Double Black Diamond (Mercy Watts Mysteries) (20 page)

“He came out of the trees,” Fergus pointed to the other side of the trail uphill, “and didn’t even try to turn. He went straight at her. He rammed her into the tree and kept going.”
 

I unclipped my skis again.
 

“What are you going to do?” asked Eddy.
 

“Take a look at where he came out of the trees,” I said. “Fergus, can you go down and tell Nina I’ll be there in a minute. Don’t mention the snowboarder to her for the moment.”

“Bob’s your uncle,” said Fergus turning his tips.
 

“I thought that was an English saying.”

“I thought I’d give it a go.” Fergus took off down the hill, carving gracefully.

“What did you mean that he’s following you again?” asked Eddy.
 

“He’s my new stalker. I’m importing them now. Let’s have a look at that spot, shall we?”
 

“You’re weird.”

“I’m not as weird as my life,” I said, taking off across the hill.

Eddy caught up. “How do you separate the two?”
 

“It’s getting harder every day.”
 

A few skiers dodged us and we made it across to the trees Fergus had pointed to. Sure enough there was a snowboard trail into the trees.

“He was waiting for her, looking for his chance,” I said.
 

Eddy scanned the area. “Where do you see that?”
 

“There.” I pointed to an area behind the largest tree. Quite a bit of snow was trampled down. “If he just went into the trees and stopped for a second, he wouldn’t have pressed down so much snow. He was there for a while.”
 

“Adjusting his position.” Eddy nodded. “You could kill someone by hitting them on a slope.”
 

“I know.”
 

I took a multitude of pictures with my phone. They’d be crappy, but it’s all I had. Plus, it gave me a minute to think. I had a feeling that Nina’s near miss was connected to Rory’s. Dad had those kind of feelings, where you just know something without knowing why. When those Tommy Watts moments happened, trouble inevitably followed. It was never good for me and usually painful, but things would start to come together.
 

“I have to report this,” said Eddy.
 

“Absolutely,” I said. “I’m going down.”
 

Eddy and I skied together. It was the hardest run of the day for me despite the trail leveling out. My mind wasn’t on skiing; it was with Nina, Rory, and ultimately with Keegan. The pursuit of his oil just got more complicated.
 

The ambulance was already there backed between Copper One and the American Eagle. I could catch flashes of Nina’s orange sled between a multitude of legs. DBD was already there with their bodyguards and hangers-on. I skied up and unclipped, leaving my skis in the snow.
 

Fergus ran up, his freckled face in full blush. “I tried to tell her, but I wasn’t allowed to get close. I apologize.”
 

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “I didn’t expect DBD to be here so quick.”
 

“I wonder how they knew.” Fergus took my poles from me and I lifted my goggles.
 

“Good question,” I said, scanning the crowd, looking for someone in all black in snowboarding boots, but coming up empty. “Do you see the person who hit Nina?”
 

Fergus shook his head. “Black is a popular color here. It could be anyone.”
 

Very true. It wasn’t unusual to see skiers or snowboarders in all black. Interesting cost more at the shops. Black was basic.
 

“Was the helmet black, too?”

Fergus frowned. “I couldn’t say for certain with the hood being up. I was looking more at the body, waiting for a turn.”

“A turn that didn’t happen.”
 

“No,” said Fergus. “He could’ve avoided her easily. There was plenty of space.”
 

“Yes, there was.”
 

Eddy came over with his supervisor, Sean Eggleston, and Sean asked me a few questions. I suggested that he call Detective Carey.

“Why him?” Sean repeatedly tugged on his wispy red beard. I got the impression that calling the police wasn’t anything he wanted to do. People getting attacked at Copper wasn’t a great sales pitch.

“He’s on the Dushane case,” I said.

“That doesn’t have anything to do with this. It was most likely an accident.” More tugging.

“That’s for the cops to decide.”

Sean gritted his teeth. He was trying to work his way around calling them. I’d seen it before when the truth is unpleasant. “Accidents happen. I don’t think the snowboarder even knew he hit her.”
 

Eddy took off his helmet and ran his fingers through his hair, making the long dark locks stand out like a really bad clown wig. “We have a witness.”
 

Sean flushed, not a good look for him with the red hair. “A witness. How is there a witness?”
 

“Fergus was behind me and Nina,” I said. “He saw it all.”
 

Fergus assumed a lordly stance I’d never seen in him before and repeated what he’d told us. I have to say it was impressive. He could’ve stepped off the set of
Downton Abbey
.
 

“You’re sure?” asked Sean.

“There can be no doubt,” said Fergus, his pointy little aristocratic nose was in the air.
 

“All right. I’ll call Carey. I hope you’re wrong about this.”

“Mercy is never wrong.”
 

I almost disagreed with Fergus, but it wouldn’t have helped the situation. I’m wrong all the time. I practically majored in wrong.
 

The EMTs had their stretcher next to Nina and I didn’t envy them. Victor Mooting was shouting questions at them about the hospital, the doctors, what they were doing and why.
 

I came down the hill and said, “Excuse me.” Nobody moved. A celebrity accident was a powerful attraction. I elbowed my way into the gathering crowd. “Excuse me.”
 

“Is that Mercy?” asked Nina. “Where is she?”
 

“I’m here, Nina,” I said, raising my voice.
 

One of the bodyguards, a guy that made Bobby look underfed, came over and jostled a path for me through the crowd. When I got through I saw Mickey on his knees in the slush hunched over Nina. The EMTs were trying to unbuckle Nina while being shouted at by Victor.
 

“You’ll tell me exactly what you’re going to do or you’re not taking her anywhere,” he yelled.
 

“Sir, can you please step back. We need room to maneuver.”
 

“You need to answer me!”
 

Nina saw me. “Mercy.”
 

“Everything’s fine,” I said, although I’m not sure she heard me over Victor.
 

“Who is in the ER right now!” yelled Victor. “I need to check him out.”
 

I edged my way around Nina, grabbed Victor’s arm that was pointing at the poor EMT, and put him into a hammerlock. I didn’t even think about it. Dad taught me well. Victor gasped as his torso snapped forward.
 

“What the fuck!” he screamed, his free arm flailing.
 

“You need to be quiet,” I said.
 

“I will fuck you up.”
 

I reached into his open shoulder and pressed up. He screeched.
 

“No, you won’t. Not at this moment anyway.” I looked at the gaping EMTs. “Go ahead.”
 

The crowd backed off with a quickness and Nina was in a neck brace, up, and on the gurney in no time flat.
 

“Mercy,” said Nina. “That made my day.”
 

“Mine, too,” said Mickey.
 

“Let go!” yelled Victor.
 

“You deserve it, you crazy bastard.”
 

“I deserve to kick your ass. Wade listens to me. You’ll never get the deal now.”

Wade stepped up. “Vic, shut your pie hole for once, and maybe this smoking hot babe will let you go.”
 

“Screw that!
 

I pushed his nerve again and he yelled, “Okay. Okay.”
 

“Are you calm now?” I asked.

“Yeah. Yeah.”
 

I let go in a swift gesture that threw him off balance, enabling me to get some distance between us.
 

Victor staggered around for a second, shouting, “That’s assault and battery! I’ll have you charged.”
 

“That’s a police hold and you’re welcome,” I said.
 

He glared at me. “You’re welcome for what? You’re a nutcase.”
 

“For calming you down. Doesn’t appear to happen all that often,” I said.
 

“You are a crazy, psycho bitch and I’ll have you arrested.”
 

Mickey turned back from the EMTs putting Nina in the back of the ambulance. “We don’t have our people arrested, Vic. You know the score.”
 

“What?” Victor goggled at me. “Her? She’s not one of us. She can’t be.”
 

Mickey turned to me and raised an eyebrow.
 

Ah crap!

“I’m the new cover model,” I said.
 

“Yeah!” yelled Nina from the ambulance. “Are you coming, Mercy?”
 

I walked past a shocked Victor and climbed inside. “I can’t right now. I have to talk to Detective Carey. He’s on his way.”
 

“Because of what that little boy said?”
 

Fergus happened to be looking in the ambulance and I saw him sneer. I stifled a laugh and said, “Fergus is eighteen.”
 

“A young eighteen,” said Nina.
 

“A helpful eighteen.”
 

Fergus grinned at me.
 

“Anyway I can’t go. Mickey will be in here. They don’t have space for everybody,” I said.

“But you can explain what’s happening. I need you,” said Nina.

Mickey climbed in. “I agree.”
 

“I don’t think it’s serious. Maybe a mild concussion along with the dislocation. How about I send a doctor with you? My boyfriend, Pete. He’ll take good care of you.”
 

“Pete?” asked the EMT who had climbed in behind Mickey. His name tag said, Olaf. You don’t see that name every day.
 

“Dr. Peter Lindstrom.”
 

“Yeah,” said Olaf. “He was with us yesterday. Broken wrist. Torn meniscus. Good guy.”
 

“Please call him,” said Nina and Mickey nodded.
 

I texted Pete, who replied that he would meet them at the hospital. My heart warmed considerably. He was a good guy, despite the whole my-parents-have-to-get-used-to-you thing. I started to climb back out of the ambulance, but Nina said, “Wait.”
 

“What is it, baby?” asked Mickey.

“Look at me. I’m a wreck. I need lipstick.”
 

“Seriously?” I asked.
 

“Hey, I have to work at this,” she said.
 

I took a tube of Ruby Red out of her hip pocket and gave her a good coating. “There you go. All ready for your CT scan.”
 

Mickey shook his head and thanked me. I backed out and the ambulance drove off. Unfortunately, Victor was still there glaring when I turned around.

“So he hired you,” he said.
 

“He did.”

“I’m going to have you checked out.”
 

“Check away. Just remember. I have pepper spray and I’m not afraid to use it.”
 

The rest of DBD laughed, including Darren Echols, who might have been there the whole time or not. I hadn’t noticed him. Darren was wearing black, all black. It was his signature look. He didn’t have on boarding boots. Instead a pair of La Sportiva mountaineering boots adorned his small feet. If I remembered all my dad’s yammering about the band correctly, Darren was the real sportsman of the group. DBD had formed in Colorado. They met while working the resorts in high school in the seventies. Darren was the only serious competitive skier of the bunch. I wouldn’t be surprised if he could snowboard, too. Darren would certainly be skilled enough to target Nina and come away unscathed.
 

Wade came over and draped his long arm over my shoulders. He smelled like cigarettes and meat. Yuck. He posed next to me and whispered, “Smile, gorgeous. Let me introduce you to the glow.”
 

What the what?

“This is Mercy, Mickey’s beautiful new lady,” he said to the crowd.
 

I tried to backpedal, but Wade held me firm. “No, I’m not.”
 

“She’s here where it all started. DBD is back. We will be releasing a new album named
Cave Diving.
Are you ready to get wasted?” he yelled.
 

Cameras started clicking. Wade was in his element, posing, grinning like, well, a rock star. The crowd had grown around us to a couple hundred. The bodyguards were fighting to keep them back. What had I done? I couldn’t be part of this. I didn’t have much anonymity left as it was. I twisted, trying get away without punching him in the crotch, but Wade made it clear that that was what it was going to take. I was a part of DBD as he saw it. He must’ve been tanked because nobody would want to intro me at that moment. I just did a police hold on his manager. The only makeup I was wearing was lip balm and I had a helmet on. A helmet. How sexy is that?