| |
“Allow me to assure you, that suspicion and jealousy never did help any man in any situation.” – Abraham Lincoln
––––––––
AS PROMISED, TATE ARRIVED at Slopes in about thirty minutes. I took a deep gulp when I laid eyes on him as he walked into Slopes to meet us. I think every woman in the place did. He was wearing a fitted black muscle shirt and bike shorts. The next thing I noticed about him was that Tate was grimy as in ‘I just left the campsite. By the way, it caught fire last night and I put it out with my bare hands’ grimy. In other words, the dirt that covered Tate from head to toe did nothing to hide his good looks. Weirdly, the soot and dirt and slightly bloodied scratches on Tate’s body did everything to accentuate his appeal. I think a few of Slopes’ female customers swooned when they saw Tate. I reminded myself that Tate was my friend and nothing more, and waved to him from the booth I shared with his daughter.
“How are you?” Tate asked before I had the chance to speak. He set a hand on Skye’s shoulder.
I couldn’t bring myself to say ‘Great Tate’ as I normally would. I just sputtered, “Okay.”
Tate tilted his head and then gave his daughter a kiss on the cheek. “Daddy, you’re all dirty!” Skye exclaimed with a giggle. I caught a whiff of campfire smoke and a distinctly male odor—sweat, pine, musk—emanating from his body. My stomach clenched. This is not the time, Mandy. Heel!
“I am. I’m filthy,” Tate proclaimed then turned his eyes toward me. I felt the uncomfortable heat of a blush rush up from my neck to my face. “What’s going on, boss?” He asked, bringing me back to earth.
I vacillated a bit trying to come up with a suitable answer for him. “We’ve had a bit of excitement at the Chalet today.”
“Oh?” Tate asked. His eyebrows raised with curiosity.
“Yeah, but it can wait. Little pitchers have big ears,” I nodded toward Tate’s daughter. “I would like to speak to you about it later though.” Clearly, I couldn’t mention Crater’s murder now, not with Skye in the room.
“Sure. Can I call you later?” Tate asked.
“Yes, or I’ll call you. Whatever. It’s cool,” I replied looking at my feet and sounding anything but cool. I sounded like a bumbling idiot.
Tate nodded and offered me a half-smile. Then he addressed his daughter, “Are you ready to go, Skye?”
“Yes,” Skye replied with a grin. “I brought my skateboard and my nail polish, Daddy.”
“Great, say thank you to Mandy for looking out for you, okay?”
“Thank you, Mandy,” Skye said before she hugged me. “We’re skateboarding tomorrow, right?”
“That’s right,” I replied and I trained my eyes on her father. This was his moment to break our not-a-date if he wanted to, but he didn’t. He met my eyes with a smile.
Skye released me from her hug, and she walked from the room with her dad.
“Tate,” I called out to him. I decided I should at least give him a bit of a warning.
He turned and faced me from the doorway.
“You might be hearing from Jed Link tonight,” I cautioned.
Tate gave me a surprised look, his eyebrows knitted for a microsecond before he said, “I’ll call you later.”
––––––––
“I CAN’T BELIEVE IT. I can’t believe Jonah is dead,” Tate said over the phone that evening. He told me that Jed had stopped by earlier to tell him about the murder and to ask a few questions. He had just put Skye to bed and called me to talk about the case. I could tell by the background noises that Tate had walked out onto his balcony. Like me, Tate lived in a townhome on the edge of the village, and he had a balcony too. Although they weren’t legal in the village, I could hear bottle rockets screeching outside and the occasional ‘pop’ of a firecracker in the distance. The 4th of July celebrations were underway one night early.
“I know. What I don’t understand is what Crater was doing in his suite at the Chalet? I thought the five of you were camping out.” I hadn’t yet decided whether to tell Tate that I had seen Crater at the nightclub.
“We were camping out—sort of,” Tate replied. “Jonah was always organizing stuff. When you went camping with Jonah it was never just camping. He had an entire program planned.”
“What kind of program?” I was intrigued. I knew Crater had mentioned rock climbing when I ran into him near the spa, but I had the feeling Tate meant something else.
“He liked to organize these survival challenges,” said Tate.
“What? Like the stuff, he does on TV?”
“Yeah. Jonah put a lot of thought into his challenges. He’d plan them for weeks. Last night we all started with a hand-drawn map, a headlamp, and a pocket knife. Jonah dropped us off in the woods on the edge of the mountain, and we had to make it to camp in the dark.”
“That sounds incredibly dangerous,” I observed. It truly was. The wooded area near the resort held all kinds of hidden dangers. Traipsing around in the dark with nothing but a headlamp was insanity in my opinion. Not only were there a few topographical challenges, but wild animals like bears and mountain lions lived in the woods. The men were lucky to get out of the woods alive.
“That was Jonah,” said Tate. “Anyway, we all have the same type of training.”
“When did Crater—Jonah—leave you? Was he with you at all last night?”
“He was in the woods with us at first. I didn’t see him most of the night, but he made his presence known a few times. I didn’t see any of the guys. I must have made it to the campsite around two in the morning. When I got to the camp, I just crawled into my tent and slept. I didn’t notice that Jonah was gone until this morning. The other guys and I searched for him for a while before we gave up. I finally had to leave at two so I could pick up Skye.”
“So, the dirt and scratches all over you were from running around in the woods in the dark?”
“Yes.”
“And Jonah never mentioned that he would be leaving or returning to the Chalet?” I asked.
“No. I think he said ‘see you back at camp.’”
“And in the morning, you didn’t think to call the police or search and rescue when you realized that Crater was gone?” I asked.
“Mandy, I already spoke to Jed about this. We’re talking about Crater McMurphy. He’s a world-famous survivalist. We weren’t worried about him. Taking off was pretty typical behavior for Jonah. Anyway, we’d have to wait a full twenty-four hours to report him missing, and we didn’t actually think he was missing or in any danger.”
“What did you tell Jed about your night in the woods?” I asked. I wondered what the local police officer had asked Tate.
“I told him pretty much everything I’ve told you. Your friend wasn’t very open about the investigation.”
“That’s just his way,” I replied regarding Jed Link. I ignored the ‘friend’ comment. I had a complicated relationship with Jed. I wasn’t sure Jed was a friend, and the idea of discussing our past with Tate made me uncomfortable.
“Jed gave me the distinct impression that I was a suspect,” Tate admitted.
“I don’t see how that could be possible. You were in the woods, and Jonah was here. You have a solid alibi.”
“Not really. As your friend was happy to point out, no one saw me between nine when Jonah dumped us off in the woods, and seven when I got up this morning. When I reached the campsite, the other guys were already in their tents.”
“Well, then you aren’t the only one with holes in his story. If you are a suspect, so is everyone else who was camping with you. You all had several hours where you could have returned to the resort, and gotten back to camp unnoticed. Also, the staff of the Chalet and all of the other guests are potential suspects,” I replied. I guess that meant I was a suspect too. I wandered out onto my townhome’s little balcony. I heard the sound of fireworks in the distance. Silver Powder resort banned fireworks due to the drought conditions that we often face, but you could still see the fireworks at lower altitudes if you looked for them. I knew there would be professional fireworks on display in the city on Sunday.
“I wonder how many of the others have a motive,” Tate said casually. This took me by surprise.
“What do you mean, Tate? What motive do you have?” I asked. I had to imagine what kind of motive Tate had for killing Crater Murphy. Did it have something to do with the unfinished business Tate mentioned earlier?
“It’s nothing,” he said in a dismissive voice. “I should get going. I need to check on Skye and call her mother. That’s if I can actually reach her.”
“Okay. Are we still on for tomorrow?” I asked. I wondered if Crater McMurphy’s death was a reason to cancel our plans.
“Yeah, noon tomorrow,” said Tate. “We’ll meet you in town.”
“Great, Tate, I’ll see you and Skye then.”