“Do you have somewhere to stay?” Donny asked, seemingly oblivious to the stare from Amber.
“The Motel 8.”
“There’s room at Aunt Lisa’s. Why don’t you come and stay with Nora and us?”
Nora inherited Lisa’s house when she died last winter. Instead of selling the property, she rented it to Donny and Amber. She planned to move there when she left the hospital. She couldn’t move back to the resort yet, not until the area was cleared by the fire department, and she wouldn’t feel like a total loser single-mom if she lived with family for a while.
“I’m sorry about your wedding,” Amber said.
Nora didn’t miss her attempt to change the subject. As if Amber would want Kalin living with them, but Donny’s kindness always dictated his actions, and if Amber wanted a long term commitment, she’d have to be nice too.
“Thanks. We’ll pick another date.”
* * *
Tessa Weber arrived for her midday shift at the Wild Game Deli full of anticipation mixed with anxiety. Six weeks was a long time to be away. Traveling, that’s what she’d told everyone. That she needed a break between the peak seasons. The deli couldn’t support a full staff roster during the off-season. No one had questioned her, and some had been relieved she volunteered for a temporary layoff. She stubbed her cigarette in the ashtray by the door and entered the small restaurant.
Tessa had worked at the deli since she graduated from high school, and the place was her second home. Even with her disability, she was a talented server. She remembered the regulars’ names and what they liked to order. The deli was tucked between a toy store and a shoe store on Main Street, Holden. It had a reputation for changing its menu regularly based on the game provided by local hunters. They enticed the vegetarian crowd by offering dishes with locally grown produce when it was available.
At twenty-five, Tessa felt she deserved a change, a chance to improve her life. Months previously, she’d read an article in a wrinkled newspaper abandoned on a table. Time had stopped. She’d known at that moment what she was going to do, and she’d done it.
Back in town and ready for a new life, she walked through the empty dining area and along the hallway to the restroom. She pulled a small mirror from her purse and checked her hair. Would anyone notice the change? Her fawn-colored hair fell in tight curls and landed on her shoulders. Perfect.
She strode to the kitchen.
The chef wore a white chef’s hat and apron. He added color by wearing blue, green and yellow striped balloon pants. Add in his mustache, and his appearance made him hard to take seriously, but she did because he was an excellent chef and generous with his time. He looked directly at her and asked, “When did you get back?”
Tessa savored the scent of fresh baked bread. “Last night.”
“You heard about the fire?”
“I can’t believe the damage.” Tessa listened to her own voice and thought she sounded clearer somehow.
“I think we’re going to be busy. Most of the evacuated people have moved to Holden and are either staying at friends or in motels. That should increase business. How was Calgary?”
“Great. My sister took time off, and we rented a cabin.” A small lie. It didn’t matter.
The chef pointed at her with a bread knife. “Hence the tan.”
Tessa smiled.
He handed her a hair net and asked her to help with the sandwiches. “Since you’re here early.”
She took it, but didn’t want to put on the offered net in front of him. “I’ll be back in a sec.”
For the second time in five minutes, she was in the restroom. She tucked her hair into the net, used her mirror to check the results and returned to the kitchen.
The chef dropped a set of stainless steel measuring spoons on the counter, and Tessa winced.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Just a headache.” The clattering of the spoons had hovered right in front of her face. Trying to ignore the mechanical sounds that filled her senses, she palmed a bread knife and sliced a baguette lengthwise.
Sun shone through the wall of windows at the front of the store. The Wild Game Deli faced the Bank of Montreal directly across Main Street and sat kitty corner to Pete Chambers’ construction company office.
Referred to as the hub of the street, the deli drew locals to the wooden tables and chairs, the Kicking Horse coffee and the regular wait staff. A local could count on being recognized and treated like family.
By lunchtime, the crowd occupied three-quarters of the tables. Tessa knew or recognized every person in the place except one woman who should spend some time tanning herself. The woman slunk into the back corner as if she didn’t want anyone to notice her.
Tessa’s server responsibilities covered the right half of the dining area. She snatched two menus and rushed to the entrance. A young couple who were clearly tourists stood behind the “Please wait to be seated” sign. None of her high school friends were rich, and she understood small tips from them but not from tourists. They were on holiday and should have a little extra cash. She gave them her biggest smile.
The couple followed Tessa to an empty table, and the clicking of the woman’s heels on the tile pierced Tessa’s ears. A person put a coffee cup on a saucer, and the clink competed with the heels for her attention as if there was no filter for the noises, each as loud as the next.
* * *
The firefighters stood facing the fire chief, some wearing the same clothes they’d put on three days earlier, and waited for instructions. Water sloshed over their feet as it drained from the high side of the street into the river below.
Ben held his helmet at his side and stood motionless. He tried to ignore the sweat soaked shirt sticking to his back. He wanted to see Kalin. He was grimy and needed sleep, but he was alive. He’d heard Nora had a son and named him Ethan. Thanks to Kalin, both were safe. Ben was proud of her. She’d given him a quick update, and he knew she’d downplayed the scene, but he bet she’d been brave. Probably too brave.
The chief gave instructions for securing the area, and the firefighters got to work.
Jason placed his hand on Ben’s back and smiled. “We survived.”
Ben grinned at the whiteness of Jason’s teeth compared to his soot covered skin. “We did. Thanks to you.”
Jason shrugged. “Just duty, Man.”
“No. You could have left and gone for help. You saved my ass. I won’t forget.”
“Any news on Chica?”
“Not yet.”
Jason nodded once. “She’ll find her way home.”
The last of the fire in the resort was extinguished but not before the flames had worked their way down the line of condos in the lower village, demolishing everything unlucky enough to get in the way. The sound of dripping water replaced the roar of fire savaging the trees. The water damage to the surrounding units that hadn’t been burned was almost as bad as the fire damage.
The blaze continued to burn in a contained area west of the resort, but with the reduced wind and predicted rain, the flames might burn out.
Ben and Jason carried a sawhorse to the end of the road and blocked access to the lower village, moving without urgency.
Melanie Reed stood at the entrance to the lower village with a dog at her side.
Ben took one look at the yellow Labrador and broke into a run.
“My dad found her when he was checking out Black Bear Drive,” Melanie said. “She was sitting by your front door.”
Ben almost told her she wasn’t allowed at the resort yet, but her dad was the president of Stone Mountain Resort. Instead he knelt and buried his face in the back of Chica’s neck. He stayed there until he cleared tears from his eyes.
Ben stood and hugged Melanie. “Thanks.”
Melanie hugged him back with stiff arms, her hands lighting on his back, and quickly pushed away. She wore black jeans with silver spikes around the pockets, a black T-shirt and her black hair tied into a tight ponyta
il, and in a self-conscious gesture she twisted the silver ring piercing her eyebrow. “No problem. I fed her and gave her some water.”
“Did your dad say if there was any damage at our place?”
“He said to tell you the house your rental unit is in wasn’t hit.”
Ben thought Melanie looked healthier than when she’d first arrived at Stone Mountain. She’d gained a bit of weight. She might weigh a hundred and twenty pounds, and she didn’t appear anorexic anymore. She’d be Ethan’s aunt if it turned out Ian Reed was the baby’s father. “What’s he think of all this?”
“He’s not happy. I can tell you that. He’s spending the day with his director team. They’re going to make a plan. I guess this’ll be bad for the summer season.”
“Will you lose your job?” Ben asked but was thinking about Kalin. She was one of Reed’s directors, meaning she’d have to work longer hours, and she already worked too much.
“I’ve been transferred to the Mountain Chalet Restaurant. Kalin said I might even get some hours in the kitchen. I can’t believe the fire spread so fast. Was it caused by a lightning strike?”
Ben broke eye contact with Melanie and squatted to pet Chica again. “Don’t know, but we’ll figure out what happened. The chief will start investigating soon.”
Both Ben and Melanie stared at the remains of the Creek Side Restaurant. Ben described the parts of the lower village she couldn’t see from their vantage point.
After she left, Jason asked, “Any news on who started the fire?”
“Nope. I hope the chief is wrong about arson.”
“Is there anything left of your new house?” Jason grabbed two shovels from a nearby truck, handed one to Ben and sloshed to the side of the road.
Chica trotted beside Ben, staying close to his legs. He shoveled garbage off a drain, clearing the rungs and giving the water somewhere to go. “I don’t know how bad the damage is. I haven’t talked to Chambers yet.” The Pete Chambers Construction Company was building Ben and Kalin’s single-family home.
“I guess his business will pick up considering the amount of rebuilding needed,” Jason said.
“That means job security for you. You shouldn’t be short on hours now.”
Jason walked to the next drain. “What’s your plan if you can’t move home soon?”
“No idea. I’ll deal with that later if I have to.”
“You can move to town and stay with Cindy and me.”
“Thanks. I’ll let you know if we need to. Kalin’s staying at the Motel 8 until the resort’s cleared. I’ll join her there.”
CHAPTER FIVE
“The RCMP’s treating the fire as arson,” Fred Morgan said.
So it’s confirmed. Kalin hadn’t heard him come up behind her but hid her surprise. Her stomach cramped at the word arson. As the director of HR and security at the resort, Kalin was Fred’s boss, and she expected daily reports from him during any crisis.
Fred wore a golf shirt with “Stone Mountain Security” embroidered on the top left chest. The ironed crease on each leg of his khaki pants actually pinnacled. His clothing looked formal compared to her low-cut jeans, aqua T-shirt and hiking boots. Not appropriate attire for the director level meeting she was about to attend, but she wasn’t allowed home yet. At least her clothes were clean.
From the upper gondola station, Kalin studied the cordoned off area in the lower village. The fire spared the gondola and its loading stations, but without the need to ferry resort guests between the upper and lower village, the gondola hung silent.
The smoldering remains were all that was left to remind her of the flames that had blazed through the oldest part of the resort. What had been a row of condos, several offices, a grocery store, a restaurant and a bar had turned into a mixture of charred buildings and debris.
Ben and the rest of the fire department had worked hard to save the lower village, but the fire had followed the edge of the river and engulfed the conference center. Parts of the center’s walls remained intact. A quarter of the roof hung in place, but the insides were gutted.
Two days before the fire, Kalin and Ben had placed their wedding presents in the conference center, thinking it would be fun to display them for their guests. Not a single gift remained. Kalin hadn’t made a list of who had given her what. How could she thank people?
The condo where Ben had almost fallen no longer existed. He hadn’t talked to her about his near miss. She’d been told by several firefighters that Jason saved Ben’s life, and that he risked his own in the process. The thought of what might have happened was unbearable.
She closed her mind to the wildlife killed in the surrounding area and had to believe Chica wasn’t among the dead.
And now, knowing someone caused the destruction on purpose terrified her.
Fred interrupted her thoughts. “Did you hear me? It was arson.”
“Sorry. I was trying to take this all in. Did the chief say how?” Kalin had been promoted to the head of security the previous fall when the director of security died of a heart attack. Fred had not been offered the promotion, and Kalin was still struggling to regain a solid working relationship with him.
“Gas and rags. Whoever did it didn’t try to hide it was arson.”
“Is there a suspect?”
Fred stared at her, his grey eyes wide, and said nothing for a moment. His hair, cropped short in a military style, framed a square face he often kept expressionless, and even after a year and a half of working with him, she had a hard time reading him.
“He doesn’t know who’s responsible, but he’s concerned about where the fire started.”
Interrupted by her ringing cell, Kalin turned from Fred to answer Ben’s call. “Hey.”
In response, she heard barking and Ben’s muffled voice giving the speak command.
“She’s okay?”
“She is.”
Kalin’s throat constricted, and she swallowed a sob. The relief was overwhelming. She disconnected, got her emotions under control and turned back to Fred.
“Good news?” he asked.
Kalin nodded but wasn’t going to get distracted. Her instincts told her something bad was coming, and Fred was toying with her. She’d seen him interview many people, and he drew out the questioning. He used tension to get people to admit to what they’d done, and he was using the technique on her.
“Just spit it out,” she said, managing to keep the edge out of her voice.
“The fire started at the building site of your new home.”
“Ben told me.”
“Your place was in the perfect location to cause the most damage.”
“What do you mean?”
“No matter which way the wind blew, the fire would take out something significant. Staff housing, the upper village, the lower village or the subdivision on Black Bear Drive.”
“Does the RCMP suspect anyone?”
“They’re not saying. Because of the location you could have been the target, or someone was smart enough to know the fire would cause significant damage to the resort. Either way, you need to be careful.”
Being told to be careful always irritated Kalin. She was careful. Most of the time. Talking with Fred about her personal life irritated her too, so she changed the subject. “Are you settled in your new office?”
During the fire, Fred’s team had been deployed to secure the resort and evacuate residents, and she couldn’t fault his performance. The security team’s office had been housed between the grocery store and the Creek Side Restaurant. She’d ordered that a conference room be set up in the upper village as a temporary security office.
“I don’t like sharing the open space with the rest of my team, but it’ll do.” Fred had been the manager of security for twelve years and understood the intricacies of running a security team at an isolated ski resort. His team was responsible for patrolling the premises, answering alarms, investigating thefts and traffic management. They were first responders to accidents, fi
ghts and any incident that required the RCMP, paramedics or firefighters, and they operated twenty-four hours a day.
“It’ll have to. There’s no other room. You’re not the only one displaced. What got lost in the fire?”
“The worst was the paper records,” Fred said.
“How much of the data was stored on the computer?”
“All the nightly reports and incident reports. Any added notes and backup material are gone. Also, I need approval to replace an AED unit and a case of bear spray. The rest of the stuff we lost can wait.”
“Sure. Send me the dollar amount.” The beginnings of rain landed on Kalin. The alarm on her phone dinged. “Gotta go.”
She sprinted back to the administration building, beating the downpour by seconds.
She took a deep breath and entered her boss’s office. Gavin Reed had been the president of Stone Mountain for a year. Reed’s office used to be filled with photos of his wife, son and daughter. The removal of his wife’s photos hinted at a relationship gone badly. His son and daughter continued to have prominent positions on his wall. Kalin had hired his daughter, Melanie, after she’d been released from rehab and arrived at the resort looking for work. Ian, his son, might be the father of Nora’s baby, but did Reed know?
Kalin’s office was beside Reed’s, and the view captured the same segment of the Purcell Mountains. The beauty of the ragged peaks still knocked her out every time she looked at them. Reed’s office was three times the size of hers, but she didn’t care. She fit in her office.
“Have you talked with Fred today?” Even at her height of five-foot ten, she had to tilt her head back to look Reed directly in his eyes.
“I have.” Reed’s gym bag sat in its delegated spot on the bottom shelf of his bookcase. He used the gym often but she thought his running routine kept him lean. The chiseled features, the protruding collarbone and the rounded bones at his wrists told a story of a man who kept fit. His thick, grey hair stood straight, and Kalin had never seen it longer than a centimeter.
Blaze (A Stone Mountain Mystery Book 2) Page 4
