Midnight Sun (32 page)

She
gently
stroked
his
brown
skin
with
the
tips
of
her
fingers,
running
over
the
network
of
scars
that
crisscrossed
his
washboard
abdomen
like
a
sheet
of
lace
sewn
by
a
drunken
weaver—the artwork
of
war
left
by
an
Iraqi
roadside
bomb.
Tears
welled
in
her
eyes.
He
pulled
her
to
him,
as
close
as
her
belly
allowed.
She
buried
her
head
in
his
muscular
chest
and
the
emotional
dam
burst,
her
sorrow
taking
its
natural
course
unfettered.
Several
minutes
passed
before
the
sobbing
slowed
and
she
was
able
to
speak.

“
They
were
just
married.
Not
even
one
day,
”
she
convulsed
with
more
sobs.
“
They
waited so long to find each other. They
were
so
happy.
Then
that
man
had
to
ruin
everything.
”

Marcus
held
her
close
and
let
her
cry.
Lonnie
seldom
let herself take things to heart
regardless
of
the
gore
she
saw
on
a
fairly
regular
basis.
Before
becoming
a
lieutenant,
she
had
spent
more
than
six
years
on
patrol
as
a
regular
trooper
and
then
four
as
an
investigator.
Bloody
murders,
suicides,
and
scores
of
fatal
motor
vehicle
accidents
were
part
of
the
job.
Her
promotion
two
years
earlier
had
taken
her
off
patrols
and
into
a
supervisory
role,
and
the
last
few
months
of
the
pregnancy
further
relegated
her
to
mostly
desk
work.
Between
the
hormones
of
pregnancy
and
the
genuine
stress
of
seeing
a
good
friend
killed
before
her
eyes,
the
load
had
become
too
much
to
carry.
She
cried
in
his
arms
until
they
both
drifted
into
an
exhausted
sleep.

***

At
five
o'clock
they
awoke,
still
cuddled
together.
They
got
up,
he
dressed
and
she
fixed
her
hair.
Blessed
with
naturally
smooth
skin,
Lonnie
wore
very
little
, if any,
makeup,
so
getting
ready
to
go
out
was
a
fairly
quick
process
for
her
most
of
the
time.
They
made
their
way
down
to
the
lobby,
where
they
met
with
Mike
and
Hilde.
The
group
walked
out
the
front
of
the
hotel
onto
Fourth
Avenue
and
made
their
way
one
block
west
to
Simon
&
Seafort
’
s
restaurant.
They
had
not
made
reservations,
and
the
hostess
told
them
it
would
be
a
thirty-minute
wait
unless
they
were
willing
to
dine
in
the
bar
area.
The
restaurant
was
smoke
free,
and
at
the
early
hour,
the
bar
was
quieter
than
the
dining
room.
Most
of
the
noise
in
there
came
from
two
large
flat-screen
TVs
hanging
above
the
bar,
the
sound
background
murmurs
of
a
baseball
game
and
the
local
news
channel.

They
chose
a
table
near
a
window
that
framed
Mt. Susitna
across
the
inlet.
The
mountain
is
locally
known
as
Sleeping
Lady,
due
to
the
fact
that
from
certain
angles,
it
looks
like
a
long-haired
woman
lying
on
her
back.
They
ordered
and
made
small
talk
over
drinks
as
they
waited
for
their
food.
The
conversation
drifted
from
the
photo hunt
to
babies
and
the
Farris's
decision
to
try
having
children.
Hilde
was
thirty-nine
years
old,
and
felt
like
it
was
now
or
never.
Lonnie
was
about
the
same
age
and
encouraged
her
to
go
for
it;
she
would
not
get
many
more
chances.