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“Ha! Keep dreaming, Strickland.”
He splayed a hand over his chest like he was in pain. “You wound me, Ashby.Woundme.I’ll never love again.”
She rolled her eyes. Tage was a good guy and any woman would be lucky to have him, but she didn’t see him that way and he knew it. He was more like an annoying big brother. He was only teasing, trying to get under her skin. And it worked. It always worked.
More comfortable with work than talking about the sad state of her sex life, she flipped open her laptop and scanned over her notes. “That was an interesting conversation, wasn’t it?”
Tage’s smile faded and he put his feet back on the floor. “Yeah, like how Ms. Ives was more broken up over Will Hunter’s disappearance than his sons? Very interesting.”
“What do you make of that?”
His smile slinked back, ticking up one corner of his mouth. “You’re asking if I think your redheaded lover boy is involved?”
Yes, dammit. That was exactly what she was asking, and she hated he could see through her. But Strickland hadn’t become one of the best investigators in the state by being unobservant. “I’m asking if you think any of them are involved?”
Strickland didn’t say anything right away. He took several minutes to consider it. “No, I don’t think your redhead is involved.”
“He’s not my—” She stopped short as he lifted a disbelieving eyebrow. The more she protested, the more he was going to tease her. It wasn’t worth it. “Okay, you don’t think Nathaniel’s involved. What about the other two? Ellis? Damian?”
He shook his head. “Ellis, no. I don’t get that vibe from him and he obviously has it bad for Ms. Ives. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt her, even if he did want to hurt his dad.”
“But they just met,” Freya pointed out. “Maybe he made his dad disappear, then met Bree?”
“No. Flight records confirm he just flew in from L.A. Far as I can tell, until recently, he hasn’t been in the state since he was a teenager.”
“He could’ve hired someone.” Even as she voiced the thought, she knew it wasn’t right. She’d seen the background report on Ellis. The man trained dogs and lived in an RV. He didn’t have the kind of capital needed to hire a hitman. “No, you’re right. Doesn’t fit.”
“Now, the youngest?” Tage sucked on his teeth in consideration. “I find it very convenient that Damian Hunter bought the hospital the day before Will disappeared.”
“And judging by their attitudes today, Damian has the biggest chip on his shoulder.”
Tage nodded. “I think he has it in him to off his father and claim Will sold him the property. I really do. Feel weird saying it because I like his show, but he’s nothing like he appears on TV.”
Freya had also watched Damian’s TV show. In fact, she’d watched him back when he was a budding YouTube star. He’d always seemed like such a nice guy. She hadn’t expected the angry man she met today.
Of course, she hadn’t expected to have her last one-night stand walk into the room today, either.
Dammit.
She grabbed her anorak from the back of her chair. “I’ve given Bree enough time to feed her dogs. I need to talk to her.” Every second they waited was a second closer William Hunter slipped toward death.
If he was still alive, which Freya doubted. Despite what she’d said to Bree, she thought they were looking for a body.
Tage stood and stretched. “I have to head down to Sleetmute to investigate a disturbance, then I’ll be back in Aniak later today filing reports if you need me. I’ll also start checking in with Will Hunter’s friends, see if any of them have heard from him recently. Are you sticking around here?”
“No. I have to fly back up to Fairbanks to pick up Xena and touch base with the SAR volunteers. I’ll be back with a team tomorrow.” She headed toward the door. “See you then?”
“I’ll be here.” Tage sighed and took a sip of his now-cold coffee. “You think this is body recovery, don’t you?”
“Yeah. Unfortunately, I do.” She pushed out the door and stopped short, her heart slamming into her ribcage. Nathaniel Hunter was right there, waiting in the short hallway that led back to the main dining room.
She should’ve known he’d be there.
She glanced back into the room behind her. Had he heard her and Tage speaking just now? She hoped not. And she definitely didn’t want Tage to hear the upcoming conversation. She quickly shut the door and moved away from it.
Nathaniel straightened from his slouch against the wall. “Hey,” he said softly.
Dammit, she wished she didn’t so vividly remember how that soft voice of his had felt like a caress as his beard tickled her inner thighs…
