Page 29 of Cold Light of Day

Grier was about to knock when the door swung open, and Hank nearly barreled into him. “What are you doing here?”

“Checking on you.”

“I don’t need a babysitter.”

Grier arched his brow. “Going somewhere?”

“To look for my dog, where else?”

He had a feeling Hank wouldn’t stay home until he found Bear. “I’ll help you find your dog, Hank.”

“Maybe we’ll get lucky and find that snake who shot Ross while we’re at it.”

He knew he liked this guy. If Grier was relegated to doing nothing officially, at least he could do this. “You misunderstand. I’ll help you find your dogafterthey take down the shooter.”

THIRTEEN

The next morning, Autumn and Craig slogged through the wet forest that was more than living up to its name as a rain forest. The hunt for Ross’s shooter continued. She suspected Craig was the one who leaked the news about the body found in Lewis Inlet.

He was a troublemaker like his uncle, but beggars couldn’t be choosers, as Birdy always said, and Autumn needed all the qualified officers she could get.

A mudslide had cut off a portion of the forest during the night, and the search had been called off. The Alaska State Trooper Special Emergency Reaction Team had joined the search this morning. She would have thought that her brother, Nolan, could have at least found his way to Southeast Alaska to help the people he grew up with, but he hadn’t shown up.

She’d shoved past the disappointment and focused on finding a dangerous criminal.

At least Ross was in stable condition. She’d been able to confirm with doctors that he’d been shot in the back with a rifle. Since then, the spent bullet had been recovered near the cabin. It was a different caliber than the rifle Hank carried, which did little to comfort her since she hadn’t suspected him,but others needed more than her instincts about the man to believe he wasn’t the shooter. The information also confirmed that the man she’d arrested at the cabin, an Argentinian named Alberto Acosta, hadn’t shot Ross and she hadn’t needlessly called for a manhunt.

She had a sinking feeling the shooter had crossed the Lewis Inlet and been making his way through the Tongass National Forest long before the hunt had even started. Officials didn’t know yet who they were searching for but had asked residents to contact police if they noticed any suspicious activity.

“You hear that?” Craig turned to glance back at her. “The creek is swollen, all right.”

On the other hand, between the mudslide and the swollen creeks and rivers, maybe their fugitive couldn’t have gotten far in this part of the wilderness. Either way, she was almost ready to give up the search, but she needed justice for Ross and to restore a sense of safety to the town.

Craig started toward the rushing water—a creek turned river. They’d circumvented the mudslide area that unfortunately cut off a few cabins to the north, and emergency crews had been called to rescue those who were trapped.

“Be careful,” she said. “I think this is about as far as we can go. Besides, no way he could have made it across.”

“You’re right. He didn’t.” Craig glanced up at her, and she rushed forward at his pointed look.

Tangled in a mass of tree roots, a man lay facedown in the rushing water.

“We can’t know it’s him. It could be anyone.” She stepped forward. “Here, help me get him before the torrent washes him farther down and out of our reach.”

“I’ll do it,” Craig said. “You hold on to me.”

She grabbed Craig’s belt while he stepped into the water rushing toward the inlet and held on to a spruce for support. Craig worked to untangle the body, then yanked it towardhim. Craig was a good fifty pounds heavier than Autumn, and when he stumbled backward into her, they both fell onto the water-soaked ground, the body on top of them. Craig moved off her, pushing the body away, and Autumn rolled to the right. Seriously—there had to be a better way. But they couldn’t risk losing the body.

Catching her breath, she stared at the man who lay facedown in the mud.

Then she rolled him over to see if she recognized him as someone from the community. A local. She eyed Craig. “You know him?”

“Nope.”

She tried her radio, but it wasn’t working. Cell either. “Let’s hope this is our man and this is the end of the hunt.”

She took a picture with her cell and forwarded the image to Tanya, who could deliver it to the troopers once the image went through, and then Tanya could request assistance in retrieving the body.

“You think this is the man who shot Ross?” Craig asked.

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