Friday, November 11, 2011
The Lamoille River, a torrent of mud, gouged at its banks as Rath and Grout sat on a rock outcrop. A massive chunk of earthen bank across the river calved and was claimed by the current. One wrong step into the water and you were dead, as sure as if you stepped in front of a logging truck going 100 mph.
“So what is it?” Rath said. “I can’t help you with Barrons, getting your old gig back. Test deserves—”
“Forget that. For now. I was digging around into our friend the prig, Boyd Pratt number three,” Grout said, “and mucking online regarding the Double Black Diamond. It’s a Starmont operation. That’s the parent company.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Rath said. He’d never stayed at a luxury hotel or resort, and he’d not been in a motel since before he’d adopted Rachel.
“Starmont’s majority holder is Champlain Enterprises,” Grouts said.
“OK.”
“I asked myself, back when I first ran into Dipshit the Third at the Double Black Diamond, ‘Why is he here?’ I mean, the resort is pushing three hours from his estate on the lake. And a big step down to boot.”
“Privacy,” Rath said. “He’s well known in his area and didn’t want to have the discussions at his estate.”
“I chalked it up to that.”
“But?”
“Like I said, a major holder of Starmont, which owns Double Black Diamond, is Champlain Enterprises. And guess which prig’s family is behind Champlain?”
“That’s why he did business there? It’s his resort. What am I not getting?”
“Starmont owns a lot of resorts. Care to guess where their newest resort is?”
“Jay Peak?”
“Go north, my friend.”
“You can’t go north, without—Canada.”
“You win the big teddy bear. And not just anywhere in Canada. Guess where th—”
“I’m not guessing.”
“Quebec. Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. The Riverview. And one in Montreal. Old Montreal.”
“Which one?” Adrenaline charged through Rath.
Grout told Rath, though he didn’t need to; Rath knew.