“Peter would have known about other people,” Meg assured him.
“What if they fell out mid-air, above Whisper or on the edges of it and landed outside the mountain?” Kyle asked.
Meg paused, considering. I wondered if she was getting information from Peter. “If they were outside the boundary when they fell, Peter might not have noticed. It’s too bad he didn’t think of that sooner. He could have asked Marcus to search. We still can, but it’s probably a little late now.”
“But if they fell out of the plane over Whisper but landed elsewhere, he’d have known?” Kyle clarified.
Meg hesitated a second before saying yes.
“So we have the probable pilot, maybe others, down outside the boundaries of Whisper proper. The pilot, or whoever the man was, is the only one to have come down where Peter can sense him. Well, the pilot and the plane,” Kyle summarized.
Everyone nodded.
“So that leaves us with who made the plane and what is the purpose of it? And who was the person on the plane was and why was he fleeing? And what if he wasn’t alone?” Meg tapped a pen against her desk as she spoke.
“What if he wasn’t the pilot,” RaeLynn said. “What if he was a prisoner of some sort and he wanted to make sure no one found him?”
“Of course, how did the pilot manage to leave the plane before it crashed?” Meg asked.
“Ejection?” RaeLynn said.
“The seats are still there,” Colleen said from the doorway. She wasn’t really in on the meeting but I was glad she’d followed us down.
“Well, that’s interesting,” Meg said. “I need to go up there. Plus we’ll need to bring the body out. Dillon, are you up to going back in?”
“Sure,” Dillon said. He enjoyed hiking and nature. He was probably as happy working out there as he was working in the office.
“Maybe Colleen can help. How much do you think the pilot weighs?”
“I think Colleen and you could trade off helping me carry,” he said.
“Great. Let’s plan to get going in about two hours. Does that give you enough time?”
“I can be ready.”
“Count me in,” Colleen said.
“Anything else?” Meg asked.
“I had a call from a Taylor and Sons, a machine shop in North Bend for security,” I said. “I got there and was told they hadn’t called and they sent me away. Today they called and asked why I hadn’t shown up. Mike Taylor, the person I kept talking to, sounded different on the phone than he did in person. And he admits he thought he was at his office all day but clearly wasn’t. The description I gave of the man I saw was clearly not him.”
“Well, it’s not related.” Meg decided.
“Someone had to work on that plane and if it’s a test flight, these machinists could easily be local. It might be connected, although it’s a stretch.”
I saw Kyle make a note, looking thoughtful. I wonder what that brought up for him.
Meg frowned but clearly thinking it through. “I think it’s a stretch but I suppose we should make sure the machine shop wasn’t employed by anyone we’re looking it.”
“Did you get a photo of the pilot?” RaeLynn asked Dillon.
“Just need to upload and I’ll send it.”
“I’ll get started on the pilot id. That might give us a starting place.”
Meg nodded at that, pleased.
“Are you sure you don’t me to go with you?” Kyle asked Meg as he stood up.
“Dillon said the three of us could handle it. Besides, if something else comes up here, I want to know I have someone I can trust.”
RaeLynn tried not to flinch at that. I didn’t, because Meg had made very clear that I wasn’t to be trusted. Kyle nodded but I could see by the tension in his body that he was debating saying more. Finally he sighed and left the room. I followed him out. Dillon paused to let RaeLynn file out behind me, so we left Meg alone in her office. No doubt she’d go running home to collect her hiking gear in a few minutes.
The good news, I supposed, was that although I wasn’t trusted, at least she wouldn’t be glaring at me while she was on the mountain.
Meg
Meg walked back to her apartment and started throwing together the things she would need for an overnight hike. Fortunately she was experienced at hiking, both day hiking and longer treks.
“I don’t know why you can’t let someone else do this,” Peter said, watching as Meg pushed a fleece vest into a compartment that looked half the size necessary for such an item. While zipping it up was a little difficult, she managed it.
“I know the mountain better than anyone except you. If there’s something to find, you know I’ll find it. Plus,” Meg added, walking out of the bedroom and into the kitchen where she had a few instant meals tucked away, “I can go off the mountain and you can’t.”
“As the leader of the investigation, it seems prudent to stay here,” Peter argued, following her through the door and back again as he talked.
“As the leader, I have to know exactly what’s going on. And it’s not as if anyone is treating me as the leader. Everyone keeps going to Rain to coordinate.” Meg zipped up another compartment. She had the fleeting impression that Peter might not be telling her the whole truth about why he wanted her to stay in town.
“No one thinks of Rain as the investigation leader. It’s just that Zari A was easier to communicate with,” Peter tried to explain.
“And as a result, Rain was consulted first. As a result of that, she’s the one asking questions and talking to people while I play catch up. I suppose she should go up the mountain in my place?” Meg knew she wasn’t being reasonable but she was tired of everyone trying to keep her out of the wilderness. Since when did she need to be protected?
Peter gave her a long look from under eyelashes that were too long to be wasted on a man before giving her a half smile. Meg picked up the image of Rain trying to pick her way up the mountain. She had kept up the time they needed to hike into the Blayn G’s cave on Mt. Rainier, but she was not an experienced hiker.
Neither said anything more until their stare down was interrupted by a knock at the door.
“Door to door pick up,” Dillon said coming in. Colleen was behind him. Meg grabbed her stuff to follow them through the door.
“If you insist upon going at least use the trail by your grandmother’s. The one by my house has had some landslides and the ground isn’t safe,” Peter said, watching them leave, hands behind his back.
Colleen started to say something but Dillon cut her off. “I noticed that when we tried getting up there the other night. That’s a good idea.”
Peter nodded at him. Meg felt the lie in her gut. Dillon knew something that she and Colleen didn’t. It had nothing to do with the land and whether there was a landslide there. Still, Dillon was driving which meant, no doubt, that they’d begin their hike down the road from her grandmother’s rather than Peter’s. It was an unusual place to begin hikes to the upper most reach of the mountain but not an impossible one.
Meg turned to glare at Peter as she left the apartment. Maybe she could find out what was really going on from Dillon later on.
“It’s going to take longer going out by my Gram’s,” Meg said once she was in Dillon’s car. He drove and Colleen rode shotgun, probably because she’d been in the car longer. Meg didn’t mind the back. The drive wasn’t going to be long.
“Maybe a little, but we’ll make up any time we might lose going around landslides,” Dillon said.
“I don’t remember hearing anything about it,” Colleen chimed in.
Colleen, at least, wasn’t lying. Dillon was. Meg wondered if he cared that she knew he was lying.
“Good thing we’re all experienced hikers and can get ready quickly,” Meg joked, wondering if Dillon would lie about that.
“Good thing,” he said, turning to right taking them away from Peter’s and towards Meg’s grandmother’s. Meg looked down the gravel road but it was lo
ng enough and the view of the house blocked by a slight curve. There were too many firs and cedars on the edge of the road, waving their evergreen branches to even give her the tiniest glimpse. The road looked a little more used than it normally did, but Meg wasn’t sure if that were true or if it were her imagination.
Dillon found a place to park off to the side of the road a few yards from where it abruptly ended. It was unlikely that anyone would bother the car there. One of Meg’s cousins sat on her front porch, across the way. Meg waved at her. The woman raised a mug in salute. It was hard to know how much she knew about what was going on. Her mouth was moving, which meant she probably had a headset and was gossiping with someone. If her cousin hadn’t already been told about what Meg was up to, she’d find out soon enough.
Meg, Colleen and Dillon quickly grabbed their stuff. The air was chilly. There was a hint of rain but Meg didn’t smell it the way she had the other day. The clouds were moving north faster than she expected, although she wouldn’t rule out a rainy night. Meg shrugged into her gear while Dillon and Colleen went through the same movements.
Each called out items they didn’t want to forget. Everyone appeared to have everything and they set out up a faint trail. Meg knew for a fact no such trail existed but Peter was going to make it easy for them. He showed up next to Meg a few feet into the trees.
“Didn’t want to be seen with me?” she asked.
Peter glanced over at her. “I figured you didn’t want to be seen with me. Besides, you didn’t need me before.”
“I can find my way with Dillon,” Meg said.
“I can make it go faster,” Peter replied easily.
The trail Peter was taking them on led back towards his house. Although it was steep, it wasn’t difficult. The four of them made good time. Meg looked over, knowing she was looking at the trees behind her gram’s house. She hated that her own grandmother seemed to not want to talk to her. Emma’s anger seemed all out of proportion to what was actually going on.
Meg had tried talking to her mother about it but her mom just told her that Emma didn’t like being wrong and clearly she had been. Meg knew her mother believed what she was saying but there was more to the story. She suspected her mother didn’t know the whole story. Meg wished she understood. Peter clearly didn’t. That subject wasn’t one that he was particularly secretive about.
Meg hoped that the old woman would get over it, at least enough to offer some explanation of her actions to someone, even if not Meg. Meg kind of got that her gram wanted to be the one in the know about Peter. It increased her importance, at least in her own mind. What Meg didn’t understand was why Emma would break Peter’s rules about information she needed to share with her children. It was like she had planned this break with her granddaughter over a generation before Meg had even been born.
“The fact that she seems to have planned this for years is what makes it particularly unacceptable,” Peter said. He had kept a silent pace next to Meg, almost invisible in the trees and completely silent. They were turning up the hill towards the plane, where they would meet up with the real trail, the one that ran up the mountain on the other side of Peter’s house.
“But that means it was important. Who knows when she saw something?” Meg asked.
“She planned rule breaking, Meg. It’s bad enough she broke the rules. There are consequences and she’s not facing them.”
Meg watched Peter walk beside her. He wasn’t invisible, didn’t fade out or anything. He just blended. Meg couldn’t figure it out. “She’s my grandmother. You can’t just kill her.”
“She could be exiled,” Peter said.
“She wouldn’t leave, you know. She’d force you to make a decision about killing her. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was part of her end game all along.” Meg could feel the truth of that in her gut, knowing her grandmother had taken all of that into consideration. Emma knew what it would mean to Meg to know that Peter could make one of her relatives disappear just because it needed to be done. And he wouldn’t feel remorse. Meg already knew that.
Peter didn’t say anything. Meg could feel anger snaking out of him, the more she dwelled on thoughts of her grandmother. His expression was neutral but there was a rigidness in his usual flowing movements that told her he wasn’t pleased.
“I just wish I understood,” Meg whispered.
Peter did look over at her then, the right corner of his lip turning up a little in what was almost a smile. At least she knew he wasn’t angry with her.
A few minutes later they met the main trail where it began to get steeper. Colleen fell a little behind, walking more slowly than Meg and Dillon but not by much. At one point, Peter led them on a new trail that wasn’t quite so steep. This one had been travelled recently. Peter’s awareness flowed into Meg’s and she knew that her father and John had hiked there the day before. It was the path Dillon had taken the other day as well. John was a few hours ahead of them.
“Are we going straight to the pilot or past the plane?” Meg asked.
“I only know how to get to the pilot by going by the plane. Peter will get us as close to the pilot as he can before we leave his area. I have a trail marked to get back to where I need to go,” Dillon said, glancing back.
They made some small talk but mostly hiked in silence, sometimes pausing for water breaks and once for a snack. The day wasn’t warm, so no one wanted to linger. Peter made sure they had an easy enough trail to follow. Then Meg started seeing something grayish white sitting before them. At first she thought it was a rock, although it didn’t seem familiar to her and she’d been up in that area numerous times. A half an hour farther south was another trail that led up to a look out.
“I believe you were lost in this area once,” Peter observed. Meg glared.
He raised his eyebrows while attempting to keep from smiling. She knew he was remembering a time, years ago, when she’d gone hiking in November. She’d wanted one last hike but it had been cold and the snow level was lower than she expected. She managed to get off the trail and couldn’t quite get her bearings when things looked so different. Peter had managed to lead her back down to a familiar place, somewhat amused at her misfortune.
They got to an area where some trees had been knocked down. The plane sat just off center of the new clearing. Colleen immediately moved towards it. John came around from the far side.
“Afternoon,” he said. He was holding a notebook and had a tape measure in one hand. Meg could see where he’d placed his camping gear and some other gear that she didn’t recognize. Dillon walked over to the plane, going slowly around it.
“We won’t disturb what you’re doing if we look will we?” Dillon asked.
“Shouldn’t,” John said. “Just don’t go moving things around. I have photos but I’d like to get some drawings too so I can do a scale. This seems small for us, narrow.”
“The pilot wasn’t a big guy,” Dillon said, walking to the far side of the plane and out of Meg’s line of sight.
Colleen walked over to John and started discussing the fact that there were multiple seats but only one pilot. Meg could hear them talking but their words didn’t make a lot of sense to her. Not needed, Meg decided she’d understand the wooded area better than the plane so she started looking around there, using her own eyes and Peter’s heightened senses. She wondered if there was anything else that could have fallen from the plane that went unnoticed.
Peter showed her something small and white. Meg walked through the underbrush, noticing the way things were torn, possibly from when the plane as it went down. She tried to disturb it as little as possible in case John was able to put together what happened there. She picked up a small notebook, with the cover torn off.
There were numbers on the pages, which looked like coordinates. Meg brought it back to show John.
“Does this look like something from the plane?” Meg asked, presenting the notebook to John.
“Could be a flight log,” he said. “It’s laid
out like one but the numbers seem a little, I don’t know, off. It’s something I can look at more later. Can I can hold onto this?”
Meg nodded. She wouldn’t be able to decipher it.
Colleen was walking around looking at the engines. John went back to looking at them with her. Meg could see him pointing to something inside. The two of them even got a stick and were started poking around some small area to try and get a better look.
“Isn’t there some sort of computerized flight log?” Meg asked. “You know, that black box thing that they always talk about in plane crashes?”
“Normally in the tail,” John said. “Like everything else about this plane, it wasn’t there. And I haven’t found anything that seems to serve that function. I couldn’t even tell you if something like that was ever on this plane.”
“Don’t they have to?” Meg asked. “And even so, aren’t all planes computerized?”
“It’s not that it’s not computerized. It’s that I don’t know how to read what it does,” John said. “I’ve taken photos of everything so I might be able to go back and label what each instrument does, like a big logic problem, but the fact is, there isn’t anything logical about this plane.”
Meg nodded, realizing that she needed to not just see things but understand them. Clearly she didn’t understand the stuff she was looking at there. Instead of wasting more of John’s time, she went back to walking around the plane, looking to see what was out of place in the wooded area, which was something she did understand.
Down in Whisper Page 9
