Snapping the final buckle on my backpack, I curled the excess of Pebbles’s leash around my hand. Luke shut the truck door and locked the vehicle, then tugged on Betty’s leash, getting her moving in the right direction.
“Did you mark the GPS coordinates?” Luke glanced at me as we stepped toward the narrow cut in the trees that denoted the Point Bishop Trailhead. Our plan was to walk to the beach and back, then head home for a late supper of burgers on the grill tocelebrate the holiday. At the end of it all, we planned to make some fireworks of our own between the sheets.
I couldn’t wait.
It didn’t matter that we’d burned up the sheets the last few nights. I was ready to do it again.
“Oh. No. I forgot.” Turning around, I pointed back at my pack. “Can you dig it out?” It’s in the front pocket.” We didn’t plan to stray off the path, but on the off chance something happened and we did, having the beginning coordinates marked would help guide us back if we got lost. It might seem silly to some, when we were on a marked trail, but this was Alaska. A predator could alter our direction in an instant. Just feet off the trail and we’d be in dense wilderness.
We also had two rambunctious dogs, one of which had proven a Houdini. I wasn’t taking the chance we would get lost.
Device in hand, Luke locked in our starting point, then put it back in my bag. “You ready?”
“Yep. Let’s go.”
Betty led the way into the woods, black nose to the ground as she clopped along on paws too big for her body. Every few feet, she would stop and chomp at a leaf or pick up a twig, mouthing it until the next one distracted her.
Pebbles followed, less focused on the ground and more focused on the woods around us. Her little head whipped back and forth as she trotted along, tiny toenails tapping on the rocky dirt.
At the rate both dogs were going, I had no doubt we’d be carrying them back to the truck. The question would be whether either of them made it to the place we intended to turn around.
“So, did Claire or Ozzie call you back while I ran to that job site to check the alarm that went off?”
I glanced at Luke, a scowl overtaking my face. “No.” When we left the rehab center yesterday evening, we went back to myhouse, since I had the dogs. Luke stayed the night but had to leave for a little while to check on a job site. Thankfully, it had been a false alarm. He’d also taken the opportunity to run home and grab some hiking gear he forgot. It meant we left a little later than planned, but I was okay with that. It hadn’t delayed us that much. Only about forty-five minutes, since he was halfway to Juneau for the job site alarm anyway. One day, maybe, he would move to Parker’s Landing and delays like that would be a thing of the past, but for now, we were commuting the half hour to see each other. And while we had the discussion about our relationship the other day, I still felt like we were dangling on the end of the line, the hook not quite set. I knew it was me and my insecurities, but I couldn’t shake the feeling, no matter how much I reminded myself he’d chosen me over the dark-haired beauty with long legs and more money than she could count.
“Did you try calling again before I came back?”
Shaking off the disquieting thoughts about our oh-so-new relationship, I focused on the conversation. “Yes. It went straight to voicemail for both of them. Claire left her friend Christine’s number in case of an emergency. I called her just to make sure they were all right. She said they were due back this evening and that she’d pass along the message to have them call me back.”
“I guess that’s all we can do, short of sending someone to retrieve them.”
“Yeah. And this is something that can wait. If Miranda is involved, she doesn’t know we’re on to her, so she’s not going anywhere.” I shook my head. “I still can’t see her as a killer. Sure, she’s a sneaky, lying bitch, but a killer?”
Luke shrugged one shoulder, using his other arm to rein Betty back in. “People do crazy things for money.”
They did crazy things for a lot of reasons.
That thought sparked another. “What if it wasn’t about money?”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
“What if it was motivated by something else? Like, love.”
“You think Miranda was in love with Rich Stevenson?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. We never really explored that possibility, did we?”
“No, not really. I guess it could be true. They’re the same age and are from the same small town.” He looked at me with a smile. “I guess we add it to the list of things to discuss with Ozzie.”
I chuckled. “Yeah.”
A comfortable silence fell between us, broken only by the shuffle of our feet, the dogs scurrying through the detritus littering the trail, and the birds flitting through the pines. We were far enough from the beach, and the forest was thick enough that only the muffled sound of waves hitting the shoreline reached us.
I cast a side-eyed glance at Luke as we walked. Should I bring up our relationship status? Did I need to? I mean, he introduced me to his family.
Yes, my inner voice whispered.For your own peace of mind.
I let out a quick puff of air through my nose.Fine.
