Winter Study

In time to find her alive was the thought A

30

A

The bag was old and worn; the leather around the tag had grown stiff and cracked. A

“They’re both Canucks,” Jonah had said of Bob and Adam.

“Cynthia Johansen, a graduate student at the University of Saskatchewan, lived with her husband, Adam Johansen, a freelance carpenter.”

Not only were Adam and Bob Canadians, they had both lived in Saskatchewan and at the same time. Bob taught at the university where Adam’s wife, Cynthia, went to graduate school. It wasn’t a great leap to put Cynthia into one of Professor Menechi

Then Cynthia committed suicide.

Adam never recovered from her death.

Adam told Ridley to recommend Bob for the Homeland Security review.

Adam had been excited at breakfast, happy.

“Holy shit!” A

Without skis, she’d never catch them. She took the snowmobile. Hammering up the Greenstone, icy wind lashing her cheeks and scraping her skin, A

Still, she didn’t leave Adam to his work. For one thing, she liked to think of herself as a half-decent human being. Not to mention if the two killed each other, she might never find out what happened to Robin.

The Greenstone climbed gently at first, then rose precipitously with switchbacks that threatened to push the snowmobile into the trees to a rocky escarpment thrusting above the tree line. The slope on the western side of the island was forested. On the east, the ridge fell away precipitously, a sheer sixty-foot drop, to a flat narrow boulder field skirting the edge of a meadow.

Forcing the snowmobile to its limit, she built up sufficient speed that when she reached the ridge the machine leapt a foot into the air, banged down in a spume of snow and rushed toward the drop. Squawking, she jerked to the left. The front of the snowmobile jackknifed. The machine rose up on one ski in alarmingly slow motion, toppled over and shuddered to a stop as the engine died.

Ahead of her, through the veil of falling snow, stood two shrouded figures. Skis and poles were jammed into the snow like battlefield grave markers. This was where Menechi

“Adam!” A

“Go back,” Adam called.

A

“Go back,” Adam said again. Without the roar of the small engine, his words were clear, ringing in her ears like the tolling of a bell.

“Lord knows, I want to,” A

“Robin’s better off where she is,” Adam said. “Bob made sure of that.”

In his uniquely dreadful winter gear, goose down poking out and the duct tape taking up more area than the nylon, Adam looked like Robinson Crusoe: The Northern Saga. He also looked crazy as a loon.

A

“Bob!” A

“Bob,” he echoed, and his pulled-back grin creased his face above the folds of his neck scarf. With a hand the size of a club, he pawed off his hood, baring his head to the elements. His face was the color of new brick.

“What’s wrong with him?” A

“Tasting his own medicine,” Adam said. “Go back. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Ketamine?”

“His drug of choice,” Adam said.

“You are doing this for Cynthia?”

“Cynthia is dead,” Adam said. “This is just for me.”

“For revenge?” A

“For fun.” There was no expression on his face. It was as blank as if the executioner’s hood was already drawn over his features.

“Okay,” A

“Doing what? What are we doing?” Bob asked, alarm creeping into the smear of happiness Lady K had put on his mouth.

“As much a fan as I am of fun, it’s short-lived for the most part,” A

“Go back,” Adam said.

“Let me arrest him,” A

“And then what? Cynthia can’t testify. Robin can’t. Katherine can’t.”

Adam’s words were heavy, falling in flat chunks through the snowy air. A

Institutions hated rape charges. This would be swept under the table by three powerful bodies: Homeland Security, the National Park Service and American University; well-meaning people wanting to keep the mud off their organization, wanting to keep their positions.

“Arresting him would be fun,” A

“You drilled the ice,” she said to keep his attention.

“I drilled the ice,” Adam said.

“I nearly died.”

“I know. Bob here always has to strut out front. I thought he’d be first on the ice. It’s hard to grasp how complete a coward he is.” Adam’s attention left A

“Go, A

A

Adam’s face didn’t change. “I’ve spent the last ten years in prison,” he said, watching Bob paddle at the snow. “Get up,” he said to Menechi