North Rim Delight

by Regina Duke

  Reassured and a bit chagrined, Terri accepted the firearm and put it in her tote bag. “What about Gavin?”

  “He’s a loose cannon. He’s not on our side, but he’s furious with DaSilva for knocking him around. What’s that other old saying? The enemy of my enemy is my friend?” He gave her a wry look. “Don’t worry. I don’t trust him for a second. But he’s not the problem at the moment.”

  “It was odd,” said Terri, “how he said ‘tucked away.’ He never actually said he had Tony, did he?”

  “I told you he was crafty.”

  “How are you going to take him into custody? He won’t go quietly.”

  “You are full of questions, aren’t you?” Russ tried to lighten the mood a bit. “Look, Terri, I apologize if my serious side disturbed you. You’re probably different at work, too, right? All business-like and professional? Well, between Gavin and DaSilva’s phone call, I am officially on the job.”

  “Even without a warrant?”

  He opened his phone and stabbed in a number with his thumb. He had it on speed dial. “Sara? Give me good news.”

  He did not punch speaker.

  Terri paced too and fro in the cabin. Russ was mostly listening, not talking. She moved to the window and peeked out. Gavin was sitting on one of the rocking chairs on the porch, looking for all the world like any other tourist. That is, any other tourist who had had a bad accident with his face. She marveled at the signs of mental illness that Russ had caught right away. And she remembered that her therapist had warned her of the same thing. From the descriptions she had provided of Gavin’s behavior, the therapist told her he was unstable, needed medical and psychological attention, and if he refused to seek it out, he would only get worse over time.

  That was a year ago. Time had passed. And Gavin had definitely gotten worse.

  “Thanks, Sara. Call the Washoe County Sheriff’s office and tell them I’ve spotted him here. I’ll take care of things at this end. Talk to you soon.”

  Terri perched one thigh on the edge of the table. Her clothes were feeling a bit ripe. She scratched at the spot where her leg was injured in her fall. Her fingernails made a satisfying sound on the denim. “You are definitely in work mode,” she remarked. “You forgot to send your regards to the girls.”

  A flash of grim smile was her reward. Then Russ said, “Some interesting things have happened since we left Reno. Police responded to a call at a motel over on West Fourth, near the cemetery. They found Jiggy Sheffield dead in his room. The medical examiner estimates he died late Sunday night, early Monday morning. There were signs of a struggle. Cause of death was a blow to the head. And Kenny DaSilva is a person of interest.”

  “Is that as good as a warrant?” asked Terri.

  “No. But he’s on their radar now, and I take great pleasure in letting them know where to find the SOB,” said Russ. “Not that it changes my personal agenda.”

  His cell rang again. This time he punched speaker.

  “Go ahead, Chad.”

  “Tony was on the list for the half-day ride. I spoke to someone who said he signed up yesterday afternoon and his dad paid for it.” He emphasized the “dad” part. “He got on the shuttle bus this morning at seven when it left for the trail head.”

  “So, we can assume that ‘dad’ was DaSilva,” said Russ. “He probably told Tony it was a reward for taking part in his little joke with the message delivery yesterday.”

  Terri frowned. “Those mule rides have to be booked over a year in advance, Russ. And there’s a waiting list. How could he know that an opening would happen?”

  Russ gave her a disbelieving stare.

  Terri threw her hands in the air in surrender. “Sorry. Not used to dealing with criminals. He must have done something to make it happen.”

  Russ suppressed a grin. Then pointed at himself, then the bathroom, and held up five fingers.

  Terri nodded and sat down at the table to wait for him.

  Russ closed the bathroom door and spoke softly into the phone. “Chad? Here’s what I want you to do.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  THIRTY MINUTES later, Chad delivered the stainless steel flask to Russ at the cabin. Russ and Terri had spent the time discussing whether or not Terri should stay behind the locked cabin door with the thirty-eight special for company. Russ voted yes, and Terri voted no. She finally convinced him that she would be safer with him, out in the open where DaSilva would have to deal with the presence of witnesses if he tried any more rough stuff.

  They both tried to talk Gavin out of going along. He pouted, then argued, then claimed it was a free country and he could walk where he pleased, including ten paces behind them on their way to the rendezvous.

  Raffi was much more relaxed now that the rangers had reassured her that Tony was on a mule and would return safe and sound at noon. She looked eager to help. “What do you want me to do?”

  Russ hefted the flask in his hand and shook it up and down. It produced a satisfying rattle. “I want you to go eat breakfast on me.” He pulled out his wallet and gave her two twenties. “No arguments. Chad is already late for work, and he needs that job. You two go and keep an eye on each other.”

  “But this is too much,” she protested.

  “Not if you leave him a big tip,” winked Russ. “Now go. Terri and I will head for the trail.”

  Once they were gone, Russ lifted Terri’s chin so he could look her in the eye. “Ready?”

  Terri nodded. “Ready. We go and give him the flask.” She stopped herself before repeating the rest of the plan, the part where they turned him in to the park rangers. Russ didn’t want Gavin to overhear anything useful.

  Terri wanted to hold Russ’s hand, but two things held her back. One, Russ didn’t offer. He was in work mode. Two, Gavin was trailing along behind them like a lonely puppy. She did not want to do anything that would enrage him again. She couldn’t believe that she had endured his fits of temper, his manipulation, and his threats for so many years. Whatever happened with DaSilva, Terri was hopeful that at last she would be free of Gavin as well, one way or another. If he didn’t leave her alone, she was ready to file for a restraining order.

  She almost laughed out loud when she realized how different she was now, compared to Monday morning. She had left Reno like a woman running away from her past. Now here she was at the North Rim, with a revolver in her tote bag and about to come face to face with a man who had tried to kill her twice.

  The trail wasn’t crowded. Many tourists were taking advantage of programs offered by the rangers. But there were still other people ambling along both in front and behind. Gavin was among them.

  As they approached the wide spot where DaSilva had shoved Terri over the guard rail, she was disappointed that she didn’t see him standing there. Disappointed and relieved. But both emotions faded quickly when she spotted him leaning against a tree on the lodge side of the trail. When Russ stopped, Terri stopped. They were a good eight feet from DaSilva.

  Russ held up the flask. “Looking for this?”

  DaSilva’s expression didn’t change, but his eyes flashed with greed.

  Gavin caught up with them. His arrival changed DaSilva’s smirk to lip-curled contempt. “What are you doing here?”

  Gavin could not hold still. He danced back and forth, his hands curled into white-knuckled fists. He had gone from lonely puppy to Rottweiler. “You trying to cut me out?”

  “You were never in,” snarled DaSilva.

  Gavin let loose a string of invective. A couple of people left the trail and headed for the paved path. Curious stares vied with instinctive caution as they moved away from Gavin’s anger.

  Russ tried to calm him down. “Gavin, you’re scaring the tourists. They’ll have the rangers over here any minute.”

  Gavin fumed silently, teetering on an explosive edge that was all too familiar to Terri.

  Russ stepped across the trail to the guard rail. “Terri and I thought it would be a nice touch to send you
after your prize the same way you sent her after her photos.” He did not take his eyes off DaSilva, but he leaned sideways and tossed the flask over the guard rail. It landed two feet from the edge of the rim, almost exactly where DaSilva had thrown Terri’s package.

  “There it is. Help yourself. We’re leaving now.” Russ waved Terri forward.

  She quick-stepped past DaSilva, but the revolver in her tote bag gave her courage she didn’t know she had, and she couldn’t resist one barbed taunt. “You botched killing me twice, jerk. You’ll botch this up, too.”

  Gavin frowned at Terri, then snapped at DaSilva, “Twice?! What does she mean, twice?”

  DaSilva sneered at him. “Get lost.” He stepped to the guard rail, looked up and down the trail, and swung a leg over.

  Russ was moving Terri along, but he turned to say, “That’s the spot where DaSilva pushed her over the edge. She almost fell to her death.”

  Gavin was shouting at DaSilva now. “You pushed her over the edge?! She’s mine, you son of a bitch!”

  DaSilva waved Gavin off with a disdainful gesture. “Get lost, loser.” He stepped away from the guard rail and bent to retrieve the flask.

  Gavin was over the rail in a single leap. “Nobody touches her but me!” In his anger, he seemed oblivious to the proximity of the canyon’s edge. He swung wildly at DaSilva, but the punch never landed. As DaSilva straightened, clutching the flask to his chest, he instinctively side-stepped out of the way of Gavin’s fist. When he did, his left foot slid on the gravel and he teetered over the abyss. When Gavin swung at him a second time, DaSilva grabbed his arm with his free hand in order to save himself. But Gavin’s momentum was toward DaSilva, not away, and DaSilva’s added weight sent Gavin tumbling into the other man. DaSilva’s cry was almost drowned out by the shrieks of passing tourists who watched in horror as the two men disappeared over the edge.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  RUSS SPENT several hours with the rangers, answering questions and filling in blanks. Terri thought she was holding up fine, but found it impossible to form coherent sentences in the aftermath of the accident. She never could remember how she ended up in her cabin with Raffi at her side. But that’s where she was when Raffi told her about her new job with the travel writer. Terri would later recall snatches of Raffi’s excited conversation.

  “She said I’m perfect for the job.” Blah, blah, blah. “And we can stay in her old assistant’s cabin.” Blah, blah. “It might even become permanent. Let me get you another compress for your head.”

  At five to twelve, Raffi left her to go meet the shuttle bus returning from the mule rides.

  Terri dozed.

  Russ arrived back at the cabin at one thirty. He entered quietly. “Knock, knock. I brought hot dogs and iced tea.”

  Terri blinked at him a few times, as if trying to remember who he was. “Oh, hi. Good. I’m starved.”

  Russ looked concerned. “I’m going to call for a doctor.”

  “No, really, I’m fine.” Terri sat up and leaned against the headboard. “Okay, I’m not fine. But I have a couple of diazepam in me, and I’m in that sweet spot where nothing makes an impression. I’ll probably throw up later, but for now I want a hot dog. There’s nothing worse than upchucking on an empty stomach.”

  Russ grinned. “Okay. That sounds more like the Terri I know.” He gestured toward the table. “Here? Or on the bed?”

  “Bed.”

  He perched on the edge beside her and opened the sacks from the cafeteria.

  Terri took a long sip from her iced tea. “Do I have to go talk to the rangers?”

  Russ shook his head no. “Not today. I told them you were pretty upset by what you’d seen. Aside from that, I sort of left you out of it.”

  Her eyes widened.

  “In a good way,” he added. “I told them DaSilva was a person of interest in a Reno murder and they’re communicating with the Washoe County sheriff. Basically, I just went over and over the same details. I told them your only connection was the photo mix up, and that you and DaSilva exchanged pictures yesterday. I also told them that Gavin was your ex, that he seemed extremely jealous, and he had followed you to the Canyon. I hinted that he might have seen you talking to DaSilva when you exchanged photos. By the way, DaSilva switched plates on Gavin’s truck. That’s why the rangers never spotted it coming into the park.” He took a bite of hot dog.

  Terri did the same. Around a mouthful, she mumbled, “How’d he arrange the mule ride thing?”

  Russ swallowed and replied. “He evidently paid some guy five hundred dollars and used his I.D. to get Tony on the ride.”

  “That guy’s okay?”

  “He’s fine. He was giving a statement to the rangers when I left. Said he really needed the money. They even resembled each other. Now that was a stroke of luck. Drivers’ license photos are bad anyway, so when eye and hair color matched, and the face was pretty close, it went off without a hitch. Besides, it’s not like the mule ride folks are expecting big conspiracies when they check people in. Their biggest worry was thinking they had to tell Tony his dad was dead. I put their minds at ease about that.”

  They ate in companionable silence for a while.

  Then Terri said, “Hey, my phone still works. I called Calin. Guess what? That German shepherd in rescue that she wants me to meet when I get back? It was turned over by Dr. Nething. Do you think it’s the same dog? The one they took the diamonds out of?”

  “That would be amazing,” said Russ.

  As Terri slurped the last of her iced tea through the straw, her eyes grew big and she tapped Russ’s shoulder.

  “What about the diamonds?”

  Russ looked confused for a moment. Then he remembered that Terri had not heard that part of his conversation with Chad. “Not to worry. The diamonds are in the safe at the lodge. When I was talking to Chad on the phone, I told him to empty the flask, leave the diamonds, and fill the flask with pebbles. According to Sara, there’s a reward being offered for their return. They were stolen from a jeweler in Reno. The plan was to hide them in the dog and ship him and the diamonds God knows where. You and I know what happened to that plan. My guess is, Jiggy was supposed to take care of the dog after the flask was inserted, but the dog got away from him. Probably got scared by Fourth of July fireworks. A good samaritan picked up the dog and took it to Nething. By then the incision was infected and Nething found the flask. Jiggy paid for his blunder with his life. Chad is spending the afternoon making phone calls to see if he can qualify for the reward.”

  “You’re not worried that he’ll keep the diamonds instead?”

  Russ grinned. “I made sure that’s not an option. I’ve been on the phone a few times myself this morning.”

  Terri leaned back against the headboard while Russ cleared away the sacks and napkins from their lunch.

  “I haven’t been much help,” she said.

  Russ returned to her side. “Are you feeling better?”

  “Much.”

  “I told the rangers that we won’t be leaving until tomorrow and if they have any questions for you, you’ll be around. They said considering your condition and the doctor’s advice—”

  “Doctor? What doctor?”

  “Yes, well, that’s exactly why they decided they could wait until tomorrow. Your short term memory has been badly affected by the shock of the whole ordeal. They had a doctor check you out before letting Raffi escort you back to the cabin. It’s not like you were involved in a crime. You were merely a witness to a tragic accident. As for how much help you’ve been, thinking about you helped me get through the morning more than you know.” He smiled warmly and leaned in slowly for a kiss.

  Terri kissed him back.

  The electricity between them took her breath away. “Oh, Russ, how do you do that?”

  “Do what?” he murmured, letting his kisses trail down her neck.

  “How do make me shut out everything else that’s going on and leave no room in my head for anything
but you?”

  “Special talent, I guess.” He sat up. “You are feeling better, aren’t you?”

  “Mmm-hmmm.”

  “You’re not in a diazepam fog or anything?”

  “Nope. Thinking more clearly.”

  “Good.” He leaned close and whispered in her ear. “We need a shower.”

  Terri let Russ remove her clothes. He was gentle and hesitant, waiting for her subtle nods of encouragement before moving on to the next item. His hands tickled her skin, smoothed her hair, and tweaked her nipples as he slipped her bra off.

  “What about you?” she murmured.

  “Shh.” He touched her lips with one finger. “Believe me, undressing you first is all about me.” He dropped his head to her bare shoulder and began leaving a trail of kisses along her collarbone. When he reached the hollow of her throat, he slipped his tongue into the depression and traced a wet line down to her left nipple.

  Terri gasped and trembled.

  Russ’s hands slid down her bare back and stopped at her jeans. He dropped to his knees and undid her zipper. He lowered the denim to the floor, leaving her bikini panties in place. One by one, he untied her shoes and slipped them off her feet.

  Terri was grateful he was so close, because when her bones melted she would need something to fall on. Then she giggled, because people’s bones don’t melt. She never knew having one’s shoes removed could be a sensuous experience.

  A moment later, she was standing and he was kneeling, looking up at her, kissing the flawless skin where her panties met her body.

  Terri moaned.

  He peeled away the adhesive and bandages on her leg. Her scrape looked much better. The antibiotic had done the trick. He kissed all around the injury but did not touch it directly. He slipped his fingers under the elastic of her panties and pulled them gently down. Then he stood and helped her step into the tub.

  He removed his own clothes with a great deal more speed. He turned on the water and tested it with his fingers before stepping in and pulling the knob to turn on the shower.