“I’m not interested in her, so it doesn’t matter, anyway,” he said. “Back to the CO who tore up that picture. If he’s already been written up, that should probably be the end of it—unless he does something else.”
Evelyn was reluctant to let Amarok change the subject so easily. Samantha’s overtures were really starting to get on her nerves. But it wasn’t as though he encouraged her. When they were all at the Moosehead together, he made it plain that he was with Evelyn. He never even gave Samantha a second look, so Evelyn couldn’t fault him. It was just enraging that Samantha always tried to engage him. “Except Smith wasn’t written up,” she said. She figured they had enough going on without having an argument about Samantha. “I called Warden Ferris after I talked to Tex. He told me he would’ve taken stronger measures, made sure the incident was reported in Andy’s file, but he didn’t want to damage Andy’s career if he’d simply acted in a stupid, thoughtless moment. If he’d let the stress of the job get to him, for instance. No one’s had any other trouble with Andy, so it’s not as if he has a track record of acting inappropriately. And Ferris said Andy felt terrible about the incident, that he apologized profusely, claimed he didn’t know what had gotten into him and promised it would never happen again.”
There was another slight pause before Amarok responded. “That doesn’t satisfy you?”
It probably should, but it didn’t, and she couldn’t decide why. “Not entirely.”
“You think he deserves some sort of punishment? Being reprimanded by the warden isn’t enough?”
“I guess it would be if … I don’t know, if I could understand his behavior. To me, what Andy did was just plain cruel, and that makes me angry. He should have more compassion!”
“For a killer, babe? Does Bobby have any compassion for Andy—or anyone else?”
“Bobby isn’t a killer.”
“He’s in prison for a reason.”
“He’s a con man,” she grudgingly admitted.
“Which means…”
Feeling defeated, she sank back into her chair. “He swindled a lot of old ladies out of their life savings.”
“And that isn’t cruel?”
“It is. Especially when you consider that he was raised by his grandmother. But I expect more from my guards than I do from my inmates!”
“Then have a talk with Andy. Let him know.”
She sat forward again. “Won’t that seem petty after what he did for me last year? I would not be sitting here right now if not for him. Instead, I could be in the worst situation imaginable. I owe him a great deal.”
“And you have to remember that a CO’s job is hard. The inmates are often belligerent, will say or do anything to get under the skin of the people around them, especially those in charge. For all we know, Bobby muttered something that set Andy off, something Tex didn’t hear.”
“So I should let it go.”
“Give him the benefit of the doubt this time, but keep an eye on him. If he does anything else that’s less than admirable, you can feel justified in going harder on him in the future.”
Pursing her lips, she rubbed the scar on her neck.
“I would’ve lost you, if not for him,” Amarok added. “I can’t forget that.”
“Neither can I,” she said. “That’s why I feel so ungrateful, so disloyal, telling you I don’t like him.”
“You don’t like him? You mean generally—outside of your reaction to this one incident?”
“Yes, generally. All the time. If I see him and can do it without being too obvious, I go the other way.”
“That’s sort of extreme, isn’t it?”
“It might be, but he makes my skin crawl. Isn’t that terrible?”
“I’d say it’s … baffling. You don’t have a reason?”
“None. Nothing I can explain, anyway.”
“Why have you never mentioned this to me before?”
“Because it’s far too negative a reaction to the guy who saved my life! And I haven’t spent a great deal of time thinking about it.”
“You don’t run into him very often, do you? We see him at the Moosehead occasionally, but other than stopping to say hello, he’s never bothered us.”
She pressed her thumb and finger to the bridge of her nose. It’d been a rough twenty-four hours. Maybe she was just reacting to the difficulty of her job. “That’s true. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I won’t say anything to Andy about Bobby Knox, since Ferris already has. But Andy had better not pull anything like that again.”
“There’s no one quite like you,” he said.
She could hear the smile in his voice. “What do you mean?”
“No one else is so quick to do battle over any injustice.”
“You hate that about me. It’s the reason I can’t walk away from Hanover House. I can’t leave the fight to others.”
“I don’t hate anything about you, and I’m not sure I want you to leave Hanover House.”
“You’re the one who’s always suggesting I go into private practice!”
“To keep you safe. But I’m afraid that if you go into private practice, you won’t do it here in Alaska.”
He was right; she’d always planned to go back to Boston. As much as she loved him, she wasn’t sure she was willing to give up that dream. So she changed the subject. She hated knowing she couldn’t commit to him and that Samantha Boyce was waiting in the wings. “What are you learning about Sierra Yerbowitz?”
“From what I hear, her fiancé isn’t the nicest guy in the world. I tried to call him and got his voicemail, so I haven’t had a chance to form my own opinion yet. She also has an ex-boyfriend who’s been pushing to get her back. I have a call in to him, too. I hope whoever’s guilty is one of them.”
“That would make our lives easier. Can you check with the airlines, get the manifests for any flights coming into Anchorage over the past week?”
“I’m working on that. I’ve already gone by The Shady Lady. Our friend Andy and a couple of other COs stayed over last night because they couldn’t drive home with the road closed. The contractor putting the finishing touches on the new section at Hanover House and several of his men took the rest of the rooms. But there was no one who raised any red flags. There were no strangers.”
“It’s so puzzling.…”
“Everything seems normal at Hanover House?”
Although he asked the question casually, she tensed. “Yes. They count the inmates every morning and every evening, as you know. But I had them count twice today. There’ve been no problems here. This has nothing to do with us, Amarok.”
“Good. Because if someone else from Hilltop gets hurt, I’m afraid I’ll have to put down a local uprising. Everyone will be calling for the closure of the prison. I doubt the government would listen to a mere five hundred people, but if they get enough press … who knows? In any case, that wouldn’t be good for you or your work.”
“I agree. The relationship between Hanover House and the community is already strained, and since I’m the figurehead here, that means my relationships are strained, too. Sandy’s mother won’t even speak to me.”
“Try not to take it personally,” he said. “She doesn’t understand that Bishop’s release was out of your hands, that you were the only one fighting to keep him behind bars.”
She probably did know that. She just didn’t care. Sandy’s family, and others in the area, blamed Evelyn for Sandy’s death—another reason Evelyn had been struggling. It was almost impossible to ignore that negative energy. The notes Samantha was leaving on her car—if, indeed, it was Samantha—didn’t help. “Too bad I couldn’t stop him from getting out.”
“That’s water under the bridge. Let’s not dwell on it.”
“I agree. We have plenty to worry about in the present.”
“I’ll find out what happened to Sierra Yerbowitz. Don’t worry.”
“Thanks,” she said, and meant it. The longer Sierra’s disappearance went unsolved, the more difficult Evelyn’s life would become.
*