- Hard Fall (15 page)
Authors: James Buchanan
"We shouldn't be gossiping."
They shouldn't have been, but everybody did. Ask a bunch of Mormons if they're their brother's keeper and the answer's gonna be
yes
. Usually didn't drop to the level of searching someone's trash, not without a strong suspicion. Still, what you're supposed to say and what you do ... not always the same thing. I reassured them a bit, "No actually, it's a help."
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I pulled out my wallet with my badge and flipped it open.
With a couple middle-class white boys, they'd want to help—
not that anyone else wouldn't, but these boys had likely been raised on the
police are our friends
white bread diet. "I'm actually a deputy up here. We're looking into the death of a German tourist who fell. Can you remember anything else about them, this couple?"
Wake thought for a bit, then shook his head no, "Not really."
"Their bikes were real nice." Jackson added that as an afterthought. "You know, real expensive mountain bikes. One was normal mountain bike color, I guess, I mean something you wouldn't notice. The other was gold. I remember that."
Anya's bike—bright, bright gold—I could see it in my head, leaning against that tree and blazing under the sun. I'd bet my teeth it'd been Anya and Gunter the boys saw. "That helps some, boys." With one of my chips I indicated their food.
"'Nuf of this depressing talk, eat up."
Wiping his mouth and tossing the napkin on the table, Wake leaned on his elbow and studied Kabe, long and hard.
Long and hard enough that Kabe started to stare back.
Finally, Wake blurted out, "So have you found God?" I thought Kabe was going to swallow his straw.
Kabe licked his lips. "Joe's been talking to me about religion." I had no idea what was about to come out of his mouth. "Out alone, having some real deep, personal conversations. I think Joe has figured out how to get right inside me and know what I need."
"We all need to hear it."
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"Touched me real far inside," My chest tightened up. I twisted my ankle and dropped my boot heel onto the arch of his foot. He yanked it back and leaned over the table a little.
"All burning with it."
My chair scraped the floor as I stood. "Know what, we need to be heading out." Flashing a tight smile, I added,
"Things to do. Thanks for the company." Didn't even bother to see if Kabe'd follow, just made a straight line out the door to my truck. I waited beside the pickup. Toyed with leaving him there. That wouldn't be a good idea, though. T'd be pissed and Lord knows what'd come out of Kabe's mouth if he were shined on like that.
Wasn't long before Kabe sauntered up. "You enjoyed that way too much."
I blew out a deep breath. "What?" The word cracked like a shot.
"The whole innocent boys trying to shove God down my throat."
"No, I'm just nice to them." Managed to keep my voice pretty even. "Missionary work is not fun. Get up at five, stump their beat all day, then pray and crash. It's a grind. I hated it. And imagine trying to convert people to Mormonism in the middle of Mormon country. Can you think of a worse fate for a nineteen-year-old boy?" My face felt so hard I thought it might break. I shoved one hand deep in my pocket, glared at him as I hissed out low so no one else could hear,
"And you. I touched you down deep? What are you trying to do to me?" Jerking my chin back to the diner, I added.
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"Thank goodness those boys are wrapped up in their work right now, could you have been more obvious?"
"Shit." Kabe actually laughed. I'd have slugged Kabe if his laugh didn't sound all embarrassed. "I was just kidding around."
"Well don't." I'd have said more but a battered jeep pulled into the space next to us.
An old man, eyes and skin all beaten up by the sun, eased out of the vehicle. "Heya, Joe." He smiled. It pushed the wrinkles up enough so that you could barely see his eyes under the bushy white brows.
Recognized him of course: Samuel Jennings. He'd lived
'round here longer than anybody I knew. Old as dirt, tough as nails. "Hey, Mr. Jennings." It wasn't easy pushing the edge of the panic created by Kabe and those boys back, but somehow I did. Must have been how used to pretending I was. Faking calm, cool and collected got easier every year. "How's things?"
"Fine. Just came in to get some gas for the generator." He hauled one of those old metal army surplus gas cans out of the back of the jeep. "And then I'm back out." He peered up from under those heavy brows. "Ain't hardly talked to anyone all week. We're putting in a new well. What you got in your hand there?"
Heck, I'd forgotten about it. "Camera." Must have grabbed it without even thinking when I fled the table. That could fry my butt with the department, if'n I'd left it behind or dinged it up worse. "From a fatal fall out at T's place." About that time my manners slapped me upside the head. I kinda jerked my 134
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head in Kabe's general direction. "This is Sandy's sister's grandson, Kabe."
"Nice to meet you, boy." They shook, Old Man Jennings patting the back of Kabe's hand like he'd known him all along.
Well he knew T and he knew Sandy ... so 'round here, meant he
knew
Kabe because he knew his family. Then he sniffed, like he might have a cold. More likely years of chaw and snuff caused it. "Fall, huh?"
"Yeah," I willed myself to relax. Leaning back against the door of my truck, I hoped it came off casual. "A little German tourist gal fell while she and her husband were out camping."
"Oh," Jennings nodded like old men do when something new links up to memories, "like the other one."
That pushed a button in the back of my brain. "Other one?" Couldn't quite put it together though. The moment he'd said it, however, a tiny memory sparked for me.
"Years back, mind you, my memory ain't so good now." He set the can at his feet and screwed up his face like it helped him think. "Can't remember where I put my hat this morning, but I can tell you what color shoes my wife wore to the dance I met her at." Looking up to the right at nothing in particular, he spun it out, "I think you were still working the prison then, when that other girl fell, maybe you weren't even there yet."
He grinned and winked at Kabe. "Known Joe's family for a long time."
Kabe leaned in a bit, he'd been hooked with the idea, too.
"There's got to be a lot of falls out here."
"We get our share," Jennings conceded, "locals mostly, some climbers and tourists, remember a highway patrolman 135
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who ran off the road. Naw, but what Joe said, it just stuck something in my mind." He shrugged. "German gal falling I guess. Although I think she was over in Zions." Holding up his hands near his face, Jennings shook 'em like he was pulling the thoughts out of his head. "Wait, I remember why I know it. My friend Carl, died four years ago maybe, he helped bring that little gal's body out. Name was Warren, Wartner or something."
"Warner?" I prompted.
"Could have been. Look, got to go." He picked up the can, and grinned. "Nice meeting you, boy, say hi to T for me when you see him."
Kabe and I both, as Jennings walked away, said, "We need to find out about that fall." He snorted. I laughed. Well, okay, I could forgive him the little lapse in judgment while with the missionaries. Hard not to tease kids like that. And I kinda liked that Kabe and I were thinking along the same lines.
Made it real comfortable to be with him.
Now, 'course, I still had to deal with the camera. Well, the park wasn't too far off. I might be able to pull a little help from Fred. That'd work. If not I was up a creek without a paddle on pulling out the pictures before hell froze over.
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As we drove into the park, I tried Fred's line. Fred's phone dropped into voice mail right off, so I figured he was somewhere out of range ... or he forgot to charge it. Since the Ranger Station and Admin area weren't all that far down from Ruby's, I decided just to drive on in. In summer the park stayed open 'till eightish and the gate guard waved me in without much pause. After a whole summer, most of the seasonals knew me well enough, recognized Deputy Joe, if not my personal truck. I usually checked in with Fred or the others I knew well enough when I cruised my beat.
Somebody around should be able to give me a hand with the camera. Once we parked behind the New Admin building, it took me a while to track down help. It was late, almost closing time, so most staff were off-shift. Kabe and I saw a good part of the New Admin, Visitors' Center and the Old Admin offices before I found Nadia Slokum in her office.
Well, she'd said if I ever needed anything to ask. Guess it was time to see if she meant it. I knocked on the frame of the door, not quite leaning into her space. "So, Ranger Slokum, can we annoy you for a bit?" Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Kabe dropping onto an old chair someone'd left in the hall. Boy looked as beat as I felt. I'd be good to climb in a bed and sleep good, long and hard.
Nadia looked up from the pile of reports scattered over her desk. Boxes sat in disarray around the margins of the tiny office. "Well, hello there, Sugar." I got a broad smile.
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"Depends on what you want to annoy me about." Bare bookshelves, no personal items cluttered the desk or photos hung on the wall yet. A battered, government issue computer hulked off to Nadia's right, keyboard propped up under the monitor. Definitely looked like someone moving in.
I figured that to be an invitation, so I stepped on in and found the excuse for a guest chair hidden behind a stack of books. Pulling it out, I huffed a little, then got to it. "I hate to ask when we've only just met." I flipped the chair around and sat with my arms crossed over the back. The camera, in the stuff sack, dangled from my hands.
"But you're going to anyway." She laughed and pushed her hair behind her ear with a delicate, dark hand. "That's okay."
Resting her chin on the other fist, Nadia continued, "Told you if you need something to let me know."
I heard Kabe move into the spot I'd vacated—glanced up to see him leaning on the door. Lord, even filthy, tired and camp-sore, that boy looked fine. I didn't think I'd ever get enough of looking at him. Kabe raised his eyebrows and smirked when he caught me looking and I couldn't help but grin back. About a second later I remembered myself and where I was.
"The photo processor up at Ruby's is down." I sputtered out, trying to cover by tugging open the drawstring bag and fishing out the camera. Hopefully, Nadia didn't know me well enough to pin me. "I've got a SIM card from a digital camera I need to process. I don't have anything at the station or home that'll do it, have to send it out to the crime lab in Salt Lake and I don't think we can wait that long." It took a bit, 138
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but I managed to pull it free. Then I set the camera, still in the plastic evidence bag, on the lip of the desk. "From what Fred'd done for us in the past—some search and rescue displays and stuff—somewhere around here the station's got a pretty good set up. Think you might be able to download and print up some pictures for me?"
"Where the hell did you find this camera?" Reaching out, Nadia took hold of the ziplock and pulled it closer. "Looks like it's fallen off..." She jerked her eyes up from the camera to lock on mine. "My God, did this belong to who I think it belonged to?"
"Haven't got confirmation on that." I'm sure my smile told Nadia I thought we were on the right track even if I fudged a bit on the words. "But I'd put it darn likely. One of the reasons I don't want to wait."
"Well, can you wait till tomorrow?" She swung her arm over the general chaos of her office. "My personal computer set up is still in boxes. This thing," she thumped the monitor with the back of her hand, "has been around since creation by the look of it, haven't even tried to fire it up." Then Nadia picked up the camera, bag and all. Turning it over in her hands, she studied it. "The head ranger, his office computer could do it," her voice dropped down, almost like she was talking to herself, "but since it's not an
emergency
I don't want to pull a chit and wake him up." She shook it off and snorted. "I may have a high enough number behind the G on my paycheck giving me enough seniority that I don't have to worry about being fired. Take an act of Congress to get me out before I retire. Still, not a good idea to piss your new 139
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manager off too early." Another snort wrinkled up her nose.
"I'll log it into my custody so we keep chain of evidence and look at it first thing. Satisfactory?"
"Faster than the two month turn around otherwise." I shrugged. Not what I'd hoped for, but I'd suffer not knowing a few more hours. That settled one problem but not another.
"Y'all still know where Gunter is, right?"
"Yep." She set the camera back down. "I have a ranger posted near the exit to his campground. I don't like Gunter Warner, couldn't finger exactly why, but he crawled up my butt and died. So he ain't going nowhere, lest I know about it."
"Fine by me then." I liked being in step with another officer. Meant we'd work good together, that I could trust her if I needed something. And around here, that was worth more than gold.
"Hold on for a bit, I got to get some forms from next door." Nadia stood, eased around the desk and then between the desk and me. I tried to give her space enough. 'Course I realized as she edged by that even sitting down my eyes were level with Nadia's shoulder. Woman was a petite powerhouse.
"Let you sign it out and me sign it in ... badge numbers and all to make it official." That powerhouse paused, reached back over her desk and grabbed a mug. I hadn't seen it earlier. A squirrel gripped a branch, trying not to fall. Its little feet brushed the words
just hanging on till my next cup.
She held it out toward Kabe. "Hey, Sugar ... Kabe," she added to let us know which of us she meant. "I would love you to death if you'd get me a refill of coffee—black with lots of sugar."