Meghan nodded. “That’s impressive. It’s good to know we get noticed up here. No sunlight,” Meghan said. “Take vitamin D by the handful. It helps offset seasonal affective disorder.”
“Hmm, that’s good advice.”
Meghan finished dumping files into the backpack from under the seat in front of her. She zipped up the top. She eased into the aisle and stood up. After two hours plunging through the wintery air at 300mph, it was nice to get on the ground and stand still again.
She wanted more conversation with Myles but focused on business. The college students sitting in front of her slipped into the crowded aisle. Meghan wanted a better look at them. She reached into the overhead compartment for the oversized parka and began memorizing their faces.
Meghan had overheard they intended to stay at the mayor’s house. So far, she had no substantial evidence to search and seizure of their luggage. As much as Meghan wanted them to answer for the tailored comment, she had nothing.
While they stood ahead of her, she watched them looking behind to the twenty-something girls in the seats behind Meghan. She stared intently at them until the one who sat in front of her during the flight saw her. Then he had that pained expression that suggested he knew she watched him and nothing else.
Myles slipped out of the window seat and bumped his head on the overhead compartment.
They shared a laugh. Meghan briefly entertained, offering a rub and a place to put his head while staying in town. Instead, she settled for pleasantries and the shared aisle space, standing together, waiting to leave the plane.
Meghan felt Myles behind her. She liked the closeness.
“I might see you around,” he said. It was close enough to Meghan’s ear that she got chills.
Of course, since the flight attendants opened the door to the outside, the arctic wind rushed into the warm space and gave everyone chills.
The pilot announced 11°F in Kinguyakkii. That didn’t include the wind chill that cut the ground temperature in half again. They made their way to the front of the plane, colder and colder as they shuffled along.
Unlike bigger airports, Kinguyakkii had smaller commercial jets and no direct access to the terminal. Anyone arriving promptly got a dose of weather, whatever happened outside the plane at the time.
That Saturday morning, it was clear and cold, forever dark, with gusting winds that tore at Meghan’s face, sucking the air from her lungs the moment her hands gripped the railing on the ramp stairs.
She saw Oliver standing outside the vehicle waving in the general direction. He wore a heavy parka and insolated winter pants. The beaver fur ushanka kept Oliver’s head warm.
Meghan gave Myles one last nod as they split up. Meghan met her sergeant by the truck; Myles followed the rest of the passengers inside the terminal. Meghan packed light and didn’t have anything more than her backpack and a carry-on suitcase that fit in the overhead compartment. She unloaded the backpack and bag in the back seat of the Suburban.
“Hey Chief,” Oliver said. “You have a good trip?”
“Yeah,” she replied but was distracted. “Can you come with me a minute, Oliver?”
“Sure thing,” he said.
Oliver fell into step behind Meghan as they marched toward the terminal entrance, where the other passengers filed. Oliver managed to block the rest of the wind slicing through the open area of the airfield.
While the rest of the passengers waited for the baggage handlers to unload the plane and toss luggage through the plastic curtain of the shoot, Meghan nudged Oliver.
“You see those two guys over there?” she asked.
They stood near the corner of the airline terminal. Unlike other larger airports, people disembarking and embarking comingled inside the tight space. People leaving town bumped into passengers. TSA consisted of a part-time worker who sometimes got handsy with young female travelers when they passed through the metal detector. Meghan got a few complaints, had several conversations with the guy. He tended to avoid eye contact with Meghan whenever she visited the airport terminal.
The college students stood near the edge of the luggage shoot, which was nothing more than a small door cut into the side of the warehouse terminal with thick plastic curtains to block the cold air.
“You recognize them?”
Oliver shook his head. He learned to pay attention without looking obvious. He’d worked with Meghan long enough to know when she was on the case. Most of the time, Meghan worked one case or another.
“Nope, never saw them before,” Oliver said.
Meghan smiled one more time at Myles, who stood off from the other passengers and looked up from his smartphone.
Meghan turned to leave, to follow Oliver back through the passenger door. Instead, while she didn’t let anything slide by, she felt compelled to address everyone in an impromptu speech. It came with the territory, and Meghan didn’t care about how people saw her as an imposing character who wasn’t afraid to bring up valid points.
“Can I have everyone’s attention,” she said. It took a moment before the crowd stopped conversing with each other and looked her direction. Oliver stood behind her like a living pillar of importance.
“I’d like to take a minute to thank those of you coming into town and hope you enjoy your visit,” she started. It was essential to making people feel welcome before dropping a bomb on them. “I’d also like to remind those of you who don’t know that our lovely city of Kinguyakkii is a dry community. That means no alcoholic beverages are allowed in and around the area. No alcoholic beverages are permitted to ship through the post office, and of course, everyone knows you’re not supposed to have alcohol in your luggage through
