For a moment, it looked like Tean might say something, but he didn’t.
“Do you know how he—do you know what happened?”Jem asked.
“We believe he fell,” Larsen said.“Our staff member found Mr.Fitzpatrick on the ground, and he has a laceration on the back of his head.”
“Several hours?”Jem said.“How could he be out there several hours and nobody saw him?”
“The storm has made it difficult for the lodge to maintain its usual operations.”Larsen’s face remained composed, but he sounded tired.“For the safety of our staff, we decided last night to continue essential operations only.”
“You mean he fell and hit his head and died,” Jem said, “while everybody else was inside and safe and warm.”
“I don’t know how he fell,” Brigitte said.“The walkways are supposed to be heated.They’re supposed to be safe.”
Tean’s eyebrows drew together, but Larsen spoke first.“We lost power last night.We’re not sure what happened, aside from the storm.”
Jem made a big show of looking at the lights.
“Backup generators,” Larsen said.“Essential—”
“Essential operations only,” Jem said over him.“Got it.”
“Mr.Fitzpatrick—” Larsen began.
“Berger.My last name is Berger.”
Larsen paused.“Mr.Berger, I’m very sorry for your loss.I know this is a terrible situation.Right now, unfortunately, emergency services are unable to reach the lodge.Once the storm clears, we’ll have more options.”
“He’s dead,” Jem said.“What are you going to do?Strap him to a snowmobile and ride him out of here so he doesn’t bother the other guests?”
Brigitte burst into tears.
Larsen waited another of those professional moments.He glanced at Brigitte, but then his eyes came back to Jem.And now Jem saw what he’d missed at the beginning—because he’d been off balance, because Gerald was dead, because hell, he’d still been waking up.This guy was a cop.Maybe not anymore.Maybe not with a badge.But he had cop eyes.And he was watching Jem the way cops watched people.
“We would be able to offer Mrs.Fitzpatrick evacuation by helicopter,” Larsen finally said.
“Brigitte,” Tean said, “when was the last time you saw Gerald?”
She was still crying, but more softly now.She dabbed at the corners of her eyes.“He was too upset to eat dinner.We both were.I wanted him to have an early night, but he said he had to prepare for tomorrow’s meetings.”
“Prepare how?”
“They were using one of the conference rooms for their meetings.He wanted to go over the materials, make sure everything was ready.”
“This was for his—”
She spoke before Tean could finish the question.“His coaching group, yes.”
Tean touched his glasses like he wanted to resettle them.“What did you do?”
“I came back here,” she said.
“We were waiting for you at the bar,” Tean said.“You told us you wanted to talk.”
She stared at him.Finally, she said, “Gerald and I had a fight.Not a fight, an argument.I didn’t like how he’d talked to Jeremiah.We’d been going back and forth about it for weeks.He insisted.I told him I wanted him to leave it alone.It wasn’t any of our business how you—” She faltered.Reached out like she wanted to grab Jem’s hand.Jem stood there.And she stood there, still holding out her hand.Larsen was looking at him.Teanwasn’tlooking at him.After a moment, he took her hand in his, and she squeezed his fingers.“You’re my son.I don’t care about any of that.”
“And after you came back here?”Tean asked quietly.
For the first time, the grieving-good-hostess voice sharpened.“What are you asking me?”
