[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.All his life, all he ever wanted was to be a lumberjack.The idea that it could end with the swipe of a pen and fifty thousand signatures hadn’t settled in—until that exact moment.Kneeling near the river, he grabbed a handful of dirt and let it sift through his fingers as he watched, admiring the richness of the dark color.As he stood to leave, he heard birds take flight across the river, high up on the ridge, so he turned his eyes and watched as they ascended into the sky.Brushing his hands together, ready to head to his truck, the quiet of the mountain was broken when someone burst through the bushes on the ridge, screaming in terror.He watched, in startled disbelief, as Mia ran straight off the edge and plummeted into the river below.Trying to reconcile what he’d just seen, Max jumped into action as Mia hit the water hard.Diving in fully clothed keeping his head up as he swam, his heart skipped a beat when she floated to the surface, drifting towards him quickly as the current carried her body face down.Shouting, “Mia,” as he launched himself at her body, Max turned her over and saw she was unconscious.Grabbing her under the arms Max swam back towards the bank, struggling against the current.When he reached the river’s edge, he stood, picked her water-laden body up, and moved her to the solid ground, placing her gently on the dirt.“Mia?” Max shouted as he gently slapped her face, trying to rouse her, but she didn’t respond.He turned her on her side in the recovery position and then pounded her back five times to clear any water from her throat and lungs.Turning her on her back, he tilted her chin and then looked to see if her chest was moving.Pinching her nose, he opened her mouth and blew deep to inflate her lungs, twice.Then he moved to her chest and started compressions.“Come on, Mia.Prove me wrong.Prove you aren’t a pain in the ass like I thought you would be.”Moving back to her mouth, a mouth, he’d wanted to taste since the moment he’d laid eyes on her, he blew twice more.When her mouth moved against his, he pulled back and waited as she struggled to wake up.When she inhaled suddenly, and started coughing, Max jumped up, ran to his truck, pulled a blanket from his storage, and then ran back wrapping it around her as she expelled water onto the ground.He pulled her into his arms when she was done, and started rubbing her arms to warm her.“I’ve got you, I’ve got you,” Max told her as she struggled to breathe, still coughing and wheezing her eyes pinched shut as she gasped for air.“Max?” Mia whispered between coughs.“Right here, Mia.”“What’s going on?”“You ran off the ridge and fell in the river.What the fuck were you thinkin’ runnin’ blind like that?”“What?”“Swear to God you are the clumsiest woman I’ve ever met.”Jerking, she turned in his arms confused at first.Then slowly, her eyes focused and what she said next froze him in place.“Oh, my God, Donald’s dead.”“Say that again?”“I found him on the path.There was blood, and his head, oh, God, his head,” she cried out throwing her hands over her face.Wondering what the fuck she was talking about he watched as she pulled her hands back suddenly, her face growing paler, her eyes wider with recognizable freight as she mumbled, “Someone was there, they chased me, that’s why I—Lucy, Frank, we have to get to them.We have to make sure they’re okay,” she shouted as she struggled to get up.“You’re sure he’s dead?” Max asked, trying to ascertain if she was lucid or imagining things.“Yes, we have to go.We have to check on Lucy and Frank, now.”The panic in her eyes told him she believed what she saw and his heart rate picked up at the thought of someone chasing her off the mountain.Nodding, he stood while holding her in his arms and carried her to his truck.When he’d placed her inside, he ran to his office and found another blanket and a pair of old sweats he kept in his locker.When he got back to his truck, he handed them to her and ordered, “Strip out of those wet clothes.” Not in the mind to be argued with, when she looked at her clothes and then looked at his sweats he snapped, “You either get out of those wet clothes or I’ll strip you myself and use my body to warm you up.”Wide-eyed at what he’d said, she complied with his order and then pulled her koalified T-shirt over her head as he started his truck.It may be the end of September, but in Alaska, that meant a balmy forty degrees most days and the water temperature stayed near freezing.So he cranked up the heat and waited for her to change.He kept his eyes on Mia as she struggled out of her jeans and when she forgot to take off her shoes, he reached down, grabbed her feet, and pulled them off.“Thanks,” she replied, but kept her eyes diverted.If she hadn’t just told him Zimmer was dead, he’d have enjoyed watching her fidget while she stripped.Once she’d changed, he wrapped another blanket around her, put the truck in drive, and then made his way back down the logging road towards the bridge that would take them back across the river.The impact of what had just happened hit him like a freight train—someone in his town just committed murder.The faces of all the people he cared about ran in a loop through his mind.He wondered which one of them would be desperate enough to commit murder to save Trails End?“I can’t believe he’s dead,” Mia mumbled as she wrapped the blanket tighter around her.“Who would do that?”“Someone who hated him enough, I suppose.”“But why?”“I’d say they killed to protect the town,” Max replied, the images of friends still swirling in his mind.“Who hated him enough?”Everyone!“None of them, all of them,” he answered truthfully.“But they couldn’t know if he would succeed.We could have fought him, beat him, why kill him?”“The only person who can answer that is the killer,” Max told her.Mia nodded because it was that simple.The only person who could answer that was the killer [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]