Page 56 of Cold Light of Day

Disappointment filled her.

She pointed at the man who had followed her. “Dad, he was on the boat with Mom the day she died. Who is he? I need to know everythingright now.”

The nurse came back in and flashed an apologetic look Autumn’s way. Behind her, hospital staff rolled a bed for transport into the room.

Dad closed his eyes, his words garbled. She would get no answers today. Angie indicated she needed to talk to Autumn. After she said her goodbyes and watched them wheel her father out of the hospital and load him into a helicopter, she gave Angie her full attention.

Angie’s expression was unreadable, but Autumn knew it must be important.

“What is it?”

“We found Monica Nobel.”

The woman had gone missing a few months back—May, in fact. Finding a missing person was the end goal, but sometimes the outcome wasn’t as good as they’d hoped.

“And?”

“Ridge and Thunder found remains not far from the Duncan body—Hank’s nephew.”

Thunder was Ridge’s SAR avalanche dog.

Autumn’s gut clenched. “Walk me out and give me the details.”

“We wanted to make sure we foundallof Duncan’s...”

Angie didn’t need to finish the sentence. “Right.” Autumn nodded. “In case wildlife carried some of the remains away.”

“Thunder found her in the same area. Both sets of remains”—Angie cleared her throat—“are headed to the ME now.”

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“Same wound to the head.” Angie’s frown deepened. “What’s going on, Chief? This is disturbing. I haven’t been here that long, but I know this isn’t what we normally see around here in this quiet fjord. Not who we are.”

“You’re right, it’s not. We’ll find who’s responsible, Angie. Stay vigilant.”

Angie crossed the parking lot—she’d walked to the hospital from the police station—while Autumn watched the helicopter fly away in the pouring rain.

Be safe, Dad.

At least she didn’t have to worry so much about him now, and she could focus her attention on the rising danger.

TWENTY-FOUR

With Dad in Anchorage and Nolan back to his trooper post on the far side of the state, Autumn felt oddly alone, when she wasn’t. She had Birdy and Grandpa Ike across the street. Tanya and the rest of her PD team. Maybe she missed Dad. That was all.

If only she could stop thinking about Grier. He was the one she wanted in this with her, yet he refused to officially help. Nolan was right—she never should have relied on or trusted him.

Angie and Craig were both out responding to calls and patrolling the small town, keeping their citizens safe and looking for the stranger Autumn suspected was connected to her past. By being seen in town, the two brought a much-needed sense of security to the residents of Shadow Gap.

Meanwhile, Autumn focused on learning more about the Interpol fugitives to see if there was any connection to Dad’s shooter. She’d let that investigation go, but that was before someone shot Dad and they found the remains of Kenny Duncan and Monica Nobel. Had someone been lurking in the shadows for months now?

She’d tasked Tanya with entering the murders and shootingcrimes into every possible database that collected and analyzed crimes of violence to search for similarities and possible matches. Nolan was supposed to look into the image she’d sent him to see if the AST could identify the man through facial recognition software or some other means. She’d contacted various agencies, including Interpol and the US Marshals. Autumn had used every resource available to get information and had come up empty so far—but all she had was a picture.

If the suspicious man was still in town, she needed to find him—that would be easiest, wouldn’t it? He had to stay somewhere. She’d stopped by the Eagle Bluff Motel and talked to Clair, but she hadn’t seen him.

Autumn was stumped.

She told Nolan she thought the man could have been on the boat the day of their mother’s death but left out the part about him showing up in her dream.

---