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“So what do you think about all of that?” Duke turned to Andi, honestly wanting to know her opinion.
“I don’t know.” She shook her head as she tugged at her hat. “Tragedy can turn a family upside down and change them forever. It’s a sad reality.”
“You sound as if you know.” He was curious about the woman. She didn’t open up very much and kept herself guarded. But Duke wanted to know more. She hadn’t just ended up in Alaska out of happenstance. And she’d clearly had a life before becoming a truck driver.
The woman was educated and smart, with intelligent eyes.
What was her story?
“My mom died when I was a teenager,” she admitted, tugging at her hat again. “She had a sudden heart attack. My life restarted that day. It was never the same, and I couldn’t pretend like it would be. But things did continue on. Life makes sure of that.”
Duke heard the sadness in her voice. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you.” Andi sucked in a shaky breath as if trying to displace her grief. Then she slowly released the air from her lungs, clearly ready to change the subject. “So what should we do now?”
“Well, since Joe Prospector is living in Coldfoot . . .” Duke shrugged. “While we’re this close, it would be a shame not to talk to him.”
Her face visibly turned paler. “Coldfoot, huh?”
He studied her, curious about her reaction. “Is that okay?”
“Sure.” She nodded and let out a nervous laugh. “Of course. Why wouldn’t it be?”
She had some type of problem with Coldfoot. That much was obvious. What he didn’t know was what or why. And part of Duke supposed it wasn’t any of his business. Still, another part of him really wanted to know.
Just then, his phone rang. His heart rate kicked up a notch when he saw it was the trading post. “Let me get this.”
“Of course.”
Duke answered, putting it on speaker so Andi could hear too.
She was just as invested in this as he was. That was clear by the way she’d questioned Obadiah.
“Duke.” Their friend’s voice came across the line, sounding mostly calm. “It’s Simmy.”
“I’m here on speaker with Andi,” he said. “Is everything okay?”
“Everything is fine. It’s been busy with the search crews being in and out.”
Duke gripped the phone more tightly. “Any update on Bosch?”
“Not that I’ve heard. Not yet. But more and more people just keep coming out to join in the search.”
“Good. I hope they keep sending people out looking until he’s found.”
Just like Duke had hoped authorities would keep sending people until Celeste was found also. But that hadn’t happened. Search efforts had lasted a solid two weeks. For a month afterward, efforts had continued but dwindled. Then, when no evidence had been found, police had eventually given up.
“Is that why you’re calling?” Duke asked. “Just to check in?”
“Actually, Matthew discovered something that he wants to tell you about. He didn’t want to wait.”
Duke’s pulse quickened. “Then put him on the line.”
A moment later, Matthew’s voice came through. “Hey. I’ll get right to the point. It turns out Craig’s computer microphone picked up on some of the audio sounds in the room. It wasn’t completely closed.”
“That sounds like good news,” Duke said. “So what did you hear?”
“I can send you the audio file, but you’re not going to be able to hear it as well on your phone as you can with headphones. So I’ll give you a summary. In the background, you can barely make out someone saying, ‘this is all your fault.’”
