Murder in Vail (3 page)

Chapter Four

As they approached the end of the street, Sally and her daughter stopped in a small park at the base of the mountains to admire the contemporary sculpture of a muscular downhill skier, one of the landmarks of the Vail Village. Around the corner, they entered a large ski and sports shop where Sally was immediately greeted by name by the proprietor behind the counter.

“Sally, great to see you!” exclaimed the tall, fifty-something owner of the store, Robbie Maxwell. He had crystal blue eyes and salt-and-pepper hair that hung down on his collar. “Where have you been hiding yourself?ˮ asked her husbandʼs old skiing buddy. “I never see you out on the slopes anymore.”

“I haven’t been out much in the past couple of years, Robbie,” Sally told him. “I broke my boot at the end of last season so I haven’t skied yet this year. That’s part of the reason I’m here, to buy some new ones.”

“Well, let me show you what I’ve got,” he said, coming around the counter to lead her to the boot section in the back of the store.

Gwen started to walk away, but Sally took hold of her elbow.

“Wait. Robbie, I’m not sure if you remember my daughter Gwen—Gwen Sherman now. She lives in Palm Beach,” Sally said. “Gwen, this is Robbie, an old friend of Dad’s and mine from the helicopter days.”

Robbie extended his hand to Gwen, and she took it with a curious smile.

“I remember little Gwennie. I sure do. Back when you were nine or ten,” Robbie said with a grin. “Cute as a button. You were a headstrong little thing. Very feisty, as I recall.”

Sally laughed. “That was definitely Gwen. Still is.”

Gwen blushed, but laughed.

Robbie added, “And you still are pretty as can be. Just like your mama.”

Now it was Sally’s turn to blush. She quickly changed the subject.

“All the kids are coming for Christmas,” she told him. “I’m hoping we can get in at least a day of skiing while everyone is here.”

“Count me out, Mother,” Gwen interjected. “But some of the others will probably want to go.”

“You don’t want to ski, Gwennie?” Robbie asked with surprise. “I can’t believe that. You used to be a little terror out there. Nothing could keep you off the slopes. And everybody else had better get out of the way when little Gwennie came flying down that mountain. You were so fast. I thought I’d be seeing you on TV at the Olympics someday.”

Gwen’s eyes lit up, and she smiled at the memory.

“Sometimes I do miss it,” she replied wistfully. “I’ve just gotten away from it since I’ve lived in Florida. I’d probably kill myself out there now. I’d still want to fly at full speed and would probably end up wrapping myself around a tree.”

Robbie smiled and shook his head.  “No, no. It’s just like riding a bike. It would come right back to you.”

Gwen seemed to mull the idea over in her mind. “Maybe I could do a little skiing this year.”

Sally was surprised and thrilled that her daughter was considering getting back on skis again. It was the first time in years she’d heard Gwen express interest in much of anything other than decorating her house or going shopping in Palm Beach.

“If you want to get some skiing in, though, you’d better do it quick,” Robbie warned. “A big storm is rolling in from Wyoming tomorrow or the next day. Real high winds are expected and heavy snow.”

“I hope it’s not too bad,” Sally said, knitting her eyebrows together. “But at least we’ll have a white Christmas.”

“That it will be,” Robbie said with a smile. “I’d be sure to have emergency supplies and your generator in good working order, just in case.”

Then a troubled look crossed his face. “Something else you need to be aware of, if you aren’t already, is that there have been some poachers up your way. They’re hunting mountain lion, bobcat, and bear.”

“Poachers!” Sally said with disgust. “Hunting is bad enough, but poaching our beautiful wildlife.  It makes me sick.”

“I know. Trying to prove they’re big men,” Robbie said, shaking his head. “Happens a lot at this time of year, but this year it’s especially bad. Tourists come in for the holidays after deer hunting season, and some of them think they can just go out and shoot whatever they like. Parks and Wildlife is cracking down. If the poachers get caught, they can face huge fines and even jail time. So be careful if you run into any of them.”

“Thanks for letting us know, Robbie. We will,” Sally said.

Looking around the store, Gwen asked him, “Where are the women’s jackets?”

“They’re right over there,” he said pointing to the side wall. “The sale rack is at the end. We have a great sale going on.”

“Good timing,” Sally said. “Gwen, why don’t you check out the sale?”

Gwen gave her mother a “You’ve got be kidding look” and headed for the full-price jackets.

Robbie led Sally to the boot section in the back of the store. As she started to check the different styles and brands of the ski boots lined up against the wall, they reminisced about some of the ski trips and mountain adventures they had endured decades before. Robbie helped her try on several different boots, and she finally found a pair that suited her

“I sure do miss those days,” Robbie said, boxing up her boots. “And Jack. Boy, whoever thought he’d go so young. You just never know. You sure must miss him. ”

Sally nodded. “I sure do,” she said quietly. It had been years before she could even talk about her husband’s death without choking up, and it was always worse during the holidays. She didn’t want to take a chance of breaking down in the store, so she focused the conversation on Robbie and asked about his wife. “What about Linda? How is she doing? Were you ever able to interest her in skiing?”

Robbie shook his head. “We divorced about a year ago. Once the kids grew up and moved away, we found out we didn’t have that much in common anymore. She moved back East.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Robbie,” Sally said sympathetically. “I always liked Linda.”

He cocked his head sideways and gave her a quizzical look. “Say, Sally, it gets kind of lonely up here for us single people. Do you think maybe when everything quiets down after Christmas we could get together for dinner?”

That was unexpected,
Sally thought. She wasn’t sure if he meant dinner just as friends or as a date. She hadn’t been asked out since her husband died, and she wasn’t quite sure what to say. But she always had enjoyed Robbie’s company. He was a daring skier with an irreverent outlook on life and a quick sense of humor. It might be fun.

“You know, I think I would enjoy that.” She smiled.

He beamed. “I have your number in our files. I’ll call you next week.”

When Sally turned around to check the accessories department for the gifts for Helga, she found Gwen standing behind her, a turquoise ski jacket folded over her arm, listening to their conversation with a surprised grin on her face.

After they checked out and left the store, Gwen elbowed her.

“Mom, he was hitting on you,” she said with a giggle.

“I don’t think so, Gwen,” Sally said, shaking her head. “He’s an old friend. He just wanted to get together for dinner as friends.”

“Are you kidding? He was so hitting on you,” Gwen insisted. “And he’s pretty hot for a man his age.”

Hot? Robbie? She never thought of him that way. But maybe he was.

“I’m so excited,” Gwen whispered conspiratorially, taking her by the elbow. “We have to figure out what you’re going to wear before I leave. I’ll help you find the perfect outfit.”

As they walked along the main street, they passed a coffee and pastry shop.

“Want to get some hot chocolate?” Sally asked.

“That would be yummy,” Gwen said, suddenly in an ebullient mood. She gave her mother a squeeze. “I love Vail so much, Mom. It just feels so good to be home.”

Sally was glad Gwen’s mood had improved, but she would never really understand what made her daughter tick. She just knew that every time she felt at the end of her rope with her complicated daughter, the sweet, loving girl she knew was at Gwen’s core would suddenly reappear. Their relationship really hadn’t changed all that much since Gwen was twelve years old. Gwen would demand her mother leave her alone, but the second Sally started to leave, Gwen wanted to know why she was leaving. Sally sighed. Mothers and daughters. Who could figure them out?

Chapter Five

After stopping to pick up a few items in the pharmacy, Sally and Gwen shopped in some of the village boutiques and then started the drive back up the mountain. As they reached higher and higher elevations on the winding two-lane road, tiny flakes of snow began to gently touch the windshield, melting before Sally had time to turn on the windshield wipers.

The Colorado sky was bright cobalt blue with just a few wisps of clouds overhead. It was hard to imagine that a huge storm was approaching on this beautiful winter afternoon.

As they pulled up to the gate of her seventeen-acre estate, Sally punched in the key code—her late
-
husband’s birthday—and the black iron gates swung open. She drove the steep winding path up the mountain, navigating two 180-degree switchbacks. To the right, a three-mile ski run that the family used for skiing snaked down the mountain. They kept an old truck at a cabin at the bottom to drive skiers back up the mountain.

Rounding the next curve, the vista of the two-story mountaintop home with its beautiful sandstone and slate exterior and large columned portico came into view. The seven-thousand-square-foot home had six bedrooms, seven baths, a four-car garage, huge picture windows, and several balconies.

Pulling onto the crunchy gravel driveway, Sally saw that a white SUV had been added to the mix of vehicles in front of the house.
Itʼs beginning to look like a used car lot,
Sally thought. Grabbing their packages, Sally picked up the whiff of a familiar scent as they walked toward the front door. Marijuana. Stephen must have arrived.

Her youngest son, who had recently turned thirty, must have decided to drive up from Scottsdale rather than fly. One whiff and Sally understood why he wouldn’t want to go through airport security. As Sally rounded the car, she saw her handsome son leaning his tall, lanky frame against the Lexus SUV, taking one last drag on the stub of a joint. A thin woman with long black hair, dressed in jeans and an oversized sweat shirt, stood beside him smoking a cigarette. When he saw Sally, Stephen quickly threw the stub to the pavement and ground it out with his boot. “Mom! It’s so good to be home!” Stephen exclaimed, wrapping his arms around his mother.

Sally didn’t mention the marijuana. She just hoped pot was the worst he was doing now. He had developed a problem with cocaine and been in rehab for over a month earlier in the year.

“Stephen. I’ve missed you,” she told the son who had always been her favorite child, though she’d never dream of admitting it. He had wavy blond hair, deep-set blue eyes, and was clean-shaven for a change. “You look great.”

“Thanks, Mom. I’ve put on a few pounds,” he said, patting his stomach.

“You have. I can tell.”

The same couldn’t be said for Stephen’s wife Rachel who looked more emaciated than ever in the big black sweat shirt that looked like it could swallow her. Her face gaunt, her skin pasty, and her stringy hair dangling half way down her back, she looked like a bit player in a vampire movie.

“And Rachel. So good to see you,” Sally said in a welcoming tone, taking a step toward her daughter-in-law.

Rachel didn’t move forward to hug her mother-in-law. Instead, she gave Sally a little wave of her hand with the cigarette in it and made a slight movement of the lips that Sally assumed was supposed to be some sort of a smile. Taking in Rachel’s cadaver-like appearance, Sally felt sympathy for her, but hated to think how much of her husband’s money had gone up the noses of her son and daughter-in-law.

Sally set her packages on the front step and returned to the Jeep to get the heavier box containing the ski boots.

Gwen strode over to hug her brother, barely acknowledging Rachel’s presence.

Pointedly sniffing the air, she whispered in his ear. “See you’re up to your old tricks again.”

Stephen frowned. “I need more than that to deal with this family.”

Still speaking in a hushed tone, Gwen said, “How could you do that here? You know how much it upsets Mom.”

Stephen shrugged. “I was being careful. I thought she was inside. You two snuck up on us.”

Rachel wrapped her arms around her shivering body, dusting snowflakes off her shoulder. Her teeth looked like they were actually chattering. Stephen put his arm around her and guided her toward the front door. “Let’s go inside. It’s freezing here. It was in the eighties when we left Arizona.”

Sally walked up carrying her ski boots and eyed Rachel’s cigarette. She raised an eyebrow at Stephen.

“Uh, Rachel,” Stephen said uncomfortably. “You need to put the cigarette out. Remember, Mom doesn’t allow any smoking in the house.”

Rachel scowled, took another long drag, reluctantly dropped the cigarette on the front steps, and theatrically stomped it out with her shoe.

“How long do we have to stay?” Rachel whispered to Stephen in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear.