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“Thank you.”
As I walk toward Thad, part of me wants to run to him and jump in his arms. I want the comfort I know he’ll give me, but I can’t do that.
“What’s up?” I try to hold the quiver out of my voice.
“Hello, Ms. Keller. I’m Thompson, an investigator with the North Star Borough. From my preliminary investigation, I’ve determined an accelerate was used. It was arson. Trooper Abbott is investigating the possible murder.” He moves away to go through more debris, and I turn to Thad with panicked eyes.
“Someone died?”
He steps closer to me. “We don’t know as of yet. We haven’t found a body, but there is lots of blood. Crime scene should be here shortly to confirm if it’s animal or human.”
“Okay.” I hear the quiver in my voice.
“There was a message, for you and your mother.” His voice is husky and full of emotion.
“Where?”
“Follow me. Be careful.” He directs River and me through the debris field and up the porch stairs to the front door. When he opens it, I see the damage to all the furniture. Things are torn up and trashed. And there’s so much blood. But it’s the message on the wall written in blood that stops me.
Lucky you weren’t here to meet me. Your husband didn’t survive, and you were supposed to be next on my list. I’ll get you soon, don’t worry. Riddler, you can hide her away, but she will die and so will your bastard before I’m done. I will have my revenge.
My blood runs cold. This is all about me. I turn and stomp out of the house. My aunt must have seen the message already. I pull out my cell and bark orders into it.
“Load up, now,” I growl at my mother. “Two front two rear. We’ll be surrounded shortly.” I direct the other girls.
My mom goes to argue with me. “Scout, I need to see.”
“Mom, get in the truck, now. If you can’t drive, I will, but you will go to my house and stay with me until further notice.”
I turn to River. I’m not Scout, the daughter or friend now. I’m Riddler, and I’ll win this game if I have to die trying.
“Jinx, I want Scarlett’s location. See if there are any nomads who would like to come help us out.”
“On it, Prez,” Jinx responds without question.
“Scout.” His voice breaks through everything, but I’m not going to follow the rules to protect my family.
“No.” I turn toward him. “I need Rufus back before the night is out. He’ll protect Little Bear.”
Thad moves right up to me, pressing his big body into mine. “I’ll get a protection detail on you all.”
I shake my head and look up at him. “You can’t protect them the way I can.”
Because Denali is a national park, I couldn’t have my gun on me. But as soon as I get on my property, I’ll be armed at all times. For now, I walk back to my truck and lift the small seat on the back passenger side. I open the safe that holds a spare there.
“This isn’t how you do it.” Thad tries to stop me, but I slip the small .38 into the chest pocket of my leather jacket.
“This is how I handle it. This is why you and I can’t work. Besides, do you want whoever that is”—I wave my hand toward the house—“to focus on you or Ryder?” I swing a leg over my bike, and we head out.
Jinx and I lead with Frenchie and Vixen bringing up the tail. Before we are even back on the main highway, I hear the other bikes coming. They surround the truck too.
* * *
Thad
The drive out to Ptarmigan Falls takes longer than I want in the late afternoon traffic through the city. I sometimes hate that the trooper post is right in the city, but I took the quickest way out of town via the Johansen Expressway. Dylan sits quietly next to me. He’s been here since Tuesday, and so far, we’ve gotten a lot of information we didn’t have before. The links between several cases are all tied together, and my girl is right in the center of it.
I watched her pull away on Sunday and knew in my gut she wasn’t going to stop. That I might not ever get her back. I thought about what she said about me being the law and her not. That’s ridiculous because I know she won’t step over that line unless she has to. But now with our daughter and her mother being threatened and that person saying they killed her father, I know she will step over that line. I’ve spent hours this last week wondering if I’d do it too. I won’t know until the situation comes up, but that’s my daughter who was threatened. My woman and my daughter.
