Whiteout

Chapter 3

Three

SHE SHOT A GLANCE at the door. No security yet. But skiers and snowboarders were on the slopes, so she walked to the railing to watch them while Gideon headed for the walkup window attached to the café.

Her gaze was drawn to the slopes where people zipped down the mountain, kicking up sprays of powder as they slid to a stop at the bottom. The morning sun climbed higher while the cold air nipped at her cheeks.

She tugged her jacket together and zipped it, then shoved her hands into the pockets.

A group of teen racers streaked by, their laughter a stark contrast to the anger boiling through her veins.

She couldn’t expel the sight of her trashed cabin from her mind—or the fear from her heart when she’d realized someone was still in the place she was calling home for the next five days. What if Gideon hadn’t been with her?

That was a terrifying thought. Not that she was completely helpless when it came to protecting herself.

She’d learned basic self-defense while in the army, had even carried a knife and knew how to hold her own in hand-to-hand combat.

Any doctor would be wise to know that. She even had her concealed weapons permit and carried her gun in her car.

But her car was at home, along with her weapon.

She’d ridden the resort’s airport shuttle to the lodge.

A sudden longing hit her for the comfortable weight of it on her hip. Or, right now, in her hand.

The firepit crackled behind her, and the conversation from those enjoying the warmth filtered to her ears.

She turned from the view of the slopes and walked to the firepit to hold out her hands, palms facing the dancing flames.

Tendrils of smoke spiraled toward the sky.

She closed her eyes, soaking in the warmth, and forced herself to relax for a fraction of a moment.

Something slammed into her back, sending her stumbling toward the open fire. Her feet scrambled for traction on the snow-covered deck. For a terrifying instant, she teetered on the edge of the pit, the open fire licking dangerously close.

Then she lost her balance and fell forward. She let out a cry, expecting to feel agonizing pain, just as a strong arm hooked around her waist to yank her back.

“Maya!” Gideon’s voice cut through the spiraling terror.

“Gideon. Oh, thank you.” She started to hug him when she smelled the burning fabric. The heat spread, and when she looked down, a line of orange flames curled around her sleeve.

Maya swatted at her arm, panic threatening once more, but the glimmer of a thought that she needed to stay calm kept her from full-blown hysteria.

“In the snow!”

Gideon’s sharp tone spurred her to action. She dropped to the floor of the terrace and shoved her arm into the white wetness. Gideon knelt beside her and scraped more snow on top.

Steam hissed from where the cold met heat, tendrils of smoke curling away as the flames died a sudden death.

“You okay? Are you burned?” Gideon’s breath clouded in the frigid air.

Maya patted her arm and winced at the stinging pain. She raised her gaze to his. “I-I think I’m fine. It burns a little, but . . .” She rolled her sleeve back, revealing stinging reddened skin but no blisters yet. “Just a little singed. And a lot rattled.”

Gideon ran his hands over her arm, searching for any other signs of injury. “That was way too close, Maya. You could have been seriously hurt.” His low, controlled words couldn’t disguise the fear simmering just beneath.

She sat up, brushing wet snow from her burned coat. “Did you see who pushed me?”

“Someone pushed you?” Gideon scanned the crowd, his eyes narrowing.

“Yes. I think so.” People stood around, concern on their faces. Others moved in and out of the fire’s warmth, unaware of what had just happened.

“Whoever it was is gone,” he said. “Disappeared into the crowd.” He looked up, his gaze scanning the building. “They have cameras. I wonder if we could see the security footage.”

“I don’t know. It was probably an accident. A dangerous one, but with so many people around, whoever did it may not have even realized it.” She pressed on her now-saturated sleeve, the coldness feeling good against her minor burn. “It was definitely weird, though. If it was on purpose . . . why?”

“Could’ve been an accident for sure.” He helped her to her feet, keeping a protective hand on her back. “It’s pretty crowded out here. Like you said, maybe someone was just in a hurry, not paying attention, and didn’t realize what almost happened.”

She shuddered, her mind replaying the moment. “I don’t know, Gideon. I don’t want to jump to conclusions or act paranoid, but with the break-in at my cabin, I also don’t want to brush the incident off. Honestly? It felt deliberate.”

Gideon frowned. “But who would do that?”

“I have no idea.”

“Let’s hope it was just some careless idiot.”

He sounded unsure, like he didn’t really believe his own words. The break-in? She could write that off as a petty thief looking for an expensive laptop. But that and the shove toward the fire?

Coincidence? Or were the two connected? She was definitely leaning toward connected. And circling back to the one-word question—why? Okay, two one-word questions. Why and who?

They stood there in silence, the firepit crackling behind them, the snow still clinging to Maya’s ruined sleeve.

“Security is here,” Gideon said, sliding an arm around her shoulders. “I’ve got your pretzel. That just added more stress to the situation, so I’m assuming you still want it?”

“Absolutely. I might need two.”

He motioned to the table where a white bag containing her pretzel sat. “You can eat it and talk to them, then I’ll take you back to your cabin and help you clean it up so you can get some sleep.”

Maya let out a shaky breath, nodding as they walked back toward the warmth of the lodge.

One thing was for sure.

The more she thought about it and played the incident over in her mind, the more her gut said it wasn’t an accident.

Security was very concerned about the break-in and the firepit incident. The two officers who responded introduced themselves as Officers Lila Hawthorne and Ethan Childers. They sat inside the lodge while they talked. Lila wrote everything down while Ethan did most of the questioning.

“He had gloves on,” Gideon said. “A ski mask, hoodie, black jeans, black and tan boots.”

Ethan raised a brow. “Pretty observant, are you?”

“I’m trained to be.”

“Army?”

“Yes.”

A new glint of respect entered the officer’s gaze, and Gideon appreciated it. “Special ops?”

Gideon smiled. “Yes.”

The man nodded. “Me too.”

They shook hands. “Always nice to meet a brother.”

“Hooah.” He cleared his throat.

Gideon was actually impressed at the depth they went into with their questions.

Lila finally shut her notebook and looked at Maya, who’d finished off half the pretzel while she talked. “We’ll see if we can get some footage from the cameras. There are two angles aimed right at the firepit. We’d also like to take a look at your cabin, if that’s all right?”

“Of course.”

Ethan stood. “I’m going to check the door time stamp and see if it was opened shortly before you got there. I’ll request the firepit footage as well, then I’ll catch up to you.”

“Thanks.”

Gideon led the way with Maya beside him. She held her arm against her stomach. “You sure your arm is okay?”

She shot him a wry smile. “I think I’d know if it wasn’t.”

He laughed. “Yeah, I guess so.”

The lighthearted moment dissipated when they entered her cabin. It was just as they’d left it.

Trashed. Maya stared at it, shocked once again. “Who would do this? Why?”

“We’ll figure it out,” Lila said. She pulled out her cell phone and started snapping pictures. She disappeared into the bathroom when a knock sounded on the front door.

Ethan stepped inside. “They’re pulling security footage from a few different cameras, and another officer is going to view it and get back to us.

I checked on the key card entry. Housekeeping came in around nine o’clock this morning and said everything was fine.

That’s the only swipe on the door aside from yours—and she still had her key card. ”

Lila joined them. “You said the guy went out the window. It’s a latch you can’t open from the outside. Did you leave it unlocked?”

“No. I haven’t opened it since being here.”

Gideon frowned. “Could someone have piggybacked on housekeeping’s key card?”

Ethan shrugged. “Sure, it’s possible. Sometimes they flip the latch on the main door so they don’t have to keep swiping the card to get in.”

“If she was vacuuming, it wouldn’t be hard to slip inside without being noticed,” Maya said. She walked to the kitchen and opened the hot water closet. Yep, it would be a tight squeeze for the man she’d seen, but he could fit. “Or in here.”

“Then waited for her to leave and have free access,” Gideon finished.

“Right.”

Ethan scratched his head, then made notes in his little notebook. “I don’t have access to AFIS right now, but I’ll see if I can get some prints off the window for when we’re back online.”

“All right,” Lila said, “let’s get this place cleaned up and we’ll get out of your hair.

Then we’ll check a few of the outdoor cameras on the cabins and see if any picked up the guy walking past or whatever.

Don’t hold your breath. Each cabin is made to feel isolated for a reason, but we’ll check anyway. ”

“Perfect,” Gideon said.

“Yes, thank you for everything,” Maya said, “but I can get this cleaned up by myself. Now that I take a closer look, nothing’s broken, just . . . tossed. It’s not as bad as it looked initially.”

Ethan nodded. “I’ll be in touch about the footage from the outdoor camera and the firepit area if there’s anything there.”

“Thanks, man,” Gideon said. “Oh, quick question. Any progress on getting the landline phones working?”

Ethan and Lila shared a look that Gideon couldn’t quite decipher the meaning of. “What?”

“Nothing,” Lila said. “Nothing we can share at the moment anyway. But the answer is no. No real progress, but we have someone working on it, so maybe soon.”

“Right. Okay then. Thanks.”

Gideon and Ethan shook hands once more, and Lila followed her partner out the door.

Gideon returned to the den to find Maya replacing the sofa cushions. He righted the table and chairs and cleaned up the bag of chips that had been knocked off the counter.

Maya raised a brow at him. “Did you catch that look that passed between them when you asked about the phones?”

“I did. You caught it too, huh?”

“Wonder what it meant.”

“No idea.” But he wanted to find out.

Maya moved to the small desk in the corner, replaced the discarded drawer, and pushed the chair in. Then planted her hands on her hips. “That looks good. I’ll put the bed back together in the bedroom and check the bathroom.”

She disappeared and Gideon checked his phone.

Still no signal. Couldn’t even get a text out.

He sighed. How much longer would this last?

He wasn’t complaining but was anxious to let his family know he was all right.

Surely they were wondering why he hadn’t called or texted by now.

Maybe. It was also possible they weren’t that concerned.

It wasn’t like he was a regular visitor.

But he did stay in touch. Especially with his grandmother.

And Maya’s family? Her parents were probably calling in the National Guard at this point. At least they would have when he knew her as a teen and college kid. From what she said at breakfast, it sounded as if they were still close.

She came out of the bedroom. “All is well. The bathroom window is locked.” She walked to the French doors and twisted the dead bolt. “Locked. I’m good for a few hours of sleep.”

“Will you really sleep?”

She hesitated, then smiled, but even a blind man could tell it was forced.

“Never mind,” he said. “You don’t have to answer that. Got an extra blanket and the remote to the television?”

“Yes. The remote’s on the end table and the blanket is in the basket by the desk. Why?”

“I’ll be on the couch. Go get some sleep.”

She bit her lip, looked like she might protest, then sighed. “That sounds really good, but weren’t you supposed to go help the digging around the medical clinic?”

“I was, but there are quite a few helpers. This is important. You need your rest so you can help others who need it. Everyone will understand.”

One more pause, then a short nod. “Okay, I’ll take you up on the offer. Thanks. I just need until lunch, but feel free to leave anytime. You’re not stuck here.”

“Stop worrying. I’ll be fine and I’ll be here until you wake up.”

She nodded, then walked over to slide her arms around his waist and squeeze. Just a quick hug that punched him to his core. “Thank you, Gideon,” she said. “I really appreciate it.”

Before he could respond, she walked into the bedroom. It was a full minute before he could get himself together, make sure the front door was locked, grab the blanket, and stretch out on the couch.

He wasn’t one bit tired, but instead of turning the television on, he decided to enjoy the moment of stillness even though he kept his ears tuned to any noises that shouldn’t be there. It was also a moment to think.

Which was what he’d come to Silver Pines to do.

Nowhere in all his plan-making did an avalanche have a place.

Or seeing Maya Sullivan and Vance Harland.

His grandmother would say there were no coincidences, that God had a plan and a reason the two were there.

As well as the avalanche. Gideon wasn’t so sure.

He and God weren’t exactly on speaking terms at the moment—frankly because Gideon was a bit angry with the Almighty.

Not that he had any right to be. God hadn’t done anything wrong.

Gideon had.

So why was he angry with God?

He huffed a sigh and shut his eyes. He was an idiot and should have stayed home.

Thinking was overrated.