With everyone around, Alex knew better than to try to tell Quinn what she’d seen. She hoped Josh hadn’t seen or sensed her presence. Trying to smile, to talk, to join in the camaraderie of this group, which would be leaving tomorrow, she hiked back, keeping an eye on Josh.
He seemed normal, a bit moody, but he spoke if spoken to. Yet she wondered what he was thinking. Had he gotten rid of damning evidence that would tie him to defacing wooden buildings—and Val’s body? Even if she told Quinn, if they brought troopers to that exact spot, they’d never recover that evidence to match those claw marks.
Back at the dining hall, everyone seemed to speak loudly with confidence. They were no doubt relieved the week’s beginner course was over. Now they had bragging rights, now they could say they knew Q-Man.
“I don’t know about all of you!” Quinn finally quieted them. “But I’m beat. I want to thank Herman for stepping in with his camera to help out. And I apologize again that your week was interrupted by a terrible crime and loss of life. I’m sure you will see more details in papers and online than I could tell you even now. I hope the hosts of the TV show Gab Fest don’t bring up the murder when I’m a guest this coming Thursday. If you’re home by then, I hope you’ll watch.”
Oohs and aahs about the show. Someone called out, “Autograph, please!” Josh frowned—so had he not known?
Quinn went on. “Look for some clips from our classes on the show, though Herman’s work hasn’t been processed yet. And I want to thank Josh Spruce for going above and beyond the call of his usual duties, and, of course, for Alex’s help these last few days, filling in for Mary. Alex’s personal beauty and health products are on sale online and at the lodge gift shop down the road, and you can ask her about that.”
People clapped for her, Josh and then big-time for Quinn.
Eventually, as everyone trailed off to pack or sleep, Quinn asked Josh, “Are you staying at Sam’s or heading home tonight?”
“Home. Still, I’ll guard the front gate till you guys go get Alex’s dog at the lodge. She said earlier she had to get him from Suzanne.”
Josh and Quinn huddled, talking about details for getting everyone breakfast and then to the Anchorage airport tomorrow. Alex tried to calm herself. How kind and helpful Josh had been just now. But she had to tell Quinn what she’d seen, what it could mean. At least Josh hadn’t seen her watching, but he was going to know soon if she told Quinn or the troopers.
Josh closed up the dining hall, while Quinn and Alex headed straight for his truck. “Like picking up our kid at the babysitter’s,” he teased.
“I’ll phone her to bring him out to the parking lot. That’s what we decided.”
She called Suze first. “On our way from the camp right now,” she told her. It was such a short distance. She’d tell Quinn what she saw as soon as she got him alone tonight.
But when they returned to Quinn’s house with Spenser, Quinn started getting phone calls from Geoff about coming to New York. His flights had been made for him, and the boarding pass was coming in on his phone. Geoff called him back with directions and guest information about Gab Fest.
Nervous and anxious, Alex took a very fast, chilly shower, then groomed Spenser. If she lived here, a hot water tank would be a necessity. She changed her clothes into fresh jeans and a sweatshirt. She longed to get ready for bed, but those clothing options could be provocative.
“How about I build us a little fire?” Quinn asked as he patted Spenser on the rug, then sat down beside her on the couch.
She nodded, glad he didn’t tease, didn’t say more about another sort of building fire last night. How she hated to ruin the mood, but she had to say it.
“Quinn, wait a sec. I have to tell you something.” She snagged his elbow to pull him back on the couch. “When I went to—to the forest bathroom today, I saw Josh throw something weird from a boulder into the white water around the foot of the falls, and I saw what it was before it sank.”
“And it was...?” he asked when she hesitated.
“A cut-off bear paw—with claws intact. I’m positive.”
He looked like she’d slapped him. “Damn!”
“I know. I could only think one thing.”
“That he was getting rid of evidence?”
She nodded. “Maybe it had blood and DNA on it—Val’s. He’s hard to know, but I can’t think of a motive for his killing her, can you? Maybe he just cares for all of you and was trying to keep the team intact by getting rid of Val.”
“I’ll tell you who he does care for, though it’s nothing undercover or illicit—only, on his part, maybe regretful.”
“Like what?” she asked, and put a hand on his shoulder as he put his head in his hands and stared at the floor.
“He especially cares for Mary, though you say it was a bear claw and not her necklace?”
“I’m not following.”
“He’s the one who—well, who found Mary first, introduced her to Sam years ago. Josh and Mary weren’t an item but friends. Still, I think Sam and Mary’s strong love and marriage hurt Josh deeply, because he cared for her more than he knew at first. He’s never seemed that interested in other women, even when he’s had his chances.”
“That’s so sad,” she said as he sat up again and quit frowning at the floor. “He cares for both of them, but is constantly reminded that she and Sam were meant to be together, reminded of what he lost and what could have been. At least he’s protective of them and not hostile. That really says something good about him.”
“Let’s remember that bear claws are sometimes sold around here,” he said, taking her hand and holding it on her knee. “It’s not uncommon in Anchorage, for example, to see bear paws or bear rugs, things like that, though they would probably have purchased them, not killed the animals themselves to get them.”
“Okay, so maybe Josh was just afraid of being asked if he had any bear claws, and that’s all. No motive connected with the murder, unless he thought Val was going to pull Ryker away and hurt the show.”
“It would hurt the show, but we’d hire someone else and forge ahead. I really wish you wouldn’t have seen him toss that paw, because the troopers could be all over him, and I’d vouch for him.”
She reached out to grasp Quinn’s wrist. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to tell Trooper Kurtz or for Josh to know I suspected him.”
He heaved a huge sigh and sat up even straighter, propping his elbows on his knees. She put her hand on his back, muscular, tense. She stroked him there, hoping to help, to comfort. Quick as a big cat, he turned to her and swept them both down on the couch with her facing him, and pressed her gently against the back of it.
Since he was taller, she seldom faced him eye to eye. His heavy breathing heated her cheeks and lips. “Sweetheart, I can’t stand it if it was Ryker, but Mary—even Josh—would be worse than that. Our little team has been so good before, but now you’re with me for a little while at least, which is even better. One of those phone calls was Trooper Kurtz saying he’s bringing Ryker back tomorrow, not under arrest but still a person of interest because his bear claws are missing, too. He claims he doesn’t know where they went.”
“No wonder he’s still a person of interest. Maybe Val took it, tossed it. Can you imagine her even touching something like that? And did what with it? Used it to claw my outside wall and Mary and Sam’s, too?”
“I know, I know. But I couldn’t bear for it to be Josh and that would really crush Sam. But I think it’s Ryker, that he finally cracked trying to deal with Val, and did it with a lot of people nearby in the woods so it didn’t point right at him. I believe Trooper Kurtz suspects him, too. But whoever it is, he’ll be lying low, careful not to do anything else to look suspicious, including heaving a bear claw off a rock where someone could have seen him.”
“Did see him,” she said, and heaved a sigh. “But you’ve convinced me about Josh.”
Quinn raised a hand to cup her chin. “I just don’t want it to be my friends, my team,” he whispered. “It’s been tough lately, and maybe worse to come. But at least you’re here, at least you care.”
“I do and...” was all she got out before his lips took hers. It quickly became an out of body experience, as feelings, longing and fear swept her in dizzy circles.
She almost cried in disappointment when, his body close to hers, he tilted back a bit, holding her away, steadying her and himself.
“Sweetheart, as much as I want you, I don’t want to push. I can only guess what you’ve been through before—with him—so this needs to be your choice. I want to carry you to bed, love you. I want you and need you, but I can wait until you’re ready.”
They stared into each other’s eyes. He frowned in concentration, in barely leashed control. His hands on her were shaking.
Her voice came out breathless, not quite her own. “It has been fast, but I trust you. Want you, too. I’m not afraid, not with you—not of you. Quinn, I—”
So much for building a fire here. He got off the couch, picked her up and headed for his bedroom, only stopping to be sure the front door was locked and bolted.
Spenser stayed put for once, daring another yawn as she glanced back at him before Quinn closed his bedroom door behind them.
And then, everything just exploded in her head and heart. No qualms, no hesitation. This man was her present, maybe her future—cold water showers or not, Alaskan frontier or not, big winter snows or not—and she only wanted to fan the flames that might as well have been a deep woods wildfire.
Crazy kisses, discarded clothes, hands and mouths. He was both tender and tense, and she was in over her head. Swimming together, skinny-dippy in his bed in the waves of sheets, the white-water swirl of need and love.
“I want you, love you,” he whispered in her ear. “So fast I know, it happened so fast for me.”
“Me, too. Yes, I love you, need you.”
“And I want you to stay,” he said, breathing fast. “We can get a house in town. More room, hot water—very hot...”
He was kissing her again. Delicious drowning, trying to stay afloat but going under. She held to him, kissed him back. Did he mean he wanted to marry her? Now, that was scary but so was all of this...
It was as if this was her first time, her first love. She felt cherished, and in charge, too, equal with Quinn in desire and trust. If this man lived in a forest cave, she would love him. Huge waves swamped her again, lifting and swirling.
Somehow, the old world ended and a new one had begun.
They lay together cuddled in the chaos of sheets. They barely moved until Alex got up to let Spenser into the room when he whined and scratched on the door.
“I told him to do that so I could get a good look at you,” Quinn said when she darted back into bed naked. It might be August but it was August in Alaska and, as hot as she’d felt, the room was cold. Yes, hot water and a heating system needed. And Quinn.
Spenser did not ask to be lifted up, but, as if he were wise to all that what was going on, settled on the quilt that had slipped off the bed. Quinn lifted the covers back onto her and she settled in against him again.
He sighed. “Let’s see, where were we when we had some semblance of sanity? What you told me about Josh makes him a person of interest, too, as is Mary. But I know them. Again, I just can’t believe it was either of them. But we can’t have you holding back evidence. Why don’t you let me tell Trooper Kurtz instead of you in case Josh asks who saw him throw the paw?”
They fell silent again. He tugged her even closer, her back against his chest almost as they had lain in the forest by the lake, but this was so different. Had it been love at first sight? It was fast, fascinating, but frightening, too.
“Quinn, there’s more I want to tell you, to explain, especially since you’ve been brave enough to share your childhood tragedy with me. I told you about my lost twin sister before, but I need to explain more.”
Her voice caught. He gave her a little hug and kissed her shoulder. “Tell me,” he whispered.
“I think one thing that draws you and me together is that we have both suffered from regret and guilt that’s not our fault. You partly blame yourself for darting away as a kid and leading your dad and dog to look for you where a bear attacked them. I blame myself for surviving and taking all the space in our mother’s womb and sustenance when my twin disappeared. Like you, I felt guilty, though it wasn’t my fault. With Mary’s problems—Chip’s, too—I realize my lost twin still haunts me, but not in a scary way—in...an inspirational I’m with you, I love you always way. Does that make any sense?”
“It does. I sometimes think that about my dad, that he’s with me. He would be cheering me on as much as he loved the wilderness—even wildlife, including bears. He would have loved what I’m doing with my life, my career, sharing it with friends who are almost like family. So, I agree that you and I have more in common than we think.”
He reached down to pat her hip. “I’ll ask later more formally,” he went on, “but I hope you will consider staying here in Falls Lake so we can make a life together. But I don’t want you to feel rushed or pushed. If you’ll consider it, I’ll bring a ring back from New York and ask you properly and formally and, of course, get adoption papers for Spenser.”
She had to laugh at that. Her little rescue dog gave a single bark when he heard his name. Whatever befell them, whatever they decided, she’d been rescued by a man she trusted and adored.