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Mariella turned and introduced herself as well as her brother.
“Nice to meet you.” Andi kept her words clipped, sounding as if she wasn’t in the mood for small talk.
Duke couldn’t blame her for that. He wasn’t in the mood either.
The CB radio beside him crackled. Maybe it was an update on the highway situation. With any luck, the road would be open and conditions clearing.
Maybe he could put this mess behind him and head back to Fairbanks after he dropped Andi off at the trading post.
He knew that was wishful thinking, however.
“Frostbite,” a deep voice said. “You there?”
Frostbite? This was the channel he listened to for road updates. Truckers also used it to communicate with each other.
Duke glanced in the rearview mirror at Andi.
Her skin dropped at least three shades.
Then something almost savage emerged. She lunged toward the front seat and tried to grab the radio. Before she could, the man on the other end kept talking.
“You know I’m always here for you. You can come up to Coldfoot and stay with me if you need to get off the road.”
Andi flipped the switch off, her cheeks red enough that Duke could see them in the darkness of the vehicle.
That reaction . . . it was loaded.
Concern embedded itself between his shoulder blades. “Who was that?”
“Just some jerk I work with who likes to make my life miserable.” She leaned back—a little too hard—in her seat and crossed her arms, looking as if she wanted to disappear.
Duke stared at her, disgusted at the undertones of that man’s words.
“Wait . . . you should totally report him.” Mariella glanced behind her. “Sexual harassment. It’s a big deal.”
Andi’s gaze hardened. “I’m well aware.”
As much as she might be trying to hide her fear, her trembling arms told the truth.
Duke had other questions for this woman in the meantime. It was clear she didn’t want to talk about the man on the radio. This didn’t seem like the time or place to press her for answers.
“Tell me about this man you saw on the road.” Duke’s voice hardened. He needed to make it clear he wanted answers. There was obviously something this woman wasn’t telling him.
“Man?” Mariella quipped, a new curiosity—and growing fear—in her voice. “What man? The one who was shooting at us?”
“I don’t know anything about him.” Andi paused. “Where could he have gone? There’s nothing around here, and I didn’t see a vehicle anywhere.”
“He could be using a snow machine.” Duke tried to think through several possible scenarios. “Maybe he was waiting for someone to come by. Maybe he wanted to run someone off the road.”
“So he could shoot them?” Andi’s voice cracked.
He wasn’t sure how to broach his next question, so he decided simply to be blunt. “Did anyone know you were coming this way?”
Andi’s face paled again.
And Duke had the answer he needed.
chaptereight
