Ace leaned back in his chair, unimpressed. “That we already know.”
Christian rubbed his whiskered jaw. “Why are we concerned with a senator?”
“Apparently,” Damian continued, “our former pilot here wanted a deeper look into the man campaigning to save our environment while upping our taxes.”
Ace’s jaw flexed. “I’m not a pilot anymore.”
Damian ignored that completely. “Mercer is a U.S. senator running for reelection, and he’s making a lot of noise about salmon, the ozone layer, EVE, and saving some tree beetle. It’s his new platform.”
Ace gestured with his empty bottle. “And?”
“As to why he’s in Knife’s Edge?” Damian shrugged. “No clue. Probably the usual political theater. Photo ops. Handshakes. Maybe a few staged fishing shots.”
Ace frowned. “Is he even from Alaska?”
Damian looked toward the window. “No. Mercer grew up in New York City, saw a political opening up here years ago, got residency, then ran. He comes from money and spent a lot of his own on that first campaign. Looks like he’s doing the same thing this time.”
“Did you find anything in Mercer’s past?” Ace asked.
Damian tilted his head. “I’m still digging, but I did find a domestic violence report from his college days.”
Ace went still. “Where’d he go?”
“Harvard.”
Ace huffed softly. “Yeah. That tracks.”
Christian’s eyes narrowed. “What’d the report say?”
“I ordered the complete report but haven’t received it yet. The case never went to trial. From what I could glean, he wasn’t charged. Looks like the victim declined to press charges, and the DA didn’t pursue it.”
Ace didn’t hesitate. “Get the details.”
“Why?” Damian asked.
Ace exhaled slowly. “Because he’s in town, and I didn’t like May’s reaction when she saw him.” Or the jerk’s reaction to her.
Christian straightened. “The doc knows the senator?”
“Oh yeah,” Ace said grimly. “She knows him, and she wasn’t comfortable.”
“I don’t know much about her background,” Damian said. “The town hired her before I took over the security at the facility, and it’s not like they would’ve consulted me, anyway.”
Christian lifted his chin. “Still. She signed a three-year agreement when nobody else would. That says something. We’re not exactly a dream destination.”
Ace’s response came fast and defensive before he could stop it. “She likes it here.”
Christian glanced at him. “Yeah. We like her, too.” He clocked the room, his gaze landing on Amka and then returning. “But not many women run to the middle of nowhere without a reason.”
Ace stiffened. His brother wasn’t wrong.
Chapter Four
May checked the window in her kitchen again. It was securely locked with a bar in the sill. Plus, it was light outside twenty-four hours a day right now, so nobody could hide under the cover of darkness.
Not that she was paranoid or anything. She rolled her eyes at herself and returned to her sofa, snuggling beneath a plush blanket Amka had given her as a Christmas present. It was a light pink with a softness that felt comforting. Her gun, fully loaded, lay on the sofa table. She could reach it in a second, although was she really in danger? Her imagination had always been impressive, notwithstanding her fascination with science. Truth be told, most physicists she knew were romantics. They believed in solving the mysteries of the universe, so how could they not be?
She stared at the photograph hanging on the far wall that she’d taken of the town in the midst of a snowstorm. While she loved being a doctor, sometimes she needed a more creative outlet without any stress, and she’d been an amateur photographer for years.
