Far Country (41 page)

           
Steve shook his head slightly. “The doctor and Pastor Graham both talked to
her. She refused. The city police have turned it over to the military. His C.O.
will insist that he take anger management classes. But it will go on his
record, even if she doesn’t press charges.”

           
Richard snorted. “What a joke! Ridiculous!”

           
Steve blinked in surprise. “Excuse me?”

           
Richard leaned back in his chair.  “There were no witnesses!  David
hasn’t even been back two weeks. Why would he beat her up? She probably got
beat up by an old boyfriend and she’s blaming it on my son!”

           
“She didn’t blame anyone,” Steve told them. “And nobody was at the house except
David.  We watched him leave the house!”

           
Richard looked at Steve with a cold eye that Steve found disconcertingly like
his son’s. “Did you ever see him hit her? Did this - George fellow – ever
see
him hit her? How do you know it wasn’t George who hit her in the first place?”

           
Steve looked at Richard in disbelief. “George was with me! He had to come get
me from the dive site, because David took the keys to Beth’s cruiser and left
me stranded.  Besides, he’s just a kid that Beth lets live on her boat
when his step dad gets drunk and he needs some place safe to crash.”

           
Lee Ann spoke up. “So you know this girl, too?

           
David frowned slightly. “She goes to church with us, Lee Ann.  You met her
during vacation Bible School this summer.  She’s the one who got me into
diving.”

           
Lee Ann nodded. “I remember – the blonde girl. So you’ve been spending a lot of
time with her this year, yourself.” The implications of her words stretched
into a lengthy silence.

           
“What are you trying to say, Lee Ann?” Steve asked her quietly.

           
“Just that it’s interesting that you always seem to be getting involved with
girls that David has dated. You’ve been jealous of the fact that girls
preferred him all through high school.” 

           
As Steve spluttered in indignation Richard held up a hand to silence him.
“David told me, so don’t bother to deny it. He was so angry with you over that
flirtation with that cheerleader he dated – that Heather Hamilton.  I
think that this is just one more time you’ve let your jealousy make a mountain
out of a mole hill.”

           
Steve was on his feet, his face white with suppressed anger. “I. Never. Loved.
Anyone. But Sarah!”

           
Lee Ann looked up at him and smiled sadly. “I know that you loved Sarah, but
even she came home in tears about how much time you were spending with Deborah
Graham during the senior play.”

           
Steve stared at Lee Ann, dumbfounded. 
Sarah
had told her mother
that he had been flirting with Deborah?  “I didn’t…” he denied in
confusion.

           
Richard raised a knowing eyebrow. “I’m sure that they were nothing serious in
your eyes, but the pattern is still there.  Heather, Deborah, our Sarah,
now this Beth Stewart. You’ve left a lot of mayhem in your path, Steve. If
David got angry again, he’s not entirely to blame, is he?”

           
Steve looked in disbelief from one stony face to the other. They couldn’t -
WOULDN’T  - believe that David was out of control. In their eyes, it was
easier to believe that Steve’s behavior had somehow – provoked – David. 
Suddenly Steve wondered if David had been blaming Steve all these years for his
many failed relationships!

           
“You’ll believe what you want,” he told them at last, “I never loved any girl
but Sarah, and I never ‘flirted’ with Heather, or Deborah, or any other girl
that David was dating!”

           
He scribbled a room number on the top of the police report and tossed the pen
on the table. “Go see for yourselves. Beth will be in the hospital another day
or two. “This wasn’t just some misunderstanding, and Beth did not deserve what
he did to her.”

           
Steve let himself out of the front door. He stood numbly on the steps, taking
deep calming breaths. He had expected tonight to be unpleasant, but he had
never expected that the Bolton’s would turn the tables and accuse him of
causing David’s behavior. Could they really believe that this was just some
stupid rivalry over a girl?

           
Bleakly, Steve raised his eyes, taking in the Bolton’s modest two story
home.  He had spent much of his childhood and youth within those walls,
but he had been a stranger there nonetheless. David, and even Sarah had lied
about him. It was all so hard to believe! If it weren’t for Gracie, he would
walk away and never return to this house, but that was impossible. 
Somehow, he must let the anger go, for Gracie’s sake. He would not put his
daughter in the middle, or make her choose her loyalty to either of them. He’d
always hated parents who used their kids against each other…

           
Disturbed and hurt by Lee Ann and Richard’s accusations, Steve shoved his hands
in his pockets and started walking. Several hours passed before he finally
turned toward home.

           
Steve’s breath blew white as he unlocked his truck, and used a plastic scraper
to clear the first heavy frost from his windshield. He was grateful for the
jacket and gloves that he’d finally gotten around to unpacking last night.

           
In the two weeks since he’d been back, the temperatures had dropped
steadily. 
There’ll be snow on the ground by next month, if this keeps
up
, Steve thought as he drove down the mountain road to unlock the park
gate for the day.  There were still several campers in the park, although
they were no longer filling up even on weekends now.  Still, many people
drove out for the day to enjoy the trails and ever-changing fall foliage. 
Autumn reds and yellows were quickly overtaking the remaining green summer
leaves.  By the end of October, though, the show would be over and only
the green needles of the fir trees would break the monotonous grays and browns
of the hardwood stands.  The weekend campers would die down to a trickle,
and the park would take on the silent mantle of winter.

           
Steve inhaled the crisp air and felt his whole body relax. Fall was his
favorite time of year at Hanging Rock. It was wonderful to be back in the
mountains and breathe in the invigorating fresh air!  Steve was glad to be
back, although much had changed during his leave of absence.  Not just new
faces at the concession stands and the Visitor’s Center, but there had also
been a shift in relationships among his friends. 

           
Pete and Deborah were engaged now.  Pete had given Deborah a ring over
Labor Day Weekend. Steve was genuinely happy for them, but it felt odd
sometimes to realize that Deborah’s attention was now on Pete and not
him!   Deborah simply exuded joy whenever she was near Pete, and it
was clear that Pete was head over heels in love with her. Steve occasionally
felt a tug of envy, but he had no doubt that Deborah had made the right
choice.  She and Pete really were the perfect match.

           
Now he and Chuck were the bachelors, although it did not appear that this would
be the case for long. Jill seemed to have set her heart on marrying Chuck, and
she was not above trying to flirt with Steve to try and get Chuck jealous,
something that Steve didn’t want any part of. Unfortunately, Chuck was often
oblivious of Jill’s attempts to get his attention, so she was frequently out of
sorts with both of them.

           
Steve’s assignment today was to walk the trails and replace the different
colored plastic blaze marks wherever they were missing on the trail. He carried
a small axe with him and cleared the occasional fallen branches off of the
trails. By the end of the day, he was worn out, and with the exception that he
missed seeing Gracie, he was perfectly content.  He headed home for a hot
shower and some of Chuck’s famous spaghetti lasagna.

           
Steve was lazing on the couch of the quarters he now shared with Chuck, feeling
too full and a little sleepy. They’d put on a movie but Steve was having a hard
time concentrating.  For some reason, Chuck kept tapping nervously on the
arm of his chair, and didn’t appear to be watching the movie at all.  When
someone finally knocked on the door, Chuck sprang to his feet a look of relief
on his face.  “I’ll get it,” he announced.

           
Before he could reach for the knob though, the door opened and Pete stuck his
head around the corner. He glanced at Steve and then back at Chuck. “Now?”

           
Chuck nodded. “Good a time as any, I guess.”  He looked at Steve. “Can we
turn off the movie for a bit, amigo?”

           
Steve nodded, curious now as to what was going on. Chuck and Pete looked
nervous. He punched the button on the remote, killing the television, and
waited.  Pete finally stepped inside.  Steve realized that he was
carrying a yellow nylon gear bag –
his gear bag
, he thought
uncomfortably. He had not seen it since that afternoon on The Wall. The
memories it brought back were ones he had worked hard to forget over the last
year.  He took a swig of his iced tea and forced a smile. “I wondered
where that had ended up. Thanks for keeping it safe for me.”

           
Chuck and Pete looked at each other uneasily. Finally Chuck turned to look at
Steve.  “We’ve got some questions about last year, Steve.”

           
Steve took another sip of his tea. “Questions?” He asked mildly. “Either of you
could probably tell me more about what happened that day than I can.  It’s
pretty much a black hole in my mind.”

           
Pete sat down in the chair Chuck had been sitting in earlier. He placed the bag
on the coffee table in full view.  Chuck joined them and took a seat on
the couch.  “That’s just it, Steve,” Pete said. “We have an idea of what
happened – what really happened – and we’re concerned for you.”

           
Steve looked from Pete to Chuck and laughed nervously. “If you are afraid I’m
going to rappel without a buddy again, don’t worry. I promise you, I’m in no
hurry to pull out those ropes again
any time
soon!”

           
Pete sighed. “Steve, you were out of it for over a week. You missed most of the
investigation.  Did you know that initially they thought it might be an
attempted suicide?”

           
Steve stared at Pete in surprise. He hadn’t known.  “That’s ludicrous,” he
said flatly. “I was upset, and I was stupid going out alone, but it was never –
I never thought of suicide!”

           
“Yeah,” Chuck agreed. “That’s just what we told ‘
em
.
You weren’t a jumper, you were just being stupid.”

           
Steve blinked at Chuck’s phrasing. “Thanks, I think,” he said wryly, leaning
forward. “So...how did you two prove ‘stupidity over suicide’ to the police,
then?”  His curiosity over the events of that missing week aroused for the
first time.

           
There was a lengthy pause. Pete’s brown eyes were troubled. “I lied,” he
admitted at last.

           
Steve frowned. “You’re joking. Why would you lie?”

           
“I told them that the
carabiner
failed,” he replied
calmly.  “With no brake mechanism, you were in freefall the last twenty
feet or so to the ground.”

           
Steve closed his eyes and felt his stomach roil as the sensation of that
sickening drop washed over him. He realized that he’d broken out in a cold
sweat just thinking about it. “It sounds about right,” he muttered.

           
“It’s not, though,” Pete replied flatly. “
Your
carabiner
was fine. The one I showed them was damaged. It was the one of those old style
ones that you’ve never gotten around to throwing away. Anyway, they believed
me, and didn’t even bother to ask to see the rope.”

           
Steve felt as if the world had slowed to a stop. “The – rope?” He managed to
repeat. His mouth was suddenly dry as he recalled the sudden slack between his
fingers as David sliced the chords.

           
Pete reached in the bag and pulled out the end of the rope Steve had been using
that day. “Cut,” he informed Steve. “Cut clean through. It’s not frayed from
the rocks, or rotten from too much weather exposure.”  He dropped the coil
back into the gear bag. “On top of that, it was removed. Someone untied it from
the anchor and tossed it over the side. Whoever it was didn’t want anyone to
see where you’d gone down.”

           
“They tossed the gear bag down, too,” Chuck interjected seriously. 
“That’s what we spotted lying in the brush at the bottom of the cliff, but only
because we were looking for some sign of you being down there.  I don’t
think anyone else would have known what it was, but it really showed up in the
lightening
flashes. Good thing too. You’d have been rotting
down there for days, amigo, if it weren’t for this bag.”

           
“Ironic,” Steve said slowly, “that in his zeal to cover up the murder, he went
and left a neon flag by my body that ended up saving my life!.”