Page 116 of One Last Shot
“Should we issue her a badge?”
Oh.“Yes,” Boo said.
Nurse Oolanie pushed the curtain back a little, just as Janice turned on the television attached to the wall.
The local news flicked on, the woman on the screen updating the localtraffic report.
Maybe she should just calm down. But every time she shook away Huxley’s voice, Oaken’s swept in after it. “Hux—that’s not—that’s not the deal.”
Adeal.
What kind of deal?
“Such a tragedy,” the woman in the next bed said. “Were you with the rescue team?”
She pointed to Boo’s red jumpsuit, hanging over the back of a chair.
“Yes, I was.”
The scene on the television changed, and the woman popped up the volume. A woman reporter stood outside the chalet at the Copper Mountain ski resort, giving an update to the in-studio hosts.
“You can see behind us that the coroner showed up to transport the body back to the Anchorage police station.”
The screen switched to tape of the woman talking with Deke Starr. “We found her this morning while resort plows were cleaning up one of the cross-country trails near the resort. Sadly, she was only some three hundred yards from the chalet. Investigators believe she might have been on her way back and got lost in the storm.”
“Then why the coroner?”
“I can’t release that information, but we do suspect a possible homicide.”
The report cut back to the reporter. “I’m here with one of the victims, a Caroline Schumacher, the woman’s sister.”
Boo sat up, recognizing the woman from the hut. She’d cleaned up, her dark hair up in a bun, wearing a white puffer jacket. Her eyes were reddened, clearly from crying. “We just wanted to thank the Air One rescue team for everything they did to find her. And especially Oaken Fox, who went back out last nightand this morning.”
She offered a wan smile. “I couldn’t believe it when I saw him on the team, but he’s a real hero, and I’m glad he’s the one who found her. She was a real fan.”
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” said the reporter, then turned back to the camera for the out.
Of course he was a hero.
And then, as the reporter threw it back to the studio, the camera caught Caroline walking up to Oaken.
It stayed on them, the reporter even turning to watch, as Oaken embraced her.
Janice’s daughter had walked in sometime during the airing and now stood back. “What was Oaken Fox doing at the lodge? I wonder if he was on vacation.”
“You should ask her,” said Janice, pointing at Boo. “She was with him.”
The younger woman looked at her. “You were with him?”
Oh. “I was on the rescue team, so...” She couldn’t bring herself to offer any more.
“Is he . . . amazing?”
Boo’s eyes burned. “Just like you see him on TV.”
The door opened, and she wanted to spring from her bed and pull London into an embrace. London wore a pair of leggings, her puffer jacket, and Uggs, and carried a backpack. “Hey, you.”
“Hey.”