Avalanche (A Stone Mountain Mystery Book 3)

by Kristina Stanley

  She buried her face in his neck. “I know you were trying to help. There’s nothing to be sorry for. I only want to explain how I feel. I can’t go through it again. I lost Jack and Roy. It’s too hard.”

  “Shh. I’m fine.” Ben tightened his grip.

  She released herself from Ben’s hug, pulled two bowls from the cupboard and set them on the counter beside the stove. “I can’t take any more loss. It’s too much.”

  Ben filled Chica’s bowl with kibble and placed the dish on the floor. He did this without saying a word. He must have sensed Kalin was building up to something. Chica gobbling her food and wood crackling filled the lull in the conversation.

  “I turned down the offer from White Peaks.”

  “Why? I thought we decided to go.”

  “I love you. Our life is here.”

  “What changed?”

  “On the drive back from Calgary, I thought about everything that’s happened at Stone Mountain. I don’t want to start over. I’ve been having nightmares. I think it’s because I’m risking our marriage by forcing a move away.”

  “That’s not true. I’d go with you anywhere.”

  “I know. And that’s why we need to stay here.”

  “What happens if the resort is sold?”

  “I’ve been thinking about that. Maybe the buyers will want to hire a new president. If White Peaks would hire me as the GM there, I don’t see why I couldn’t be the president here.”

  Ben’s grin told Kalin all she needed. She heaped the bowls with the stir-fry, put the wok back on the stove and sat across from Ben. “Chopsticks?”

  “Sure.”

  Kalin rested her chopsticks on the ceramic chopstick rest. “I know who helped Roy steal the money.”

  Ben raised his eyes to hers.

  “Justin Bradley and Eric Wilson.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  Kalin told Ben about her conversation with Meare. “I called Miller right after. He’ll deal with them.”

  “You’re letting this go?”

  “Not quite. I saw something weird yesterday. I was talking to my mom, showing her how to view the webcam photos. I had the images open on my computer and saw Aiden skiing into the Dragon’s Bowl.”

  “So?”

  “The lift was about to close, and it was getting dark. Why would he ski in that direction by himself after the patrol sweep?”

  “You think he was looking for Roy?” Ben asked.

  “Not exactly. What if Aiden thinks Roy stole the money, and he went to look for it? He must know Roy’s pack was never found.”

  Ben fumbled with his chopsticks, managed to get a slice of beef into his mouth and winced when he chewed.

  “Does it hurt to eat?”

  “A little.”

  Chica licked her bowl clean and positioned herself underneath the table equidistant from Ben and Kalin.

  “I think maybe Jessica and Aiden are up to something. I just can’t figure out what.” Kalin reached across the table. “I can’t believe you still don’t know how to use these things. Here, hold the chopsticks like this and relax your grip.”

  Ben did as instructed.

  “You’re about to say something,” Kalin said.

  “How do you know that?”

  “Hello? I kinda know you.”

  “I’m starting to remember the fall.”

  Kalin held her breath.

  “I think I felt someone’s hands on my back. Like I was being shoved.”

  * * *

  Kalin loved Saturdays at work. Her job included being visible to all employees. Accounting, IT and marketing shared the administration offices and worked Monday to Friday. The administration building was mostly empty on weekends, making it a good day to be out on the mountain.

  She spent the morning in her office. Early afternoon, she got dressed for skiing. Normally the lights on the floor being on energy-save mode on the weekends didn’t bother her. Normally she wasn’t worried about her safety. She still didn’t know who had been looking in her window at night or who had painted her door, and she hadn’t heard from Miller about Justin and Eric. She listened for anyone else who might be on the floor. Feeling uneasy, she quickly hauled her gear along the darkened hallway and left for the lift.

  The afternoon touring the mountain and visiting lifties at each lift shack sped by. She skied to a stop at the base of the hill, poked her pole into the back of her binding and released her boot with a snap. She’d skied the mountain top to bottom, rode all seven lifts and was fatigued, but her fear of skiing had disappeared like melting snow.

  Aiden exited the lift shack at the bottom of the Alpine Tracks ski run. He spoke to a liftie, nodded and removed the first pole in the maze. The liftie stopped the lift for the day, and the wind through the trees filled the space where the hum of the lift used to be.

  With her ski boots clomping on the hard-packed snow in the maze, Kalin walked toward Aiden. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

  Aiden lifted one of the maze posts and carried it to the next. “Sure.”

  “I don’t know how to put this without offending you, but I saw you ski into the Dragon’s Bowl last night. I know you’re searching for the money.”

  “What are you talking about?” Aiden continued to remove maze posts, and she ran around in front of him.

  “I always ski in the bowl,” he said

  “Not after dark. Stop walking away for a second.” Kalin checked the area around her. The sun dipped below the mountain, and darkness would soon follow. There was no one to overhear her. “I want to know what you were up to.”

  “Don’t you want to find Roy’s body?”

  “Of course, I do.”

  “I was checking the terrain, looking for signs of him.”

  Clearly Aiden wasn’t going to open up to her, but at least he knew she was on to him. “If you find the money, you have to turn it over to the RCMP.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  Helen sat in Kalin’s office, blinking repeatedly, keeping tears from flowing over her bottom lids. After the phone call from Jessica, she’d left her own office and waited for Kalin to return from skiing. Kalin’s winter boots rested askew beside her desk, meaning she would come back to her office before heading home.

  Jessica said she blamed Helen for what had happened. Helen didn’t want to believe the horrible incident was her fault, but she’d fired Simon. She wasn’t blameless.

  Carrying her skis and poles, Kalin entered her office and peered at Helen with raised eyebrows. “What’s up?”

  Helen trusted Kalin and wanted to talk with her. She needed help coping with this, and Kalin was always level headed. She’d know what to do. “Jessica called me.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  Helen grabbed a tissue from Kalin’s desktop. “Simon Crane tried to commit suicide last night.”

  Kalin closed both eyes. “No.”

  “Jessica said it’s my fault. Because I fired him.” Helen shredded the tissue and let the pieces fall.

  Kalin leaned her skis against the wall and passed Helen the box of tissues. “Don’t think that. Jessica’s lashing out. It’s not because you fired him. We fired him together, and we did the right thing.”

  “But if we hadn’t fired him, he wouldn’t have attempted…”

  “You don’t know that. He had other problems. His wife left him.”

  Helen couldn’t imagine facing Natalie after she’d fired her husband for viewing pornography. She guessed Natalie had believed them after all. Natalie was her friend, and she didn’t know how to reach out to her. “Which she wouldn’t have done if I hadn’t fired him.”

  “You don’t know that either. We fired him for justifiable reasons. We have to follow policy. This isn’t our fault.”

  Helen blinked back more tears. “Do you really believe that?”

  Kalin reached forward and held Helen’s hands. “I do.”

  “We didn’t offer him counseling. We should have.”

&n
bsp; “That’s something we do for people who get laid off. Not something we offer to people we fire with cause. I feel terrible, too, but we didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “Couldn’t you change the policy?”

  “I can look at it. Simon came to see me the other day.”

  “What did he want?”

  “I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell Tessa what he wanted. Without knowing, I refused to make an appointment.”

  “He called me again to ask for his job back. He said there’s no way he could work for his uncle in the Laundromat again.”

  “None of this is our fault. Do you know how he tried to kill himself?”

  Helen hadn’t asked Jessica. Wasn’t there a rule about not asking a question you didn’t want the answer to? “No.”

  “I’ll call Constable Miller and ask if he knows.”

  While Kalin left a voicemail, Helen picked at the folders lying on the surface of Kalin’s desk. She read the labels. Helen Armstrong, Simon Crane, Eric Wilson and Jessica Scott. “Why do you have the files for the finance center staff?”

  “I took them right after the theft happened and forgot to put them back.”

  “You suspected all of us?”

  Kalin didn’t say anything.

  Helen handed the folders back to Kalin. “Don’t worry about it. I would’ve, too.”

  Kalin fingered Simon’s file. “I guess I don’t need to put this back in the active cabinet now.”

  “I don’t know if his termination papers are in there. They might still be in my office.”

  Kalin opened the folder and read the first piece of paper. “Did you know Jessica wrote him up for not bringing the finance center receipts to you on the morning of the theft?”

  “No, but she was angry at him.”

  “Do you know why he didn’t bring them in?”

  “Not really. But it wasn’t the first time. Sometimes he went home to bed right after a shift and would bring them to me later. We just never told Jessica.”

  * * *

  Jessica looked around Natalie’s condo and noticed all traces of Simon had already been removed. That was quick.

  “Thanks for coming,” Natalie said. “I think it’s best if I handle selling the condo. Simon will be happy you’re the agent.”

  “I don’t think he’s happy about anything right now.” The condo should be easy to broker, and Jessica needed a sale. The two-bedroom unit hosted a small balcony facing the ski hill. Natalie had the patio door open a crack, letting in cold air as if she were removing any scent of Simon. “Have you talked to him since…?”

  “I don’t know what I’d say to him,” Natalie said.

  “It’s only been a day. Are you sure you want to deal with the condo right now?”

  “I need to get this over with.”

  The appliances had been upgraded from standard to high-end units. The carpet, still luxurious, wasn’t worn like condos in the rental pool. Jessica mentally made a list of the attributes she could put in the ad. “I know you’re mad at him about the Internet thing, but he made a mistake.”

  “What is it with you and him?”

  Jessica plopped onto the leather couch. She’d been Simon’s lifelong friend, but Natalie was his wife. Why wasn’t she more upset about this? Selling the condo so quickly seemed cold. “What do you mean?”

  “Why didn’t you marry him? You two were perfect for each other with your Barbie doll looks.”

  “Where’s this coming from? We’ve been friends forever. We never dated.”

  “Simon’s been in love with you for years. Didn’t you know that?”

  Jessica’s chest tightened. Was Natalie losing her marbles? “That’s not true. He married you, not me.”

  “He married me for my family money. I guess he thought one day it would be his.”

  Needing to put some distance between herself and Natalie, she stood and went to the gas fireplace. “You can’t be serious.”

  “I am. You know he hated Roy. He was so jealous when you got together with him. For some reason, he thought you actually cared about Roy. You seemed so uninterested in all your other boyfriends. He talked about your relationship constantly.”

  “That can’t be true.”

  “It got worse after Roy died. That’s when Simon realized you loved Roy, otherwise why would you be so upset by his death.”

  “I didn’t know. I’m sorry.” How could she not know this about Simon? And how had Simon known she loved Roy before she knew?

  “There’s nothing for you to be sorry about. It helped me figure out Simon would never love me the way I needed. I still had hope, but when the porn thing happened, I knew our marriage was over.”

  If a person could look sadder, Jessica had no idea how. She couldn’t look at Natalie, so she picked up a romance novel from the mantel and fluttered the pages. On the inside back cover, she read a number. A number she would never forget. She looked at Natalie through new eyes. Natalie had the combination to the finance center safe.

  Hiding her panic, she kept the conversation on topic, so Natalie wouldn’t notice what she’d discovered. “But then why did you marry Simon?”

  “I loved him. He was so good looking, and I was blinded by his attention. I thought he liked me enough that we could make it work, but now I know better. The porn issue was a way for me to let Simon out of our marriage.”

  “Without any money.”

  “It’s not like he earned any himself. You know his history. I supported us through our marriage. I don’t think I owe him more.”

  “But you loved him?”

  “I did. But now, no. I want him to be okay but not part of my life.”

  “He made one mistake.”

  “It’s more than that. Last fall he found a copy of my dad’s will. He was looking after my parents’ fish, and I guess he snooped. I never told him my inheritance would go into a trust fund that only I could access. He wanted to know if the money would be shared once I got it. That’s when I understood he never loved me.”

  “Are you going to visit him?” Jessica asked.

  “I can’t. He doesn’t need to see me. I can’t believe his attempt at suicide was anything more than a grasp for attention. He’s too egocentric. If he’d been serious, he would have died.”

  “That’s harsh.”

  “I know, but he’s manipulated me for so long. I can’t help him anymore.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  Kalin met Ben in the parking lot near his truck and leaned into him for a hug.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked.

  She tucked her hands underneath his ski jacket and warmed her palms on his skin. Without letting go of him, she told him about Simon.

  “You’re not at fault,” he whispered in her ear.

  She rested her forehead on his shoulder for a moment, then pushed away from him. “I know. I talked to Miller. He said Simon tried to overdose. I feel awful, but I don’t know what I could have done differently.”

  “Who knows how long he’s been unstable. He could have been thinking about it for a long time,” Ben said.

  “Being fired could have pushed him over the edge.”

  “It could have. But so many things contribute to a suicide. Maybe he did it so his wife would come back. You can’t blame yourself.”

  “He asked to see me. I should’ve met with him.”

  “When did he ask for a meeting?”

  “The other day.”

  “He didn’t work for the company anymore. You can’t meet with everyone who asks to see you.”

  Clouds full of moisture gathered over the peaks, bringing gloom to the area, matching Kalin’s mood. “You’re probably right.”

  “You can’t take responsibility for everyone who works or lives here.”

  “On that subject, I’m a bit worried about Helen. She thinks it’s her fault. It’s harder for her because of her friendship with Natalie.”

  “Have you suggested counseling to her?”

  Ka
lin smiled. “No, but I will. That’s a good idea. And speaking of ideas, there’s something I want to do.”

  “Now that sounds like trouble.”

  She explained about finding Roy’s bank card in his wallet. “Let’s access Roy’s account. If he has any money, my mom has a right to it.”

  “Are you sure that’s all there’s to it?”

  “No.”

  “Well, let’s go.” Ben grabbed Kalin by the hand and headed toward the single ATM at the resort.

  * * *

  Ben and Kalin hesitated at the same time, then laughed.

  “We’re brave,” Kalin said. “Let’s get this over with. We’ll see if he still had the habit of using Mom’s birthday for his passwords and PINs.” Kalin inserted the card into the slot and entered the four-digit code. “How much do you think I should withdraw?”

  “Nothing. Just check the balance.”

  Kalin pressed the icons on the touch-sensitive screen and a receipt landed in her palm. “Just over three hundred.”

  “Are you relieved?”

  She’d been thinking some of the stolen money might be in the account and didn’t want to admit it. She nudged him with her elbow, letting the contact linger. “Kinda. I knew he didn’t have the money, but I needed to be sure.”

  “You’re not convinced Justin and Eric stole the money?”

  “I am. But no one’s found the cash.”

  “You still think Roy was involved?”

  “I hope not. What should we do now?”

  “Do you want to check his storage locker?”

  “I left the key at home. Anyway, I don’t want to think about that now. Let’s do it tomorrow.”

  They settled into the truck. Ben turned the key in the ignition and put the heater on high. He faced Kalin and held both of her hands. “I know how hard this is for you.”

  “Without finding Roy’s body, I need…If I can get all his things together in one place…” Kalin buried her face in her hands. How could this hurt so much? “Everything that’s happened to Roy is my fault.” She’d finally said the words out loud. All this time, she’d desperately needed to tell Ben. Her eyes pleaded with him to persuade her otherwise, but she knew in her heart she was to blame.