His hands were steady on the wrench, but inside, everything had changed.The comfortable rhythm of his life—work during the day, hunting at night, the lake swallowing his secrets—had been disrupted by a woman with amber eyes who'd been watching him before he'd even known she existed.
The game had changed.And for the first time in decades, he wasn't sure he was going to win.
CHAPTER FIVE
The call came through on Sullivan's phone just as Isla was about to press their latest interview subject about his whereabouts the night Alex Novak died.She watched her partner's face change as he listened to the voice on the other end, his expression shifting from routine attention to sharp focus.
"We need to go," he said, ending the call and rising from his chair."Now."
Isla's frustration at the interruption warred with the urgency in Sullivan's voice.They'd been making progress with the shipyard worker, establishing a timeline that might finally give them something concrete to work with.But the tone of that phone call suggested something that couldn't wait.
"Body in the lake," Sullivan explained as they hurried through the shipyard's corridors toward their car."Pulled from beneath the ice about twenty minutes ago.Local PD thinks it might be connected to our case, since I’ve been spreading the word to the locals to flag suspicious drowning accidents.”
The drive to the scene took less than ten minutes through Duluth's snow-clogged streets, but Isla felt every second stretch as her mind raced through possibilities.Another accidental drowning that wasn't accidental?Another victim of the killer, she was becoming increasingly certain, was stalking the port community?
The scene at the lake's edge was controlled chaos.Emergency vehicles lined the shore access road, their red and blue lights casting strange shadows across the snow-covered ice.A cluster of civilians stood behind yellow tape, their faces bearing the particular expression of people who'd witnessed something terrible.Beyond them, closer to the water, Isla could see the imprint on the ice where a body had been recovered.
"Sarah Quinn," Detective Martinez from the Duluth PD briefed them as they approached."Twenty-eight years old, environmental scientist with the Nature Conservancy.A rescue worker managed to extract her about thirty minutes ago."
Isla's pulse quickened."Rescue worker?"
"David Kucharski, volunteer with Lake Superior Search and Rescue.Guy's been at it for thirty years, apparently.He's over there."Martinez gestured toward a figure sitting alone on the tailgate of an ambulance, wrapped in a thermal blanket despite the fact that he didn't appear to be suffering from exposure.
Even from a distance, Isla could see the man was shaken.His shoulders were hunched inward, and his head hung low between his knees.As she and Sullivan approached, she noticed his hands trembling where they rested on his thighs.
"Mr.Kucharski?"Sullivan's voice carried the careful gentleness he used with victims and witnesses."I'm Agent Sullivan, FBI.This is my partner, Agent Rivers."
David looked up, and Isla was struck by the raw emotion in his weathered face.His eyes were red-rimmed, whether from cold or tears she couldn't tell, and his expression held the hollow look of someone who'd just failed at something desperately important to them.
"I couldn't save her," he said, his voice barely above a whisper."Thirty years I've been doing this, and I couldn't save her."
Isla noticed his knuckles then—scraped raw and bleeding where he'd attacked the ice with his bare hands after his tools had failed him.The sight of those wounds, evidence of desperate physical effort in impossible conditions, stirred something uncomfortable in her chest.
"Mr.Kucharski, no one could have saved her," Sullivan said, settling onto the ambulance's rear bumper beside the man."Lake Superior in January—the water temperature alone would have been lethal within minutes.You gave her the only chance anyone could have given her."
David shook his head, the movement almost violent in its intensity."She was right there.Right beneath the surface.If I'd been faster with the ice chisel, if I'd seen her sooner—"
"You did everything humanly possible," Isla interrupted, surprising herself with the firmness in her voice."From what the witnesses described, you risked your own life trying to reach her.That takes incredible courage."
For a moment, David's eyes met hers, and she saw something there that went beyond professional disappointment or even personal grief.There was something almost desperate in his gaze, a need for validation that seemed disproportionate to the circumstances.
"The paramedics said she'd been under too long," he continued, his hands curling into fists despite the obvious pain from his damaged knuckles."Said there was nothing anyone could have done.But I keep thinking—"
"Mr.Kucharski," Sullivan said gently, "how often do you patrol this area?"
"Three to four times a week during ice season.People don't understand how dangerous it can be out there.They see solid ice and think it's safe everywhere, but the currents—" He stopped, his voice catching."I've pulled bodies out before.Usually too late, but sometimes...sometimes you can bring them back."
Isla studied his face as he spoke, noting the way his grief seemed to center not on the victim herself, but on his own perceived failure.It was understandable—rescue workers often took unsuccessful attempts personally—but something about the intensity of his reaction nagged at her.
"The witnesses said you were incredibly brave," she offered."That you went straight into action without hesitation."
A flicker of something passed across David's features—was it satisfaction?Pride?The expression was too brief to be certain, but it left Isla with an odd feeling that she couldn't quite place.
"Just training," David said, but his posture had straightened slightly."Anyone in my position would have done the same thing."
They talked for a few more minutes, gathering basic information about David's background and his rescue credentials, but Isla found herself watching the witnesses scattered around the scene.Their faces held the same expression she'd noted earlier—not just shock at witnessing a tragedy, but something approaching awe as they looked toward David.
"He was amazing," she overheard one middle-aged woman telling a police officer."Just threw himself into trying to save her.You could see he wasn't going to give up, no matter what."
