“Remember when Jason shot bear spray up wind,” Alex said.
“He didn’t get any sympathy. Everyone was too busy laughing at him.” Ben allowed himself to smile at the memory.
“What about when he put hair dye in Alex’s helmet, and the top of his hair turned blond,” Fred Morgan said. In addition to his job as security manager at Stone Mountain, Fred worked on the volunteer fire department. Ever since Kalin’s promotion, Fred had become reserved around Ben, and Ben was working on getting him to relax.
Alex ran his fingers through his dark hair. “My wife liked it,” he said with an accompanying grin.
Silence settled in for a few moments.
“Anyone hear any rumors about Pete Chambers?” Ben asked.
Fred eyed him. “What kind of rumors?”
“Cindy mentioned Jason said Pete had been cutting corners.”
Fred removed his feet from the coffee table and sat straight. “Are you saying Pete caused the accident?”
Ben shook his head. “I don’t know. Did Jason say anything to anyone here?”
“He mentioned once he was getting fed up with the slack procedures,” Alex said.
The alarm halted the conversation. All eyes turned toward the radio. A front desk agent had called 911 and stated a bear was in one of the homes on Black Bear Drive. RCMP officers were en route, but the fire department could get there first.
Ben called the front desk and asked for details, and the remaining men in the room geared up. “There’s a woman in the house.”
He locked Chica in the lounge, put on his turnout gear over his damp running shirt and shorts, and headed for the truck.
Alex put one foot on the running board of the fire truck, but before he entered, Ben grabbed his elbow. “Go home and get your gun. We might need it.”
Alex hunted large game. Unfortunately, the running joke among the guys was that Alex couldn’t hit a barn door, except now, Ben wished Alex was more skilled. “Meet us at the house.” Ben recited the address.
“Shit. That’s where Reed’s daughter lives,” Alex said.
Ben called Gavin Reed from the front seat of the fire truck and let him know about the bear in Melanie’s place. As the president of the resort, Reed would be told about the bear eventually, but if anything happened to Melanie, Ben didn’t want to be responsible for not calling Reed soon enough.
They arrived at her home and found Melanie clinging to the outside of the upper floor balcony. The sun glinted off the ring piercing her eyebrow. Everything else she wore was black. Why would she dress in Goth in the oppressive heat? Her fingers clenched the railing, and her bare feet pinched between the posts.
If it wasn’t so serious, Ben might have laughed. The closed balcony door created a barrier between her and the bear. For now, anyway. The firefighters came in the Ford F-350, not the Freightliner with the ladder that could get them as high as sixty-five feet.
“Is there a ladder in the garage?” Ben asked.
“How the fuck would I know? Just get me down.”
“Go and check,” he said to the firefighter standing closest to him. “If not, go back and get the ladder truck.”
Word had gotten around about a bear in Melanie’s house, and guests and staff were arriving to watch. Not good. With so many people about, they couldn’t chase the bear out of the house. They’d have to shoot the animal before it got loose. “Do you know what kind of bear it is?”
“No. It’s brown.”
Ben winced at Melanie’s screechy voice. He didn’t want to increase her fear but had to ask, “Did you notice a hump?”
“Yes.”
Gavin Reed skidded his truck to a stop at the side of the road. “Are you okay?” he asked Melanie.
“Get me down from here. That thing is still in the house.”
Alex arrived with a Winchester .30-30 resting on his shoulder.
The grizzly squished its head through a small cat door at the side of the house, but the door blocked its body at its shoulders, preventing it from leaving the house. Alex lay spread-eagle on the ground, positioned the rifle on a tripod and shot. The first bullet hit the bear, and the doomed creature bolted backward into the house. Everyone waited, and when it didn’t poke its head out again, Alex and Ben approached the door. Alex crouched, ducked his head, peered through the cat door and shot a second time.
Alex broke the door lock with the butt of the rifle, and they entered. They followed the bloodstains up the stairs. Gel-like blood covered the carpet and walls.
The bear charged, knocked Ben off his feet and kept running. Alex swung the rifle around and shot for the final time. The grizzly collapsed with a thud and landed with its claws tipping over the top step and its head resting on its paws.
Ben lay sideways on the floor, eye-to-eye with the grizzly. The dead beast smelled of blood mixed with wet grass. If the crowds hadn’t grouped outside, they might have been able to chase the bear away instead of killing it. What a waste.
Alex reached down and pulled Ben to his feet.
“You need to practice more,” Ben said.
“Says the guy whose life I just saved.”
“Maybe we should get Melanie off the balcony.” Ben knew he sounded angry. He was supposed to be the tough guy, the leader. Alex was junior to him, and he should have saved him, not the other way around.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“Hey, babe.” Connor Olsen slapped Tessa’s ass as she led him and his cousin Neil to a window table in the corner of the Wild Game Deli. “Where ya been?”
Tessa gritted her teeth. “On vacation.” Connor had leaned in front of her and enunciated his words when he spoke, and she tugged her hair over her implant.
“Huh. Long time to be away.”
“You know how it is. Off-season and all. There aren’t too many hours.” Tessa had grown up with Connor. They’d gone to the same grade school and high school in Holden. He was a jerk then, and he was a jerk now. A dangerous jerk. She despised him and hated herself for being afraid of him. If she hadn’t been at work, she wouldn’t talk to him.
Connor perused the deli. “How come the place is empty?”
Tessa moved a foot away from him and tried to speak with a steady voice. “The dragon boat races are this afternoon. We had a full lunch crowd, but I guess everyone went to watch.”
Tessa took their lunch orders. Neil was in his mid thirties and not aging well. With his belly growing bulbous over the last year, drinking beer at lunch was probably the wrong beverage choice. She’d heard rumors of excessive drinking since his construction business had gone under. Maybe they were true.
A few of the tables were still cluttered from the lunch rush. After she delivered their orders to the chef, she began at the table farthest from Connor and his cousin, trying to be invisible as she cleaned.
“You heard about the bear?” Connor said. “It was pretty funny. You should have seen Melanie hanging from the balcony.”
“I thought you dumped her. What were you doing there?”
“Just watching the action. What should we do next?” Connor asked.
“Shut up. She’ll hear you,” Neil whispered.
“You know she’s deaf as a door knob. Unless she’s reading lips, she won’t know what we’re saying. Her back is to us.”
Tessa’s eyes widened, and her lips formed a secret smile. She’d kept quiet about her surgery because she wasn’t sure the implant would work. Being able to eavesdrop was a surgery bonus, a pleasant surprise. In the last week she’d learned more about the people around her than in the last year. She placed the dirty plates in the plastic bin balanced on her hip and reached for a glass.
Tessa concentrated on the rest of their conversation, but had a difficult time making sense of the words. They were jumping around and talking over each other.
While driving home from work, she finally put the words together. She still needed time to process sentences. She was learning to understand what she heard, and what she’d heard surprised her.
Connor and Neil had been discussing the fire.
Tessa made a U-turn and headed to the RCMP headquarters located at the edge of Holden. This was her first time entering the station. She took a deep breath and stepped toward the RCMP receptionist and asked to speak with an officer working on the Stone Mountain arson case.
She sat on the bench that backed onto a wall length window, hoping no one saw her. She could still walk out and not do this. Besides, she had somewhere else she needed to be. She stood.
Too late.
An officer with gentle eyes approached her. She recognized him from the hospital after Jason died.
“Constable Miller. What can I do for you, Tessa?”
Tessa hid her surprise that he’d remembered her name. “I have some information about the fire.”
“Come on in. We can talk in the back.” Miller led her to a small room containing a table and four chairs.
She sat across from him, placed her hands on the table and intertwined her fingers. She liked Pete Chambers. He was patient when he spoke to her. And now, she was going to rat on him. She had no choice. She had to think of Cindy. If Pete started the fire, maybe Cindy was right, and he was responsible for Jason’s death. “I’m not sure I should be here, but I overheard something today.”
“Take your time and tell me what you heard.”
“I had surgery two months ago. Do you know what a cochlear implant is?”
“No.”
Tessa described the technology behind the implant and the surgery. “I’m deaf. I like to think of the implant as a bionic ear. After the surgery, I had to learn what different sounds represent. I’m still learning and sometimes it’s overwhelming, and I need time to process meaning. I haven’t learnt yet how to filter out unimportant noises.”
“If you don’t mind my asking, how come your speech is not affected?”
“I started to go deaf at three and got my first hearing aid at eight. I could already talk by then. When my hearing deteriorated, I learned to read lips.”
“So the implant has enabled you to hear again.”
Tessa blushed. “Here’s the thing. I haven’t told anyone except close friends about the surgery. I wasn’t sure the implant would work. People who know me still talk around me as if I can’t hear them.”
Miller prompted her to get to the point. “So you overheard something about the fire.”
“Do you know Connor Olsen?”
“I do.”
Tessa took a deep breath. Just say it. “He came into the Wild Game for lunch today. I work there as a server. He was with his cousin. He said that Pete Chambers deserved the damage because he started the fire.”
“Which cousin?”
“Neil Olsen.”
Miller straightened. “What else did he say?”
“That’s all I understood. I didn’t realize what he’d said until I was on my way home.”
“Did anyone else hear them?”
“I don’t think so.”
* * *
Kalin was the last to leave the administration building. She locked her office door and stepped backward into a woman. She hadn’t heard her approach from behind.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” the woman said.
“Can I help you?” Kalin asked. The woman was familiar, but she couldn’t quite place her.
“Tessa Weber.” She held out her hand to Kalin. “I’d like to talk with you about a job.”
Kalin shifted her backpack to her left hand and returned the handshake. “You’re Cindy’s friend, from the hospital. Right?”
“Yes. She suggested I talk with you.”
Kalin took in Tessa’s ironed dress pants and crisp white blouse. Tessa had applied makeup, enough to enhance, but not so much as to be gaudy. People came asking for a job wearing all kinds of clothes, including the inappropriate let-me-show-you-my-underwear jeans. She appreciated it when a person made an effort. Even considering that, she said, “You’ll need to speak with Monica Bellman. Her team does the hiring for the resort. I can introduce you, but we only have one or two positions open. With the fire, we’re cutting back.”
“I understand this is a long shot, and I’m sorry I got here so late. My shift at the deli finished at four, and I had to make a stop before coming here. I was hoping to speak with you. I have an unusual request.”
Kalin was curious, so she unlocked her door and asked Tessa in.
“I like your painting.” Tessa nodded at the wall behind Kalin. The painting showed the Rocky Mountains to the east of the resort. Below the range, the artist caught Stone Mountain Resort in the thrill of opening day. The action jumped off the canvas, giving the viewer a sensation of being part of the scene. The artist had used vivid primary colors against the whiteness of the snow. “Lisa Hudson did beautiful work.”
In the small office, Kalin smelled cigarette smoke. Don’t be judgmental. “You knew her?”
“I’ve lived in Holden all my life. I didn’t know her personally, but I liked her gallery. If I could’ve ever afforded anything from there, I would have bought stuff. It’s sad what happened to her.”
“Yes. It is.” Did Tessa know how Lisa died and that Kalin had been with her, or did she only know what had been written in the local paper? And since she’d known who Lisa was, she might know Nora too.
“I can’t believe how different the resort looks since she painted that scene. The fire destroyed way more than I thought possible.”
The fire. The fire had been the start of Ben’s problems. Kalin was sick of not knowing who lit the match. Maybe if she figured out who did, then Ben would have someone to blame and stop beating himself up. If Jason hadn’t been exhausted after fighting the fire, he might not have been killed at work. So many ifs and not enough answers. “So, how can I help you?”
“I’ve worked at the deli in town since I graduated from high school. I’m twenty-five, and I think it’s time I took my life more seriously. I don’t have enough money to go away to university, but I’ve enrolled online with Athabasca U. I’m going to study human resources.”
“I’m not sure why you need to see me and not Monica.”
“I have something private to say. I’ve been deaf since I was a child.” Tessa must have noticed Kalin’s eyebrows lift in surprise. “I’ll explain.”
Tessa told Kalin about the implant and her desire to keep the surgery secret. “I think now I can do more than work in the deli. Before the implant I couldn’t even use a phone. It made it impossible to get an office job. I’m looking for someone who will take a chance on me, let me work in the HR field before I complete my degree. Cindy thought Monica wouldn’t have the authority to make that decision, and I’d like as few people as possible to know about my implant. I don’t want to be viewed as a person with a handicap anymore. I’ll work hard. You won’t be disappointed.”
Monica’s team needed a food and beverage recruiting specialist. Someone who would hire solely for that business unit, and Tessa had experience from working at the deli. She told Tessa about the position.
“I’d love to do that. I never expected I’d be able to use the experience I already have. I thought I’d be starting from scratch.”
“Hold on a sec.” Kalin laughed at her enthusiasm. “You still have to go through a full interview with Monica, and she’ll have to check your references. Then we can talk. Come in tomorrow, and I’ll introduce you to her.”
* * *
Miller removed his Kevlar vest and tossed it on his desk. He stretched, enjoying the freedom of movement. He would interview Connor and Neil Olsen separately. Pete Chambers must know he was a suspect, but Miller needed more evidence before he accused him.
He drafted a list of questions. Tessa hadn’t told him much. The pace of her words had picked up when she’d finally spilled what she’d heard, as if she was trying to get her statement over with. She’d asked him to keep her surgery a secret. He’d try, but Connor was going to wonder why he was asking specific questions about his conversat
ion. According to Tessa, she’d been the only one in the dining area at the time they’d talked.
He finished his thoughts, closed the notebook and left his office.
Miller caught Connor just as he was shutting the front door of his bungalow. He thought he saw a flash of fear on Connor’s face and wondered what that was about.
He waited for Connor at the end of the unpaved driveway. “Got a minute?”
Connor searched left down the road, then right as if he was looking for an escape route. “I’m on my way out.”
“This won’t take long.” Miller removed his notebook from his pocket and licked the end of his pencil. Two red trucks were parked in Connor’s driveway, and Miller remembered their uncle owned a used car dealership. One was a Ford F-150 and the other a Dodge Ram. The lawn hadn’t been mowed recently and dandelions sprung up randomly across the grass. Stuffed garbage bags filled the area beside the rubbish bins, and Miller stopped counting at ten.
“I’m interested in your thoughts about the fire.”
Connor hunched his shoulders. “What about it?”
“Any idea who started it?”
“No.”
Miller wondered what reason Connor could have for protecting his boss. Most people weren’t that loyal to someone they worked for. Miller had checked, and Connor had been working for Chambers over the last seven months.
He took in Connor’s ripped jeans and faded sweatshirt. “Where are you going tonight?”
“I’m meeting the guys at the bar.”
“Will Pete Chambers be there?”
“No. Why?”
“I thought maybe you were good friends with him.”
Conner put his thumbs in his belt loops, hitching up his pants. “Not really. He’s my boss.”
“But you like him?”
“Yeah, sure. As far as bosses go.”
Connor was fidgety, nervous about speaking with Miller. “Are you expecting someone?”
Blaze (A Stone Mountain Mystery Book 2) Page 11
