Tahoe Chase (An Owen McKenna Mystery Thriller) (25 page)

FORTY-ONE

Simone and I were quiet for several minutes. We looked out at the lake.

“I have a question about Ned.”

“What?”

“Ned is capable of nearly any kind of violence, right?”

Simone nodded.

“He could even kill someone, if the impulse struck him, right?”

“I’ve always known that,” she said.

“But could he plan to kill someone? Not an impulsive murder in a fit of anger, but something where he thought about it, took his time, and then carried out his plan?”

Simone didn’t hesitate. “Yes. He is impulsive, that is true. And his impulsiveness leads to violence. But he is also evil. If he thought there was something significant in it for him, he could kill someone.”

“What if he were paid a fee of ten thousand?”

“Ten thousand dollars?! Ned would do anything for ten thousand dollars. Is this about the man who pays Ned to spy on Joe?”

I nodded. “There were three different people this man wanted out of the way.”

“You’re wondering if Ned would kill three people for ten thousand dollars.”

“Yeah.”

“Yes, he would,” Simone said with no hesitation.

“You knew Rell,” I said. “I’m wondering if you knew the others. One was Manuel Romero, and the other was Jillian Oleska.”

Simone shook her head. “I never heard of them.”

Snow began to fall, big wet flakes covering the windshield. I turned the heater to defrost and put the fan on high. After a moment, I turned the wipers on intermittent.

“I have an idea,” I said. “You said that if you could do the Tahoe Randonnée Extreme challenge, you could do anything. You’re interested in it because it represents that, right? It would prove to you that you have the power to take control of your life.”

Simone nodded.

“Why not have it represent the ability to leave Ned, too? You could do both at once. Start a new life by pursuing two momentous accomplishments at once.”

Simone went still and silent.

I looked back out at the lake so she could think without the pressure of my stare.

I counted up to ten, then twenty, then one hundred.

Simone said nothing.

I was about to speak when I realized that giving her some space to think might be the best thing.

I visualized a map of the U.S. and tried to picture and name every state, starting with Alaska and moving toward Florida. I made a mental list of my favorite painters and then organized them by subject so that I could determine what proportion were landscape artists versus portrait artists versus still life painters versus abstract painters. I did the same for my favorite musicians, ranking the numbers of jazz, classical, rock, and folk artists. I even remembered some country musicians that I liked.

Through it all I was aware of Simone making little movements in the passenger seat. She slouched down low, squeezing herself into the corner where the seat met the door. She put her feet up on the dash, then pulled her knees to her chest in a fetal position. I sensed her chewing on a hangnail, then winding her hair around her finger. She turned away from me and put her bandaged forehead against the cold window glass. She tapped a nail on her front tooth and clenched her hands into fists so hard that her knuckles went white. For a time she breathed slower, then faster, then sighed.

Eventually, she turned to face me. I kept looking out at the lake. No pressure. Let her speak when ready.

She took a breath as if to start speaking, stopped, started again.

“Tell me again what you’re proposing I do.” Her voice betrayed a little shakiness. To even go near the thought was frightening.

“I’m proposing that you leave Ned by strapping on your skis and pack and making your way into the frozen wilderness. I think you’ve now learned what you want and how to get it.”

I waited. She said nothing.

“Does he know you’ve been thinking about the Randonnée challenge?” I said.

“I’m not sure. I mentioned it because I was curious about it, but that’s all. Mostly, he knows that I’ve been thinking about the cross-country ski race from Lake Tahoe to Truckee during the solstice. I talked about doing that a long time ago. I wanted to do the race to Truckee to prove to myself that I could finish it. But when I learned about the Tahoe Randonnée Extreme and how it included multiple days of mountain climbing and camping in the wilderness, I thought that it would be a much greater challenge.” She paused. “It would be a way bigger accomplishment.”

“I think it’s a great idea,” I said. “Ned thinks you’re meek and afraid of the world. He knows that you’re afraid of him. Afraid to make a bold change. He would never expect you to head into the back-country. It could be the perfect escape from his tyranny. He wouldn’t know where to find you. In fact, the cross-country ski race could work as a decoy. He would think that’s where you went. Without the threat of Ned finding you, you would be able to prove to yourself that you could do it. You could show yourself and the world that you’re capable of anything.”

“But just because I’ve dreamed of it doesn’t mean I could do it.”

“Yes, you could. I believe you could. Street believes you could. Only Ned doubts your ability, your strength. This is your chance to prove him wrong.”

“Do you think I could do it even during the solstice? Skiing at night?”

“Yes.”

“If I could be strong enough to leave Ned, then I could tell the truth about how he beats me.”

“Right.”

“He would come after me.” Simone’s voice wavered.

“If you press charges, they will arrest Ned. I could go to your house and leave a hint or two that would reinforce the idea that you are doing the race, while you are actually out on the Randonnée Extreme. Eventually, Ned would likely get out of jail on bail. He would come home and find you gone. He’d look around, see your skis gone, and he’d think he was smart to figure out that you were doing the race to Truckee. If he tried to chase you, he’d look in the wrong place. He’d never believe that you were up in the mountain wilderness at night, skiing alone under the cold moon. It would be the best hiding place of all.”

“If I could do the Randonnée, I would know that I could take on other challenges. I could live where I want, alone if I want.”

She paused.

I waited.

“If I left Ned, I’d never look back. He couldn’t touch me. He wouldn’t matter. He would be a... a nothing.”

FORTY-TWO

We again sat in silence, Simone thinking, me waiting.

“I would need help,” she said.

“I can help. Street, too.”

“No, I mean that I would have to learn a lot.”

“Like what?” I said.

“Remember how I said that you have to navigate by yourself? They give you a list of check points, mountain peaks and such?”

“You find them with a topo map and a compass.”

“But I don’t know how to read a topo map. I don’t even have any maps of the area. I don’t know how to use a compass with a map, either. And even though I’ve trained some, I don’t really know anything about back-country skiing.”

“Like avoiding avalanche territory,” I said.

“Right.”

“So you need someone to teach you all that stuff.”

Simone nodded.

“It’s December nineteenth. If you were going to go during the solstice, you’d have to learn it all in just two days.”

Another nod.

“You won’t be healed enough to go in two days.”

“Yes, I will. These bruises look bad, and they hurt. But I could still go. I know more about how bruises heal than pretty much anyone.”

“Okay,” I said. “I know several ski experts, but they all have jobs. They could maybe meet with you for an evening, but that wouldn’t be nearly enough time. There is only one person who might be able to teach you all of what you need and do it on short notice.”

“Who’s that?”

“Joe Rorvik.”

While Simone listened, I called Joe and explained what Simone needed and asked if he could help.

He said that she was nuts to consider doing such a dangerous expedition for her first back-country experience. He also said that if she really wanted to pursue it, he would be able to tell her what she needed to know. I asked how long such an intensive workshop would take. He thought about it and said that if Simone was really sharp and if she focused well, he could probably teach her all the basics in a couple of days. But he couldn’t get her in shape. That would take months. I said that I’d pass on the information.

After we hung up, I told Simone what he’d said, leaving out the part about her being nuts.

“When would we start?” she asked.

“Now. The South Lake Tahoe police will have let Ned go by now. You can’t go home.”

Simone and I made a plan. My first call was to Street at her lab. She agreed to meet us at her condo. Because it was surrounded by other condos, it seemed a safer place than my cabin. It was also possible that Ned wouldn’t know where Street lived.

  By the time we got to Street’s, Simone was having second thoughts about seeing Joe. She didn’t want to endure his judgment. But she agreed that she needed help from an expert on skiing. I tried to convince her that Joe would respect her efforts and be impressed once he realized that she was going to change her life.

Having already been missing from Ned’s life for almost two days, Simone was petrified of what Ned would do if he found her. She knew he’d been spying on Joe, and she believed that he would check on the Rorvik house to see if she went there.

So I called Diamond and asked if he was available for a little off-duty security work. He said he could juggle his schedule and come around the next two days and sit in on Joe Rorvik’s impromptu back-country class.

Diamond met us at Street’s, driving his ancient pickup.

 We tried to hurry, but we didn’t get to Joe’s until 5 p.m. But the darkness gave us cover. Joe had turned off his front entry light, the Christmas lights on the sculptures, and the motion light above the garage door. We walked from darkened vehicles into a darkened house, and Joe led us into his origami room. It was dimly lit by a night light. The curtains were shut over the big windows.

Joe seemed not to even notice Simone. He turned toward Diamond. “Pleased to see you again, sergeant,” Joe said. They shook hands. He looked at Diamond’s old sweatshirt and faded jeans and worn running shoes. “Are you a back-country skier?” he asked.

Diamond shook his head. “No. I go into the back-country in winter only if I have a snowmobile and a guide and I never get more than a hundred yards from a house with a warm fire, hot chile on the stovetop, and cerveza in the fridge.”

Joe smiled. “Of that list, I only have the cerveza. Would Fat Tire suffice?”

“Sí,” Diamond said.

“If you don’t ski back-country, you are here to...”

“Security detail. My presence maybe helps Simone relax.”

Joe looked Diamond over a second time. “Forgive my impertinence, but does that mean you carry a gun when you’re not in uniform?”

“Sí.”

“I don’t see a holster.”

“Sí.”

Joe nodded understanding. “I’m a little slow.”

Joe and I fetched beers, and we all sat on Joe’s big furniture.

“Let’s go over the plan,” I said. “Tonight and tomorrow, Joe is going to help Simone learn about back-country techniques in prep for the Tahoe Randonnée Extreme challenge, which she wants to participate in during the winter solstice. Come the solstice, morning after next, Simone and I are going to go to the South Lake Tahoe PD, where she will file assault charges against Ned Cavett. I will give Commander Mallory advance notice so that there will be no delay.

“Ned will be arrested and brought to custody. After Ned is gone, Street and I will help Simone gather her ski equipment and other gear. We will leave some evidence at the house that suggests that Simone is going to participate in the ski race to Truckee.”

I continued. “With Ned’s priors, he will be familiar with the bail process, and he will call a bail bondsman. He is, no doubt, already angry with Simone for disappearing. After his arrest, he will be enraged and will step up his efforts to find her.”

I drank some beer. “After Street and I drop Simone off up by Sugar Bowl, I will search their house. I hope to acquire sufficient evidence to charge Ned in Rell’s assault and two other separate murder cases. With that we could keep him locked up. But in the event that Ned does get out, he won’t be able to find Simone because he will be looking at the race to Truckee while she will have already left on the Randonnée challenge on the Sierra Crest. She’ll be in the high country south of Donner Summit, heading on skis toward points south, and attempting to bag twenty mountain peaks on the way.”

“A good plan,” Joe said. “How can I help?”

I looked at Simone. “Do you want to answer that?”

She looked nervous. “I... I’ve done some training,” she said in a tiny voice. “I carried a backpack. Stuff like that. I’ve read about the route. But I don’t know what else to do.”

Joe looked around at the rest of us. “Which of you has back-country ski experience?”

Nobody spoke.

“Who is your buddy on this trip?” Joe asked.

“I don’t have a buddy. I’ll be skiing alone.”

“That is unwise to the point of foolishness,” Joe said. “The Tahoe Randonnée takes you through the Granite Chief Wilderness, then on south to the Desolation Wilderness. Most of the time you’ll be very far from civilization. There is no cellphone coverage along much of the route. Everyone knows that you always take a buddy when you go into the wilderness.” Joe sounded stern.

We all looked at Simone. Her hands shook. I wanted to speak up on her behalf, but I recognized that this was part of the process of taking charge of your life, staking out a position and defending it. If I intervened, it would exacerbate her dependency on others. I looked at Street, my eyebrows raised. She made a little shake of her head.

Eventually, Simone said, “Going solo is part of the challenge. The greater the challenge you face, the more valuable the experience becomes.”

“Well put,” Joe said.

“I know that I’m small, but I’m strong for my size. I can carry a pack with food and tent. I did a test and walked around the neighborhood with it three different times. It was really heavy, but I could do it. I don’t... I don’t have skills. But I have lots of endurance. And I’ve done a lot of cross-country skiing, just not up and down mountains. I believe I can do this. I’m determined to do this.”

“Then let me just say that you should call someone every time you get to a mountaintop. The cellphone buddy system. Most mountaintops are within a sightline of a cell tower. At least that way someone will know where you were last, should you fail to come out the other end.”

“Okay,” Simone said. “I’ll call Owen from some of the mountain checkpoints.”

Joe took a deep breath. “Simone, have you ever climbed a mountain on skis?”

“No. But I did some hill climb training with skins on my skis. I found some steep slopes to work on over on Tahoe Mountain by the high school.”

“You won’t want to be on steep slopes of any kind, going up or down. We’ll try to keep you on medium slopes or less. Can you ski down medium slopes?”

“I’m not an expert skier, if that’s what you mean. I’m a decent intermediate. And I can really make time on the flats. I know I’m little, but I have stamina. I can keep going and going. You probably think this is crazy, but I believe I can do forty miles or more on skis.”

“With a heavy pack,” Joe said, sounding gruff.

“Yes,” Simone said. She looked him straight in the yes. “With a heavy pack.”

“You know that there is no grooming in the back-country.”

“Of course.” Simone sounded offended. “I’ve skied on junk snow. I know about traversing and doing kick turns, coming down a slope on bad snow, one traverse at a time.”

“Have you ever gone winter camping?”

“Not really. I slept in a yurt on the snow in college.”

“Have you cooked on a campstove?” he asked.

“Yes. I got some used camping equipment from a friend, including a cookstove. I told Ned I wanted to try doing dinner on it for fun. He was suspicious as always, but he let me. It was hard. Just one little burner. But it worked. I made stroganoff.”

“You have an alpine tent and a heavy down bag?”

“What’s an alpine tent?” Simone asked.

“External frame, small, lightweight, but able to withstand high winds.”

“Yes, I think that describes my tent,” she said. “I got it on eBay, and I set it up in the yard one day when Ned was at work.”

“You’ve never slept in it?”

“No,” Simone said, shaking her head. “You think I’m stupid to do this, don’t you?”

“I’m just asking questions,” Joe said, irritation in his voice. “Do you have experience navigating in the back-country?”

She shook her head.

“Do you know how to read a topo map?”

“No.” Simone’s voice was getting smaller.

Joe looked at me, alarm on his face.

“Joe,” I said, “let’s assume that Simone has no qualifications for this other than extreme desire and the need to be safe from Ned. As soon as he gets out on bail, he will come looking for her. If she is in town, in a safe house, he may find her. As you said yourself, he is feral and clever. He has an instinctive sense about these things. I wouldn’t trust that he couldn’t figure out some way to get the safe house location. If Simone is out in the back-country, he won’t easily be able to find her. But the bigger part of this is that Simone has decided to take on a major challenge as the start of a new life. She’s dreamed of this for a long time. If she can pull it off, she will prove to herself that she is capable of nearly anything.”

Joe nodded. Drank some beer. Made the chewing motions.

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s start with navigation.” He walked across the room to a wastebasket that was filled with rolls of paper. He pulled out several and spread them out on the big origami table. He chose several maps and lined them up so that they made a big picture of the mountains to the west of the lake.

“Come sit next to me,” he said to Simone. She did as requested.

“Do you know what topo lines are?”

“No. I’m sorry I’m so ignorant.”

“No more sorrys tonight, okay?” Joe said. “We’re here to learn.” He pointed to the maps. “All these curvy lines show areas of equal elevation. They are called topographical lines because they reveal the topography, the shape, of the landscape.”

Joe walked over to the big paper dispenser, pulled off a sheet of paper, and did some folding and bending. In a minute, he had created the shape of a mountain and a sloping valley. He touched the point of a pencil to the mountain. “If I move this pencil around the mountain without going up or down, I’ve found a line of equal elevation.” He drew a rough circle around the paper mountain.

“Now, if I go down a hundred feet and do another line of equal elevation, that would be another topo line.” He moved the pencil down a bit and drew another circle around the mountain. He looked at Simone. “Are you with me?”

She nodded.

He held out the paper model of mountain and valley. “If I look straight down at this model of the mountain, I can see what those lines look like from above. If I draw those shapes on a flat piece of paper, I have a topo map.”