn traffic? Might as well live in downtown Seattle.
“Listen,” she said after they’d driven a few miles in silence. “I’m a lightweight. A few sips of wine and I’ll say anything. Back in Colorado, I rarely drink, and I guess I should have stuck to that. It’s hard when the community gathering place is a bar. I hope I didn’t cause any problems between us.”
“You didn’t cause any problems.” His quick reassurance didn’t entirely make her relax.
“Because your friendship is very important to me. I don’t know many people here, other than Pinky.”
“And his friends,” Lachlan pointed out.
“Yes, true. But when it comes to people who aren’t twice my age, you’re pretty much it.”
Moisture kept condensing on the inside of the windshield, and he used his thick fleece-lined work gloves to wipe it off. “The defroster has issues,” he explained. “Like I said, there’s no problem.”
“I didn’t come on to you, kind of sort of?”
“I didn’t interpret it that way.”
But she’d wanted to. That was the truth. As soon as she’d gotten a little bit of alcohol in her, she’d started wondering what it would be like to feel his hands on her.
Interesting, because ever since SS had nearly destroyed her life, she’d been one hundred percent opposed to any involvement with any man.
No more red wine , she told herself. And that’s final.
“Well, that’s a relief,” she said. “A friendship is much more valuable than a drunken hookup.”
Lachlan showed no reaction as he checked the rearview mirror. The truck was pulling a trailer with a snowmobile he’d borrowed from Gunnar loaded on it.
“Do you miss your friends in Colorado?” he asked.
No, she didn’t, because her friends had let her down. He’s so romantic…I wish a guy would wait outside my house all night with flowers…you’re being so dramatic…you must have done something to make him think he has a chance.
Not all of them had reacted that way, of course. Her friend Marco was keeping an eye out for SS, armed with emergency numbers and a secret way to communicate via draft emails.
Thinking of Marco now, she said, “Yes, I do. I worry about them. I’m the levelheaded one who gives good advice.” Ironic, really. “I hope they’re not making all kinds of mistakes while I’m gone. I’m sure Marco is dating some dude from his gym instead of giving the hot nerd from accounting a chance.”
“Marco?”
“My best friend since the age of five.”
He gave her an alert glance. “Screensaver-level best friend?”
“Yup.”
For some reason, her answer made him grin happily. As he downshifted to take the truck up a steep incline, it occurred to her that she didn’t know much about Lachlan other than the fact that he was a twin and a scientist.
“Where do you live when you’re not here in Firelight Ridge?” she asked.
“Minneapolis. I’m on leave from the University of Minnesota. But I don’t know when I’ll go back. I’ve been coming to Alaska every summer for the past five years and a good chunk of the spring too. When I go back to the Twin Cities it’s hard to adjust. There are more people in my apartment building than live here.”
“How about your brother? Does he live there too?”
“Gil has always traveled a lot. He considered my apartment his home base, even though he had a condo in DC. He let that go when he decided to stay here with Ani.”
She caught the wistfulness in his voice. “They seem really happy together.”
“Oh, they are. He’s the happiest I’ve ever seen him. He always said he was going to die single, but I always knew he was wrong. I knew this day would come…” He shrugged one shoulder. “And it’s a good thing. He spent so much of his life protecting me, even when he didn’t have to. Now he’ll have his own family to protect.”
“But he’ll always be your brother,” she said gently.
“Yes.” He smiled a little, then swerved to avoid a branch that had fallen across the road. “Poor guy.”
“Why would you say that? I bet you’re an excellent brother.”
“How do you figure that?” He took his eyes off the road to give her a curious glance.
“Because he’s so intensely loyal to you. Only the best people inspire that sort of loyalty.”
“Hm.” He seemed unimpressed by her logic. “I think the point is that Gil is one of the best people. If you’re ever in any kind of trouble, he’s the guy you want.”
Was he trying to tell her something? Had he guessed that she was in trouble? She’d never told him anything about her nightmare. All he knew was that she was here visiting her grandfather and taking a break from the pressures of teaching.
“I think my first call would be to you, actually.” Her words were so soft they could barely be heard. In fact, he didn’t hear, because at that moment, something flew across the road, just a few feet from the windshield.
Lachlan jerked and yanked the steering wheel to the right. The truck swerved across the road and she cried out in warning. With a muttered curse, he regained control and a moment later they were cruising down the road as before. “Are you okay?” he asked her.
“What the hell was that?” Her heart was racing as she peered into the woods after the flying object.
“I think it was a bald eagle. But I’ve never seen one fly that close before.” He hit the gas to power them over the crest of the hill.
“More animals behaving strangely?” She put a hand to her chest, as if she could physically force her heart to stop beating so fast. That was one thing about trauma, she’d come to learn. Your body remembered and would overreact to the tiniest trigger.
“Add it to the list, I guess,” Lachlan said.
From the top of the hill, the road plunged into a valley with forests on one side and an open expanse of snow on the other. Maura wondered if those fields held crops when it wasn’t winter.
“That’s Chilkoot property.” Lachlan gestured with a sweep of his hand. “I believe they grow potatoes and cabbage out here.”
“So maybe they trained an eagle to act like a scarecrow and keep people away from their potatoes?”
Instead of laughing, Lachlan tilted his head. “Interesting theory.”
“It’s more of a joke than a theory.”
But Lachlan continued to take it seriously. “Some kind of human intervention might explain the odd incidents.”
“So could alien intervention,” she pointed out. “Yes, I’ve got it! Aliens from another planet landed nearby and they’re manipulating the animals.”
“For what purpose?” Still taking her seriously, she noticed. Was that the way of a true scientist, to follow every theory down a rabbit hole, no matter how silly it was?
“Spy on us? Scare us? Maybe they have plans to take over and kick us out. It’s not like we’ve done a very good job taking care of this planet. Maybe the time of the humans is over and the time of animals is about to begin, with an assist from another planet. I say bring it on. I will bow down to my new bald eagle overlords. They’ve got to be better than a bunch of bald men.”
They were both laughing by now, although she wasn’t entirely sure she was joking.
“I like the way your mind works,” he said, when his laughter had died down. “Your imagination is…”
“What?”
“I was going to say…sexy. But that’s probably not the right word.”
That triggered another bout of laughter from her. “No one has ever said that to me before. ‘Oh baby, your imagination is soooo sexy.’” She mimicked every guy who’d ever tried to pick her up at a Starbucks or the gym. “Usually it’s all about my eyes.”
“Can hardly blame them,” he murmured.
Surprised, she gave him a quick glance, but he was focused on the first outbuildings that had appeared up ahead. “That’s their high tunnel, where they grow winter greens.” A white plastic hoop house the size of a football field came into view. “They’re almost entirely self-sufficient. It’s pretty impressive, if you don’t mind all the criming.”
He waved at two men who were loading a truck at the entrance of the hoop house. They gestured to him and he pulled over to the side of the road. Maura rolled down the window so he could call to them. As he leaned past her, she caught the smell of fresh snow and a pleasant, tobacco-ey scent that must be Lachlan’s. She found it comforting, like everything else about Lachlan.
“Did Elias tell you we were coming?”
“A-yup,” one of the men called. “Tracks are over there. Have at.” He pointed to the east. “But watch out for that wolf, he’s still out there.”
“Got my .22 handy.” Lachlan gestured for Maura to roll up the window.
“Wait. What? You brought a gun?” She cracked the window closed as she stared at him. “Why?”
“It’s the wilderness.” He gave her a serious look. “Don’t worry, I have extensive firearms training. I spend time at a gun range whenever I get the chance. Gun safety is very important to me.”
A shiver was starting deep in her insides. It spread throughout her body, making her fingers tingle and her breath stop in her throat. SS had carried a gun. Of course he had, because that was his job. But that didn’t explain his obsession with guns, the way he spoke about them, the way he used his superior knowledge of them to make her feel afraid and powerless.
She’d even gone to a gun range to see if learning how to shoot would make her feel safer. But panic had hit as soon as she’d seen all those people in t-shirts and ear protection, wielding deadly weapons as if one wrong move couldn’t kill someone. SS would also have the advantage when it came to firepower, she’d realized. She had to find some other way to fight back.
“Are you okay?” Lachlan was watching her with confusion and concern. “Are you not a fan of guns? I only brought one because we don’t know what we’re going to face out there. It’s basic wilderness survival.”
She made herself nod. He was right. If they ran into that wolf, and it was still in an attacking frame of mind, a weapon might be nice. Like a slingshot. Or a tranquilizer dart. “It’s fine,” she managed. “It’s a bit of a phobia, but I’ll get past it.”
She hoped. Then she remembered how SS used to pull his jacket back and caress the weapon that sat in the holster on his belt, and shuddered again. Maybe she could stay in the truck and let Lachlan and his .22 search for the wolf.
No. This was her life. Her adventure. She was the one Elias had told about the wolf. She wanted to be part of finding out what was going on. She was so tired of letting residual SS trauma control her life.
She trusted Lachlan. He said he knew how to handle his weapon, and that they needed to bring it. Trust him.
“ Let’s go before it gets dark,” she said, and swung out of the truck.