Inspector Green Mysteries 9-Book Bundle (280 page)

“You did what?” she asked.

He explained again about his calls to Whitehorse. This time there was a pause.

“Oh.”

“What do you mean, oh?”

“I guess she didn’t tell you.”

“Tell me what?”

“Don’t get mad at me, Mike.”

“Tell me
what
?”

“She didn’t go with a tour.”

Green stiffened. “Who did she go with?”

“Scott and a few other friends.”

“A few friends? A few friends just packed up, flew two thousand kilometres into the north, and figured they’d go camping?”

“I thought she told you.”

“No, she didn’t tell me! She told me she was going with Nahanni River Adventures. How could you just let her go on her own?”

Her voice gathered force. “Since when could I stop her? Since when could you?”

“You could have refused to pay —”

“She’s nineteen years old, Mike. She’s been doing what she wanted since she was two!”

He took a deep breath. Shouting at Ashley would accomplish nothing; this wasn’t her fault. But he hated feeling so powerless. Hannah had been back in Vancouver with her mother for over six months now. She had intended to stay only for the Christmas holidays, but a wild New Year’s Eve party had changed all that. That’s where she had met a University of British Columbia geology graduate student with a devilish charm and a craving for adventure. For Hannah, that was a magnetic combination in a man. Ashley said that until the attraction had run its course, nothing was going to budge Hannah from Vancouver. Before Green knew it, Hannah had applied to and been accepted into UBC for the fall. It was Green’s worst fear.

Until now. He knew very little about Scott. Hannah had emailed a single photo of the two of them. Scott had the kind of rangy, effortless athleticism Green had always envied. Hannah barely reached his chest as she tilted her adoring pixie face up at him. Green had disliked him instantly.

He reined himself in. Petty jealousy had no place here. “What do you know about Scott and his friends? Do they know what they’re doing?”

“Scott spent his college summers up in northern B.C. and he’s done river trips a few times. He’s gone wilderness camping since he was a kid. His friends too.”

“That’s a far cry from —”

“I think they wanted the challenge, Mike. They didn’t want to be part of a group being led by the nose.”

“But Hannah is a city girl. Summer camp doesn’t count.”

“She’s in good hands. Scott is a good kid, and she’s no pushover herself.”

He glanced at the calendar on the desk beside him, where he had blocked off the dates of her trip. He forced himself to be calm. “Okay. She’s due back in Fort Simpson on Monday anyway. Let’s hope she calls when she gets there. The minute you hear, call me.”

“Oh,” Ashley said. Another ominous
oh
.

“Now what?”

“She’s not due out for more than two weeks.”

“She said the tour was ten days. I know she’s not on a tour, but that’s how long the river trip takes.”

“She …” Ashley’s voice faded. “She went up to the headwaters, Mike. They started at the top of the river.”

“But that’s —” He broke off, his fear rising again. When he’d read up on Hannah’s expedition, he’d paid scant attention to the upper parts of the river, concentrating instead on Virginia Falls and the canyons he thought she’d be travelling through. But he had a vague recollection of extreme whitewater that only expert paddlers should attempt.

“She told me …” He sank back in his chair. “Damn it, she didn’t tell me.”

Ashley grunted something dismissive, but when she spoke, her voice had mellowed. “They have a satellite phone and if they run into trouble, they’ll call for help. That’s what I keep telling myself, Mike.”

After he hung up, he pulled up the trip descriptions on the tour website and read about the upper river. He’d been born and raised in the inner city, and the wilderness was an alien world full of threat and ambush. He felt a prick of shame that Ashley was being the more sensible one. She seemed to have sensed what was beneath his anger and his outrage. Not only fear for his daughter’s safety, but also hurt. That she had lied to him.

As if he, a homicide cop of nearly fifteen years, needed to be shielded from the dangers she had chosen.

Chapter Two

Nahanni, July 5

 B
y eight a.m., when they set off up the mountain, the sun was already high in the sky, sparkling on the river below and burnishing the pinks and greens along the shore. Hannah knew the view was awesome, but despite her sunglasses and her hat pulled down low over her eyes the brightness drilled right into her head. Spots floated in her vision and her head pounded. She stumbled as the rocky trail wound relentlessly uphill around boulders and through prickly spruce. At each jolt her stomach lurched.

It will pass, she kept telling herself. It’s just because I didn’t eat breakfast. She’d pushed the oatmeal around in her bowl, hoping Daniel wouldn’t notice. He’d been giving her the eagle eye and there was no way she was getting left behind at the camp while the rest of them hiked. Even if there weren’t the possibility of bears, there was no way she was letting Scott down. He was so excited he’d hardly slept last night, and this morning he’d herded them onto the trail as soon as their dishes were washed and their backpacks stuffed. He’d insisted they pack in most of their gear, in case the climb took more than one day. Anyway, leaving it behind was an invitation to bears.

An invitation she could do without.

She supposed they were following a game trail, although only Scott seemed to know where it was. He raced up ahead and stopped at lookouts to peer at the topographical map and scan the mountains ahead through binoculars. It didn’t seem to be the easiest route, but what did she know? Orienteering at summer camp didn’t quite compare to this.

Eventually the trees thinned and they emerged onto a steep, rocky slope. A flat rock, slick with lichen, slipped beneath her foot and she fell hard. Pain shot through her hip and she shrieked “Fuck!” so loud that even Scott, way ahead, turned around.

Daniel was at her side before the world stopped spinning. He pulled off her sunglasses and peered into her eyes. When she looked away, he took her hands in his. “Squeeze my hands as hard as you can.”

She pulled away. “Daniel, leave it! It was that stupid rock. I just need to catch my breath.”

He dug into the side pocket of his bag for a power bar. “I want you to drink and eat. Now.”

Her stomach flipped, but she knew Mr. Worrywart was watching. “I’ll take some water.”

From far above, Scott asked what was wrong. His impatient shout seemed to echo forever across the valley. Or is it just my banged-up brain? she wondered, wincing as the echoes drilled into her.

Daniel pretended he didn’t hear Scott as he got her water bottle for her. She brought it clumsily to her lips, spilling some down her shirt.
Fuck, keep it together!

“Scott!” Daniel shouted. “I’m taking her back. You two can go on, I’ll stay with her.”

She pushed herself to her feet. “Don’t I get a say in this?”

“Hannah, you can’t —”

“I can!” She started ahead, trying to walk straight. All those years of trying to act sober when she was wasted should be good for something. Feet, don’t mess up again.

Scott came back down, half slithering on the loose rock. He peered at her, and a little concern flickered through his impatience. He pointed up at a dip between two peaks. “We should make that level spot in a couple of hours. It’s a good place to rest and have lunch.”

Daniel peered up the slope. “There’s no way —”

“We’re not splitting up,” Scott said. “That’s a cardinal rule of wilderness trekking.”

“Then we should all go back. We can try again tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow it may be raining,” Scott countered.

Hannah squinted at the sky. It was a deep blue without a single cloud. The first perfect day on their whole trip. But weather, she’d learned, could turn on a dime up here. Far below them, pale slivers of river wove in and out between the trees. Up above, the mountaintop still seemed impossibly far away. But to go back now was a terrible waste of all that effort.

“Trust me, if we pace ourselves, she’ll be fine,” Scott said. “I’ve seen much worse.”

Hannah watched the two stare each other down. Daniel was the one with the medical training, but Scott had more experience in the wilderness. He’d been tramping over mountains and running rivers since he was a kid. If she had to choose sides, she would throw her lot with Scott even if he wasn’t her boyfriend. He might not be the warmest guy in the world right now, but he did love her. If he wasn’t worried about her, then there must be nothing to worry about.

She pushed past both men and clambered over a boulder in the path. She could make it to lunch. A bit of food in this butterfly stomach, a little rest, and she’d be fine.

The slope was steeper now. They seemed to be following a creek bed and she had to clamber over boulders on all fours, steadying her balance with her hands. Each footstep caused a mini landslide of loose gravel. Spots clouded her vision and she had to stop frequently to catch her breath. Blood pounded in her ears. Scott had been after her to train for this trip and she’d taken up running with him some mornings, more to get time with him than to get fit. But obviously her idea of fitness was way off. He was far ahead now, out of sight beyond the rocks. The rest were straggling along in a line, finding their footing and making their own speed. Mindful of bears, Pete ran through his entire repertoire of Hawksley Workman songs, but she and Daniel just panted their way up the hill. Daniel lagged behind her and she knew it was on purpose. He kept up an endless babble.

Look at that pretty coloured stone. Wow, all these different colours! Do you think there’s gold in these mountains?

“I’m still alive, Daniel. I’m walking, okay?”

“I know you are. But Scott’s a moron and if he had half a heart, he’d be here himself.”

She stopped so suddenly he bumped into her. He jumped back as if she’d burned him. “Scott’s getting us there. That’s his job right now. So put a cork in it, Daniel.”

He shut up then for at least half an hour, while she dragged herself up over boulders and along rocky ledges. The only sounds were the ragged rhythm of their breathing and Pete’s off-key singing. Wildflowers peeked out of the cracks, delicate bursts of purple and white. It should have been pretty, but Hannah could only think of getting to that level spot. One inch at
a time.

“I also think,” Daniel said, so softly she wondered if he was talking to himself, “that this is really beautiful and I don’t understand why he’s rushing to the top. He’s a geologist. He should be in total awe of this landscape. Look at these layers! I bet there are hidden secrets of the earth in every single one.”

Hannah didn’t know one rock from another. She’d seen nothing but rocks since they began this expedition, and they all looked alike. Okay, they were different sizes and colours but they were all in her way. Now she took the little jagged black rock Daniel held out to her. It had a ribbon of white crystal running through it, and flecks of silver on the surface.

“There must have been a landslide,” he said. “I’m not an expert like Scott, but I do remember my environmental sciences course. This is quartz formed by huge pressure inside the mountain. I bet it’s on the surface now because of a landslide. It’s not eroded enough to be on the surface very long.”

She looked at the other rocks in the creek bed. Some were smooth and rounded, but a swath of jagged rocks ran down the edge. The landslide was only a metre wide, but she shivered as she looked at the boulder up ahead. If it decided to roll, it would crush them both.

“Let’s catch up. I’m hungry.” It was a lie but she surged ahead with new energy. After awhile the trail levelled out and she paused to steady herself. They had reached the plateau. Thank God, she thought, hiding her exhaustion from Daniel.

All around her mountain peaks rippled like a carelessly tossed cloak toward the misty horizon, and far below, a blue ribbon of river meandered into the canyons. The sky was still clear overhead, but dark clouds had begun massing behind the mountains to the west. She caught sight of Pete just ahead, sitting on a rock in a meadow of wild grasses. He was wolfing down a pita sandwich.

Scott, however, was exploring the rocky meadow, map in hand and eyes on the ground. Every now and then, he nudged some rocks with his toe. He didn’t even wave to her as she and Daniel appeared over the rise. Annoyed, she marched up to him.

“What are you up to now?”

He looked up, puzzled, as if returning from some place far away. Then he smiled. “How’s the head?”

“Still attached.”

His grin widened. He took a deep breath and drew her to him. “Isn’t this awesome? Look at those mountain peaks. Billions of years old.”

They strolled arm in arm. She nestled against him, revelling in his moment of tenderness. “Daniel says there is lots of interesting geology around here. Landslides, minerals …”

She felt him tense. “Daniel said that? What does he know about geology?”

She shrugged. “Maybe we’ll discover gold, like in the Klondike!”

He stopped dead. At first she thought it was the idea of gold, but he was staring at the ground. In front of him, almost hidden under a rocky overhang, was a strange-looking pile of stones. Old from the looks of it, blackened and covered in lichen, but too tall and symmetrical to be arranged by the forces of nature alone. An animal lair? Scott squatted beside it and reached for the top stone. His hand shook slightly.

“What is it?” She felt a frisson of fear that an animal might leap out.

He didn’t answer. He removed the top stone, revealing more underneath. He took them off one by one.

“Scott? What is it?”

“A cairn.” His hand hovered over a stone the size of a football.

Her scalp pricked. “A cairn? You mean a grave?”

“I don’t know. Explorers used to bury things up here. Sometimes bodies, sometimes mementoes.”