He sat there long after Jackie had left, trying to make sense of his own actions. He wondered if Jackie regretted confiding in him. It would have been easier if she hadn’t. The sight of her distress broke open the barricades around his heart he’d painstakingly spent two years building. He was supposed to be staying away from her, far away, but now he felt the urge to keep her in his sights every minute.
June bustled in, steadying a towering pile of boxes, and he rushed to assist her.
She gave him a grateful smile. “Where is Fallon? We’ve got twenty pounds of potatoes to peel and she’s supposed to be on kitchen duty. Go find her, will you?”
He nodded and made for the back corner of the main lodge, toward Fallon’s room, running into Lloyd a few feet from Fallon’s doorway. He heard the sound of crying from her bedroom.
Lloyd smiled and moved to pass by, but Roman shot out an arm to bar the way.
“What’s going on?”
Lloyd gave him a blank look. “Going on? Nothing, I’d say. On my way to the snow-sculpture deal.”
“Why is Fallon crying?”
He blinked. “How would I know that?”
Roman’s voice was hard. “Because you were in there with her. I suggest you explain to me right now why she is upset, Mr. Lloyd.”
Lloyd looked uneasy for a moment before he broke into another smile. “I happened to be going that way and I heard her sniffling. I knocked on the door to check on things and found her crying.”
“About what?”
He shrugged. “You know the fickle ways of the teenager. I’m not sure what her dilemma is. I talked with her for a while and then excused myself.”
“Is that what she’s going to tell me?”
“Absolutely. Look, I understand your protectiveness. I’ve got a teenage niece, and I’d be concerned about some old geezer my age sniffing around. Believe me, there’s nothing sinister going on here. I was just lending a sympathetic ear, that’s all.”
Roman lowered his arm, and Lloyd continued on toward the dining hall. Roman waited until he was out of sight before he knocked on Fallon’s door.
“It’s Roman. Can I come in?”
There was a scuffling sound before she answered. “Okay.”
Her face was blotchy, eyes swollen. She sat on the bed with her arms folded, looking very small in her oversize sweatshirt. The room was cluttered with books, clothes draped over every available surface, littered with magazines featuring bands he’d never heard of.
“Your mom sent me to look for you.” Roman tilted his head at the door. “That guy bothering you?”
“Who? Mr. Lloyd? Nah. He’s the only one around here who listens to me.”
Roman moved a pile of scarves and sat on a beanbag opposite the bed. “I’m listening. What’s bugging you?”
She blew her nose. “Nothing.”
“I don’t think people cry over nothing.”
She gave him a sullen shrug.
He took a deep breath. “Fallon, what did you mean at the hospital when you said it was your fault Danny was killed?”
Her eyes widened for a moment, but she kept her lips firmly pressed together and gave him another shrug.
“Well, I just wanted to say, I want you to know that it wasn’t anybody’s fault but mine, see? You shouldn’t feel responsible just because you may have had some feelings for him, okay?”
Her face turned a rosy pink. “It’s not that. Besides, he thought of me as a little sister. That’s why he agreed to…” She trailed off.
“Agreed to what?”
“Never mind. It doesn’t matter anyway.” She began to pile the books on the bed into a stack.
“Maybe it does matter, Fallon. Obviously you’ve given it a lot of thought. What did you ask Danny to do for you?”
She looked dangerously close to bursting into tears. “I said, never mind. I shouldn’t have brought it up, anyway. Mom wants me in the kitchen, right?”
“Yeah. Potato-peeling duty.”
She jumped off the bed and wiped her nose with her sleeve. “Figures.”
Roman noticed a photo on the bedspread and picked it up. It was a woman, vaguely familiar, though he could not identify her. “Who’s this?”
Fallon snatched the photo out of his hands, her face stricken. She shoved it into the pocket of her jeans. “No one. I’ve got to go.”
No one? He turned the thought around in his mind as he closed the door softly.
Jackie paced the cabin floor until she could stand it no longer. If she could just figure out what exactly had happened at Dr. Reynolds’s office. She knew there must be claims made under the names of Reynolds’s patients. That much was clear from the desperate lengths someone had gone through to find the thumb drive. How did Dr. Reynolds funnel the money back to his own pockets?
It would have been easy to falsify insurance claims that would pay directly back to his office. Most patients had no access to their electronic files, so they’d never know about his treachery. They would be blissfully unaware until they applied for a job or were denied insurance because of the mysterious conditions on their charts. She imagined a poor, unsuspecting victim trying to get into the fire service, sidelined by a fictitious heart murmur, or a bus driver who was denied a position for a similar reason. Folks being turned down for life insurance because of conditions they would never experience.
The whole business was complicated, sophisticated. Asia thought patients were affected in other offices as well. In their region alone Asia had found suspicious claims from two cardiology offices in southern California and one in Nevada. The evidence was too deeply buried, filtered through an arsenal of insurance companies and accounting firms. She knew she couldn’t figure it out on her own. She needed to keep the thumb drive safe until Asia arrived with her conclusions. Would Jackie be alive long enough to see it through? She shivered. Roman is watching out for you, Jackie. The thought brought her a level of comfort she would not have imagined.
Walking to the window, she saw the crowd milling about the sculptors, who had a scant hour left to finish their masterpieces. She felt so lonely looking at the happy throng, so far away from the happiness out there. The loss of her brother rose fresh inside her. It had been a mistake to come to Alaska.
Roman’s words came back to her.
I know what that feels like—to make a mistake that turns your life upside down.
She hated the pain that had nestled in his eyes and robbed him of the roguish quality that had always appealed to her. She knew she should forgive. The words from Isaiah floated into her mind like the snowflakes that had begun to fall.
“Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow.”
Forgiveness was a precious gift, the Lord’s way of loving His children. But she could not give it to Roman. She could not offer him her absolution for the blood on his hands, her brother’s blood. It made her feel even more guilty for confiding her problems in him.
She pulled on a jacket and headed out into the snow.
The noise and confusion of the festivalgoers was a welcome distraction. There would only be a little daylight left before the competition came to a close. The snow was falling harder now and the temperature seemed to plunge with every second. An earlier radio broadcast had issued a winter storm warning, but the strong wind that buffeted the festival crowd hinted at a full-fledged blizzard.
In spite of the elements, the sculptors, bundled to the neck, continued to put the finishing touches on their creations. Jackie gazed in wonder at an enormous carving of a whale that seemed to ride on a wave of snow. People took pictures and held mugs of June’s hot cocoa in their gloved hands. Two young blond women with down jackets and tight jeans stood nearby chatting.
A hand touched Jackie’s arm, startling her. She turned to find Mick grinning at her. “How’s the shoulder?”
“Sore, but okay. I didn’t think I’d see you today.”
“Skip called. Said he needed more help.” He hefted a shovel as if it was a free weight. “Good for the muscles.” He turned to move a wooden board out of the way of a boy pulling a toboggan.
Mick tried to speak to her again, but the rising wind drowned him out until he called into her ear. “Come on. I need to talk to you.”
She allowed him to guide her into the lodge, where Skip spoke worriedly into a cell phone.
Mick moved to a corner near the fireplace. “I’ve heard from Asia. She’s uncovered some more info.”
Jackie felt a jolt of excitement. “Excellent. Can we go to Health and Human Services now? Or the police?”
“She’s still trying to connect the dots.”
Jackie sighed. “I know. I’ve been trying, too. I wish my brother was still alive. He had such a mind for numbers, and he was a computer whiz.”
Mick huffed. “My brother wouldn’t cross the street to help me in any way.”
“Not close?”
Mick shrugged. “Things sort of fell apart between us when my parents divorced. My dad was my hero. Still is, even though he died two years ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It happens. I went crazy, partying, moving from place to place and job to job. I still can’t stand to be penned in. I’m the black sheep in the family.” He grinned. “Fortunately, I’m a really handsome sheep.”
She laughed. “Lucky for the lady sheep. So Asia is okay, then? How come she hasn’t contacted me? Maybe I’m not getting all my e-mails.”
A bulky figure approached. “Not getting your e-mails, young lady? I heard you had a break-in. Did the burglar take your computer?” Lloyd smiled at them and held his hands to the fire.
Jackie started. “No…”
Mick gave Lloyd an annoyed look. “Hey, man. Eavesdropping is rude, you know?”
“My apologies. Occupational hazard.” Lloyd moved away.
Mick spoke quietly. “Nosy guy. Who is he? Tourist?”
Jackie shook her head. “I don’t think so. He’s been asking questions about me and my background. He told us he’s a reporter for a magazine, but I did some online snooping and found out he was lying.”
Mick nodded thoughtfully. “Maybe he took a shot at you, too.”
Jackie inhaled sharply. Had he been in the crowd that found her? “But why try to kill me if he’s after the files on the thumb drive?”
Mick looked intently at Lloyd, who had engaged one of the blond ladies in conversation.
“Could be he’s supposed to get the thumb drive and then take care of any loose ends.”
She felt as if she’d had ice water injected into her veins. Legs shaking, she sank down onto a leather-covered bench.
He sat next to her.
“It’s just all too much. I wonder if it’s time to go to the police. Roman thinks…”
Mick shook his head. “I suggested to Asia that we should contact the Alaska police, but she said we had to wait.”
“Why?”
He sighed. “Because the three of us had access to confidential patient records and Reynolds can deny everything—make it look like you and Asia are dirty, and me too, for that matter.”
She groaned and pressed her hands to her temples, which had begun to throb. “I was afraid of that. If things get any worse, we may not have any choice but to involve the police.”
He nodded grimly. “Are you sure you’re safe at the lodge? You can come bunk in my cabin. There are plenty of rooms.”
She cast a glance at Roman, who was refilling coffeepots across the room. “I’m okay here.”
Mick followed her gaze. “With that guy? He has done a real lousy job of keeping you safe, so far.”
That’s because I haven’t let him get close enough. The look in his eyes when he had found her shot spoke volumes. He’d sacrifice his own life for hers. The thought warmed a place deep inside that had lain cold for two long years. It’s penance for Danny. He’s looking after you out of guilt, pure and simple. She would not let him ease his conscience so easily.
Rekindling her resolve, she straightened. “Roman’s not a part of my life anymore.”
“You sure about that? Seems like you two were thick.”
“That was a long time ago.” She watched Roman, his dark eyes glimmering in the firelight. “A lifetime ago.”