"As you wish, Carine. Anything else?"
She took a breath. "No."
Rancourt tipped his head back slightly, studying her, but Ty wasn't fooled by his outward calm or superior manner. The other shoe about to drop-the guy was debating how big a jerk he was going to be to her. Payback. Carine had gone off the reservation. She hadn't turned over the disk to him when asked or consulted him about what to do once she realized what was on it. He'd had no control over what she did. He'd been powerless over her and the entire situation, and he didn't like it. To Ty, it was real simple.
"A bit of friendly advice before you leave." Ran-court's tone was anything but friendly. "If you want to make it in the real world in a big way and not limit yourself to taking pretty pictures of birds and flowers, you'll needto learntoget along with people.You're too independent."
Carine didn't go after him, but Ty saw her hands tighten into fists and knew she wanted to. He wanted to. But it was her show, so he kept still and let her handle the bastard. "You're upset," she said calmly, "and you've had a shock, so I'm not going to argue with you."
"I'm not trying to be harsh, but we live in a harsh world." Rancourt wasn't going to back off. "You've been lucky, Carine. You've lived up here in Cold Ridge most of your life. Sheltered, protected."
Right, Ty thought. That was how she'd ended up an orphan at three. Every fiber of his body focused on not interfering, not pounding this prick into the dirt for taking his humiliation and anger out on Carine. But she didn't say a word, just went pale again, as if she'd taken a body blow.
It didn't stop Rancourt. "If you want to achieve the kind of success I think you do. You'll have to change your ways."
She stiffened, but took the hit. She'd always been something of a hothead when it came to him, Ty thought, but she wasn't letting this guy get to her. Maybe she was cutting Rancourt some slack because she'd just given police pictures of his wife with another man. Maybe she didn't have the strength to fight him at the moment. Ty did-he could cheerfully knock Sterling Rancourt on his rich pompous ass.
"Ty," Carine said quietly, "we should leave."
But Rancourt wasn't ready to give up. "I'll take it on faith that you didn't take those pictures on Wednesday, Carine, but there's no proof, either way."
Ignoring him, she started back down the stone walk to the truck.
"It's never easy when you know what someone needs to do." Rancourt had shifted to Ty and spoke in a patronizing man-to-man tone. "I can see the mistakes she's making, not because I'm more brilliant or talented, but because of my circumstances, my experience-"
"You don't know anything about her work or her life."
"Perhaps you're right. But I'm in a position to help her, if she chooses to break from the course she's on-well, that's her call. Not everyone wants to play in the big leagues."
Carine reached the truck and sank against the driver-side door, facing the house. "Ty-whenever you're ready."
Rancourt smiled nastily, his attention still on Ty. "It's not easy to tell her what she needs to hear, is it? You've been there."
Ty felt every muscle in his body coil, but Rancourt suddenly slumped against the doorjamb and put up his hand, as if to ward off a blow he knew he deserved. "I'm sorry. I-Christ, I'm so sorry. It's been a terrible day. I don't know what I'm saying."
"Yeah. Okay." Ty didn't know what the hell to do. "Carine's right, we should leave."
Jodie Rancourt eased beside her husband. She looked tired and drawn, self-conscious, but also, Ty thought, curiously elegant, as if she was trying to maintain some level of dignity. "Please accept my apology, too. You and Carine. It's been a very difficult few days for all of us. I'm sorry I put you all in such an untenable position."
"Mrs. Rancourt-"
She smiled politely. "Jodie, please. I knew I was taking a risk, just as I knew we were taking a risk last November when we tried to hike Cold Ridge. As then, the consequences have been far worse than I ever imagined." She averted her eyes, her voice lowering, almost as if she were talking to herself. "That's something I'll have to learn to live with."
Her husband positioned himself in such a way that she had to step back into the entry or take an elbow in the cheek. She withdrew, and Rancourt shut the heavy door without another word.
Ty gave a low whistle as he walked back to his truck. "Yep. That went well."
Carine took her hands out of her pockets and breathed out in a long, cathartic sigh, then managed a halfhearted smile. "Some deterrent you were."
"Think of how much worse it would have been if I hadn't been there. He might have slugged you."
"I don't know, a black eye might have been easier to take."
Ty stood close to her, aware of her hurt, her lingering anger. It was cold on the exposed hill, the wind blowing up from the valley in gusts, penetrating his flannel shirt. He thought about zipping up his jacket, but Carine still had her barn coat unbuttoned. He had to keep up his image of strength. But his attempt at private humor didn't catch hold, and he knew all he wanted to do was get her out of there. "A few days in the mountains," he said. "It's still an option."
"Maybe I'll go take pictures of stupid birds and flowers."
"You're not going to let him get to you, are you?"
Her mouth twitched, her eyes sparking with sudden irreverence. "If I did, would you fly through the door and kick his teeth in?"
Ty shrugged. "Sure."
"Probably get in trouble with some general, wouldn't you?"
"Nah. I'd get a medal."
She sighed, releasing some of her tension. "He was rude and obnoxious, but he's hurting."
"He's not hurting, Carine, at least not in the way you mean. He's pissed that someone else played with his toy without his permission."
"Shoot-the-messenger time."
"Yep. And he doesn't like not being able to control you."
She gazed out at the beautiful view, the seemingly endless cascade of mountains-blue, white and gray against the November clouds. "Maybe it was selfish of me to come. I didn't make anything better."
"Not your job."
One of the garage doors hummed open, and Gary Turner walked out onto the parking area. "I failed in my mission, so now I'm on clean-the-SUV duty," he said with a self-deprecating smile, gesturing back to an expensive white SUV parked in the garage. But his smile didn't last, and he shook his head regretfully. "I overheard you all. Obviously I should have handled this situation differently."
"It's okay," Carine said. "At this point, what's done is done."
Ty opened his truck door, hoping Carine would take the hint and realize it was time to go, but she didn't. "Did Jodie Rancourt use my key yesterday and search my apartment for the disk?" she asked casually, as if it was only of passing interest to her. "The locks are tricky. She must have gotten frustrated or nervous, because she left the door open."
Turner gave an almost imperceptible nod. "She didn't take anything? No one took advantage of the situation?"
Carine shook her head.
"Then I hope we can leave what she did as an act of poor judgment on her part, nothing more. Since you did give her a key-"
"How did she know there were pictures?"
"I can't say. I'm sorry. There's nothing more I can tell you. The police asked us not to discuss our statements with anyone else."
"I understand."
She probably did, Ty thought, but it wouldn't stop her from listening if anyone wanted to talk. But he kept his mouth shut and climbed in behind the wheel. Turner led Carine around to the other side of the truck and opened the door for her. Ty noticed the missing fingers, mentally ticked off various possibilities of how people lose fingers. But mostly he noticed Turner's attentiveness toward Carine. He knew it shouldn't make a damn bit of difference to him, but it did.
"Coming up here was a mistake," Turner said, still very focused on Carine, edging in close to her as she climbed in the truck. "I'll encourage the Rancourts to head back to Boston as soon as possible. We all need to be patient and let the police conclude their investigation. Then we'll know what went on the other day."