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“I don’t want to go back to Fairbanks,” she finally admitted.
His gaze seemed to brighten. “You don’t?”
She shrugged, not wanting to make a big deal out of her decision. “What can I say? I don’t like leaving things unfinished.”
“I get that.”
She nibbled on her lip, wondering if she knew what she was doing.
She did.
So she asked, “Do you think I could go back to the trading post with you? Then maybe whenever you decide to head back to Fairbanks with Mariella and Matthew, I could go with you.”
A smile spread across his face. “I like that idea.”
Andi couldn’t help but smile also. “Let me just go tell the driver. I’ll deal with Lockjaw later. I’ve probably pretty much lost my chance of working for the company again anyway now that I’ve put the boss’s son behind bars.”
“That’s where he deserves to be,” Duke reminded her.
She nodded, knowing his words were true.
Then she scurried to the tow truck to give the driver an update.
* * *
Duke didn’t want to feel as happy as he did when Andi climbed into his SUV with him.
But he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t.
It only seemed right that Andi was going back to the trading post. That they were going to figure out Henrietta’s and Craig’s murders together.
He couldn’t deny that the two of them somehow made a good team.
As they sat in his vehicle a moment before leaving, Andi turned to him, not appearing in a hurry. She nibbled on her bottom lip before saying, “Duke . . . you were right. I have been keeping secrets.”
He shrugged, regretting his earlier statement. His words had pushed her away. If she wanted to share about her life, she should be able to do that on her own time.
“I shouldn’t have pushed,” he told her.
“I haven’t told anybody the real reason I’m in Alaska. No one.” Determination flashed in her gaze.
Duke wanted to insist that she didn’t have to tell him. To discourage her from sharing anything out of guilt or obligation.
But he was curious about her reasoning.
“I used to be a lawyer,” she admitted.
“What?” His eyebrows flew up. He’d known Andi had secrets, but he hadn’t expected that.
Then again, he’d seen the way she made a closing argument. She was very convincing. And she did have a certain air of professionalism about her.
Maybe her pronouncement shouldn’t be that surprising.
“I was on the defense team for a very powerful man.” She rubbed her throat as if the words hurt as they left her lips. “That’s when I discovered he wasn’t as innocent as he claimed. In fact, he’d done some terrible things.”
“That had to be difficult.”
“When I confronted him about it, he was extremely defensive and angry. He set me up to make it look like I had falsified some documents for some elderly clients I had. Based on these falsified documents, it looked as if I’d coerced them into leaving all their money to me when they died.”
