Mountain, page 7
“Because you saved Teegan.”
“I did, and I tried to save the other one too. … That didn’t work out so well for him.”
“And we’re sorry about Yegorahn’s death too,” he told her. “You did your best, and all that effort may well have put you on somebody’s shit list.”
“May have?” She turned with a wry look in his direction. “How about definitely did? Or am I delusional to think so? Do you guys go around shooting random people for fun?”
“Can I presume that’s what you’re thinking?”
“Somebody may have been doing this for a while.”
“That doesn’t mean that they’ve been active the whole time, and, for all you know, they’ve killed in the past, and, for whatever reason, stopped for a time. Sometimes it happens like that, even with prolific serial killers.” Magnus grabbed a pad of paper and a pen off the doc’s desk, then sat down and started writing notes.
She laughed. “Oh, come on. I’m sure you guys have shrinks and psychologists all over this.”
“We do, and we don’t,” he said. “We’re keeping our investigation fairly low-key at the moment.”
“Why? So more people can get killed?” She made no effort to minimize the bluntness of her tone.
He didn’t even bother looking up, just continued to write.
When the door to the clinic opened, and Sydney walked back in again, Amelia saw two cups of coffee and sighed happily. “It’s funny how the simple things in life can have so much more meaning, especially when doing without.”
“The simple things in life are important,” Sydney claimed, as she walked over, “particularly when you need a lift mentally, just for healing.”
“And yet I’m alive,” she noted, “so I shouldn’t need anything.”
Sydney gave her a wry look. “When you feel as if you have a perfect life, you can tell the rest of us how that works,” she teased, with a cheerful glance over at Magnus. “Did you come up with something useful to help him out?”
“I don’t think so,” Amelia replied. “I think he’s writing notes to confuse me.”
Magnus gave a shout of laughter, as he stood up, then walked toward them and gave Sydney a hug and a kiss on the top of her head. “I’ll be back later.” And, with that, he quickly turned.
“Wait,” Sydney called out. “You didn’t tell me why you came in the first place.”
“Doesn’t matter,” he said, as he kept on going. “Things have changed.” And, with that, he was gone.
Sydney slowly turned and frowned at Amelia, carefully watching her. “Do you know what that was all about?”
“No idea,” she said honestly. “Hopefully something in our conversation triggered him and made sense to him somehow.” She was raw and blunt in her speech now, a feature becoming more and more prominent, as she healed. “There isn’t much I can do to help. This is all way beyond me.”
“Unfortunately,” Sydney added, “it’s way beyond most of us.”
*
Mountain listened to Magnus, as he relayed the conversation he’d just had with Amelia about serial killers and covering for somebody, and together they contemplated these newest theories. Finally Mountain said, “In a way that does fit. Chef is covering for somebody.”
“I know, and, as soon as she mentioned it, I started to put the pieces together, but still we don’t know an awful lot.”
“And it’s the part that we don’t know that’ll bring this to a complete stop, if we can’t get some proof or a confession going.”
“So, then we have to look at why that could be.” Mountain sat here for a long time, Magnus quiet beside him, both of them letting this new avenue and the latest information roll around in their heads.
Magnus looked over at him and spoke in a careful tone. “The best way might be to trap our suspect in some way.”
“Yeah, but that’s not likely to happen, and that won’t be something that would hold up in court.”
“In this case, it won’t be a normal court of law.”
“I know, but, in that sense alone, it’ll be even more of an issue that we need to be extra careful about.”
Mountain put his fingers on the notepad for a long time and then said, “I’ll go confirm a few things with Amelia.” He stood up, still frowning. “How did she look, by the way?”
“Better, much better,” Magnus said, with a smile. “Seems she’ll pull through this just fine.”
Mountain smiled. “That would be nice. She’s been a pretty tough cookie, up until now.”
“You’re the one keeping track of her. Have you told her that?”
He shook his head. “No, not really. I may have been keeping track of her, but she did lose me a couple times, much to my dismay.”
“You’ve also been keeping track of her for other reasons. Maybe you should bring that up too,” Magnus suggested. “I’m not sure she would be against it.”
“Doesn’t matter if she’s against it or not,” Mountain snapped, his tone harsh as he glared at Magnus. “That is definitely not anything I’m planning on dealing with right now.”
“Of course not,” Magnus noted, with an eye roll. “You’ve always got to go above and beyond.”
Mountain eyed him wryly. “No, but I don’t want to confuse the issue, not when we have so many people who have been hurt by this.”
“And, if we don’t put a stop to it, where will it end?”
“That’s why we have to look for more history.”
“Should we bring Mason in on it?”
“Yeah, I think I’ll call him now,” Mountain replied. “He’s our best shot at finding some history covering many, many years. If there is any, that information would be very helpful—if we could come up with it, especially some related history we could use to force the issue.”
“Yeah, good luck with that,” Magnus said. “I’ll head out to check on supplies and Joe again. Hopefully he’s doing better. Sandrine mentioned he’s quite the sneak these days, and Sydney let it slip that he came in to get some medication. Painkillers that came in a little bit ago, I guess?”
“Sounds as if you’re really worried about Joe.”
“I think we all are. And what about that new investigator, Samson?” Magnus asked, turning to look at Mountain. “Something’s very odd about him.”
Mountain nodded. “Yeah, he’s on my radar too.”
“But he wasn’t even here before, so he can’t be involved.”
“Maybe he’s not involved in that way, but I highly suspect he’s got more going on behind the scenes than he’s letting on.”
“Was he here earlier?” Magnus asked in confusion. “Because, if he wasn’t, no way he’s involved.”
“I don’t think he was. However, somebody outside could easily have been involved,” Mountain pointed out. “We’re already looking for a connection from way before all this training session started, so that isn’t such a farfetched idea. We can’t ever lose track of the fact that somebody could be pulling strings from afar.”
Magnus slowly nodded. “I hadn’t really made that leap myself,” he admitted, “but you’re right. It wouldn’t take a whole lot to finesse this from another location, particularly if they’d been in direct contact.”
“And, when we talk about direct contact, we don’t have any right to check who’s been in contact with whom,” he shared. “Unfortunately that won’t go over well, if we start ripping apart phone records.”
“We can do it if we have probable cause,” he stated, looking at Mountain carefully. “Yet it didn’t help with Eric’s phone. Either he had just wiped it before he came to the base to kill one of us or it died or it was wet in the snow too long or something else.”
“Right, and we may be close, but we’re not quite there yet. Which is why I need to get going, so I can talk to Amelia, Samson, and Mason.”
Mountain went to the medical clinic first, wondering how much to say to Amelia, but, when he saw her, he winced to see how quiet and bruised and lonely she looked. “Hey,” he said, his voice gentle, as he walked in. “How are you feeling?”
She glanced at him and then looked away. “I’m fine.” She gave a careless wave. “Magnus was just here. Are you the next bodyguard?”
He snorted. “I don’t make a very good bodyguard.”
She gave him a small smile. “I highly suspect you’re better trained than all of them.”
He shook his head. “No, that’s not true. I may just have some uglier experience in some ways.”
“I can see that,” she noted, “but you’re also the one who’s here, still hoping I’ve got answers, right?”
“Of course, and I’m still not convinced that you don’t.”
Surprised, she looked at him and slowly shook her head. “If you’re putting all your hopes into the basket with my name on it,” she stated, “you’re completely wrong and will be very disappointed.”
He smiled. “Maybe. … Been there, done that,” he said in a nonchalant tone. “I’m not exactly looking for perfection, but any steps in the right direction would help.”
“But I don’t know anything.”
He sat down across from her, then watched as she picked up the fresh coffee he had brought and had several sips. She was using it to shield her face, something to hide behind, and he understood that because something was going on with her that he still didn’t understand. Something was going on, and she was keeping it from him. That was starting to piss him off. But getting pissed off and going in like Godzilla, smashing the very pieces he needed, wouldn’t help either. Not when it was obvious that she was already wary.
Finally, as Sydney worked in the corner of the clinic, Mountain decided to be as blunt as Amelia was. He had to try. “Amelia, why did you avoid me all those times out in the great grand north?”
She looked at him from behind her cup, her gaze hooded, and half smiled. “How do you know it was me who was avoiding you?”
“Because I could track you quite easily, but it was also obvious that you were trying to avoid me.”
Looking at him in surprise, she asked, “Do you think I don’t have a reason? Good God, look at what happened when I couldn’t avoid you.”
He frowned. “You thought I was the one shooting you?”
She shook her head. “No, never. It wasn’t that big of a person, and I, for damn sure, wouldn’t be talking to you if I had any such suspicion.”
“Ah, so, for once, my size is a good thing.”
“I don’t know if it’s ever a good thing,” she conceded in a careful tone, her gaze still on her coffee. “This world isn’t built for people who are different, who are better, bigger, faster, … smarter. It’s built for the average person, and the minute you’re beyond that, life gets a little hard.”
He stared at her for a long moment. “Can you tell me in what way you have experienced that firsthand?”
Day 5 Late Afternoon
When did she first see him, based on his size? No. that’s not what he’s asking. Amelia studied the massive man in front of her but not with fear. Instead she noted a certain edge of excitement, a certain streak of attraction, neither of which she ever really expected to feel. She had felt it the first time her path had crossed his, both of them walking in the village, stopping her in her tracks. Yet he hadn’t shared those feelings, just kept on going, and it had left her confused, disoriented, and struggling. She trashed herself about it for quite a while, calling herself a child needing to grow up, because stuff like that only happened in books.
And yet here she was, still looking at him, wondering what the hell was going on with her hormones. When she was drugged, her body didn’t know this was happening. Yet now that she was slowly coming back out of the most acute pain, her body was taunting her, as if saying, Hey, wake up, wake the fuck up out of that stupor. Amelia got the message. It was clear and conscious. She wanted to yell at her hormones to tell Mountain to take notice because he was oblivious.
She shifted again to look over at Sydney, who, for all intents and purposes, appeared to be ignoring them. Amelia wasn’t fooled. If she so much as coughed a single time, Sydney would be at Amelia’s bedside in a heartbeat. Meanwhile Sydney had tuned them out, content to let them do their thing for the moment. Amelia’s gaze shifted back to Mountain, who was waiting.
She frowned. “I saw you out there many times, but I didn’t know who you were, and I didn’t trust you,” she replied, trying to answer whatever his question had been. “So, I made sure that I stayed out of your way.”
He didn’t seem to like that answer.
She continued. “I get it. You’re probably used to being the one who has the skills to stay hidden, but, up here, Mother Nature equalizes a lot.”
His face cracked into a surprising smile. “Good. I’m glad you had that advantage because, if it wasn’t me, it was someone else.” Then he took a moment to add, “And obviously both times you got shot, you couldn’t escape them either time.”
“One of them was really good,” she noted. “A couple times I thought he was hunting me, stalking me in a way, but then he disappeared.”
“Because he’s dead,” Mountain stated bluntly. “That was probably Eric, although I don’t think he was your shooter. I am sure we have mentioned him to you. He was missing for a long while, then broke into the base, hell-bent on a second attack on Chrissy and Whalen, for some reason—maybe because Eric thought they had seen something. Chrissy had no choice but to shoot him to defend them all.”
Amelia winced at that. “Great. Did you and Magnus discuss my theory at least?”
“We did, and as theories go, it’s definitely possible,” he admitted. When she looked at him in surprise, he shrugged. “I’m not saying that Chef is protecting someone, but, if he is, we could use a little more psychology on it than we have currently available.”
“I’m sure you have lots of people on staff for that,” she said.
He gave her a ghost of a smile. “And yet you’ve done pretty well, so far.”
She shook her head. “I just understand people. Some of them, … as I am sure you would agree, are all kinds of nuts.”
He laughed at that. “Yeah, that’s a good description of people in general, but you seem to have a larger-than-passing knowledge on serial killers.”
“Not really,” she argued, as she hesitated, wondering how much to say and then realizing it would probably come out eventually anyway, what with these investigators digging into her background as well. “At one point in time, I dated one. Thankfully he didn’t choose me as his next victim, and he was caught before our relationship went too far.” She took a deep breath and added, “It definitely made me wary.”
His eyebrows shot straight up, as he stared at her.
She shrugged. “I figured you would have found out sooner or later.”
He smiled. “We might have heard about it eventually, but it’s always nicer when people volunteer information. Then we don’t feel that we have to pull teeth to get it from them, at least not all the time.”
“What difference does it make?” she snapped, glaring at him, frustrated with herself for mentioning it. “The fact that I had the crappy judgment to go out with this guy shouldn’t need to be brought up all the time and leave a negative mark on me for the rest of my life.”
“No, of course not,” he agreed. “Yet has this mention made your past or future harder?”
She gave him a flat look. “Hasn’t made it all that much easier,” she pointed out.
With a ghost of a smile, he nodded. “Still, your honesty is appreciated.”
“And yet it doesn’t make a damn bit of a difference. That’s my ugly history and doesn’t pertain to anybody else.”
“Maybe not,” he replied, “but you do have an innate understanding that a lot of people here would not.”
“Only because I had to go to his court case, give evidence, plus did an awful lot of research myself,” she explained. “I never wanted to end up in that situation again.”
“Of course not,” he stated, “and thankfully you survived. It seems to have potentially given you a sixth sense of sorts.”
“Maybe, or maybe it’s just paranoia,” she muttered, not giving any quarter nor direction. “If you think about it, it’s very easy to think that you know something, but it’s just as easy to be wrong. I couldn’t take the chance of being wrong again.”
“At least it was a long time ago,” he murmured, “and you’re doing fine now. You’ve got quite a stellar name built up in your field. You have a lot of respect for the villagers, and they also respect you.”
She gave a half laugh. “That’s because my great-grandfather was related to several of them,” she shared. “I mentioned earlier that I have cousins there, did I not?”
He nodded, and, with that last piece handed to him, it felt almost as if the tumblers fell into place in his head.
She nodded. “So, technically, … yes, I’m related to several of them,” she said, now coherent and compliant, “but I really don’t think you could call that a relationship or a family. My father used to come up on a regular basis and be with the villagers, and he’s the one who taught me most of what I know about survival in this place. I just call it my community.”
“I can see that.”
“He’s also the one who instilled the love of this area in me,” she added, with a nod. “He sent me to university so I could study and understand the beauty of it.” The tears collected in the back of her eyes, as she thought about it. “Definitely some times in my life have been much better than others, and those times up here with my great-grandfather, grandfather and my father were definitely some of the best.”
“Anybody else in your family show any interest in the Arctic?” he asked.
With a ghost of a smile in his direction, she shook her head. “No, my sisters prefer not to acknowledge that blood in their lives,” she shared. “For me, it’s not the blood that matters. It’s the people.”
Mountain saw the fierceness that he liked so much in Amelia.
“I couldn’t care less whether people like my heritage or not,” she stated, with a cool look in his direction. “I can tell you that what they taught me was invaluable, and it has kept me alive on more than one occasion, when I’ve been doing research up here. It’s also allowed me to stay out almost indefinitely, looking after myself, and that’s how I managed to look after Teegan too,” she related.
“I did, and I tried to save the other one too. … That didn’t work out so well for him.”
“And we’re sorry about Yegorahn’s death too,” he told her. “You did your best, and all that effort may well have put you on somebody’s shit list.”
“May have?” She turned with a wry look in his direction. “How about definitely did? Or am I delusional to think so? Do you guys go around shooting random people for fun?”
“Can I presume that’s what you’re thinking?”
“Somebody may have been doing this for a while.”
“That doesn’t mean that they’ve been active the whole time, and, for all you know, they’ve killed in the past, and, for whatever reason, stopped for a time. Sometimes it happens like that, even with prolific serial killers.” Magnus grabbed a pad of paper and a pen off the doc’s desk, then sat down and started writing notes.
She laughed. “Oh, come on. I’m sure you guys have shrinks and psychologists all over this.”
“We do, and we don’t,” he said. “We’re keeping our investigation fairly low-key at the moment.”
“Why? So more people can get killed?” She made no effort to minimize the bluntness of her tone.
He didn’t even bother looking up, just continued to write.
When the door to the clinic opened, and Sydney walked back in again, Amelia saw two cups of coffee and sighed happily. “It’s funny how the simple things in life can have so much more meaning, especially when doing without.”
“The simple things in life are important,” Sydney claimed, as she walked over, “particularly when you need a lift mentally, just for healing.”
“And yet I’m alive,” she noted, “so I shouldn’t need anything.”
Sydney gave her a wry look. “When you feel as if you have a perfect life, you can tell the rest of us how that works,” she teased, with a cheerful glance over at Magnus. “Did you come up with something useful to help him out?”
“I don’t think so,” Amelia replied. “I think he’s writing notes to confuse me.”
Magnus gave a shout of laughter, as he stood up, then walked toward them and gave Sydney a hug and a kiss on the top of her head. “I’ll be back later.” And, with that, he quickly turned.
“Wait,” Sydney called out. “You didn’t tell me why you came in the first place.”
“Doesn’t matter,” he said, as he kept on going. “Things have changed.” And, with that, he was gone.
Sydney slowly turned and frowned at Amelia, carefully watching her. “Do you know what that was all about?”
“No idea,” she said honestly. “Hopefully something in our conversation triggered him and made sense to him somehow.” She was raw and blunt in her speech now, a feature becoming more and more prominent, as she healed. “There isn’t much I can do to help. This is all way beyond me.”
“Unfortunately,” Sydney added, “it’s way beyond most of us.”
*
Mountain listened to Magnus, as he relayed the conversation he’d just had with Amelia about serial killers and covering for somebody, and together they contemplated these newest theories. Finally Mountain said, “In a way that does fit. Chef is covering for somebody.”
“I know, and, as soon as she mentioned it, I started to put the pieces together, but still we don’t know an awful lot.”
“And it’s the part that we don’t know that’ll bring this to a complete stop, if we can’t get some proof or a confession going.”
“So, then we have to look at why that could be.” Mountain sat here for a long time, Magnus quiet beside him, both of them letting this new avenue and the latest information roll around in their heads.
Magnus looked over at him and spoke in a careful tone. “The best way might be to trap our suspect in some way.”
“Yeah, but that’s not likely to happen, and that won’t be something that would hold up in court.”
“In this case, it won’t be a normal court of law.”
“I know, but, in that sense alone, it’ll be even more of an issue that we need to be extra careful about.”
Mountain put his fingers on the notepad for a long time and then said, “I’ll go confirm a few things with Amelia.” He stood up, still frowning. “How did she look, by the way?”
“Better, much better,” Magnus said, with a smile. “Seems she’ll pull through this just fine.”
Mountain smiled. “That would be nice. She’s been a pretty tough cookie, up until now.”
“You’re the one keeping track of her. Have you told her that?”
He shook his head. “No, not really. I may have been keeping track of her, but she did lose me a couple times, much to my dismay.”
“You’ve also been keeping track of her for other reasons. Maybe you should bring that up too,” Magnus suggested. “I’m not sure she would be against it.”
“Doesn’t matter if she’s against it or not,” Mountain snapped, his tone harsh as he glared at Magnus. “That is definitely not anything I’m planning on dealing with right now.”
“Of course not,” Magnus noted, with an eye roll. “You’ve always got to go above and beyond.”
Mountain eyed him wryly. “No, but I don’t want to confuse the issue, not when we have so many people who have been hurt by this.”
“And, if we don’t put a stop to it, where will it end?”
“That’s why we have to look for more history.”
“Should we bring Mason in on it?”
“Yeah, I think I’ll call him now,” Mountain replied. “He’s our best shot at finding some history covering many, many years. If there is any, that information would be very helpful—if we could come up with it, especially some related history we could use to force the issue.”
“Yeah, good luck with that,” Magnus said. “I’ll head out to check on supplies and Joe again. Hopefully he’s doing better. Sandrine mentioned he’s quite the sneak these days, and Sydney let it slip that he came in to get some medication. Painkillers that came in a little bit ago, I guess?”
“Sounds as if you’re really worried about Joe.”
“I think we all are. And what about that new investigator, Samson?” Magnus asked, turning to look at Mountain. “Something’s very odd about him.”
Mountain nodded. “Yeah, he’s on my radar too.”
“But he wasn’t even here before, so he can’t be involved.”
“Maybe he’s not involved in that way, but I highly suspect he’s got more going on behind the scenes than he’s letting on.”
“Was he here earlier?” Magnus asked in confusion. “Because, if he wasn’t, no way he’s involved.”
“I don’t think he was. However, somebody outside could easily have been involved,” Mountain pointed out. “We’re already looking for a connection from way before all this training session started, so that isn’t such a farfetched idea. We can’t ever lose track of the fact that somebody could be pulling strings from afar.”
Magnus slowly nodded. “I hadn’t really made that leap myself,” he admitted, “but you’re right. It wouldn’t take a whole lot to finesse this from another location, particularly if they’d been in direct contact.”
“And, when we talk about direct contact, we don’t have any right to check who’s been in contact with whom,” he shared. “Unfortunately that won’t go over well, if we start ripping apart phone records.”
“We can do it if we have probable cause,” he stated, looking at Mountain carefully. “Yet it didn’t help with Eric’s phone. Either he had just wiped it before he came to the base to kill one of us or it died or it was wet in the snow too long or something else.”
“Right, and we may be close, but we’re not quite there yet. Which is why I need to get going, so I can talk to Amelia, Samson, and Mason.”
Mountain went to the medical clinic first, wondering how much to say to Amelia, but, when he saw her, he winced to see how quiet and bruised and lonely she looked. “Hey,” he said, his voice gentle, as he walked in. “How are you feeling?”
She glanced at him and then looked away. “I’m fine.” She gave a careless wave. “Magnus was just here. Are you the next bodyguard?”
He snorted. “I don’t make a very good bodyguard.”
She gave him a small smile. “I highly suspect you’re better trained than all of them.”
He shook his head. “No, that’s not true. I may just have some uglier experience in some ways.”
“I can see that,” she noted, “but you’re also the one who’s here, still hoping I’ve got answers, right?”
“Of course, and I’m still not convinced that you don’t.”
Surprised, she looked at him and slowly shook her head. “If you’re putting all your hopes into the basket with my name on it,” she stated, “you’re completely wrong and will be very disappointed.”
He smiled. “Maybe. … Been there, done that,” he said in a nonchalant tone. “I’m not exactly looking for perfection, but any steps in the right direction would help.”
“But I don’t know anything.”
He sat down across from her, then watched as she picked up the fresh coffee he had brought and had several sips. She was using it to shield her face, something to hide behind, and he understood that because something was going on with her that he still didn’t understand. Something was going on, and she was keeping it from him. That was starting to piss him off. But getting pissed off and going in like Godzilla, smashing the very pieces he needed, wouldn’t help either. Not when it was obvious that she was already wary.
Finally, as Sydney worked in the corner of the clinic, Mountain decided to be as blunt as Amelia was. He had to try. “Amelia, why did you avoid me all those times out in the great grand north?”
She looked at him from behind her cup, her gaze hooded, and half smiled. “How do you know it was me who was avoiding you?”
“Because I could track you quite easily, but it was also obvious that you were trying to avoid me.”
Looking at him in surprise, she asked, “Do you think I don’t have a reason? Good God, look at what happened when I couldn’t avoid you.”
He frowned. “You thought I was the one shooting you?”
She shook her head. “No, never. It wasn’t that big of a person, and I, for damn sure, wouldn’t be talking to you if I had any such suspicion.”
“Ah, so, for once, my size is a good thing.”
“I don’t know if it’s ever a good thing,” she conceded in a careful tone, her gaze still on her coffee. “This world isn’t built for people who are different, who are better, bigger, faster, … smarter. It’s built for the average person, and the minute you’re beyond that, life gets a little hard.”
He stared at her for a long moment. “Can you tell me in what way you have experienced that firsthand?”
Day 5 Late Afternoon
When did she first see him, based on his size? No. that’s not what he’s asking. Amelia studied the massive man in front of her but not with fear. Instead she noted a certain edge of excitement, a certain streak of attraction, neither of which she ever really expected to feel. She had felt it the first time her path had crossed his, both of them walking in the village, stopping her in her tracks. Yet he hadn’t shared those feelings, just kept on going, and it had left her confused, disoriented, and struggling. She trashed herself about it for quite a while, calling herself a child needing to grow up, because stuff like that only happened in books.
And yet here she was, still looking at him, wondering what the hell was going on with her hormones. When she was drugged, her body didn’t know this was happening. Yet now that she was slowly coming back out of the most acute pain, her body was taunting her, as if saying, Hey, wake up, wake the fuck up out of that stupor. Amelia got the message. It was clear and conscious. She wanted to yell at her hormones to tell Mountain to take notice because he was oblivious.
She shifted again to look over at Sydney, who, for all intents and purposes, appeared to be ignoring them. Amelia wasn’t fooled. If she so much as coughed a single time, Sydney would be at Amelia’s bedside in a heartbeat. Meanwhile Sydney had tuned them out, content to let them do their thing for the moment. Amelia’s gaze shifted back to Mountain, who was waiting.
She frowned. “I saw you out there many times, but I didn’t know who you were, and I didn’t trust you,” she replied, trying to answer whatever his question had been. “So, I made sure that I stayed out of your way.”
He didn’t seem to like that answer.
She continued. “I get it. You’re probably used to being the one who has the skills to stay hidden, but, up here, Mother Nature equalizes a lot.”
His face cracked into a surprising smile. “Good. I’m glad you had that advantage because, if it wasn’t me, it was someone else.” Then he took a moment to add, “And obviously both times you got shot, you couldn’t escape them either time.”
“One of them was really good,” she noted. “A couple times I thought he was hunting me, stalking me in a way, but then he disappeared.”
“Because he’s dead,” Mountain stated bluntly. “That was probably Eric, although I don’t think he was your shooter. I am sure we have mentioned him to you. He was missing for a long while, then broke into the base, hell-bent on a second attack on Chrissy and Whalen, for some reason—maybe because Eric thought they had seen something. Chrissy had no choice but to shoot him to defend them all.”
Amelia winced at that. “Great. Did you and Magnus discuss my theory at least?”
“We did, and as theories go, it’s definitely possible,” he admitted. When she looked at him in surprise, he shrugged. “I’m not saying that Chef is protecting someone, but, if he is, we could use a little more psychology on it than we have currently available.”
“I’m sure you have lots of people on staff for that,” she said.
He gave her a ghost of a smile. “And yet you’ve done pretty well, so far.”
She shook her head. “I just understand people. Some of them, … as I am sure you would agree, are all kinds of nuts.”
He laughed at that. “Yeah, that’s a good description of people in general, but you seem to have a larger-than-passing knowledge on serial killers.”
“Not really,” she argued, as she hesitated, wondering how much to say and then realizing it would probably come out eventually anyway, what with these investigators digging into her background as well. “At one point in time, I dated one. Thankfully he didn’t choose me as his next victim, and he was caught before our relationship went too far.” She took a deep breath and added, “It definitely made me wary.”
His eyebrows shot straight up, as he stared at her.
She shrugged. “I figured you would have found out sooner or later.”
He smiled. “We might have heard about it eventually, but it’s always nicer when people volunteer information. Then we don’t feel that we have to pull teeth to get it from them, at least not all the time.”
“What difference does it make?” she snapped, glaring at him, frustrated with herself for mentioning it. “The fact that I had the crappy judgment to go out with this guy shouldn’t need to be brought up all the time and leave a negative mark on me for the rest of my life.”
“No, of course not,” he agreed. “Yet has this mention made your past or future harder?”
She gave him a flat look. “Hasn’t made it all that much easier,” she pointed out.
With a ghost of a smile, he nodded. “Still, your honesty is appreciated.”
“And yet it doesn’t make a damn bit of a difference. That’s my ugly history and doesn’t pertain to anybody else.”
“Maybe not,” he replied, “but you do have an innate understanding that a lot of people here would not.”
“Only because I had to go to his court case, give evidence, plus did an awful lot of research myself,” she explained. “I never wanted to end up in that situation again.”
“Of course not,” he stated, “and thankfully you survived. It seems to have potentially given you a sixth sense of sorts.”
“Maybe, or maybe it’s just paranoia,” she muttered, not giving any quarter nor direction. “If you think about it, it’s very easy to think that you know something, but it’s just as easy to be wrong. I couldn’t take the chance of being wrong again.”
“At least it was a long time ago,” he murmured, “and you’re doing fine now. You’ve got quite a stellar name built up in your field. You have a lot of respect for the villagers, and they also respect you.”
She gave a half laugh. “That’s because my great-grandfather was related to several of them,” she shared. “I mentioned earlier that I have cousins there, did I not?”
He nodded, and, with that last piece handed to him, it felt almost as if the tumblers fell into place in his head.
She nodded. “So, technically, … yes, I’m related to several of them,” she said, now coherent and compliant, “but I really don’t think you could call that a relationship or a family. My father used to come up on a regular basis and be with the villagers, and he’s the one who taught me most of what I know about survival in this place. I just call it my community.”
“I can see that.”
“He’s also the one who instilled the love of this area in me,” she added, with a nod. “He sent me to university so I could study and understand the beauty of it.” The tears collected in the back of her eyes, as she thought about it. “Definitely some times in my life have been much better than others, and those times up here with my great-grandfather, grandfather and my father were definitely some of the best.”
“Anybody else in your family show any interest in the Arctic?” he asked.
With a ghost of a smile in his direction, she shook her head. “No, my sisters prefer not to acknowledge that blood in their lives,” she shared. “For me, it’s not the blood that matters. It’s the people.”
Mountain saw the fierceness that he liked so much in Amelia.
“I couldn’t care less whether people like my heritage or not,” she stated, with a cool look in his direction. “I can tell you that what they taught me was invaluable, and it has kept me alive on more than one occasion, when I’ve been doing research up here. It’s also allowed me to stay out almost indefinitely, looking after myself, and that’s how I managed to look after Teegan too,” she related.
