“What?”Erik had been staring at the man, watching with fascination as the drama unfolded.She guessed he didn’t get much action hidden away in the bowels of the building, sitting at his desk and staring at a computer all day.“Oh, yes, of course.”He left without further comment.
“Sorry,” the man apologized, standing up straight, obviously having pulled himself together.“What else do you need to know?We have to start looking for him straight away.”He cast a quick glance over at the window by the door, then banged his palm down on the countertop.“The sun’s gone already.This bloody northern winter, it gets dark in the middle of the bloody afternoon.I can’t believe I agreed to come on a bloody northern exposure cruise.I hate the snow.”These last comments seemed to be more directed at himself, so Aurora ignored his hand still resting demandingly on the countertop and moved on.
“Of course.Can I ask your name and the name of your father?”
“I’m Jiro Nashimori.My father is Kenichi Nashimori.We’re both American nationals, and we were taking this cruise together.It was his idea, said he wanted to see the Arctic Circle before he died.”Jiro blew out a breath and looked at her expectantly.When he stated his name, it confirmed her first thought that he was of Japanese descent, even if the olive skin, dark hair and slightly tilted eyes hadn’t already done so.
“Do you know the name of the place where your tour bus took you?”There were many tourist adventures and experiences to be had around Luleå.They’d sprung up around the town for exactly the reason Jiro had stated.Because of the lucrative cruise industry.It brought hordes of tourists here year-round; winter was just as popular as the summer months because people could experience the polar north from the comfort of a luxury boat.The tourists were fooling themselves if they thought they could embrace the real Sweden with one quick sled ride and a meal of reindeer cooked the traditional way on the open fire.It was a farce, but it brought much-needed income to this otherwise isolated town way up north.Aurora kept all her thoughts hidden behind a bland look as she waited for his answer.
“It was something like Luleå Adventures.They had activities like dog sledding, reindeer interactions, an ice plunge, you know, all those sorts of things.”Jiro didn’t know it, but he’d just described about half of all the tourist places within thirty miles of the town.Most of them were family-run small businesses.
As Jiro finished reeling off the list of activities, the door opened behind her, and she breathed a quiet sigh of relief as she felt Mårten enter.Without looking up, she knew his assessing gaze would be taking in everything about this distressed man at the front counter, and it took only a second for her partner to understand the mood in the room.
“I’m Inspector Mårten Viskten.”He reached a hand across the desk and introduced himself.“I’m sorry to hear your father is missing.Let’s see what we can do to find him.”Mårten peered over her shoulder, reading from the notes she’d taken.Then he stood and fired a few pertinent questions at Jiro regarding where he last seen his father, what sort of mood his father had been in, if he was appropriately dressed for the cold—which Jiro assured him he was, as the tour had supplied them all with proper clothing—what was his father’s level of fitness, exactly what activities had his father partaken in, and was there anything Jiro could think of that might make him want to miss that bus?All things she would have thought of to ask, eventually.But it just reiterated how much she still needed to learn from Mårten’s experience and knowledge.
Jiro answered Mårten steadily, although she could see that he didn’t like the tone of the questions as his face hardened and his lips firmed into a thin line.But he must’ve realized Mårten was only doing his job, and he held onto his temper, which put him up a notch or two in Aurora’s mind.A lot of people—men especially—got angry when their motives were called into question.
At last, Mårten said, “Luleå Adventures.Hmm.I know the man who owns that place.Let me give him a quick call.”Aurora felt some of the weight shift from her shoulders now that Mårten had stepped in and taken control.He would know what to do.Like he said, he knew people around here.While he hadn’t been born in the town—much like her—he’d moved here as a rookie cop and stayed on to continue his career, rising up through the ranks to Inspector over the past twelve years, he’d become quiet well known amongst the locals.
She watched Jiro, his dark gaze fixed on Mårten as he picked up the phone and made the call.He was no longer breathing hard, seemingly recovered from his mad dash into the station—had he run all the way from the docks where the cruise ships came in?It was a good couple of kilometers, but a fit person could do it in around ten minutes.And he looked very fit.
Wearing a dark- blue Patagonia-branded torso-hugging puffer jacket that he’d unzipped when he entered the building, and black insulated pants, she could tell he had an athletic body underneath the cold weather gear.Tall, at least six feet, she put him in his late twenties.Beanie still in his hand, she noticed he wasn’t wearing gloves, and unless he had them stuffed in a pocket somewhere, that might need to be remedied before he went back out into the cold.The temperature had peaked at -5C today, but as the sun set, it would only get colder, down to -20C at least.Tourists didn’t seem to understand how profound the cold was up here, and how quickly it could affect a person.It affected fine motor skills first, and often took away their ability to think clearly, even before the first signs of frostbite or hypothermia set in.
She heard Mårten asking pointed questions to the guy on the phone in the background, but couldn’t hear the reply.Jiro began to pace around the small reception area.He glanced up at her, spearing her with his dark, questioning gaze.Sudden heat shot through her as their eyes met, and she quickly averted her gaze, opening an Internet page on her computer instead, to do a search for tourist places in the area, in case they needed to contact them all to find this missing father.He went back to his pacing.
Unable to help herself, she peeked at him once through lowered lashes.He wasn’t her type at all.He was too… Handsome.Confidant.Too American.Admittedly, she didn’t know many Americans personally but the few she did know here in Luleå had all been overly optimistic and assertive, loud and taking up too much space—apart from Summer, who went against the stereotype and was none of those things.She just wasn’t into all that testosterone-fueled self-gratification.She much preferred the quieter, contemplative type.Men who had a sensitive side, like Erik.
Mårten was suddenly at her elbow, breaking her reverie.“Right.I’ve talked to Dávvet, and he has confirmed they ran a tour for the cruise ship this morning.They had one-hundred-and-twenty-two people listed on the tour.Two buses dropped them off around ten a.m.this morning, and they left again at one p.m., around two and a half hours ago.But the farm never does an official headcount, so he can’t comment on whether anyone didn’t make it back onto the bus after the activities.That is the cruise ship’s responsibility, he said.There are no tours booked for this afternoon, and as far as he’s concerned, the place is empty, just him and his staff, and no one was left behind.”
Jiro opened his mouth to speak, but Mårten held up a hand to stall him.“I trust this man.He’s one of the best tour operators in the area.Some of the others can be a bit…cavalier when it comes to people’s safety, but Dávvet’s not one of them.So if he says your father isn’t there, then I believe him.But he’s going to start a search straight away.He’ll call on his surrounding neighbors to help as well.Dávvet is Sámi, so he knows what he’s doing.He knows the country, and if your father is there somewhere, he’ll find him.”
“Good, good.”Jiro nodded with relief.“So when can we get out there?”He left his implication that the police would join the search hanging in the air.
Mårten looked at his watch before answering.“It’s already dark.I’m not sure there’s a lot we can do right now.”Mårten was apologetic, but even Aurora was a little taken aback.She had yet to be involved in a full-scale search and rescue and so didn’t know the exact protocol.Perhaps it made sense not to search in the dark, as they might miss something important.
“What.No!You have to do something.You have to mount a search.”
“We will,” Mårten raised a hand to placate the man.“But it’ll take a couple of hours to get everything organized.I think you might underestimate the severity of a winter night up here.People would be putting their lives at risk to search for your father,” Mårten replied.“And at the moment we only have your word that your father is missing.We need to be one-hundred percent sure he didn’t just return early and isn’t on the boat somewhere.”
“He’s not.”Jiro slapped his beanie against his thigh in agitation.“I checked our cabin.He definitely hasn’t been back since we left this morning; I’m sure of it.And I checked most of the obvious places on the ship, it’s not a big boat, you know.”
Aurora knew that the ships that made it all the way north into Luleå harbor were much smaller, but also more opulent, than the enormous cruise ships you got in the Caribbean.They were designed to be able to break through sheets of ice if need be, all the while keeping their customers toasty warm as they watched the winter wonderland float by in the lap of luxury.
“He’s not answering his phone either,” Jiro said, nearly shouting now.He held up a hand and apologized.“Sorry.I know you have to ask these questions, and I know there’s a procedure to follow.But if my father is lying somewhere in the snow…” He left his sentence unfinished.
“If he is, Dávvet will find him,” Mårten assured him.“I’ll mobilize a team to set up a base at the property to coordinate the search.They’ll be heading out soon.”
“Okay.”That seemed to mollify Jiro a little.“Can I go out with this team of yours, then?”
“I’d like you to accompany us to the ship first, if you don’t mind.It’s due to leave the harbor in a few hours, and I want to make double sure your father isn’t on it somewhere.”
“What?The boat would leave without us?”Jiro seemed shocked at Mårten’s revelation.
“I’m afraid so.I’m sure they made it very clear to you that if you missed the departure time, they wouldn’t wait.”Aurora knew the cruise lines had very strict policies about this.They had to, otherwise they’d constantly be running late waiting for passengers to re-board because they got sidetracked by a pretty souvenir, or decided to stay an extra hour to sit and sip cocktails in an ice bar.
“Yes, I remember hearing that.But surely this is different.My father is missing.He didn’t just get carried away and forget the boarding time.”Jiro’s chin jutted forward, his eyes flashing with anger.“They can’t just leave without us.”
“I’m sorry, but they will,” Mårten replied, pity written in the downturn of his lips “So I think we should go and talk to the ship’s captain, as well as the crew, to make sure no one has seen him this afternoon, and then conduct a thorough search first before we head out to the property.”
