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strapping tape, were impossible to rip. Bright birthday gift wrap covered the box and this she also tore off.
    “Looks like she forgot something—maybe the card—and had to reopen it,” Alex commented, noting the way the paper seemed to have been opened at one end and retaped.
    Jess opened the lid to find a soft blue hand-knit sweater inside the box.
    “Oh, how pretty. Your mom’s so nice to remember me.”
    She lifted it out and held it up, smiling, pleased.
    “What do you think?”
    “I like it—a lot.” Alex reached a hand to feel the softness.
    “Here’s the card.” She lifted it from the bottom of the box. “No, two cards.”
    The first was a humorous cartoon featuring Garfield the cat and enclosing a short, affectionate note from Keara Jensen. They read it together, smiling.
    “What’s the other one?” Alex asked. “Wonder why she sent two.”
    The envelope was sealed. Jessie carefully tore it open and removed a piece of paper folded like a business letter. Unfolding it, her smile vanished, and her face turned pale again.
    “Alex?” she croaked, in a strange, frightened voice, and looked up at him helplessly.
    He snatched it from her shaking fingers and read the few computer-printed words it held:
    HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESSIE. DID YOU FIND THE PRESENTS I LEFT YOUR DOGS? I HOPE YOU APPRECIATE MY THOUGHTFULNESS. WE WILL RUN THIS RACE TOGETHER, BUT THIS TIME I GET TO WIN .

4
    “L isten, Cas, I know I asked you guys to meet us in Anchorage for Jessie’s birthday dinner, but would you mind coming out here instead? We’ve suddenly got a very nasty situation. Some bastard is harassing Jessie, set traps in the kennel last night, and we really don’t want to leave the place unguarded. We could really use your help…. Great…. No, not now. I’ll fill you in when you get here. How soon can you make it?…Okay, see you shortly.”
    Jessie had categorically refused to leave the cabin for the special evening Alex had planned, and while he was in complete agreement, he was also in favor of salvaging something of her birthday celebration. He was also relieved for more than one reason when Ben and Linda Caswell readily agreed to the last-minute change in plans. It would be a good chance to get Ben’s take on the problems and his assistance, but he also empathized with Caswell, friend and fellow trooper, who would suffer no disappointment at substituting a pair of comfortablyworn jeans and shirt for the sport jacket and tie the more formal dinner would have required. Neither man truly enjoyed wearing dress clothes, though they appreciated the positive response of their womenfolk when they were persuaded to do so. He recalled Jessie’s comment the first time she had seen him in a sport jacket and tie: “Hey, trooper, you clean up nice.”
    This evening, Jensen was satisfied not to have to make the effort, would rather concentrate on the circumstance of the traps and harassing note. In less than twenty-four hours three related incidents had occurred and escalated from confusion to actual threat. Alex had expressed only part of his concern to Jessie. Under the carefully controlled and thoughtful exterior he was trying to maintain, he was worried and apprehensive, fearfully aware that what had already happened should be viewed as a beginning and would probably, and quickly, get worse. What the hell was going on? Who was responsible, and why make Jessie a target? He had investigated this sort of thing before. It was unpleasant in the extreme, and he was maddened to have it happening to someone for whom he cared deeply. But, not ready to add to what was already considerably upsetting her, he kept his anxiety to himself.
    The birthday present from his mother had clearly undergone some tampering, either in transit or, more likely, after it reached their roadside mailbox. Alex had bagged both the package and note for removal to the crime lab for investigation, but it was unlikely they’d find anything other than his