by Jerold Last
Suzanne smiled grimly. “I assume you realize you’re asking us to make ourselves targets, on the off-chance someone who’s already killed two experienced CIA agents will start shooting at us with their tranquilizer rifle so they can fake two more bear killings in the woods.”
“Yeah,” replied the FBI agent, “I realize what I’m asking. And I may have a good idea to lower your risk, but I have to check a few things out before I’m ready to share it. I also have the impression from all I’ve seen and heard you can both take care of yourselves. You just told me you’ve earned a black belt in karate. Roger didn’t seem to have any trouble handling Raul Vonhorst when we were in the Galapagos Islands. Until now all of the dead bodies we’ve heard about since Roger came to our official attention during the dog show murder case have been the people who attacked Roger, not vice versa. And that’s important, because in this kind of wide-open empty country in the National Park, there’s no way we can guarantee to protect you or keep you safe in this kind of operation even if you have a gun or Agent Culpepper for extra protection.
”And speaking of guns,” she continued after a big taste of her pie and a large sip of coffee, “I’m doing the paperwork for your permit, Roger. I need to give the score you’d shoot when we tested you. You’ll need a 40 out of a possible 50 to qualify. What kind of scores did you put up when you were qualifying for the LAPD?”
I tried for my best sincere expression and told her the truth. “I was on the LAPD’s pistol team and kept turning down offers for transfer to SWAT. My typical qualifying score would have been 50 and I was one of the top competitive shooters with a handgun on the force. My experience shooting at people is limited, but so far I’ve hit what I’ve been aiming at in real gunfights too. But I’m inclined to doubt that our fake bear would come at me from the front, Gretchen.”
“This keeps sounding better and better as you and Roger go along,” replied Suzanne with a wry smile. “What on earth do you think would make us volunteer to walk around with a big target on each of our backs, Gretchen?”
“I have an idea how we can get you into the Kantishna Lodge, which seems to be at the top of the list as a focal point in this investigation. The problem would normally be the reservations for the lodge are booked a year or two in advance, so anybody suddenly appearing at the lodge the week after a murder is going to be suspicious. It’s going to be a bit tricky, given that everybody in the park, including the rangers, is a suspect, so we can’t ask for local cooperation. We most definitely wouldn’t want anyone in Denali to know you’re working with us. But I think we can slip you in there as a couple of wealthy campaign contributors to the President’s election fund with big time national political connections. If you say yes, I think we’re going to find an expired visa for one of the present guests while we’re doing a routine investigation of possible suspects.”
“And the point of this would be what?” Suzanne replied.
Gretchen finished her pie and coffee while she gathered her thoughts. “My best guess is we’re going to have a tough time solving these murders unless we can dangle some live bait in front of the murderer and make him or her show themselves. As we discussed before, you two can take care of yourselves. I’m asking you to be the bait. I assume the killer or killers are going to turn out to be Park Rangers, which I doubt, on the staff of one of the concessionaires, a former spy from Chile or one of his relatives or friends, or a local civilian who hangs out around the old forested area where we found the bodies.
“I’m pretty sure we can get the FBI to pick up the tab for you to stay at the Kantishna Roadhouse Lodge as undercover informants, which will cost something like $1,000 per night for the two of you, so you’ll get a nice vacation out of this assignment even if we can’t legally pay Roger his usual fee for this case. There are 32 cabins behind the Roadhouse along Moose Creek managed by a year-round resident who has this concession. That should give you an ideal excuse to wander around the old gold mine diggings and get to know the staff and tourists staying at the facility, as well as some of the locals. I gather the Roadhouse is also the center for the social lives of most of the guides in the National Park, so you can assume they’ll hang around the Roadhouse at night too.”
Gretchen had obviously been thinking about this for a while. She dove directly into the details. “The Roadhouse is an all-inclusive package deal for the guests staying there. They keep you entertained during the day with a selection of activities---Hiking, mountain biking, gold panning, fly fishing, sled dog presentations, happy hours, parties, you name it. They don’t want to lose any tourists in the wilderness so everything off-site nominally requires you to be guided by a staff member, but they don’t enforce the rules with guests paying the kind of money the Lodge charges. That’s probably how the Roberts ended up in the wilderness on their own the day they were killed. I want you to sign up for everything so you can get a feeling for all of the staff members who act as guides. The only thing you’re going to want to do on your own without a guide is check out the area around the clearing where your friends were killed. You’ll have to get there and back by mountain bike; they don’t rent horses anywhere in the National Park. These will help.”
The FBI agent reached into her attaché case and pulled out a couple of cell phones. “These are special issue for law enforcement. They’re regular cell phones except for a few added features. They send and receive via satellite, so you’ll have a signal anywhere in the park. You can call me anytime on speed dial. The little red button at the top is an SOS signal. If you depress it twice, we’ll get a call for help from you and it will keep transmitting so we can locate you precisely. There are also a few unconventional apps. The one called ‘GPS’ is just what it says it is. Tell it to record where you are and you’ll be able to find the way back to the exact location where you were within 50-100 feet. It’s pre-programmed with the coordinates for exactly where we found the bodies and for the Kantishna Roadhouse. Someone here will be monitoring your frequency 24/7. The other apps are self-explanatory. Play with the phone’s GPS system a little bit when you get a chance during that long bus ride to the Lodge so you know what it can and can’t do.
“So, what’s your decision? Yes or no? If it’s yes, you need to be checked out of your hotel and on the Denali bus tomorrow morning at 8 AM, which means we have to get you back to Denali tonight.”
Suzanne and I exchanged glances. She nodded her agreement to me, so it was clearly my decision to make. I looked at Gretchen and Barbara, extending the moment by finishing my pie, which was a very good mixture of raspberries and blackberries, while I thought things through. Ultimately, I decided we owed it to Vincent to make every possible effort to solve this case. “We’re in,” I told the FBI agents. “It sounds like we need to get going if we’re going to be where we have to be tonight. Do we get to fly up there by helicopter?”
“Yes, the chopper is standing by waiting on the roof of our headquarters building. The pilot will give you a 9mm gift from me for the duration of your stay in the park. We need to get your stuff from the hotel and drive back over to our offices to give you your permit and you should be good to go. Good luck!”
The waiter dropped off our bill. Gretchen paid with a US Government credit card, and we were all ready to go.
Chapter10. Back to Denali
After dinner we returned to the hotel, packed our bags, took a taxi to the FBI office, said our good-byes to the Kaufman sisters, and jumped into the FBI helicopter for the ride north. The pilot wordlessly handed me a shoulder holster with a 9mm Glock tucked securely inside it, two extra loaded clips that fit special pouches on the shoulder rig, and a couple of sealed cardboard boxes containing additional ammo. With the long days and daylight until well into the night, we could see the ground under us clearly from the chopper in flight, even at this late hour. It was a direct route, much straighter than the train had taken. Most of the forest and tundra beneath us was new in the sense we hadn’t been there before, familiar in the sense that most o
f the terrain looked just like the scenery from the train.
Suzanne and I checked into our previous hotel atop a cliff in Denali with its convenient shuttle van to the park every morning to meet the bus for the long 92-mile ride to the Kantishna Roadhouse. In the morning we filled up with coffee and sweet pastries from the hotel lobby before jumping on the shuttle to the park. The van dropped us at the entrance. We walked with the other four passengers into the park and boarded the bus, already there waiting for us.
The tour bus would take longer than the alternative bus service directly to the Roadhouse via the Wonder Lake campground but we’d be able to take a good look at the driver-guide as a potential suspect. With the extra stop at the Visitor Center we could also size up two or three of the five Park Rangers as possible suspects in the killings. The direct bus would be quicker, but a total waste of whatever time we spent en route.
This time we didn’t have friends sitting next to us so enjoyed the scenery and a couple of short naps during the long ride into the park. Our driver-guide was, once again, Steve Schuck. We stopped at the Visitor Center, where we listened to Ed Farrell’s lecture again. The Chief Ranger, Fred Fleming, and Ed Farrell were the Rangers on duty again today, presenting what seemed to be exactly the same talks they’d delivered during our previous visit. They were still potential “persons of interest” in my mind, mainly because they had access to the dart rifle used to anesthetize Francis and Roberta Roberts.
When we viewed the two Park Rangers and guide Steve Schuck in this new light, as possible suspects in a murder case, any or even all of them could be our killer or killers. All three were pleasant, knew their stuff, and seemed to enjoy their jobs. However, the Visitors Center was at least a couple of hours drive on a bad dirt and gravel road away from the Kantishna Lodge, and even further from the site of the killings. Unless there was some reason for the two Rangers to ever be in the vicinity of the crimes, they weren’t likely suspects. But as of now, both of them were still on our suspect list when the bus left us, and our suitcases, off in front of the Kantishna Roadhouse.
The bus driver, Steve, had given us instructions to walk to the back of the Roadhouse and find the spruce log cabins overlooking Moose Creek. The first of the 32 cabins entering the property started out its life in 1906, when it served as the official recorder’s facility for miners to register their claims. Now it served as the registration center for the Kantishna complex. We checked into the Lodge at the front desk in that first cabin, where we were assigned to Cabin #12, in the middle of the complex on the creek side of the parallel rows of cabins. We made arrangements to borrow a couple of mountain bikes to explore the local area, and politely declined the services of a guide explaining we didn’t plan to go anywhere beyond sight range of the Kantishna Roadhouse facility. We had a quick lunch and were ready to go.
The staff member on duty at the desk had a nametag proclaiming her as Desiree. Perhaps 5’ 6” tall, nice build, looked strong, roughly 25 years old, pretty face, probably a college student working here for the summer. She had a few suggestions about where to bike safely starting from the Lodge. “The most popular destination for our guests is Wonder Lake. It’s a beautiful spot, you just have to follow the road by the creek out front to get there so you can’t get lost, and you’ll see some gorgeous country along the way. The old mining roads are also popular for biking, and you’ll see several of them at odd intervals heading off perpendicular to the main road I’m putting you on, all the way between here and the lake.
“When you’re done with the bikes for the day, just leave them in the bike rack where you picked them up. If you want to go out biking again, just start with any of the bikes out there. We run the bike rental on the honor system for the Lodge guests since there’s no charge for the bikes. It’s all included in your daily fee for the cabin.”
“Thank you very much, Desiree,” Suzanne replied. “We’re looking forward to getting some exercise before dinner. How long should it take us to get to the lake and back?”
Desiree looked at both of us thoughtfully. “You both look like you’re in pretty good shape. Maybe an hour there and an hour back, max, if you don’t take any side trips. Dinner is served promptly at 7, so you have about 4.5 hours to kill between now and then. You’ll probably want to check out the campgrounds at Wonder Lake or explore one of the old mining roads into the woods if you have the energy for a side trip. Or you might want to get back here early enough to take a nap before dinner. At your age it’s probably getting tough to stay up late and party on a weeknight.“
She said that with a perfectly straight face, so might actually have meant it. I made a mental note to ask her some time.
“Don’t forget there’s a party after dinner, so leave some room for dips, chips, and beer later,” she continued. “It’ll give you a chance to meet the other guests here at the Lodge and some of the staff. Tonight is usually a slow night for partying, so the staff will probably just be the locals from the Lodge crew rather than any of the concession guides or Park Rangers.”
Wonder Lake and the campgrounds turned out to be more like half an hour to 45 minutes away from the Lodge by bicycle at a leisurely pace on the hilly terrain. I’d guess the time for hiking the approximately 4 miles distance to be at least three times as long, so of the order of 2 hours away on foot. I needed to carefully check the distance from the Lodge to the murder site by biking or hiking, but a conservative estimate would be a couple of hours further to the west from the Lodge on foot.
With an 8 hour round trip from the campgrounds to the murder site, we probably couldn’t rule out the possibility that the killer or killers had been camping by Wonder Lake and encountered the Roberts while hiking in the area, but it was unlikely. Either the killer(s) started out from the Lodge, or they had access to a jeep or ATV if they were camping at the closest campsite to the Lodge. Of course, many of the campers drove into the various campgrounds located near the Park entrance just off the main road through the National Park. But a lot of the backpackers took the bus in and hiked the trails near and around the campgrounds and lake.
Tonight, just as we’d been warned, was a slow night for the party crowd. We saw the two staff members we’d met thus far, Desiree who had handled our cabin rental paperwork and bicycle rentals earlier today and Cathy, who we’d met on our first visit to the Lodge a few days ago. They stood off from the main crowd assembled around the wine and beer tables and tubs, talking to a few older couples I assumed were guests.
I’d asked Desiree whether any of the guests had been here the previous week and was told no, so we could probably save our sleep and our livers by ruling out all of the current guests as possible murder suspects. But we did want to get to know the staff better, and this party seemed to be the best place to do it, so we walked over to the small group to join them. Desiree noticed us as we approached them.
“Hey, Suzanne, grab a beer or two and join us!”
We did exactly that. As we entered the small group’s space Desiree introduced us to the others, “Suzanne and Roger Bowman, meet Cathy who’s on our staff here, John and Mary Spotswood from Chicago, Eloise and Earnest Forbes from Boston, and Bill and Chet from Key West, Florida. Suzanne and Roger are our newest guests here at the Lodge, folks. They just arrived this afternoon.”
We did a cycle of questions: “Where are you from?” and “What kind of work do you do?” with the other guests. We answered them briefly. Suzanne told them, “Los Angeles” and “College teacher,” while I answered, “Patent lawyer.”
Mary Spotswood described their day: “We tried fly fishing for the first time today. It was great. We caught several nice fish, which we put back for the next fishermen and had a great time smelling clean air and seeing real wilderness for a change.”
The Forbes couple had gone wilderness biking with their guide. They too had only good things to say about their experience. “The guide, a man named Lloyd Farquahr, was perfect. He took us through woods, meadows, and small mountains. He let
us set the pace we wanted. Lloyd explained what we were looking at as we came to it. We saw lots of small animals close-up, and a couple of bears and bald eagles at a distance. We could have done all that on our own, but we’d have missed the explanations and probably gotten lost several times.”
Bill and Chet from Key West told us this was their second ever trip to a National Park. “The first was off the Florida Keys and underwater, so couldn’t have been more different than the vast open spaces and wilderness of Denali,” commented Bill. “We spent the entire day around the Lodge, panning gold and hiking. We’re both amateur photographers, so we took hundreds of photos of the sights around here.”
All three couples had only been here in Denali for a few days so weren’t on our suspect list.
The two staff members we’d already met listened quietly to the tourists chattering. Cathy and Desiree, both college students here for summer jobs, worked 6 days per week for the Lodge concession owner. They got free room and board at the Lodge, minimum wage based on a 40-hour week plus overtime, and tips. Both of them told us they made a lot more from tips than from their salaries.