Thor ran up ahead, and as if reading her mind, stopped in front of Alex and Emily’s cabin, pushing slightly on the door and causing it to open just a crack.
“Thor! Come back here!” Mara hissed, trying not to make a scene, while snapping a leash on him when he did, and pulling him along the boardwalk toward home.
As she and Thor passed the cracked door, she reached to pull it shut, trying hard to do it silently so as not to disturb or frighten Emily. Instead, it was she who was surprised upon hearing a man’s voice inside.
“It’s probably her brother,” she said to no one, pausing to be sure she had heard what she thought she had.
Then she heard Emily.
“I love you so very much, Paul. We’ll be through this soon. I just need to give Alex a little more time to …”
Was something going on with Alex? He had been acting weird lately. Not his usual fun-loving self.
She stepped back, not wanting to eavesdrop, but when the man spoke again—his voice deep with emotion—she was unable to not hear his words.
“After this we’ll always be together, Emily. There’ll be no more times like this. Before long it will be just the two of us and soon, our baby.”
Mara scurried to her own cabin and slid inside the door feeling as if her heart would burst. Alex had told her that Emily’s brother’s name was Kent, not Paul. Who was in there with Emily and what did he mean by “our baby?”—as if the statement itself really left any doubt.
Her thoughts were racing toward the irrational. She had worked so hard to stop that kind of thinking, but now the anxiety she had so long fought to overcome had come roaring back. Was this how it had been with Doug and Erin? She tried to stop her crazy thoughts, but found herself wanting to run to Alex to tell him the truth and spare him from going through what she had with Doug.
Calm yourself, Mara. Alex is not Doug and Emily is not you, and this situation is not the same as the one you and Doug went through. She took a deep breath. Why was she reacting this way? Besides, she and Doug were back on track, so why even think of what had gone on before and had been resolved between them?
Just then the phone rang and it was Doug. Everything was fine with him, so she spilled out the details of what had just happened, telling him she wasn’t sure what to do.
“Don’t go jumping to conclusions, Mara. Besides, it’s none of your business.”
“But Alex is my friend.”
Still, after they talked it all over, Doug had to admit that if he were in Alex’s shoes, he would probably—as hard as it would be to hear—want to know.
“Or maybe you should ask Emily about it first.”
“I’ll try to pick a time that feels right,” she told Doug before hanging up.
Meanwhile, when she got up to close the door, Emily and Kent were standing on the dock just to the left of her door, just breaking away from what looked like a very warm embrace. So where then was Paul, and why was Emily hugging her brother? Something had to be wrong.
“Mara,” Emily said.
“Hi, Emily—Kent, sorry to interrupt.”
“Kent was just …”
“Oh, my water’s boiling over on the stove,” Mara lied, quickly shutting the door and leaving the two standing there.
Before long, she heard a truck drive away and heard Emily’s own door latch shut. Did Kent know about Paul? Did everyone but Alex know about Paul?
About two hours later, still sitting at her table trying to decide what to do, she heard the sound of Alex’s skiff pulling in under his cabin and felt her own heart flip-flop a couple of times. Did Alex even have a clue? Maybe that was why he had been acting so strangely lately. Maybe he knew already and she wouldn’t have to be the one to tell him about Emily and Paul—whoever Paul was—and about the fact that Emily’s baby was not his.
On the other hand, what if he didn’t know? Maybe she should wait for Doug to get home before facing Alex with the news—just in case his reaction was as unpredictable as his behavior had been as of late. But that could be days away, so she took a deep breath and tried to plan just how she would say the words she needed to say.
Chapter Forty-One
Who’s Who?
Alex’s reaction to the news about Emily was a surprise.
“I know about Emily and Paul, Mara.”
Well, she certainly hadn’t expected that! She stared at him, dumbfounded.
“Emily told me you saw her hugging Kent on the dock yesterday, and that earlier you may have heard her talking to someone named Paul. It’s not what you think.”
Mara stopped herself from responding. Poor Alex.
“There’s something you need to know,” he said. “Actually, there’s several somethings you need to know. Can we meet up this afternoon and I’ll explain everything?”
“Okay, Alex. It’s really none of my business. All I really wanted to do was to ask your permission to formally request that the bank launch an investigation into what has been going on with your account for the Driftfeather.”
“Well, just to give you a quick answer, it goes without saying that of course I will give it to you. I mean, we’re business partners, aren’t we? And you took a huge risk on me, using your own money. But I’d like to ask you to at least wait until we can talk about this in more detail later today.”
“Okay. I had hoped you would agree to my idea. The thing with Emily and you—well, like I said, it’s really none of my business and I apologize if I spoke out of line.”
“No apology needed, Mara. I’ll see you this afternoon—right here—say, about three?”
“See you at three.”
~~~
That was weird. Alex hadn’t seemed at all disturbed by the news about his wife. Maybe Doug was right, maybe she had jumped to conclusions. When three o’clock rolled around, she was waiting for him on her deck, surprised when he showed up with both Emily and Kent.
“Would any of you like some coffee—or soda, or water?” she said, getting up.
“No, thanks, Mara. Sit down, okay?” Alex said.
Boy, wasn’t he all business today.
“Look closely at this,” he said, passing his driver’s license across the table.
She glanced at the name. It was his, but there was a small mark in the shape of a shield beside it, one she had never seen on her own licenses or anyone else’s.
“Well, all I notice is this mark. Does it mean something special?”
“Keep reading,” Alex insisted.
The address matched the one she had for him. The picture was the usual stark rendition placed on driver’s licenses that most everyone she knew hated. There was one restriction saying that he needed glasses to drive, but aside from that, it looked like a normal driver’s license.
“I don’t see anything but that mark,” she said. “What does this have to do with anything?”
“Look at the birth date, Mara.”
“It says your birthday is May 31,” she answered. “Is that it? Are you trying to tell me I forgot your birthday, because I am so sorry and I’ll make it up to you.”
She glanced at the date marker on her watch. Gosh, was it already June 3?
She looked at Emily, who was sitting stone-faced next to Kent, and whose expression she couldn’t read because his eyes were hidden behind a pair of aviator sunglasses. Neither of them moved except that Emily shifted slightly in her chair.
“Look at the year, Mara, then do the math,” Alex continued.
“What’s going on here, Alex?” she demanded, growing tired of whatever game it was the three of them were playing with her.
“First of all, as you can see, I’m not twenty-four,” he began. “As a matter of fact, I’m thirty-four, but I’ve always looked young for my age.”
Mara was stunned. Why had Alex lied to her about his age?
Suddenly he flashed the boyish grin she was so used to. Was he trying to make light of the situation or what, because she was definitely not laughing at this latest surprise?
>
“Where’re you going with this, Alex? I don’t know if I even want to hear this,” she said, jumping up. “Is this some kind of practical joke or what?”
“It’s no joke, Mara,” he said, suddenly regaining the serious demeanor he had arrived with.
“If this is about us being closer in age and … you’re making me … where’re you going with this? What about you, here, Emily? Is this some kind of weird … I don’t know … and both of you know I’m back with Doug …”
“It’s nothing at all like that, Mara. Just listen up,” Alex assured her, while Emily’s expression remained unchanged.
She fought a sudden urge to flee.
“Frankly, Alex, as much as I appreciate your attempt to be honest, or transparent, or whatever it is you’re trying to do here …”
“It’s something like that—,” he started to respond.
“If this is about the money, then I’ll just write it off. If you’re trying to tell me something weird about your past, let’s just keep that your little secret.”
“Mara,” he interrupted her, “I’m with the FBI.”
His words stopped her dead in her tracks. Not again. Not this. She spun around, facing him.
“The FBI. Right, Alex. Well, I’ll give it to you, I’ve attracted the Palmer police, the Alaska State Troopers, the International Police Association, so why not the FBI? What sinister plot is unveiling now?” she said, rolling her eyes, then feeling foolish about her childlike response. “You know my history. Why are you doing this to me?”
“Stop it, Mara,” he said, reaching into his back pocket to pull out his wallet. Stepping forward, he showed her his badge.
“You can buy those on the Internet,” she snapped.
He sat back down, while she paced the room.
“The situation with Joe Michael,” he continued. “I’ve known about it for several months starting—well, actually starting—about two months before I met you.”
She looked back at him and said nothing. How could any of this be happening again? She stared at him for what seemed like minutes before asking, “And Emily?”
“FBI,” he answered. “The wedding was fake, but the pregnancy—that’s real.”
“My real name is Anna Pauline Sinclair,” Emily said, speaking for the first time since her arrival, “but please call me Annie.”
“And this guy here, the man staying with us, who you saw embracing Emily on the dock yesterday, is really her husband and fellow agent, Paul Sinclair,” Alex said. “I only told you he was Emily’s brother, Kent, so his moving in with us would not arouse suspicion.”
Mara watched Paul Sinclair remove his glasses and nod slightly, his mouth curving into a brief half smile, before putting the glasses back on.
“Sorry to alarm you this morning,” Paul said in a voice that was more businesslike than apologetic.
“So that explains seeing them leave with briefcases right after you left with the footlocker the other night,” Mara said, looking at Alex.
“I didn’t know you saw that,” he said.
Apparently, everything about Alex had been a lie.
“And your lovely parents? Not really Hollywood stars?” she asked him.
“That part was true, Mara. They are Hollywood stars. How do you think I got to be such a good actor?” he laughed. “But Winron is my mother’s maiden name. My real name is Jacob Alexander Phillips, but I’ve been called Alex my entire life. That little emblem next to my name is to alert law enforcement that I am undercover. And my father is in great health. There was no stroke. I know you were worried.”
“I’m relieved to know they’re okay,” was all she could think of to say before grabbing Thor’s leash from the hook on the wall and heading for the door.
“C’mon, Thor. Let’s go for a walk.”
Chapter Forty-Two
Facing It Alone
When she returned an hour later, the three agents were standing on the dock outside her cabin.
“We decided to go for a sandwich,” Annie Sinclair said. “We could see you needed some space.”
“How kind of you,” Mara said sarcastically, opening her door and unhooking Thor’s leash so he could go inside.
“We’d like to finish,” Alex said.
“By all means, please come in,” she answered.
She took her sweet time before joining them on the deck, stopping first to get Thor some water, then making herself her own sandwich, which she carried outside.
“Since you already ate, I hope you don’t mind if I do?”
Annie Sinclair smiled sympathetically, but Alex and Paul were all business as Alex began to speak.
“That footlocker that you saw me with, Mara, holds the final proof of Joe Michael’s innocence,” he began.
How she wished Doug were here. She needed him now more than ever, but he wouldn’t be back for at least a week, so this time she was going to have to face whatever this was alone.
“Here’s how it all unfolded,” Alex continued. “It’s long and it’s complicated, but the bottom line is that Joe Michael is innocent, you’re innocent and, although I’m not who you thought I was, I’m innocent of doing anything to hurt you. I’m just sorry, knowing your past, that it was you who had to get caught up in this.”
Why not me? she wondered, her mind drifting to part of the words Joe Michael had written in the envelope with the second feather.
… keep this
to protect your future,
but this time
it will be
from my past.
She listened as Alex began to recount the details of just what had gone on, starting with when she had first moved to Juneau.
“Stu had been bragging around town about how he was finally going to be able to help the daughter from whom he had been estranged most of her life.”
“Della,” Mara said.
“Stu had also begun bad-mouthing his brother, Joe, around town quite a bit, saying that he’d show him up for thinking he was a ‘no account.’ That’s what Stu said his brother called him, a ‘no account.’
“Until then, no one that we talked to had even known that Stu had a brother. Everyone thought he was just a crotchety old loner who probably had some kind of past, just like most everyone in Alaska seems to have as far as I can see. Strange bunch up here sometimes …”
Alex chuckled, before resuming his serious demeanor.
“What does that have to do with you, the FBI, and most of all, with me?” Mara asked, ignoring the fact that Alex had just revealed himself to not be of the kindred spirit that binds those who choose to live in the far north that she loved so much—an unshared thought that somehow he intuitively picked up on.
“I’m sorry, Mara. I didn’t mean to come across as some kind of a snob. I’ve loved my time here in Alaska …”
She looked away, unsmiling.
“It’s beautiful here,” Annie murmured, while her husband shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
“Let’s get back to business here,” Alex said. “Originally, we had been called in by a bank examiner because of his suspicions about a large volume of deposits being put into an account held in the name of Joe Michael—deposits that were not reflected in actual growth to Joe Michael’s account on the balance sheet.”
“Okay, so Joe Michael can’t have a bank account?” Mara said, feeling defensive after hearing Alex’s slight against Alaskans. “Maybe he was taking the money out as fast as he was putting it in. Maybe he had automatic payments being taken out—like for medications, or his truck, or something. Why was someone monitoring Joe Michael’s account in the first place?”
“The fact of the matter was that large amounts of money were going into the account, and regular withdrawals were being made using savings withdrawal slips signed with the name Joe Michael. The fact that the same exact amount of money was turning up in a second account held in a fictitious name that had the same account number as Joe’s, but was held by at least one other branch of
Smith Bank, was what prompted the attention of an independent auditor during a routine audit.
“That’s when the examiner was called in and what he found in reviewing Joe’s account, along with similar irregularities in several other accounts at three separate Smith Bank branches. As a matter of fact, the holders of some of those accounts were already reporting those very irregularities.
“Money from that fictitious account was also being regularly withdrawn using savings withdrawal slips signed with the fictitious name linked to that account. Coincidentally, deposits into an account held by Stu Michael increased substantially from his previous deposit pattern right around that time—but not in the large amounts that ended up being unaccounted for, which further clouded the picture.”
“This is all so much to absorb,” Mara said. “I feel like my brain is just shutting down trying to understand it all.”
“I can see where anyone would find this confusing,” Alex said. “It’s a very complex crime that took us months to figure out. Maybe we should break for about an hour and meet back here at, say, five and I’ll try to make it a little clearer?”
Mara watched as everyone got up and moved through her cabin and out the door. She saw Alex hesitate, as if he wanted to say something, but a glance from Paul had him continue his exit, leaving her standing there wondering what possibly could be next.
Chapter Forty-Three
Less Is More, More or Less
Taking her phone out onto her deck, Mara called the hospital as much to check on Joe as to get her mind off the long, drawn out sequence of events that Alex had dropped like a bombshell into her lap.
“Okay, Sal. Thanks for letting me talk to Joe. Thank goodness he’s going to be discharged soon, and I think it’s a good idea that they want to put him in assisted living for a week first. It’s much better to take it slowly—especially with his history.”
Driftfeather on the Alaska Seas Page 12