Page 66 of K-9 in Pursuit

“We don’t know those incidents are connected.”

“Except they probably are.”

They faced each other, at a standstill. Finally, she said, “I know I’m taking a risk. But all I want to do is talk to people. There must be other people out at night who noticed her. I’ll be careful, I promise.”

“I still think it’s a terrible idea.” He looked away, then back at her, his expression pained. “But it’s a better idea than anything I’ve come up with.”

Chapter Nineteen

The ski village took on a new vibrancy after dark, the streets and sidewalks filled with people celebrating another day on the slopes. They were on vacation, free to eat and drink and spend money with no early-morning deadlines. The brisk cold and thin air acted as a heady tonic, the impact of alcohol stronger at altitude, the day’s exertion lending a relaxing lethargy to the strolling crowds of revelers who flowed in and out of the bars and restaurants.

Chloe moved among them, her black jacket a contrast to the colorful parkas and puffer coats of the vacationers, a knit cap pulled low to warm her ears. She scanned the faces of those she passed, not certain what she was looking for—some recognition or recoil from anyone who might know her as Sharee’s sister?

She kept watch for Bunny, but didn’t spot her during the first hour she passed up and down the village’s main street. Every fifteen minutes she texted Brian. Nothing to see here. Or I just watched six drunk college students debate whether the moose statue in front of the coffee shop is a real moose or not. Or What was Sharee looking for out here? Twice she stopped in bars or cafés to warm up or refill her cup of coffee.

After nine, the crowds began to thin, many of the businesses shuttering their doors for the day. A few bars remained open until midnight, but long before then the crowd on the street dwindled to only a handful of groups of two and three people walking back to their condos—some boisterous and merry, others quiet and hurrying along.

Brian had moved from the coffee shop where he had stationed himself earlier to Murphy’s pub, Daisy at his feet. Dogs weren’t allowed in the bar, but there were no other customers, and the bartender hadn’t said anything when the dog settled under the table by the door where Brian seated himself. Chloe took her phone out now and texted. Everything’s okay. Getting quieter.

His answer was a thumbs-up emoji. He had spent the first hour of the evening trying to persuade her to come inside and give up, but he must have realized she wasn’t going to abandon her plan, so now he was waiting, if not patiently, at least silently.

She reached the ice cream shop. It was closed for the day, but the air around it still smelled faintly of the waffle cones made on-site. She turned into the small parking area behind the building. The server at Shaggy Dog Pizza had said he had seen Sharee talking to an older, motherly woman here, but tonight the lot was deserted. Chloe stood for a moment under a security light, bathed in a pink glow, wishing the bulb provided some warmth. She had dressed as warmly as possible, in long underwear and fleece-lined leggings and a thick wool sweater, and a ski jacket and gloves. But the cold seeped in, numbing fingers and toes. Another half hour and she’d have to go inside again to warm up.

She glanced down the sidewalk and was startled to see a woman moving toward her. She stared, wondering if she had conjured the short, curvy figure in the dark coat and hat out of her remembrance of the server’s description of the woman he had seen with Sharee. But as the woman drew closer, Chloe recognized her. “Bunny!” she cried.

The woman’s head jerked up. Sure enough, it was Bunny, in a dark, almost drab coat, a scarf wrapped around her tower of blond hair and obscuring the lower half of her face. “Chloe, what are you doing out here?” Bunny asked.

“I couldn’t sleep,” Chloe said.

“Me neither.” Bunny stopped beside her. “You shouldn’t be out here by yourself,” she said. “It isn’t safe. I’m headed back to my condo now.”

“I won’t be long.” Chloe glanced at the closed ice cream shop. “My sister was killed near here. I guess I came here to try to figure out what happened to her.”

She waited for some expression of sympathy, or maybe curiosity about the circumstances of Sharee’s death. Instead, Bunny said, “I saw her the night she died.”

A metallic chill, like the blade of a knife, sliced through Chloe. She stared at Bunny. “You were the woman she was seen with.”

“Who saw me?” Her tone was sharp.

“A server at one of the restaurants near here. He was getting off work. Why didn’t you tell the sheriff’s office you saw her?”

Bunny looked around them. “Let’s go somewhere out of the wind to talk.” She moved past and Chloe followed. She thought they would go to one of the bars that remained open, maybe even Murphy’s. But instead, Bunny turned into an alley a block down. The space smelled of garbage from the dumpster at the end, and a bare bulb over the back door of a pizzeria provided the only illumination. Shaggy Dog Pizza. A knot of fear lodged in Chloe’s stomach. This was where Sharee had died.

“It’s out of the wind here,” Bunny said. She stopped halfway into the alley and turned to face Chloe. “I’ll tell you what I know about your sister.”

Chloe pushed down her unease. She wanted to hear what Bunny had to say. She might have seen something or knew something that would lead to the killer.

“What happened that night?” Chloe asked. “What did you say to Sharee?”

“The same thing I said to you. That it wasn’t safe to be out here alone.” She shoved her hands further into the pockets of her coat and hunched her shoulders. “Tell me about your sister.”

How to sum up Sharee in a few words? “She was beautiful and a little spoiled, but really sweet, too. She acted worldly and wanted people to think she was older than her age, but she was really innocent. I think she was lonely. And maybe a little afraid.”

“She wasn’t afraid,” Bunny said.

Chloe stared. “How do you know that?”

“She laughed at me,” Bunny said. Her voice was flat, like someone commenting on the weather.