Page 8 of Smoky Lake

Ani. Ani.

Jesus. This was the woman Victor wanted him to watch out for.

4

Of course it was. If he hadn’t been so gobsmacked by her appearance, he would have put two and two together earlier.

She wore several rings on her fingers, but none were wedding rings, he noticed. He didn’t normally pay attention to things like that, but with Ani Devi, everything was different. All norms and rules were out the window. He noticed a delicate gold chain around her neck. It set off the amber glow of her skin and made him want to lick the divot between her collarbones.

“I’m Gil McGowan, but you know that already.”

“Yes. I’m here because…well, do you know a man named Victor Canseco?”

Yes, and he already told me about you. Didn’t bother to warn me how beautiful you were, but that’s another story.

Maybe she could shed some light on what was going on with his friend.

“Yes,” he said cautiously. “I’ve known Victor for a few years. Why do you ask?”

“I mean him no harm,” she said quickly. “Or you, for that matter. I’m just…well, I ran into him at the Blackbear airport and we had quite a wild conversation. He mentioned you. And last night a state trooper flew all the way to Firelight Ridge to question me about Victor…” She trailed off, blinking at him with wide dark eyes.

He realized that he must have automatically shifted to his blank “security officer” expression. That happened sometimes, when he was completely caught up in some kind of thought process.

“What did you tell him?” he asked her.

“Nothing, really. I’d barely even met Victor.”

“What did he tell you? Did he say why he was asking about Victor?”

“No. It was rather surreal, to tell you the truth. I was hoping…well, I guess I was hoping you might know more.”

“Sorry. I don’t.”

Her eyes widened with alarm. “Is he okay? Victor, I mean. He seemed like a really nice man. I felt so bad for him.”

Now that was interesting. “Why did you feel bad for him?”

“Well, he was so sick. I’m a doctor, you see. I told him he should find an urgent care before he got on the plane. But then they called me for my flight, and I don’t know what he did after that.”

Victor had been sick? The last time Gil had seen Victor, he’d been perfectly fine and talking about hiking the backcountry up toward the Korch Glacier. But that was weeks ago. He’d sounded strange on the phone, so who knew?

“Have you heard from him?” she was asking. “Is he okay?”

He shook himself back to attention. “I’m honestly not sure. I spoke to him just now, but he seemed…off.”

They gazed at each other, probably with similar expressions of alarm.

Victor was his friend, a brilliant scientist, someone who did good things in the world. If something was going on with Victor, Gil was going to find out what, and who was responsible for it. Then he’d go from there.

That Irish fighting spirit didn’t surface often, buried as it was under layers of training. But when it did, watch out.

He came to a quick decision. But now there was a complication as well. “I have a problem,” he told Ani. “I’m hoping you can help.”

“How so?”

“I want to find out what trouble Victor’s gotten himself into, but here’s the thing. When I just talked to him on the phone, he asked me to take care of you.”

“Take care of me?” She drew back, hands wrapped around the KRTL mug. “That sounds like a threat.”

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