“Still. The trucks would have been common on-site,” Gabe said. “And if Wilder saw them with Pete and he suspected the fuel had been tampered with...”
“It’s not a huge leap to suspect the Sorros boys,” Harley said. “We need to find Wilder.”
“I vote we find Mars and Sloan first,” Jericho said.
“You’re not going to find anything in this weather,” Sunni said. “The windchill is negative thirty. Nothing is moving out there, not even bad guys.”
Jericho’s mouth tightened, and beside him, Harley nodded.
“But I do know where to start,” she said. “With a guy named T-Bone. And he’s sitting in the Copper Mountain jail wearing a Summit Construction sweatshirt.”
She finished her coffee. Turned to Jericho. “Ready for some PI work?”
“Will this involve running?”
She laughed, her golden-brown eyes nearly alight. Yes, something—or someone—had changed.
So, of course he and Orlando followed her right out the door.
17
“Ican’t believeyou made him cave that fast,” Jericho said as Harley drove them along the back roads to her house.
They’d spent the past three hours at the sheriff’s office, mostly with Harley on the phone to her boss in Juneau. But she’d also managed to convince T-Bone that it was in his best interest to hand over everything he knew about the possible drug storage locations, aka, construction sites of Summit Construction.
Harley looked over at him. “It was the plea. He’s already in trouble in Anchorage—he got into a bar fight. Second degree assault, although they dropped the attempted murder charge. Still, in Alaska, that’s up to ten years in prison. Lydia offered to knock it down to third degree, with a three-year prison term.” She turned onto her long driveway. “Deke’s working on a map to all the construction sites. If I know him, he’ll have a plan for us in the morning.”
The dome house reflected the stars, the moonlight streaming through the trees as they drove up to what felt like a secret hideout in the woods.
They just had to lay low until morning. Eight hours.
No problem.
Jericho would button her up tight, make sure Mars and Sloan didn’t walk out of the woods, and end this day where he’d started ... watching his world blow up.
Orlando snoozed on the back seat, and Jericho put his hand on the dog’s body, feeling the rise and fall of his breath.
Good dog.
Jericho still hadn’t quite cleared his mind, his body, from the creep of the cave and how close he’d come to ... well, slowly freezing to death in the dark.
So yes, he wanted to get home—or at least, to Harley’s home—start a fire, lock the doors and tell himself they were safe.
His gaze, however, glanced over at the dark hulk of his former family home. Maybe it was time to sell the place, like Hudson said. They could use the money, for sure.
The thought sat inside him, burned.
The house had eyes, and they seemed to watch him, his father’s voice thrumming through him.“I built this for you,Jericho.”
“I’m going to park in the garage,” Harley said and drove down into the heated garage under the main level.
Only then did he realize the road had been plowed. “Who else knows you’re here?” He got out and pulled the bag of groceries from the back. Orlando jumped into the snow, wagged his tail. “Yes, I have some for you,” he told the dog.
“We hire the same guy your brother does,” Harley answered. “He runs the local snowplow, works this area. Nils Hanson.”
“Hey, wasn’t his son in high school with us?”
“Yeah. Brandon. He’s around. Helps his dad sometimes. Works maintenance at the school.”