Sarah Varland - Alaskan Christmas Cold Case

“I’m getting there. Please don’t interrupt.

“I managed to find her first and we talked. She told me he was after her, that he’d left her messages, talked about finding the rest of the kids from his list—though we were adults by that time—and finishing what he’d started.”

Erynn could have thrown up. Probably would have if there had been a trash can within reach. Instead she took a deep breath and willed her stomach and the rest of her to hold it together. She’d known what it probably meant when Janie had walked in. But she hadn’t been sure.

Turned out knowing in this case was much, much worse than not knowing.

“What list?” Noah asked. Erynn felt every muscle tense, tried to do one of the breathing exercises she’d learned years back.

Erynn felt Janie’s eyes on her. Refused to meet her look as Janie continued, “Someone was killing foster kids.”

“When?”

“Years ago,” Janie continued. “Then he stopped. Went silent and I guess we let our guard down. That’s when he came after me and Michelle. I never heard from her, after she warned me. I suspect she’s the one the media referred to as the Ice Maiden. The one you thought was me.”

Noah was nodding, a quick glance at him confirmed. Erynn looked away before he could see her staring.

Janie continued. “I told her we should call the police, but she reminded me that it would just put them in danger. At least one officer was killed investigating the case when it was making news and hot. I’m not sure if the police ever said his death was related, but those of us the Foster Kid Killer was after, we knew.”

Her dad. Erynn stood. Left the room to be sick. She could not hear Janie’s words from where she was in the bathroom. She’d have more questions from Noah to answer. But she’d not be able to help it.

Her forehead was hot and her heartbeat pounded in her ears. Breathe in, breathe out, she reminded herself as she’d had to do in the days after her father’s death when it had all seemed like too much . She reached for the sink knob, turned on the cold water and splashed her face.

Breathed in. Breathed out. And walked back into the lobby, not sure she was ready to hear anything else. But knowing she couldn’t hide forever.

This had proven that.

“What else can you tell me about the killer?”

“He...” Janie trailed off. “There’s not much I know, to be honest, just suspicions. Speculations. I always wondered if he’d met us personally. Maybe it always feels personal when someone is after you and your friends. But I wondered.”

“Have you seen him? Anything you know, we could use as a solid lead.”

“No.”

“We’ll need to put you in protective custody,” Noah was saying even as Janie shook her head.

Erynn had known she would. That’s the kind of woman Janie was. Once her mind was made up, there’d be no changing it.

“I’m going back home now. I just thought you should know.”

Could they keep her? Charge her with something that would allow them to keep her safe? Even as the thoughts surfaced, Erynn shrugged them off. It was still a free country and if Janie didn’t want protection, they didn’t need to give it to her.

Noah spoke again. “Then we’re officially charging you with obstruction of justice and you can come with me to the Moose Haven jail.”

If she’d been able to feel even a smidgen more lighthearted, Erynn would have laughed. The Moose Haven jail was no more than two cells in the back of the police department, Wild West style, that the department had gotten built cheap.

Still, it would work for what they needed, would do the job.

“Are you arresting Erynn, also?”

Erynn looked at Noah, met his eyes. Knew she owed him answers.

“Not at this time.”

She needed to talk to him tonight.

“For now, come with me, please.”

Noah had left over half an hour ago, had practically growled at her to “stay put.” She had, quite literally, and hadn’t moved from her desk.

Janie.

Her dad.

This couldn’t be happening.

Erynn laid her head in her hands, snapped it up again as she realized all the implications. They had Janie in custody because it was dangerous for her otherwise. What Erynn had realized but not fully felt the weight of until now was that if someone was after her old acquaintance...had killed another one of her former friends, if Janie was right and Michelle was the Ice Maiden...

She wasn’t safe, either.

She stood and walked to the window, put a hand on the flimsy mini-blinds as she looked out at the town of Moose Haven. She’d thought the assignment here years ago had worked out well. It was close enough to civilization to suit her—she wasn’t a “live in the Alaskan bush” kind of girl, but it was far enough from Anchorage to make her believe she could get away from the demons, both real and imagined, chasing her.

But she hadn’t gotten away. Not really. Erynn closed the blinds, moved back to the hallway and headed toward the front to close the other blinds. And lock the door. Noah could call or knock when he got there. She checked her watch. Her shift was over in ten minutes. Trooper Miller, a new transfer fresh out of the academy, should be in to relieve her at any minute.

The door opened just then and Miller walked in. “Whoa, you don’t look so good.”

The kid had barely met the minimum age requirement for the troopers—at least, that was Erynn’s guess. He made her feel light-years old and, at just barely thirty, she didn’t appreciate it.

“Not feeling so great, to be honest.”

“Go ahead and head out. I’ve got this.”

“I’ll wait till it’s officially time.” Miller was a decent kid so far, and Erynn trusted him, but he wasn’t the stickler for protocol that older officers she’d worked with had been. Good for some situations, not that she’d admit that on the record, but bad for others.

Noah still hadn’t showed by the time she was ready to head home. Erynn hesitated half a second at the door then shook her head and went outside. She’d been a State Trooper for years. She’d taken self-defense courses, had a sidearm on her right side concealed under her windbreaker right now.

She wasn’t technically in any more danger than she had been for years. She had known she’d never truly be safe.

Not until the Ice Maiden Killer—who, it seemed, was also the Foster Kid Killer—was in custody.

“What are you doing?”

Noah’s voice was hard as she came around the corner of the building and almost ran into him.

“I can’t stay here all night.” Not that she’d sleep at home. Maybe she should stay here, sleep on the office couch, but it would invite too many questions. Her job was one of the only things she had left, was the most important part of her life. She couldn’t lose it, too.

“I told you to stay put.”

Maybe it was the coldness in his voice. Maybe it was the fact that the day had had more surprises than she could handle on the amount of sleep she was running on currently, but she’d lost all her patience.

“You aren’t in charge of me, Noah. I’m an adult and make my own decisions.”

“I want to hear more about why she’d say you’d obstructed justice. And why you didn’t deny a word of it.”

She turned to him, mouth open, but nothing came out. She didn’t know what she wanted to say anyway, just couldn’t believe he was looking at her that way.

Like she was guilty of something.

Her shoulders fell. At the very least, she could assure him that wasn’t the case—though, yes, it would have been better for her to have spoken up three years ago when the Ice Maiden case had come across their desks. She could have told him that she’d worried that Janie’s “death” had been the work of the Foster Kid Killer, as Janie dying accidentally when so many people she’d known had been killed had seemed too coincidental to her. But when the other officers had ruled it an accidental death, something far too common in the Alaskan wilderness, she’d hoped it was true. Thought maybe she was paranoid. Hadn’t wanted to believe they were all wrong and she was right.