Brink of Danger

by Christy Barritt

  That sounded impressive. If Dustin was telling the truth, it was impressive.

  “What does your inspection usually consist of?” Ryan asked.

  “We check harnesses, equipment, carabiners, and helmet—everything. We test each of the lines to make sure everything’s in place. Sometimes, with time and use, we might notice that a cable is starting to wear. If that’s the case, we have it replaced. Maybe the cable itself was defective. Did you ever consider that?” Dustin held up a clipboard from his desk that listed everything that had to be checked off.

  Ryan flipped through the pages. It appeared that Ansley was primarily the one who did these inspections. Interesting.

  “We’re considering everything right now,” Luke said. “Who designed this place for you?”

  Dustin crossed his arms, still looking more perturbed than grief-stricken. “A company called Zippity Outfitters. They’re the best in the business.”

  “Expensive?” Luke asked.

  Dustin’s eyes widened as he nodded. “Oh, yeah. Really expensive. But when you’re talking about a zipline that sails 150 feet above ground with speeds of up to fifty miles per hour, you have no choice but to use the best. This isn’t for amateurs.”

  Luke shifted his weight, his jaw still set and his eyes narrow with thought. “So let me get this straight—this other company helped design and build this?”

  “That’s right. It’s a one-stop shop. They hire engineers. They know all about the permits and inspections. I didn’t cut corners. I knew better than to do that.”

  “No one said you did,” Ryan said. “Luke is just trying to figure this out. How much money are we talking for the construction of this new mountaintop zipline?”

  Dustin sighed and leaned back against his desk. “We’re talking hundreds of thousands.”

  “And that’s money you won’t get back until you open for business,” Luke muttered.

  “Exactly.” Dustin ran a hand through his dirty blond hair. It was on the longer side, kind of greasy, and lit by sun-enhanced highlights.

  The spark in the man’s eyes clearly told everyone he was a thrill seeker. Why else would he own this place?

  But there was still another part of Ryan that was surprised. Dustin seemed like someone who would work here, but not someone who’d own a place like this. His unkept looks and kneejerk reactions made him seem immature and irresponsible. Yet here he was, owner of this huge zipline company in Fog Lake.

  “Where did you get that money for this project?” Luke asked. “Did you take out a loan?”

  Dustin’s face reddened, and he glanced out the window. “No, a friend let me borrow it. I don’t have great credit, so the bank wouldn’t give me anything.”

  Luke’s gaze burned into Dustin’s. “This friend wouldn’t be Roadkill Ronnie, would it?”

  Dustin’s eyes widened with surprise, and he rubbed his neck, suddenly looking even more uncomfortable than he had before. “Why would you ask that?”

  “I’m the one asking the questions here,” Luke said. “Was it?”

  Dustin lowered his head, almost appearing burdened, as if struggling with how to handle this. He rocked his head back and forth and rubbed his shoulders before finally raising his chin.

  Luke had succeeded in making the man squirm.

  “Yes, it was,” Dustin muttered.

  “The same Roadkill Ronnie who’s a known drug dealer in this area,” Luke continued.

  A drug dealer named Roadkill Ronnie? Ryan couldn’t wait to hear the story behind that one. For now, his interest was piqued. So many crimes were centered around drugs . . . if that was a connection to this incident, Ryan wouldn’t be surprised.

  “He said he wasn’t doing that anymore.” Dustin’s voice rose with frustration. “That he’d changed his tune.”

  “And you believed him?” Luke stared at him, a dumbfounded expression on his face.

  Dustin raised a shoulder, defensiveness hardening his body. “I like to believe the best in people. Is that so wrong?”

  Ryan didn’t believe that for a moment. Based on Luke’s irritated expression, he didn’t either.

  “When did you tell him you’d pay him back?” Luke asked.

  Dustin shrugged, the hole around him getting deeper and deeper. “I told him in August. The construction of this took a lot longer than I planned. We had some rains and stuff. Things got pushed back.”

  “So I guess he’s anxious for his money.” Ryan knew exactly where Luke was going with this.

  Dustin threw his hands in the air. “Look, I don’t know. You’d have to talk to him. All I know is that I didn’t do this. This is my livelihood. I have no reason to ruin my own business.”

  Ryan couldn’t argue with that.

  “I just don’t see why the other part of my business can’t be open.” Dustin shook his head, his jaw set with tension like he was a wannabe attorney about to go to court for his cause. “All the lines there have been checked.”

  “It’s standard protocol,” Ryan said for the third time. “Until we know what happened, everything here needs to be checked by a professional.”

  Dustin shot him a dirty look, a look that clearly stated that Ryan was now an outsider and his opinion wasn’t appreciated. “Of course. If you’ll excuse me for a minute, I need to run to the little boys’ room.”

  As Dustin left, Ryan looked over the office. There were pictures of the man on various mountaintops. Awards from online websites. Framed ads from various magazines.

  Ryan picked up a little wooden figure on the desk and squinted. It was a gnome that looked hand-carved. The face on it . . . it looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t place it right now.

  He held it up to Luke. “Someone local make these?”

  Luke shrugged. “Never seen them before. Why? You want one?”

  Ryan looked at it again. “I wouldn’t say that. It looks . . . I don’t know. Creepy maybe? There’s something about it that feels unsettling.”

  “It should fit right in here at Fog Lake then. It’s the home of creepy and unsettling.”

  Ryan let out a short breath of air. “I’d almost forgotten.”

  “Hang around long and you won’t be able to forget.” Luke gave him a knowing look. “Believe me.”

  Just then, a truck pulled into the gravel lot.

  It looked like the inspector had finally arrived. The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, the Amusement Device Unit, had sent out a qualified inspector. Ryan had learned that “qualified inspector” meant someone who followed the American Society for Testing Materials and the Association for Challenge Course Technology, which were industry standards and essential for operations like this zipline.

  Ryan was anxious to hear the man’s thoughts.

  He wouldn’t make the same mistakes here that he made in Philly. He couldn’t.

  For Nathan’s sake. For Tyler’s.

  If Ryan didn’t find redemption here, then he knew he wouldn’t find it anywhere.

  Chapter Nine

  Ansley stared out the window as Harper drove her home from the hospital. They’d finally released her after she’d spent five hours there. She already felt like she was going stir crazy.

  Her thoughts still lingered on what Harper had told her, though. Had Dustin really gotten a loan from a drug dealer? Was that what all of this was about?

  Ansley could hardly handle the thought—and it made her want to give Dustin a piece of her mind. Ansley couldn’t do that, though. She needed to let Luke handle things, just like she’d promised.

  As Harper pulled into the downtown area, Ansley pointed toward a restaurant in the distance. “You can drop me off here.”

  “At Hanky’s?” Harper sent her a questioning look. “A bar?”

  “It’s not strictly a bar. They’ve got good food also. Their wings are out of this world.”

  “But we know why most people go there . . .” Harper kept her voice light.

  Ansley raised her hands in innoc
ence. “I’m not going to drink. Being there just helps me unwind. Besides, I don’t want to go home right now. I need to be around people.”

  She was trying to change. No alcohol in a year. No men. No shenanigans. But Hanky’s was where most of the people Ansley knew hung out and cut loose. It was her Cheers, for lack of a better description.

  The place wasn’t necessarily shady and was even popular with tourists who came for the craft beers. The only other place she liked in town was the Hometown Diner, but she wasn’t in the mood for it right now. The rest of the restaurants were basically tourist traps—overpriced with bad food. She avoided them at all costs.

  “Aren’t there other places that you could—”

  “Harper.” Ansley paused. “Please. I’m a big girl. I’m not going to do anything stupid.”

  Harper looked unconvinced as she went quiet and twisted her lips with thought. “How are you going to get home? You’re on some pretty high-strength pain pills, and you can’t drive.”

  “I can get a ride. I know most of the people in this town. It won’t be a problem. Even if it became a problem, my apartment is close enough that I could walk there.”

  Harper still hesitated, looking as if she was searching her thoughts for more reasons why Ansley couldn’t do this. When she spoke again, Ansley realized she’d read her sister-in-law like a book.

  “I can’t stay with you, and you probably shouldn’t be left alone,” Harper said. “I have to go turn in a report that the mayor has been asking for, but maybe you could go hang out with Boone or—”

  “Harper.” Ansley’s voice held a warning-like sound now.

  Finally, Harper sighed. “Fine. But we’re going to check on you later. All of us. The whole pack.”

  Ansley fought a smile. Her brothers were protective of her, and they’d lured Harper into their way of doing things. Truthfully, Ansley didn’t mind. It beat not having anyone who cared.

  “I’d expect nothing less,” Ansley finally said.

  “I don’t like this. I want that to go on the record. Luke won’t like it either.”

  “I know. I’ll always be a little girl to him. But I am twenty-three. I can handle myself.” As Harper pulled up to the curb, Ansley stepped out. “Thanks for everything.”

  “Call me if you need me!” Harper yelled.

  “I will.” But Ansley didn’t plan on needing anyone. She wouldn’t be getting in trouble. She’d already had enough excitement for the day.

  She paused outside the door to Hanky’s and glanced around.

  Why did she feel like someone was watching her?

  She scanned everything around her but saw no one. She shook it off.

  She must be imagining things.

  Despite that, she scurried inside, feeling too exposed out there on the sidewalk.

  “Look at the end of these lines,” inspector Wallace Ackerbury said as he held a cable in his hands, its ends splayed like a spider that had been electrocuted.

  The man was probably in his late thirties with a nearly bald head, thick glasses, and quick movements. His nasally voice was off-putting, but when he spoke, his words made it clear he was an expert in the field.

  Luke, Ryan, and Wallace stood on the platform Ansley had launched from. The cable had been pulled up to the top so the end could be examined. That was exactly what Wallace had been doing for the past hour.

  Thankfully, most of the crowd had dispersed now—even the media and town officials. Only Dustin hung around, but he’d been relegated to his office for the time being.

  Ryan and Luke leaned closer, trying to get a better look.

  “If this had happened naturally with time or age, there would be a gradual thinning of the material. But these cables are new and strong. If you look there at the end, you can see the cut mark.”

  Ryan’s back stiffened. “So someone did this?”

  “I’d guess they used a bolt cutter or something. That’s just preliminary, mind you.” Wallace pushed up his glasses.

  “You’d have to be pretty strong to do something like that, correct?” Luke asked, a stony expression on his face.

  Wallace remained silent a moment before nodding “You would have to be strong, but the tool will do a lot of the work. Plus, I suspect these weren’t cut all the way through. There are several cables making up this one cable. Based on what I’m seeing, maybe half of them were cut, but the rest were left intact.”

  “Just waiting to snap under the right weight and pressure,” Ryan muttered.

  “That’s right.” Wallace pushed his glasses up higher on his nose, excitement in his gaze as his theory took shape. “Someone knew that they could only cut through part of these. Otherwise, the cable would be broken and no one would use it.”

  Luke stood, his shoulders bristling with pressure. “So you’re saying that whoever did this didn’t just want to destroy this zipline, but they wanted to see someone get hurt?”

  “That’s my best guess.”

  Ryan tried to think it through. Someone would have had to use a trolley to move themselves out onto the line. They’d have to carry a decent sized tool while doing so. Then they’d have to be reckless to start cutting the cable while they were hanging on it. If the person had cut too far . . . he would have been the victim. That took either guts or stupidity.

  “Also,” Wallace continued, raising the cable again. “The cable was cut close to the halfway point. Engineering-wise, it’s the point of greatest vulnerability.”

  “What’s that mean for the rest of this place?” Ryan asked. “Does it need to remain shut down?”

  Dustin had acted like such a jerk that part of Ryan hoped he’d sweat a little more. The man’s priorities were out of whack.

  Wallace frowned. “Their insurance company might have a say in that. If this company loses their coverage, they’ll have no choice but to remain closed. Until that’s all worked out, it’s not safe to have any of these ziplines operational until each one is checked. There’s no way someone could have known that cable was compromised—until it was too late. We don’t want that happening again.”

  “No, we don’t,” Ryan said.

  Wallace looked at Luke. “How’s your sister? I heard she was on the zipline when this happened.”

  “She’s fine and was just released from the hospital. According to my wife, Ansley is acting just as ornery as ever.”

  “I can’t wrap my mind around the fact that she survived this. But thank God she did. I’ve seen some bad accidents in my day. A lot of survivors are never the same. Some can’t walk. One person I heard about lost an eye. Those were all in accidents that were far less severe than this one.”

  “My sister’s pretty tough and thinks quickly on her feet.”

  “I’d say she has angels watching over her.”

  Ryan wouldn’t argue with that.

  Now that they knew what had happened, Luke could begin hunting for the person who’d done this.

  Because it was clear this was no accident. But who had the target been? Dustin and his company? Or Ansley?

  Chapter Ten

  If Ansley looked strong, then she’d be strong. No one would feel sorry for her. She hated it when people felt sorry for her.

  That’s what she told herself as she sauntered into Hanky’s. Overhead, “Life is a Highway” played. People chatted at tables, and several sat in the bar area.

  That was where she headed. She slid onto one of the stools there and ordered some nachos and seltzer water. She’d be lying if she didn’t admit a nice cold glass of beer would sound good right now.

  She could drink her troubles away. Let alcohol help her feel numb to her problems.

  But she’d lived enough to know that would only end up causing her more problems.

  Besides, her pain medication was making her head feel fuzzier than she would like.

  She closed her eyes. As she did, flashbacks from today smacked her, each one making her flinch.

  She remembered the excitement as she’d laun
ched from the platform. The freedom she’d felt as she whizzed through the air. The terror that had consumed her as she’d heard the pop and realized the cable had broken.

  At once, she was free-falling again. Her stomach had left her body, and she could hardly breathe.

  Death had been certain.

  Until she’d hit the tree.

  By God’s grace, she’d hit that tree. It had cushioned her fall enough to save her life.

  She gripped the sweaty glass of seltzer water in front of her and muttered a prayer of thanks.

  Several people lingered near, talking about what happened today. Having Ansley here was like having the star of a show at a party on opening night. Everyone wanted to hear her version.

  And being the center of attention put her in her element. Ansley felt herself relax as she went into entertainment mode.

  She had survived. She had a great story to tell. And what better place to do so than here at Hanky’s?

  As the door opened behind her, the mood in the building seemed to change. Her back muscles tightened as she turned in her chair.

  A ball formed in her stomach.

  Danny Axon.

  She shouldn’t be surprised to see him here. As long as he left her alone, she’d be okay.

  Instead, Danny came toward her and sat two seats down.

  She gripped her glass of water, reminding herself to stay in control.

  “Fancy seeing you here,” he said. “I figured you’d be in the hospital.”

  “What fun would that be? Then I couldn’t bug you.”

  “True that. By the way, I had some chicken and dumplings today. Your mom’s. They were so good.” He patted his stomach.

  Anger rose up in Ansley. She couldn’t let Danny get to her.

  But her bad day suddenly felt three times worse.

  Harper was right. It had been a bad idea to come here. Mostly because of Danny Axon.

  It had been a long day—an incredibly long day, for that matter. Ryan could probably work for the rest of the evening and still not get everything done.