Forty-Four Box Set, Books 1-10 (44) (123 page)

“Life of a celebrity,” I said.

“Hey! I like that word. Say it again.”

“Life?”

He laughed and hiccupped again, with a few more wheezes thrown in for good measure, before hanging up.

CHAPTER 7

“Listen, asshole. You need to sit down!”

It had come out louder than I had intended and my word choice wasn’t exactly something I was proud of. But under the circumstances, it was the best I could come up with.

It had been a great day on the river up until that point. I was hoping being out on the water would help clear my head and provide me with an answer as to what to do about Emily Ross. 

Up until the last run, it had been an ordinary, spectacular day. Bald eagles soaring high above, the sun beating down, the cool river water splashing into the raft.

We pushed off. The tourists sitting in my group seemed fine as we ran a few of the smaller drops.

I gripped the paddle firmly in my hands and guided us into the correct channel as we flew through the churning waves. We shot through the first set successfully and I steered us into the bank next to the other four rafts and everybody jumped out. This was the aerobic stretch of the trip, the part that got their hearts beating. The customers had a chance to walk downriver a few hundred feet to see the largest of the rapids up close from shore.

Although Big Eddy was only a Class III, it was still an impressive ride through some tough whitewater. It was a good time watching their faces as they realized they would soon be in the middle of that raging river.

Amber gave the usual speech about the run and the boulders we had to avoid. There were no questions and everyone seemed eager to get going, so we headed back.

“You’re so lucky,” one of the women said as I helped her into the raft. “I would do anything to have a job like this.”

“Yeah,” I said, taking my seat behind her. “I can’t complain.”

Amber pushed us out, and I paddled deep and hard, keeping us in place until all the rafts were in the water. When we were ready, I inhaled the moist air and let the current take us. I reminded them about planting their feet as we headed into the larger rapids.

This was always my favorite part of the trip, where you had to be completely in the moment. There was only making it through the rapids safely, avoiding the boulders and whirlpools, steering the raft through the fury of that river.

There was no choice but to be in the present.

I steadied my breathing, held the paddle tighter as our speed picked up and the waves roared around us, pushing the raft quickly to the first of the big drops up ahead.

It was perfect, with the right kind of screaming and thrills that the brochures promised, just like it had been all day long. Smooth runs, happy people, and plenty of fresh air.

And then the “asshole” reared its ugly head.

***

“Sir! You need to sit down, sir!”

The large man was standing, filming himself as we went down Big Eddy.

“Sit down,” I yelled again. “You’re putting us all in danger.”

But he refused to listen, leaning out even farther and extending his video camera over the river with one hand as we bounced along in the choppy waves.

He looked at me for a second and I realized he could hear me. He just didn’t care. There were seven of us in the raft, but his weight was causing us to lean too far in his direction. One strong wave and we would all be in the river, running the rapids without a boat.

I called out to his wife, who was sitting in front of me.

“Tell your husband that he has to sit. He’s going to flip us!”

She told him, but he ignored her as well.

I only had a few seconds before the drop. I shifted my weight to the opposite side and thrust the paddle deep into the water, hoping it would be enough to keep us clear of the large boulder to our right. We scraped it but made it through. Having only a few seconds before the next bend in the river, I took the opportunity to reach over and pull the man by his collar back down into the boat. He fell to the ground and I jumped back to my position just in time to steer and stop us from turning backwards in the rapid.

“Keep paddling on the right,” I yelled.

The river dropped and we banged up against rocks I had never touched before. We flew down the next drop, barely missing the whirlpool. The man sat up and glared at me before leaning out again with his camera.

“Hey, knock it off,” one of the older men up front said.

I started to go toward him again, not sure if this time I would pull him back down or push him over the side myself, when the river beat me to it. I watched in horror as a wall of water rose over the side of the boat and swept him out into the river. I heard screams all around me and turned back to see him disappear under the angry water.

There was not much I could do now except finish the run and wait for him at the next calm stretch.

His wife called out his name in between sobs, but there was no trace of him.

He was gone.

As I frantically searched through the waves, I thought about all the possibilities. The force of the water could have trapped him below the surface. He could have hit his head on a boulder and been unconscious. He could have gotten a leg caught in submerged tree branches. Even though he had his life vest on, that was no guarantee that he would make it. It didn’t happen often, but sometimes people drowned with their vests firmly attached to their bodies.

We still weren’t out of the fast water and I knew I needed to focus on guiding the rest of us safely downriver.

And then I saw him.

His head popped up on our left. I could tell he was struggling to breathe. His face had the same expression as a teenager about to get axed in a slasher movie, his mouth in a perfect “o,” his eyes full of fear and terror. The river was cold even at the height of summer, and I knew there was a chance he could go into shock.

“Back paddle!” I yelled as I steered us toward him.

I grabbed him by his vest and shoved him down hard into the water while his wife screamed at me. The human cork effect took over and he shot back up a second later allowing me to drag him up into the boat.

“You’re all right,” I said, my throat as dry as an old skull baking under the desert sun.

“Thank God,” his wife said over and over with tears streaming down her face.

Her husband stayed sprawled out at the bottom of the raft, coughing and sputtering and swearing for the last short section of the trip.

“It could’ve been much worse, fella,” the old man said from the front of the boat. “You got off easy.”

When we pulled up onto the landing, I jumped out quickly and tied us down. I grabbed a blanket from the bus and brought it over to him.

“Haven’t you done enough?” he said, glaring as he took it from me.

It shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did. I shook my head in disgust and started loading the gear.

It wasn’t until I picked up the satellite phone to report the incident that I noticed that my hand was shaking. I tried to steady my voice when I told the front office what had happened.

It was standard procedure. I would also have to put it in writing when we got back.

But at least it turned out all right. The old man knew what he was talking about. It could have been so much worse.

I tried to shrug it off, but there was a tightness around my chest as we got on the bus and headed down the dirt road that led to the highway.

“You did good, Abby,” Amber said as I inhaled the dust that came in through the windows. “Some people just…”

“I know.” I forced a smile.

Back at the office, I filled out the paperwork and turned it in. Rebecca, the owner, was in a meeting. I figured I’d be hearing from her later if she had any questions.

As I left, I spotted the man’s wife in the parking lot.

When she saw me, she turned away.

CHAPTER 8

“Are you kidding?” I said. “A suspension?”

Bits of chopped red onion were sautéing in butter on top of the stove. I turned off the flame, moved the pan away from the burner, and sat at the counter.

“Sorry, Abby,” Rebecca said. “It’s protocol.”

“But why? The guy brought it all on himself. He’s the one who put us all in danger.”

“I’m sure that’s what happened, but he’s filed a complaint against you. He says you cursed at him and pushed him in the river. He wants us to pay for his camera.”

I didn’t know where to begin. I took a deep breath.

“I might have called him a name, but the rest is a huge lie. I didn’t push him in. And his camera… he’s the one who lost it when he fell. And anyway, he shouldn’t have been filming. He refused to listen to me. This is ridiculous.”

“I’m 99 percent sure that’s what it is,” she said matter-of-factly. “But I have to be sure about that last one percent. I’m positive that in the end the investigation will reflect your side of things. But we have to jump through the hoops. My hands are tied. In the meantime, I’m going to contact the other customers who were in the raft and see if they can provide testimony. A couple of guides who saw the incident back up what’s in your report. The only other person so far who sees it his way is his wife. And that’s to be expected.”

I bit my lip.

“It won’t be for long,” she said. “A few days, a week at most. Until this thing is resolved you’re welcome to work in the front office.”

“I appreciate that,” I said. “But I can pick up a few extra days over at the café. It’s not about the hours.”

“Well, try not to worry too much about it. I’ll call you when I have an update.”

I hung up the phone and started to throw it across the room. At the last second I tightened my grip and instead set it down on the counter. My heart wasn’t into cooking dinner anymore. I had lost my appetite. I put everything away and went out to the living room.

I sat on the sofa, staring at the blank TV screen. I knew I should go for a run or at least a walk, but I was beat. I just sat there.

After a while I went back and grabbed my phone, punched in the number, and hoped for a little luck.

“Kate!” I shouted after she picked up on the second ring.

“Hi, Abby!” I could make out soft piano music playing in the background. “It’s so good to hear your voice. It’s been too long. Phone tag sucks.”

“Tell me about it. Hey, what’s going on there? I expected to hear a ukulele. What’s with the piano?”

“We came in off the beach and found this little bar.”

I could tell from her voice she had been doing more than just listening.

“Oh, man. We’re having the best time!”

It was nice to hear that she was so happy. It didn’t even remotely sound like the Kate who had been moping around. I thought of the movie
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
and wondered if someone had left one of those pods in her hotel room.

“I’m glad you’re having a good time,” I said.

“It’s hard not to in this place. How are you doing? What’s going on over there?”

I kept it upbeat. I wasn’t going to tell her about my suspension or the cop from Eugene. Just talking to her made me feel better.

“Everything’s good here, nothing too new to report,” I said. “Tell me how Maui is. What have you guys been doing over there?”

“Living on the beach mostly. Snorkeling is my new passion. We were out at Black Rock this morning and saw a barracuda swimming under us. It freaked me out. I thought it was a shark.”

I heard Erin laughing in the background.

“Tell her,” I heard.

“Tell me what?”

“I’ve talked your sister into staying a few more days,” Erin said, apparently having confiscated the phone, her words slightly slurred. “I think she’s too afraid to tell you because you’ll think she’s gone off the deep end. Which she has, by the way, but that’s another story.”

“Really? You guys are staying?”

“Yeah, crazy huh?” Erin said. “I was able to get the time off and of course there was no problem with Kate because she’s—”

The line went quiet.

“She’s what?”

“Erin started drinking early today,” Kate said after what sounded like more phone wrestling. “Can you handle things at the house until I get back? I’ll email you a list of the bills we need to pay.”

“Of course. No problem. Evan will be sad, though. He stops over at Back Street sometimes looking like his goldfish died.”

Evan was the firefighter Kate was dating. They seemed serious, but I could tell by the energy around her that she wasn’t head over heels in love with him. There was only one person she felt that way about, and he had moved back to Boston.

“He’ll be okay,” she said. “Hey, better get going. We’re off to a luau tonight and I have to go shopping and find a flowery dress for the occasion.”

Now I was certain about that pod in her room.

CHAPTER 9

Ty didn’t get home until late. After some pizza, I told him about the river incident and my suspension.

“What a fool,” he said. “I’m just happy he didn’t hurt anyone.”

“Me too.  Did you ever lose it with someone?”

“You mean on the river? Yeah, it was the summer before you joined up. There was a guy who had been drinking. He had a flask, but by the time I realized what was happening, we were already out on the water. I was hoping nothing would come of it. But then in the middle of the biggest white water, he pulled down his shorts and started relieving himself. I mean, Jesus, there were a couple of little kids on the raft. It was bad. Believe me, I used a lot stronger language than you did today. I really went off on him.”

“How did it turn out?”

“Well, fortunately we were near the end of the trip. When we got ashore, I called the cops. But at that point my biggest concern was keeping some of the other passengers from beating the guy up.”

“I guess you never know,” I said.

“No, you don’t.”

I drained the rest of my beer and looked out at the night.

“I’m tired,” I said after a few more minutes. “I think I’ll turn in early tonight, watch a movie in bed or something. I think
Out of the Past
is playing.”