Death at the Summit

by Nikki Haverstock

  Behind them, a tiny young girl with dark hair, eyes, and skin cast furtive glances around the group. “Did you fly in, as well?” I asked.

  She clasped her hands in front of her, wringing and twisting them. When Tiger laughed loudly, she jumped with a gasp then spun around to identify the culprit. She turned back to me with wide eyes. “What?” she squeaked.

  I wasn’t sure what part of the question was confusing. “Did you fly in with Tiger and Minx?” I cast around the group for help.

  Mary caught my look and stepped over to join us.

  “No, Mouse lives in Cheyenne. We stopped at her house so she could follow us over. She’s homeschooled and graduated early. She applied to be an OSA.” Mary put a friendly hand on Mouse’s shoulder, causing her to jump.

  The OSA, on-site athletes, program would give athletes a place to live, food, and training in exchange for a light work schedule at the center. Applications had only been open a few weeks. Robbie, the center’s director, had decided to invite several of the most promising applicants out to work at the Westmound Summit.

  Mouse held out a delicate hand to me. “Hi, I’m Sabrina but everyone calls me Mouse. Is it true that someone was killed here last month?”

  No wonder she was so jumpy. I put an arm around her shoulder. “Yes, but don’t worry. You’ll be fine.”

  Jess raised her voice. “Hey, we should have started setting up already. We don’t even have a second to waste.” She marched down the hallway toward the conference room.

  At the far end of the hall, Liam, Moo, and Westmound’s owner, Elizabeth, turned the corner. Elizabeth lives in Salt Lake City, where Westmound was based, but she came in a day early for the Westmound Summit. Liam and Moo passed by with a quick sniff from Moo and a nod of the chin from Liam.

  Elizabeth greeted the group with a warm, appraising smile then turned to Jess. “Do you think you could give me five minutes to talk?”

  Jess pushed her curly hair back out of her face. “Absolutely.” Turning to us, she said, “Go on down to the conference room.”

  I turned to ask Mary what she thought this was about, but Elizabeth’s voice interrupted me. “Actually, I was hoping Mary and Di could join us. Perhaps we could use Di’s office?”

  We walked down to my office, where I unlocked the door. I offered Elizabeth my plush desk chair while Jess, Mary, and I grabbed the remaining chairs to face her.

  “I just finished talking to Liam, and he had an excellent idea. I wanted to see if you ladies would be on board. If you are, we can bring in Orion, Westmound’s marketing director, and get started after Di and Mary return from Christmas break.”

  We nodded along, eagerly leaning forward. I had no idea where Elizabeth was going, but I wanted to please her.

  Elizabeth turned to Mary. “Liam said that you are shooting archery again. How are you feeling about it?”

  “Wonderful. Di and I shoot together every day. I was hoping to talk to Liam at some point… about…”

  Elizabeth finished Mary’s thought. “Do you mean equipment?”

  Mary nodded.

  “I’ll let Liam know that you will be setting up a meeting.”

  Elizabeth turned her attention to Jess. “I’ve heard that you are working with both Mary and Di. How is that going?”

  “Very well, we are very careful to make sure that it doesn’t conflict with our work. We make sure—”

  Elizabeth waved her off. “No, no, I’m not worried about that. Let me back up. This weekend, you will hear a lot more about this. Our goal is to broaden our customer base, and one of the largest areas of focus is women. Liam recommended that Di receive a Westmound sponsorship deal for equipment, Mary renew her contract, and then we document their progress on the website. Does that sound that like something we can do?”

  Jess burst with excitement. “That would be wonderful. I could put together training schedules and maybe record some of the coaching sessions. Oh, we have that new form analysis room in development—we could use that some. It would really show off the center and the elite coaching available here.”

  Mary was close on her heels. She was perched on the edge of her seat, her eyes wide and eager. The words tumbled out of her mouth, one on top of the other. “I could try out a bunch of different equipment and talk about the differences. Talk about my tuning methods. I have charts and software I use to monitor the results that I could share. This is awesome.”

  Everyone turned to me waiting for my response. “Huh?” I realized that I should clarify more when three sets of eyes landed on me. “I wasn’t asking Liam to get me free stuff. I would love to be involved, but I can pay for—”

  Elizabeth stopped me before I could babble on further. “It isn’t for free; therefore, don’t worry about that. It would be in exchange for promoting our products and agreeing to train and document your journey so others getting into the sport can benefit from the knowledge. This isn’t something you have to do just because you work at the center, but if you want to, then we would love to have you.”

  I looked at Mary and Jess, who were nodding at me. I still didn’t fully understand what I was committing to, but if they thought it was a good idea, then I trusted them. I took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, feeling very Zen. “I’d be honored to be involved.”

  “Wonderful. I wish I had more time to discuss it, but I know you all have a lot to do. I will let Liam and Orion know what we discussed. I’ll see you here at range day tomorrow.”

  Elizabeth stood up and headed out the hallway to the front entrance.

  Jess was beside herself. “Isn’t this so great? I can’t believe it.”

  One thing had really stuck out to me. “She puts a lot of weight on Liam’s opinion.”

  Mary turned to me with a puzzled expression. “Why wouldn’t she trust her son?”

  “Her son? He can’t be her son. His name isn’t Westmound. It’s……” I searched around for his last name. “Andersson. Liam Andersson.”

  Jess turned to me with a giggle. “You dork. Her name last isn’t Westmound, either, not since she got married. Her name is Elizabeth Andersson, like Andersson Archery, her husband’s company before he passed. How did you not know this?”

  I was flabbergasted. “I-I don’t know. Oh geez, I’m a huge idiot.” I buried my face into my hands with embarrassment. My face was burning, and I didn’t want them to see me blush.

  Mary and Jess laughed while Mary gave my back a pat. “Hey, you’re being too hard on yourself. You’re probably only a little idiot.” They both snorted a bit more.

  I dropped my hand to roll my eyes at them.

  Jess checked her watch again. “We are really behind. We have to get over to the meeting.”

  “Can I catch up in ten minutes? I’m supposed to keep Moo today. I need to pick him up with his stuff.” And I could apologize to Liam.

  “Ten minutes and not a second more,” Jess called to me as I left the office.

  CHAPTER TWO

  I trotted to the entrance, slipped on my snow boots, and stepped outside to find Liam. I walked by a cop car parked in front of the building. Knocking on the window, I gave Brian, the officer in the front seat, playing games on his phone, a quick wave. He had been at the center when the previous killer had been apprehended, and had quickly become a center regular. This weekend, he was acting as security though I imagine he’ll mostly be looking at the new product lines being introduced rather than checking badges at the door.

  Liam and Moo were out in the field next to the parking lot, playing. There were several inches of snow already on the ground, and thick, heavy flakes slowly drifted to the ground. Thick gray clouds obscured the sky. I walked out into the field and waved to get Liam’s attention. Moo caught sight of me and raced across the field. I stomped my feet and crouched to welcome him.

  “No!”

  I looked up to see Liam running across the field with a worried look.

  I looked back to Moo, who was barreling toward me. I waited for him to d
odge left or right to run past me, but at the last second, I realized he wasn’t slowing down. The last thing I saw was his pink tongue and big brown eye bearing down on me before impact.

  I hit the ground flat on my back. The snow puffed out around me, breaking my fall as I landed. Snow drifted down on my face, catching in my eyelashes. The back of my neck was cold and wet. I lay in the snow, my eyes closed, mentally checking over my arms and legs as Moo shoved his cold, wet nose into my shut eyes and pawed at my arm.

  “No, bad, Moo,” Liam said from somewhere above me.

  Moo made an anguished moan at the correction and threw himself on top of me; his pointy elbows digging into my stomach and one of his front paws scratching my arm.

  I tentatively opened an eye to see that Liam had grabbed Moo by the collar to pull him off. “Come on. Off! Off! Moo, now.”

  Moo resisted by flopping hard onto my chest, and a whoosh of air escaped my lungs. I reached up to pet him, and he finally moved to the ground next to me and gave me a lick from chin to hairline before racing off to grab a ball on the far side of the field.

  “Are you okay? Did you hit your head?” Liam knelt beside me.

  “I’m fine, just a bruised ego.”

  I felt a bit disoriented, but when Liam grabbed both my hands and pulled me up, right into his arms, the feeling shifted. After a few moments, he dropped my hand, but the impression of his grip stayed.

  He started wiping snow off my back and legs. “I’m sorry, Di. I tried to warn you. Moo thinks that snow on the ground means it’s okay to play rough. I only adopted him last spring, so I didn’t realize until now. Do you need to go to your room and lay down?”

  I stretched my neck back and forth a few times. “No, I’m fine. I was surprised more than anything. I need to get back to the meeting.”

  Liam trotted over to a bag on the ground, and I followed. “This is all of Moo’s stuff. Are you sure you’re okay dogsitting him?”

  I laughed and reached back to wipe at some snow stuck under the back of my collar. “What’s a little mauling between friends?”

  Liam whistled, and when Moo trotted over, he clipped a leash on Moo’s collar. “You might want to keep him on a leash when you are outside until I get him trained. Thanks! I need to head over to the hotel.”

  He turned and headed toward his car. I suddenly remembered why I had been so eager to talk to him. “Hey, Liam.”

  He turned around. I shouted across the distance as I closed it. “I just found out that you’re Elizabeth’s son. Did you know that I didn’t know?”

  His clear laugh rang out across the parking lot as he smiled at me, the corners of his eyes crinkled with mirth. “Ya, I figured it out when you asked if I had known Mrs. Westmound long.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I wanted to see how long it would take to figure it out on your own, Ms. Detective. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He got into his truck and slowly exited the parking lot while Moo and I stood in the snow and waved.

  Stepping back into the center, I changed out of my snow boots and wiped off the rest of the snow that was clinging to my arms, then I unclipped Moo, and we jogged down the hallway into the conference room. Tiger and Mouse were assembling bags with material on one table while Indy and Minx talked quietly, stuffing name tags into holders. Mary and Jess sat at another table, discussing a chart.

  “Glad you could join us. Come over here so I can show you—what is wrong with your hair?” Jess said.

  I patted my hair, finding a crusty spot where Moo had licked me. I did my best to flatten it, but when I was done, my hand smelled faintly of dog drool. I had missed some snow on the back of my legs, and it was melting through my pants to my skin. My back and neck ached a bit as the adrenaline wore off, but the prevailing sensation I noticed was my hand tingling from where Liam had helped me up. I rubbed the hand to remove the distraction.

  “Moo and I had a little accident outside.”

  Jess nodded then pointed at a diagram. “Everyone has their assignments already. Your work is easy. We will sit at the Westmound Center table at this side of the room and stay there. Mary will be with you most of the time and the rest of the volunteers when they don’t have an active assignment. I’m going to have meetings with anyone that is interested in setting up a workshop or camp at the center; you’ll keep a copy of the schedule at your table. I basically want you to be our headquarters. If someone needs something, you can provide it. Is that clear enough?”

  “Aye, aye, Captain.” I gave her a formal salute, but she wasn’t looking at me. Mary snorted at my failed joke, and I stuck my tongue out at her.

  Jess picked up a roll of tape and a stack of index cards with large numbers on them. “Come on. We need to go tape these markers on the range floor.”

  Mary and I followed Jess across the hall to the large indoor archery range. It was the size of a football field and allowed archers to practice the outdoor distances year-round under ideal conditions: no rain, no wind, and no excuses.

  Jess handed Mary and me each a stack of cards, a roll of flooring-safe tape, and a diagram.

  The diagram covered the entire range.

  “Are these all companies owned by Westmound?”

  Mary said, “Yes,” right as Jess said, “No.”

  After a chuckle, Jess clarified, “Yes, Westmound owns all these, but not all these labels are individual companies. For instance, Andersson Archery gets three spots: one for the competitive recurve bow line, one for the competitive compound line, and one for the hunting line of bows. Many of the larger companies will get several spots.”

  I pushed an errant strand of hair behind my ear. “I can’t believe how big this summit is.”

  Mary spun around from where she was taping down a label. Her face was shining with excitement. “If you think this is big, you should see the Outdoor Industry Trade Show next month. The OIT Show is huge. Over a hundred thousand people from all over the world attend. I want to go back so badly.”

  Jess smiled smugly. “Robbie and I are going to the OIT show to represent the center, and we get to celebrate our anniversary while we are there.”

  ***

  “We open in fifteen minutes! I needed you here much earlier.” Jess had been up long before us. She spotted us standing in the doorway and rushed over.

  “You told us to come at this time.” I double-checked my phone. We had stayed up late last night watching TV in our room while I started reading the book Liam had given me.

  Jess’s coffee breath tickled my nose. Her normally wild, curly hair was held back in a chignon, but out of habit she tucked a non-existent strand of hair behind her ear. “But you should have known I would need you earlier, regardless of what time we agreed on.”

  Mary, Mouse, Indy, Minx, Tiger, Moo, and I had already grabbed breakfast together, and were ready to work, but after rooming with Jess for four years in college, being friends for over a decade, and working together for the past two months, I had to admit she was right. I should have predicted her last-minute freak-out. “You’re right, but we’re here now. What do you need?”

  “Minx and Indy, can you put up these signs? Here’s a map—I noted where each sign goes. Tiger and Mouse, head over to check-in with Bruce. The buses from the hotel should be arriving any minute. Mary and Di, go to man the center’s table. Once your job is done, go to the center’s table so Di can send you out on your next job. Di, do you have the tablets?” Jess started to look more relaxed as she bossed us around.

  “Yes, I grabbed them from my office this morning. The ones assigned to the ranges are there already. The rest will be with me.” I handed Jess her tablet. I had put together a system so each person in the system could hit a button indicating where they were, what they were doing or if they needed help. I hoped it would simplify communication between the center staff.

  Mary and I headed to the far wall, where the seventy-meter target mats normally stood. I was awed by all the different exhibits. Most had colorful walls
of advertising, many had set up their own cushioned flooring, and some even had tables and chairs.

  Moo’s freedom was restricted today, with all the people and activity. He was in his harness with a leash, but I had put a Christmas sweatshirt over the top of it. The arms were chopped off to not interfere with his walking, and there was a hole for the leash to attach to the harness. I settled him onto his bed between the tables, in front of the huge Westmound Center display panel. He circled three times, lay down, and set to work trying to bite the harness. The nylon straps were just beyond the reach of his teeth, but that didn’t prevent him from trying over and over before flopping onto his other side and trying again. I reached over and scratched his ears until he settled in and fell asleep.

  The room was filling with people moving to their tables. The opening speech was supposed to be soon, then we could start doing whatever it was we were supposed to do on range day of the Westmound Summit.

  I turned to Mary. “Have you been to one of these before?”

  Mary dragged her attention back to me, “Yeah. Two years ago, I went to write up articles for Westmound to send out to employees that were unable to attend the event. Last year, though, I couldn’t attend, and they hired Cold to film it instead.”

  “What exactly happens today? I mean, I know that this is a brand summit for Westmound. They want consistency within the entire brand along with all the companies having a basic understanding of new products, but why have everyone come to one location? Couldn’t they just send out an e-mail?”

  “It’s much more than that. They have a party, give out bonuses and awards for performance and general information, but that’s the next few days at the hotel conference. Today is range day: it is all about playing with the new products, networking, and shooting.”

  I thought about it for a second, but it still felt like I was missing some angle. “So they all get together to shoot?”

  Mary laughed. “I bet they would; people in this industry really love what they do. Let me give you a better example. Andersson Archery has a new entry-level competitive recurve bow. So someone from there might go over to Bucky Sights, Knight Products and Quaker Stabilizers and put together a solid entry level competition bow from all Westmound products. Then go to the short range that Bruce is running to see how it shoots. Then they can market it together as a ready-to-shoot setup.” Mary pointed to each company in turn. “Then at the OIT show next month, they can have literature available and push the full setup with a slight discount to archery pro-shops putting in orders. That’s just an archery example, but something similar is happening for handguns, shot guns, rifles, et cetera.”