Читать книгу Alaskan Hideout - Sarah Varland - Страница 15

THREE

“Luke!”

She’d no sooner stepped into the lobby of Moose Haven Lodge when her son came flying into her arms. Gathering him close, Emma squeezed him hard and thanked God for keeping him safe when she’d been forced off the road and into the ravine. She suspected that was one of the things Noah was going to want to talk about, and Emma was ready to tell him the story, though she could use a few minutes to decompress.

Things between her and Tyler had never been easy. Even as best friends before they’d officially started dating there’d been a sizzling current of electricity between them. It made sense that their breakup would be more like a devastating explosion of fireworks. Even this long afterward.

She kept her arms around Luke, thankful that at least Tyler hadn’t said anything negative about her son, thankful he’d been safe.

“Emma, if you want to come with me, I’ll get you some clothes.”

A woman Emma hadn’t seen before was standing nearby, along with another woman and a man. The woman who’d spoken to her was small, dark haired, and with a look on her face like nothing got past her. She had to be Kate. The taller woman, the one with the blond hair and soft waves, she recognized as Tyler’s sister, Summer, who was a mountain runner. Emma’d never have known the sport existed if it wasn’t for Tyler, but she’d followed it a bit online over the years, desperate enough for a glimpse into Tyler’s world. Keeping up to date with his sister had helped her to fill that void in some small way. Summer had been out of competition for years—Emma suspected there was a story there—but lately rumors were flying that she might be getting back into it. The man next to her was with the Moose Haven PD and she recognized him from college. Clay Hitchcock.

“Yes, please, I’d love to change.”

Kate motioned for her to follow her up the stairs and Emma did so, relieved to be away from Tyler. Had she remembered how tall he was, the broadness of his shoulders?

Memory flashed in her mind. Yes. She’d remembered, somewhere inside. She’d just chosen to forget.

It had been better for both of them that way.

“Is Luke okay with Summer and Clay, do you think?”

“More than okay,” Kate assured her as she led her into a room at the top of the stairs. “Summer and Clay are basically the unbeatable team. You should hear sometime what happened to Summer a few months ago. Although I guess it’s not the kind of story you want to hear when someone is after you. Sorry.” She offered an apologetic smile.

Emma smiled back.

These were the people she’d accused Tyler of valuing more than her? First of all, the accusation had been empty, borne of some desire to hurt him and a desperation to see if he’d choose her, if he’d cared enough to make things permanent. Tyler had always held his emotions in check and while she’d known in college that he’d loved her, it had been hard to tell how much.

Maybe she’d panicked when she’d seen the two lines on the pregnancy test stick. She hadn’t had a doubt that once he’d found out, Tyler would marry her immediately...

But Emma hadn’t wanted that, hadn’t wanted to be chosen only because it was the “right” thing to do or because of the baby she’d carried. She’d spent her life in her parent’s high-society circles, being chosen because she was popular, known the right people, could network the right way.

For once, she’d wanted to be chosen because she was Emma. Just for her.

Tyler had loved her for her. She’d thought so, at least. And yet it hadn’t been enough. Not that it mattered now. Nothing did except keeping Luke and herself safe.

Kate handed Emma the spare clothes and she smiled gratefully. “Thanks, I can’t wait to be out of these.”

“Kinda rough seeing your ex for the first time in a hospital gown, huh?” Kate’s half grin softened the words. Emma guessed the woman was probably just a straight shooter who didn’t sugar coat much. She seemed to remember Tyler telling her that Alaskans were often like that.

“Beyond rough. At least it wasn’t the worst part of today.”

“I guess not. You’re in good hands, though. Our family protects its own.”

“I’m not...”

Kate just stared at her. “Isn’t Luke Tyler’s son?”

Emma nodded.

“Then even if Tyler never speaks to you again, that makes me Luke’s aunt. And that makes you family. In a weird way, maybe, but we’re not going to let anything happen to you, Emma.”

Tears stung the corners of her eyes. When was the last time someone had stood up for her like that? Welcomed her so unquestioningly? Emma didn’t know.

“I’ll be right outside the door. You so much as squeak and I’m coming back in, okay?” Kate stepped out.

Emma took the clothes and changed, grateful to have something to wear and also making a mental note to ask Noah what had happened to her car so she could retrieve their belongings. Though, for now, she was incredibly grateful to Kate for the black hiking pants and green Moose Haven Lodge sweatshirt. Emma stole a glance at herself in the mirror before letting Kate back inside and winced. The sweatshirt set off her blue eyes nicely, and her hair wasn’t so bad, but nothing could mask the cut on her forehead.

Not that it mattered. There was no one here she needed to try to impress...was there?

She opened the door and Kate smiled. “You look nice. They’re waiting for you downstairs. Noah really wants to know what you’re mixed up in that has someone after you.”

“Ever heard of being in the wrong place at the wrong time?” Emma asked as she headed down the stairs.

She found Noah and Tyler both sitting in the family room. No sign of the others she’d seen on her way in, Luke included. “Where’s my son?”

Was it her imagination or did Tyler flinch at the “my” part of that? Fine, their son, but it didn’t seem natural to say that when she’d said it the other way for so long.

“Clay and Summer took him upstairs to the TV room to watch Finding Nemo.”

Emma’s shoulders relaxed a little as she nodded. She looked at the two men, sitting in chairs, and took a spot on the sofa. “Where do you want me to start?”

“With whatever happened that made this guy come after you.”

“That started after work one night when I went back to confront my boss about some inconsistencies in paperwork I’d stumbled upon. I assume it has something to do with that.”

“You did financial stuff?” Noah asked.

She shook her head. “Marketing. It was truly an accident I ever saw it, but once I had, I couldn’t ignore it. It looked too much like money laundering or something.”

“Did you ask your boss about it?”

She shook her head. “That’s when I saw him get shot.”

Noah’s eyes widened. “You witnessed it?”

Emma stole a glance at Tyler. His face was steady, solid, unreadable. Just like it had been when she’d met him. They’d both changed over the years they’d been together, but she guessed time had changed them even more.

“Murderers don’t often like to leave witnesses alive.”

Emma laughed nervously, desperate to cover her vulnerability. “I’d rather change that this time. I’m all Luke has. I mean, I was all he had until now but... I’m his mom. And he still needs me.”

Noah nodded. “We’re not going to let them get to you, Emma. You made the right choice coming here. We’ve got your back.”

There he was, making her tear up again like Kate had. What was it with this family and their mile-wide protective streak? Not that she was complaining.

She wasn’t alone anymore. Not completely.

Emma glanced Tyler’s direction again. How did he feel about all this? She wished she knew, but didn’t expect him to divulge what he was feeling. He just wasn’t like that.

“Tell me more about that night,” Noah said. “And everything after it.”

Emma did so, including the fact that the newspapers had initially reported it as a suicide, how she’d called Officer Smith, how Mike had been killed. And how she’d come here.

Noah listened carefully, nodding in the right spots. “I’m going to need to think about this. For today you’ll stay here.” He looked at Kate. “Maybe you guys could go join them watching that movie?”

Kate stood and motioned for Emma to follow. She did, but slower, her legs finally feeling the weight of the day.

Noah’s and Tyler’s voices carried up the stairs as they talked.

Too curious not to, Emma paused.

“...constant protection...” Noah’s voice.

“...spare enough officers...” Tyler.

“No... But you...”

“Are you serious, Noah? Me protect her?”

Emma swallowed hard, hurrying the rest of the way up the stairs without looking back. It was bad enough she needed protection. And while she still felt she’d done the right thing in coming here, it hurt to hear those words from Tyler. She’d wondered how he felt about all this. Well, now she knew.

He wanted nothing to do with her.

* * *

Night fell faster this time of year and it took Tyler off guard tonight more than it usually did. The spruce trees had darkened to their fall color, which had always seemed to him to be a darker green than the one they had in the summer, and everything around the lodge was blackness, or close to it.

Tonight he felt the blackness inside him, fear wrapping around his heart and gripping tight. Emma wasn’t his anymore, never had been officially. He’d planned to ask her to marry him on graduation day, had assumed they’d get married that summer in Alaska, along the edge of Half Mile Lake, the mountain lake he’d hike to on breaks from college. Back then he hadn’t planned to live there. He’d wanted a change, but he’d known the vividness of Emma’s personality would appreciate the extremes of Alaska, even if it wasn’t the city lifestyle she was used to.

He took a deep breath, walked down the hall to the room where she was staying and lifted a hand to knock on the door.

She took so long to answer that he considered bursting inside until he remembered Kate was in there. No one was getting past his sister. She was easily the toughest person he knew, him and Noah included. He laughed a little at the thought of petite Kate and how tough she was. The man who won her heart one day would have to be some kind of special.

Of course, what did Tyler know about romance? Not much, obviously.

The door cracked open slightly.

Emma stepped out, her blue eyes as deep and easy to stare at as they’d ever been, her hair down around her shoulders in medium brown waves. Soft. He swallowed hard as he reminded himself that reaching out to touch it would be so many levels of inappropriate. Not to mention undesirable. She’d broken his heart once, shattered it, in fact. Chances were good he’d never recover, never find anyone he felt as strongly about as Emma, but maybe that was for the best. She was living, walking proof of the fact that he couldn’t trust his feelings, couldn’t trust his heart to anyone. And she wasn’t asking him to now. All she was asking was for him to help keep her, and their son, safe.

Surely he could do that.

No emotions involved. At least where Emma was concerned. Tyler’s eyes moved to the boy who looked so much like both of them and he swallowed hard. He had plenty of feelings where Luke was concerned. Not that he was sure what all of them were yet, but one was a pretty strong fatherly love. No matter what had happened between himself and Emma, the hundreds of ways their imploded relationship had affected their lives, he was glad Luke existed. Couldn’t wait to get to know him. After he’d ensured Luke and his mom were both safe.

“What do you want?” she whispered, drawing his attention back to her more than Tyler would have preferred. Just the sound of her voice still gave him shivers, starting in his shoulders, down his chest to his toes.

Yeah, maybe talking to her alone was a bad idea, after all. All Tyler had wanted was some answers, ones that weren’t pertinent to the case, that he hadn’t gotten earlier.

“Never mind. Sorry. Stay safe, okay?” He turned, was halfway down the hallway when he heard her door shut. He exhaled.

And jumped at the feeling of a hand on his shoulder.

He whirled and Emma jumped back, eyes wide.

“I’m sorry. You scared me.”

“You thought I’d just go back to my room, ignore whatever you came here to ask me?” Her eyebrows raised.

“Why do you think I wanted to ask you anything?”

She stared at him. “I know you, Tyler. I used to, anyway, better than anyone maybe.” Emma cleared her throat, expression and confidence wavering. “Maybe I don’t anymore but... I expected you’d have questions.”

“I do.”

She nodded. “Want to go downstairs?”

Was it too open down there? The windows behind the great room of the lodge and the family’s private living room looked out on the dark woods. If they sat down there with any lights on, anyone watching would be able to see straight into the room, which struck him as a bad idea. Bedrooms weren’t appropriate.

The balcony off the hallway? It faced the parking lot, where at least one policeman, Officer Rogers, was watching. Maybe that was their best—safest—option.

“Follow me.” He led her down the hallway, staying on alert as he knew that nowhere was one hundred percent safe. He’d listened to what she’d told Noah that afternoon and felt his heart sinking the more she spoke. She’d had to go and witness a murder. And murderers didn’t tend to like witnesses. At least not ones left alive.

Tyler opened the balcony door, stepped out and shut off the hall light behind them.

“What are you doing?” Emma’s whisper was accusatory, untrusting.

Tyler flinched.

“I’m making sure we aren’t backlit. No one needs to be able to see us out here.”

“You think someone is watching?”

“I don’t know, Emma.” Her name fell off his lips so easily, like he hadn’t gone eight years without saying it, no matter how many times he’d thought about her. “We can’t be too safe.”

She followed him out and they each took an Adirondack chair. When it was light outside, this spot had a view of the parking lot and, beyond that, of Hope Mountain and Sunrise Ridge. Halfway up Sunrise Ridge there was the tarn he’d imagined taking Emma to. Emerald Lake, which almost glowed, the color was such a pure, brilliant blue-green.

It hurt to sit here with her, so close physically but far away in every other way that mattered. Tyler wrestled in his mind. What did he do? Noah had assumed that Tyler would be involved in protecting Emma, that he’d want to be. Tyler appreciated the vote of confidence from his law-enforcement brother, the acknowledgment that he was capable. But maybe he should step away, let someone else take this on. How was he supposed to spend so much time with her?

Then again, there was Luke to consider. Did he want his son to grow up thinking he was a coward who ran from trouble, who’d left his mom to fend for herself?

No, he didn’t want that. He had to think of Luke, had to think like a dad. Something that still made his head spin.

“Where do you want to start?”

Emma’s voice was soft, not defensive. He didn’t know how to respond to her softness. If she’d been angry, upset the way she had been the last few times they’d spoken...

“You knew about the baby. Didn’t you?” It hadn’t been one of his planned questions, but it had popped out just now as he’d thought about the way she’d talked to him at graduation, the way she’d reacted.

Her shoulders fell. “Yes. I found out that morning.”

He replayed everything he remembered about the day, which was most of the details. The way his tie had been too tight. The way he’d stood a little taller, proud of his academic accomplishments and ready to close this chapter so he and Emma could move on.

The angry, accusatory words she’d said to him. Her assertion that she was never moving to Alaska. That his family was more important to him than she was—a statement that had seemed unfounded to him but had hurt nonetheless. That they’d had a nice few years but, you know, maybe they should both move on.

Move on. As though they’d had some kind of casual, passing relationship.

“But you didn’t tell me.”

“No.”

“You should have.”

“Yes.”

Their words were quiet in the night, barely breaking the silence. Tyler kept his tone low, determined to keep his emotions under control and needing all the help he could get with that. He also hesitated to alert anyone that could be watching nearby that they were relatively exposed. He didn’t know if that was why Emma kept her voice whisper-soft or not.

“I’m a dad, Emma. And I didn’t know.”

She didn’t say anything. He looked in her direction, wanting to know how she was feeling. As he shifted his gaze, something caught his eye in the darkness beyond the parking lot. Officer Rogers patrolling?

Or someone stalking them in the darkness? Stalking Emma?

“Tyler...”

“Shh.” He held his hand up in front of him. She blinked at him, kept going.

“No, you have to let me.”

“I see something. Someone.”

She went silent. Still.

His heart thudded in his chest. His hand moved toward the gun he’d left in his waistband holster, concealed by the fleece vest he’d worn today for warmth.

“What is it? Should I go inside?”

She cared what he thought, wanted to know his opinion.

Tyler scanned the darkness in front of them. The wrong choice could be deadly. Move quickly inside and they’d have cover. Even if it had seemed safe, he never should have brought her out here without the benefit of walls to stop or to at least slow a bullet.

Stay still and they might escape notice, might see the person coming after her.

Tyler didn’t know which option to choose. So he chose the second. Kept them still, didn’t flinch.

The shadow stopped moving. Maybe he’d been imagining it, was jumpy from the adrenaline rush of this entire thing.

And then the shooting started, the first two shots coming in close succession, cracking in the night, shattering the quiet and the windows. Wood flew off the balcony railing in front of them.

Emma screamed.

“Get inside!” Tyler yelled and reached for the door, pulling Emma out of the chair with the other hand.

More shots.

Emma dove as glass shattered.

And she let out another cry.