Chapter 14
“Here’s the antibiotic ointment and bandages I had in my kit.
I notified the police about the attack. They’ll have someone here within the next fifteen minutes.
Someone has to come in from out at Feegan’s.
” Kat shoved the first-aid items into Nick’s hands and pulled the note from her pocket.
“Maybe you can tell me what whoever left this note meant.”
Scratched in her father’s crisp print were the words Shop Around the Corner and a group of numbers.
Kat turned the paper over. It was blank on the back. “Is this some kind of shopping list?”
“Could the numbers be a date?”
“Maybe. But I don’t think so. There aren’t enough numbers.”
Nick’s cell phone played the tune from Mission: Impossible.
Mary smiled. Nick always seemed so intense. To poke fun at spy movies made him seem more human.
Kat rolled her eyes. “You really need to get a new ring tone.”
Nick slid his phone open. “Yeah.”
Mary grabbed for the ointment in his hands, but he held it out of reach. Instead of handing it to her, he propped the cell phone between his ear and shoulder and unscrewed the cap on the ointment.
The whole time he talked on the phone, he tended her wound, gently applying the clear gel to her cut. When she winced, his hand jerked back, a frown deepening between his brows.
Mary found it all too personal and tried again to grab the tube from his hands. She felt exposed to him and shy of Kat watching her standing there in her bra.
Nick tipped her chin with a clean finger and shook his head. He pressed another glob of ointment to the wound, his concentration shifting for a moment to the caller. “Interesting.”
Mary backed out of his reach and collected a package of gauze from the kit. She peeled back the paper and laid the pad over her cut. The gentle contact hurt. Mary bit down on her lip to keep from crying out. She could be just as tough as the agents, when she had to.
“Even more interesting.” Nick fished out a roll of adhesive tape and tore off a piece. “A Purple Heart and a Silver Star? Pretty impressive.”
Mary wanted to throw the first aid kit at Nick. She wished he’d hurry and end the conversation and fill in her and Kat. She fumbled one-handed with the adhesive tape, while holding the gauze to her wound, she only managed to get it tangled.
“I’ll have Kat run over to Fairbanks and alert his people. No, we won’t clue them in on who’s involved over here. Roger.”
Kat pulled her keys from her pocket. “I take it I’m on the road to warn Gordon Thomas about Frank Richards’ death?”
“You got it.”
The small, dark-haired woman slipped her arms into her jacket. “I’ll drop by the hospital afterward and see if I can catch Ms. Reedy.”
“We’ll check for her on this end too, in case she’s already back.” Nick snagged the role of adhesive, tore off a length of tape and applied it to the gauze Mary held in place.
Kat’s gaze centered on the work Nick was doing on Mary’s side, her lips twisting into a wry smile. “In the event I don’t make it back tonight, are you two going to be all right on your own?”
“We’ll be fine,” Nick replied.
Mary glanced up at Nick. When had she gone from mistrust to full confidence in the man?
Was it when he’d saved her from the kamikaze snowmobile rider or when he’d thrown himself on top of her to save her from sniper fire?
Whenever it happened didn’t matter. What did matter was that she trusted him with her life.
Not something she normally did with a stranger.
And she’d done even more extraordinary things with this stranger than she cared to enumerate. Her face flushed with heat. She dragged her gaze away from Nick. “We’ll be all right.”
“Good. There’s supposed to be another storm headed this way later this evening. I should just make it to Fairbanks before it hits.” She gave Nick a stern look. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
A smile quirked the edges of his lips. “Do I look like I’d do something stupid?”
“Love has a way of making a person stupid.” Kat’s look switched from Nick to Mary, her brows winging upward. “Just keep your eyes open and your shirts on.”
Mary’s face burned hotter. As if Nick was falling in love with her.
Ha! Not when he could have any girl he wanted in the lower forty-eight states just by crooking his finger.
No. Nick wouldn’t fall in love with a girl from the backwoods of Alaska.
He was married to the job. A woman didn’t fit into his lifestyle on a permanent basis.
No matter how much she told herself that Nick wouldn’t fall in love with a bumpkin like her, she couldn’t stop the hope flowing up into her chest.
Great. Mary Christmas had committed the ultimate folly. She’d fallen for a guy she’d known only a few days. And here she was dreaming about happily ever after with a man who would soon be gone.
Yeah, Kat had it right. Love had a way of making you stupid.
Mary caught herself before she smacked her palm to her forehead.
She. Was. Not. In. Love. With. Nick. No one fell in love that fast. Mary squared her shoulders.
“While Kat’s on her way to Fairbanks, let’s go see if Ms. Betty is back from visiting Reuben in the hospital. I’m worried about her.”
“After we talk to this police officer.” An SUV with police markings had just pulled into the parking lot.
After she’d given her statement, Kat left for Fairbanks in her black four-wheel-drive SUV.
Mary walked beside Nick to the diner, intent on finding Betty and getting a few answers. The smells of coffee, bread and chili filled the air, reminding Mary she hadn’t had lunch and all she’d had for breakfast was the coffee Kat brought early that morning.
Once inside, Nick ordered two sandwiches to go from the bar.
Mary looked around. No sign of Betty. When Lenn brought out their sandwiches, she asked, “Has Betty made it back from Fairbanks yet?”
“Yeah, she got in about an hour ago, grabbed a bag of burgers and left. Said she had some errands to run, but that she’d be back in time for the dinner crowd.” Lenn wiped a meaty arm across his forehead. “Sure hope she does. Lunch was a bear. You want me to give her a message when I see her?”
“No, thanks.” As soon as Nick paid, Mary hooked his arm and steered him toward the door. “Did you hear that? A bag of burgers.”
Nick handed her a sandwich and slipped his gloves on while juggling his own. “Must have been hungry.”
“Or she was getting extras for a guest.”
“Let’s find out. Where does she live?”
“In a little house on Flight Street.”
“Do we have to take a snowmobile?”
Mary smiled. “A car will make it.”
They hiked back to the rental car at the B and B and made the short drive to Flight Street in complete silence, each munching on their sandwiches.
When they pulled up the snowy drive, Betty Reedy flung open the door and ran out to greet them.
She wore her house slippers but no coat, her forehead creased in a deep frown.
“Mary, I’m so glad you’re here. I don’t know what to do.
I can’t find Chris. He’s missing. And your father hasn’t checked in like he said he would. ”
“What? Wait a minute.” Mary held the woman at arm’s length. “Did you say my father hasn’t checked in?”
Betty’s hand clapped over her mouth, her eyes widening. The older woman dropped her hand and sighed. “Oh, shoot-fire. What does it matter anyway? You might as well know it all.” She shot a narrow-eyed glare at Nick and then turned her gaze to Mary. “Can he be trusted?”
Mary stared up at Nick. The silence lengthened.
His brows rose. “Do you trust me, Mary?”
Her gaze collided with his and she nodded. “With my life.” As she spoke the words, she knew beyond a doubt the truth of them. But she didn’t trust him or any man with her heart. Oh, she wanted to, but the nature of the situation excluded him from the happily-ever-after scenarios.
Frigid wind blasted through the trees. A violent shiver shook Betty’s frame.
“What am I thinking? Come inside, come inside before we all catch our deaths.” She shot a glance in a three-hundred-sixty-degree circle before hustling them through the front door, closing it firmly behind them.
She didn’t stop herding them until they were standing in the living room.
Mary brushed off Betty’s attempt to take her coat. “What’s going on, Ms. Betty?”
Betty Reedy crossed the floor to the couch where what looked like a thirty-pound yellow tabby lay sprawled across the seat cushion. She lifted the cat in her arms and ran her hand across the animal’s fur. “Cookie, oh, Cookie, what else can we do?”
When she finally turned to Mary, she hugged the cat to her face and sighed.
“Your father’s been in hiding since he was reported missing the other day.
He’d been holing up in my house and amongst other friends for the past few days.
He was here earlier today. I guess until he heard about Bob Feegan.
” Betty’s eyes filled. “I just wonder if Ch-Santa was out there when the gunman shot Bob?”
Nick shook his head. “We didn’t see Santa and we were there. Too late to help Mr. Feegan, though.”
“Oh, dear Lord.” Betty set the cat on the floor and grasped Mary’s hands. “Tell me you didn’t put yourself in danger. Your father never would have had you come home if he’d known you’d be in danger. He’s beside himself with worry for everyone in North Pole.”
Mary held tight to Betty’s hands. “I couldn’t be anywhere else, you know that. If my father is in trouble, I have to do everything I can to help. That’s what family does.” Her gaze shifted from Betty to Nick.
His dark-eyed stare gave nothing away. For a long moment, his gaze held hers. Then he nodded. “We have to find Mr. Claus.”
“He’s not the only person I’m anxious to find.” A tear slipped down Ms. Betty’s cheek. “Chris is missing now.”