“Endicott thought Mike and Preston were working together,” Agent Green said. Her face was expressionless, but Lily thought she detected a gleam in the agent’s eye.
“We cleared that up soon enough,” Preston said. “Though I wasn’t there at the time. I was trying to track you down.”
“Who shot at Scott at the top of the ridge?” Lily asked.
“That was another of the kidnappers,” Preston said. “They were supposed to rendezvous with him once Mike handed over the information from Endicott. They planned to leave Jackson somewhere and communicate his whereabouts once they were safely out of the country.”
“At least, that’s according to the one man who agreed to talk to us,” Agent Green said.
“Do you have everyone involved in custody now?” Lily asked.
“Not everyone.” Preston’s face was as expressionless as a mannequin. “We believe some of the group have left the country.”
“We would appreciate it if you’d give us your statement now,” Agent Green said.
“All right.” She drank the last of the coffee, took a deep breath and told them everything, beginning with the day Jackson disappeared until the helicopters touched down in the valley. By the time she was done, she felt drained emotionally and physically. She wanted to crawl back under the covers and stay there.
Agent Green switched off the recorder that had sat between them. “Thank you,” she said. “We may have more questions later, but that should do for now.”
“Did you interview Jackson?” Lily asked. “And Scott?”
“We’re going to talk to Jackson later today,” Green said. “With his father and the family attorney present.”
“We talked to your boyfriend,” Preston said. “His story matches up with yours.”
She started to tell him Scott wasn’t her boyfriend, but held her tongue. She didn’t know what he was, but clearly he was more to her now than a boss. And more than a friend. At least, she wanted him to be more.
“He wouldn’t talk to us until we returned his gun,” Green said. “And he asked about you. If you were all right.”
Warmth bloomed in her chest at the words. Surely that meant he cared.
The agents left and she went back to bed, and back to sleep. She slept fitfully, and was disoriented and out of sorts when she awoke. She checked her phone and found messages from Nina and Connor, asking how she was doing. But nothing from Scott. She didn’t like how much this silence from him stung, but told herself he was probably still sleeping.
By the next morning, she was feeling more like herself. She was on the calendar to work that day, so she dressed, harnessed Shelby and took the shuttle to the ski resort. Most of the rest of the crew was there, and they greeted her with hugs and pats on the back, asked how she was doing, and praised and patted Shelby. Word had spread that the dog had been a hero, and there were jokes about how she should have been a police dog.
“All right, everybody, we’d better get started.”
The words were the ones Scott always used, but the person who said them was Connor. He stood while the rest of them sat or leaned against the walls of the patrol shack. “As most of youhave probably heard by now, Scott turned in his resignation, effective immediately. I’m filling in as interim while corporate decides what they want to do about the job.”
“What!” Lily’s cry of alarm made everyone turn to look at her. “Scott resigned? When?”
Connor looked down at the clipboard in his hand. “Yesterday morning. I thought you knew.”
No, she had not known. “Did he say why? Is he all right?”
“I was as surprised as you are,” Connor said. “So I stopped by his place to see him. He was fine. Just said he had another opportunity he wanted to pursue. He seemed happy about it.”
He had told Connor all of this, but not her. The knowledge hurt. She sat back. “Okay. Sorry I interrupted.”
He read down the list of patrol assignments and tasks that needed to be seen to. She half listened, still dazed at this turn of events. When Connor stopped talking and everyone prepared to leave, she pulled on her jacket, then stood still, realizing she had no idea what she was supposed to do.
“You’re with me this morning,” Nina said. “We’re patrolling the Glades.”
Nina waited until they were on the lift before she spoke. “Real shocker about Scott, huh?”
“Yeah,” Lily agreed. “He created the avy dog program. Why would he quit?”
“Did something happen while you were out there, looking for Jackson?” Nina asked. “Something to change his mind?”
