SHIVER (15 page)

Aidan looked up at him in confusion. “Uh…”

“You don’t remember? I’ve grown a bit since the last time you saw me.” The man spread his skillet size hands. “Remember junior year, you saved my sorry ass from getting pummeled by Sam Sagoonick.”

“Tiny Tom?” His brows rose in surprise. No way this…giant was Tiny.

“Yup.” Tiny shrugged as though a little embarrassed. “I got a growth spurt after high school. People call me Thomas now.” He reached out a hand for Aidan to shake. “Good to see you, man.”

“Yeah.” Aidan shook Thomas’ hand, his disappearing. “So, whatever happened to ‘Slay ’em Sam Sagoonick?”

“I married her.” He grinned. “We’ve got three rug rats, girls, just as tough and beautiful as their mother.”

“You married Sam?” Aidan didn’t know if he should pity him or respect him?

“Yup.” Thomas grinned. “Never a dull moment with her around.” His smile turned grim. “Hey, man, I was sorry to hear about your old man. My condolences.”

Aidan frowned. “Who told you about my dad?” Nobody in Chatanika had known Earl was dead, until he’d arrived. How had Tiny Tom known?

“I’m not sure.” He scratched his head. “I was hanging with the boys the other night at the Lonely Lady. Someone was talking about it.”

“Who?”

“Sorry, man. I had a few too many.” He elbowed Aidan. “You know what I mean? I have no clue who told me.”

“That’s all right.” Though it wasn’t. Who in Fairbanks would be talking about Earl?

“What about you?” Thomas asked, obviously trying to change the subject. “Married? Kids?”

“No and no.”

“Too bad. A woman tempers a man. Makes life more enjoyable. You know what I mean?”

He wished he did.

“What’d you do to the leg? Break it skiing?”

Raven came up to them, a pair of gloves in her hand. “Ready? Hi, Thomas.”

“Hey, Raven. Wow, seeing the two of you together is like old times.” Thomas nodded. “How’s your boy?”

Raven glanced from Aidan to Thomas and swallowed. “Good.”

“He like those footpads for the dogs? They working out?”

“Haven’t heard any complaints.”

“Good. Good.” Thomas cocked his head to the side. “Hey, why don’t the two of you join me and Sam for dinner? It would be real great to catch up.”

Raven’s skin blanched. Obviously, she didn’t like the idea.

“Thanks, Thomas. We have to get back. Maybe some other time.” He grabbed a parka off the rack that was his size and looked at Raven. “Ready?”

She nodded.

“Well, let’s get you two checked out then.” Thomas stomped to the desk. A man that big didn’t merely walk.

He rang them up. Aidan grabbed the gloves and put them on his ticket.

“Hey,” Raven tried to object.

“You drove me here, it’s the least I can do.” He could tell she wanted to argue but she kept her mouth shut in front of Thomas.

“Seriously, man, it was great to see you.” Thomas handed Aidan a bag with the items. “You staying long?”

Aidan glanced at Raven and then back to Thomas. “Not sure yet, but I’ll stop in before I leave and catch up.”

“You do that.” Thomas winked at them. “You two take care, now.”

Raven turned and beat a trail out of Big Ray’s. Aidan hobbled behind her as fast as he could. His leg pulsed with pain as he reached the Suburban, Raven behind the wheel with the engine already running. He got in and before he had his seatbelt clicked, she was in reverse and backing out of the parking lot.

“What’s up?” he asked, as she cut through town toward the Steese.

“Nothing.”

“Want to elaborate?”

“No.”

This wasn’t getting them anywhere. He decided not to push. He’d already done enough pushing today, and it was tiring. His head pounded in time to the pulsing in his leg. He needed to elevate it. Take it easy. The doc had been impressed with Eva’s skills. The x-rays had shown a hair-line fracture. And due to the type of wounds the teeth of the trap had made, a cast was out of the question. A boot was the next best option. And since it was only a stress fracture, the doctor had agreed to allow him to walk on it, but made Aidan promise to listen to the pain. If it got too bad, he should use the crutches. If that didn’t help, he was supposed to return. Right now, Aidan wanted to lay his seat back and elevate his leg on the dash. One of the pain pills the doc had given him wouldn’t be out of order either. But instead he sat there in a silent car, with a fuming woman, and a long drive over nasty roads. Once that was over, he got to look forward to moving into Earl’s. He couldn’t put out Fiona and Raven any longer.

He must have dozed, because the next thing he knew, Raven was shaking him awake. He sat up in his seat and looked around. They were right outside the lodge.

“Sorry.” He rubbed his face.

“Where do you want me to take you? Earl’s? Or do you want to stay at the lodge tonight?” Raven didn’t seem as angry with him now as she had before.

“Earl’s, if you don’t mind.”

“You sure?”

What was this? Just a little while ago she’d wanted to see the last of him. “The faster I get done what I came here to do the better for everyone.”

“Okay.” She turned right and headed toward Earl’s. Chatanika wasn’t a big town, and it didn’t take her long to pull behind the SUV he’d rented. She parked and turned off the engine and pocketed her keys.

He raised a brow.

“What? You think I was going to just drop you off without seeing if this place is even liveable?” She scoffed. “I’m not that heartless, and I don’t want to come out here in a few days and find you dead.”

There were worse things than being dead. He kept his mouth shut and climbed out of the rig. Grabbing the parka, he left the bag with the gloves for Fox in the car. “I’ll need the crutches,” he said.

Raven went around the back and retrieved them. “Probably a good idea. You aren’t walking too steady.”

And here he thought he was doing really well. He took one of the crutches from her and used them more as a cane than crutch. They walked through the gate, to the side of the house, and Aidan stopped. “We’re going to need Fox. The snow covered up the path he had made to the back door. I don’t know where the booby traps are.”

“Fox actually knew how to get to Earl’s back door?”

“Yeah. Walked in like he’d done it many times before.”

Furrows appeared on her brow. “I need to have a talk with him. We could use the crutches as walking sticks. Set off any traps before we step.”

He rolled his lips and shook his head. “Nope. I don’t want to take any chance that you might get caught in a trap.” He swore. “I will personally get rid of any booby traps Earl set. The bastard.”

“No arguments here. All right, let’s head back. I wonder what Mom fixed for lunch.”

His stomach growled. “Let me grab a change of clothes from the rental.”

They walked back to the road and dug out the snow-buried vehicle. Aidan went to open the SUV, but found it already unlocked. Had he been so out of it the night he’d arrived he’d failed to lock the door? That wasn’t like him. Even though he’d grown up in an area that didn’t have a crime rate, other than what his own family had added to the community, he was careful. He’d lived in the big city of Seattle long enough to make locking his doors a habit.

He opened the door to find his clothes thrown all over the back of the vehicle. His suitcase lay gutted along with his carry-on bag.

“Do you always travel with such a mess?”

“Someone’s been through my things.” Who would ransack his car way out here? And what the hell were they looking for?

C
HAPTER
T
EN

Aidan pushed his plate aside.

“I need to borrow a gun.”

“Do you really think a gun is necessary?” Raven asked. She didn’t care for guns, even though she knew how to handle one. They’d returned from Earl’s, and had grabbed something to eat in Fiona’s kitchen. Well, at least, she had eaten. Aidan had picked at his tuna fish sandwich. She could tell he was shaken up over his stuff being ransacked. “It was probably some kids causing mischief. You know what it’s like in the winter with nothing to do. You find something to do. Legal or not just to kill the time.”

Aidan held her gaze, his eyes dark with secrets. “I need a gun. Whether you think it’s necessary or not, I’d rather be prepared.”

“What aren’t you telling me?” She placed her hands on the table when he didn’t answer her. “I’m not taking my son back to that hellhole without knowing what you know.”

He pursed his lips. “My Uncle Roland is wanted for questioning.”

“Questioning in what?”

“Murder.”

She rolled her eyes and twisted her lips. “Birds of a feather.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard it before.”

“Fine. So you think he might be here?” She remembered Roland Harte well from when he visited his brother. He was a crafty bastard who had enjoyed the misfortunes of others. “Why would he be here?”

“I don’t know.” He raked a hand through his hair. “All right, this is what I need. I want Fox to draw me a map. I don’t want him anywhere near Earl’s place—”

“No arguments there.”

“—and I need a gun.”

“I don’t have a gun.”

It was his turn to roll his eyes. “This is Alaska. Everyone has a gun.”

She couldn’t argue that.

“When will Lynx be back?”

“I have no idea. He’s on an eagle rescue, remember?”

“Pike. He won’t have any problem loaning me one of his.”

“You aren’t going to get Packin’ Pike involved in this. When Dad was killed, he put us all into lockdown. He was so afraid something would happen to us that he went overboard. It took years to get him back on track.”

“Yet you still managed to get knocked up with a guy you met in a bar.”

She sucked in her breath feeling as though he’d sucker punched her.

“God. Raven, I’m sorry.” He threw his hand up and shook his head. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

“I’m sure you haven’t been the perfect Boy Scout in all these years.”

He scoffed and looked down at his feet. “No. That I haven’t. I really am sorry, Raven.”

The door slammed, and in trotted Fox. Raven stiffened. Fiona had noticed the dimple and it was only a matter of time before someone else did. What if that someone else was Aidan? Then what would she do? She didn’t want to find out.

“Hey, guys.” Fox smiled, happy to see them. “Whatcha ya doing?” Fox hung up his coat and scurried over, dragging his backpack.

“Nothing.” Raven reached out and gave him a hug, which he barely tolerated. “How was school?”

“Stupid.” Fox took a seat. Raven and Aidan sat across from each other, now Fox sat between them. Raven saw the irony in the situation. If Aidan found out who Fox’s father was, the poor kid would always be caught in the middle.

“Why stupid?” Aidan cocked his head much the way Fox always did.

“I don’t like math.”

“Now, Fox.”

“What, Mom? Math sucks.”

“You owe the swear jar a dollar, young man.”

Fox slouched in his chair. “Man, this day bites.” He looked at Aidan under his lashes. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize to me,” Aidan said. “This day does bite.”

“Why? What happened with you? Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Just a stupid trip to the doctor’s.”

Raven was glad Aidan stopped there and didn’t reveal that someone had gone through his things at Earl’s place.

“Yeah, that su—
bites
as bad as math,” Fox said with a quick look at Raven to see if she’d caught his ‘s’ word slip-up. She let it pass.

“What’s the matter with math?” she asked. He usually did well in the subject.

“I don’t get how anyone can find a value of x.” Fox looked at both of them. “Two plus two equals four. I get that. But 5x minus 2 equals 0? Give me a break. How does someone wrap their mind around that?”

Aidan chuckled. Raven shot him a “be quiet” look. He shrugged his shoulders and smiled.

“I’ll help you with your homework later,” she said. “You’d better get on your chores before it gets any darker. It’s supposed to drop to twenty below tonight. Might want to give the dogs extra bedding.”

“All right.” Fox eyed Aidan’s leftover sandwich. “Are you going to finish that?”

“Help yourself.” Aidan pushed the plate toward him.

Fox picked up the sandwich and took a large bite. “Yum.” He opened the sandwich to see what was in it. “I like this mustard. Spicy,” he said around the food in his mouth. He swallowed. “What is it?”

“Dijon. Your grandmother had some in the fridge.”

“I like it.”

Great. First Reubens and now Dijon mustard. Dimples weren’t going to be her only problem.

Fox swallowed another bite and glanced at Aidan. “You wanta see my dogs?”

Raven cleared her throat, trying to get Aidan’s attention, but he ignored her.