I was convinced this Alexander Johnson was involved in some way, shape or form. The problem was I didn’t know enough about him to figure out the how’s and why’s. “What do you do?” I demanded.
“What do I do about what?”
“For income? Otherwise known as a job, asshole.”
He chuckled. “I’m a bounty hunter.”
“You’re a what?” I repeated, frowning at him.
“A bounty hunter,” he repeated. “As in, I hunt down bad guys and bring them to you, the good guys.”
“Why haven’t I ever heard of you, then?”
He shrugged. “Well, you haven’t been here very long have you?”
He had a point. It had only been a few months. “No, I haven’t.”
“Right and I haven’t had a job for a while. I’ve been focused on other things.”
“Okay, so where is your identification? You must carry a license on you?” I asked.
“Of course,” he answered. “It’s in my back pocket.”
I started fishing around for it and pulled out his wallet as I rifled through his various cards, I found the license and his identification which confirmed his story.
“Miguel can vouch for me, as well,” he continued. I work as a bridge between you, the police, and the reservations all around Alaska. I’ve had to bring in a few guys and hand them over to Miguel.”
“I worked in Anchorage for many years, so why haven’t I heard or seen you before?” I demanded.
He shrugged. “I’m currently coming out of hiatus.”
“Next question, where do you live?”
“Are you planning on showing up at my house?” he asked with a huge grin that did nothing but further piss me off.
“No, now, answer the question.”
“Well, my home away from home is just outside of town. I have a place up in Cooker’s Knoll. You know it?”
I did know it. It was a rural community up in the hills, maybe fifteen minutes from Hope. It was a small settlement of houses with people who mostly wanted to keep to themselves. “I know where Cooker’s Knoll is, but you said it was your home away from home?”
He nodded. “Home is on the reservation, where I grew up.”
“Which one?”
“Ammagaruqnik.” It just happened to be the farthest away of all the Inuit reservations. “Satisfied?” he asked.
“No,” I answered and it was the truth. I was anything but satisfied. With the events that had gone on in the last couple of days and the fact that I still had no answers, I was less than satisfied. In fact, I was confused and in a state of general irritation.
“It doesn’t make sense, does it?” Alexander asked as he shook his head.
“What doesn’t make sense?”
“The past three days…”
I swung him around hard enough that we both nearly lost our footing, the snow and ice underfoot slippery as all hell. I held onto him as he leaned into me, his hard, muscular chest veritably pressing into my face. Not that I noticed it. Or how shapely his pectorals felt beneath his jacket.
Jeez, I definitely owed myself a visit from Gordon, my vibrator.
“What the hell do you know about the past three days?” I demanded when I finally untangled myself and pushed him away, although my hand, I noted, was still on his chest.
“I thought you were taking me to prison?”
“I am.”
“Right, so why would I answer your…”
“I know you’re in on this,” I interrupted him. “I want you to start naming names.”
“On second thought,” he started with a self-impressed smile, “maybe I should wait until Judd Gibson is present—ouch!”
I’d gripped his jacket so tightly, I’d managed to either pinch some of his skin or a fistful of his chest hair. I was betting on both. “Listen to me very carefully,” I seethed, my chest rising and falling with ire. “Don’t fuck with me. Not tonight. And not now. I’ve had one hell of a day and an even worse night. So I’m going to ask you one more time: who helped you set this whole thing up?”
“What whole thing?” he asked with a smirk. “Oh, right. You’re still trying to convince yourself this is all just a prank.”
Okay, this time, I most definitely had NOT mentioned the fact that I thought this was all a big joke. Not out loud anyway. So that had to mean this guy could read my mind…
No, you stupid idiot! I railed back at myself. It means he’s in on the prank and he’s basically just admitted as much!
Well, he hadn’t exactly admitted anything, but I didn’t care. I was rolling with it.
I twisted my fingers again, and this time, I might have even felt some of his chest hair pulling free. He grimaced.
“You’ve got a lot of explaining to do,” I began. “Start with who’s involved. I want first and last names.”
He shook his head and even had the audacity to laugh. “Chief, I can promise you I had absolutely nothing to do with any of this.” He managed to hide his smile, once I gave him the look of death. “The reason I’m here is because I’m investigating the crime, same as you.”
“Oh, really?” I asked, sarcasm dripping off my tongue as I decided to shelve the part about him investigating for the time being. “So you just randomly mention the word prank and I’m supposed to think you aren’t involved?”
“Yes, because I’m not involved in any prank.”
“Then why did you mention it?”
“Easy. I read your thoughts.”
I was quiet. Or maybe it was more apropos to say my brain went on strike. I mean, there has to come a point where your mind just can’t handle any more ridiculousness. I was definitely at that point. Well, actually beyond it.
“If you’re done giving me a purple nurple—which I’m pretty certain constitutes police brutality—we can get to the issue at hand,” Alexander of the shapely pectorals continued.
I released him and his purple nurple, whatever the hell that was. The wind had returned, bringing with it a low moan. “And what’s the issue at hand?” I demanded, figuring I’d allow him enough rope to hang himself.
“That you just watched a man rise from the dead.”
I nearly pulled my gun on him. I nearly shoved him face-first into a nearby chain-link fence. I nearly committed enough crimes to be fired many times over... and put in jail myself. But I stopped because three things happened simultaneously:
The first thing was that I decided Alexander was telling the truth. I was pretty damn sure I’d watched a man rise from the dead. Somehow, some way. Miraculously.
The second thing was that I was certain Alexander was reading my mind. If I hadn’t been convinced before, I was now. There was just no way he could know as much as he did about the corpse coming to life because, aside from me, the only other person who knew the facts was Dr. Moody.
The third thing that happened was something started to surface from underneath the frozen-over creek. Something big. Something that was growling from deep within its cavernous chest. I might not know much about Alaskan wildlife, but I knew a wolf when I heard one.
I immediately aimed the Colt at the creature stirring in the water, my hands shaking. “Stand back,” I commanded my prisoner.