She stared into the distance. She had survived Indonesia. She had no idea how she would survive this.

Chapter Nine

A motion sensor light came on over the front porch as Eban knocked on the door of the large A-frame log cabin. A dog started barking in the background. He shivered. The temperature had dropped even further and the wintry conditions bit at his exposed flesh. A white man wearing jeans and a plaid shirt over a t-shirt cracked open the door.

“What do you want?” Suspicion lit the man’s eyes.

Not the friendliest greeting. Eban was reminded by the fact he couldn’t see the man’s hands, that many people in Alaska were armed. Eban held up his creds and introduced himself.

The suspicion faded a little and the man backed up enough to let Eban step across the threshold even though he didn’t fully close the door behind him. The slight smell of weed floated on the air but cannabis was legal for recreational use in this state.

Right now, there could be a grow op in the basement and Eban wouldn’t bat an eyelid unless it was somehow connected to Martin Carstairs’s murder.

“You here about what happened next door?” the man asked.

Eban nodded, but before he could speak someone yelled from inside the house.

“Who is it, Joe?”

Joe shouted back. “Cops asking about the murder.”

Eban didn’t correct the guy. He’d introduced himself and shown his credentials. If these people mistook him for a cop, it wasn’t his fault. The bottom-line was the same. He was law enforcement and was here to do his job.

“I thought they’d caught the killer?” An Alaska Native woman hurried through from the other room, being dragged by a large, black Newfoundland dog. The woman was late twenties. Long, dark hair and a pretty face. She looked nervous. Did they have something to hide or was it the murder that bothered them?

“Let him go, Louise.” Joe looked up and caught Eban’s gaze. “The dog won’t hurt you.”

Louise smiled. “His name is Jasper and he’s more likely to drown you in drool than bite.”

Eban let the curious animal sniff his legs before he gave the giant pooch a gentle scratch on the head. “I was wondering if you saw anything out of the ordinary last night?”

Joe shook his head. “We were in bed by ten like always.”

Louise’s expression flashed. “Oh, Jasper woke up and started barking at about twelve-thirty. I didn’t even remember that until now.”

“He was barking at the wind or at a deer. He does it all the time. Scared of his own shadow. The girl was in Martin’s house all night from what I heard,” Joe said firmly.

“Where’d you hear that?” Eban asked nonchalantly.

Joe’s expression narrowed. “Friend of mine works for the Fire Department who turned up this morning. He found the girl in her truck. Martin was dead inside the house. He gave me a call because he knew I lived next door and wanted to reassure Louise the danger was over.”