Free Cold Pursuit by Carla Neggers Page A

her mother was. Everyone had thought her dad would hate Alex, but he didn’t.
    No one would think about how she felt. The in-the-way stepdaughter.
    It was all so surreal.
    She picked up her pace, already debating whether she needed
everything
in her pack. It was
so
heavy. She felt a sudden, blinding anger toward her father for telling her about Alex the way he had, calling her on her cell phone, just blurting out that he was dead. Deep down, though, she knew there was no easy way to give someone such news. She could imagine how awful it must have been for Devin when he’d found Drew Cameron. He’d hiked up the north side of the mountain alone and had been forced to leave Drew’s body up there in the snow while he hiked down again, got back to his truck and drove out to where he could get a cell signal and call for help. At least he hadn’t actually been the one to give the Camerons the terrible news. The state police had done that part. And Drew Cameron’s death had been an accident. As much as she didn’t like Alex, it sickened Nora to think that someone could have run him over on purpose.
    My dad, for one.
    “No!”
    Devin rushed to her side, and she realized she’d screamed. “I’m okay,” she said quickly, not looking at him. How could she even think such a thing? Her father could never kill anyone. That he could fall for a woman as horrible as Melanie didn’t mean he was capable of running over the friend who’d stolen his first wife from him.
    Her father
loved
Melanie, and that gave him even less reason to kill Alex.
    Her dad couldn’t possibly be a suspect.
    “You’re freaking me out,” Devin said.
    Nora pushed ahead of him out to the gravel turnaround. “Sorry. I have a lot on my mind.”
    “Did something else happen, besides realizing your money’s missing? Did Melanie find out we’re checking her out?”
    “No, nothing like that.”
    Melanie already knows I hate her. She knows.
    Nora set her pack down next to the car Alex had bought for her against her father’s wishes. It was a used Subaru; it wasn’t as if he’d given her a brand-new, expensive car. As irritating and demeaning as he could be, Alex hadn’t wanted her riding her bicycle on the hills and narrow roads of Black Falls, or hitchhiking, or relying on friends. In his own way, he’d tried to help her, even if his primary purpose was to keep her from bugging him. He would tell her that he worked so hard because he was dedicated to making the world a better place. How could she complain about him not coming to her high-school graduation ceremony when he was off saving the world?
    She was aware of Devin watching her, but refused to look back at him. If she could have sprouted wings and flown away, she would have.
    With a steadier hand, she opened up the front passenger door. She cried openly now, picturing Alex running across a busy Washington street, oblivious to the car coming at him, unaware that he was in the last moments of his life. He’d have been wearing a suit—he always wore suits in Washington. He’d have had his briefcase with him. Had he held on to it, or had it gone flying?
    What had gone through his mind? Had he thought about his wife, his ex-wife, his children?
    Had he thought about his stepdaughter up in Vermont?
    Had he thought about anything?
    Nora hefted her backpack onto the seat and shut the door hard. She knew she couldn’t bring herself to tell Devin about Alex. She just couldn’t do it.
    She turned to him and said softly, “I know you’re not a thief. I’ll be okay. We both will.”
    “Stay, Nora. Don’t do this.”
    “Just find out what you can about Melanie. Clients, travels—especially since April when she met my father.”
    Melanie had been in Black Falls when Drew Cameron went missing. Now Alex was dead in Washington.
    She was bad luck.
    “I’ll do what I can,” Devin said. “Where will I find you?”
    Nora pretended not to hear him and got into her car. She’d drive out to Black Falls