But no Grier.
Her heart heavy, she headed to the Lively Moose.
Soon Mom and Dad would be leaving Alaska on a trip to the Outside, what the locals called any place outside the great state. She understood they needed to forge a new future and get to know each other again, though it was clear they both remained in love.
As for Autumn’s love life?
Grier had disappeared, after all. But he was taken against his will. She’d gone back to the hospital, but he’d been taken into custody. Federal agents transferred him to a secure location after they retrieved the USB drive, the cold wallet. At least that was the story she was given. She tried to contact him and find out more, but her calls went unanswered. Nolan reassured her that they had done all they could do to prove Grier’s innocence.
At least Mateo had confessed to killing the two on themountain back in May. Mateo hadn’t known their names—Kenneth Duncan and Monica Nobel—only that he hadn’t wanted witnesses to his presence in Shadow Gap.
Because Autumn was the police chief, Mateo and Rafael had taken their time in planning how to abduct her. But after Mateo committed the murders, he decided to stay away for a few months. Folks tended to look closely at strangers when someone went missing.
Then their organization was hit hard when the cold wallet was stolen, and their focus had shifted to tracking it down all the way back to Shadow Gap, where Autumn ended up killing Mateo’s right-hand man the night Dad was shot.
What a tangled mess, and she hoped never to be caught in such a web again.
All she wanted was to talk to Grier. Just...to hear from him and know he was all right.
Sarah was the one to inform Autumn that Grier had been released from federal custody. But he hadn’t come back to Shadow Gap. And with that, Autumn had to accept that she would never see him again. That’s what she got for letting an outsider get under her skin. But the thought didn’t do anything to take away the ache in her heart.
That evening, she went home and sat on the porch steps near the water alone, watching the sunset. Soon the stars would come out. Maybe, finally, she could look at the star-filled sky without remembering that horrible night so long ago when she thought she’d lost her mother.
A dog barked in the distance, then something stirred close to her. She turned just in time to see Cap before he dove in and licked her face. Autumn laughed. Hank had kept the dog in Grier’s absence.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
She finally righted herself as someone marched down the steps and sat next to her. “It’s Chief Long, again, I hear.”
Her heart might have stopped.
She sucked in a breath. “Grier?”
Autumn was stunned to see him. Relieved and hopeful. Joy surged inside, but she had to remain cautious.
“Yes, it’s me. Grier Young.”
“Young, as in...”
“That’s my real name.”
“You used Grier even as a cover name?”
“Troy Fox was my undercover name while working with Krueger, and then Grier Brenner was the name he gave me while I was staying in Shadow Gap. I wanted to answer to my real first name, at least while hiding, and Brown wouldn’t look for me under Grier anyway.” He stared at her long and hard as if gauging whether she was glad to see him or not. If he’d made a mistake in coming back.
Fox. Brenner. Young. She didn’t care. “I thought I would never see you again. You just...disappeared.”
“Thank you for everything you did to clear my name. I had to spend a lot of time debriefing, and then I shut down that chapter of my life. It took longer than I expected.”
“Meaning?”
“I’m not going back.”
“Does that mean you’re staying? I need to know, Grier. I mean, this was never your home. We can’t offer you the world or the exciting life that you’re accustomed to as a cryptologist or operative or—”
“Will you stop, already?” He grabbed her up in a kiss. Tender and inviting, and then he pulled her harder, tighter, against him and kissed her thoroughly. He eased away from her, but not too far. “Does that answer your questions?”
Dazed, she could only say, “I think so.”
“You’re all I want. I love you. Nothing else matters to me. And for the record, I adore Shadow Gap. I found my place, my home, my friends, and you here in this isolated corner ofAlaska. I’m not going anywhere ever again. Unless you leave. I’m with you, Autumn Long. That is, if you still want me.”
She leaned in and kissed him. “You know I do.” She smiled and leaned back, taking his hand. “I could really use another officer around here. It’s down to just me and Angie for at least another week, and Craig moved to Hawaii.”
“And you still can’t afford me.”
She laughed. “You seem to work for free anyway.”
His smile was all she needed.
Grier was all she needed. She gazed up at the stars and thought, maybe, just maybe, she was ready to make new memories. Because for her...memories made under the stars lasted forever.
