Free On Thin Ice by Linda Hall Page A

him?”
    “Jeff Brown? Maybe. Wasn’t he Bryan’s friend?”
    “I think. He’s got a couple of DUIs. And he livesin Wyoming. Still, it’s worth checking. I’ll get his name to Steve.”
    “Who are the other two?”
    “Meredith Tarlton and Daniel Besthedder.”
    She shook her head. “I barely remember them.”
    “Daniel was involved in a hit-and-run and Meredith was involved in a drug bust.”
    Megan went to the back of the yearbook and looked up the three names. Jeff Brown was a junior the year Megan, Bryan, Sophia and Jennifer graduated. Was it significant? She went to his picture, but couldn’t remember him at all. He’d written something to Bryan though. “Let’s stay in touch, buddy.”
    Meredith Tarlton was dark haired and Goth-like with black-outlined eyes. Megan only remembered her peripherally. She hadn’t autographed her picture to Bryan.
    She turned to Daniel’s picture and remembered him. He had worked on the yearbook with her, but he was a junior when she was a senior. He had written, Here’s my best to you and Megan. I hope you have a very happy life together.
    Obviously, not everyone knew that Megan and Bryan had decided to be just friends.
    She flipped through to the back of the book reading notes and signatures. On the inside of the back cover she read something that made her pause. Megan will always be mine.
    She pushed the yearbook across the table to Alecand pointed. “This is Bryan’s yearbook. Why would he write that?”
    For several minutes Alec looked at the writing. He finally said, “I know Bryan’s handwriting and that’s not his.”
    “So, whose then?”
    “I don’t know.”
     
    After Megan retired to the guest room and closed the door, Alec put the yearbook under his arm, turned off the light and headed upstairs to his boyhood bedroom.
    Even though the hour was late, he didn’t sleep. He knew he wouldn’t. He often didn’t when he stayed here. It had to do with this place, this room. Too many memories. Mostly about his brother, and not all of them good. For about a year he’d shared this room with his brother until Bryan’s antics got out of control and they needed to keep them separate. From the beginning Alec loved Bryan. He would do anything for his younger brother. Yet when his younger brother got into his things, stole his money, wrote all over his baseball cards and his wall, their parents had to intervene. They moved Bryan into a small room across the hall that originally had served as a storage room. Nowadays, they might diagnose Bryan’s condition as attention deficit disorder, but years ago there weren’t a lot of resources for hyperactive kids.
    On this night, Alec tried to put those thoughts outof his mind. He sat on the edge of the bed and opened up the yearbook to the back page. He stared down at the message written there. Megan will always be mine. This didn’t look like Bryan’s handwriting—and Alec should know. Alec had seen many of Bryan’s letters and school papers. Alec had helped his younger brother with his homework. He would get the handwriting analyzed. He made a note of it, and added it to the e-mail to Steve.
    He turned to the front of the book and stared down at a picture of Megan. It was true what he had said to her tonight, he was happy she was with him. But deep in his soul he felt it was more than that. Could he be falling back in love with her all over again? He had told her things he had not told anyone, why he went to police work, his concern for his mother. And she had listened so intently, her gaze almost comforting. She knew what it was to hurt.
    But there was that one thing that was stopping him.
    The lie.
    Maybe it’s time to tell her everything. No. He couldn’t. He couldn’t lose her again. He just couldn’t risk it.
    He had lied for his brother. He had committed perjury in court on the witness stand and nobody knew. Nobody except his brother. Was that why he always felt so protective of him? Was that why he helped