Page 66 of One Last Chance

He reached for a fry, suddenly ravenous. Maybe they’d get a box for the chicken.

“Thanks for telling me the story, Axel.”

He dipped a fry into the whipped cream.

“What you don’t know is that I have an entire wall of information on the Midnight Sun Killer and his history in my extra bedroom.”

He stared at her. “What?”

“Yeah. And I know all about your cousin Aven’s case.”

“What?”

“I mean, I didn’t know about the first part, but I know that she was found near the Bowie camp road. What you don’t know is that she’d been killed a month earlier, even before the first victim, although the first one—Jennifer Greene—was found first. Which makes Aven our first victim, although she’s listed as the second.”

She stirred her shake. “The Bowie camp road follows the river for quite a ways before the river turns south into Remington land, where she was found.”

“It’s a huge swath of land,” he said. “Lots of unknown hunting happening around there. Especially after the Bowie parents were killed.”

“Killed? How?”

“Mac Bowie was a state senator as well as a private pilot, and he was coming back from Juneau when his small plane crashed. He and his wife were killed, along with another couple. Donors, I think. Anyway, the oldest son, Jericho, was already in his twenties, as was Sully, and Hudson was already over eighteen, so they inherited the estate, and Hudson took over the resort as well as custody of his little brother, Malachi. They grew the family’s ventures—Sully works as a trail guide.”

“And Jericho?”

“He hasn’t been around for a while. He was in the military when his folks died, but that’s all I know.”

“Was he around when your cousin went missing?”

“No. He was gone by then.”

She helped him with the fries.

“What about the Remingtons?”

“Ox? He and his wife are separated, although not at the time. I remember them camping with my parents that weekend—they’re still pretty close with Ox. I think his wife lives in Montana along with his daughter and oldest son. It’s just Nash and Jude running the gold mine. I don’t think Ox hunts, but I don’t know.”

“Right. Okay.” She took another sip of shake. “We could really use a fresh lead.”

“Sorry that Ashley didn’t pan out.”

“I’m not.”

He frowned.

“You were worried that you let this guy get away.” She leaned forward. “You didn’t. Like I said—I don’t think it’s him. Our guy finds his victims around the Copper River area for some reason. I’d like to know that reason.”

She leaned back. “The killing at the ski resort was an anomaly. He doesn’t kill in winter—maybe because he’s not usually here. We need a list of guests at the resort . . . See if it lines up with anyone who regularly visits the area in the summer.”

“How would we know that?’

“Copper Mountain is a small town. Maybe Deke or Hank has a list of regulars. Hank has to issue fishing permits, right?”

“And hiking permits.” He signaled Tillie and she came over. “Can we get a box for the chicken?”

She took the plate. “I’ll box it up.”

He turned back to Flynn. “I’ll bet Hank has a database of all the regulars. We can ask him to run it and see if any permits match the dates the women went missing.”

---