“Okay, let’s try this from a different angle,” he said, leaning back in his chair, taking his glass with him, trying to make this conversation as informal as possible.“You’ve already told me you don’t have any enemies.But I just want to check.There’s no one holding a grudge against you?No ex-boyfriend, who wants to seek revenge on you for some sick reason?”Mårten pushed her for answers, part of him hating that he was causing her to look at him with fear in her eyes, her face now pale and drawn.
“No,” she said, gritting her teeth at him.“No one like that.I’ve lived alone for the past four years, ever since I graduated uni and started my photography business.And I haven’t had a boyfriend in that time.I’m a normal person, living a normal life.”
She seemed pretty adamant on that front, but something about her life wasn’t normal; he just had to figure out what.
“Let’s change tack then.Tell me about your work.You said you’re a photographer, and you also take lots of wildlife videos,” he prompted as Nikki set his re-heated plate of food in front of him.She took her seat next to Jacob, but none of them touched their meal, as they all waited for Summer to answer.
“Mmm hmm.I’m a freelance photographer, and I work on commission, but my passion is wildlife and the environment.I have contacts in lots of government departments as well as not-for-profit charities.People usually reach out to me if they want something done.”She nodded her head in Nikki’s direction.“For instance, Tammy searched me out to help her on the project because of my special underwater skills, and that’s how I met Nikki.”Summer narrowed her eyes as a thought occurred to her.“You can’t seriously tell me that everyone I’ve worked with over the last four years could be a suspect?”
“No,” Mårten replied patiently.“That’s not what I’m saying.I’m asking you to consider whether anyone stands out from the crowd.Or seems a little off.Perhaps they asked you to do something you weren’t comfortable with.”
Summer lifted one shoulder in ahow am I supposed to knowkind of look, and Mårten had to grit his teeth.She didn’t seem to take this seriously.
“Mårten is on the right track,” Jacob butted in when Summer’s face closed over as if she were withdrawing from the whole idea.“But it seems like a giant task when you suspect everyone.How about you start with your most recent job and work backward?”he suggested.
“Okay,” Summer relented after taking a large gulp of wine.Maybe this current gig with the FBI was giving Jacob more of an understanding of how to interrogate a witness without getting them offside.A skill Mårten used to have, which now seemed to have deserted him.Mårten took a deep breath and flashed Jacob a grateful glance; at least one of them was staying cool under pressure.
“My last video job was a few months ago, working for the USFWS—the United States Fish and Wildlife Service,” she explained when they all gave her blank looks.“Over in Yellowstone National Park.I was…” Summer trailed off, her mouth forming a thoughtful pout.“Hang on a second.”She pulled her phone from her back pocket.“I missed a call from the head wildlife officer in Yellowstone this afternoon.He asked me to call him back as a matter of urgency.”They all stopped eating and turned to stare at her.“But when the guy tried to attack me in the stairwell…” she trailed off, her face twisted in consternation.
“Well, maybe you should return his call now,” Jacob prompted.
“It might be too late,” Summer muttered—it was after eight—but she was already hitting the redial button.Then she put her cell on the table and turned on the speaker.
She gave a surprised start when a deep voice answered the phone.“You’ve reached Peter Macdonald,” he said.Then, when Summer hesitated, he added, “How can I help you?”
“Sorry,” Summer stammered, and seemed to collect herself.“My name is Summer Pérez.You left a voicemail on my cellphone.”
“Ah, yes, Ms.Pérez, thank you for returning my call.”Peter’s voice gained an urgent edge.“I was contacting you on the slight chance that you may have heard from Paige Owen.You recall the field officer who helped you with your work on the black-footed ferret last month?”
“Yes, I remember Paige,” Summer confirmed, a confused furrow forming between her eyes.“But no, I haven’t had any correspondence from her since I returned from Yellowstone?Why do you ask?”
“Ah,” Peter Macdonald cleared his throat.“You’ve not heard the news yet?Her fiancé has reported her missing.Supposedly, she failed to reach her apartment after work on Friday last week.”
Mårten’s gut tightened painfully as a shiver of foreboding slid down his spine.Mårten didn’t know who Paige was, but if she had a connection to Summer, then this was bad news.
“Oh, no,” Summer whispered, leaning back in her chair away from the phone as if she couldn’t bear to hear anymore of this dreadful news.
“It’s very unlike Paige, and her fiancé is distraught,” Peter continued.“As you probably already figured out, Paige was a dedicated officer.She loved her job, and she also loved her fiancé, so this is more than a little puzzling.She wasn’t home when the fiancé returned from work.They were supposed to be spending the evening with friends; he’d only talked to her a few hours before, and she was excited about going out.They found her car in the parking lot of the building where she lived, but there was no sign she’d made it into the apartment.The police are following up all leads here in Montana, but they asked me to get in touch with anyone she’s worked with or spent time with over the past few months.”
Summer covered her mouth with her hand, a small squeak of alarm escaping from behind her slim fingers.Jacob and Nikki cast dismayed glances in Mårten’s direction, then Nikki laid a comforting hand on Summer’s shoulder.
Mårten took charge when Summer seemed no longer capable of speech.“Hello, Mr.Macdonald, my name is Mårten Viskten, a friend of Summer’s.This is very distressing news.Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?I’m a police inspector from Sweden; perhaps I can be of some assistance,” he qualified when there was a heavy silence on the other end of the phone.
Could there be a link between Paige’s disappearance and the attack on Summer?It was a long shot.The other woman had gone missing in Montana, and Summer had been attacked 2000 miles away in Seattle a week later.But it seemed Paige might have disappeared somewhere between her car and her apartment.Had someone been waiting for her on the landing?Exactly like the man had been waiting for Summer?
He found Jacob’s gaze resting intently on him when he glanced up.What could the two women have in common, aside from the fact that they’d worked together for less than a week?He asked the question with his eyes, and Jacob sent him a silent nod of agreement.The coincidence seemed to be too great for there not to be a link.“We may have some information that might be pertinent,” Mårten said when the ranger still hadn’t replied.
“What do you mean?”Peter Macdonald’s tone was grim.
Mårten looked to Summer for her permission to proceed.This was really her story to tell, but by her expression, it seemed she would struggle to do so.When she nodded, he drew a deep breath and began.
CHAPTER SEVEN
SUMMER STARED AT the sliver of light escaping into her bedroom through a slit in the curtains, sleep eluding her.After Peter’s shocking revelation, she had eventually recovered enough to re-engage with the conversation, and together with Mårten and Jacob had asked endless questions of the head ranger, and answered endless questions in return.But the result had been a big, fat blank.None of them could come up with an explanation for why both she and Paige may have been targeted.They’d all agreed that perhaps some rest might help them finagle out the reason, and so just after midnight, they’d gone to their separate bedrooms.Summer hoped everyone else was doing better at getting some sleep than she was.
Summer had mulled over and over the time she’d spent in Yellowstone with Paige, relating every detail she could remember to Peter, while the other three sat around the table and listened intently.Now, she did it again and again in her head.
Summer had been contacted by a project officer for the Montana Ecological Services Field Office who’d asked if she were available to help with a feasibility study they were running to document how a small population of black-footed ferrets living on the outskirts of the Yellowstone National Park might be impacted by a proposed new gold mine to be built in the area.These diminutive carnivores thrived on a diet of primarily prairie dogs, but they’d been thought to be extinct from the western United States when ranchers cleared them out to make room for their cattle.They were rediscovered in the early eighties, however, and then biologists used a captive breeding program to build up the numbers, releasing some limited populations onto ranches and federal land around Yellowstone.It’s very rare for an animal to come back from extinction, and Summer had been thrilled to be invited to join the enterprise.
