Page 17 of In Cold Blood (High Peaks Murder, Mystery and Crime Thrillers #1)

A wet sloppy tongue lapped his face on Wednesday morning.

Noah grimaced as he opened his eyes to the sight of Axel looming over him, an imposing ball of fur, panting hard and drooling.

“Oh, man. Axel. C’mon.” The dog slobbered over his face.

“Okay, okay, I’m getting up,” he said as he looked off toward the rear of the house, his eyes stinging, his throat dry, and his mind still in a haze.

Axel barked and scratched furiously at the rear French doors.

Noah rolled off the couch. His bare feet padded across a slew of paperwork he’d been poring over the night before.

He pulled the doors wide and Axel shot out, tearing around the yard before relieving himself.

Noah stepped onto the cool deck. He yawned and stretched, looking off toward his neighbor’s place where he could hear the faint strain of music.

Dire Straits, “Money for Nothing.” He squinted and noticed Ed was working out on a set of bars, hoisting himself up and down in an upright press-up.

His face was toward him. All he was wearing was shorts and a pair of Nikes.

His legs widened to a stretch before he brought them together and hopped off the bars like an Olympic gymnast.

Holy cow. If he was able to do that in his early seventies, that gave Noah hope.

His fitness regime needed a major overhaul.

As of late, it was more cardio. It was a far cry from his years in the Marines when he was in shipshape condition.

After getting out, he’d kind of let himself go — what with dealing with PTSD and the end of his marriage.

“Morning, Noah!” Ed hollered. “I’ve been up for hours. Got my laps in, worked my upper body, and now I’m going for a run. You want to join me?”

Noah yawned again and waved him off. “Ah, I’m good. You go ahead. I’ve got things to do.”

“Nonsense. We’ve all got things to do. If you don’t take care of that body of yours, you won’t be topside for long.

Put your sneakers on. Let’s go.” Maybe it was like hearing the long-ago echo of his drill instructors, but Noah gave him a thumbs-up and told him he would be over in a couple of minutes.

Inside, he groaned, contemplating moving somewhere else. The last thing he needed was some jarhead reliving the glory days vicariously through him.

Still, after his comment last night about drugs, and the material Noah had thumbed through so far, maybe a run might be a good thing.

It would give him a chance to ply him for more information.

If Luke hadn’t shared much with anyone else, perhaps he’d confided in Ed?

Noah glanced at his watch; it was a little after seven.

There was plenty of time, and perhaps a good run was what he and the dog needed.

It always gave him a clear mind and after the confusing mess of reports he’d waded through the night before, he could use a clear mind.

After donning a fresh T-shirt and a pair of black track bottoms, he was slipping into his sneakers when Ed appeared in the doorway all brawn and gusto, slapping his hands together. “Let’s go, son, I’m cooling down here.”

Noah chuckled, snagging up the dog leash and attaching it to Axel.

“Are you like this every morning?”

The question seemed to confound Ed. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I should stretch.”

“You’ll do enough of that out there. Chop, chop,” Ed said, jogging on the spot.

As they burst into a jog weaving through the forest, the sun rose high in a blue sky offering another good day of weather. Noah asked, “So how many times a week do you do this?”

“Every day.”

“Every day?”

Ed glanced at him. “Gotta be intentional, Noah. You let a day slide, and the next it will be two days, then three, and before long you’ll be an overweight bum staring at one of those techno devices of yours and making excuses,” he said, noting Noah checking his emails.

It had become a habit. Far too often he reached for it.

“Put it away. Permit yourself time to think. Instead of letting that do it for you. It will be there when you get back. C’mon now.

Breathe in this glorious crisp air,” he said, taking a deep breath, turning toward him but now running back the way they came.

Then, Ed twisted, going back the way they were heading. This time he burst into a sprint.

“Seriously?” Noah muttered. That only riled Axel up all the more, he let out a bark, and with the encouragement of his harebrained neighbor, Noah was guided up a dirt path that cut through the Adirondacks.

“Alicia was saying she drops off goods for you. For someone in your shape, I would imagine you could make runs into town yourself.”

“I could. I avoid it. ”

For the next thirty minutes, they looped around a well-worn path inside the McKenzie Mountain Wilderness.

Ed told him that the path didn’t exist before, and he’d had to create it.

And that this was what life was about. Creating a new path, going in a direction that others hadn’t and not settling for the path of least resistance but the one that would challenge and change him.

He was like a modern-day yogi but wearing Nikes.

“I’ll remember that,” Noah said with his hands on his knees, panting hard.

“Hey, uh, Ed. I was meaning to ask you,” he continued.

He’d had questions, lots of them, but was unable to keep up with Ed, a man that was thirty years his senior.

“Last night. All that talk about drugs over on the island. Did Luke say who he thought was behind it? Did he drop any names?”

Ed was stretching out his calves, pressing against a tree trunk while extending one leg behind him, while the other was bent in front of him. He then pulled up his foot behind him to stretch his thigh. “The Graysons. Some law firm. You heard of it?”

“More than you know,” Noah replied.

“He believed they were covering up drugs coming in and out of here. That the whole system in the county is corrupt. Which is why I don’t think your brother’s murder will get solved. Too many people benefit from their names being kept out of his lips.”

“Any others?”

“Not that he told me.”

“Dax Jameson?”

“Never heard of him. No, your brother was very careful. And rightly so. People might be tight-lipped in the community but that’s only because of what’s happened to some folks who said too much.

Now my solution is to lead a quiet life.

I don’t mingle, or go into town much. I certainly don’t go troubling anyone.

It’s easier that way. Out of sight. Out of mind. I keep to myself. ”

It seemed contrary to him showing up last night.

Noah chugged on a bottle of water and sat on one of the porch steps behind the cabin. Nearby, Axel was rehydrating, lapping from a steel bowl.

A few hours later, after showering and having breakfast, Noah made a quick phone call to Ray.

He figured if Luke would have confided in anyone, it might have been his big brother.

Two years older than them, a cop already, Ray had paved the way.

He was the first to don a police uniform, the first to deal with their father’s bull crap.

He’d set the tone for the rest of them by joining the local PD.

It was a deviation from the norm and the first crack in the Sutherland tradition.

He hadn’t gotten to speak to him yesterday as much as he wanted to, with all that had happened.

Ray had been married once, divorced, and since then had entertained a string of women with no intention of getting hitched. Noah held up a phone to his ear as he stirred his coffee and watched Axel chew on a rawhide.

“Little brother. What’s up?” Ray said.

Noah heard a police radio crackling in the background.

“You working today?”

“When am I not?”

“But the funeral was yesterday, Ray.”

He snorted. “You think I should have my head buried in a pillow at home for the next month?” He paused for a second and then continued. “There are bills to pay. People to nab. This is how I cope, brother. Staying busy. Keeping my eyes and ears open for someone who might know something.”

Axel began barking loudly and rushed toward the back door .

“Did you go to Kerri’s?” Ray asked.

“No. Found my own accommodation.”

“Someone’s yappy.”

“It’s Axel. I said I would take him for a week.”

“You? The king of independence.” He chuckled. “How’s that working for ya?”

“Listen, did you know that Luke was renting a cabin northeast of the lake?”

“He and Kerri get away from time to time.”

“I mean just him.”

There was dead silence.

“Well, that’s a first. I gather Kerri doesn’t know?”

“No. And I’d like to keep it that way for now.”

“It might be of use to State.”

“I am State. That’s why I’m keeping it under my hat.”

He laughed. “Parish isn’t going to like that. Had him sniffing around here this morning. Asking a bunch of questions. Says you and him go way back. That you did him wrong. What’s all that about?”

“A long story. Look, Ray, what did Luke share with you in the weeks leading up to his death?” Noah was about to tell him about the crazy wall of evidence and theories but he didn’t want it to color his response. He wanted a blank slate. A straightforward question for an untainted answer.

“That he was closing the net on something big related to Operation Heat Wave. He didn’t want to tell me as he didn’t know how deep it went or who was connected, only that if things went to plan, a whole whack of people from the community would be going down for some hard time.”

“But it was drugs-related, right?”

“Drugs, murders, disappearances are part of it. But that’s not all.” Ray paused.

“What is? ”

“Unsure. Luke said there was something new on the horizon that was a potential game changer.”

“But he never told you what?”

“No. You know how he was. He kept his cards close to his chest like any good investigator.”

“And he never shared it with County or local PD?”

“That would involve a conversation. You know how it is.”

“And what about Lena?”

“What about her?”