Heart of Ice (6 page)

N
ANCY WAS TOO SURPRISED
to speak as she watched Ned leave the'dining room. What had happened? Calling the waiter over, she asked him to put the check on her room tab. Then she went back to her room to get a jacket and hat. She needed to think things through, and a walk in the cold night air seemed the best solution.

Outside, Nancy slowly made her way down a quiet street. How could Ned be so insensitive? she asked herself. Why did he get so defensive when Nancy said she didn't want to talk about Kara? It was a reasonable request, especially after his.

Nancy sighed, finally reasoning herself to an understanding of Ned's point of view. They had planned a romantic dinner, and Nancy had immediately talked about her case. Of course Ned was feeling frustrated.

As for Kara, Ned really was just trying to help her. He loves me, Nancy thought, and I've got to trust him.

Nancy saw that she and Ned had misunderstood each other. He deserved an apology, she knew. Feeling better, she headed back to the hotel.

Nancy found Ned in the lounge. “Hi,” she said softly.

Ned smiled shyly. “Hi to you, too,” he said.

“I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry,” Nancy began, twisting her beads around her finger. “I didn't mean to accuse you of wanting to be with Kara more than me.”

“Oh, Nan.” Ned's voice was full of tenderness as he reached for Nancy's hand. “You're the only girl for me.” He smiled, and Nancy's heart melted. “And I'm sorry, too,” he continued. “I know you're trying to solve this case, and it didn't help when I refused to listen. I'll try to be more considerate.”

Nancy's heart soared. This was the Ned she loved, the caring, sensitive Ned. “I promise as soon as this case is over, we'll do something special for just us,” she vowed.

Ned stood and held Nancy close. They peered into each other's eyes for a moment, and their lips met in a quick, sweet kiss. Arms around each other, they marched off to the elevator, enjoying the warmth of being close.

• • •

The next morning Nancy and Ned grabbed some muffins and coffee from the breakfast buffet and drove to Alpine Adventures. Dressed in layers, they were ready for a day of grueling snow school.

“I hope this gorgeous weather holds,” Nancy commented.

“I do, too,” Ned agreed as he drove the car into the parking lot.

Inside, Alex and Kara were preparing the gear for the day.

“How are you feeling?” Nancy asked Alex as she and Ned took off their gloves and unzipped their parkas.

“Fine,” he said, and Nancy was relieved that he was in good spirits. She only hoped that her
news wouldn't change that too much. “I'm just a little stiff.”

“What did the mechanic tell you?” Kara asked Nancy, her voice full of concern.

“His estimate for repairing the vehicle is two thousand dollars,” Nancy answered slowly.

Alex groaned. “That's what I was afraid of,” he said. “But our insurance will cover most of it.”

“There's something else,” Nancy said. “It looks like someone tampered with the steering mechanism on your car.”

Kara put a hand on her husband's arm in alarm. “You mean, on purpose?” she asked.

“Exactly. Apparently someone loosened the tie rods between the wheels and steering mechanism. I think you have to tell the police,” Nancy added.

The color drained from Alex's face. “I'd like to avoid that at all costs,” he said firmly. “Our reputation is already on the line, and this trip is important.”

“All right,” Nancy agreed reluctantly. “We won't report anything—for now.”

“Thanks,” Kara said sincerely.

“I need to ask one more thing,” Nancy said. “Was there a Lions Club meeting last Wednesday?”

“Yes,” Alex replied, without hesitating. “They meet every Wednesday at the town hall.”

“And do you happen to know if Hank Moody goes to those meetings?” Nancy questioned.

“He does.” Alex said, nodding. “He's the club treasurer.”

Then I guess his alibi holds, Nancy thought as the door opened and Eladio, Anne, and Tsu came in.

Decked out in his alpine gear, Eladio didn't look quite so creepy, and Nancy noticed that he wasn't as rude to Alex as he had been to Logan the day before.

Although Anne was a professional climber and didn't need any climbing instruction, she was at snow school to get to know the group better. She greeted Nancy stiffly, and again Nancy wondered what she was hiding.

Another young woman, Lisa Osterman, had signed up for the trip at the last minute. Lisa was of average height, with auburn hair and hazel eyes. She seemed nervous as she waited to get her gear. Nancy wondered where she was from and if she was an experienced climber.

Each person was given the necessary gear, including an ice ax, a harness, goggles, crash helmets, and crampons.

“These look dangerous,” Lisa commented as she squinted at a crampon. It was a metal frame with nylon straps and twelve sharp metal spikes protruding downward.

“They give you traction on the ice,” Kara explained. “I guarantee you'll be glad to have them on the mountain.”

“Will they hurt my boots?” Lisa asked.

“Of course not,” Kara said with a smile. “They're designed to work with boots.”

Just then, Logan arrived to watch over the office. When all the climbers had their gear together, the group piled into the van for the drive to Mt. Rainier National Park.

“The point of snow school is to learn how to go into crampon-and-ice-ax arrest, which means stopping yourself if you start to fall,” Tsu told the group as the van turned onto a snow-covered road. “We'll also show you how to pressure-breathe, which helps eliminate altitude sickness. I realize that for some of you this will be old hat,” Tsu continued. “But it's also a good chance for us to learn to work together as a group.”

“This is so exciting,” Nancy whispered to Ned, who was sitting beside her. Ned put an arm around her, giving her a squeeze. “I can't wait to get out there and give this falling stuff a shot.”

“I'm sure you'll put me to shame,” Ned answered, laughing.

A few minutes later the van pulled into a small parking lot and the group climbed out. Everyone put on crampons before beginning to hike up a moderate slope lined with towering firs. The sky was bright and clear and the air was crisp and cold.

“We're going to follow the Carbon River for a while and then hike up onto the lower sections of Mother Mountain,” Kara explained as the line of hikers made their way up beside the winding, snow-covered river.

“When you pressure-breathe,” she continued, “exhale forcefully, but slowly.” She took a breath and made a
phhhhshhhhh
sound as she let the air out. “It sounds weird, but it really helps your body adjust to the altitude. Down here it's not necessary. But once we get past seven thousand feet or so, it will be really important.”

Nancy and the others practiced the breathing. The only trouble was that the breathing made it difficult to hear what the others were saying. Nancy was hoping to get a handle on Eladio and pick up more information about Anne and Lisa. She took a few quick steps forward to try to listen in on a conversation between Lisa and Kara.

“I climbed the Latok last summer,” Nancy overheard Lisa telling Kara. “You know, in Nepal.”

“You mean Pakistan,” Kara answered naturally.

“Of course,” Lisa muttered, embarrassed. “That's what I meant. I always get that mountain confused with the Unnamed Tower.”

“It's the Nameless Tower,” Kara corrected. “And it's in Pakistan, too.”

“Right, well, anyway,” Lisa stammered, “it was so difficult I almost didn't make it.”

Lisa sounded like she was trying to impress Kara, but she constantly put her foot in her mouth! She didn't sound as knowledgeable about mountaineering as she pretended.

After about forty minutes of hiking, the group came to a fairly steep slope. “This is it,” Kara said, putting her climbing rope down on the ground. “We're all going to practice climbing up to that ridge, falling as we go.” She pointed to a ledge about forty feet above where they were standing.

“I just hope all of this falling doesn't hurt my parka,” Eladio commented.

“For the first part of this class you won't be attached to a rope,” Kara continued. “It's not
that steep, and we want each of you to get used to the feel of falling. But when we reach ten thousand feet on Rainier, we'll be roped together in two groups.”

“When you feel yourself slip,” Tsu said, “hold your ice ax in one hand, with the sharp end facing out. I'll demonstrate.” She took about ten steps forward, holding her ice ax in a ready position as she moved up the slope.

“When you fall,” she went on, “you should always shout ‘Falling,' so the people around you know what's happening. I'll demonstrate.”

Tsu took a few more steps forward, then pushed her arms and legs out from under her. “Falling!” she shouted as she went into a spread-eagle position and jammed her ice ax and crampons into the icy slope.

“Who wants to go first?” Kara asked when Tsu stood up again.

“I will.” Anne stepped forward. She walked several feet up the slope, then did a graceful spread eagle, calling out, “Falling.”

“Notice the way Anne dug her crampons into the ice at an angle,” Kara said. “That's the best way to get traction.”

“Who'd like to go next?” Kara asked.

Nobody responded.

“Nancy?” Kara asked. “What about you?”

“Sure.” A shot of adrenaline pulsed through Nancy as she stepped forward, her ice ax in position for a fall. She began walking up the slope. “Here goes,” she muttered under her breath. “Falling,” she shouted, pulling her crampons out of the ice and letting herself slide down the slope. Her body slammed against the hard ice, but soon she was able to force her arms and legs into a spread-eagle position and dig her ice ax and crampons into the ice. In a matter of seconds she had stopped herself.

“Nice job,” Tsu said.

Nancy smiled, feeling her heart rate drop back to almost normal. “Thanks.”

Nancy watched while the rest of the group practiced falling. Eladio had a hard time because he was too worried about his new parka.

“I hope he doesn't fall on the trip,” Ned whispered to Nancy.

Lisa obviously knows what she's doing, Nancy thought as she watched the young woman take a fourth practice fall. She was always able to get her ice ax into the snow quickly, but she sounded frantic as she shouted, “Falling.”

“Looking good,” Kara congratulated the group after about an hour and a half of hard practice.
“Now we're going to climb up to that ledge so that we can show you some rescue procedures.”

“Rescue?” Eladio asked, sounding nervous.

“It's just routine,” Tsu assured him; “We take every precaution on the mountain. But if anything were to happen, we want everyone to be prepared.”

After several minutes of relatively easy climbing, the group reached the ledge. “The first thing we're going to do is a mock crevasse rescue. A crevasse is a giant crack in a glacier—sometimes they're hundreds of feet deep,” Tsu explained. “We'll pretend that this ledge is a crevasse and that someone has fallen in,” she finished.

Nancy carefully leaned over the edge and saw that the drop from the ledge was about a hundred feet, but it wasn't a ninety-degree drop.

“I'll play the victim,” Kara announced. “And everyone else, watch carefully.”

“Actually, why don't-I do it? I'd like the practice,” Tsu responded. “You can work with the group, Kara.”

Kara nodded as Tsu began to pound a three-foot stake into the ice. “This is a picket anchor,” Tsu explained as she worked. “It's one of the few pieces of equipment that can really anchor a person to a slope.”

Once the anchor was pounded into the ice, Tsu tied the rope around it, then stepped into a special climbing harness and tied the other end of the rope into the harness. She began to ease herself down the steep slope.

“Now, if Tsu had actually fallen, everyone on her rope would immediately go into a spread-eagle arrest,” Kara told the group. “That's important, because your combined weight will keep her from falling too far. Once Tsu is safe, the person at the back of the—”

A sudden scream stopped Kara short. Nancy leaned over the edge of the ledge and watched in horror as Tsu careened down the slope!

N
ANCY SAW THAT THE
rope that had safely anchored Tsu to the ledge had snapped in two, and one end dangled lazily across the ice. As Tsu tumbled downward, she tried to get into a spread-eagle position to do an arrest, but she was falling so fast it was impossible.

After about ten awful seconds, Tsu spread her arms and legs and dug her crampons and ice ax into the snow.