Alaskan Christmas Cold Case. Sarah Varland
THREE
Someone had been watching her. All morning, maybe even for the last few days. Goose bumps would run down Erynn Cooper’s arms at the oddest time. In the grocery store, while she was walking from her truck in the parking lot to the trooper building in the mornings...
And she was afraid she knew who. He—or she—had been responsible for five deaths already, six counting her father’s.
She’d always known he would come for her.
Erynn closed the door behind her, debated locking it, but knew that wasn’t why she was in town. She was not running; she was simply trying to live her life, fill her dad’s shoes in any way she could by bringing criminals to justice, helping people feel safe. And keep her ears out for any leads on the cold case that had led to her dad’s death.
Most days she felt like she could barely fill half of one of Mack Cooper’s shoes. Why had he been the one to die so young?
And what would her life have been like if he hadn’t? She wouldn’t have become a trooper, Erynn didn’t think, but what would she have been?
She’d never had the chance to consider it, not really.
She sat at her desk, shoved aside the little Christmas tree her partner had apparently added while she’d been home sleeping, and poured herself a cup of coffee. She had already told him she wasn’t big on Christmas decorations. Apparently he didn’t care. Every day this week it had been something new. First twinkling lights, then snowman stickers on the windows. Now the tree. Erynn shook her head and took a sip of coffee, startling as her phone chimed the arrival of a text message.
Noah.
You weren’t at the diner last night. Everything okay?
Almost every Saturday night the two of them, along with some friends, played board games at the diner while drinking bad coffee and talking about their weeks. She hadn’t wanted to go last night since yesterday had been odd and she’d felt out of place all day, like something was wrong.
It hadn’t been until this morning that she’d pinpointed the feeling: she was prey and someone was hunting her, or at the very least watching her. But she hadn’t wanted to face Noah when she hadn’t felt her best. Despite her efforts, the man knew her too well. And she didn’t want him getting any closer to her, prying into her life any more.
It would only make things more dangerous for both of them. Her life. His career.
She took a deep breath then a sip of coffee. She had a job to do, and she needed to focus and do it.
Hours passed uneventfully. Erynn glanced at her watch. Less than an hour until she was done for the day. Then what? Go home and hide in her apartment again? Or see if she could find who was watching her? She had her training on her side, wouldn’t be caught off guard.
Then again, her dad had probably thought the same. Pain stabbed her heart and she shook her head. If only this feeling would shake off so easily.
The door creaked open.
In stepped her past in the form of Janie Davis. Erynn felt her jaw tense and a headache start at the corners of her temples. She blinked, but Janie was still standing there. Back from the dead, or so it appeared. And, with her appearance, the heaviness that had crowded Erynn’s high school years, like clouds hanging low over the ocean on a stormy day, also returned.
She’d known Janie from their time in foster care years ago. Erynn couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. Seeing her past find her here, in her office, at work, would have shaken her enough...but Janie Davis had died three years ago, her body having been found near Moose Haven, on a glacier. Erynn had been one of the officers who had worked the case, along with Noah Dawson and the rest of the Moose Haven Police Department. Except clearly she hadn’t died. Because here she was in the Moose Haven Trooper Station.
Would she ever escape her past?
“What are you doing here?” Erynn shook her head, stood and moved to the windows, pulled the blinds and then looked back at her unexpected visitor. “Never mind. Don’t answer yet. I need another set of ears here.” She hated to do it; it went against every ounce of energy she’d spent this week, keeping him at a distance. But Noah’s was the best law enforcement mind for miles around, besides hers. And his team was good, too. She trusted them and she needed help, preferably from another agency, because if she was right about why Janie was there...this was about to blow up in their faces and they’d all need to work together.
She slid her cell phone from her pocket, deciding texting was the fastest way to get Noah’s attention.
S.O.S. I need you at the Trooper station.
He took only seconds to text back.
You’re safe?
Erynn glanced up at the blonde, whose gaze hadn’t left her.
Not sure.
He should be there within minutes. The two law enforcement offices were separated by two blocks and Erynn was all too aware that when it came to Noah and her... Well, it was complicated. Not something she had space in her life for. But she knew he wouldn’t let anything happen to her if he could help it.
“I can’t believe you aren’t happy to see me.” Janie’s voice was much the same as it had been when they were kids living in the same group home, but more grown-up now, a little husky.
“You’ve been missing. We thought you were dead. Found a body and it matched your description...”
“I’m not dead. And I wasn’t missing. I was hiding. There’s a difference.”
Someone knocked on the door.
“Would have been nice if you’d clarified that with law enforcement.” Erynn moved to the door,