Avalanche (A Stone Mountain Mystery Book 3) Read online

  They found Helen face to face with a thirty-something woman. The woman stopped yelling mid-sentence and swung around toward Kalin.

  “This is Natalie Crane,” Helen said.

  “You.” Natalie pointed at Kalin. “This is all your fault.”

  Fred positioned himself in front of Kalin. “You need to step back and settle down.”

  Natalie flared her nostrils at Fred but relented. Her hair was pulled back into an elegant roll behind her head. Her makeup, expertly applied, accentuated her blue eyes, but she couldn’t compete with Simon in the looks department.

  “Have we met before?” Kalin asked.

  “I know who you are. You fired Simon. I want to know what you have against my husband. What did he ever do to you?” Spittle sprayed from her mouth and landed in a glob on her chin, marring her flawless complexion.

  Kalin watched the spittle drip. Instead of passing Natalie a tissue, she ignored the drop. “He’s done nothing to me. He lost his job because he broke company policy.”

  “He told me you hated him and fired him for no reason.”

  “Does that seem likely? The night auditor position is difficult to fill. Along with her regular job, Helen has to cover some of his shifts personally until we find a replacement. It could take months.”

  “Simon told me you’re a fast talker. We’re going to sue you if you don’t give him his job back.”

  Without taking her eyes off Natalie, Kalin asked Helen, “Do you still have the Internet reports?”

  “Yes.”

  “Natalie, if you sit calmly, I’ll show you why we fired Simon,” Kalin said.

  Before she sat in the nearest chair, Natalie looked from Kalin to Helen. She balled her camel hair coat on top of her knees and clutched the material in her fists.

  “I’m not sure this is a good idea,” Helen said. “Natalie doesn’t need to hear this from us.”

  “I know you’re friends and don’t want to hurt her, but I don’t see what choice we have. Simon’s not going to tell her the truth.”

  “I agree.” Fred nodded at Kalin, giving his approval.

  Natalie stood. “Simon doesn’t lie.”

  “Please sit again,” Kalin said. “Let me show you what we discovered.” She handed Natalie the list. “These are sites Simon accessed during his night shift. He left the pages open on the computer, and the employee working the next morning found photos. As you can imagine, the sites disturbed her, and she made a formal complaint.”

  Natalie read the list, grimacing a couple of times before she finished. “This is so unlike Simon. He’s not the type to look at porn, and this doesn’t prove anything. Anyone could have looked at the sites.”

  “I’m afraid not,” Kalin said. “The computer was logged on with Simon’s password, and he worked the shift alone. No one else had access.”

  Natalie scratched the side of her neck until the skin turned red. “You could have had IT fake the list.”

  Thinking how upset Natalie must be, Kalin softened. “You don’t really believe that.”

  “Can I have a copy of the list?”

  Kalin shook her head. “These are our private documents.”

  Natalie held the pages toward Kalin, which fluttered in her shaking hands. “I have a right to take them.”

  “You don’t,” Kalin said. “They’re company property.”

  Natalie placed a hand on Helen’s wrist. “You don’t understand. Simon’s been depressed lately, since before you fired him, and this could push him over the edge. He can’t take the loss. Surely you have some compassion for him.”

  “I wish I could help,” Helen said.

  “But how will Simon get another job?” Natalie tightened her grip on Helen, and Fred stepped closer to her. “Helen, we’re friends. How can you do this to me?”

  “I know this is hard, but there’s nothing Helen or Kalin can do to change the situation,” Fred said.

  Kalin was impressed by the softness in his voice and the respectful way in which he spoke.

  Natalie’s back stiffened. “We’re still going to sue you.” She slapped the papers on the desk in front of Helen and rushed from the room.

  “What do you think?” Helen asked Kalin.

  “If I were her, I wouldn’t believe us either.”

  * * *

  Meeting with Natalie Crane reminded Kalin of what Simon said when she’d fired him. He’d mentioned she should check the radio reports from the day of the avalanche. Why hadn’t she thought of that earlier?

  The security reports might contain a link to the radio reports. Mostly she left the database for Fred, her security manager, to manage, and she didn’t spend much time accessing the data. Maybe the time had arrived for her to become more involved with the information. Still wearing her cross-country ski clothing, she scooted her office chair close to her desk and turned on her computer.

  Chica flopped and rested her chin on Kalin’s foot.

  Before she had a chance to open the software and start a search, the squeak of ski boots walking in the direction of her office announced a visitor.

  Aiden Price interrupted her. “Got a minute?” He edged the door until it was ajar, keeping his hand on the doorknob. “I have a problem with a liftie. I think he’s been smoking dope on his breaks and coming back to work stoned. I wanted to check with you before I fire him.”

  Chica thumped her tail but didn’t get up from underneath Kalin’s desk.

  Kalin took in his bulky frame. Aiden wore his orange and yellow lift operator uniform. He kept his auburn hair in a Caesar-style cut, brushed forward to his temples, hiding a receding hairline. His nose was anything but a Caesar nose. It was flat and squished, more like a boxer’s. She didn’t want to be involved in a second firing in one day, but asked, “Do you have proof?”

  Aiden sat, and his ski pants rustled against the worn fabric of the chair. Snow melted off his boots, leaving water stains on top of the many water stains that had soaked through the carpet over the years. “He smells like dope when he comes back to work.”

  “Could he be hanging around with people who are smoking up, and the smell clings to him?”

  “I thought that, too, except last night on the staff bus to Holden, he told one of our crew chiefs he smoked a joint at lunch, then worked the rest of the afternoon. He laughed about it. The crew chief wrote a statement.” Aiden passed a signed, handwritten note to Kalin.

  She smirked and took the paper. She stopped smirking when she read the name of the employee. Greg Parker. “Not smart. How long has he worked here?”

  “This is his second winter.”

  “I gather since he was on the bus to town, he lives in Holden and not in employee housing.”

  Aiden nodded.

  “Then we don’t need to involve Monica,” Kalin said. “Write him up, bring him in and let him go. Whatever you do, don’t let him near the lifts again. We can’t have a stoned liftie on duty.”

  Kalin made a copy of the note and recorded the conversation in her notebook. “One more thing. I’d like to speak to him before he leaves. Can you ask him to come see me?”

  “Sure, why?”

  “I have something to ask him.”

  “Um…I haven’t had a chance to say I’m sorry about your brother.”

  “Thanks.”

  “It must be hard having everyone talking about him.”

  The stoned liftie wasn’t a complicated employee issue, so what did Aiden really want from her? “What do you mean?”

  “Well, with the theft and all.”

  “Do you know something?”

  “No, I only wanted to say I was sorry for what happened to him.”

  * * *

  By five o’clock Greg Parker hadn’t arrived in Kalin’s office. She guessed he’d decided not to visit her as requested. After locking her door, she carried her cross-country skis to the ground floor of the administration building and headed toward the path leading home. The path meandered between the forest and the golf course,
rising and falling with the terrain, and she loved the commute.

  She unclipped Chica’s leash, and Chica bounded ahead of her. Before crossing onto the deep snow, Kalin snapped her boots into the bindings. The lights from the resort illuminated the snow-covered surface until the first bend in the path. Kalin switched on her headlamp and was about to shove off.

  “Hey, Kalin.”

  She turned to see Greg Parker tromping toward her. Her headlamp lit his face, and he shielded his eyes with one hand. He’d cut his hair and shaved since she’d last seen him, but somehow he still looked like the kind of guy who’d cause trouble. When she read his name on the note the crew chief wrote, she’d assumed he was the same Greg Parker Roy hung out with.

  Kalin skate skied a few meters closer to the resort, back into the lights. She whistled for Chica to return to her side. “I have some questions for you.”

  “You know I’ve been fired. What else do you want?”

  Another person stood off to the sides in the shadows of the trees. “Who’s that with you?”

  “Just a friend. I’m in a hurry, so what’s up?”

  “I want to talk to you about Roy.”

  He shielded his eyes from the beam streaming from her headlamp. “I’m sorry he died.”

  “Thank you.” Reaching to her forehead, she turned off the lamp, giving Greg a break from the light. “Do you have any idea why he went on the mountain so early?”

  Greg used his middle finger to flip his bangs to the side of his head. “Why should I tell you anything?”

  Kalin pretended she didn’t notice the gesture, although the way the light from the resort fell, the shadow made his finger look as if it belonged to a giant. She felt an unreasonable urge to giggle. Wind whistled between the lodgepole pines ubiquitous to the mountain, almost as if moaning a warning, and she turned serious. “Meaning you do know?”

  “Nope. I hadn’t seen him for a few days.”

  “I was hoping we could make a deal. I won’t report your drug activity to the police, and you talk to me about Roy.”

  Greg scanned the area, avoiding eye contact with Kalin, and spit on the snow-covered path. “What do you want to know?”

  Skiing home alone in the dark didn’t bother her. Being alone on an isolated path with a guy who exuded hostility did. She’d been trapped on this path before and didn’t intend to let that happen again. “I forgot my house key at work. Let’s head that way.”

  “No.” Greg shook his head once. “I don’t plan on being here long.”

  Kalin faced him squarely, standing with the front of her skis touching his toes, letting him know she wasn’t intimidated. “Okay. I know you hung out with Roy.”

  “I did.”

  “Did you consider him a friend?”

  “You’re his sister. What’d he tell you?”

  Greg lifted the sides of his lips, and Kalin interpreted the movement to be a smile. She waited.

  “What do I care? We were more like business partners.”

  “What type of partners?”

  “I sold him things.”

  Behaving like a teenager, Greg played twenty questions with her. His abrupt answers annoyed her but were better than nothing. She suspected he spoke in a curt manner to appear cool. “What things?”

  “I’m not spelling it out for you.”

  “Drugs?” After Jack died, Roy started using drugs in Ottawa until Patricia straightened him out. Then Kalin ruined things between them. She didn’t know if Roy had gotten back into drugs while he was still living in Ottawa, mainly because she hadn’t seen him after the disaster at his engagement party. She hated thinking about that night but couldn’t help herself.

  There must have been over a hundred friends and business associates gathered, all dressed for a formal garden party. When Roy was half an hour late, tensions began to rise. Kalin’s stepdad ordered her to find him as if he was her responsibility. Before she had the chance, a delivery van pulled into the driveway in full view of the guests. Roy had sent flowers to Patricia’s mother, apologizing for not coming, and Patricia was forced to tell her parents what had happened. Kalin, along with her mom and stepdad, were asked to leave. Her mom was hurt, her stepdad angry, and they both thought the disaster was Kalin’s fault.

  “I don’t do drugs.”

  Kalin was willing to accept the lie if she could get Greg to tell her more. “Was Roy in trouble?”

  “Not going there. I’ve told you all I’m going to. If you want to call the cops, that’s up to you. I’m done here.” Greg walked back toward the resort, leaving Kalin to decide whether to follow or head home. She turned on her headlamp and aimed the beam at Greg. The light hit him just as he joined Eric Wilson and headed back to the resort. Eric was the finance center clerk. She didn’t know much about him except he came from Australia. Did this mean Roy and Eric had known each other?

  She skied away from the resort, pumping her arms hard, and picked up speed.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Kalin snowshoed to work and simultaneously tapped the screen of her smart phone. She searched the security database for the date Roy disappeared. The sun had yet to rise over the peaks, and the screen glowed.

  Considering what Simon said when she’d fired him, the radio transcripts might give her some insight. She scanned the database until she found a link to the incident reports. She clicked the link. Roy’s name, written in crisp black letters, jumped off the screen.

  Kalin’s snowshoes crunched in the snow. Tapping on her phone and snowshoeing at the same time slowed her progress, but she was almost at the parking lot near her office.

  She read an entry by one of the patrollers. Over the radio he’d said, “Figures it’s Roy. It’s always something with him.”

  Kalin inhaled sharply. How cruel.

  Turner stepped from a dark corner of the administration building. “You’re here early.”

  Surprised by the unexpected interruption, she dropped her phone into a snow pile. “Don’t do that,” she snapped, then remembered she was talking to her boss. “Sorry. You startled me.”

  Turner didn’t make a motion to retrieve her phone or apologize for scaring her, so she bent her knees and stuck her hand in the cold snow. She checked the display, and the phone didn’t seem to be damaged.

  The way Turner snuck up on her in the dark gave her one more nudge in the direction of accepting the job at White Peaks. She just had to prove Roy’s innocence first. And talk Ben into moving.

  “Has the RCMP asked you for anything regarding the theft?”

  “They asked for a copy of Roy’s personnel file along with the files for everyone who had access to the safe combination and the office key.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Just what you already know about Simon Crane. He’s friends with Jessica Scott. So’s Simon’s wife, Natalie. Helen’s also friends with her. Did you know that?”

  “No, but I see where you’re going with it. You know I don’t want you involved in the investigation. You can relay information to me if you happen to stumble across something but don’t go actively looking.” Turner rubbed his hands together as if he was cold. “Simon’s uncle called me. I know him from the Chamber of Commerce meetings. Are you sure you had just cause to fire Simon?”

  “I am. What did you tell his uncle?”

  “That I couldn’t divulge private information, and he’d have to talk with Simon.”

  “I hope that goes okay.”

  “It didn’t. Another of Simon’s uncles owns the Laundromat in town. They’re going to cancel our linen contract if we don’t hire Simon back.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Very.”

  One by one, the lights in the administration building turned on. The glow flooded the area where she stood with Turner. He wasn’t wearing a jacket, so had he come outside to catch her unawares? “Is there another company we can use?”

  “There are companies in Calgary but none closer.”

  “How much
time did they give us?”

  “There’s a one-month out clause in the contract. They’ve notified us they’re going to cancel then.”

  “That’s blackmail.”

  “It’s a small town.”

  Kalin couldn’t believe Turner would give in to blackmail. He liked being in control and holding the power. So submitting? Where was the alpha now? “What do you want me to do?”

  “Let’s give the lodging team a chance to find another provider. If they can’t do that in a couple of weeks, we’ll have to hire Simon back.”

  “We can’t.”

  “There’s no other choice. We can’t run a lodging business with dirty sheets. And they know it.”

  The ethical action was to fire the Laundromat and report Simon’s uncle to the RCMP, but she was quickly learning Turner didn’t care about ethics. “Is there something I should know about Stone Mountain?”

  “Like what?”

  Now or never. Just ask. “Is the resort for sale?”

  Turner stepped closer to Kalin. “Why would you ask that?”

  “It’s just a feeling I have.”

  “Well it’s not,” Turner said.

  “But—”

  Turner checked his watch. “I need to go. You won’t mention this to anyone.” He stepped backward and disappeared as abruptly as he’d arrived.

  * * *

  “I need to speak with you.” Aiden wore his liftie uniform, and the Gortex material crackled from being outside and cold. A slight sheen of sweat covered his forehead.

  Funny, Kalin had just been reading about him. She clicked the security database closed and twisted her monitor away from Aiden. She was going to find a quieter place to review the database entries since her office seemed to be open to anyone anytime. “Sure. Come on in. It’s not like I was doing anything.”