Page 57 of Wind Valley

“Brain damage can lead to behavioral issues,” he said absently.

“I’m aware.” Her voice was muffled under the coat. “I have Internet. Or used to, before I came to Firelight Ridge. Can you see anything else?”

“A striped beanie. Green and yellow.”

“Crap. That definitely could be him. He likes beanies, even though his head looks really small in them, especially compared to his shoulders. He’s a big guy.”

“This guy fits that bill.” Lachlan had never placed any particular value on a person’s size; to him that seemed entirely irrelevant to what they were like as a person. Some of the bravest people he’d known were women and even children. Some of the most sweet-hearted were large men, such as Gunnar back in Firelight Ridge. Size didn’t factor into it at all, unless a bully made use of his size to exert control, as seemed to be the case with SS.

“How can he be here? Marco said he was arrested. Did they already let him go?”

“Maybe he’s out on bail. Maybe he has very liberal bail bond conditions. Or maybe he broke them.”

“Can we please go now? He hasn’t seen us, has he?”

“I don’t think so.” Lachlan set the binoculars on the passenger seat and cruised onto the main road. After he’d made a few turns, he tapped her on the back. “It’s safe now.”

She sat up, her hair a wild riot of static electricity. “Yet another awkward situation I can blame on that idiot.”

What must it be like having to deal with this sort of thing over and over again? He couldn’t really imagine it. How she’d maintained her sanity was beyond him.

“I have an idea,” said Lachlan thoughtfully.

“Drive to Canada? Sounds good to me.”

“No. I’m not sure what we should do next. But we can make some trouble for him, I think.”

“We can?” Her face brightened. “How?”

“Well, he’s the one pretending it’s my birthday.” He dialed the front desk of the Freshwater. “Hi, this is Lachlan McGowan, I was just talking to you a few minutes ago. Yeah, the birthday boy.” He rolled his eyes at Maura. “Listen, it’s kind of lonely celebrating my birthday with just me and my brother. Why don’t you tell the staff and whoever else is hanging around that they’re all welcome to my room for some birthday cake and balloons? The more, the merrier. Send everyone. And don’t let my brother leave because I have a special surprise for him.”

He hung up to find Maura gaping at him. “Lachlan,” she exclaimed. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”

He grinned at her. “Hopefully that will buy us some time to get out of here.”

“And figure out how he found me.”

They both looked at her phone, which she’d plugged into the cigarette light charger. Quickly, she pulled it out and turned it off. “No more online research for me.”

30

Every time Maura thought about SS getting mobbed by birthday party guests, she dissolved into laughter again. SS hated any situation that he wasn’t in control of, and he didn’t like having to chitchat with strangers. For him to carry on the charade of being Lachlan’s brother, he’d have to stand there and make small talk. The tables had turned, and the fact that she could laugh at SS, instead of fearing him, freed something inside her.

Until the questions hit. Her smile dropped and she swung to face Lachlan. “Wait a minute. How does he know about you?”

“If he was tracking your phone somehow, then maybe he spotted us here together.”

“So he knows our car.”

“We should assume that he does. But we can’t just abandon Sam’s car. We need to get somewhere it’ll be hard to spot us.”

That sounded good to her. “Any ideas?”

“Actually, yes.” He pulled onto a road that led north of Fairbanks, called Chena Pump Road. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Did you have any longer-term plans after coming to Firelight Ridge? Were you planning to hide out forever?”

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