Grave Echoes: A Kate Waters Mystery (14 page)

“I think that is all I have for now. Thanks for your time,” he said to Terry. “If you think of anything else, please give me a call.” He handed her his card. “Oh, and by the way, your tags are expired.”

Terry blushed. “Thank you, Detective Wells. I plan to take care of those next week. I promise.”

“Have a safe night,” Wells said, stepping from her porch. She went back inside, shutting the door softly.

A few kids in costumes ran down the street. The irony of working an occult case on Halloween gave him a surreal feeling, like a dream about work that seems too real, except for slight variances, like the sky is purple instead of blue. He looked back at Terry’s porch, at the witch swaying gently in the breeze. He decided it was time to visit a real witch.

Frosted, dense snow compacted around Kate’s face, icing chaffed skin as her body clung to the frozen slope of the mountain. The avalanche that plunged her down the summit was over, but Kate’s troubles were mounting. She wanted to cry, but knew she had no time for that. Not if she wanted to live. Sean’s perfect moment to dispose of her had arrived and couldn’t have been better. This golden opportunity provided him with an excellent excuse:  an avalanche came barreling down the mountain, taking Kate with it. I tried to save her, but the anchor gave way. Such a terrible accident, especially since her sister just died too.

Kate fought desperately to control her breathing. The cold air burned her lungs. She looked up, as Sean descended towards her, securing an anchor halfway down. Kate presumed it was to fasten his line so she couldn’t pull him down with her when he cut her rope.

“I’ve got you, don’t move,” he said. She didn’t have a choice. Her hands were frozen, cut, and trembling. Her ankle throbbed and her shoulder felt crushed by the impact.

Sean reached the slope she clang to, like a cat in a tree. His face was stern, eyes wild with adrenaline. This is it, Kate thought, but before she plummeted to her death, she had to know the truth. She didn’t want to die without knowing what had happened to her sister.

“Why did you break into Jev’s house?” She asked with a raspy, panicked voice.

“What?” Sean replied. “What are you talking about?”

Kate thought he looked genuinely confused, but she wasn’t going to be fooled by his cover.

“Your matches, I found them in Jev’s house. What were you doing in there?”

“Kate, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I haven’t been in Jev’s house.” He moved closer to her, and she inched backwards, sliding farther down the slope. One of her wrists wrapped around the line, but her hand slipped from it.

Sean held up his palm. “Wait a minute, Kate? I haven’t been in Jev’s house since the night she died.” Kate’s eyes searched his for the truth. “I’m going to hook my line to yours, all right.” He reached for the rope that her life hung from, but Kate would let herself go before he did. She grabbed the hook on her belt.

“Kate!” Sean yelled. “What are you doing?”

“I don’t believe you,” she said. “You had something to do with Jev’s accident and now you’re following me!” Her sobs breached her will, and tears flooded down her cheeks, iced by the cold wind.

Sean narrowed his eyes at her.

“I know you’ve been spying on me,” Kate continued. “I think I know what you want, and I’ll make sure you never get it.”

“Kate, will you please let me help you, and then we can talk about this, back up top?”

She kept her hand on the hook at her belt.

He leaned his weight back into the mountain and secured his foothold. “I loved Jev. We had a few fights, but I don’t know why you think I was involved in her accident. Because of the prints?” he said. “And my matches…I don’t know how they ended up in her house. Maybe she had a book too. All I do know is that I loved her and now she’s gone.”

“You didn’t break into her house?”

“No.”

“You weren’t in the car with her when she crashed?”

“No!” Sean pulled his hands through his hair, seemingly exasperated. “Where are you getting this from? Look, I was home watching X-Files.” He crossed his hand over his heart. “I swear.”

Kate swallowed her tears.

Sean glanced behind him, at the anchor loosening. “Kate, we need to trust each other, right now.”

Almost convinced, she moved her hand back up to the rope, where her wrist started to throb painfully. “Then why did Jev tell me you had a temper?”

“She said that?”

Kate nodded.

He sighed. “We don’t really have the time to talk about this right now.”

She refused to move.

“Kate, Jev and I had a disagreement. I got upset. I didn’t hit her or break anything, but I yelled. People yell. I’m sorry. But I never would have hurt Jev.” He opened the clip on his rope, slowly bringing it toward Kate’s lifeline. “You know that, Kate.”

More tears spilled down her cheeks. She believed him and finally surrendered to the story she wanted to believe in—Sean did love Jev, and he had nothing to do with her accident.

Moving down farther to clip her rope onto his, Sean secured Kate’s line and pulled her up by her coat.

Kate steadied herself on the ice in front of him. “I was in her home and I found a book of red matches with the name Walter Biddy’s on them. I recognized them from the ones you dropped a few days ago.”

“I don’t know how they got in there. I did lose them, but I swear I haven’t been in Jev’s house. I don’t have a key, remember?”

She dropped her head, realizing she’d accused him twice and had been wrong on both accounts.

A shout from above interrupted them and Kate saw Eric rappelling down the slope, swift and skillfully. Mark stayed above, feeding him the rope.

“Are you guys all right?” Eric asked when he reached them.

“Yeah, we’re okay,” Sean replied. He turned to Kate. “Can you climb back up?”

“I think so. My ankle and shoulder hurt, but I might just need to move them around.”

Sean handed her the rope. “I’ll follow you.”

Kate looked into his eyes once more for a spark of deceit. It never came. She took the rope in both hands. “I’m sorry Sean.”

“I am too,” he said, in a tone referring more to disappointment than apology.

Eric didn’t say anything, but his eyes seemed to question the both of them.

For now, the conversation was over. Kate pulled herself up the rope, her muscles gummy from the adrenaline rush. Both Sean and Eric took her by the arm and lifted her up the slope to the base where Mark stood with the GPS receivers.

“Does anything feel broken?” Eric asked her when they reached the top.

“No. Just sore.” Kate looked back down the cliff, to the place where she’d almost fallen from. She checked her coat for the GPS tracker, but it was gone. “I lost the tracker.”

“Equipment is replaceable,” Eric said. “But, we’re going to keep a better eye on you.” He swiped his thumb across her cheek. Bright red blood stained his gray glove. “You fell like a pro.”

His smile drew her in like a tide, and she suddenly felt the scrapes on her cheeks throbbing from her blushing. “Maybe I’d make a better stunt woman,” she returned.

“I’d hire you,” he said, laughing and drawing closer to her.

Kate could smell his musky scent in the warmth of his body so close to her, but thoughts of David cooled her emotions. She stepped back. “Better include full insurance then.”

Eric laughed again.

Sean kept quiet as he tied a double rope system in the line to reduce drag as they descended. Kate presumed his thoughts were back at the cliff, digesting what she’d said.

“Kate…I am sooo sorry,” Mark said, shaking his head. “A boulder gave way when I stepped on it, and then a sheet of snow cracked. It was too late. It slid so fast.”

“It’s okay; I know you didn’t mean to, just part of the danger of the job,” Kate assured him.

“You handled that really well, though,” he replied. “I couldn’t believe how calm and focused you were, tracking with your shoes to slow your plummet.”

“It’s just part of the training we learn on the rescue missions,” Kate said, “have to learn how to save yourself first before you can save another.”

Sean lifted his pack and put it on. “Well, everyone’s okay. Let’s finish up and get back down.”

The ache in Kate’s limbs lessened as she moved and would improve with aspirin, but she feared her accusations had wounded Sean more. How could she have made such a big mistake? Hadn’t Wells told her he was probably harmless? She’d hurt him, and it was going to be a difficult error to put right. Still, what troubled her more was, if Sean hadn’t dropped the matches in Jev’s house, who did?

***

The clouds gathered in the gorge following the path of the river, coiling like a garden snake through the Cascade Mountains and valleys. When the four of them made it back to the cabins, dusk draped the woods in a prismatic blend of golds, roses, and violets. They would have made it back sooner had Mark not slipped above, causing the small avalanche that almost scraped Kate off the mountain. With the exception of bruised pride, there were no serious injuries. Sean hadn’t ceased talking to her completely, so she supposed their friendship wasn’t totally ruined, though, given more time to stew about her accusations, he might feel differently later.

The sun dipped behind a wall of trees, and the indigo sky turned charcoal with heavy clouds that invaded the horizon and would soon be glazing the mountain with snowfall. During their descent off the mountain, she’d reviewed the recent incidents in her mind—the matches on Jev’s floor, the argument between Sean and Jev, the person smoking in her backyard, the window opening, and the possibility that someone had been in Jev’s home the day she’d found the witchcraft supplies. Although the evidence was stacked against Sean, he was innocent. Kate believed that now. Then someone else, someone fond of pranks, or worse—vengeance, was stalking her. She suspected it was one of Jev’s friends with an unsettled dispute, as Wells had proposed.

They reached the rustic cabins and slumped out of their packs at the tables in the middle of the camp. A large light pole with solar-powered lighting clicked on, spreading a bright glow around them. A water spigot, barbeque pit, and an outhouse provided further amenities to the three dusty, bare, non-electric cabins. Tonight however, Kate imagined she’d sleep hard, given the excitement and stress of the day.

“Feels good to be on level ground again,” Eric commented, changing out of his coat.

“That makes two of us,” Kate replied.

“Well, despite my screw-up and the lost receiver, it all turned out,” Mark said, glancing at Kate. “We still managed to install the GPS systems.”

“It was a success.” Kate looked to Sean, but he avoided eye contact, focusing his attention on changing into thermal clothing.

Eric opened a bag of jerky and sat at the picnic table. “In the morning, we can confirm with Stewart if the system is receiving satellite input. I took a reading up on top, but we want to make sure its transmitting to the mainframe.”

Sean unfolded a map and spread it out on the table. “We’ll collect samples for chemical analysis at Devil’s Kitchen,” he said, pointing to an area on the map, “and a few more around Coalman Glacier.”

“That looks like an easier trek,” Eric said.

“Yeah,” Kate replied. “We won’t have to ascend the ridges under Illumination Rock. Instead, we can cut underneath and cross over here.” She pointed to the white zone on the map where the glacier was located. “It should only take a couple of hours to reach.”

Sean reached for his pack. “We better get some rest then.”

“Hey, it’s Halloween,” Mark remembered. “You want to join us for a beer?” He looked at Sean and Kate. “That’s the least I can do after almost pushing you off the mountain.”

“No thanks. I’m beat,” Kate said, gathering her bags. “I think I’m just gonna’ rest up for tomorrow.”

Mark looked to Sean. “Sorry man, me too,” he said.

“I’ll see you guys in the morning,” Kate said, then headed for her cabin. She noticed Mark and Eric waved in return, but Sean only nodded. Apparently, the more time he had to think about what she’d said, the angrier he became. Just when she reached the steps to the cabin, someone gripped her arm firmly, halting her in mid-step. A scent came to her and she knew immediately who had stopped her.

“Just thought you might like to know something,” Sean said.

“Okay,” Kate replied. His grip loosened slightly, and Kate tugged her arm away, breaking his grip.

Sean pulled a cigarette from his shirt pocket and lit the end of it with the lighter he’d bought from the convenience store that morning. “There’s another person who could have dropped those matches on Jev’s floor.”

Kate listened, without saying a word.

“Maybe you ought to start pointing your finger at someone else, like Thea,” he said, exhaling smoke through a thin slit in his lips. “I’d be careful though…she’s a witch.” A wicked grin slipped over his face, and then he swaggered back to his cabin, across from hers.

Kate saw Eric’s shadow draw near.

“What’s going on?” He stopped a few feet from her.

“Just work-related tension from the climb,” she said, hoping he would leave it at that.

“You sure?”

Kate nodded. “Uh-huh.”

His gaze shifted toward Sean’s cabin and then back to her, his green eyes penetrating.

“Thanks for helping me today,” Kate said.

He smiled warmly. “Anytime.” Then he walked back to his cabin, eyeing Sean’s along the way.

***

Light from the cabin glistened off the snow and illuminated the towering pines behind him. Shadows from the limbs looked like giant arms, but his fears came from real creatures, like animals in the woods. Earlier this evening, he thought he heard something in the forest, behind his truck…a growl or a grumbling…something big. A mountain lion? He wondered. Or a bear? Both possibilities unnerved him—one couldn’t reason with a wild animal.