“Okay. Well, what do you propose we do?” I asked. I knew that Jed couldn’t possibly process the crime scene easily. Based on my knowledge of his hemophobia, there was a lot more blood on Crater McMurphy’s pillow than Jed could tolerate. “There’s a dead man in the other room and a bloody crime scene to process. How are you going to work this case?”
“Officer Bates is on his way. I’ll have him process the scene, and I’ll conduct the interviews,” Jed said, finally straightening and placing his cowboy hat firmly back on his head. I wondered if Jed handled all of the crime scenes he encountered in this way. Did Jed step back and let his subordinates do the dirty work?
“Do you want me to get some ginger ale sent over from Slopes for you?” I offered, deciding to be helpful. “It might help your stomach.”
“No, Mandy, I don’t want anything from you,” Jed angrily roared.
I guess my face must have registered the shock that I felt. Jed’s comment stung. Clearly, he was still angry with me.
“Sorry Mandy,” Jed quickly apologized when he noticed my shocked face. He shook his head and then stood. “You should get out of here. It is a crime scene after all. I’m going to need a list of employees who were on schedule once I know the estimated time of death. Also, I need to know if the gentleman had anyone traveling with him. You said he was a celebrity?”
“Yes, his name is Crater McMurphy. Well, actually, I believe his real name is Jonah McMurphy. He’s an extreme sports celebrity on television. You may have seen his programs. Personally, I don’t watch them, but millions of Americans do. He is, was, quite popular.” Oh, good grief, I was speed babbling again. Something must be wrong with the synapses in my brain. I couldn’t think straight. Speed babbling to Tate Svenson was understandable; speed babbling to Jed Link was unconscionable.
“Right. I’ve heard of him,” said Jed. “I don’t really watch those programs. Give me a comedy any day.”
Ignoring Jed’s commentary about his entertainment preferences, I answered his question. “Mr. McMurphy had several travel companions with him, but honestly, I was told they would all be camping out last night. He showed up at Rascal’s last night sometime around eleven o’clock. I thought he would go camping afterward which is why finding him here is a bit of a shock. I mean in addition to the fact that I found him dead.” Naked and dead. Quelle nightmare. Dear God, if you’re listening, please let me die with my clothes on. Certain exceptions may apply, of course. I’ll think up a list of the exceptions later.
“If you can give me his companions’ names, that would be helpful. And you said you saw Mr. McMurphy at Rascal’s?”
“Yes, but we spoke only briefly. I was with Anne Marie and Vanessa. Anne Marie felt sick, and she and I left shortly after Crater, er, Mr. McMurphy arrived. That was around eleven-thirty. Anne Marie and I shared an Uber. I’ll see what I can do about collecting the names of his travel companions.” I made a mental note to check our service registries to see if they contained the names of Crater’s friends, also, I knew that Tate would know who they were, and Tate was due back in the afternoon.
“And Vanessa?” Jed asked, “What happened with her?”
“Uh, she stayed at the club. She texted me when she arrived home a little after one.”
Jed nodded, satisfied with my answers.
Unexpectedly, I heard the sound of an approaching siren, and I glanced at Jed. Officer Bates was on his way, and he hadn’t listened to my request to keep things quiet. All of my hopes of keeping the onsite death of a celebrity secret from my guests disappeared. I bolted from the room and out the service entrance to try to intercept Officer Bates before he attracted too much attention.
OVER AN HOUR LATER, I was waiting for Jed in the lobby. I thought that he would want to check in with me before he left. My hopes of keeping the police presence on the down-low faded fast. Although the Chalet is rather small, there were scores of people mingling in the lobby trying to find out what happened. I instructed my staff to deflect.
“Any word?” Don, the concierge, leaned in and whispered as I approached his desk.
“Nothing yet,” I replied. “I don’t suppose you were on duty when Crater McMurphy returned to his room last night?”
“Honestly Mandy, I didn’t see him after he checked in. I heard that he had a little group by the pool yesterday. What do you think happened?”
“I have no idea, Don. I was under the impression that Mr. McMurphy was going to be camping offsite last night. I guess I’m going to need to see the catering records to see when he ordered room service.”
“Uh-huh, your friend Jed already got those records. He requested a guest list too. By the way, is Jed ill? He looked a little peaked.” I guess Jed decided to collect the information he needed without my help. That was...fine.
“I have no idea what was wrong with Jed,” I lied. I didn’t want to expose Jed for his phobia. I imagined his hemophobia was not good for his career. He probably didn’t want other people to know about it. I looked at my watch. It was after one o’clock in the afternoon, and I remembered that Tate was supposed to be picking up his daughter Skye in the lobby soon. I hoped that Tate would arrive early so that I could inform him about Crater and try to find out why he hadn’t gone camping with the group as planned. I also wanted to get the names of Crater’s friends.
I busied myself by checking in with the staff and ensuring that our guests were well taken care of. The bar staff ingeniously set up an impromptu Colorado beer and cider tasting in the courtyard to lure the guests as far away from the crime scene as possible, and it appeared to be working. I was making my rounds by the pool around two o’clock when my walkie came to life. Don was trying to reach me.
“Hello, Mandy, we have a Code Angel,” Don’s voice relayed to me through the walkie.
“Really? Where?” I asked. Code Angel was resort code for a lost or unaccompanied small child. We have all kinds of codes. We use ‘Code Pink Elephant’ for troublesome or inebriated guests and ‘Code Brown’ for a stopped-up toilet. I guessed we would need to set up a ‘Code Blue’ for dead guests.
“We have her sitting in the lobby. She was outside in the parking lot, and one of the guests brought her in.”
“Okay, I’ll be there in just a second,” I replied. I was feeling a bit flustered. A murder and a lost child on the same day? What were the odds of that happening? I left the pool area where I had been working, and I rushed to the lobby and spotted the ‘angel’ in question. I recognized her immediately.
“Skye?” I said as I approached the cute little girl with long brown hair and dark brown eyes.
“Mandy!” Skye shouted bouncing in her seat. She didn’t seem upset or lost. I glanced at my watch again.
“Hi, kiddo, where did you come from?” I asked as I took a seat next to Skye in one of our comfy lobby armchairs. I noticed she had a backpack and a skateboard at her feet.
“My mom dropped me off,” Skye said nonchalantly in her high-pitched kid voice.
“I see. Is your dad around?” I asked. I hadn’t seen Tate yet, but he might have been somewhere onsite. I craned my neck and looked around anxiously.
“No, he’s supposed to meet me at two-thirty,” Skye informed me. “And I am supposed to wait for him. Mommy said so.”
“Wait, did your mom leave you alone?” I asked trying to contain my anger. Leave it to Shannon to drop her eight-year-old daughter in the parking lot of a resort on a busy holiday weekend without another adult to supervise her. I was forever thankful to the individual who brought Skye inside of the Chalet. Who knows what might have happened to Skye if she was left on her own much longer?
Skye shrugged. “She told me to wait for Daddy.” Her casualness suggested to me that this wasn’t the first time Shannon had been careless with her daughter.
“Let’s see if your dad is on his way,” I said as I grabbed my cellphone and punched in Tate’s number.
The phone rang three times before Tate answered.
“Hey, Mandy,
what’s up?” He asked in a cheerful voice like he was happy to receive my call. Clearly, the man was oblivious to everything that was happening at the Chalet, and I envied him.
“Um, I have Skye,” I replied.
“Skye? She’s not supposed to be there yet,” he sounded a bit bewildered.
“Shannon dropped her off in the parking lot a few minutes ago,” I struggled to contain my frustration.
“You’re kidding me,” said Tate. “No, you aren’t kidding. That sounds exactly like something that Shannon would do. Is Skye okay?”
“She’s fine. I just thought you would want to know that she’s here,” I replied. Truthfully, I hoped Tate was nearby. Skye is a cute kid, but I was out of my element. I mean, I don’t know anything about entertaining no babies—or something like that.
“I’ll be there soon. I’m just leaving now,” said Tate angrily adding, “freaking Shannon.”
“Okay, well no need to hurry. I can walk Skye over to Slopes for ice cream,” I said as I directed my attention to Skye. She smiled.
“Thanks, for the heads-up, Mandy,” Tate replied. “I’ll be there in about thirty minutes. Thanks for helping.”
“See you then.” We disconnected the call, and I looked at Skye while trying to hide my anxiety. “What kind of ice cream do you like?”
“Cookies and cream,” said Skye.
“Let’s see if we can find some,” I answered. I stood and took the little girl’s hand, and I walked with Skye to Slopes for a snack. “Your dad will be here soon,” I said it more for my comfort than Skye’s.
“Okay.” Skye skipped along beside me without a care in the world.
SIX
“Allow me to assure you, that suspicion and jealousy never did help any man in any situation.” – Abraham Lincoln
AS PROMISED, TATE ARRIVED at Slopes in about thirty minutes. I took a deep gulp when I laid eyes on him as he walked into Slopes to meet us. I think every woman in the place did. He was wearing a fitted black muscle shirt and bike shorts. The next thing I noticed about him was that Tate was grimy as in ‘I just left the campsite. By the way, it caught fire last night and I put it out with my bare hands’ grimy. In other words, the dirt that covered Tate from head to toe did nothing to hide his good looks. Weirdly, the soot and dirt and slightly bloodied scratches on Tate’s body did everything to accentuate his appeal. I think a few of Slopes’ female customers swooned when they saw Tate. I reminded myself that Tate was my friend and nothing more, and waved to him from the booth I shared with his daughter.
“How are you?” Tate asked before I had the chance to speak. He set a hand on Skye’s shoulder.
I couldn’t bring myself to say ‘Great Tate’ as I normally would. I just sputtered, “Okay.”
Tate tilted his head and then gave his daughter a kiss on the cheek. “Daddy, you’re all dirty!” Skye exclaimed with a giggle. I caught a whiff of campfire smoke and a distinctly male odor—sweat, pine, musk—emanating from his body. My stomach clenched. This is not the time, Mandy. Heel!
“I am. I’m filthy,” Tate proclaimed then turned his eyes toward me. I felt the uncomfortable heat of a blush rush up from my neck to my face. “What’s going on, boss?” He asked, bringing me back to earth.
I vacillated a bit trying to come up with a suitable answer for him. “We’ve had a bit of excitement at the Chalet today.”
“Oh?” Tate asked. His eyebrows raised with curiosity.
“Yeah, but it can wait. Little pitchers have big ears,” I nodded toward Tate’s daughter. “I would like to speak to you about it later though.” Clearly, I couldn’t mention Crater’s murder now, not with Skye in the room.
“Sure. Can I call you later?” Tate asked.
“Yes, or I’ll call you. Whatever. It’s cool,” I replied looking at my feet and sounding anything but cool. I sounded like a bumbling idiot.
Tate nodded and offered me a half-smile. Then he addressed his daughter, “Are you ready to go, Skye?”
“Yes,” Skye replied with a grin. “I brought my skateboard and my nail polish, Daddy.”
“Great, say thank you to Mandy for looking out for you, okay?”
“Thank you, Mandy,” Skye said before she hugged me. “We’re skateboarding tomorrow, right?”
“That’s right,” I replied and I trained my eyes on her father. This was his moment to break our not-a-date if he wanted to, but he didn’t. He met my eyes with a smile.
Skye released me from her hug, and she walked from the room with her dad.
“Tate,” I called out to him. I decided I should at least give him a bit of a warning.
He turned and faced me from the doorway.
“You might be hearing from Jed Link tonight,” I cautioned.
Tate gave me a surprised look, his eyebrows knitted for a microsecond before he said, “I’ll call you later.”
“I CAN’T BELIEVE IT. I can’t believe Jonah is dead,” Tate said over the phone that evening. He told me that Jed had stopped by earlier to tell him about the murder and to ask a few questions. He had just put Skye to bed and called me to talk about the case. I could tell by the background noises that Tate had walked out onto his balcony. Like me, Tate lived in a townhome on the edge of the village, and he had a balcony too. Although they weren’t legal in the village, I could hear bottle rockets screeching outside and the occasional ‘pop’ of a firecracker in the distance. The 4th of July celebrations were underway one night early.
“I know. What I don’t understand is what Crater was doing in his suite at the Chalet? I thought the five of you were camping out.” I hadn’t yet decided whether to tell Tate that I had seen Crater at the nightclub.
“We were camping out—sort of,” Tate replied. “Jonah was always organizing stuff. When you went camping with Jonah it was never just camping. He had an entire program planned.”
“What kind of program?” I was intrigued. I knew Crater had mentioned rock climbing when I ran into him near the spa, but I had the feeling Tate meant something else.
“He liked to organize these survival challenges,” said Tate.
“What? Like the stuff, he does on TV?”
“Yeah. Jonah put a lot of thought into his challenges. He’d plan them for weeks. Last night we all started with a hand-drawn map, a headlamp, and a pocket knife. Jonah dropped us off in the woods on the edge of the mountain, and we had to make it to camp in the dark.”
“That sounds incredibly dangerous,” I observed. It truly was. The wooded area near the resort held all kinds of hidden dangers. Traipsing around in the dark with nothing but a headlamp was insanity in my opinion. Not only were there a few topographical challenges, but wild animals like bears and mountain lions lived in the woods. The men were lucky to get out of the woods alive.
“That was Jonah,” said Tate. “Anyway, we all have the same type of training.”
“When did Crater—Jonah—leave you? Was he with you at all last night?”
“He was in the woods with us at first. I didn’t see him most of the night, but he made his presence known a few times. I didn’t see any of the guys. I must have made it to the campsite around two in the morning. When I got to the camp, I just crawled into my tent and slept. I didn’t notice that Jonah was gone until this morning. The other guys and I searched for him for a while before we gave up. I finally had to leave at two so I could pick up Skye.”
“So, the dirt and scratches all over you were from running around in the woods in the dark?”
“Yes.”
“And Jonah never mentioned that he would be leaving or returning to the Chalet?” I asked.
“No. I think he said ‘see you back at camp.’”
“And in the morning, you didn’t think to call the police or search and rescue when you realized that Crater was gone?” I asked.
“Mandy, I already spoke to Jed about this. We’re talking about Crater McMurphy. He’s a world-famous survivalist. We weren’t worried about him. Taking off was pretty typical beha
vior for Jonah. Anyway, we’d have to wait a full twenty-four hours to report him missing, and we didn’t actually think he was missing or in any danger.”
“What did you tell Jed about your night in the woods?” I asked. I wondered what the local police officer had asked Tate.
“I told him pretty much everything I’ve told you. Your friend wasn’t very open about the investigation.”
“That’s just his way,” I replied regarding Jed Link. I ignored the ‘friend’ comment. I had a complicated relationship with Jed. I wasn’t sure Jed was a friend, and the idea of discussing our past with Tate made me uncomfortable.
“Jed gave me the distinct impression that I was a suspect,” Tate admitted.
“I don’t see how that could be possible. You were in the woods, and Jonah was here. You have a solid alibi.”
“Not really. As your friend was happy to point out, no one saw me between nine when Jonah dumped us off in the woods, and seven when I got up this morning. When I reached the campsite, the other guys were already in their tents.”
“Well, then you aren’t the only one with holes in his story. If you are a suspect, so is everyone else who was camping with you. You all had several hours where you could have returned to the resort, and gotten back to camp unnoticed. Also, the staff of the Chalet and all of the other guests are potential suspects,” I replied. I guess that meant I was a suspect too. I wandered out onto my townhome’s little balcony. I heard the sound of fireworks in the distance. Silver Powder resort banned fireworks due to the drought conditions that we often face, but you could still see the fireworks at lower altitudes if you looked for them. I knew there would be professional fireworks on display in the city on Sunday.
“I wonder how many of the others have a motive,” Tate said casually. This took me by surprise.
“What do you mean, Tate? What motive do you have?” I asked. I had to imagine what kind of motive Tate had for killing Crater Murphy. Did it have something to do with the unfinished business Tate mentioned earlier?
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