Avalanche Of Trouble

She shook her head. “Our lives are so different we could be from two different countries.”

“We’re probably not that different,” he said. “I’ve found that people behave pretty much the same wherever they’re from.”

“Well, I’m from the city and I have no desire to ride a horse. And I hope you won’t take this wrong, but I thought my sister was crazy when she said she and Greg were thinking about moving here.”

“You told me they bought the mining claims for a demonstration project, not to live on.”

“That’s right. But they were talking about finding a place here in town. They had fallen in love with Eagle Mountain. I don’t know why.”

“You might be surprised,” Gage said. “I’ve heard from other people that the place has a way of growing on you.”

“I just want to find my niece and go home.” She looked all in, her eyes still red and puffy from crying, her shoulders slumped.

Gage pushed aside his plate. “You must be exhausted,” he said. “Let’s get out of here. I’ll take you to your car at the sheriff’s office and you can follow me to the B and B.”

Fifteen minutes later, they parked at the curb in front of the Victorian home Paige Riddell had converted into a bed-and-breakfast. The light over the front door came on and Paige stepped out. “I’m Paige,” she said, coming forward to take Maya’s bag. “You’ve had a pretty miserable day, I imagine, so I won’t prolong it, but I will say how sorry I am for your loss.”

“Thank you.” Maya gave Paige a long look. “Gage said I would like you—that he thought we’d have a lot in common.”

“That depends,” Paige said. “Some folks around here think of me as the local tree-hugging rabble-rouser, but I don’t take that as an insult.”

“Then yeah, I think we’ll get along fine,” Maya said.

“Let me show you to your room.” Paige put an arm around Maya and ushered her into the house. In the doorway, she stopped and glanced over her shoulder at Gage. “Don’t leave yet,” she mouthed, then went into the house with Maya.

Gage moved to the porch swing to the right of the door and sat, letting the calm of the night seep into him. Only one or two lights shone in the houses that lined the street, not enough to dim the stars overhead. He thought of the little girl in the woods and hoped she was where she could see those stars, and that maybe, seeing them, she wouldn’t feel so alone.

The door opened and Paige stepped out. “I got her settled in,” she said. “Grief can be so exhausting. I hope she’s able to get some sleep.”

“I’ll come by and pick her up in the morning and take her up to the campsite,” he said. “We’re hoping her niece will see her and come to her. I found out tonight that the little girl is deaf, so she wouldn’t hear us calling for her.”

Paige sat in a wicker armchair adjacent to the swing. “I can’t even imagine how worried Maya is. I don’t even know this kid and it upsets me to think of her out there.”

Gage stifled a yawn. “Is there something you wanted to talk to me about?” he asked.

“Yes. I wanted to tell you I saw that couple—Maya’s sister and her husband—the day before yesterday. And the little girl. She was with them. Adorable child.”

Gage sat up straight, fatigue receding. “Where was this?”

“Some of us from Eagle Mountain Conservation went up to Eagle Mountain Resort—you know, those mining claims Henry Hake wanted to develop?”

Gage nodded. Eagle Mountain Conservation had succeeded in getting an injunction to stop the development three years ago. “You saw the Hood family up there?”

“They were unloading camping gear from a white SUV parked on the side of the road. I guess they were camping on one of the claims near Hake’s property.”

“They bought the claim and I guess a few others in the area,” Gage said. “But what were you doing on Henry Hake’s land? It’s private property.”

Paige frowned at him, a scowl that had intimidated more than one overzealous logger, trash-throwing tourist or anyone else who attracted the wrath of the EMC. “We weren’t on his land. There’s a public easement along the edge of the property. It’s a historic trail that’s been in use since the 1920s. We established that in court, and Hake and his partners had to take down a fence they had erected blocking access. It was part of the injunction order that stopped the development.”

“So you went up there to hike the trail?”

“We had heard complaints that the fence was back up, so we went to check,” she said.

“And was it up?”

“Yes. With a big iron gate across it. Our lawyers have already filed a complaint with the county commissioners. We tried getting in touch with Hake, but didn’t have any luck.”

“He’s been missing for almost a month now,” Gage said. “No one has heard anything from him, and every trail we’ve followed up on has gone cold.”

“A man like that probably has plenty of enemies,” Paige said. “And he hung around with some nasty people. Maybe that former bodyguard of his did him in.”

“Maybe so, though we haven’t found evidence of that.” Hake’s one-time bodyguard had died in a struggle with Travis when he had kidnapped the woman who was now Travis’s fiancée. Three years previously, the same man had murdered Andy Stenson, a young lawyer in town who had also worked for Hake.

Paige leaned toward Gage. “It looked to me like work has been done up there on Hake’s property,” she said. “There’s a lot of tire tracks, and maybe even a new building or two.”

“I’ll see if I can find out anything,” Gage said. “Maybe someone working up there saw or heard something related to the Hoods’ killing.” He stood. “Thanks for letting me know. I’ll see you and Maya in the morning.”

“I’m hoping she’ll get a good night’s sleep,” Paige said. “And that tomorrow we find her niece safe.”

“We all hope that.” He returned to his SUV and headed toward the house he rented on the edge of town, but he had traveled less than a block when his cell phone rang. “Gage, this is Al Dawson, over at the high school.”

“Sure, Al.” Gage glanced at the clock on his dash. Ten minutes until midnight. “What’s up?”

“I came in to do the floors here in the gym, but found the lock on the door is broken. Somebody bashed it in.”

“Did you go inside?” Gage asked, looking for a place to turn around.

“No. When I saw the damage to the door, I figured I’d better call you. It looks like we’ve got another break-in.”

“I’ll be right there, Al. Don’t go in.”

“I won’t. What’s going on, Gage?” Al asked. “Travis was out here just this morning to take a report on some items that were stolen from the chemistry lab. This used to be such a peaceful town—now we’ve got crime all over the place.”

“I don’t know, Al,” Gage said. “But I’ll be right there.” Ordinarily, a random burglary wouldn’t seem that unusual, but two burglaries in one week was enough to rate a headline in the local paper. Add in a double murder and Gage had to ask what the heck was going on.

Chapter Four

On his way to the high school, Gage called Travis. “Didn’t you respond to the high school this morning about a break-in?” he asked when his brother answered the phone.

“Yesterday morning,” Travis said. “It’s already this morning.”

“Sorry to wake you,” Gage said. “But I just got a call from Al Dawson, the janitor over there. He says the gym door has been tampered with.”

“All the doors were fine when I was out there,” Travis said. “The thief got into the lab through a broken window.”

“Al thinks somebody broke into the gym. I’m on my way out there.”

“I’ll meet you.”

Al was waiting by his truck when Gage pulled into the lot at the high school. Security lights cast a jaundiced glow over the scene. Whoever had attacked the door to the gymnasium hadn’t bothered with subtlety. They had bashed in the area around the lock with a sledgehammer or iron bar. “Is this the only door that’s been damaged?” Gage asked.

“I think so,” Al, a thin man in his sixties, said. “I took a look around while I was waiting for you and I didn’t see anything else.”

“You don’t have any security cameras focused on this area, do you?” Gage asked.

Al frowned. “We’re a rural school district. Our budget doesn’t run to security cameras.”

“All right.” Gage took out a pair of gloves and pulled them on. “I’ll check things inside. You wait here.”

But before he could open the door, Travis pulled up. Gage waited for his brother to join them. Travis greeted them, then surveyed the door. “They obviously didn’t care about hiding the damage,” he said. “Same thing with the science lab yesterday—smash and grab.”

“What did they take from the lab?” Gage asked.

“Science equipment—some test tubes and flasks, reagents and a Bunsen burner,” Travis said.

“You think it was kids making drugs?” Al asked.

“Kids or adults,” Travis said. “We’re keeping our eyes open.”

“I was just about to take a look inside,” Gage said.

“I’ll come with you.” Travis pulled on a pair of gloves and followed Gage inside, both men careful to keep to one side, out of what they judged was the direct path of entry. Later, a crime scene team would investigate and gather what evidence they could. “I don’t hold out much hope of getting good prints,” Gage said as he flipped the light switch. Banks of floodlights lit up the wood-floored space. Basketball hoops hung from the ceiling at either end of the gym, and metal bleachers lined the far wall.

“Doesn’t look like they did any damage in here,” Gage said, surveying the empty room.

“Let’s get Al in here and see if he sees anything out of place.” Travis walked back the way he and Gage had come. A minute later, he returned with the janitor. “Do you see anything missing, Al?”

The janitor scratched his head. “I don’t see anything—then again, I wouldn’t necessarily know. You need to get one of the coaches over here for that.”

Gage checked the time. Almost one in the morning. “For now, we’ll seal off the area and get one of the reserve officers over here to babysit the scene until the crime scene guys can make it over. What time do the coaches show up?”

“Seven thirty or so, usually,” Al said. He frowned across the silent gym. “I guess this means I won’t be doing the floors in here tonight.”

“No one comes in here without an escort from the sheriff’s department,” Gage said.

They went outside again and while Travis pulled crime scene tape from his SUV, Gage called in a reserve officer to stand guard and made notes about Al’s statement. “I’ll swing back here early to talk to the coaches,” he said.

Thirty minutes later, he and Travis walked back to their cars, prepared to leave. “Did you get Ms. Renfro taken care of?” Travis asked.

“She’s over at the Bear’s Den,” Gage said. “I told her I would pick her up and take her back to the camp in the morning. She wants to help search for her niece, and I think it’s probably a good idea. The little girl will recognize her, plus Maya can communicate with her in sign language.” He glanced over his shoulder at the high school. “I guess I’ll swing by here first, see if I can get anything useful from the coach.”

Travis clapped him on the shoulder. “Let me know what you find. I’ll see you later at camp.”

Gage opened the driver’s-side door of his SUV. “And to think just yesterday I was complaining about being bored,” he said. “That’s what I get for opening my big mouth.”

* * *

MAYA LAY AWAKE much of the night, alternately weeping and praying, terrified of what might be happening to Casey, unable to accept she would never see her sister again.

When the clock showed 6:00 a.m., she got out of bed and took a shower, then did her makeup and ventured downstairs. When she walked into the dining room, which was painted a cheery apple green, Paige gestured toward a buffet, on which sat a large coffee urn and plates of muffins. “Help yourself,” she said. “The other guests haven’t come down yet, but I knew you’d want an early start.”

Maya filled a coffee cup and stirred in cream and sugar. “I don’t guess you’ve heard anything from Gage?” she asked.

“I’m sorry, no,” Paige said. “I’m sure he would have called you if they had found anything.”

Maya dropped into one of the chairs at the dining table. Paige sat opposite her. “I know it’s hard,” Paige said. “But don’t give up hope. Everyone available is looking for your niece—and we’ve done this before. Two summers ago, a little boy got lost when his family was hiking and they found him the next day, a little cold and scared, but safe.”

Maya wrapped both hands around the sky-blue mug decorated with little fleurs-de-lis. “I keep telling myself that we’ll find Casey today. I wish I was up there right now, helping to look for her.”

“It’s still too dark out to see much,” Paige said. “And do you even know how to get there?”

“Gage took me there last night.” She sipped her coffee. “And I can follow directions, if someone tells me which way to go.”

“You might as well wait for Gage,” Paige said. “He should be here soon.”

“He probably has plenty to do besides babysitting me,” Maya said.

“He probably does,” Paige said. “But that’s the kind of guy he is—a real gentleman. I know it’s an old-fashioned word, but it’s true. He really cares about people. It’s what makes him good at his job.”

Maya shifted in her chair, curiosity warring with embarrassment. Curiosity won. “Are you and Gage involved?” she asked.

Paige laughed. “Oh my goodness, no. What made you think that?”

“I know you went down to talk to him after you showed me to my room. I just thought...” She shrugged.

“No. Gage and I are not involved.” Paige pinched off a bite of muffin. “Neither one of us is interested in getting serious,” she said. “It’s easier.”

“I know what you mean,” Maya said. “I’m not seeing anyone right now, either.” Though she couldn’t help thinking how nice it would be to have someone she could lean on. She pushed the thought away. She had been standing on her own two feet for plenty of years—no reason to stop now. “How did you end up in Eagle Mountain?” she asked.

“I came here on vacation and fell in love with the place,” Paige said.

“Where did you live before?” Maya asked.

“Portland, Oregon.”

“This is certainly different from Portland,” Maya said.

“Different was what I needed at the time. I was coming off a painful divorce, and both my parents had died in the three years prior to that. I had a little money my aunt had left me, so I used it to buy this place and fix it up.” She shrugged. “At the time, I thought maybe I would stay a few years then move on, but I got involved in life here and I love running the B and B. It’s a good fit all around.”

“I think small-town life would bore me after a while,” Maya said.

“There’s plenty to do here if you know where to look,” Paige said. “Maybe not as many choices as in the city and we’re low on anything resembling the club scene, but I’ve made a lot of friends here. I care about this place and it feels like home.”

The doorbell chimed and Paige scraped back her chair. “That’s probably Gage.”

Maya told herself her heart beat faster because she was hoping for news from Gage about her niece, but she had to admit to the thrill of attraction that ran through her when the sheriff’s deputy stepped into the dining room. “Good morning,” he said, and nodded and touched the brim of his hat.

The courtliness of the gesture moved her. He looked tired, and there was a heaviness about his eyes that heightened her own sadness. “Did you get any sleep last night?” she asked.

“A little.” He accepted a cup of coffee from Paige, and pulled out the chair next to Maya. “I had a late call. Break-in at the high school.”

“Kids?” Paige asked.

“Maybe.” Gage sipped his coffee.

Maya thought of the students in her classes—a mixed bunch of good and bad. “I guess even little towns like this aren’t immune to that kind of thing,” she said.

“Kids get bored and in trouble everywhere,” he said. “Though we like to think in Eagle Mountain there’s a little less trouble for them to find. No gangs, anyway. Drugs are always a concern, but there’s not as much of it here. And people in smaller communities get involved—if they see a kid up to something, they don’t hesitate to call it in.”

“I guess being nosy has its upside,” Maya said.

“It can.” He helped himself to a muffin. “We can go whenever you’re ready.”

“Let me grab my backpack.”

She waited until they were on their way before she asked the question that had been foremost in her mind all morning. “Have you heard anything from the other searchers?” she asked.

“I’m sorry. No.” He glanced at her, then back at the road. “Have you thought about where Casey might have gone if she ran away? Let’s go with the theory that she saw what happened to her parents and ran, scared. Is there anything in particular that she’s attracted to? Is she drawn to water? Would she hide in a cave, or would she avoid that?”

“I think a cave would frighten her. I don’t think she cares about water, one way or another.” She frowned, trying to think past her exhaustion and fear. “I mean, she’s five years old. She’s a sweet, innocent girl who’s never known danger for a minute in her life. Seeing her parents killed—” She shook her head. “She must be terrified.”

“We haven’t found any indication that the people who killed your sister and her husband harmed Casey,” Gage said. “Hold on to that hope.”

She nodded. “I will. I’m hoping Casey spent the night hiding, and once she sees me, she’ll come out.”

“That’s what we’re hoping, too.”

“You were right—I do like Paige. And she vouched for you as a good guy.”

“Were you worried I was otherwise?”

“No, but it’s always good to have someone verify my first impression.”

“Glad I passed the test. Though I can’t say I’m all that comfortable knowing you two have been discussing my merits and flaws.”

“Ha! As if men don’t do the same with women.”

“I promise, I haven’t discussed you with anyone.”

Under other circumstances, that admission might have disappointed her, Maya told herself. But there were bigger things at stake right now. “What’s the plan for this morning?” she asked.

“I think you should hang around the main camp. If any of the search team spot Casey, or any signs of her, they can contact the base and we’ll get you to that location.”

That sounded like a lot of sitting around and waiting for other people to find Casey—not what she had in mind. “What are you going to do?” she asked.

“I want to take a look at the property adjacent to the place your sister and her husband owned. A few years back, a developer bought it and had plans to build a big resort, but he ran afoul of local environmentalists. The property is supposed to be vacant, but Paige told me last night she was up there a few days ago and it looked as if someone had been working there. If I can find whoever that was, maybe they saw something that will lead us to your sister’s killer. Or maybe someone there has seen Casey.”

“Or maybe this mysterious person is the killer.” Maya wrapped her arms across her stomach to ward off a chill.

“Maybe.” Gage looked grim. “It’s something I need to find out.”

“I want to come with you,” Maya said. “If there are other people working there, it makes sense that Casey would have headed in that direction.”

“I don’t know what I’m going to walk into,” Gage said. “I can’t risk putting you in danger.”

“I don’t care about that.” When he gave her a questioning look, she set her jaw. “No offense, Deputy, but I’ll do almost anything to save my niece. That’s more important to me than anything else right now.”

“And if I order you to stay away?” he asked.

“Then you would have a fight on your hands,” she said. “And when it comes to people I love, I’m not afraid to fight dirty.”

“The scary thing about that,” Gage said, “is that I absolutely believe you.”

“Why is that scary?”

“Let’s just say, I never met a teacher like you. I’m still making up my mind whether I like that or not.”

“You don’t have to like it. Just don’t stand in the way of me taking care of my niece.”

“I won’t stand in your way,” he said. “Unless you’re in mine. But I think we’re on the same side in this matter. Just respect that I have a job to do. I want to find your niece as much as you do, but I also need to find your sister’s killer. I think we can do both.”

“Are you going to take me with you this morning or not?”

She waited a long, tense moment for him to answer. If she had to, she would go to his brother, the sheriff. Or she would get the press on her side—there was bound to be a reporter at the site, surely.

“All right, you can come with me,” he said. “But if I sense anything dangerous, I’m taking you right back to camp—no arguments.”

“All right.” That would have to do—for now. Maya had meant it when she told Gage she would do anything to protect her niece. Anything at all.

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