Free Polar (Book 1): Polar Night by Julie Flanders Page B

noteworthy. That was something Danny would need to decide for himself.
    He skimmed through the pages of Anna’s writings, reading about her cross country exploits and decision to try out for the swim team in the upcoming spring. He read about a former boyfriend she wished she hadn’t broken up with, and a professor who regularly put her to sleep. He was feeling a bit drowsy himself until he turned another page and a folded brochure fell out of the journal onto the carpet.
    Danny reached down and picked it up. The brochure was for the Snow Creek resort in Coldfoot, Alaska. Danny hadn’t heard of Coldfoot, but in his experience every town in the state deserved that name. He went back to Anna’s journal and read the page where the brochure had been tucked away.
    Monday, December 1, 2009
    Our Thanksgiving weekend in the Arctic was so much fun. I’m so glad I let Sara talk me in to going. What a crazy experience! We stayed at a haunted asylum and the guy who runs the place was so fucking hot. It was creepy as all hell but I’d go back in a minute just to see more of him. From there we went to Prudhoe Bay and...
    Danny stopped reading as his meeting with Nate Clancy flickered in his mind. Clancy had mentioned a trip he and Maria had taken to Prudhoe Bay over the Thanksgiving weekend. Could it really be a coincidence that Anna had taken the same trip a few weeks before she disappeared? He didn’t need to read more of Anna’s recollections to find out. He didn’t believe in those kinds of coincidences.
    As he’d been a detective long enough to know to never go to any sort of crime scene without being prepared, he pulled the evidence bag he had brought with him out of his pocked, and placed the journal and brochure inside it. He quickly perused the rest of the drawer but felt certain he’d already found the link he’d been looking for when he decided to visit the Alexander house.
    Danny removed his gloves and walked out of the bedroom to rejoin the Alexanders.
    “I need to bring this journal and brochure back to the station,” he said to Ted and Marilyn, who had risen from the couch the second Danny walked back into the living room.
    “Why?” Ted asked. “What have you found?”
    “I’m not sure,” Danny said, truthfully. “But I need to find out more about a trip your daughter took the Thanksgiving before she disappeared. Apparently she went up to the Arctic with friends. Do you remember this?”
    “Of course,” Marilyn said. “Anna had wanted to go to Prudhoe Bay and see the Arctic Ocean for ages. They also went to an old asylum in Coldfoot. Anna loved it there.”
    “That was the Snow Creek, right?” Danny asked.
    “Right. Why do you ask? Do you think someone on that trip had something to do with all this?”
    “I can’t say, Mrs. Alexander. I’m sorry,” Danny said. “But it’s something I’m going to look into more.”
    He walked to the door and grabbed his parka from the coat closet. “I need to get going,” he said.
    “But what’s going on?” Ted asked. “You can’t just walk out now without telling us anything.”
    “I don’t know if there’s anything to tell you. I’ll be back in touch as soon as I know something though, one way or the other. I promise.”
    “What the hell’s going on?”
    Danny zipped up his parka and stepped outside. “I hope I’ll have an answer for you soon. Thank you.”
    He ignored Ted’s repeated questions and got back into his car as quickly as possible. His pulse quickened as he started up his car and drove away from the Alexander home. He couldn’t wait to talk to Nate Clancy.

 
     
    Chapter 17
     
     
     
     
    “It’s no coincidence these two both went up to the Arctic before they disappeared, Tessa,” Danny said into his phone.
    “I’m not disagreeing with you. I’ll meet you at Clancy’s.”
    Danny turned the corner of Hampton Street and dropped the phone as his car started to fishtail in the snow. He straightened the vehicle, then