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Endless Night
Dana Mentink


On the run, Jackie Swann returns to the last place anyone would look for her: Alaska's Delucchi Lodge.The retreat was the site of her brother Danny's fatal accident–and is home to pilot Roman Carter, the man she once loved. The man she still blames for Danny's death. But the Delucchis have secrets of their own that throw her back into Roman's path.With no one to trust, Jackie finds danger closing in on all sides, and the final showdown could leave her lost in an endless night…or bring the truth to light.









It had been two years since she’d seen Roman Carter. Jackie’s stomach knotted, and she kept her eyes as far away from him as possible.


She’d gotten to see enough in the first shocked moment when she figured out who he was. Dark hair, longish, falling into his face. A shadow of stubble on his strong chin, dimples when he’d smiled and the eyes, the familiar hazel eyes, self-assured, confident, cocky. He was the same Roman.

She could hear her father’s angry voice in her mind. He killed your brother. I will never forgive him. Never!

She forced herself to take a breath. She had more important matters to worry about than Roman Carter. After he dropped her at the lodge she would put him out of her mind and push him back into the past where he belonged….




DANA MENTINK


lives in California with her family. Dana and her husband met doing a dinner theater production of The Velveteen Rabbit. In college, she competed in national speech and debate tournaments. Besides writing novels, Dana taste-tests for the National Food Lab and freelances for a local newspaper. In addition to her work with Steeple Hill Books, she writes cozy mysteries for Barbour Books. Dana loves feedback from her readers. Contact her at www.danamentink.com.




Endless Night

Dana Mentink








Come now, and let us reason together,

says the Lord,

Though your sins are as scarlet,

They will be as white as snow;

Though they are red like crimson,

They will be like wool.

—Isaiah 1:18


To my big sis, who has been there through all those

dark nights that seemed endless.




CONTENTS


CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION




ONE


She pressed down the fear. It was all a mistake, a terrible dream from which she’d awaken any moment. The crowded terminal of San Francisco International Airport was filled with people, talking on cell phones and checking flight information. In spite of the crowd, Jackie felt utterly alone as she stood in a corner near the busy ticket counters. Her phone rang. She jumped and clutched at it. “Hello?”

“Did you get a flight out?”

“Asia?” She hardly recognized her friend’s voice. “I’m at the airport now but I’ve changed my mind. This is nuts. We can’t run away. If Dr. Reynolds is guilty, we’ve got to stand our ground and prove it.”

“Are you crazy?” Asia hissed. “You know Mick got jumped on his way over here after he called his friend in the police department. Reynolds has paid them off.”

Jackie pressed the phone tightly to her ear. “There’s got to be a mistake.”

Asia’s voice rose an octave. “Dr. Reynolds doesn’t have the clout to buy off the police on his own. He’s selling his patients’ information to a crime ring. The errors are too widespread to be the work of one person. I should have seen it before.”

Jackie tried to control her own panic. “We’ve both got to calm down. Where are you? Did you get Mick to a hospital?”

“I’m waiting for him at the clinic now. He’s in a lot of pain. As soon as he can travel, we’re gone.” There was a sound of voices in the background. Asia spoke in a whisper. “You’ve got to get out of there, Jackie. Dr. Reynolds has men looking for us. They’re trying to keep us quiet any way they can.”

Jackie jerked around, scanning the crowd, and scooted into a farther corner.

Asia had been poring over the computer accounts in the darkened office, hours after closing time, downloading information to a thumb drive. Asia’s boyfriend Mick who worked on the imaging equipment was there too, sipping coffee. Asia had just begun to explain why she’d summoned Jackie at such a late hour when Dr. Reynolds appeared, briefcase in hand. His wide forehead creased in suspicion.

“What are you three doing here? What are you downloading?”

Asia stood, facing him. “Dr. Reynolds, there are payments coming in for treatments we never provided. Addresses and personal information for our patients have been altered too.”

The doctor’s face purpled. “I’ve been watching you poking around, sticking your nose into things. What exactly are you saying?”

Mick stepped forward. “That you’re guilty of fraudulent billing.”

“It’s more than that,” Asia said, a tremor in her voice. “It’s too widespread. You’re working for somebody who does this on a large scale. ”

Jackie watched in horror as Dr. Reynolds’s face twisted in rage. “How dare you.” Spittle flew from his mouth. “I’ll ruin you. All of you.” He spun around and ran from the room towards the back office.

At Asia’s urging, Jackie had snatched the thumb drive and crammed it in her pocket before Mick dragged both of the shocked women to the parking lot. “Go. Now. He keeps a gun in his office, I’ve seen it.”

They raced to Jackie’s car.

Mick kissed Asia. “Go to the coffee shop. Wait for my call.”

Asia’s eyes filled. “Where are you going?”

“I have a friend at the S.F. P.D. I’m going to contact him. I’ll meet you. It will be okay.”

But it wasn’t. He’d returned bloodied and battered.

“I was jumped. They wore masks but I recognized one. He’s a cop. Reynolds must have bought them off.”

Asia had taken Mick to the nearest clinic, promising to meet Jackie at the airport.

“Listen, I’ve been keeping detailed notes on all the inconsistencies I’ve found.” Asia started to talk faster. “I contacted someone who used to work for Dr. Reynolds at his office in Thousand Oaks. She’s looking too. You’ve got to give me and Mick some time. We’ll call you as soon as we can. Just get away somewhere, anywhere.” The phone disconnected.

Jackie’s breath seemed to form hard crystals in her lungs. Mick beaten? Dirty cops? Crime rings? The whole thing was absurd. She quickly dialed her friend Patti’s cell number.

“Hey, Jackie. You’re out of milk. I came to borrow some before rehearsal. I should have taken up a smaller instrument. I work up an awful thirst dragging that cello up five flights.”

“Patti, listen. I’ve got to go out of town. Can you take care of the place?”

“Sure, where you going?”

“Just a quick getaway.”

“Sounds great. You know I’m kinda miffed. You never mentioned your darling boyfriend.”

She felt a stir of alarm. “That’s because I don’t have one.”

“Care to explain the good-looking cop who stopped by? He was in plainclothes, of course, but he showed me a badge.”

Jackie froze, unable to speak.

Patti continued. “Handsome fella. How can you resist an ex-Navy man? Just the thought of dating a sailor gives me a charge.”

“I don’t….”

“He told me that you decided to break things off because of his dangerous job and all that. He wanted to come patch things up. He wondered if you’d left town, maybe gone to Maryland.”

“Maryland?” The lights flickered before her eyes. He knows I have family in Maryland? Jackie forced a cheerful tone. “He sure has put a lot of thought into it, hasn’t he?”

“I guess so. Anyway, I gotta go.”

“Can you take care of my things until I get back?”

“Okay, but you’re going to have an empty fridge by that time. Bye.”

Jackie squeezed the phone between her clammy palms.

The stranger knew her father was in Maryland. He knew where she lived here in San Francisco. The cop, if he really was a cop, was probably out right now checking all the places she frequented. Dr. Reynolds had set things in motion with alarming speed. She could feel nothing but cold, blind panic.

An image of Roman rose in her mind, the rock solid strength that had never failed her except for the one awful moment in Alaska that had changed everything. She thought of his laughter and sense of adventure, which had been a balm for her as long as she could remember. That part of your life is dead, Jackie. She blinked the memory back into the past where it belonged.

In a fog she joined the end of the nearest ticket line. For the first time, she considered where she could go. She just needed time, time to think things through, a safe place to figure out a plan. Not in Maryland—she could never risk involving her father. He’d be safe as long as she stayed far away until things were settled.

The line snaked its way along until Jackie found herself at the front. The efficient woman behind the desk looked at her. “Where to?”

“I…” Speech failed her. What place would be safe until she could climb out of the mess she’d gotten herself into?

“What is your destination, ma’am?”

She would fly to the farthest corner she could think of, the place that held her most precious memories and the echoes of her most terrible nightmare. Jackie’s mouth formed the word, but her mind did not believe it.

“Alaska.”



Roman Carter drove the rattletrap van with Wayne’s Aviation emblazoned on the side to the small airport on the edge of town. The day was clear, the roads newly plowed of snow. He felt an unusual surge of optimism. Maybe the tourists would start to come again, in spite of the economy. If the flight load picked up, he might be able to make progress toward owning his own plane.

He pulled up at the airstrip that cut its way through the tiny town of Foster and headed toward the two people in the shuttle-waiting area, a heavyset, dark-haired man with a mustache, and a small figure, bundled into a coat that wasn’t warm enough with a crumpled baseball hat pulled down low over the brim.

“Hello, folks. I understand you need a ride to the Delucchi Lodge.”

The heavyset man nodded and extended a hand. “Byron Lloyd.”

“Roman Carter. Good to meet you.” Roman noticed a price tag sticking out from the neck of the man’s jacket and hid a smile.

The man followed Roman’s look and detached the price tag with a chuckle. “Luggage got lost somewhere. All I have is my duffel bag—it’s a good thing I carry it everywhere. Had to buy this jacket at the airport, and it cost me a good chunk of change.”

Roman turned to the other figure, wondering at first if the person was hard of hearing. After a long moment, she lifted her chin so he got a good view of her face.

“We’ve already met,” she said.

He blinked in shock. Jackie Swann stood before him, strands of her copper hair trailing from underneath her hat, amber eyes looking at him with a mixture of surprise and anger. He couldn’t speak.

Jackie cleared her throat and straightened her small frame. “I didn’t know you worked for the Delucchis.”

He forced his mouth to start moving. “I don’t. I work for Wayne Fisk. I fly people to the lodge.” The fierce desire to ask why she was here burned in him. Why would she come back? He bit down on the words, forcibly stilling the barrage of feelings that whipped through him like a savage Alaskan storm. He moved to take her small bag.

She grabbed it before he could. “I’ll carry it.”

“Fine.” The two followed him out to the shuttle. Byron Lloyd filled the strained silence by peppering Roman with questions.

“I’m a freelance writer, you see. Covering this Winterfest deal. A festival to celebrate winter. Clever marketing. How many people are you expecting?”

“Hard to say. Not as many travelers these days.”

“Am I going to get cell phone coverage and Internet at the lodge?”

“Internet, yes. No cell unless you have a satellite phone.”

They arrived at the airstrip and loaded the plane. Roman hated to do it, but he asked Jackie to sit in the front to balance the weight properly. She reluctantly agreed. He offered an arm as she climbed up into the plane, but she ignored it.

He ducked into the office to check in with Wayne once more before he flew out.

Wayne looked up from his top-of-the-line computer and gave Roman a close look. “What’s the matter? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“It’s nothing.” He walked to the plane feeling that Wayne was right. The ghost of his past, of his sins, of his longings, had come back to dredge up the horror he’d tried so hard to put behind him. Looking at Jackie’s delicate profile as she stared out the window, he wondered.

Why are you here?




TWO


Jackie stared out the window at the blinding white below. She felt it inside too—a stark, flat feeling, as though her heart was as frozen and untouchable as the tundra. Why hadn’t she seen it coming? Roman had always been interested in flying. He loved the outdoors. It was a logical leap that he would still be working in Alaska, but she never suspected he would be so closely connected to Delucchi Lodge. Not after what had happened, not after two long years.

Her stomach knotted and she kept her gaze as far away from Roman as possible. Dark hair, longish, falling into his face. A shadow of stubble on his strong chin, dimples when he’d smiled at Byron Lloyd, and the eyes, the familiar hazel eyes, self-assured, confident, cocky. In the two years they’d been apart, nothing had changed. He was the same Roman.

She could hear her father’s angry voice in her mind.

He killed your brother. I will never forgive him. Never.

They had had only one tortured conversation after the accident. It was the only time she’d seen Roman completely vulnerable, unable to even form a coherent sentence, his then twenty-three-year-old face twisted in agony. She closed her eyes at the awful memory.

Squeezing her hands together she forced herself to take a breath. She had more important matters to worry about than Roman. After he dropped her at the lodge she would put him out of her mind.

At the airport in San Francisco, she’d bought a satellite phone, though she’d almost choked at the thousand-dollar price tag. She had to be sure Asia could reach her, so she e-mailed her the phone number via her laptop just before the flight. It might be a risk if Reynolds’s people could hack into her e-mail, so she sent only the phone number and didn’t include any other details. She wished again that Asia and Asia’s boyfriend, Mick, had come along. But Asia was right—Mick needed medical attention for his injuries and it was probably smarter for them not to fly together, anyway. In the agonizing hours before the plane departed, she’d been lucky enough to find a place in the airport to charge her phone and to buy a duffel bag and some sundries. There were no messages from her friend through the Internet or on her home answering machine. Where was she? Jackie could still hear the panic in her friend’s voice.

Just get away somewhere, anywhere.

Under the pretense of studying the mountains, she shot a glance behind her at Byron Lloyd. She found him gazing at her intently.

“Where do you hail from?” he asked.

Jackie’s stomach knotted. “West Coast.”

“Whereabouts?”

She forced a smile. “Oh, you know. Here and there. How about you?”

“San Francisco area.”

Her gut twisted even further. “Well, you’ll love the Delucchi Lodge.” She realized she’d given herself away.

“Oh, you’ve been there before?”

She nodded, saved from a reply when Roman took the plane down toward the cleared strip of frozen ground. She saw Skip Delucchi waiting, his hair a little sparser than she remembered, his long face and prominent nose giving him a hound-dog look.

Skip wrapped her in a hug when she dropped down from the plane. “Jackie, it’s so good to see you. I was completely surprised when you called me from the airport. Thank goodness we had one cabin still vacant.” He shot an uneasy glance at Roman, who was pulling luggage out of the plane’s cargo hold. He lowered his voice. “Did you and Roman get a chance to catch up?”

“No. I’m not feeling chatty, I guess.”

He hesitated for a moment. “Yes, well, it doesn’t matter. June is so excited that you’re here. She hasn’t stopped baking since sunup.”

Skip introduced himself to Lloyd, who Jackie noticed had been taking in their conversation with interest. He helped them into a battered Range Rover and, with a final word to Roman, headed toward the distant lights of the lodge. Jackie glanced quickly into the side mirror. Roman stood tall and straight against an unforgiving glare of white. In the distance, above the snow-crusted bluff, she thought she could just make out the roofline of the still unfinished cabin, the place where everything had ended in the blink of an eye.

In spite of the circumstances, the sight of the Delucchi Lodge stirred a warm nostalgia in her. She savored the profile of the rugged mountains that backed the property and the thick stand of snow-topped pines that stood sentry around the main cabin. Smaller cabins were sprinkled along the property. A massive set of antlers festooned the doorway, and Jackie was greeted by the smell of roasting meat and apple pie.

June appeared in the tiled hallway, wiping her hands on a worn apron. Her dishwater-blond hair hung in a careless chop at her shoulders, her blue eyes accented by deep crow’s feet that Jackie had not noticed two years before.

“You look wonderful. I’m so glad you’re here.” She wrapped Jackie in a cinnamon-scented embrace. “Fallon will be glad too. I wonder where she is, anyway.”

Jackie was not so sure about Fallon’s reception. Fallon had only wanted to be around Jackie because of her brother. The girl had adored Danny with the deep passion of a love-struck teenager.

They exchanged more pleasantries until Skip offered to show Jackie and Byron to their cabins. “Be dark in a couple hours. Best get you settled in.” He turned to Jackie. “You’re staying in Riverrun. I thought you’d like that.”

Jackie nodded. “That’s perfect. I’ll go myself. You take care of Mr. Lloyd.” Jackie thanked him and watched the two march off into the snow. She was dismayed to discover when they stopped that Lloyd would have the cabin closest to hers. Just relax, Jackie. He’s a nosy reporter, that’s all.

She was about to head out herself when June stopped her. “Jackie, what were you thinking, coming here with that flimsy jacket? Did you forget we’re north of the Arctic Circle?” She fetched a heavy coat from the closet and helped her into it.

Making her way to her cabin, Jackie wondered if her abrupt arrival had inconvenienced Skip and June. Perhaps she should turn around and leave. But it was not the time to make such decisions so late in the day, not in Alaska, not this time of year when there was only a scant four hours of sunlight each day. She resolved to at least help June in the kitchen and ease any burdens she might have caused by showing up on short notice.

As she turned around to pick up her duffel, she saw Lloyd looking out his small cabin window, his dark eyes fixed on her. The curtain quickly fell into place as he stepped back out of sight.

With a surge of fear, she closed her cabin door.



Roman flew the plane past trees thoroughly crusted with ice, against the backdrop of rigid mountains. He was relieved to take off, glad to be alone with his thoughts.

The shock of seeing Jackie still tingled in every nerve. She looked different than the last time he’d seen her, the grief not as fresh in her face. An anger had taken its place and rooted itself deeply in her eyes.

The guilt swirled up like wind-whipped snow. Jackie still despised him, and he despised himself for what had happened those two years ago.

He tried to concentrate on the feeling of the plane as it banked smoothly. He had to remind himself that the beautiful de Havilland did not belong to him and never would, unless business picked up. He’d been saving every dime he made, but he was still fifty thousand dollars short. Fifty thousand roadblocks separated him and his dream, the only dream he had left.

He was admiring the spectacular dazzle of snow on the gray mountains, highlighted by the sun on its way to setting, when the radio crackled.

“Roman, June needs your help. Fallon’s gone. June’s half-frantic,” Wayne said.

Roman sighed. “Where’d she head this time?”

“Her mom isn’t sure. Went out to do some cross-country skiing.”

“By herself?” Roman checked his watch. Almost one-thirty. The sun would set in a little under an hour.

“She told her mom she was meeting friends, but all of them are home safe and sound where they belong. Skip is out right now on the snowmobile looking for her.”

“Give me her last location and I’ll check it out.”

Wayne filled him in. “Don’t stay out too long. There’s a low pressure building over the Gulf. We’re gonna get some snow.”

With a sense of rising urgency, he banked and turned the plane. It wasn’t a game this far north. If you got lost in the great white expanse you might survive, in the daytime. If you got lost in the dark, when temperatures plunged deep into the minus range, that was a whole other can of worms. Wayne had taught him early on to carry a survival kit. No exceptions. Picturing the stubborn, careless sixteen-year-old Fallon, he knew she hadn’t taken any such precautions.

Fallon was hard to like, harder to trust, and he should be mad about having to go bail her out. Instead he only felt the same lancing pain when he thought of the younger Fallon, barely a teen with a puppy-love crush on Danny, who loved her as if she were his own sister. He blinked away the image of Jackie that rose again in his thoughts, the strange mixture of pleasure and pain that her presence awakened in him. What was she doing at this very moment? Asleep in her cabin? Knowing her, she was probably out helping to look for Fallon.

He peered closer at the darkening ground. The sun was low on the horizon, painting the snow in silver and gray. Fallon would have worn the old green jacket she practically lived in, so he strained his eyes to see any flash of the color.

The temperature continued to drop steadily. A paltry three degrees Fahrenheit began to slide into the negative numbers. Wind vibrated the wings of the plane and rose along with Roman’s anxiety.

Darkness spread. Soon it would be difficult to land safely.

Wayne radioed him again. “Come back in now.”

“A few more minutes.”

“Now, Roman. Plenty of rescuers die trying to be the hero. Don’t be one of them.”

He got a glimpse of the unfinished cabin on the bluff and fought a shudder. “I know. I’ll be careful.”

“That’s not good enough.” Wayne’s voice became commanding.

Roman thought of Danny, foggy images of that dark, frigid night swirling up again, the frightening sounds of the car sliding over the embankment clear in his ears. No one else would die in this wintry abyss if he could help it, especially no one whom Danny had loved. “Sorry, Wayne.” Roman turned the radio down to mute Wayne’s anxious retort. “There’s no way I can turn my back now.”

He fought against the wind that buffeted the plane in the near darkness. At this latitude, night did not come gently. It arrived like a heavy fist-fall in a matter of minutes. Soon there would be no chance of finding her.

“Come on, Fallon. Where are you?”

As if on cue he caught sight of a green flash under the massive trunk of a pine. He immediately scanned the surface for the best place to land. There was no time to go through the tedious safety checks he’d done before. He had to put the plane down quickly. Praying he would not land in an overflow that would plunge him into water or freeze the skis so completely they would stay riveted there until the spring thaw, he took it down.

Engines still running, he jumped out, the snow against his legs taking his breath away. He hurried over to find Fallon, back against the tree, arms folded.

“Are you okay?”

She turned her long, thin face in his direction. “Yeah.”

“Yeah? That’s it? Your dad has been searching for you. What are you doing out here?”

She huffed. “Don’t give me a lecture. I wanted to cross-country, but one of my skis broke, so I quit. I figured someone would come along and here you are.”

He bit back the frustration and found his satellite phone. Skip Delucchi picked up on the first ring.

“Did you find her?”

“Yes, she’s fine.” Roman gave him the location.

“Can you fly her out?”

Roman looked at the sky. “No. I’m grounded for the night.”

Skip let out a long sigh. “Jackie and I are about a mile from there on the snowmobile. We’re having a little trouble with one of the vehicles, but we’ll be there soon.”

Jackie. He caught himself before he said the name aloud. He’d been right about her joining in the search. Roman clicked off the phone and turned to Fallon. “Why don’t you get in the plane and warm up?”

Fallon’s face still wore a sullen cast, but she climbed aboard. Roman joined her and they sat in silence watching the sun disappear behind the horizon.

Fallon’s voice startled him. “Why is she here?”

“Who?” he asked, though he knew exactly whom she referred to.

“You know. I heard Dad talking to her on the phone.”

He felt her staring at him in the gloom. He wanted to deny it, to steer the conversation elsewhere, but he couldn’t lie to the girl. “I’m not sure.”

Fallon folded her arms across her chest. “I didn’t think she’d ever come back. I wouldn’t, if I got out of here.”

He felt the rise of pain again, but didn’t answer.

“So she hates you.”

He nodded. “Pretty much.”

“That’s heavy.”

Almost heavier than he could bear sometimes. He was saved from further questions by Skip’s arrival on the snowmobile, headlights blazing through the gloom. Jackie pulled up a moment after him. Swallowing his emotion, Roman helped Fallon down and Skip enfolded her in a hug. She remained stiff in his arms, but Roman thought he could see tenderness on her face, a sliver of the innocent child she had been. Jackie stood apart.

What was she thinking? He wondered again why she had come back to a place that obviously held such pain for her, for them both.

Skip shook Roman’s hand vigorously and hugged him. “How can I thank you?”

“A hot meal sometime would do it.”

“You are welcome at our table any day. June has all kinds of savories and sweets in the works for Winterfest.” He smiled at Jackie. “Can you put Roman on your machine?”

Roman didn’t wait to see the uncomfortable look on her face. “No need. I’m staying with the plane.”

Skip blinked. “You’ll freeze out here.”

“I’ve got gear. I’ll radio Wayne and let him know.”

Skip shook his head. “I don’t think so. We’re going to get snow tonight. It’s too dangerous.”

Jackie continued to look at him with expressionless eyes. “You can ride with me if you need to.”

The offer was kind but the tone was not. It was just as cold as the breathtakingly icy air around them. “I appreciate your concern, but this bird is my responsibility and I’m not leaving her. I’m prepared. I’ll survive until morning and I’ve got a radio and sat phone if I need to bail out. I’m staying.”

With a sigh, Skip shook his hand once more and helped Fallon onto his snowmobile. Jackie followed Skip without a backward glance. She tried to start her snowmobile but the engine would not turn over. After several minutes of useless trying from all of them, Skip put his hands on his hips. “Well, I’ll have to make two trips.” He shot a glance from Jackie to Roman. “Jackie, can you stay here while I take Fallon back, and then I’ll come for you?”

Jackie looked as though she’d been sentenced to prison. Roman saw her take a breath before she answered. “Of course.”

Skip and Fallon headed off into the dark.

Roman cleared his throat. “Let’s sit in the plane. Warmer there.”

He thought she would refuse, but the steadily dropping temperature must have convinced her because she climbed in the passenger-side door. They sat for a moment in silence before she spoke, her voice oddly flat.

“This place hasn’t changed at all. It looks exactly the same as the first time I saw it. I was just a college kid. Danny was a freshman in high school.”

He nodded. “No, not really. Still plenty of wide open spaces.” But it had changed, profoundly. The woman who used to be the center of his world, the first thing he thought of every morning and the last thing before sleep claimed him at night could barely look at him. Fixed in his mind was the time when Jackie’s father, an engineer on the pipeline, had brought his family to spend nearly the entire year in Alaska. Each season he’d shown Jackie the wonders of this isolated place, and each day had brought them closer together.

He remembered when they had built a series of snow igloos and invited all their friends to camp out under the stars. Was it his imagination or had the stars now lost some of their luster? He felt Jackie’s eyes on him and shifted. “Just thinking about our snow igloos. Remember that?”

For a moment, the spark shone in her eyes again, a smile lit her face that took his breath away. Then it disappeared. “I remember.” Her tone was so low he almost didn’t catch it. “I remember. Danny talked about it all the time.”

“Yeah.” He wanted to take her hands in his, to tell her again how deeply sorry he was. He knew she could never love him again, but he wanted desperately to bring back to life the warm and ebullient woman she had been, the woman who sang Broadway show tunes at every opportunity and cried at the sight of an injured animal. “Jackie, I…” Words failed him.

She looked at him, waiting for him to finish. When he didn’t, she let out a little sigh and steered them back onto safe ground. “I forgot how dark it gets here.”

“Sure does.”

She shivered and he offered her a blanket. She took it and he helped her tuck it in around her shoulders, his fingers tingling where they accidentally brushed against hers. She started to say something, then stopped. They sank into heavy silence.

The distance that grew between them in that moment might have been wider than the sprawling Alaskan wilderness. A twist of pain lanced through him as he recalled bittersweet memories.

Oddly it was a moment in San Francisco that crystallized his future in Alaska. He’d had to content himself with Jackie’s periodic visits, until her father had a stroke that left him unable to travel. Roman had hoarded every last penny and flown to San Francisco to see her that year. On one fog-shrouded night, she’d said the words that made him sure their lives would be intertwined forever. “I feel like Alaska is my real home,” she’d said. That’s when he’d decided to ask her to marry him as soon as her father was well. He’d flown home and begun counting the days until her return.

Thinking about the joy he’d felt numbed him inside

It seemed like an eternity before Skip appeared to retrieve Jackie and they motored across the snow. When the sound of the snowmobile engine died away, Roman radioed Wayne and calmly accepted a vigorous tongue-lashing.

Before he bunked in for the night, Roman ventured once more into the ink-dark night. The sight never failed to take his breath away. A cathedral of achingly brilliant stars shone between the clouds without the interference of city lights. He felt as if he could reach up and touch one of the dazzling gems.

Wish on a star, his mother had told him when he was a boy.

As the cold closed in around him he knew that there was no point in childish wishing. What his heart had once desired might as well be as far away as those perfect stars. Worst of all, he was grateful for the distance.




THREE


Jackie’s mind raced as she and Skip headed back to the lodge. She fought against shivers that had started the moment she had sat next to Roman in that cockpit. His nearness had unnerved her. She flashed back to her impulsive brother, riding off a snowy ridge and cracking his collarbone. He’d had his arm in a sling just before the accident that had taken his life. Ironic that it had been Roman at the wheel that night, not her reckless brother. Remember that, Jackie. She swallowed hard as Skip parked the snowmobile and they made their way toward the comfortable living room of the Delucchi Lodge.

Fallon sat on a couch, still wearing her jacket. Jackie could tell by the stiff set of her shoulders that the girl was upset. Jackie remembered Fallon as a moody teen, smitten with her handsome brother, but hadn’t there been something else? At the end, before Jackie’s brother died, there had been some anger, some unusual explosiveness in the girl. At the time, she’d attributed it to teen angst, but now as she looked at her, she wondered if she had missed something.

“Oh, sweetie,” June said, entering the room. She smiled at Jackie before catching her daughter’s hands. “I still can’t believe you were out there all alone. That gives me goose bumps.”

Fallon pulled her hands away. “I’ve already told you I’m fine, Mom. You don’t have to get all crazy about it again.”

June shot Jackie a rueful look and left when a timer sounded in the kitchen.

After repelling any attempts at conversation, Fallon sat on the couch, water droplets sparkling on her straight brown hair. She kept her gaze fastened to the window. Sounds of June washing dishes floated into the cozy space over the crackle of a fire in the old stone hearth. In the adjoining room, a newly married couple sipped from mugs as they cuddled together on a love seat with reindeer-horn armrests. Skip was tending to the snowmobiles and somewhere, out in the endless night, was Roman.

Roman. Even his name brought to life a storm of emotion inside her. It was no longer the feeling she’d nursed since she was a teen, the all-consuming love for him that grew every time she came to stay. Now it had changed into something else, twisted by anger, misshapen by grief, but still with an undercurrent of longing that she could not explain. With a sigh, she rose to warm her hands by the fire.

Fallon’s voice startled her. “Was your dad here when they built this place?”

“The lodge? No. Why do you ask?”

“I just wondered who helped, is all. I heard they hired some people who were in town for the summer to build the cabins. Gave them room and board and some stayed on awhile after to be on staff here. I wasn’t born then.”

Jackie looked at her quizzically. “I’m sure they did. When we came the first time, it was just your parents and a housekeeper, Dax and another man, I think.”

The girl’s eyes seemed to blaze with reflected firelight. “So why did you come back now?”

Jackie kept her tone light. “I needed to get away.”

“From what?”

She looked at the fire. “Things at work were stressful. I wanted a change of scenery.”

“That’s weird.”

“What?”

“That you’d come back here, after two years. To the place where Danny died. And seeing Roman and all. That must be weird, too.”

Jackie swallowed. You have no idea. Weirdest of all was the way she couldn’t seem to get Roman out of her mind. His face, his voice, the golden green of his eyes. “I didn’t know he’d be here. I figured he’d left to join the air force, like he’d always talked about.”

“I guess people don’t always do what you think they will.”

Jackie turned to face her, trying to read the expression in the girl’s face. “Is something wrong, Fallon?”

She chewed at a fingernail. “No.”

She intended to press her further when Skip came in, eyeing them nervously.

“Getting reacquainted?” He sat down next to his daughter. “You really had us concerned there, kitten.”

Fallon turned her face away. “I can take care of myself.”

“Sure you can. We just worry, that’s all. Alaska’s a pretty big place.”

“Not big enough,” Fallon muttered before jumping off the sofa and leaving the room.

Skip gave Jackie a tired smile. “And I thought the hard part was when she was a toddler, sticking her fingers in light sockets. That was a walk in the park compared to this teen thing.”

June reappeared with steaming mugs of cocoa and Byron Lloyd at her elbow.

“Daughter okay?” Lloyd asked, his full cheeks pink over the collar of his jacket.

“Yes, she’s fine,” Skip said. “How did you know she was missing?”

He chuckled and pointed to Jackie. “Heard people calling her name. Saw this young lady scurry off and heard the snowmobile engines. Saw Mrs. Delucchi all worried. I put two and two together.”

Jackie looked at him closely. He’d been watching her, all right—following her every move.

He stared back at her. “You look pretty comfortable on a snowmobile. Must have put in some time on one when you visited here before.”

“Some,” she said. “You know, I’m really tired. Jet-lagged. I think I’ll go back to my cabin now.”

Skip hugged her, and Lloyd offered a cheerful wave as she left.

The frigid air grabbed her in an icy fist as she walked into the darkness. Living in California had stripped her of her cold-weather hardiness. Danny would have laughed. He’d always been impervious to the cold. She looked up into the brilliant sky, decorated with a breathtaking swath of stars and felt suddenly very small and very alone.

Had Reynolds’ men figured out she’d run? Had Asia and Mick found a place to hide? Terror balled up in her stomach, and it took all her willpower to suppress it.

With a deep weariness, she unlocked the door to her small cabin and went inside. The woven throw rug and exposed pine beams of the ceiling should have made her feel cozy and secure, but she could not shake the inner chill. She lit a small fire, prepared a steaming cup of tea and sat down in a sturdy, hand-carved chair to put her thoughts in order.

Coming to Alaska had been a huge mistake. It made her question her other recent decisions. Maybe the entire situation with her boss was one big misunderstanding. Dr. Reynolds was a respected cardiologist, yet Asia had stumbled onto evidence that he was selling patient information, possibly to a crime ring, which then submitted fraudulent claims through a vast network of companies.

Maybe they should have gone to the cops. Even if Dr. Reynolds and his network had paid off some of them, he couldn’t have the whole police department under their thumb.

She thought again about the cop who’d shown up at her apartment. He’d known all about her. Had he learned all about her friends too? A tremor swept through her body. Had Mick and Asia found refuge somewhere? She dialed the phone to check messages on her voice mail. There was only one. The voice was low and raspy. But the words were clear as ice.

If you tell anyone what happened, your father will pay.

Panic set in, filling her up until she thought she would scream. The only thing that kept her from bolting straight to the airport was Asia. She had to know Mick and Asia were okay before she ran again. E-mail. Maybe Asia had sent a message.

Jackie reached out with trembling hands to boot up her laptop, when her heart thudded to a stop. Was it her imagination? Perhaps her hands were hot from the tea. She felt the top of the machine again. There was a faint trace of heat there, as if it had been turned on recently.

In spite of the warmth, her body went dead cold. Somebody was spying on her.



Roman inhaled the frigid air as if it could somehow freeze away the thoughts that tormented him. The faint scent of Jackie lingered on the blanket, a clean fragrance of soap that toyed with his heart. He pressed it to his nose and inhaled deeply. Though the comforting hum of a generator kept the heater going, the minus-fifteen-degree temperature forced its way in. Sitting in the plane, a sleeping bag wrapped around his shoulders, he studied the way the moonlight bathed the frozen ground in luminous silver. It could be so beautiful and so deadly.

Still, winter held so many fabulous memories, framed by snowy days spent with Jackie. Each winter brought her back, more beautiful and full of life than the previous one. Had it really been only two years since he’d decided to propose to her? He’d saved every dime for the Tlingit ring, an intricate twist of gold and silver, the twining together of the eagle and raven.

Then all his dreams came to a halt in one horrific moment. He felt the cold inside now, and it had nothing to do with the air. If he’d just said no to Danny’s request for a ride into town. If he’d only seen the unstable layers in the snowpack that would sweep them off the road. The stubborn part of his conscience spoke again. There was something else, something onthat night that shouldn’t have been there. He could not pull the detail out of his foggy memory any more now that he could two years ago. The amnesia had not diminished.

“Doesn’t matter anyway. I was behind the wheel. I killed him and I’ll have to live with that forever,” he whispered, his breath condensing in the air. He hadn’t asked God for forgiveness, because deep down he knew he did not deserve it. He should pay, and had been paying for the last two years, going on a lifetime. He’d somehow survived without the love that had been the biggest part of his life, and he’d thought those feelings would remain buried forever. He’d believed it, until she’d come back.

The radio crackled to life.

“You’re a hardheaded fool,” Wayne Fisk boomed.

Roman couldn’t resist a smile. “Yeah, I know, but you’re going to get this bird back in one piece.”

“As long as the pilot doesn’t wind up freezing to death or getting chewed by bears.”

“No bear would eat me.”

“True. Not enough fat to savor, all muscle and gristle.”

Roman laughed.

After a pause, Wayne continued. “It’s really something that Jackie’s back.”

“Uh-huh. How come you didn’t warn me? You had to have seen her name when she booked?”

“That’s the funny thing. She used the name J. Marley, so I didn’t connect it. Didn’t figure it out at all until June told me a minute ago, when she called to make the next set of flight arrangements for the guests.”

Marley. Her mother’s maiden name. Roman realized Wayne had fallen uncharacteristically silent. “Still there?”

“Sure. I just wondered how you’re doing, since she’s back.”

“I’m fine.”

“Thought it might be uncomfortable being so close.”

He spoke more loudly than he’d intended. “We aren’t going to be close. I’m sure we won’t even see each other while she’s staying here.”

“Not unless you want to.”

Roman shifted uneasily. “Thanks for checking in. I’ll see you as soon as I can thaw her out tomorrow.”

“Right. Stay warm.”

“Roger that.” As he turned off the radio, a movement in the tree line caught his attention.

So what was Jackie doing here now? Under a different name? Clearly she hadn’t planned the trip, showing up in an inadequate jacket with only a duffel bag in hand. And there was something in her eyes, besides the anger and pain. There was a shade of fear. The thought of her being afraid made his breath come up short. Was she in some sort of trouble?

He knew she did not want his help and he would never be able to offer it. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to keep an eye on things.

As long as he did it from a distance.




FOUR


Jackie floated briefly into wakefulness the next morning to the sound of a plane flying over. She knew it was Roman, on his way to pick up supplies or people at the airport. Part of her felt relieved that he had made it through the unforgiving Alaskan night intact. No one else should lose their lives at this beautiful lodge, even someone she never wanted to see again. She drifted back into another hour of fitful sleep, awaking groggy and dazed.

She lay for a moment, pretending she was on vacation. The fantasy didn’t last long. The threat from her voicemail chilled her. She wrapped herself in her jacket, having left her robe in San Francisco, and checked her phone for messages, calling back to her apartment to check there, too. Nothing. Her stomach knotted into a tight ball. Next she booted up the laptop and sat, foot tapping, urging the machine to work faster.

It finally loaded the messages and she found what she was looking for. Asia had sent a brief message in the late hours of the previous night.



Be at Delucchi’s soon. Mick is well enough to travel. Got to resolve this before it’s too late. When Mick worked at his brother’s practice they had a similar problem. One doctor lost his license for fraudulent billing. Cops thought he was working with a crime ring but never had enough to convict him. Gotta have an airtight case. I’m onto a new lead. We’ll talk soon.

Asia



She was so happy to hear from her friend, the implication didn’t hit her at first. Be at Delucchi’s soon? How had Asia found her? Jackie’s pulse pounded.

Her fingers hammered out a frantic message, hoping her friend was online, praying no one was hacking into their e-mails.



Are you okay? Location?



When no return e-mail arrived she thought about the thumb drive tucked in her bag. Buried somewhere in the data it contained was enough evidence to incriminate the crime ring and Reynolds. It also had plenty of confidential patient information on it. Second, now Jackie was definitely in deep, possessing information she had no right to.

Uncertainty surged through her again. What should she do? Was it safe for Asia to come, with Lloyd watching every move and the threat left on her voicemail? She typed quickly.



Might be trouble here. Don’t come.



She’d just hit the send button when a knock at the door made her jump. She hurriedly closed the file and shut the laptop screen before she went to the door.

Byron Lloyd stood there, bundled in a ski jacket, scarf and hat, stamping up and down to keep warm. “Morning.” His voice thundered through the small cabin. “Heading in for breakfast. Figured you might want an escort.”

He looked past her. “Are you working? Thought you were on vacation.”

“I am. I’m not quite ready for breakfast. I’ll be there in a few minutes. You go on without me.”

“You sure?”

She nodded. “Quite sure. Go on ahead, please.”

He gave her a jolly smile and headed out, crunching across the newly fallen snow, through the still-dark morning. She watched until he’d entered the lodge and pulled the drapes more firmly closed. She put the thumb drive in her pocket and deleted the e-mail. If Lloyd, or anybody else, came snooping around, they wouldn’t find incriminating documents on her computer. She pulled on the warmest clothes she’d brought and pocketed the thumb drive. Pulling her hair into a ponytail, she surveyed the damage of a sleepless night. Shadows under her eyes, freckles standing out in sharp contrast to her pale skin. Sighing, she slicked on some sunscreen and carefully locked the cabin door behind her as she left.

The moonlight shone on the large footprints Lloyd had left as she approached the lodge. What had he said on the plane ride from the airport? She’d been so overwhelmed at seeing Roman she hadn’t listened fully. He was a reporter, covering the Winterfest events for a paper? Magazine? Which one? Had he mentioned a name? She made a decision to find out. Lloyd wasn’t the only one who could ask nosy questions. It made her feel marginally better to go on the offensive, at least with Lloyd.

She could just make out people busy filling front loaders with snow and emptying them into huge wooden boxes in front of the lodge, where the land flattened out for several acres. It clicked in her mind. The snow sculpture competitions would start the next day. Each participant got his or her precisely measured square of compacted snow to fashion a fantastic frozen work of art. She’d watched the competition many years running, always in awe of the talented artists who showed up to win the thousand-dollar prize. Skip had lobbied hard for years to host the competition and he’d finally been successful.

A person loaded up with a stack of boxes approached the lodge. Jackie scooted ahead to hold the door. The figure hesitated for a moment. Jackie shivered when she recognized the man.

“Thanks,” Roman said. “June’s cooking supplies.”

“You’re welcome.” Jackie noticed he seemed thinner than she remembered, but his arms and broad shoulders seemed just as iron-strong as he hefted the heavy crates with ease over the threshold. He disappeared down the hallway and she joined the assorted diners in the family eating-area. A huge fire was crackling and the room was filled with cheerful laughter and conversation. She recognized the honeymooning couple, a portly man and his wife, with skin nearly as white as their matching sweaters, and Byron Lloyd. Purposefully sliding into the empty space next to Lloyd, she filled her plate with scrambled eggs, June’s homemade blueberry scones and succulent sausages.

Her stomach growled and it dawned on Jackie that she hadn’t eaten a full meal since before her flight. She tried not to wolf down the food.

“Did you sleep well, Mr. Lloyd?”

“Like a log. I’ve been traveling for work for the past twenty-five years so I can pretty much sleep on anything. You?”

“Fairly well. It must be exciting to be a journalist.” Jackie noticed a sour-faced Fallon seating herself at the far end of the table.

“You bet. And you? What’s your line of work?”

She’d been ready for the question. “I’m between jobs right now. I’ve often thought about writing.”

He laughed. “Most folks I meet say the same thing. What was your job back home?”

She ignored the question. “The more I think about it, the more I like the idea. How did you get into the writing business, Mr. Lloyd?”

“Call me Byron.” He took a sip of coffee. “I’ve done all kinds of things, just sort of fell into it.”

“And what publication did you say you wrote for?”

“Adventure Roads. It’s a nice little rag.”

Jackie felt a presence at her elbow. She kept her body turned toward Lloyd, determined to wring more information out of the man, who she knew was not who he seemed to be.



Roman stood, shifting uneasily, a plate in his hands. Surely there was another place at the table somewhere. He found the benches filled with happy, munching people. The only available spot was next to Jackie, who seemed to be grilling Byron Lloyd. Roman was just about to turn around when Lloyd spotted him.

“Hey, young fella. Here’s a seat for you.” Lloyd shifted over and cleared a place between himself and Jackie.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll eat in the kitchen.”

“You’ll do no such thing,” said June Delucchi, replacing an empty platter of sausages with a steaming new batch. “The kitchen is insane. I’ve got breakfast going out and lunch already simmering, plus the baking to start for the snow-sculpture crowd. If you eat in there, you’re liable to wind up in the stew pot.”

Mr. Lloyd beamed. “Better not cross a lady with a knife collection.”

Roman shot a glance at Jackie, who kept her gaze studiously fastened to her coffee cup. Sighing internally, he eased onto the bench, his arm tingling where it brushed against hers.

Lloyd clapped him on the back. “So, you two know each other, huh?”

Roman filled his mouth with eggs and nodded.

“Ever travel back to San Fran to visit her?”

He swallowed. “Only once a couple years ago.” He’d sure imagined returning, though. How they’d see all the places she’d talked about. He didn’t have much of a yen to travel, but for her, with her, anyplace would feel like home. The idea seemed like a child’s fantasy to him now. To clear his head he took a deep swallow of coffee and burned his mouth.

Skip entered, frowning at a clipboard.

“Need some help, Skip?” Roman called over the clatter of the meal.

Skip looked up, momentarily disoriented. “No, no thanks. You eat your breakfast.” He returned his attention to the clipboard and continued on toward the kitchen.

“He looks worried.”

The soft voice surprised him. He looked at Jackie, who was following Skip’s progress out of the room. “Yeah, I guess he does.”

She kept her voice low. “Is the lodge business struggling?”

He shrugged. “It attracts a steady crowd, but the economy has hurt everyone.” He wanted to say more, to keep her talking, but each word seemed a fresh reminder of what he’d had, and what he’d lost. It was too much. Picking up his plate, he made an excuse and stood up.

“What’s the matter, man?” Lloyd boomed. “A strapping fellow like you can’t live on two bites of breakfast.”

“I’ve got a…” Roman’s words were lost in a crash and shout from outside. He put his plate back on the table and ran out the front entrance, right behind Skip and June Delucchi, who had emerged from the kitchen. Jackie, Lloyd and a few other guests jogged out after them.

An overturned snowmobile lay on its side, engine sputtering. Nearby a groaning man clapped a hand to his leg. Dax, a handyman for the lodge, knelt next to the injured man. Skip ran to them.

“What’s happened?”

Dax shook his head. “Reg hit a rock or something, maybe a buried tree limb. Snowmobile went over and I think he busted his ankle.”

The man on the ground moaned. “Not busted, just sprained.”

Roman hid a smile. Typical Alaska toughness. “Looks like there’s some swelling. You need an X-ray, at least.”

Talking over the grumbling from the stricken man, Skip and Dax made arrangements for Dax to drive to the nearest clinic. Reg was gingerly loaded onto a truck and sent off, in spite of his loud protests.

Roman looked at Skip and June. They’d moved away a piece and were having a serious conversation. He noticed June wiping away tears before she headed back to the lodge with the curious guests.

Jackie remained.

Roman put a hand on Skip’s arm. “What can I do to help?”

Skip waved him off. “Nothing. You’ve already got more cargo to fly in for us.”

“Not until later. I can help here.” He gestured to the front loader. “I can fill some blocks while you go get the tape to mark it. We can find someone to stomp it down.”

Skip shook his head. “I can’t ask you to do that.”

Roman headed toward the front loader. “You don’t have to.”

Skip gave him a grateful smile and left.

Before he started the engine, Roman looked up in surprise to find Jackie climbing the ladder perched against the wooden form farthest away from him.

“You don’t have to do that, Jackie,” he called. “I don’t need help.”

She looked up only for a moment. “Skip does,” she yelled back.

That’s right, Roman. She doesn’t care about you anymore. That’s the way it will always be. Get that through your thick head. His head already knew—it was his heart that needed convincing, he thought grimly, even after two long years.

Roman turned his attention to the front loader, fired the engine to life and began scooping up piles of snow and dumping them into the ten-foot wooden forms that would mold it into perfect blocks for sculpting. When one was relatively full, Jackie would climb up and stomp it all down before he added another load. When the snow was uncrated it would create perfect ten-foot-by-ten-foot squares. They kept at it. He could see the fatigue in her body, the tired droop to her head, yet she worked without complaint until June caught his eye from the front porch and gestured for them to come in for lunch.

Roman killed the motor and jumped down from the front loader. His hands were stiff. They’d filled only eleven of the boxes completely—still another five to go. He made his way over to Jackie, who had not seen June’s summons. She was busily stomping down snow with a vengeance.

“Jackie? Lunch-break command from Mrs. D.”

She nodded and began to climb down the ladder. As she did so, the ladder pitched loose from the side of the box and wobbled, causing her to lose her footing. Jackie slipped, maintaining her grip on the ladder with only one hand, until she fell.

There wasn’t time to think about it. Roman caught her as they tumbled to the ground. She landed next to him, eyes wide, lips parted in shock. The feel of her small frame against his side, the softness of her hair tickling his chin drowned him in memory for a moment. He could have imagined it, but for the briefest second he felt her lean her head against his shoulder.

With a sudden movement she scrambled to her feet. Roman did the same. Jackie turned to face him, her cheeks flushed a deep crimson. “Thanks…I, I must be tired to fall off a ladder.”

He shrugged, hoping she could not read his feelings on his face. “You’ve been working hard. No harm done.”

Jackie giggled. “Sorry, but you’ve got a clump of snow stuck right to the top of your head.”

He held still while she reached out and brushed the snow off his hair.

He flushed and let her finish.

“Thanks again, for the soft landing.” She turned and started toward the lodge, pulling her gloves off and unzipping her pocket to put them inside. As she did so something small and metallic spiraled down. Jackie started frantically, twirling around, peering at the snow-covered ground to find the item. Her face was stark, body tense.

Roman joined her in the search. “What fell?”

“Nothing. Nothing important.”

The lie was obvious in her increasing panic. He bent over to squint at the harshly glittering snow until he saw the item and picked it up. He didn’t get time to look closely, as she snatched it from his fingers.

“Thanks. That’s it. Um, thank you. Thanks again.” Without a word of explanation, she jogged toward the building, leaving him to wonder.

Whatever was on that thumb drive, she acted like it was a matter of life and death.




FIVE


She couldn’t get over the fear that had enveloped her when she’d dropped the thumb drive. And Roman—what had he thought when he retrieved it for her? She could still feel his big hands on her waist, trying to catch her as she fell. Those hands had comforted her through her entire youth, it seemed. For a split second she wished with every pore of her body that things had been different.

She made her way to her room with a tray of food provided by June and shot an uneasy glance at the sky, a brilliant blue that seemed to shimmer with intensity. She’d heard one of the kitchen staff mention that a blizzard was in the forecast, but she hoped it wasn’t true. Skip was counting on a successful snow-sculpture weekend, and she prayed he would get it.

Cresting the small ridge to her cabin, she was startled to see two people making their way in the deep snow off the path. The snowshoes strapped to their feet gave them a comical gait. It was Byron Lloyd and a smaller figure who it took her a moment to identify. Fallon. They both waved.

Jackie watched Fallon for a moment. The girl’s face was thrown back in laughter. She was a young woman, no longer a child, but there was still plenty of the girl showing through. Jackie’s heart squeezed, thinking about how much Danny’s death must have hurt Fallon. Jackie had been so wrapped in her own grief and anger, she hadn’t given much thought to Fallon’s.

Shaking her head to clear it, she unlocked the door to her cabin. Her stomach clenched as she stuck the key in and found the door already unlocked. As it swung open, all of her plans were forgotten. She screamed.



Skip made it to her cabin first, still holding a half-eaten sandwich in his hand, but Roman was close behind. Jackie stood immobile in the center of the room, surveying the damage around her. The contents of her bag were scattered over the bed, shirts, socks and pants draping the coverlet. The bathroom medicine cabinet was open and her few toiletries in disarray.

Skip swallowed the bite he’d been chewing. “What in the world?”

Roman moved closer and spoke softly. “Someone was looking for something. Anything taken that you can tell?”

Her eyes darted to the computer, the only real thing of value besides the satellite phone she’d had in her backpack. Both were still there, but the computer was on. She breathed a quick prayer of thanks that she’d deleted the message Asia had sent. But what if Asia had forwarded more while she was helping pile snow? What had the intruder seen? Her skin prickled, and she itched to scan her inbox but with Roman and Skip there, she didn’t dare.

“No, nothing taken.” She felt a shudder sweep through her, and she wrapped her arms around herself to hold it in.

Skip shook his head. “Never in the years I’ve owned this place has something like this happened. Whoever it was must have picked the lock or gotten the spare from the lodge office.” He sighed. “We’ll have to go to the police when we’re in town. See what they make of it.”

Jackie jumped. Was she ready to explain to the cops? How could she tell them about the break-in without revealing the whole sordid mess? “No, I don’t think that’s necessary.”

Skip stared at her. “Why not?”

She forced a laugh. “It’s probably just a prank. There was no harm done, nothing stolen, no one hurt.” But it wasn’t a prank. The person who’d been snooping on her laptop hadn’t found what they were after, so they’d come back and searched more thoroughly.

Roman raised an eyebrow, but didn’t speak. He cocked his head and his long bangs shadowed his face. Jackie wished she could read his thoughts.

Skip looked unconvinced. “Well, if you’re sure, I certainly have other things to focus on today. I’d put you in another cabin, but we’re full up. In any case, I’ve got one of those latch locks we can add. I can try to get Dax to install it.”

“I’ll do it.”

Roman’s voice was so low she almost didn’t hear it.

Skip shot a glance at him and then at Jackie. “I’d sure appreciate it, Roman. I’d never ask, but I’m just plain swamped.”

“I’ll do it after my last flight this afternoon.”

Skip nodded and headed for the door. “I’m awful sorry about this, Jackie. I hope it doesn’t ruin your vacation. I can’t imagine who would do such a thing and why.” He plodded out into the snow.

At that moment her phone rang. She moved to a corner to answer, hands shaking.

“Ms. Swann?” The voice was muffled.

“Who is calling?”

“Officer Smith, S.F.P.D. We’ve been looking for you. We have some questions about the situation at your employer’s.”

Something in the stilted tone made her uneasy. “Okay, but first tell me the name of your supervising officer and your badge number.”

There was a long moment of silence. “You are the one being questioned here.”

“Not until you give me the information.”

The tone of the voice changed. “Look, honey. We know where you live and the make and model of your car. We even know where your father lives. All we want is that thumb drive. You hand that over and you get your life back.”

Her stomach spasmed. “Don’t threaten me,” she snapped.

“We’ll get to you. It’s a matter of time. You’d better keep your mouth shut.”

She hung up, head spinning. Reynolds’s men knew she was here. Had they paid someone at the lodge to search her room? Or sent one of their own men? She thought of Byron Lloyd.

Her knees began to tremble with a sudden violence. Before she sank to the floor, Roman caught her and helped her to a chair. She sat there clinging to his hand, terror threatening to sweep her away.

He knelt next to her, eyes searching, and gently stroked her hand.

“What is it?” he whispered. “What is wrong, Jackie?”

She clutched his fingers, trying to will his strength into her body. It was too much. She’d gotten herself into a place she could not get out of. They would find her. She shivered. They already had. “I don’t know what to do.”

He frowned. “About what?” He leaned closer. “Tell me, Jackie. Let me help you.”

His face shone with concern. If she could just lean on him, trust him as she had for so many years. Her father’s words came back to her. Roman killed your brother. Don’t ever forget that. Though she wanted more than anything to lay her burden on his wide shoulders, she could not. Not with Roman. Allowing him into her life again would reopen wounds that were still ragged with agony. With a painful effort, she pulled her hand out of his grasp. “Nothing. A delayed reaction to all this. I’m okay.”

“You don’t look okay.”

She forced herself to breath normally, to still the shaking of her hands. “Really, I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not. If you don’t want to share your problem with me, I guess I can understand that.” His eyes clouded. “I know that all ended a long time ago, but maybe you’d better confide in someone who can help you.” He gestured around the room. “This looks like more than you can handle on your own.”

Her whirl of emotion exploded into a fiery rage. “Don’t tell me what I can or can’t do. I’ve handled it all, including laying my brother to rest. And where were you, Roman? You were nowhere. Did you call? Write? Did you even think about how I was handling things without my brother and my father, sick with grief?” She found herself sobbing.

Roman looked as if he’d been punched. “I’m sorry. I wanted to talk to you, but I couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t hurt you more. I wrote, but I never mailed the letters.”

“You just didn’t want to face up to what you did.”

He shook his head. “I’ve had to face up to that every day, every minute of my life.” He started toward the door and continued, his voice almost a whisper. “Just so you know, I visit the spot where you scattered Danny’s ashes all the time. And I was there that day, at the funeral, watching from the bluff.”

She almost didn’t hear his last words. “I think I died that day, too.”

“I…I didn’t know. You should have come to me at the funeral.”

His eyes glittered. “Come to you? Would you have wanted the person who killed your brother there? Would your father?”

She couldn’t answer.

He sighed. “That’s what I thought. I’ve got to go now.”

After he’d left she tried to still the trembling that swept through her. He’d been there, on that terrible day, enduring the grief and shouldering his own deep sense of guilt. She had never known that he’d shared the blackest moment of her life.

The idea was too much, too dark.

Desperately she tried to direct her mind to something else.

With shaking hands, she nudged the computer to life, praying a new message from Asia hadn’t arrived when the intruder was in the cabin. It seemed an eternity before the inbox swam into view. No new messages.

The relief took her breath away. She pulled up a search engine and input Adventure Roads Magazine.

“Let’s see if you’re telling the truth, Mr. Lloyd.” The Web site was slick and colorful. Part of her felt disappointed. She’d been half expecting to find there was no such magazine, but here it was in bold, splashy color. An online archive made it easy to search all prior issues.

This time when the search was finished, Jackie felt not disappointment, but sick dread. There wasn’t one single article by anyone named Byron Lloyd.



Roman had a hard time keeping his mind on his work as he checked over the plane.

Jackie was terrified of someone, perhaps the same someone who had broken into her room. He fought a strong desire to return to check on her, call her, drop everything and find her that very moment.

Jackie felt like he’d abandoned her, killed her brother and left her to handle the grief alone. He slammed the toolbox shut. The past couldn’t be changed, but what about the present situation? Who was after her? And why? Even the thrum of the plane’s engines when he fired them to life a half hour later did not calm his thoughts. He noted the increasing cloud cover. Possible blizzard approaching.

It would be devastating for Skip and the snow-sculpture competition. With each competitor forking over several hundred dollars to participate, Skip would get to keep a nice chunk of the entry fee to cover costs. He’d also make a hefty bit of change selling food—if the weather didn’t interfere. Roman hoped the blizzard held off. Skip seemed stressed and distracted lately. He didn’t need anything else on his plate. Skip was like a father to him. He couldn’t bear to see him so pained. Roman’s own father was only a distant memory, a man who’d left when he was just a kid.

He was surprised to see Jackie with Skip as they approached the cleared landing strip.

He opened the passenger-side door for her. “You going along?”

She nodded, her face screened by a curtain of coppery hair and showing no signs of her earlier outburst. “I’ve got to do some business at the bank.”

He wondered, but didn’t question as they flew toward the airport. “Skip and I have to get the supplies loaded, then I can drive us into town. Okay by you, Skip?”

The man looked up from a piece of paper he’d been perusing. “What?”

Roman repeated the plan.

“Sure, sure. That’s fine.” He returned his attention to the paper.

Jackie turned. “Everything okay, Skip? You seem worried about something.”

Skip started. “Who me? Nah. Just all the fuss about Winterfest. I’m fine.”

Jackie faced front again but Roman saw her looking at Skip in the side mirror. She too felt there was something not quite right. Roman tried to keep his mind fixed firmly on the approaching airport, though the scent of Jackie’s newly washed hair triggered a cascade of memories. He remembered how it had looked at the funeral; smooth, twisted into a coil of fire that glimmered in the sunlight.

Not now, Roman. Not ever.

They landed and jogged through the frigid air into the loading area. Crates of fresh vegetables, flour and sugar and frozen meats were ready and waiting. Skip arranged for signatures, and Roman waved to Al as the heavyset man climbed onto a forklift. After he finished the paperwork, Skip climbed up a ladder to a landing ten feet above them, and began sorting the crates into efficient stacks.

Roman turned to Jackie to tell her there was coffee in the terminal but found her busily scanning a message board that flashed the incoming and outgoing flights. Her face was drawn in a look of such concentration, he started over to see exactly what had caught her interest so completely. He’d made it only a few steps when a cry made him turn.

The forklift lurched unexpectedly backward and toppled, sending the machine over. The violent jerk made Skip lose his balance. He yelled, holding desperately onto the edge of the landing, dangling in the air.

Al struggled to free himself from the overturned equipment. Roman ran to cut the engine on the forklift while he yelled to Skip, “Hang on.”

Skip would not be able to maintain his grip for long. A ten-foot fall onto a stack of wooden crates might just break the man’s back.

“I’ll go to the ladder,” Jackie yelled, running across the lot to a ladder fixed to the far side of the loading dock.

“No time.” Roman climbed on the tipped forklift and eased his way onto the nearest stack of boxes. They shifted ominously under his feet. Pulse pounding, he leaped onto a stack of crates a second before the one he was standing on gave way with a lurch. Boxes toppled down underneath him but Roman’s eyes were fixed on the man who desperately gripped the landing ledge a few feet above him.

Continuing up as quickly as he could, Roman crawled across the stacked boxes and with the biggest leap he could manage, hurled himself onto the platform. He made it, barely. Muscles straining, he hoisted a leg over the ledge, then the other and scrambled over to the spot where Skip struggled to hang on.

Grasping Skip by both wrists, Roman kept his own body as close to the landing as possible to keep from being pulled over the edge. With every bit of strength left, he hauled Skip back onto the platform. They both lay there for a moment, sweating and panting. Jackie made it up the ladder and ran over to them.

Jackie’s face was white as she knelt next to Roman and Skip, trying to assess both men at once. “Are you hurt?”

Roman closed his eyes against the dizziness that made his head swim, not from the exertion, but from the nearness of her, the small hand on his arm, the brush of her hair on his face. “Not hurt,” he managed.

Skip also groaned a reassurance and managed to sit up. When he turned to look at Roman, a strange wash of emotion flowed over his face. “You, you saved me.”

Roman cleared his throat. “You would have been fine.”

Skip continued to stare, his eyes fixed in terrible concentration. “No, I wouldn’t. You shouldn’t have done it, Roman, not for me.”

Roman thought for a horrifying moment the man was going to cry until Jackie knelt by him. She had noticed Skip’s strange reaction too. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Skip shook his head and nodded, wiping a hand across his forehead. He hauled himself up and headed for the ladder. Jackie stared after him, a puzzled look on her face, then she turned to Roman and stroked his shoulder. “Are you sure you aren’t hurt?”

He wanted to hold her hand there forever. “Not hurt.”

“That was crazy. What were you thinking?”

The words came out before he had a chance to strip out the emotion. “I was thinking I could save him.”

She must have heard it in his tone, the thought that rose to the surface like a needle-toothed barracuda. Like I tried to save your brother.

The pain flashed in the amber depths of her eyes. She jerked her hand away and stood. The moment was gone, Jackie was gone, and he felt only a heavy fatigue, weightier than the snow that had buried them on that terrible night.




SIX


When the loading was done, they made their way to town in a Wayne’s Aviation van. Jackie mulled over the accident at the airport. Roman’s behavior had been reckless. She felt a surge of anger. How had he felt when his recklessness had caused him to drive off the road with her brother in the car? He’d said he couldn’t remember the details. There was some mysterious vehicle that appeared and caused them to veer over the embankment. Rescuers and investigators had found no sign of any such thing. It was an excuse, a way to escape blame that should rest entirely on his shoulders.

Please, Lord. Take my anger away. She’d asked God countless times already to free her from the rage that burned brightly inside her. There was something that prevented her from letting it go, a heavy weight that kept her anger fixed firmly in place.

She thought of Skip’s face as he lay on the platform, a mixture of relief and gratitude and another emotion that she couldn’t define. Something was definitely not right with Skip Delucchi. She turned it over and over in her mind before her thoughts led her back to Roman.

It might have been a rash act, but she had to admit it was also a selfless one. Much easier to wait until help arrived, to climb the safer route as they had, knowing Skip would have fallen before aid arrived.

She looked surreptitiously at Roman, who kept his eyes fixed on the snowy road. He had always been impulsive, but there was a calmer quality to him now, and a sober maturity in his face. For a moment, she had the wildest urge, in spite of her anger, to reach out and touch the strong fingers that gripped the steering wheel.

Snap out of it, Jackie. You’re losing your sanity. She fingered the thumb drive in her pocket as they rumbled into town.

“Going to the Sea Mart to get something,” Skip said, his face still a shade too pale, Jackie thought.

Roman nodded. “I’m going that way too.” He shot a look at Jackie.

She waved them off. “I’ve got banking to do. I’ll meet you back at the van.”

They disembarked into an intense cold that made her eyes tear. As Skip hopped out, he dropped his bundled papers. An envelope hit the ground, scattering its contents.

Jackie barely restrained a gasp to see a dozen hundred-dollar bills fluttering in the slight breeze. She and Roman helped Skip retrieve the money before it could blow away.

Skip’s face reddened. “Gotta make a payment. Cash seems like the easiest thing.” Without another word he shoved the bundle into his pocket and headed toward the grocery store.

Jackie saw the worried frown on Roman’s face, which she knew matched the one on her own.

She shook her head. “That’s a lot of cash.”

“Uh-huh. Sure is.” Jackie watched Roman’s tall form as he walked away across the street. He wore only a light windbreaker, his body perfectly acclimated to the freezing temperatures. Shivering, she zipped her coat, wishing she could face the cold as bravely.

The clerk at the bank greeted her with impersonal efficiency. She was grateful not to run into anyone she’d known two years prior. The man issued her a small safe-deposit box and with great relief she deposited the thumb drive. It might be the only proof they could find that Reynolds was bilking his clients. Had he sent the threatening message? In spite of the warm air in the bank, she shivered, casting a glance around to see if anyone was watching as she strolled back through the lobby and out the front door.

Blinking in the sunshine, Jackie saw Roman loading a bag into the back of the van. Skip had not returned. What business would he have that would require him to carry so much cash around? Remote Alaska was very much a cash-and-carry place, but he’d behaved so oddly after the accident and in the van she didn’t think it was an ordinary debt.

She started to make her way back to the van when someone grabbed her arm. Crying out, she whirled to find herself staring into the exuberant face of Mick Andrade.

“Mick!” She hugged him tightly, noting the bruise on his cheekbone from the beating. “I’m so glad to see you. How did you find me? Where’s Asia?”

Mick gave her a hearty squeeze and shook his head, speaking in a low tone. “I got in last night. Asia isn’t here—she’s coming on a later flight. She called your father in Maryland. Apparently the owner’s wife called to let him know you’d arrived safely.”




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