The Cabin

by Carla Neggers

  She shook her head. "I don't know anything, if that's what you're thinking. God forbid anybody tells me anything. You were talking to Sam, right?"

  Jack didn't like one thing about this conversation. "Sergeant Temple, yes."

  "Dad. I'm not stupid. If you're here and this guy Mc-Garrity has disappeared—"

  "No one said he's disappeared."

  She snorted. "You asked if Sam—Sergeant Tem-ple—checked the airports and airlines. That sounds like disappearing."

  "He said he went hunting."

  Maggie's teeth were chattering now, partly with the cold, but also anger. "Why don't you just tell me to mind my own business? I wouldn't mind that as much as you acting as if you're telling me something when you're really not telling me anything."

  Jack tried to keep himself from glaring at her. Why the hell couldn't his wife and daughters be easier? "I don't want you or your sister to worry about Beau Mc-Garrity or Alice Parker."

  "Why, because we're not Texas Rangers? Is that what you tell Mom? Don't worry, let me handle it, I'm the big Texas Ranger."

  "You know, Maggie—"

  She didn't back down, not half an inch. "That's the thing, Dad. You can't protect Ellen and me from wor-rying—you can't protect us from anything." She thrust her chin up at him, defiant even with chattering teeth. "Not anymore."

  He fought an urge to march her back inside and lecture her about who'd trained at Quantico and who hadn't. But he ached, because he knew that wasn't the answer. He had no answers. Maybe that was why his family was in Boston and he was in Texas. He fucking didn't get it.

  "Dad," she said, fighting back tears from the cold wind, nerves, indignation—and fear.

  He loved this kid. He loved her twin sister. And their mother. He remembered the night his daughters were born, how helpless he'd felt at the pain Susanna was in. He remembered holding Maggie and Ellen as they slept, bundled tightly in their baby blankets.

  They weren't babies or preschoolers or even twelve-year-olds—those days were over. His daughters were strong, independent young women, and they were looking for their father to recognize them as such.

  He sighed, feeling the cold now himself. "I never thought I'd say my life was easier when you and Ellen were two. Maggie, do you know anything about Beau McGarrity? Anything at all?"

  She shook her head. "No. Why?"

  "He's never come to you, tried to follow you—"

  "God, Dad." Her cheeks were pale now. "No."

  "Ellen?"

  "She's never said anything. I mean, she would have. You know Ellen."

  Ellen didn't keep secrets. It was one of the few things Jack still knew for sure about his family. Ellen didn't keep secrets, and Maggie did. He slung an arm over her shoulders. "Come on, before you freeze solid. Let's go inside and warm up." And he forced himself to add, "We'll talk about Beau McGarrity."

  Alice dreamed about Rachel McGarrity all through the night and woke up exhausted, wrung out. She'd stumbled down to breakfast, but couldn't eat. A piece of toast, juice. She brought a cup of coffee back to her room with her. She hadn't run into Destin. That was something.

  A quiet knock on her door pulled her out of her thoughts. "Alice? Alice, open up. It's me, Destin."

  Lie down with dogs, Alice, honey, and don't be surprised when you come up with fleas.

  She should have listened to her grandma. She had been an uncomplicated woman with a clear sense of right and wrong. Would she ever have befriended Rachel? Done work for her on the sly? Would her grandma have cut corners to save her own neck and bring Ra-chel's murderer to justice?

  No. Grandma never would have become a police officer in the first place. She thought there was only a hair's difference between a cop and a thug. Work hard, keep your head low, save your money. Don't gamble, don't drink, don't smoke. Pick one man, and make sure he's a good one. Then treat him right.

  Most of her grandma's advice Alice hadn't followed very well.

  "Come on, let me in."

  Destin spoke in a panicked whisper, but that was Destin. He was highly emotional with a sense of entitlement he'd use to justify anything, provided he got what he was after. Everyone in the world was supposed to realize what he wanted was all important. He didn't care how they got the money off Susanna. Honest was good. Dishonest was good. So long as he got what he wanted.

  Then again, he wasn't a killer. He'd balk at killing. He might put a knife to Susanna's throat, but he'd never cut it.

  He preferred to get his money the easy way—for Susanna to recognize his brilliance and give it to him.

  Alice had learned a lot about Destin Wright in the past couple of days.

  She dragged herself to the door and opened it for him. He slipped in like he had the Gestapo on his tail and quickly shut the door behind him, raking a hand through his blond hair as he paced. "Jesus." He stopped a second, catching his breath. "Susanna and Iris are here."

  Alice pulled the tie on her robe tight. She doubted Destin even noticed she was naked underneath it. He had a one-track mind, and it was on his hundred grand. "Here at the inn?" she asked, staying calm.

  "They're talking old times downstairs with the owners."

  "I suppose it makes sense if Iris grew up here. We should have picked a different place to stay, but this is the closest to Susanna's cabin." Alice realized Destin was too agitated to listen. "Do you think they saw my car?"

  "I don't know. We hid it pretty well. If Jack finds out I'm up here with you—" He shook his head. "I don't know what made me think I could do this shit. Damn."

  Cold feet. Just what she needed. "You believe in yourself, don't you? You believe in your company. How bad do you want that money?"

  "Susanna's just being selfish and short-sighted. If we can just make her see, give her the right jolt—"

  "Fear'll do that to you," Alice said. "Give you a jolt."

  He made a face. "Damn right. I've been scared for weeks. Hell, once they took my BMW—that was a jolt."

  Alice didn't want to think about it. He was willing to put the screws to Susanna over a repossessed BMW. That was what had tripped his switch from pleading with Susanna to hooking up with an ex-con and following her to the Adirondacks. Alice's own reasons wouldn't have passed muster with her grandma, she knew, but at least she was trying to get to a place where she wouldn't have to resort to cutting corners. She would lead a good life once she got to Australia.

  She didn't want to hurt Susanna, just get some money off her. Alice knew she was damn near to popping up on Beau McGarrity's hit list. That lent more urgency to her mission with Destin. Get the money and clear out before McGarrity caught up to her. Susanna would probably understand, if she knew the truth. A hundred grand for an idiot like Destin—Alice could see Susanna not going for that. But for herself? For a woman who'd only tried to do good and now just needed cash for a fresh start? Susanna had to understand that.

  Ranger Jack wouldn't. No way. Alice would be in handcuffs and on her way back to prison.

  "What're we going to do?" Destin asked.

  "Ratchet up the pressure."

  She sat on the edge of her bed, trying to think fast. She'd learned to juggle options and pieces of information faster in prison—it was a matter of survival. But she was still a plodder. It was in all her fitness reports. Alice Parker needs to think faster on her feet. If she were better at it, she probably wouldn't have made such a mess of the crime scene when she'd seen her monogrammed change purse in Rachel's blood and realized Beau was trying to frame her.

  Destin resumed his pacing, occasionally raking both hands through his hair and pausing at the mirror above her dresser to sigh at his reflection.

  "What if you go back to Susanna's cabin?" she said.

  He turned around and shook his head. "I didn't make any headway with her out there yesterday. She just said no, no, no." He sounded like a three-year-old. "Then Jack showed up. Man, that guy scares me. He did not like me being there."

  Alice stood up and took him by the arm,
squeezing it. "Listen to me, damn it. You need to go on over there and toss the place, make it look as if somebody went through there looking for something. Make it look purposeful, but leave scars. You know, enough of a mess so they know someone was there."

  "What the hell for? We found out what we needed to know at Iris's place. We know Susanna's worth ten million—"

  "This isn't for information. This is for effect."

  "For Christ's sake, if I get caught—"

  "You're Susanna's friend. You've known Iris all your life. You grew up in her neighborhood. If you get caught, you just say you stopped by for a visit, heard a noise and came in to check it out, and here's the place tossed. You fall back on your friendship."

  He breathed out, still uncertain. "Do you think this'll work?"

  "Yes, but I can't explain why. Susanna's up here for a reason, and we can use it to our advantage. She doesn't like to be afraid, let me put it that way." Alice wasn't sure she was making any sense, but she couldn't think of another option that would both put pressure on Susanna and convince Beau that Susanna did indeed still have the tape and Alice had gotten it from her. "You're the one who said we need to get under her skin. Once she realizes it's just easier to give you the money than have you pestering her—"

  "Not give," Destin said. "She's investing in a company that'll turn her lousy hundred thousand into millions. She'll get back every dime and then some."

  "Right." And her eyewitness was going to put Beau McGarrity on death row, not land her own butt in state prison. "I think this can work, Destin. At least let's give it a shot."

  "It's not risk-free, but if I do it right—well, it's about as close to being risk-free as anything I can think of that'd get to Susanna. She'll bite. I know it. We'll work things out between us, too. This'll prove how committed I am to this idea."

  It'd prove what a greedy jackass he was, but Susanna probably already knew that.

  "I have to do something dramatic to convince her," he went on. "I know she thinks I'm a has-been."

  Alice had known people like him in prison. Blaming everybody else for why they were serving time. Their lawyers, the judge, society, the system. At least she didn't blame anyone but herself. She'd made mistakes the night she found Rachel McGarrity, and because of them, she'd gone to prison and Beau McGarrity was still a free man.

  "You don't have to steal anything," she told Destin. "That'd put you in real trouble with the law. You'd never be able to explain swiping petty cash off the kitchen table."

  He eyed her, rubbing the back of his neck. "I hear you."

  "It's a beautiful day. Everyone at breakfast was excited about the fresh snow. Iris and Susanna are obviously seeing the sights, but I bet Jack and the twins are out, too. You want to be careful, though, and make sure he didn't head out on his own and leave Maggie and Ellen back at the cabin."

  "Right."

  Destin was with the program, serious now, seeing the possibilities as his optimism and entitlement started working together again. Alice was also feeling better. "We should clear out of here. I'll check us out after you leave. You can hike into the cabin again—I don't know, say you're investigating the ice-fishing if someone asks."

  "We'll need to meet somewhere."

  Alice nodded. She'd already thought of this. "The north end of Blackwater Lake is owned by a rich family that never comes up here anymore. Iris told me about them. Anyway, there's a geological survey map of the lake on the wall by the front desk downstairs. Take a look at it on your way out. There's a house up there, not right on the shore but close—it's marked on the map."

  Destin frowned. "You expect me to hike out to Su-sanna's cabin, then all the way up to the north end of the lake?"

  "It's not as far as you might think. It's shorter, actually, to go on foot along the lake than to drive. You'll see when you look at the map. I can park at the house and hike down to the lake—there's a little teahouse on the shore where we can meet." She smiled, trying to encourage him. "I'll bring you hot coffee."

  "I don't know—"

  "Destin, if anything happens, no one will think to look for us there. It'll buy us time to get out of town." She sighed. "Look, it's the best I can do. If you have a better idea, now's the time."

  "No—no, this'll work. I thought about training for Everest, you know, back when I had money, so the snow and the cold won't bother me."

  Because he'd thought about training for Everest. Alice didn't say a word.

  He headed for the door, his eyes shining again with enthusiasm. "I think Susanna'll go for half a million."

  Alice resisted rolling her eyes. She no longer felt so smart for having hooked up with Destin Wright, ex-mil-lionaire. But there was more bounce in his step when he left, checking up and down the hall before he darted out into the hall, like the Nazis were still after him.

  She flopped on her bed and stared up at the ceiling, the bright morning light doing nothing for her mood. She didn't know if her plan made any real sense—after all, how well had she done when she'd found Rachel dead? She thought she'd done some good thinking then, too.

  She had come to at least one conclusion. Beau Mc-Garrity was a bigger problem for her than Jack Galway. Jack would toss her back in prison if she crossed the line. Beau would kill her.

  She sighed at the ceiling. "I am no good at this shit."

  Then she jumped up off the bed and grabbed some clothes. Damn northern winters. She was freezing.

  Fourteen

  Susanna waited with Gran in a small, cozy sitting room off the wide hall where Paul and Sarah Johnson, the young couple who owned Blackwater Inn, had set up their reception desk. They'd decorated the room in warm tones of deep green and honey, and it had a bay window that looked onto the lake. Gran stared out at the snow-covered landscape. "This is the room where my mother died," she said quietly.

  "Gran, if you want to leave—"

  "No, let's wait for Audrey…Alice."

  Susanna sat on an elegant upholstered chair. She and Gran had decided to stop at the inn first, before going to the cemetery. The Johnsons had greeted Gran as if she were a living legend. In a way, she was. She was Iris Dunning, the daughter of renowned Adirondack guide John Dunning, a famous guide in her own right. The Johnsons proudly showed off the wall of old pictures they'd collected and framed of the inn's early days. Gran couldn't bring herself even to look at them.

  Embarrassed by their enthusiasm, Sarah Johnson had pulled Susanna aside and apologized. "It's easy for us to forget your grandmother experienced terrible tragedy here. Sixty years seems like such a long time to us, but for her—it must be like the blink of an eye."

  "She's never said much about her past here," Susanna said simply. It was an understatement. Gran never talked about her life on Blackwater Lake.

  Paul Johnson added, "Nobody around here thinks of the scandal anymore."

  "No," his wife said, "absolutely not."

  He nodded. "We all think of Iris Dunning as a truly remarkable woman in the history of this region."

  Gran had made a noise, turning to the young couple. "That sounds like an epitaph. You'd think I've been dead all these years instead of living a few hours away in Boston."

  That was when Susanna had decided to ask about Destin Wright. Jack would no doubt consider this treading on his turf, but at this point she didn't care—she'd needed a change in subject. Eager to make amends, the Johnsons told her that Destin had checked into the inn with Audrey Melbourne the day before. They were both in. Did Susanna want to see them?

  They'd called up and Audrey—Alice—was on her way down now. They hadn't been able to reach Destin and assumed he must have gone out.

  Susanna glanced at her grandmother after the John-sons excused themselves. What tragedy? What scandal? She knew only the bare outlines of her grandmother's life before she'd moved to Boston. Susanna admitted she was madly curious, but Gran's reaction to the innkeepers' innocent missteps encouraged caution. She didn't want to push for details her grandmother might be
reluctant to share with her—or thought were none of her damn business. This was Gran's life they were talking about.

  "I told Alice about this place," Gran said. "That viper. She made herself so easy to talk to, pretending to be interested in my life—"

  "Maybe she was interested, Gran. People are complicated."

  She waved a hand, impatient. "I was indulging myself. I thought she wanted to know what I'd been through to help her sort out her own life."

  "Don't beat up yourself—"

  "I'm not. I'm merely stating the facts." She shook her head, her eyes never leaving the beautiful view of the lake. "Jimmy Haviland will never let me hear the end of this one. He was suspicious of her from the start."

  "Not so suspicious that he told me about her right away," Susanna said. "He waited several weeks before he said anything."

  Alice Parker entered the room with a snap to her step and no indication she'd done anything wrong by turning up on Blackwater Lake. She wasn't taking any pains to pretend she was here for the winter outdoor sports. She wore tight jeans, a close-fitting rib-knit teal sweater, western boots and lots of gold jewelry. "Hello, ma'am," she said politely to Iris, then nodded at Susanna. "Mrs. Galway."

  Iris spoke first. "You lied to me, Miss Parker."

  "About some things, ma'am, yes, I did." Her tone was apologetic if not contrite. "But I didn't lie about everything. Not most things."

  "Your name. Why you were in Boston. You never mentioned that my granddaughter's husband investigated you."

  Alice fiddled with one of her rings. "I am truly sorry, Ms. Dunning. I never meant to upset you. This inn— this country up here—" she paused, but went on again in that same sincere but steady tone "—it's all as pretty as you said."

  "I never lied to you," Iris said.

  "No, ma'am, you didn't."

  Gran eased onto the window seat, sitting sideways on the honey-and-green brocade cushion, her back to Susanna and Alice, as if they'd both offended her. With a pang of regret, Susanna wondered if buying her cabin on Blackwater Lake was more of an intrusion into her grandmother's life than she'd realized. In hindsight, she should have consulted Gran first, instead of acting on impulse. But it was as if she'd been moved along by a force greater than herself. Once she saw the lake, the cabin, the snow-covered mountains, she wasn't sure she'd had any choice at all.