A vision flashed at her quick as lightning--her mother's eyes, green as the sea, staring at her through glassy water. She forced it away.
"Quite a collection," she said, looking around. The room itself was only about five feet square, with one chair and an overturned crate for a table. They stood facing each other on the rough-hewn floor.
"A hobby of my uncle's, but I've added to it," he explained. "So, what did you think of the Jonas-fall-from-grace fiasco today? Spike says he's positive all those leather towlines were in excellent working order and that the dogs had no chance to gnaw through one."
"But he can't prove it."
"Did you see anything to make you think Jonas took the risk of cutting his towline?"
"I can't be positive, but if I had to testify, I'd say it was intact when I was briefly on that sled before him. I was looking out at the dogs, talking to them, so I didn't think to check on that. He's the one who suggested we switch sleds, so Graham could get better pictures of him--which means we could ask to see those photos, try to tell if Jonas was bending forward to cut the line. Still, if they're in his possession, he could have edited all that out by now. Like all three of us, he brought his laptop." She heaved a heavy sigh.
"If he risked tampering with the sled, he's desperate."
"Someone's desperate. But is that someone only after me? That was to be my sled, but only Spike could have known that at first. But the point is, Jonas needs watching, not to mention Vanessa."
"Graham warned me Spike does, too, but I know the guy. He wouldn't screw up like that. I've worked with him ever since I've lived here, and knew him from before when he worked for my uncle."
"Besides, Spike emphasized we mushers were to hold on to the handlebow at all costs, and Jonas didn't do that. Even if the towline broke, he wouldn't have toppled off if he'd held on, so he had to have let go."
"You're right. Whether he let go intentionally or not, one way or the other, he caused his own accident."
"Speaking of Spike, you told me not to suspect your staff, but I looked up Christine and am glad I did. Mitch, I found out about the Kagak trial. And the fact you more or less lied to me about her past so--"
"I did not."
"Oh, yeah, fine. Good, brief answer without offering anything else."
She could see Mitch grit his teeth, then unclench his jaw muscles. He crossed his arms over his chest, jamming his fists under his armpits. "She asked me never to tell any of our guests, so I kept that promise. I was going to ask her permiss--"
"Well, I won't tell anyone else, but I should have been told. Of course, I can see why you didn't want me to know. Not only--yes, I know it was in self-defense--did she kill someone, but she pushed him down the stairs first. And she's the only one who knew when and where we were meeting on the ridge. Mitch, listen to the facts. She pushed him."
But even as she said that, Lisa knew she was the one who felt guilty and torn. Hadn't she and Christine just started to build some sort of woman-to-woman understanding upstairs, and now she was trying to accuse her of murder--another murder?
"I get your point," Mitch said, "but too circumstantial, not enough connect-the-dots. Someone else could have seen you--anyone. Vanessa or Jonas, even the Bonners, looking out a window from the second floor when you walked away from the lodge alone."
"But how much does Christine--or Spike--think I need to be punished for hurting you? Or want to scare me off or even eliminate me to be certain I don't try to take you away from all this? Christine's a quiet person, but smart and determined." Again, she felt a stab of guilt, betraying her better judgment about Christine, but she had to pursue all possibilities.
"Forget the idea she thinks you could take me away from here. As for Spike, he's not devious, not clever that way. Graham's lectured me about Spike, and I don't need you siding with the firm's managing partner, who is too damn good already at managing people's lives."
Their voices kept rising, but the deep walls seemed to swallow up the sound. Lisa realized they were getting angry with each other again, going into their