Blaze (A Stone Mountain Mystery Book 2)

by Kristina Stanley

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Ben rolled out of bed, trying not to wake Kalin. He didn’t want her to know he’d lost his ability to sleep through the night without having at least one nightmare. He grabbed his pajama bottoms off the floor, tiptoed to the bathroom and eased the door closed.

  Sweat chilled him, and he wanted a shower, but that would wake Kalin for sure. He turned the tap to cold and used his hands to splash water over his head. He sat on the edge of the bathtub and closed his eyes.

  The image of Jason crushed beneath the cabin started every dream. The body would become Kalin’s, then turn back into Jason’s. Ben would wake up when he was falling into the fire, staring into Jason’s eyes. It didn’t take a genius to figure out he had survivor’s guilt. The question was should he get professional help. He couldn’t go on much longer without sleep.

  Kalin knocked. “Are you okay? You’ve been in there a long time.”

  Ben rose and opened the door. “I can’t sleep. It’s nothing.”

  She took his hand and led him to their bed. “It’s not nothing. You get up every night and hide in the bathroom. I wasn’t going to say anything, but it’s been going on for too long. Can’t you tell me about it?”

  Chica jumped onto the bed and curled at their feet. Ben stroked her silky fur with his toes while he debated what to say. He loved Kalin. He should be married to her already. That meant sharing his thoughts even when they were hard to face. But now, he wasn’t sure. Before Kalin, he’d never had problems dealing with death or dangerous situations. With her to lose, everything took on a different meaning. Maybe it wasn’t worth it.

  “It’s all mixed up,” he said.

  “What is?”

  “It’s not like I haven’t dealt with death before.”

  “Jason’s death was an accident.”

  “He saved my life.”

  Kalin ran her hand through Ben’s hair and pulled his head to her breast. He breathed in her scent. How could he live without her? How could he continue living with her?

  “I’ll be grateful to him for the rest of my life. You have to know that had nothing to do with him dying.”

  “I know it, but I feel guilty. Every time I see Cindy I want to throw up. She must wonder why I lived and Jason didn’t.”

  “There’s no way the two things are connected. She won’t think that way.”

  Ben pressed his head deeper against her. “Pete’s our contractor. Jason died on one of his sites.”

  “You’re not being logical. It’s true but not related. I think, maybe, you should talk to someone.”

  “I don’t want to,” Ben whispered. “It’s weak.”

  “It’s not. Everyone needs help sometimes. I won’t think any less of you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  “My nightmares don’t make any sense. I dream Connor’s car explodes, and you’re too close to it. I’m mixing up Jason and you and the fire. I know what I was thinking when I was hanging from Jason’s arms. He must have had similar thoughts when he died.”

  “You don’t know that. Maybe it happened so fast he didn’t have time to think. You were hanging there for a while. It’s different.”

  “I just want to sleep a full night and not dream. We were fine until the fire wrecked everything.”

  “I have sleeping pills. Do you want one?”

  Ben lifted off Kalin, surprised. “You still have pills?”

  “I stopped taking them when we moved in together but didn’t throw them out. They’re expired, but I bet they still work. What harm can it do?”

  “I don’t want to take drugs.”

  “You think that’s a sign of weakness too?”

  “Sort of. Not that you’re weak. It was different for you. You lost your husband. That’s worse than what happened to me.”

  “Not worse. Just different. Don’t compare.”

  Kalin went to the bathroom, and he heard her rummaging through the medicine cabinet. She came back holding a pill and a glass of water. “Take this. It’ll help. At least for tonight.”

  Ben swallowed the pill.

  * * *

  “You lead an exciting life,” Fred Morgan said.

  Kalin invited her security manager to join her in her office, hoping he didn’t notice how tired she looked. After Ben had finally fallen asleep last night, she’d lain awake for hours thinking about how she could help him. “You’re talking about the car crash?”

  Fred nodded. He entered and closed the door.

  A gust blew through the window, bringing in dust from the parking lot, and for the third time that day Kalin wiped the windowsill.

  “I was driving to the Bear Aware meeting and saw Connor Olsen crash. There’s a local woman who wants to have Holden and the surrounding area certified as a Bear Aware town. She wants the resort’s participation, especially after the bear went in Melanie Reed’s house.”

  “The fire department’s been busy lately. They love the excitement. They don’t often get to deal with an exploded car.”

  Kalin forced a laugh. “I know. Ben couldn’t stop talking about it last night.” She had no intention of letting Fred know Ben was having difficulties and had barely mentioned the explosion. Under normal circumstances, he would have replayed the scene for her with excitement in his eyes. Instead, he’d met her at home, had a beer and gone to bed. It wasn’t until she’d found him hiding in the bathroom that her worrying got serious.

  “I did some digging around about Connor Olsen,” Fred said.

  “Find anything interesting?”

  “Did you know Connor worked for the resort as a snowmaker when he was twenty?”

  “No, but that’s less than seven years ago. We’ll still have a file on him. It’ll be in the storage unit in town. I’ll send someone down to get it.”

  “One of the snowmakers who was around back then remembered the resort fired Connor and he was angry. He came back the next night between snowmaking shifts and turned on the snow-guns to full water. He ruined a run before he was caught.”

  “What was he fired for?” Kalin asked.

  “I couldn’t find anyone who remembered that part.”

  “It’ll be in his file. Do you think he still has a hate on for the resort?”

  “Maybe, but that was a long time ago. Do you want to update Reed or should I?”

  “I’ll do it,” Kalin said.

  “Okay. I guess Reed wants us to comply with Bear Aware considering a grizzly got into Melanie’s home. What do we have to do?”

  After Kalin described the plan to bring the resort up to Bear Aware standards, Fred left. She sat for a long time, thinking about Ben. She had to do something. She called the counselor the resort kept on retainer and explained Ben’s condition. The counselor recommended Ben come in to see her. Technically Ben’s issues weren’t related to the resort, but he was a resort employee and the guidelines were intentionally kept loose, giving employees easy access to help. The fire department had their own counselor, but Ben would never see him. She hoped Ben wouldn’t be mad she made him an appointment.

  * * *

  Tessa Weber stopped at the U-Store-It on the outskirts of Holden. The ring of keys jingled in her hand. She was getting used to mechanical sounds and was starting to control the input. The noises didn’t bother her as much as they had right after her surgery. There were still many sounds she had to learn, but her ability to understand people increased daily.

  She laughed at some of the mistakes she’d made the first week. It didn’t matter. Anyone who knew her was used to misunderstandings. Her friends should have told her she’d been singing the wrong lyrics to songs since childhood.

  She entered the storage unit and sighed. Years of boxes, dumped one on top of another without any plan to organize them, filled the space. She knew the year she was searching for, but annoyingly, only some of the boxes were labeled. She’d have to talk with Monica Bellman. Her new boss might let her spend some time organizing the stuff.

  The labeled boxes
seemed like the logical place to start. An hour into searching, she found the year she wanted, but after going through the entire box, she still hadn’t found Connor’s file. She continued looking for more boxes with the required year.

  If she’d known this was a marathon event, she would have brought coffee. By midmorning thoughts of giving up nagged at her, and she called Monica. “How important is this file?”

  “You need to find it. It could have to do with the resort fire.”

  “You’re kidding. You think Connor started the fire?” Tessa’s motivation for finding the file reignited. She’d spend any amount of boring hours if she could find something to bring Connor down. But if Connor started the fire, why did he say Pete Chambers did?

  “I didn’t say that. Kalin asked for the file in the context of the fire. I don’t know why.”

  A phone conversation, something most people took for granted, thrilled Tessa. When texting became popular, the technology had opened a new world to her. She’d been part of the group. Her circle of friends increased. She could communicate with them in the same manner they communicated with each other. Now, adding something as simple as a phone call to her list of talents expanded her life immeasurably. Before the implant she couldn’t have called Monica.

  Tessa returned to her search and finally found the file. She shouldn’t read the contents but wasn’t going to miss the opportunity and leafed through the pages. She hadn’t known the resort had fired Connor. She remembered the year he’d worked there.

  People probably talked about it, and she’d missed out on the conversation. Well, no more. She was in on all the gossip and loving her new life of being in the know. But this wasn’t gossip, and Kalin had told her she couldn’t leak information about people. She’d signed the privacy policy, but if she could think of a way to get at Connor with this, she would. He deserved to be hurt after what he’d done to her.

  She read the report the security team had given to the RCMP detailing the night after Connor was fired for being late too many times in a row. Not a huge offence. Connor had returned to the resort, stolen a snowmobile to access the mountain and turned on the snow-guns at full power. The snowmaking manager had been doing a routine check of the equipment and chased Connor on his snowmobile. Connor drove into a snow bank, and the manager caught him.

  Tessa thought that night was one of the few times an Olsen had been held accountable for what he did. She couldn’t help herself, and her thoughts drifted back to the night when Connor had gotten away with something horrible.

  She’d lain in Connor’s rental unit with her face pressed into the couch. The fibers scratched her cheek. She didn’t know what was worse, the ache between her legs or the one in her heart. Why did she think dating Connor was a good idea?

  Connor had snuck up behind her. His hands grabbed her hips, and he pushed her into his den. Hand on the back of her neck, face shoved into a pillow. Panicking. Thinking she’d suffocate. Instinctively, she angled her face sideways, searching for air. She gulped greedily until the dizziness subsided.

  She clenched her jaw, gagging, suppressing the pressure in her chest. She bucked, but he pushed on her neck until she stopped.

  Once he’d finished with her, he shoved her aside and left the room. He’d been angry because his landlord, Gavin Reed, had evicted him and given him eight hours to get out of the place. He’d taken his anger out on Tessa, then left her there as if she were a sack of rotten potatoes.

  Somehow she’d get even with Connor Olsen.

  * * *

  Pete Chambers rapped on Connor Olsen’s front door, and sun sparkled on the wedding ring on his right ring finger. He’d never been able to stop wearing the plain gold band, but he moved the ring to his right hand when he started dating Susan even though the action made him feel guilty.

  “What the fuck do you want now?” Connor yelled from behind the door.

  Pete wondered who Connor thought he was. “It’s Pete. Do you have a minute?”

  Connor opened the door. He wore torn jeans and was bare chested. He ran his hand through uncombed hair. The odor of pot wafted outside.

  “Today’s my day off,” Connor said in a defensive tone.

  The breeze carried Connor’s morning breath, and Pete took a step backward. The bungalow needed a coat of paint. The grime-covered bay window blocked light from the living room but also blocked prying eyes. “I know. I want to talk to you about my car exploding.”

  “Oh, that,” Connor stepped onto the stoop. “It was an accident.”

  Pete motioned toward the driveway. “How come you didn’t drive your truck?”

  “Mine had a flat, and Neil wasn’t home.”

  “Why did you have gas in the car?”

  “I didn’t know it was there.”

  “I know you told Constable Miller the same story, but come on, it’s my car. I didn’t store gas in it.”

  Connor sighed. “I was meeting some buds on the mountain. We were going to take the ATVs to the Timber Range Cabin. They called and said they were low on gas.”

  “Why didn’t you tell Miller that’s what you were up to?”

  “I didn’t want to get fired. I need this job. I know we’re only supposed to carry gas in the back of the trucks.”

  “You think I’d fire you for using my car for something personal or for storing gas in it?”

  Connor nodded. “The car did blow up.”

  “Insurance will cover it. Lying to the cops is a bad idea. It’ll make Miller suspicious. I still don’t get the big deal. Where’d you get the gas from?”

  “What does that matter?”

  “Now we’re getting to it. So?”

  “The site at the base of the mountain.”

  Connor must mean the building site that bordered the highway to Stone Mountain. His company was in the process of clearing the site. “You stole it from me.”

  “Borrowed. I didn’t have time to go to the gas station. The guys were waiting. I was going to replace the gas in the morning.”

  “I think you should tell Miller. Let’s talk about what else you’ve told him.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You know exactly what I mean. You told him I started the fire at Stone Mountain.”

  “I didn’t. Tessa Weber told him that.”

  “Why would she? I’ve done nothing to her.”

  “She thought that’s what I said, and she ratted you out.”

  The toes of Pete’s work boots were inches from Connor’s bare feet, and Pete controlled the urge to step forward. “Don’t bullshit me.”

  “I’m not. She overheard me talking about the fire, but she heard wrong. She’s deaf, or she used to be. She’s got some kind of implant now, but I guess she still doesn’t hear too good. She told Miller, not me.”

  “I’ll assume that’s true for now.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning you get to keep your job unless I find out otherwise.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Kalin answered her desk phone on the first ring.

  “Janet Wood is here to see you,” Kalin’s administration assistant said.

  Without putting down her pen, she spoke into her speakerphone. “Who’s she?”

  “She wants a job. I said we didn’t have anything, but she insisted on seeing you anyway. She’s on her way.”

  Kalin sighed. She was writing a report for her boss on the payroll reduction plan for the seasonal staff, but it would have to wait. She wasn’t due to meet with Reed for another hour, so she could spend a bit of time with the woman. “Okay.”

  Janet Wood tapped lightly on the doorframe.

  “Come in. Please have a seat.” Kalin took in the woman’s yellowish skin tone. It was obvious she needed to spend more time outdoors.

  Janet held out her hand, and Kalin shook it. The delicate bones in the woman’s hand matched her weak handshake.

  “How can I help?”

  “I’m looking for a job.”

  Kalin appreciate
d her directness. “I’m sure you’ve seen the damage the fire did to the resort. We’ve had to cut jobs. Unless we lose someone, we won’t have an open position for a while.”

  “I’ve been everywhere in town, and no one will hire me. I’m getting a little desperate.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that. What kind of work do you do?”

  “Anything really. I’ve been trained in administration.”

  “Where was the last place you worked?”

  Janet fiddled with her plastic watch band. “I haven’t worked anywhere. If you did a reference check, you’d find I’ve been in prison for eighteen years. That’s part of the reason I can’t get a job. My parole officer will give me a good recommendation. I had no problems while I was in prison. I’ll work hard.”

  The crime must have been serious for an eighteen year sentence, and Kalin suppressed her desire to ask what she’d done. “It really has nothing to do with you. We don’t have an open position right now.”

  “The job center in town has an HR recruiting position posted.”

  “I filled that the other day and forgot to tell them.” Kalin jotted on her to do list to call later.

  “But if you hired a recruiter, you must need more employees.”

  Kalin heard the pleading tone and felt sorry for the woman. “Not until winter. We start our recruiting in about two weeks. Our new recruiter will focus on November and December start dates. I’m happy to talk with you about those positions, but I’m guessing that’s too far away for you.”

  Janet’s eyes teared. “I really want to stay in the area. My daughter and grandson live here. My parole officer said if I can’t find employment, I have to move somewhere else.”

  Kalin remembered the day in the hospital when she’d gone to drive Nora and Ethan home. She’d seen Janet hovering over Nora, and the hair on the back of her neck tingled.

  “What if someone doesn’t show up for a summer job? That must happen sometimes. I can work as a housekeeper. I don’t care what I do. Whatever it is, I’ll work hard.”