Fatal Descent

by Beth Groundwater

  After a time, the Andersons left, a momentary lightness in their steps that temporarily lifted the pall of grief Mandy was sure they were all feeling for Alex. Arm-in-arm with Rob, she watched them go and gave out a little sigh. When he crooked a quizzical eyebrow at her, she said, “I’m all right. I’m just thinking of the grieving that they’ll have to go through.”

  Rob nodded. “Yes, you would know about that.”

  Mandy leaned against his chest and closed her eyes for a moment to send a silent message to her Uncle Bill. Please welcome Alex, wherever you both are.

  Within a half hour, Mandy was ensconced in the front passenger seat of the pickup truck next to Rob as he drove north out of Moab pulling the equipment trailer. Kendra and Gonzo followed in the passenger van behind them.

  “In less than six hours we’ll be home,” Rob said.

  “I can’t wait to fall asleep in my own bed,” Mandy replied. She reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out her cell phone—that had been turned off since the night before the trip. “Let’s see if anyone missed us.”

  After the phone powered up, a message appeared announcing new voice messages. “I don’t believe it,” Mandy said, as she paged through the list. “There’s a whopping twenty-seven messages here,” she said to Rob, “and all but two of them are from your mother.” She threw her head back against the seat and groaned.

  Rob’s brow crinkled in worry. “I’ll talk to her after we get back, tell her to back off on the wedding plans.”

  Mandy looked out the windshield at the highway winding toward the horizon in front of them, a fitting metaphor for their life to come. Given the life-and-death experience they had just gone through, an overeager mother-in-law no longer seemed like such a big deal.

  She put a hand on Rob’s knee. “No, don’t. I love your mother, Rob, I really do, and I can do this for her.”

  Rob covered her hand with his. “You sure?”

  “I’m sure.” As sure as she was about spending the rest of her life with the man next to her.

  the end

  acknowledgments

  I had a lot of help researching the Colorado River in Utah and its Meander and Cataract Canyons for this book, particularly from the staff of Tag-A-Long Expeditions (http://www.tagalong.com/), the outfitter that organized the scouting trip my husband and I took down the Colorado River from Moab to Lake Powell. Jennifer, Sarah, and the other office staff at Tag-A-Long were very helpful. Our boatman, Dave Pitzer, and river guide, Justin King, provided a wealth of information and colorful stories and lingo while taking excellent care of us on the trip. Dave Pitzer was kind enough to stop at all the beaches where a 5-day trip would stop, even though we were on a 3-day trip, so I could take notes and soak in the atmosphere of each while my husband took photos. And I owe another huge debt of gratitude to Dave, who later provided me with expert and detailed descriptions of the paths for running various rapids, because all I remembered was fun roller coaster rides and water splashing in my face!

  Thank you to my husband, Neil, for the wonderful photos and videos you took of that trip, so I could reconstruct locations and experiences months later. I read many reference books and articles about the area, but the most useful book that I referred to often was Belknap’s Waterproof Canyonlands River Guide, and I recommend it to anyone planning a trip on the Colorado River. The state and national park rangers at Dead Horse Point State Park and Canyonlands National Park were helpful in answering questions and providing brochures on the geology, flora, fauna, and history of the parks.

  Thanks to my critique group, Jeff Campbell, Vic Cruikshank, Maria Faulconer, Barbara Nickless, MB Partlow, and Robert Spiller, for making it abundantly clear when my writing wasn’t up to snuff and I had more work to do. Their high standards made me work that much harder to turn out a quality story. I don’t know what I’d do without my literary agent, Sandra Bond, who works tirelessly on my behalf and keeps me out of contract trouble. Thanks, Sandra! Terri Bischoff, Acquisition Editor at Midnight Ink, and Connie Hill, Senior Editor, made sure the book’s prose was the best it could be. Thanks to Donna Burch for the book design and to Lisa Novak for the gorgeous cover art that was exactly what I asked for and more. Thanks also to all of the staff at Midnight Ink who toil behind the scenes to produce and market the books in my RM Outdoor Adventures series.

  And lastly, I would like to thank the avid readers of the RM Outdoor Adventures who take the time to write me and tell me what they like—and don’t like—about the books. I write them for you!

  about the author

  Beth Groundwater was an avid “river rat” in the 1980s, running whitewater rivers in the eastern United States in an open-boat canoe. She has enjoyed reacquainting herself with that subculture and its updated boating equipment while researching the RM Outdoor Adventures mystery series. Beth lives in Colorado and enjoys its many outdoor activities, including skiing and whitewater rafting. She loves to speak to book clubs about her books. To find out more, please visit Beth’s website at bethgroundwater.com and her blog at bethgroundwater.blogspot.com.

  Author photo © Neil Groundwater.