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Rog shrugged. “Doesn’t that come with the territory, you being black ops folks and all?”
Fenn’s gut told him that this guy had a complicated backstory, too. Takes one to know one.
“What were you doing at the hotel two days ago?” Fenn asked, his tone casual.
Rog’s expression hardened. “None of your business.”
Fenn noticed the man’s irritation, but didn’t detect any defensiveness. Interesting. He pushed further. “We’re trying to track down the person who left the threat.”
“Not a bad reason.” Rog sighed, his shoulders sagging slightly. “I was there seeing a woman. And that’s all I’m gonna say about that.”
“You mean as in dating?” Fenn couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out of his mouth.
Rog’s lips twitched into a semblance of a smile. “Some women are smart enough to see past the outer wrappings.”
Fenn wondered what was inside. The man couldn’t even maintain eye contact, and social niceties were clearly not his forte. And then it hit him. Maybe the guy could do those things when he wanted to.
“I’m guessing you’ve already looked into the other hotel guests,” Rog said, his tone matter-of-fact.
Fenn and Kate nodded in agreement.
“And I’m guessing you’ll be wanting to talk your way onto the military installation next.” Rog chuckled. “Good luck with that. Place is shut down tighter than the CIA.” He jerked a mittened thumb at the narrow windows above the bread display. “Besides, it’s a day’s ride out. At least. There’s more weather coming. The squints at the weather bureau say it’s 48 hours out, but who knows? Nature does what nature wants. In any case, you’ll never beat the next storm out and back. I’d wait on that mission if I were you. You don’t want to get stuck out at the base. Food stinks and the company’s worse.”
Fenn’s mind raced with possibilities. When the team was there following the lead on Jason, they had scoured the area thirty miles out. With the exception of the military installation, there was nothing but polar bears and tundra.
“But maybe you won’t have to,” Rog continued. “There are lots of places in the area for people to hide out if they want to.”
Fenn and Kate exchanged a glance, intrigued.
Rog scratched his chin. “There’s a long-abandoned communications camp. Early radar and high frequency radio stuff. World War II era. It’s buried under ten feet of ice now. Dang fools built it at the base of a hill. Avalanche buried it thirty years ago. But there’s an ice tunnel. Strays hang out there from time to time. I haven’t been out there in years, but could be your person is there. Or was.” Rog glanced between them and sniffed. “You two make a nice couple.”
Fenn and Kate both spluttered, their protests overlapping.
“We’re not?—”
“Absolutely not?—”
“No way?—”
Rog shook his head, muttering under his breath as he left the store. “Fools, the both of you.”
They stood in the empty store. Fenn catalogued the potato chip display while Kate seemed to take an outsized interest in the year-old magazines by the register.
“Well, we’re definitely not fools,” Kate said, her tone firm.
“No way.” Not both of them.
He was, but there was no need to confirm that fact.
But back to the matter at hand. Fenn didn’t think so, but it was certainly possible Rog was lying about his date. About the abandoned station. About being the one who left that note.
“I don’t think it’s him.” Kate voiced his thoughts.
“Why not?” He had his reasons, but he wanted to know if she was picking up on the same signs.
“Did you see his face when he talked about his date?” A wistful expression transformed her face. “Whatever else he may or may not have done, that date was the real deal.”
Exactly what Fenn believed. The man might be former special ops. Probably was. But even trained personnel had their tells. Besides, they could easily confirm his story with the female scientist.
