Page 3 of Cold Light of Day

Despite the many limitations of a small-town budget, they’d at least equipped their chief and three officers with loaded Ford Police Interceptor SUVs. After all, her officers were trained to carefully collect and preserve evidence as well as to tend a wounded moose in the road. They had to know how to do it all in small-town Alaska. Because, yeah, she thought of Shadow Gap’s community of 1,252 people as a town. Shadow Gap was just outside of the Haines and Skagway Boroughs. Alaska didn’t have counties, so there were no sheriffs.

Best of all—or worst of all, depending on which side of thelaw you were on—Shadow Gap had lost their Alaska State Trooper. Not enough crime to support one or budget to afford one if there was enough crime.

Autumn had nothing to complain about, except the results of her trip to Anchorage left a—

“What’s that?” Carrie drew Autumn’s attention to the water. “Someone’s out there, floating in Lewis Inlet. I saw hands waving, signaling.”

“Have you got—”

“Here.” Carrie handed off binoculars.

“Fly in close, Carrie. I want to get a better look. We have to help if we can.” Autumn peered through the binoculars and struggled to find what she was looking for, instead only capturing the deep, dark waters. Then...“I see the hands. But, oh no, whoever is out there is going under.”

“But look! Someone’s swimming out to them. So maybe there’s a chance.”

“They won’t last long. Those waters are cold.” Autumn adjusted the binoculars, searching, searching...there. “I see what looks like the rescue swimmer.” Was that ... Grier? “How close can you land?”

“Close enough. Once on the water, I can angle in closer.”

“If he can get to the woman, we’ll take them both the rest of the way to get help.”

Because there was no way the woman wasn’t going to suffer from hypothermia in these temps, unless she had on the appropriate attire. Same for Grier.

Come on, Grier ... save the girl.

Shadow Gap needed a hero. A ray of hope shot through her, and though maybe she shouldn’t have the thought, it popped into her head all the same. She didn’t mind that a town hero would take the attention away from the police chief’s long list of transgressions.

Though, if she were choosing heroes, she would have chosena longtime resident over an outsider—or as the locals liked to call them, cheechakos, and meant in a negative way. She wouldn’t go so far as to use that term for this particular man. Grier had shown up in Shadow Gap a few months ago to fish in the Shadow Gap Salmon Derby. A tourist who decided to stay. Wasn’t the first time and wouldn’t be the last.

Autumn dropped the binoculars as Carrie skillfully landed the plane on the water. The pontoons smoothly connected, and Carrie guided the plane, heading toward where they’d last seen the woman in need of a rescue.

Her struggle could well be over.

Please don’t drown...don’t die.

But Autumn didn’t see her anywhere. A fist squeezed her heart.

TWO

Grier Brenner only had one job to do. One rule to follow.

But he couldn’t seem to keep his head down. He hadn’t meant to get involved, but he couldn’t watch someone drown, even though he strongly doubted he could make it to her in the frigid waters. He had to swim out to the middle of the Lewis Inlet in record time. He wasn’t so arrogant to think he could, but he couldn’t stand by and do nothing.

Slicing through the cold water, he lifted his head for a breath and heard her terror-stricken cry for help. He could tell from her voice that she was getting tired and losing the battle. He prayed his efforts wouldn’t be for nothing.

To give them both the best chance of success, he’d taken a few precious moments to slip into his GORE-TEX dry suit and call emergency services before he jumped in the water. If he lost use of his limbs, then he would be of no use, and they both would die. He had no idea how long she’d already been in the water, and the Lewis Inlet averaged about fifty degrees even in August. That meant she could lose dexterity in under fifteen minutes if she wasn’t also wearing protective gear.

He had no way of knowing anything, really.

All he did was act.

Acting without thinking first had gotten him into trouble before.

He swam, arm over arm, cutting through the chilled water, his thoughts wrapping around the life-and-death situation—his life and hers. How had she ended up in the middle of the inlet, no boat in sight?

Questions for her to answer—if she survived.

“Stay in the shadows, Grier.”

---