44 1644deg north, p.12
44.1644° North,
p.12
I called, “Why did you send me that letter? Did you want to get caught?”
“Are you— That was a warning! Which you should have listened to!”
“Why the hell would you be so worried about me? I don’t know anything Hastings PD doesn’t know.” Which probably wasn’t true, since according to Rory, HPD had said the suspect in Deirdre’s case was dead.
Meaning HPD believed there was only one suspect.
They’d got it wrong before. No reason to believe they didn’t continue to get it wrong.
“Bullshit,” George called back. “Nobody knows I was there that night. It’s not like I worked there.”
“Will you shut up,” Simon cried. “He only knows about Milo.”
“Uh…hello?” George retorted. “I think he’s got a clue now.”
“How do you think you’re going to explain this?” I asked. “At least five people know I came up here with Simon.”
George said promptly, “Hunting accident. You won’t be the first to get mistaken for a deer.”
“George, this isn’t going to work,” Simon said desperately. “The chief knows about Milo, which means he has to have suspected Chris.”
“The only reason he suspected Milo is Milo drove off that fucking bridge. Which started people thinking. Chris died of cancer. Nobody’s thinking anything about my brother.”
“It started them thinking about Milo and Chris working at the resort. Everyone knows they always drove together. They always drove back and forth together. There isn’t any hiding that. The rumors have been flying around for years anyway. But like you said, Milo is dead, Chris is dead, and no one knew you drove up with them to go skiing that day. If you don’t do anything dumb, no one can prove you were ever there.”
“I know it was an accident,” I said. “But this isn’t, and no one’s going to believe it was.”
“It was an accident,” George insisted.
Until he spoke, I’d figured it probably was. But the way George said it—the empty look in his eyes, the angry flush on his face—no. They hadn’t planned on killing her, but somewhere along the way, the decision had been made.
“What happened?” My hand was in my pocket, resting on my phone. There was no signal, no way to call for help, but maybe I could record our conversation. George might be too far away for his voice to be picked up clearly, but Simon and I would be. And like Rory said, the FBI had technological resources no one else did.
Better not to think of Rory now. Better not to think I might never see him again.
“It’s as much her fault as anyone’s.” George’s tone was aggrieved. “Nobody made her get in the car. We didn’t kidnap her.”
“No, of course not.”
“She was more than willing. My brother told her he had to stop by his house, and she was fine with that too.”
Simon groaned softly. “George.”
“We stopped by Chris’s cabin, and everything was cool. We had a few drinks. She was carrying a goddamned bar in that black backpack of hers! We were having fun. She was having fun. We smoked a little dope. No big deal. We were just relaxing. We were all relaxing. But she started to get impatient, started saying she had to call her dad, call her boyfriend. She said she’d walk to the Blue Bear, being bitchy about it, you know? So Chris said, Go ahead! And she did. She walked out. And Chris got mad. What the hell, right? We were doing her a favor. So Chris went after her, and she started running. Through the woods. Like she thought we were going to rape her or something.”
He stopped.
I felt sick.
“What happened?”
He shrugged, steadied the rifle at low ready. “I don’t know. I wasn’t there. I stayed with Milo.”
Like hell.
George stared at me, seemed to remember Simon, and said to him, “She hit her head on a rock. That’s my guess.”
“What did you do with her body?”
Silence.
George’s sudden laugh echoed through the trees. “Woodchipper.”
Simon’s knees seem to give out and he sank to the ground.
I was staring at George, but I was seeing a girl running through the night, running blind, running for her life…
My knees felt weak, as though all the blood was draining out of me before I’d ever been shot. But that was coming. I turned to run, and out of the corner of my eye, saw George bring the rifle up.
“Don’t fucking move.”
I froze. But that wasn’t George. The words weren’t directed at me. That unfamiliar roar came from a familiar figure in a navy-blue Patagonia jacket I knew practically as well as my own.
Rory.
Smiling, easygoing Rory, now stone-faced and holding a pistol leveled unwaveringly at George.
George swung the rifle toward Rory, and Rory fired.
Boom. The sound seemed to roll off the mountains and ricochet back to us. One shot.
It happened so fast, I couldn’t seem to take it in.
George stumbled back, fired the rifle into the trees, and landed on his back, face upturned, eyes staring at the blue vault of the sky. Blood turned the powdery snow around him scarlet.
Black spots danced in front of my eyes. I closed them.
When I opened them again, George was still motionless in the snow and grass, and Simon was huddled in the middle of the trail, crying and swearing.
I watched Rory walk the miles between us. It seemed to take a lifetime before he put his arms around me.
“Okay?”
“I thought you were in Virginia.”
He gave a brief shake of his head. “Sometimes you’ve got to go with your gut.”
I said shakily, “Yeah. But thank you for allowing me to make my own mistakes.” I dropped my head on his shoulder.
His laugh was equally shaky. “Hey. I’m okay with you making your own mistakes so long as you’re okay with me following my instincts.”
“Deal.” The word was muffled against his coat.
“Hey, Sky?”
I raised my head, stared into his gray eyes.
“This is as cold as the light of day gets,” Rory said. “And I’m not changing my mind.”
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Dear Reader,
True-crime aficionados will recognize the still unsolved mystery of the 2004 disappearance of UMass nursing student Maura Murray as primary inspiration for this novella. This case has haunted me since I first learned of it over a decade ago.
Because I’ve incorporated so many actual real-life details into this work of fiction, I want to emphasize that all the characters are completely my own and should not be confused with any real persons living or dead. Like every other online sleuth, I have theories. And that is all I have. I am not suggesting nor even insinuating that any particular person or persons is behind Maura’s disappearance.
As always, I want to thank my dear editor Keren Reed, the ever-adorkable Office Elf, and, of course, my dearly beloved and much-neglected SO.
Finally, thank you, Dear Reader. There would not be much point in this creative exercise if I couldn’t share it with you.
For a free audiobook download sign up for Josh’s Newsletter now!
About the Author
Author of nearly ninety titles of classic Male/Male fiction featuring twisty mystery, kickass adventure, and unapologetic man-on-man romance, JOSH LANYON’S work has been translated into eleven languages. Her FBI thriller Fair Game was the first Male/Male title to be published by Harlequin Mondadori, then the largest romance publisher in Italy. Stranger on the Shore (Harper Collins Italia) was the first M/M title to be published in print. In 2016 Fatal Shadows placed #5 in Japan’s annual Boy Love novel list (the first and only title by a foreign author to place on the list). The Adrien English series was awarded the All Time Favorite Couple by the Goodreads M/M Romance Group. In 2019, Fatal Shadows became the first LGBTQ mobile game created by Moments: Choose Your Story.
She is an EPIC Award winner, a four-time Lambda Literary Award finalist (twice for Gay Mystery), an Edgar nominee, and the first ever recipient of the Goodreads All Time Favorite M/M Author award.
Josh is married and lives in Southern California.
Find other Josh Lanyon titles at www.joshlanyon.com
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If you enjoyed this story, try these digital titles by Josh Lanyon:
NOVELS
The ADRIEN ENGLISH Mysteries
Fatal Shadows
A Dangerous Thing
The Hell You Say
Death of a Pirate King
The Dark Tide
Stranger Things Have Happened
So This is Christmas
Fatal Shadows: The Collector’s Edition
The HOLMES & MORIARITY Mysteries
Somebody Killed His Editor
All She Wrote
The Boy with the Painful Tattoo
In Other Words…Murder
The ALL’S FAIR Trilogy
Fair Game
Fair Play
Fair Chance
The ART OF MURDER series
The Mermaid Murders
The Monet Murders
The Magician Murders
The Monuments Murders
The Movie-Town Murders
BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS
Mainly by Moonlight
I Buried a Witch
Bell, Book and Scandal
SECRETS AND SCRABBLE
Murder at Pirate’s Cove
Secret at Skull House
Mystery at the Masquerade
Scandal at the Salty Dog
Body at Buccaneer’s Bay
Death at the Deep Dive
OTHER NOVELS
This Rough Magic (A SHOT IN THE DARK Series)
The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks
Mexican Heat (with Laura Baumbach)
Strange Fortune
Come Unto These Yellow Sands
The Haunted Heart: Winter
The Haunted Heart: Spring
Stranger on the Shore
Winter Kill
Jefferson Blythe, Esquire
Murder in Pastel
The Curse of the Blue Scarab
The Ghost Had an Early Check-out
Murder Takes the High Road
Séance on a Summer’s Night
Hide and Seek
NOVELLAS
The DANGEROUS GROUND Series
Dangerous Ground
Old Poison
Blood Heat
Dead Run
Kick Start
Blind Side
OTHER NOVELLAS
Cards on the Table
The Dark Farewell
The Dark Horse
The Darkling Thrush
The Dickens with Love
I Spy Something Bloody
I Spy Something Wicked
I Spy Something Christmas
In a Dark Wood
The Parting Glass
Snowball in Hell
Mummy Dearest
Don’t Look Back
A Ghost of a Chance
Lovers and Other Strangers
Out of the Blue
A Vintage Affair
Lone Star (in Men Under the Mistletoe)
Green Glass Beads (in Irregulars)
Blood Red Butterfly
Everything I Know
Baby, It’s Cold (in Comfort and Joy)
A Case of Christmas
Murder Between the Pages
Slay Ride
Stranger in the House
44.1644° North
SHORT STORIES
A Limited Engagement
The French Have a Word for It
In Sunshine or In Shadow
Until We Meet Once More
Icecapade (in His for the Holidays)
Perfect Day
Heart Trouble
Other People’s Weddings (Petit Mort)
Slings and Arrows (Petit Mort)
Sort of Stranger Than Fiction (Petit Mort)
Critic’s Choice (Petit Mort)
Just Desserts (Petit Mort)
In Plain Sight
Wedding Favors
Wizard’s Moon
Fade to Black
Night Watch
Plenty of Fish
Halloween is Murder
The Boy Next Door
Requiem for Mr. Busybody
COLLECTIONS
Short Stories (Vol. 1)
Short Stories (Vol. 2)
Sweet Spot (the Petit Morts)
Merry Christmas, Darling (Holiday Codas)
Christmas Waltz (Holiday Codas 2)
I Spy…Three Novellas
Point Blank (Five Dangerous Ground Novellas)
Dark Horse, White Knight (Two Novellas)
The Adrien English Mysteries Box Set (Three Novels)
The Adrien English Mysteries Box Set 2
Male/Male Mystery & Suspense Box Set
Partners in Crime (Three Classic Gay Mystery Novels)
All’s Fair Complete Collection
44.1644° NORTH
February 2023
Copyright (c) 2023 by Josh Lanyon
Cover art by K.B. Smith
Edited by Keren Reed
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from JustJoshin Publishing, Inc.
978-1-64931-024-8
Published in the United States of America
JustJoshin Publishing, Inc.
3053 Rancho Vista Blvd.
Suite 116
Palmdale, CA 93551
www.joshlanyon.com
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
Josh Lanyon, 44.1644° North
