by Kathi Daley
I shook my head. “I’m okay.” I set Moose on the floor. “I’m going to go wash my face. Tell Wyatt I’ll be right back.”
I headed to the ladies’ room, where I’d have a few minutes to myself. In many ways, I’d become accustomed to the emotional turmoil the connections put my mind and body through, but there were times they felt as raw and heart-wrenching as the very first time. Losing a stranger was nothing like feeling Val’s life force fade away, but the part of me that was a friend, sister, and child knew that for someone, their life would never be the same.
I splashed water on my face and dried it with a paper towel before I went back out to the bar. Harley handed me a cup of coffee and I smiled as I accepted it. He sat down at the table and waited quietly while I sipped the hot brew he’d provided.
“What was that all about?” Harley asked.
“I’m able to connect with people I’m meant to help.”
“Connect?”
“I can see them and feel their physical and emotional pain. Once I’m able to make a connection, I can usually get a pretty good read on where they are and what sort of help they need.”
“Is it always so intense?” he eventually asked.
“Not always, but yeah, a lot of the time. Unfortunately, a lot of people lose their lives out there on that mountain. No one ever thinks it’s going to be them or someone they love until it is.”
“I remember hearing about skiers who lost their way in a storm when I was a kid. You’d think people would understand how dangerous going out without a guide can be.”
I took another sip of my coffee. “It seems to be human nature to think that bad things happen to other people.”
“How long have you been able to do this? Sense other people?”
“Since I was seventeen.”
Harley put his hand on mine. “I can’t even begin to comprehend dealing with the trauma you seem to be able to connect with. You’re a very special woman.”
“Special, no. Cursed, maybe.”
Harley looked as if he was going to argue with me when Wyatt interrupted. “Jake’s on the radio for you.” He handed me the receiver.
“Hey, Jake, what’s up?”
“We have the man and his son we were after, but they said they saw two skiers heading up the mountain when they were coming down. We’re going to come in with the two we have, but if you sense anything, or if someone calls in a missing persons report, let me know.”
“Okay, I will.”
“Is Jordan still there?” Jake asked.
“Wyatt said she was called in to work.”
“Okay. Ten-four.”
I set the radio down and looked at Harley. “In case you were wondering, Jordan is a team member and also a doctor.”
“How many are on the team?”
“There are eight of us, including Sarge, who usually mans the radio. Jake Cartwright is the leader of the pack and Austin Boswell, a local firefighter, is our newest recruit. Landon Stanford is the brains of the team, and Wyatt makes sure we stay on track and has serious mountain-climbing skills.”
“And the others?”
“Dani Mathews owns a helicopter and helps out when air rescue is required and, as I said, Jordan’s a doctor. If the rescue warrants it, we have a handful of others who help out too.”
“It seems you all work well together.”
I nodded. “We’re a family. We all have unique talents we bring to the table and support one another no matter what.”
A look of longing crossed Harley’s face.
“Are you close to the people you work with?” I asked.
Harley shook his head. “No. Not really.”
“But you have friends back home.”
Harley shrugged. “Sure, I guess. I travel a lot, so it’s hard to establish meaningful relationships. If I stop to think about it, the only one I’m really close to is my sister Polly.”
“I haven’t talked to Polly in ages. Is she still living in Los Angeles?”
“For now. She’s dating Mike Stinson, and it seems to be getting pretty serious.”
“Rescue’s Mike Stinson?” Mike was a local doctor who’d just gotten back from two years with Doctors Without Borders.”
“Polly got her degree in nursing and did a stint with Doctors Without Borders. She happened to be assigned to the same team as Mike. They remembered each other from when Polly and I lived here. Now that Mike is back in Rescue, I expect an engagement is on the horizon.”
“Is Polly here? In Rescue?”
“No. She’s still in LA. She’s committed to the hospital where she works for to finish out the year, but she’s a free agent as of January.”
“It would be awesome if she came back here. I always liked her. Do you think Mike and Polly plan to settle here?”
Harley shrugged. “I’m not sure. They have ties to Rescue, but they both have a bit of wanderlust as well. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they don’t get hitched and then set off on another adventure.”
“I can understand that. Sometimes I think it would be fun to see the world, but in the end, I’m just a homebody. I think I’d be homesick after only a week or two, if I ever did decide to leave Rescue.”
“So you’ve been here this whole time? Since we were in school together?”
I nodded.
“College?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t have a burning passion to do anything different with my life than I’m doing right now, so I didn’t see the need to spend all that money. I do like to learn about new things, so I read a lot. Pretty much everything you can learn in college you can learn from a book.”
“I guess.” Harley took another sip of his coffee. “It seems like things have quieted down. How long do you need to stay?”
“As long as it takes. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m afraid we’re just getting started.”
Unfortunately, I was right. Not five minutes later, an image flashed through my mind. A child. God, I hated it when children were involved. I closed my eyes and tried to make a connection. I could sense her fear. She was cold but not injured.
“Wyatt,” I called without opening my eyes.
“I’m here, babe. What do you have?”
“A young girl. Maybe six or seven. She’s in a dark space. It’s very small.”
“A cave?” Wyatt asked.
I focused my energy. “No. Not a cave. A pipe of some sort.”
“A drainage pipe?” Wyatt asked.
I took several deep breaths and sat quietly. “I’m not sure. Maybe. She’s cold. So very cold.” I felt myself begin to shiver. “She wants to get out, but she can’t. She’s stuck.” I frowned as I focused in. “She isn’t in pain, but she can’t move her foot. Her left foot.”
“Where is she, babe?” Wyatt asked. “We need a location.”
“I know.” Tears began to stream down my face. “The girl’s becoming hysterical. She’s trying to move her foot, but it’s trapped by something. She’s calling for her mother.”
I felt the fingers of someone’s hand thread through mine and squeeze. I still hadn’t opened my eyes, but I knew it was Harley.
“There’s water,” I gasped. “And it’s cold. So cold.”
“It has to be a drainage pipe leading from the mountain into the lake,” Wyatt said.
“I don’t think so. It’s snowing, not raining. I think it’s more of a spill drain carrying water from the lake.”
“Okay, but it’s a big lake. Where do we look?”
I focused as hard as I could, blocking out the world around me as well as Harley’s distracting hand. “I hear something. A creaking. It sounds like something blowing back and forth in the wind.” I tried harder. The groan sounded familiar. I knew I’d heard it before.
My eyes popped open. “Swings. The sound is coming from swings. Check the playground down by the lake.”
Landon walked in just then, and he went with Wyatt, leaving Harley and me alone.
“Are you okay?” Harle
y used a finger to wipe a tear from my cheek.
Moose climbed into my lap and I hugged him to my chest. “I’m all right.”
My heartbeat slowed as Moose purred in my ear. Harley went into the kitchen to grab me another cup of coffee just before Jake, Dani, and Austin walked in.
“Did you get the man and his son back in one piece?” I asked.
“We did. They were cold but fine. I dropped them at the hospital as a precaution. Did the two women make it back okay?” Jake answered.
“The woman who called in the report is going to call when they arrive. The man they were with died, so we’ll have a retrieval when the storm lets up.”
“Damn,” Jake said before taking a deep breath and blowing it out. “I heard the call about the little girl. Should we head out to assist?”
I paused and closed my eyes. “No, they have her.”
Harley returned with my coffee and set it down on the table.
“I heard you were in town.” Jake slapped Harley on the back. “It’s good to see you, man.”
“Good to see you too.” Harley put his hand on Jake’s shoulder. “Been a while.”
“Too long.”
I should have realized Jake and Harley knew each other; Jake had lived in Rescue back before Harley left. I set Moose back in his chair, then headed to the ladies’ room while the guys caught up. I wasn’t picking up anything at the moment, but my instinct told me the night wasn’t over and I needed to stay alert. I splashed water on my face, then looked in my reflection in the mirror. Dark hair, a few freckles, average features that weren’t likely to turn anyone’s head. I read the tabloids and knew the kind of women Harley was linked to: models, actors, singers, all beautiful and all a whole lot more exciting than I’d ever be.
By the time I returned to the table I felt refreshed. There was a fresh cup of coffee waiting for me, so I sat down across from Harley. “It looks like there’s a break in the action. Why don’t you tell me what you’re hoping I can do for you?”
He pulled a photo out of his pocket and handed it to me. It featured a tall man with dark hair wearing a heavy parka and sunglasses.
“What am I looking at?” I asked.
“About a month ago, I got an envelope in the mail from Tim. We were really close in high school but hadn’t stayed in touch since I left Rescue other than a Christmas card and a chatty note every year. Then, last summer, I ran into him at the wedding of a mutual friend. Tim seemed to have gotten his act together and was in a good place. We talked about getting together over the Christmas holiday, so I wasn’t surprised to hear from him. But the envelope didn’t contain an invitation to get together, just this photo, along with a note saying he’d gotten himself into a whole heap of trouble and wasn’t sure how things were going to work out. He said he had a plan to fix things, but if it didn’t work out and he were to meet an untimely death, chances were this man had probably killed him.”
I frowned. “Do you know who this is?”
Harley shook his head. “I have no idea. I’m in Rescue to find out. I’ve already asked around a bit, but no one will admit to knowing the guy. I’m not even sure he’s still, or ever was, here. Tim had a knack for getting himself in and out of trouble, and I know he used drugs in the past, but given the timing of his overdose and the envelope he sent me, I think his death may not have been an accident.”
I narrowed my gaze. “It does seem like too much of a coincidence to actually be one.”
“I feel like I need to track down this man. Either he killed Tim or he knows who did. Can you help me?”
I paused. “I don’t know if I can find him, but I’m willing to try. The first thing we need to do is figure out who he is. Landon is a genius on the computer. If it’s okay with you, I’d like to bring him in on this. He might be able to use facial recognition software to identify the man. Do you know if there was any sort of investigation when Tim died?”
Harley shook his head. “As far as I can tell, no. His body was found in a ravine just outside of town. He died of a heroin overdose. There were track marks on his arm and an empty syringe near his body. As I said, Tim had a drug problem when he was younger, but he’s been clean for years. Besides, even when he was using, he wasn’t doing heavy-duty drugs like heroin.”
I looked at the photo again. “Okay. I’ll help you, but I can’t make any promises. Let’s bring Landon and Jake in on this. They might be able to help.”
“'Bring Landon and Jake in’ on what?” Wyatt asked, walking up behind me.
“Grab them and we’ll fill you in.”
Chapter 5
Friday, December 8
Landon and Jake agreed to help find out what had happened to Tim. Landon cleaned up the photo Harley had received in the mail and was running the facial recognition program, and Jake knew where Tim had been living, so he was meeting Harley and me the next morning to look around.
The cabin Tim lived in was about ten miles from the commercial area of Rescue. It was small, with a single bedroom, a small bathroom, and a living area that incorporated a seating area and a functional but tiny kitchen. The first thing I noticed when I went inside was that the place had been tossed. Every drawer was upended, the sofa cushions were slashed, and the contents of every cupboard had been emptied onto the floor.
“Wow,” I said as I took it all in.
“Wow is right,” Jake agreed. He turned to look at Harley. “Did Tim say anything about having possession of something that someone else might have been after?”
Harley looked as shocked as I felt. “No. The envelope I received contained the photo and a very short note stating that if something happened to him, it most likely wasn’t an accident.”
“Do you have the note?” Jake asked.
“Back at the inn.”
“We’ll stop by to look at it when we’re done here.” Jake looked at me. “For now, let’s just look around and see what we find.”
“What are we looking for?” I asked.
Jake shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m hoping if we see it, we’ll know it.”
By unvoiced agreement, the three of us split up and searched different sections of the cabin. It seemed odd to me that virtually all the breakable objects in the place had been shattered. Did whoever broke in think Tim had hidden whatever it was they were after inside something? If that were true, whatever we were looking for would have to be small. How small I didn’t know because I had absolutely no idea what could have gotten Tim killed.
“I don’t know how we’re ever going to find anything in this mess, especially because we don’t know what we’re looking for,” I said aloud after we’d been searching the place for nearly thirty minutes.
“It does seem pretty pointless,” Harley agreed. “I guess I should have made more of an effort to follow up with Tim.”
“Did you speak to him at all after receiving the letter?” I asked.
Harley hung his head before answering. “No. I called him right after I got it, but he didn’t pick up the call. I left a message and asked him to call me back, but he didn’t. I should have been more diligent, but I was in the middle of wrapping a movie that was already behind schedule and the letter slipped my mind. The next thing I knew, I got a call from my sister, letting me know Tim was dead. I’ve been beating myself up about it ever since. I should have realized Tim was in real trouble and done more to help him when I had the chance.”
“You couldn’t have known he’d fallen off the wagon,” I reasoned.
“I don’t think he had,” Jake countered. “If Tim had been using, there would be signs, and there isn’t anything in here to indicate that he was. I haven’t found a single bottle of alcohol, any pills, or even a prescription; not a syringe, not a bong, nothing.”
“That’s a good point,” I realized. “What are the chances Tim would be clean all this time and then suddenly decide to crawl into a ditch and overdose? If he was back to his old ways, I’m sure we would find evidence. He lived alone, so he wouldn�
��t have reason to hide if he was using again.”
“Which makes me feel even worse.” Harley sighed. “Of all the people he knew, he chose to reach out to me for help, and I let him down.”
“Why do you think he did reach out to you?” I asked. “You’re a busy man who didn’t live anywhere near him. Why do you think he sent the letter to you instead of someone closer? Someone he saw on a regular basis? And if he did think the man in the photo was going to kill him, why didn’t he say who he was in the letter?”
“I don’t know,” Harley said, frustration evident in his voice. “I don’t think there’s anything here. If whatever Tim had that got him killed was in the cabin, whoever broke in most likely has it. And if Tim hid it somewhere else, I don’t see any clues that would lead to it.”
I sighed. “It’s not looking good. If we knew what we were looking for, then maybe…”
“Let’s head over to the inn and look at the letter he sent you,” Jake said. “After that, I need to get to the bar. It’ll be busy with the weekend crowd.”
******
The Moosehead Inn was owned and operated by a very nice couple, Marty and Mary Miller. They’d moved to Rescue after leaving the big city to seek a simpler way of life, and both seemed to have adjusted to the Alaskan lifestyle quite well. Marty owned a sled dog team he entered in regional competitions, and Mary belonged to several women’s groups in addition to cooking for and seeing to her guests. The first thing I always noticed when entering the inn was the delightful smell of something baking in the oven. Harley went up to his room with Jake while I wandered into the kitchen to have a chat with Mary.
“Gingerbread?” I asked when I found Mary using the electric mixer.
“Harmony,” Mary said, turning off the mixer and wiping her hands on a rag. “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you come in.”
“That’s okay. Jake’s here with Harley to find something in his room, so I decided to stop in to say hi.”
“It’s been such a thrill to have a big name like Harley Medford staying at our little inn. When he first called about a reservation I thought he’d be difficult to get along with, being such a star and all, but as it turns out, he’s as pleasant as he is good-looking.”