Alaskan Courage: Silenced Part 20

Kayden held up the bar of soap. "Tate's Healers, as in Patty Tate?"

"One and the same," Brody said.

Kayden looked over at Jake with a smile.

Brody stopped and linked his arms across his chest, his feet in a military at-ease stance. "I a.s.sume you're not here to purchase soap?"

"Actually, I will take a bar," Kayden said.

"Okay," Brody said slowly.

"Can we ask you a couple more questions while I pay for this?" she asked.

"I imagine I don't have a choice." He led her up to the register, where yet another teen was working.

"We believe Conrad was out somewhere between nine and ten thirty the night before his climb. Any chance he came back here for one more practice run?"

"Nah."

"Were you working that night?"

"Yes. Until close."

"So you would have seen him if he came in?"

"Absolutely."

Kayden paid the cas.h.i.+er for the soap and dropped it in her purse.

"We'd like to take another look at your logbook. Just to verify," Jake said.

"Whatever." He scoffed. "Kyle," he yelled to the kid behind the counter, "hand me the logbook."

Kyle complied, and Brody handed the book over to Jake.

He flipped to the day in question, and Kayden stepped alongside him to scan the record. Conrad had been in after leaving work, as everyone had said, but had never signed back in. Neither had Patty Tate.

Jake handed it back to Brody. "Thanks."

"Just get out of my gym."

Jake fought the urge to reach over and hold Kayden's hand as they walked over to Patty Tate's place. Ever since the dance, he'd been longing to hold her hand again, even if for the briefest of moments. The melody of the song still played through his mind whenever he saw her, the music bringing him right back to the moment and all the sensations wrapped up in it.

"Have you always enjoyed exercise?" he asked, trying to s.h.i.+ft his mind off of that night.

"What?" Her nose crinkled. "Yeah, I suppose. I mean, we all grew up outdoors."

"Sure." He slipped his hands into his pockets-maybe that would lessen the temptation to reach for hers. "I mean you, though."

"What about me?"

He was trying to figure out what made her tick and why. Clearly he wasn't being direct enough.

"Do you like the outdoors because it's what your family does and that's how you grew up, or do you truly enjoy the outdoors?"

"I love being outdoors. Love running and climbing and kayaking." She studied him a moment. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"I'm a.s.suming you grew up in the city, in Boston. How'd a city boy get to be so at home in the outdoors?"

"Summers with my grandparents."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. They lived down on the western sh.o.r.e of Maryland, and I spent my summers with them."

"And your parents?"

"Would travel."

"Without you?"

"Yeah. They weren't much on having a kid-other than showing him off when it suited them."

"Oh." She kicked at the sand bordering the walk with her toe. "I'm sorry."

"It was what it was. They weren't horrible parents or anything-trust me, I've seen a lot worse." It was hard to explain. "They just weren't . . . involved."

She nodded.

He dipped his head, glancing up at her. "I wish I could have met your parents."

"Really? Why?"

"Because they must have been amazing."

"How could you know that? I mean, other than what we say about them, though I suppose that's enough."

"I know because they raised you." He smiled. "And Cole, Piper, Gage, and Reef."

"He's starting to change. Reef, I mean."

"I noticed that too." He'd also noticed the blush creeping up her cheeks when he'd said you and how she'd quickly moved on to a different topic.

"You must miss your folks."

She didn't look up. "Every day."

"I'm sorry." His parents were alive, but he hadn't seen them in years. They'd retired and moved up to Martha's Vineyard about the time he joined the force. They'd come into the city for his wedding and Becca's funeral, but no holidays, no weekend visits. And then, after the case was over, he'd left town without a word. . . .

"Thanks."

He let it go at that, not wanting to push, just thankful she'd shared as much as she had. They were making progress. Maybe he could hold a little hope in his heart. Was that so dangerous? Maybe one day . . .

His phone rang, cutting off that thought. He pulled it from his pocket and looked at the number. "Hey, Landon," he said, answering it. "What's up?"

"I just discovered that Conrad recently made a change to his life insurance policy."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. He added some beneficiaries."

"Okay?" Jake said, curiosity rattling through him.

"He added Patty Tate and her son, Shane."

"What?"

"Yep. The policy was to be split evenly between Vivienne and Patty, with each of their shares going to their children if anything should happen to them."

"I wonder if Vivienne knew."

"The change was just made last week. I'm waiting for a call back from Conrad's lawyer to see if a similar change was made to his will."

"Okay. Call us as soon as you hear."

"Will do."

"We're heading back over to Patty's to question her about the ingredients she uses in her handmade soaps."

"Dodecanol on the list?"

"Here's hoping." Jake hung up, feeling like they were finally making progress.

"What was that all about?" Kayden asked, and he relayed the information.

"If that's the case, it would give Vivienne even more cause to be angry with Conrad."

"Absolutely. We'll have to follow up with her when we're done with Patty."

Kayden smiled. "Agreed."

22.

"It'll be fun," Reef said, trying desperately to coax Anna into hiking with him. "We can take Rori. It'll be a blast."

How could he return home and not do anything active for his entire stay? He was itching to get out in the fresh air and move around. The only time they'd spent outside thus far was in his sisters' backyard and sightseeing downtown.

"Why don't we do some more sightseeing?"

He smiled. "There's only so much downtown in Yancey. You've seen it all. The rest of Tariuk is the outdoors. Believe me, it's gorgeous."

She ran her hand along the edge of the book she'd been reading.

Maybe Piper was right. Maybe he needed to be with someone who enjoyed adventure. Sitting around the house and shopping were not his idea of fun. But he genuinely liked Anna. She was so kind and sweet. If he could just get her a little bit active. It still baffled him how she could live surrounded by the beauty of Tahoe and couldn't care less about spending time in the outdoors.

"What do you say?" he asked, still hopeful.

She looked up at him with a smile. "We won't go for long?"

He sank down on the couch beside her. "Just a couple hours. I'd love to show you more of Tariuk. We'll take an easy hike. The views are amazing."

"Okay." She sat her book aside. "I'll give it a try."

"Great." He knew she'd love it once they were out there surrounded by lavender and fuchsia fields of fireweed, fresh air blowing through her hair, exertion warming her limbs. It'd be perfect.

Jake eyed the weathered wooden building that served as Patty Tate's workshop, a light emanating from inside.

Shane sat outside, working on his longboard-replacing the wheels. He eyed them but remained silent, sullen.

"Your mom in her workshop?" Kayden asked.

Shane nodded.

Jake looked at Kayden before rapping on the door, wondering what they were about to find.

"Come on in," Patty hollered. She stood with her back to them at a long, narrow wooden bench. Her shoulders were hunched as she stirred a creamy white liquid in a large steel bowl. One of her lotions, perhaps. She glanced over her shoulder and grimaced. "What do you want now?"

Jake scanned the countertops, Kayden doing the same, both looking for the murder weapon-a bottle of Dodecanol.

Kayden spotted it first, on a small shelf to Patty's right. Her eyes lit as she turned to Jake.

So this was it. He stepped forward. "Patty, I'm afraid I'm going to need you to come with me."

She looked up at them confused. "What? Why?"

"I think we just found the murder weapon." Jake slipped on his gloves and placed the Dodecanol in an evidence bag, sealing it.

"What are you talking about?"

"Conrad's killer mixed Dodecanol in with his chalk."