It had been over a week, and the depression still clung to her like a heavy shroud when she picked up the Seattle newspaper to look through the classified advertisements in search of employment. As usual, the openings for legal assistants were few, and Erin faced the fact that it would be more difficult than she had first imagined to find a decent position. Disinterestedly she perused the rest of the paper and stopped at the financial section. A photograph of the bank building with a caption concerning the embezzlement caught her eye. With more interest than she had felt for days, she began to read the article. As the meaning of each sentence in the column became clear to her, Erin began to feel her stomach churn with emotions of rage and disgust. According to the article, Mitchell Cameron had in fact worked with an accomplice—a woman with whom he had shared responsibility for years—Miss Olivia Parsons. The article explained the scam more fully and the fact that the scheme was so elaborate that it had taken the auditing staff and the president of the bank a lengthy amount of time to prove the guilt of the parties involved.

Erin felt a growing nausea as she read the article, and when she had finished, she tossed the newspaper into the wastebasket near her bed. Never would she have suspected Olivia of doing anything illegal. Just like Mitch, Olivia seemed far too professional to stoop to thievery. The delight that Erin should have experienced as she realized that she was no longer under suspicion of the crime seemed to have soured as she thought of Mitch and Olivia, two respected members of the banking industry who had tossed away their careers and possibly their lives for greed. Erin wondered what could have caused their joint journey into crime.

Two days later Erin began preparing for her trip home to Seattle. She had been gone far too long already, and her money was running out. She realized that she couldn’t run away from Kane and her love for him, and there was really no reason to linger on the island.

Just as Erin began to pack her things, the telephone jarred the stillness of the hotel room. For several seconds Erin just stared at the telephone, wondering who would be calling her. Kane? Unlikely. A wrong number? Perhaps. Her heart began to thud wildly in her chest as she reached for the receiver.

“Hello?” she inquired, and felt a welling sense of dread when she recognized Mrs. Cavenaugh’s unsteady voice.

“Erin—Erin, is that you?” the old lady demanded.

“Yes, it’s I….what happened?” Erin asked, convinced that Mrs. Cavenaugh wouldn’t call unless there was an emergency of some sort. Nervously she bit at her thumbnail.

“Oh—I know that he told me not to call, but I knew that you would want to know. It’s just awful—I really don’t know what to do. Dear Lord in heaven!” The little old lady continued to ramble in endless circles of words and phrases that meant nothing to Erin. Apprehensively Erin interrupted.