Page 144 of One Last Stand

Axel looked at Moose. “Really?”

“She typed in her own name,” he said with a growl.

“Decline the call. She’ll worry.” Benton crouched in front of him. “Then text her and tell her that he’s tied up but to hurry. Then go upstairs and pull the gas line from the stove. We want everything to be ready when they get here.”

Moose froze. “You burned down Tillie’s house.”

“You should thank me. She and her cute daughter moved in here to play house. Your happy little family.” Benton stepped back. “I told you someday you’d know how it felt to lose someone. How about your entire team?” He took another step back. “Now you’ll know how it feels to wait, knowing every minute brings you closer to the death of the people you care about.”

Moose swallowed. Closed his eyes. Thank God Hazel wasn’t here.

But he lay there, and all he could think was . . .

Please, Tillie, don’t come home.

CHAPTER14

The Tooth was dark.

London didn’t know exactly what scenario had lodged in her brain over the past twenty-some hours, but maybe, just a little, she’d hoped the team might be . . . what? Waiting for her? With open arms?

“You getting out?” This from her Uber driver.

“No. Can I add an address?”

Probably better to go back to her old house, see if Boo might be there. She owed Boo an explanation anyway.

“Sure,” Uber man, a guy named Felix, said. She told him the address and he keyed it in, and the additional fare came up on her phone.

They drove away from the Tooth, into the night, the lights of Anchorage glimmering against the faraway mountains.

So, okay, perhaps her decision to return to Alaska might be more celebrated in her head than in reality, especially since she’d so dismantled Shep’s hopes and sent him away dark and wrecked.

Who knew what he’d said to Moose and Axel? Although, as Felix drove through the neighborhoods toward her rental home, she dismissed the accusation. Shep wasn’t a guy to bare his pain to his buddies.

Even to her, really.

In fact, the guy was, and had always been, so solid, so put together that she hadn’t really realized how much she’d hurt him over the years until he’d left her in Montelena.

Okay, she’d had a glimpse of the depths of his love when he’d kissed her, but . . .

Yes, the man was a well of emotion behind that steadfast exterior.

And she’d torn him apart. No wonder he’d given up.

Hopefully, those emotions wouldn’t make him turn her away, too angry with her to give her a second—no, probably this ranked as fifth—chance.

“This one?” said the man, and London nodded as he pulled up to the small bungalow that overlooked Cook Inlet. Of all the places she’d lived, this was one of her favorites, the view through the trees of the water, the piney smell that surrounded the yard. Boo’s Rogue sat in the plowed driveway. Another car was parked behind it, a Yukon, and she recognized it as Axel’s car.

Huh.

She grabbed her bag, got out, and confirmed the payment, added a tip, then headed to the door.

Okay, deep breath. Yes, her roommate knew she was alive, but . . . well, that conversation hadn’t quite gone down yet between them, so . . .

She opened the door.

Stepped inside.

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