Throttled

by Stella Bixby

  “Only one helmet?” I asked.

  She nodded. “The others are all here.”

  So much for him running off with a girlfriend.

  “And he’s pretty experienced on these?” I asked.

  “He’s been on them since he could walk. Before football, we actually considered getting him into snowmobile racing.”

  “I remember when we were up in Togwotee, and he used to challenge me to races,” Nikki said. “He always won.”

  “Speed is his thing,” Elaine said. “He’s always been my little cheetah.” Her gaze became distant. “Do you think he’s okay?”

  “I’m sure he’s fine,” Nikki said. “We’re going to find him.”

  “Elaine?” A deep voice came from the stairs.

  Elaine’s face paled. “Down here,” she said closing the door to the garage.

  A man I’d only seen once before—at the uniform shop—stood wearing a badge exactly like the one Luke wore.

  “This is my husband, Hal,” Elaine said.

  “What’s going on?” he asked. “Why are you up at this time of night?”

  “I couldn’t sleep so I was walking around and found Alex’s snowmobile missing,” Elaine explained.

  “Why didn’t you call me?” he asked, his tone the same angry one as at the uniform shop. “Nikki’s just a park ranger. She can’t help the same way I can.”

  Nikki looked down at her shoes but said nothing.

  “I didn’t want to bother you if it was nothing,” Elaine said.

  “It sure as hell isn’t nothing. Our son is missing, and you find a snowmobile gone.” He took a step toward her. She took a step back. “Don’t you think those two things have something to do with one another?”

  “Why don’t we go talk upstairs,” Elaine said.

  He huffed and turned back up the stairs.

  “I’ll be right back.” Elaine smiled at us, apparently embarrassed by her husband’s behavior.

  “Your uncle is . . . intense,” I said when they had disappeared up the stairs.

  “He’s an ass,” Nikki said.

  “Psst,” a whisper came from behind us.

  Nikki turned. “Henry? Have you been spying on us this whole time?” She smiled and ruffled his hair.

  “Did you find Alex?” he asked, his big brown eyes full of hope.

  “Not yet,” Nikki said. “But we’re not going to give up.”

  “Do you remember anything about the night Alex disappeared?” I asked.

  He looked down at his feet.

  “It’s okay, you can tell her,” Nikki said.

  “Dad and Alex got into a big fight,” he said.

  “About what?” Nikki asked.

  “Alex said he didn’t want to play football anymore.” Henry looked over toward the garage. “Then he left.”

  “On the snowmobile?” I asked.

  “No. He didn’t take that until later.”

  “Do you know where he might have gone when he left?” Nikki asked.

  Henry shrugged.

  “But you saw him take the snowmobile?” I asked.

  “I heard it,” he said.

  “What time was that?” I didn’t mean to give the kid the third degree, but he seemed to know more than anyone else did at this point.

  “Five in the morning. I was mad he woke me up.”

  “Does he take the snowmobile a lot?” Nikki asked.

  “Sometimes.” He shrugged again. “But don’t tell Mom and Dad. They don’t know.”

  “I promise,” I said. “Has Alex been acting normal lately? Other than not wanting to play football anymore?”

  “Yeah. I think so,” Henry said. “Here come my parents. Don’t tell them I talked to you.”

  Footsteps on the stairs led to the not-so-happy couple’s reappearance. When I turned back to look at Henry, he wasn’t there anymore.

  “Did you and Alex get into an argument the night he went missing?” Nikki asked, her hands on her hips.

  Elaine’s eyes were huge.

  “Where did you hear that?” He looked at his wife.

  “She didn’t tell me. I just thought maybe—”

  “Nothing out of the ordinary,” Hal said. “Just a normal father-son argument.”

  Elaine didn’t make eye contact with either of us.

  “I think we need to get a search team out looking for Alex,” I said trying to break the tension. “If he left on a snowmobile, we could possibly follow his tracks. It hasn’t snowed in the past couple of days.”

  “The forecast says we’re going to get snow tonight,” Nikki said.

  “Then we should get going now.” My brain was practically begging to go back to sleep, but if we had a shot at finding Alex, this was it.

  “I’ll call the search and rescue unit,” Hal said.

  “And we’ll call the rangers,” I said. “I have a feeling I know where he went.”

  11

  Garrett was still in bed when I got back to his place. I’d gone back to get my uniform and duty bag and give Fizzy and Babbitt big hugs.

  By the time I reached the meadow where we’d had training, it was swarming with police and park rangers.

  “We’ll go on snowmobile,” Greg said. “Do you still have the drone?” He was talking to a police officer I hadn’t seen before.

  “The drone batteries will only last fifteen to twenty minutes in this cold,” he said. “But we’ll see what we can do.”

  The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon, but the clouds were ominous. If it snowed, we’d lose any chance at following Alex’s trail.

  “Rylie, do you remember seeing tracks near that meadow we found disturbed?” Greg asked.

  I pulled out my phone and showed him the photo of the tracks leading into the trees.

  “Do you think you could find those tracks again?”

  “Definitely,” I replied.

  He handed me a helmet. “We’ll follow you.”

  I led the way through the powder that still looked the same as it had after we’d had training. The site where we’d cleaned up empty beer cups and put out the fire was easy to find. I stopped on the hill and searched the tree line to find Alex’s tracks again. The drone circled overhead.

  I pointed to where the tracks were and started down the hill toward them. Four or five snowmobiles followed me. Three for sure were rangers. The others were the search and rescue part of the fire department.

  The tracks wound through the trees and up the mountainside. I went as fast as I could without losing everyone or hitting a tree. How Alex had done this in the dark was beyond me.

  It had to have been ten miles up the mountain before we found where the tracks ended.

  I stopped my sled and jumped off.

  Alex’s snowmobile was lodged in a tree trunk. Its skis were mangled, the fiberglass hood shattered. I turned three-sixty looking for Alex but saw nothing.

  “Where is he?” Greg called out from behind me. “Do you see him?”

  I ran through the snow as quickly as I could toward the twisted pile of machine.

  Footprints and a trail of blood led to the south.

  “Come on.” After that accident, Alex couldn’t have gotten far. If all that blood belonged to him, I was afraid of what we might find. Thankfully, Nikki had stayed back at incident command.

  Greg called out over the radio on the channel designated for the search. “We have footprints and blood. We’re going to need to have an ambulance ready.”

  “Copy,” the officer in charge said.

  The footprints turned to more of a crawling, blood tainting the pristine snow. And then at the end of the path, twenty yards ahead of me, was a body.

  I don’t know how, but my legs propelled me forward even faster.

  It was Alex. He still wore his helmet, but the visor was shattered.

  I yanked off my glove and reached two fingers up under the helmet. Tears stung at my eyes.

  “Please be alive, please be alive,” I whispered.


  Finally, a tiny beat hit my fingertips.

  “He has a pulse,” I yelled over my shoulder. “Bring the backboard.”

  Two firefighters came up beside me.

  “Don’t move him. Do not take off the helmet,” I instructed.

  They nodded. They knew that. Of course, they knew that.

  “We have to get him out of here quickly.”

  “You should pull him,” one of the firefighters said. “You know the area the best and you led us in.”

  “Fine,” I agreed. “We’ll hook up the backboard sled to my snowmobile and I’ll pull him out.”

  We got him rolled onto the backboard—stabilizing his head and neck—and strapped him down.

  Once he was in the sled and secured to my snowmobile, I jumped on.

  “Follow me and watch him,” I said. “If something happens, get my attention, and I’ll stop.”

  They nodded, and we all took off. When we arrived back at the parking lot and incident command, Nikki rushed to Alex’s side.

  “Don’t move him,” I said.

  “Alex,” Nikki sobbed. “Wake up.”

  “We need to get him into the ambulance and to the hospital,” I said.

  Luke appeared at our side. “Get in my squad car. I’ll take you.”

  She kissed Alex on the cheek and ran to Luke’s car sliding into the front seat. “You can come too,” she called back to me.

  “Do I get to sit in the back?” I tried at a joke, but it didn’t come out funny.

  “Unless you want to drive.” Luke smiled.

  “Can you take care of the sled and everything?” I asked Ben as the paramedics were getting Alex into the ambulance.

  “Yes. Just take care of Nikki,” he said. “You’re two for two now. You found two alive bodies.” He patted me on the back.

  I handed him my helmet and followed Luke to the car.

  Nikki was on the phone when we got in.

  “They’re taking him to North-Central Hospital now. He has a pulse, but he’s unconscious.” Her voice was wobbly but clear. “We’ll meet you there.”

  She hung up. “That was Aunt Elaine.”

  The ambulance pulled out with lights and sirens blazing.

  Luke turned on his lights too and followed closely behind.

  The doctors whisked Alex away the moment we arrived leaving Luke, Nikki, and I in a small waiting room.

  “I can’t believe we found him,” Nikki said to no one but herself as she paced the room.

  Luke kept checking his cell phone.

  The adrenaline had finally worn off, and my eyelids felt heavy. Before I knew it, Nikki was shaking me awake.

  “Did I fall asleep?” I asked, my voice raspy.

  “It’s okay,” Nikki said. “He’s okay.”

  “Alex?” I asked standing up. “How long was I asleep?”

  “A couple of hours,” Nikki said. We were the only two in the waiting room. “Do you want to go see him?” Her sense of urgency had evaporated leaving a much calmer Nikki.

  “Is he awake?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “The doctor said he could be unconscious for a while.”

  “Okay,” I said. “But first, let’s discuss where we’re at with all of this.”

  “We know what happened to Jordan and what happened to Alex probably happened at the same time, so Alex couldn’t have done it.”

  My brain was still fuzzy with sleep, but I knew that wasn’t entirely true. “If Alex left at five in the morning, he definitely could have done something to Jordan before.”

  Nikki scowled. “Whose side are you on?”

  “I’m not on a side. I just want to find out what happened,” I said. “We know that there was a party in the field. There was drinking. Debbie, Jordan, and Alex were all together at the reservoir before they went to the party. Debbie and Alex looked perfectly happy at that point. Jordan didn’t.”

  “He was always jealous of Alex,” Nikki said.

  “Then they went to the party.”

  “And Alex broke up with Debbie.”

  “Or so she says,” I said.

  “Do you think she was lying?”

  “She was definitely lying about something, but I don’t know exactly what.”

  “Maybe she did all of this,” Nikki said.

  “It’s possible,” I said slowly. “But it would have been a pretty intricate plan to hurt both boys.”

  Nikki sighed. “Okay, so then Alex left the party and went home.”

  “And got into an argument with his dad.”

  “And then left.”

  “For several hours,” I said.

  “Before he came back for the snowmobile.” Nikki slid into a chair. “Oh my goodness. What if he did do this to Jordan? He had plenty of time.”

  “We don’t know that. Maybe he went back to the party,” I said. “We definitely need to fill in some of the blanks. Where do you think he was going on the snowmobile?” I asked.

  “Nowhere,” Nikki said. “He was probably just riding to clear his head. He did that a lot when he and his dad got into arguments on our vacations.”

  “They argue a lot?” I asked.

  “Always have. Uncle Hal has high expectations of Alex.”

  “What about the other boys?” I asked.

  “He doesn’t pay them much attention,” she said.

  I tried to process all of this. “So who are our suspects?”

  “Debbie. And Alex,” she whispered. “Either of them could have done something to Jordan.”

  “What about your uncle?” I asked. “If he thought Jordan might take Alex’s position as starting quarterback, would he do something like this?”

  She shook her head slowly. “He’s a police officer.”

  “And?” I asked. We both knew wearing a badge didn’t make someone perfect.

  She groaned. “I don’t know. All of this is just awful.”

  I didn’t want to push any further, but I added him to my mental suspect list.

  When we walked into Alex’s room, a pretty red-headed woman hugged Nikki.

  “Hey, Mom,” Nikki said. “Dad.”

  A man who was probably six foot seven draped his arm around Nikki’s shoulder. “How you doing kid?”

  “Hanging in there. This is Rylie. From the reservoir.” Nikki motioned to me.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Rylie. We’ve heard a lot about you,” Nikki’s mom said.

  I’m sure they had.

  “You’re the one who used to date—” her dad started, but her mom jabbed him in the ribs. “Right. You’re the one who just got the full-time position.”

  “That’s me,” I said with a smile.

  “And you know my aunt.” Nikki motioned to Elaine who sat in a chair next to Alex’s bed, holding his blue hand.

  The resemblance between the three women was striking. They all had long red hair and perfect porcelain skin. Their makeup was flawless, their nails chip-free.

  I shoved my hands in my pockets to hide my plain, non-manicured fingers.

  “Where’s Uncle Hal?” Nikki asked looking around at the other faces.

  “He had an errand to run.” Her aunt didn’t look up from her son’s face. “He should be back soon.”

  I struggled to keep a neutral expression. What kind of father didn’t sit at his son’s bedside?

  “Here, have a seat,” Nikki’s mom said pulling up two chairs for us.

  The family made small talk, mostly about the yacht club and the comings and goings of people I didn’t know. Every once in a while they’d talk about Luke, and my ears would perk up, but it was obvious they were being extra careful around me knowing our history.

  When it had been at least an hour, more people began to show up. As in, every single student from the local high school.

  One at a time, they came in, squeezed Alex’s hand or said a couple of words, then tearfully left the room. Some prayed. Some gave him hugs. Most knew his mom, and she welcomed them all warmly.


  When they were finished, they formed chatty groups in the hallways. I was surprised the nurses didn’t tell them to leave.

  “Should we talk to some of these kids?” I asked Nikki when her family was distracted by their conversation. “See if they know anything?”

  “We should before Luke gets back.”

  When we walked into the hall, one of the cheerleaders—she was still in her uniform—ran over to me. “Are you the one who found Alex?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Thank you so much for saving him,” she gushed. The rest of the group nodded with big smiles on their faces.

  I decided to take advantage of this moment of popularity. “Can I talk to you about something?”

  She looked a bit confused but nodded. “Here or—”

  “Let’s go down the hall.” I led her out of earshot of the rest of them. “I’m just trying to figure out what could have happened to Alex. And Jordan, of course.”

  “What do you think happened? Do you think they’re related?” She spoke so fast it was almost hard to understand her.

  “I don’t know. I’m not a cop, but I like to figure things out. It’s kind of in my blood.”

  She smiled.

  “So do you know anything about the party a couple of nights ago? There was a fire and some drinking.” I quickly added, “Don’t worry, I’m not going to say anything about the drinking.”

  She hesitated. “I heard there was a party.”

  Smart girl. Not incriminating herself.

  “I think Debbie and Alex went there together,” she said. “But he broke up with her in front of everyone.” She said the last part at a whisper.

  “That’s terrible,” I feigned shock.

  “She deserved it, if you ask me.” She looked down at her nails. “Alex was a catch, and she treated him like dirt.”

  “Do you know why he broke up with her?”

  “He said something about changing his life—going a new direction.” She stopped herself. “I mean, that’s what I heard from someone anyway.”

  “Did you hear anything else about the party?”

  She shook her head. “Nope. But hold on. Let me get Doryan.” She half-jogged down the hall and grabbed one of the other girls. “You were at the party, right?” she asked the girl.