Gemini Rising (Mischievous Malamute Mystery Series, Book 1) by Harley Christensen Page B
Authors: Harley Christensen
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reviewed my to-do items and chuckled as I flashed on a quote from Nero Wolfe to Archie Goodwin, “…I didn’t say this [exercise] would be useful, only that it could be useful…”
At this point, I could only hope Abe, Elijah and Anna were faring better.
Chapter Fourteen
Meanwhile, Abe and Elijah were wondering the same thing about AJ.
They had returned to L.A. the previous day, ready to hit the ground running. Unfortunately, the only things they managed to hit in the past several hours were a series of brick walls.
Victoria had been convinced the Jackson’s plane crash was not accidental. They learned from working long, hard hours with her she didn’t jump to conclusions easily—quite the opposite, in fact—and oh, so stubborn, that one. She routinely drove them crazy with her don’t-tell-me-prove-it-to-me attitude. And yet, the day before she was killed, she’d been so certain, despite the fact they had previously gone over and over the official report, talked to the crash investigator, looked at the crash site and found nothing. What had changed her mind?
While she had likely memorized the contents of the report, Abe and Elijah agreed it couldn’t have been the source of her new evidence. Anna had locked their only copy in the safe weeks ago, and Victoria hadn’t asked her to retrieve it or make copies. They all agreed she would have done so, had it contained the linchpin they’d spent months searching for. As simple of an explanation as that seemed, it was her nature. She simply wouldn’t have made the comment without having evidence to support it. They’d already searched her condo and had come up empty.
That left Winslow Clark, the crash investigator. Surely, she must have contacted him and asked him to confirm some nugget of information? Their disappointment mounted when he said no, not only had he not talked to Victoria, he hadn’t seen her since the three of them had met him at the crash site several months earlier. He didn’t ask about her, and they didn’t offer—no need to voluntarily put her death out there—so once they had their answer, they thanked Clark for his time and hung up.
Too frustrated to think straight, they headed back to the office to touch base with Anna. She was not only an amazing admin, she got them back on track when they went off the rails. Yup, right now they needed a strong dose of Anna.
Anna was delighted to see them again, too. She knew the Phoenix trip had taken its toll—especially after learning of Victoria’s death—but she had also seen grief and anger turn into something else—a mission. It had become personal. For all of them. She smiled warmly as they bounded through the door, like two school boys fresh off the playground. They scooped her up into a big bear hug and spun her around, laughing as they ignored her feigned pleas about wrinkling her outfit. Finally, Abe put her back on her feet, but not before Elijah mock-mussed her hair.
“Touch the locks and you’re done, buster,” she growled, though there was a gleam of mischief in her eyes. She made a display of smoothing the wrinkles out of the black long sleeve cotton blouse she’d paired with rolled-up boyfriend jeans and ballet flats, but a grin peeked out from under the long raven hair that had fallen over her face during their horseplay.
Abe and Elijah laughed heartily. Though she was drop-dead gorgeous—easily passing as a sibling of Angie Everhart’s—and as sweet as they come, she could definitely throw-down when she needed to. Growing up with five older brothers would do that to a girl. Plus, they’d seen her in action at a couple of her martial arts classes. Anna wasn’t a gal you’d want to mess with in a dark alley, much less a well-lit one. Of course, she’d lay you out flat, then apologize by baking you fudge brownies later. Still, they were glad Anna was on their side.
“Any word from AJ?” Elijah asked her.
“Yeah, in fact, we’ve spoken on the phone, as well as
At this point, I could only hope Abe, Elijah and Anna were faring better.
Chapter Fourteen
Meanwhile, Abe and Elijah were wondering the same thing about AJ.
They had returned to L.A. the previous day, ready to hit the ground running. Unfortunately, the only things they managed to hit in the past several hours were a series of brick walls.
Victoria had been convinced the Jackson’s plane crash was not accidental. They learned from working long, hard hours with her she didn’t jump to conclusions easily—quite the opposite, in fact—and oh, so stubborn, that one. She routinely drove them crazy with her don’t-tell-me-prove-it-to-me attitude. And yet, the day before she was killed, she’d been so certain, despite the fact they had previously gone over and over the official report, talked to the crash investigator, looked at the crash site and found nothing. What had changed her mind?
While she had likely memorized the contents of the report, Abe and Elijah agreed it couldn’t have been the source of her new evidence. Anna had locked their only copy in the safe weeks ago, and Victoria hadn’t asked her to retrieve it or make copies. They all agreed she would have done so, had it contained the linchpin they’d spent months searching for. As simple of an explanation as that seemed, it was her nature. She simply wouldn’t have made the comment without having evidence to support it. They’d already searched her condo and had come up empty.
That left Winslow Clark, the crash investigator. Surely, she must have contacted him and asked him to confirm some nugget of information? Their disappointment mounted when he said no, not only had he not talked to Victoria, he hadn’t seen her since the three of them had met him at the crash site several months earlier. He didn’t ask about her, and they didn’t offer—no need to voluntarily put her death out there—so once they had their answer, they thanked Clark for his time and hung up.
Too frustrated to think straight, they headed back to the office to touch base with Anna. She was not only an amazing admin, she got them back on track when they went off the rails. Yup, right now they needed a strong dose of Anna.
Anna was delighted to see them again, too. She knew the Phoenix trip had taken its toll—especially after learning of Victoria’s death—but she had also seen grief and anger turn into something else—a mission. It had become personal. For all of them. She smiled warmly as they bounded through the door, like two school boys fresh off the playground. They scooped her up into a big bear hug and spun her around, laughing as they ignored her feigned pleas about wrinkling her outfit. Finally, Abe put her back on her feet, but not before Elijah mock-mussed her hair.
“Touch the locks and you’re done, buster,” she growled, though there was a gleam of mischief in her eyes. She made a display of smoothing the wrinkles out of the black long sleeve cotton blouse she’d paired with rolled-up boyfriend jeans and ballet flats, but a grin peeked out from under the long raven hair that had fallen over her face during their horseplay.
Abe and Elijah laughed heartily. Though she was drop-dead gorgeous—easily passing as a sibling of Angie Everhart’s—and as sweet as they come, she could definitely throw-down when she needed to. Growing up with five older brothers would do that to a girl. Plus, they’d seen her in action at a couple of her martial arts classes. Anna wasn’t a gal you’d want to mess with in a dark alley, much less a well-lit one. Of course, she’d lay you out flat, then apologize by baking you fudge brownies later. Still, they were glad Anna was on their side.
“Any word from AJ?” Elijah asked her.
“Yeah, in fact, we’ve spoken on the phone, as well as
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