“She just needs some time to deal with her loss. I’d like to find out if Drew heard about Adrian’s death and why he hadn’t told his sister, if so.” Sean held the resort’s front door open for Sara.
“Good point,” she said as she eyeballed the sofa she and Sean had sat last night…where this had all begun. It sure felt like more than twenty-four hours had passed since they’d heard of Adrian’s death.
The fire burning on the hearth beckoned her to take a seat, maybe even place a drink order. They had a few hours to pass until Drew came off his shift at eleven. Plenty of time to enjoy a drink and still be sober enough to question him.
Sara sat in a tub chair positioned on one side of a round table. A burning candle was at its center, a drink and appetizer menu beside it, and another chair on the other side.
Sean grabbed the menu. “You might not be hungry, but I am.”
“So what are your thoughts on Monique? Do you think she was really okay with Adrian’s cheating ways?”
“Even Stephanie was aware of Adrian’s promiscuity,” he replied. “Both women were in his life a long time so they must have been.”
“True.”
A waitress approached them. “Good evening, may I get you a drink?”
“I’ll have a cognac,” Sara said without thought.
“Same,” Sean echoed.
“Very well. I’ll be right back.”
“Miss?” Sean said, and the waitress turned back to face him.
“Yes?”
“Make sure it’s from your finest bottle.”
“Yes, sir.”
Sara was shaking her head. “You just had to add that, didn’t you?”
He laughed. “I’m just looking out for us.”
“Uh-huh.” She had to admit, though, that not all cognacs were created equal.
A few seconds passed in silence. Sean looked over the menu while she just sat there, watching him and thinking.
“Nothing else back from Adam yet?” she asked.
“No—” His phone rang, and he glanced at the screen. “You’re scary sometimes, you know that? His ears must have been burning.” He accepted the call. “Adam, what do you have?”
Waiting while Sean was filled in on Adam’s findings was killing her.
The waitress returned in that time with their drinks, though. Sara mouthed, Thank you, and took a sip. Sean hung up about two minutes after that.
“Good news is we have some news.” He wrapped his hand around his glass and leaned forward.
She moved forward, too.
“According to their medical records, Dale, Gina, and Brent don’t have diabetes,” he said.
Her heart was racing. The argument, the public confrontation, the man who called the front desk… “But Tony does?”
“No.”
“No?” She sat back. “Then we’re nowhere.”
“Not exactly. He’s going to look further into Tony. He took a look at the Twitter fight and didn’t like the tone of it. Adrian might have been doing it to get a rise out of Tony, but Adam believes that Tony took it seriously.”
“All right,” she said, unsure where this was going.
“Adam’s going to look into Tony’s financials. Obviously whoever got the insulin into Adrian’s bloodstream had to be in Vail.”
“He’s looking for tickets or a booking in the village?” Sara asked, understanding now.
“Precisely.”
“That’s a good idea. We cast a bigger net—”
“More fish.”
“And hopefully one of them is our killer.”
-
Chapter 19
SPILLED BEANS
SEAN AND SARA WERE WAITING for Drew outside the employee door at the Alpine. A single light was mounted over it, casting a yellowish glow. There was a damp chill in the air, but the snow had stopped coming down.
It was rather quiet at the moment. The snow groomers hadn’t started up yet, and most of the tourists were likely at a bar in the village or back in their rooms with friends or lovers.
The door swung open, and a few people came out—two men and a woman—all seeming intent on getting home. The door hadn’t quite closed when it swung wide again. This was the man Stephanie had shown them on her phone. He had dark hair, a mustache, and was about six foot even.
“Drew?” Sean asked, stepping toward him.
The man tucked his scarf deeper into the collar of his coat. “Yeah, what’s it to you?” He jutted out his chin toward Sean, and then his posture relaxed when his gaze slipped to Sara. “What do you want?”
“We’re here about your sister,” Sean said.
Drew’s face blanched, a ghoulish sight next to his foggy exhales. “Is she all right?”
Sean nodded. “She’s fine, but we need to ask you some questions.”
Drew’s eyes darted from Sean to Sara then back to Sean, and he took off in a run.
Sean rolled his eyes. Running must have run in the family. No pun intended.
“You’re not in trouble!” Sean called as he went after Drew, not that he necessarily believed his own words. Drew’s innocence still needed to be proven.
“Leave me alone,” Drew yelled back.
He was leading them into an isolated area of the village. There was less light here than there had been at the back of the resort.
A patch of ice nearly had Sean upending again. He caught his balance on the edge of a Dumpster.
Drew wasn’t as lucky. He wiped out ahead of Sean, enabling him and Sara to catch up.
Sean held out his hand to help Drew up, but Drew pulled him down. The cold, iced-over pavement was hard and unforgiving.
Drew threw a punch and caught Sean in the jaw. Given the vantage point and leverage of the blow, it didn’t hurt that much…at least not at first.
Sean went to hit back, but Drew was scrambling to get to his feet. Sean swiped his leg out in front of him, his boot hooking around the front of Drew’s shin and bringing him crashing down again.
“Sean!” Sara shouted, distracting him enough to give Drew the advantage. By the time Sean looked back at him, Drew was on his feet.
“I’ve got him.” Sara tossed her Louis Vuitton handbag and hit Drew in the back of the head. He dropped to the ground and sat rubbing his head, momentarily immobilized.
Sara collected her purse, turned, and walked back to Sean. She was now holding her hand out to him. He took it and stood up.
“Fashion accessories as weapons? You see something new every day,” Sean said.
“Never underestimate a woman.”
“Never, darling.”
DREW WAS OFF THE GROUND but moaning and still rubbing the back of his head when they went over to him. “Are you the police?” he asked.
“Who we are isn’t important,” Sean countered.
“It sure is. You chased me like I’m some criminal.”
“You ran like some criminal.” Sean’s remark had Drew rolling his eyes.
“What do you want?” he asked.
“We want to talk to you about Adrian Blackwell.”
Drew lowered his arm. “What about him?”
“He was seeing your sister and you didn’t like it.”
“Is that what she told you?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Well, it’s the truth, but I didn’t kill him.”
Sean picked up on the terminology right away. It was unlikely anything about murder had been said to the media, not that Sean had taken time out to read the news. Of course, gossip can circulate even faster than the Internet. “How do you know he was murdered?”
Drew shook his head, his gaze carrying confusion. “Wasn’t he?”
“The rumor I heard said he had an accident,” Sean stated.
“Adrian might have been a lous
y boyfriend and a cheat, but he wouldn’t die on a mountainside. He was an Olympic gold medalist.”
Fine. Drew had a plausible explanation. Sean was curious how Drew knew when his sister supposedly didn’t.
“So Steph sent you to talk to me? Does she think I killed him?” Drew looked at Sean.
“She didn’t even know he was dead until we told her a few hours ago. I’d think you would have enjoyed telling her.”
Drew glowered. “I love my sister. I wasn’t going to tell her about Adrian. She wouldn’t have believed me anyhow.”
Sean shrugged. “Or she would have wondered what she does now. Did you kill him?”
“I hated the guy, but I wouldn’t go to prison because of him.”
“Is that a no?” Sean was fishing for a direct answer.
“No,” Drew spat out.
“When was the last time you saw him?”
“Wednesday night.” Drew didn’t even have to think about that one.
“You’re sure?” Sara asked.
Drew bobbed his head. “Yeah. He came to see me in the kitchen and said he was off to see Steph, just to rub it in.”
Sean turned to Sara. Stephanie had said she last saw him on Tuesday, but that she had been planning to see him on Wednesday.
Sara touched Sean’s arm and spoke to Drew. “Stephanie never saw Adrian on Wednesday.”
“I’m just telling you what he said.”
“Well, your sister said she was supposed to see him, but he didn’t show up,” Sean explained.
Drew’s jaw went taut, and he balled his hand into a fist. A flash of pain throbbed in Sean’s cheek in memory of the man’s earlier blow.
“See, that’s why I never liked the guy. He was probably off sleeping with someone else.”
Sara took a step toward Drew. “I have a feeling you might know with who.”
Drew pulled his gaze from Sean to Sara and nodded.
-
Chapter 20
RATCHETING PARANOIA
SEAN AND SARA WERE BACK in their room. It was nearing midnight, but Sara wasn’t sure how she was supposed to sleep. They had worked hard all day trying to get answers, and suspects fell within their grasp only to slip through their fingers.
Drew told them Adrian paid frequent visits to a woman named Kendra, a polite way of saying he’d slept with her. But a female suspect didn’t explain the male caller to the front desk shortening Adrian’s stay. Maybe there was a partnership between a man and woman. She dismissed the thought as soon as it filtered in. There was nothing to support that notion.
“Kendra works the lift for the run Adrian’s body was found on.” Sean was pacing the room, wearing a pattern in the carpet, while she did her thinking from the comfort of the sofa.
“And while the hill’s been reopened, it’s closed for the day now.” She still wasn’t eager to go up the mountain, so why did she keep bringing it up? She could conjure the image of Adrian smacking into a tree all too clearly. “We know he was last seen at the restaurant on Wednesday evening,” she began. “His body was found on Monday.”
“It was the first day the run reopened after the storm.”
“Officer Callahan said that Adrian’s time of death was in the wee hours Thursday.”
Sean stopped in front of her and their eyes met. “He didn’t get up that hill by himself.”
Sara shook her head. “He certainly did not.”
“Adrian wanted to go for a late-night ski and Kendra facilitated it.”
She didn’t say anything.
“Darling?” Sean asked.
“The groomers normally clean the hills at night and often again the next morning, especially after a big storm.”
“It seems Adrian got up there without them being aware of it,” Sean reasoned.
“There are a lot of runs to groom.” She paused for a moment, thinking through what she was going to say next. “When the groomers got to the hill where Adrian had his accident, why didn’t they find him?”
“It is a large space. Callahan mentioned Adrian was found in a wooded patch. So, I’d assume when he lost control, he careened off the actual run.”
Sean was quiet and seemed to be in deep thought.
“What are you thinking about?” Sara asked.
“I think we do need to go up that hill.”
“Like you said before, what would we find? Investigators would have been all over the area.”
He tilted his head to the left. “You and I both know that things can be missed.”
As much as she didn’t like to admit it, she had to concede, not that she was eager for another skiing experience.
“First thing tomorrow, we’ll go up, take a look around, and then talk to Kendra.”
Her gut swirled. “She might have killed Adrian, but we’re going to trust her with our lives in operating the lift?”
Sean dropped onto the couch beside her and as she turned to face him, he held onto her shoulders. “There’s usually more than one person operating a lift, so I think we’ll be okay. Besides, we won’t give her any reason to suspect that we’re on to her, right? We take on the hill first. She’d have no motive to try anything on us. Besides, what would she do?”
“I suppose you’re right. I don’t want to get ‘stuck’ halfway up the hill.”
“That can happen regardless of who is behind the controls. Trust me. Besides, darling, it’s a lead, and we follow leads.” He paused, as he moved himself into a more comfortable position on the couch. “But all that is in the morning. Tonight we spend in each other’s arms.” He moved in for a kiss.
As Sara allowed herself to sink into the moment, she couldn’t help thinking she’d better enjoy the now, because not only did she have an advanced run to ski tomorrow, but there was a possible murderer at the lift’s controls.
-
Chapter 21
LUCKY LEFT
SEAN AND SARA GOT TO the lifts before they opened, and they still had to wait in line. Sara glanced over a shoulder, and there was quite a crowd gathered behind them, too. No doubt the hill’s popularity now had something to do with the fact Adrian Blackwell had died on it. People had a morbid sense of curiosity.
Sara faced forward, and the lift started up. Empty chairs went up the hill, while empty ones circled back. A brunette was guiding people to move forward now and watching over them as they loaded on. One man was having a hard time getting himself into position. The brunette signaled to someone in the booth and spoke through a radio saying to stop the lift.
Sara looked up there to see another woman was behind the controls. She fit Drew’s description of Kendra.
The thought of a possible killer holding the power of the lift in her hands, turned Sara’s stomach like it had the night before. Sean had tried to reason with her since she woke up that morning, telling her that there was nothing Kendra could do to them anyhow.
The brunette gestured for Sara and Sean to get into place for the next chair. “Here you go.”
The name on her uniform was Vanessa.
Sara quickly glanced again to the booth. The woman was looking down at them. She must be Kendra. Did she know who they were and why they had an interest in going up the hill? Or was Sara being paranoid? Surely, the woman had to watch to make sure she didn’t need to stop the lift for someone to load.
Sara and Sean were scooped up by the chairlift, and their ascent was underway. Sara’s mind wasn’t so much on the journey as it was on the woman behind the controls. Sean was right; she was worried over nothing. Kendra wouldn’t know who they were, and why would she hold up everyone by stopping the lift, especially when she didn’t even know they were interested in her?
Sara turned her focus to the hill. Clumps of trees lined both sides of the run below. “How are we supposed to find out where Adrian’s body was?”
�
�We stick to the edge and be observant.”
Her mouth went thick with saliva, and she nodded.
“We’ll check one side of the run at a time.”
She turned to meet his eyes and swallowed the lump of nerves growing in her throat. Then she said a silent prayer that this would only take one try. Just because she had the skill to handle this run didn’t mean she was looking forward to it. And she wasn’t even sure exactly what they were looking for, just that they’d know it when they saw it.
“Are you okay?” Sean asked.
She heard his question like it was coming to her from a great distance. Her gaze was back on the land beneath them.
“Sara?”
She pulled her attention from the trees to look at him. “I’ll be fine, Sean.”
IT WAS THERE IN HER EYES—her words and her feelings weren’t in agreement, and she was trying to put on a brave face. He should have taken this on by himself. By now, he realized she didn’t enjoy skiing as much as he did. He could solve murders with his eyes closed, but he’d failed to read his wife’s feelings about skiing. He must have been blinded by his own love for the sport. When it came to taking on this run, though, he was comforted by the knowledge that she was more than skilled enough to handle this run. He also knew they worked best as a team and that when they found the area where Adrian’s body was discovered, they would hopefully get some answers.
The chairlift reached the top, and he and Sara hopped off and hit the snow. Sean led her to an area at the top where they could prepare for the run. Sara pulled down her ski goggles.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked, reaching for her hand.
She squeezed it firmly, even through their gloves, and then let go. “I’m good.” She pressed on a smile, and whether he believed her words or not, he’d have to accept them.
More skiers were gathering at the top, while others just went down without stopping first.
“Left or right?” he asked.
She hesitated, but he could tell she was giving the question much internal deliberation. She didn’t want to go down a second time.
Skiing is Murder Page 8