Page 16 of Backtrack

Her relationships were always with lifers. Shayna Hanford loved her independence. She’d been making the two-hour drive to the Wainwright Unit in Lovelady once a week for the past four and a half years. Her boyfriend’s sudden parole rattled her, but it had led to this trip to Seattle—her first trip anywhere.

She brushed a fake curl out of her eyes and went over her plan again for the umpteenth time asThePolar Starplowed silently away. There would be a shitload more travel in her future—if the guys would just do what she said.

She adjusted the AirPod in her ear and then took a deep breath before phoning her boyfriend.

He began talking the moment the call connected. Shayna groaned. She’d have to put that on her list of things to teach him. Telephone courtesy. For that matter, he could stand a lesson or two about courtesy in general. It wasn’t his fault, but it was the truth. They couldn’t afford a screwup, not now when they were so close.She’d made him wait at the hotel. Too many cameras at the port. It wouldn’t do to give his parole officer any leverage to toss him back in the joint.

“Is he with her? Tell me you saw him!”

“She was alone,” Shayna said.

“Well, hell!”

“Don’t you fret, now,” Shayna said. “We want to talk to her first anyway, right? See how much she knows.”

“I guess,” he said. “But you did see her?”

“I did,” Shayna said. “More importantly, she didn’t see me. And she would have if you’d been here. Babe, you know I love your sheep-killin’-dog look, but it is kind of noticeable. Not what you’d call strategic.”

“I know that,” her boyfriend said. “I just think we should be on the boat.”

“Leo and Bart made it on,” she said. “They’ll stay with her.”

“I don’t know them.”

“Well, I do, honeybunch,” Shayna said. “They’re my cousins. I grew up with them, for crying out loud!”

“I like to be hands-on,” he said.

“Oh,” she cooed. “Don’t I know it.” Flirting kept him on track about half the time. It was worth a try.

“I’m serious,” he snapped, all business today. “I don’t like leaving the work to someone else.”

“We’ve been over this,” Shayna said. “This ship sails through Canadian waters, meaning you’d need a passport to board, something you do not have.”

“That’s not my fault—”

“I know it’s not, hon.” She lowered her voice to try to soothe him. He could be downright dangerous if she let him get spun up. He’d never raised a hand toward her, but she’d seen the broody clouds in his eyes, like he might yank her head right off her shoulders before he realized what he was doing. “We can fly to Alaska with just our IDs,” she said. “Then they’ll let us get on the ship no problem. When the time comes, you’ll be the one to … you know … handle things. I promise. Relax your bones. We’ll fly to Ketchikan tomorrow. The ship doesn’t dock until the day after. I read online they have as many as four ships at a time there. It’ll becrawling with tourists. No one will pay us any mind at all. We’ll be there waiting for her.”

“You’re right,” he said. “What would I do without you?”

“That’s funny,” Shayna said. “A guy like you, you’d find someone younger, prettier, smarter.”

He scoffed. “Everyone’s younger to an old cob like me.”

He didn’t say anything about pretty or smart. She’d have to train him on that, too. “We stick to the plan,” she said. “My cousins will find out what she knows.”

CHAPTER 7

Arliss Cutter hit the Callback button on his cell phone while Chief Phillips waited at the airport carousel for their luggage. His ex-wife answered on the first ring.

Her voice was slightly breathless, tentative. “Hey big guy …”

He was in no mood for small talk.

“Joellen? Are you okay?”

“I … I should never have called.”