Page 80 of Cold Light of Day

Grier sat with the women at the back of the vintage coach, waiting for the train to start moving. They were in the last car on the train, and the other cars looked almost full. Two older couples sat at the front of their car. A cast-iron heater kept the passengers warm. Each car was outfitted with platforms fortified with safety rails on both ends, as well as huge windows along the length of the cars that allowed for the scenic view. But he wasn’t here for that.

A prerecorded female narrator resounded over the intercom, explaining that points of interest would be noted along the trip.

He didn’t like how much time the ride would take or the reason behind their boarding a tourist train. Apprehensioncoursed through him, but he gritted his teeth. If this was what it took for Sarah to talk, then so be it. His patience was growing thin.

The train shifted slowly forward. At least they were moving.

The others at the front of the car were engrossed in their own conversations. He leaned in and kept his voice low. He couldn’t wait any longer for answers. “What’s your real name?”

“I’d prefer to simply keep it Sarah Frasier, the name I gave.”

Understandable. “Why didn’t you say anything when you were rescued? You could have told me then.”

Sarah’s brown eyes grew big in her pale face. “I couldn’t exactly talk to you on the plane. Or in the hospital. You didn’t show up. I had to get somewhere safe and figure out how to survive.”

Made sense. At the time he rescued her, Grier had no idea she was connected with Krueger. “Did you happen to take a picture of the man you claim is following you here in Skagway?”

Sarah nodded. She pulled up the image on her cell and flipped it so he could see.

The chief got a glimpse too and lifted her gaze, held his.

Mateo was following Sarah? Did he believe that if he followed her, eventually he would find Grier and Autumn? If so, how had he learned about their meeting? Or was it that he’d learned she was connected to Krueger and Grier? And if that was the case, then it confirmed Mateo knew that Grier held the cold wallet.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have gotten on the train,” the chief said. “If we’d stayed in Skagway, we could’ve waited for him to show up.”

“You want to face off with him?” Sarah said.

The chief lifted her chin. “Face off with Mateo Santos together, and we could take him down. I’m ready to be done with this game and get back to my life.”

“What?” Sarah asked. “You two know who he is?”

“It’s complicated,” Autumn and Grier blurted at the same time.

The train lurched forward, traveling faster now—maybe twenty-five miles an hour, if that. The narrator droned on as the train slowly climbed its way to White Pass Summit—beyond that, British Columbia, but they weren’t going into Canada.

“We don’t have much time, Sarah,” Grier said.

“It’s only twenty miles to the summit,” Sarah said, “but the train moves about twenty miles an hour so people can get pictures and stand on the platforms. Sometimes even slower on the steep grades around the tight curves. I hear it used to stop for photo ops but doesn’t anymore. We have just over two hours.”

“During which I need you to tell me everything that happened. How did Krueger end up in the shipwreck? How did you end up in the water?” Grier was especially eager to learn if Krueger had found out anything that could help. Otherwise, Krueger gave his life for nothing. “Sarah, who were you to Krueger?”

He had to have trusted her.

She closed her eyes. “We’d known each other for years. Dated in the past. I...I’d recently left a post with an agency, so he hired me to work for him—off the books. Martin needed someone he could trust, and apparently he had no one else. In the end, he was sorry that he’d involved me.”

Tears slipped down her cheeks.

In the end, Grier wished he hadn’t allowed Krueger to help him. “I’m sorry for what happened to him, and now to you. Help us end this.” He would like to add that she would be safe if she helped, but he could promise nothing, and she no doubt already knew the risks.

Staring at her hands, she nodded. “I’ll tell you what I know. Then, after today, you won’t see me again.”

“I understand.” He wanted safety for Sarah and for thechief. And for himself? He needed freedom from this prison and hoped she had the keys to open the prison doors.

She took a few breaths.

A pang stabbed through his chest. “It’s okay. Just take your time.”

“He’d set up a temporary office for us in Lisbon, Portugal. One day we were together, working. Men burst in and put bags over our heads. They must have drugged us. I woke up to see Martin had been beaten. Tortured for answers. He didn’t tell them where you were. But then they focused their attention on me...” She stared at the ground. “He told them where he’d sent you, Grier. That you were hiding in Shadow Gap.”

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