Page 18 of So Dark

As for a criminal record, there wasn’t any. A few traffic violations, one which had gone delinquent and led to a bench warrant that was dismissed without ever being enforced. And that was it. Nothing that suggested a lead Faith could follow to find out what happened to her. Just the basic vital statistics of a woman who had wanted to live apart from others and by all accounts succeeded in doing so.

“I’ve got something,” Michael said.

Her spirits jumped. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. It looks like Ethan Holloway once filed a civil suit against a company named Tundra Outfitters. It looks like a product quality issue, and they refused to make things right. Guess who was named as a witness for the complainant?”

Faith raised her eyebrow. “Might that be Valerie North?”

“It might be,” Michael replied. “It looks like the suit was settled out of court, but the details are sealed by the court. I could get a warrant to have those details released, but I think we have enough for our purposes.”

“Agree,” Faith said. “Let’s get an address for Tundra Outfitters and go talk to them. How long ago was this suit, by the way?”

“Seven months. Settled three months ago.”

“And now, three months later, the complainants are dead.”

“Hell of a coincidence.”

Michael looked them up and said, “Okay. I have an address in Glennallen. They open at eight tomorrow.”

“We’ll be there.”

The two agents showered quickly and dressed for bed. Long practice had given them experience in doing so without compromising each other’s modesty.

Michael was asleep almost immediately, but Faith lay awake a while longer. She had once been much like the victims: aloof and scornful of human connection. She couldn't imagine howhard it would be to face death, knowing you left behind no one who cared about you.

I care, she thought.I’ll fight for you two.

When she finished that thought, she was finally able to sleep.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Glennallen was a much larger community than Nelchina, but still tiny by Faith’s standards. The community consisted of a small cluster of homes and businesses just west of the junction between Alaska Highways One and Four.

Other than its greater size, the main cluster of Glennallen looked much like Nelchina. Old, faded buildings of wood and occasionally sheet metal lined the roads, faded signs announcing their wares to the public. The people looked much like the people of Nelchina too. Rugged, aloof, polite but mistrustful. They stared at the agents as they pulled into the parking lot of Tundra Outfitters, a small wooden building that advertised the sale of every wilderness need.

Turk went on high alert the moment he stepped out of the vehicle. He looked at the shop the way he had stared at the top of the shelf behind Valerie North’s cabin. Faith noted the reaction immediately.

They walked into the shop to find a heavyset man in a cowboy hat with a handgun in a belt holster leaning on the shop's counter, talking to a tall, wiry man in a gray polo shirt above khaki pants. The wiry man also carried a gun.

Turk growled softly when he saw the two of them. Faith resisted the urge to draw her own weapon, but she waited for Michael to casually walk to the other side of the shop and find a good line of sight to cover her in case things went south. The two men seemed to take no notice of them but continued their conversation, something about increased bear activity on the volcanic shield.

She waited for Michael to stop before calling to the two men. “Excuse me. I’m looking for Garrett Pines.”

The two men stopped and turned toward her. Their eyes were flat and hard. The heavyset man remained where he was with his elbows on the counter. The wiry man stepped aside so Faith could see his gun more clearly. Neither of them spoke. Turk growled more loudly this time, but that only prompted a brief chuckle from the heavyset man.

“I’ll rephrase,” Faith said. “I’m Special Agent Faith Bold of the FBI. The man standing in the corner over there is my partner, Special Agent Michael Prince. This is my K9 unit, Turk. I need to speak to Garrett Pines.”

The wiry man spoke. “Why?”

“Are you Garrett Pines?”

No answer. Faith resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Battles of wills like this were always pointless. They always ended with the person of interest agreeing to talk to them or getting dragged into custody and made to talk to them.

Then again, their persons of interest weren’t usually armed and in the company of other armed men.

“I need to speak to Garrett Pines regarding the murders of Valerie North and Ethan Holloway.”

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