Page 80 of Fire Peak

Solomon glanced at Nick, who emphasized that point with a hard glare.

As they drove away, leaving Solomon with a bag of frozen blueberries—his own, that he’d picked last summer—clutched to his head, Nick asked, “Did you have the same thought I had?”

“That I might be able to hack into their communications system and get some more information that way?”

“Uh…great idea. Yeah, let’s do that. What do you need to make that happen?” They hit a bump in the gravel road, sending a jolt of pain through Charlie’s thigh.

“That’s not what you were thinking, is it?” she asked, gritting her teeth.

“No, but your thought was better. I was thinking, I really need to vet my clients better. That wily old man sent me up against trained Russian operatives because he wanted to know what they were looking for. And then I brought that information right to him.”

“Well, I guess you did your job. Better send him an invoice.”

Nick made a face. “It was a trade. All he owes me now is a bottle of his home-brew.”

“Well, he is a former chemistry teacher. It’s probably pretty good.”

They reached the main road. Even though no traffic was coming from either direction, Nick brought the car to a stop. “Where next? I’m thinking the lodge.”

“Sounds good, but do you want to check on Hailey first?”

“I don’t know. She was pretty pissed when I left. I don’t want her to feel like I don’t trust her.”

Not for the first time, Charlie felt for the man. He was in a tough situation with Hailey. “Teenagers are never easy, are they? It’s even harder when you’re just getting to know them. I vote for the lodge too,” she added. “I have a long list of questions for April.”

“So do I.” His tone was grim as he took the turn onto the road toward Fire Peak Lodge.

She glanced at him curiously. “You sound like you suspect her of something.”

“I do.” He left it there, shutting his mouth tight. A muscle ticked in his jaw.

“Oh no. We’re not doing this. You can’t keep it to yourself. Haven’t you learned that lesson yet? Or is that just how you are, Nick Perini?”

He snorted, then one corner of his mouth quirked up. “You win, Charlie Santa Lucia. You won’t like it, though. I think April might have murdered Bulldog.”

34

“No, no, no, I don’t believe it … Oh my God … really?…No…if she did it, is someone coming after her for revenge now?” The whole ride to the lodge, Charlie went back and forth like that. Nick focused on the road while she processed his theory. At one point, he had to swerve to avoid a moose wandering across the road; Charlie barely reacted.

“Okay, assuming it’s true,” she finally said. “How do you think she did it?”

“Knocked him out and left him to freeze? Knowing that wolves would destroy most of the evidence?”

She shivered. “But why? Pinky said they fought a lot. Do you think he was abusing her?”

“I don’t know. There’s a lot going on here. Maybe it was a love triangle with Vasily.”

“Oooh, juicy.”

“I’m just throwing out ideas here,” he said with a snort. “Maybe she wanted Fire Peak to herself. Or maybe it was an accident.”

“Or maybe she didn’t do it.”

“Of course. We don’t know anything, it’s just a theory.” He thought about the safe and all the documents they’d found. “You said you read Chadwick’s journal entries, right? Did anything jump out from those?”

“Well, mostly he seemed to be losing his marbles. There was a lot of political stuff in there, ranting about private property and so forth. Ironic, since he was from such a wealthy family. But April said they were rebels looking for a different kind of life.”

Nick glanced over at her, unsure if he’d see more of that icy distance, or the softening that had happened after their showdown with Solomon. Neither, it seemed. Charlie was completely wrapped up in figuring out this forty-five-year-old mystery.

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