Death at the Summit Read online

  Maybe I was just older and wiser but that smelled like trouble. “Oh, Minx.”

  “Ya, I know. Now, it’s totally obvious. I mean he paid for my plane ticket and offered to let me stay at his house. I insisted on a hotel because I didn’t want to be around Kandi. But guess what?”

  “Kandi wasn’t there?”

  She played with her fingers. “Nope, she was out of town, visiting her mom. He gives me a tour. Then we go into his office, and he’s telling me that I was so talented and pretty that I could be the new face of MacSights. Then he tries to kiss me, and Kandi comes in.”

  Mary shook her head. “That’s awful.”

  “I swear, I didn’t encourage him at all. I was flattered by the attention, but I never thought it was about anything other than my archery ability and great ideas, but Kandi starts screaming about me trying to seduce her husband. I just grabbed my purse and got out of there. MacSights ended up not making recurve sights.”

  Mary nodded. “I heard they didn’t have the money to invest in a new line.”

  “No, that couldn’t be. They were making money hand over fist. They started that Kandi-covered line right afterward.”

  Mary shrugged and took another sip from her cider.

  “I haven’t seen either of them in years.”

  “Until today.” I took a sip from my cider, too. The spicy warmth was comforting and familiar.

  “We were done with our task and were coming to join you guys when I ran into Kandi, literally. I had no idea they would be here. She said something about trying to steal what’s hers, then I said something about looking for new milk when the cow is old. Then next thing I know, she shoved me, and I slapped her. It felt amazing for a split second, then I was so embarrassed. Did you guys see it?”

  “Ya, we all did. In fact, Cold filmed it.”

  Minx straightened in her seat. “He what! That will ruin me. We have to get it.”

  Mary patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry; Di took care of it.”

  I slapped my pocket. “I got the memory card right here. You’re fine. Why didn’t you just ignore her when she said something?”

  Minx scrubbed her face and blew out a sigh. “It’s been a bad few months. I’ve been living with my parents since college to save money so I can train. The plan was that after I returned from the Summer Games, I would move out with two of my sisters and we would live on our own. Tons of my friends are married, many have kids, but at the very least, they are not living with their parents. My sisters have been dragging their feet on moving out, and in the past month, both have gotten engaged. They’re going to live at home until the weddings. I’m thrilled for them but it has me feeling… left behind.”

  I got up, snatched a plate of cookies off the counter, and brought them over to share. “Depressed?”

  “I don’t know. It isn’t just that. I have been training to make the Summer Games for years and years. I thought it would complete me. And it happened and was amazing, but I’m still the same person. Nothing really changed. I don’t feel any different. Now I don’t feel like doing anything, even things I used to like. I’m short-tempered and snapping at everyone. I just want to be left alone. That’s why I decided to apply to be an On-Site Athlete here. I need a new chapter in my life. A big change. Something.”

  My divorce had been a rough time for me, and I still wasn’t fully over it, but I was much better than I had been.

  “That sounds like what I went through after my divorce. It got worse and worse until at one point, I curled up on the couch in a blanket and barely moved for weeks. The Summer Games were on TV. I watched all of it, including the archers shoot. I must have watched you shoot, though I don’t remember. I couldn’t imagine ever being happy again and didn’t have a clue what to do next. Then I talked to Jess, and she mentioned the job opening, and suddenly, I was driving to Wyoming. Now I have this new life and couldn’t be happier. You will figure out where you should be.”

  Minx seemed a bit encouraged. A small smile caught the corner of her mouth.

  “Do you know M.C. at all?”

  She shook her head. “Not really beyond a conversation here and there. I’m so embarrassed because clearly, he knew why his dad invited me out there, and he thought I was up for it. M.C. likes nice things like vacations, cars, and clothing and he’s the marketing director for MacSights. That’s about all I know. But he doesn’t matter—Kandi killed Mac. She has been fooling around for years from what I’ve heard, and she wants all that money.”

  “Mac had a lot of money?”

  “Totally, they’re the biggest sight company in the industry.”

  “Minx, we’ve been looking for you.”

  We all turned to see that Jess was at the door of the cafeteria with Brian. “Brian needs to talk to you.”

  Minx went a little pale, and her eyes were wide. Mary reached over and gave her a hug. “It’ll be okay. Brian’s nice.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Minx left with Brian, and Jess took her seat. Her face was blank, but her hands picked up a napkin and preceded to carefully accordion fold it one way then the other. She would flatten it out then do it again.

  After the fifth time, I interjected. “You feeling okay?”

  “Fine. Fine. I’m fine.” She didn’t look up but shifted into folding the napkin in half over and over until it was too thick to fold again. She unfolded it, smoothed it out, turned it ninety degrees and started again.

  “Do you want some cider?” I asked. Perhaps a warm drink would perk her up. “Hot chocolate?”

  She looked at me with wide, round eyes as she started folding the napkin diagonally. “Hot chocolate? Do we have any mini marshmallows?”

  I nodded and made the most decadent hot chocolate I could: whole milk, a handful of mini marshmallows, and the perfect temperature. The warm, rich smell made my mouth water. I handed it to Jess, and she took a deep breath. Her shoulders relaxed, and after a sip, she closed her eyes. When she opened them, the tightness was gone and so was her death grip on the napkin. “That’s nice. Are there any more cookies?”

  We turned to Mary, who was just chewing the last of the cookies from the plate. She got up with the plate. “I’m sure there’s more in the kitchen.”

  Jess turned back to me. “I’m not sure if I can handle the stress of this job. What if there’s a murder every time I host an event?”

  I smiled at her. “Then we’ll get a lot of experience solving crimes.”

  “This isn’t a joke, Di.”

  “I’m not joking. It’ll be okay. Who do you think killed Mac? The sooner we figure it out, the sooner you can relax.”

  Jess rolled her eyes at me. “It could be anyone; he was awful. After that fight this morning, everyone got pulled out to have a firm talking-to about appropriate Westmound behavior. I thought he was going to hit Kandi. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has before. Orion stepped in. Mac kept calling him ‘boy.’ I can’t imagine that Westmound would have kept him much longer.”

  Mary came back with three undecorated cookies in the shape of angels. “I guess they ran out of time to finish all the cookies. Mac sounds awful. His son, M.C., said he was a bigot. Is that attitude common?”

  Jess sat back and was quiet before she answered. “Yes and no. I think that at least nine out of ten people in the industry are awesome and aren’t concerned about gender or ethnicity. They care about our industry and want to do what’s best. A customer is a customer. But if one person out of ten dismisses you or your ideas because you are female or a minority, then it’s a big problem. They don’t have to say why they are against you; they can just say, ‘Oh, I don’t think that’s a good idea.’ For instance, there’ve been a few times I have proposed ideas, and they were shot down as financially unviable or wouldn’t work. But then within a year, a guy suggested it, and everyone went on and on about what a great innovative idea it was. Now, maybe that was a coincidence, but when it keeps happening, you have to wonder. Plus there are a couple people like Mac that
will flat out say that minorities and women aren’t an important part of our industry.”

  “Dude, that sucks.” I had spent almost a decade in the technology field fighting the idea that women and technology didn’t mix. It never had occurred to me that I might have to deal with the same issues here.

  “Like I said, most people and companies are awesome. Westmound is one of the best. Plus, Mac is gone, so one less person to worry about. Maybe that opinion will go extinct like the dinosaurs.”

  “Like a racisaurus.” Mary snorted.

  We groaned but couldn’t keep from smiling.

  Jess finished off her cocoa. “Thanks for cheering me up. I’m going to see if I can help out with anything. You two stay out of trouble or at least pretend.” Jess turned to look at Moo on the floor next to the table. He had managed to pull the sweat shirt up over his head but not completely off. He flipped back and forth, his head obscured behind the stretchy red fabric covered with tiny glitter snowflakes. “You, too, Moo.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  “We should take Moo outside.” I removed the sweatshirt from Moo’s head then took our cups into the kitchen and loaded them into the dishwasher.

  We left the cafeteria with Moo leading the way. Instead of heading into the hallway, he veered the other way, back into the dining room. Spread throughout the room were the various suspects whom Brian had held back, minus Minx. Moo ran up to Loggin, and we followed.

  “Is this your dog?” Loggin looked between Mary and me as we approached.

  “He belongs to Liam, but he spends his days with me.” I scratched Moo’s rump.

  “Cool, he’s an awesome dog. Where’s the other gal?”

  “Who?” There were a lot of gals around. I had a suspicion whom he meant.

  “Pretty, red hair. She yelled at me earlier. What’s her name? Does she work here? Is she an archer?” He kept a casual tone.

  I chuckled. “Her name is Minx. She doesn’t work here, and she is a very good archer.”

  “Really? What kind?”

  I looked at Mary, who was smiling at his obvious questions. “She shoots target recurve and competed in the Summer Games this last summer.”

  “Wow. I want to apologize to her. Do you think you could…?”

  “I’ll see if I can help you out. Did you get your really serious problem solved?” He had been pretty upset earlier.

  “I think Orion will help me out. He needs to finish talking to that guy over there, then he’s going to try to introduce me to Elizabeth and Liam Andersson.”

  I looked at where Tiger and Orion were still talking, then turned back to Loggin. “Good luck.”

  ***

  Stepping outside, I was blown away how by different everything looked. The world was white; the sky, the ground, and even the horizon had disappeared. The housing units were hidden, and after I’d stepped a few dozen feet into the parking lot, the center vanished behind me. Moo took off at a dead run and disappeared.

  I grabbed Mary’s arm while calling to Moo. “Moo! This is crazy. Is there any way to drive in this?”

  “I don’t think so. I think everyone is stuck until it stops and the snowplows get out here.”

  It was still early afternoon, but it felt like it was twilight. Moo zoomed out of the snow. His front legs rose high over the piling snow. He leaped up then landed deeply, sending out sprays of snow, as he approached. His back legs splayed wildly as they landed. He sped toward us and hit the space between Mary and me. The force of the blow was not as severe as the one was yesterday since it was split between us. I braced myself but still hit the ground hard. In a repeat of yesterday, I lay there for a second, catching my breath.

  “You okay?” I called out to Mary, who had also gone flying.

  “Geez, Moo, what was that about?” Mary was already getting up and wiping off the snow.

  “Sorry, I should’ve warned you. Liam said that Moo has a problem with playing too rough in the snow.”

  “Thanks a lot. That would have been super-useful information to have had five minutes ago.”

  Moo reappeared from the whiteness and skidded to a stop in front of us. His tongue hung out, and he was breathing heavily, with a big doggy grin on his face. He started sniffing around for a spot to do his business.

  “What do you think about what Minx said?”

  Mary kicked at the snow. “Poor gal, I know just what she is feeling. After my mom got so sick, I felt the same way. But once I moved here, I started to feel better. Starting to shoot again has helped a lot, too.”

  I nodded. I hadn’t grabbed gloves, and the cool air bit into my hands. I shoved them into my pocket only to run up against the small, hard memory chip. “We should watch the video of the fight. Think there will be anything important?”

  Mary shrugged. “Ya never know.” She wrapped her arms around her middle. “Let’s get back inside.”

  I looked out at the snow then back at the center. We were trapped here with a dead body. “Do you think they’ll replace the carpeting?”

  Mary turned to me blankly. “What?”

  “All that blood. Mac’s dead body’s in that room and we’re stuck at the center. It’s kinda freaking me out.”

  We stood and stared at the center. Mary gave a little shiver. “I wasn’t freaked out before, but now I am. Thanks a lot.”

  “What can I say? Misery loves company.”

  Moo finished his business and kicked snow over the area with stiff, awkward legs. He ran back to the door. I looked over the snow that was still falling heavily and headed toward the door, stumbling over a parking block obscured by the snow. “Wow, I can’t believe how much snow there is.”

  Mary held open the door. “Welcome to Wyoming.”

  We chuckled and dusted ourselves off before going into the main hallway with Moo. Noises bounced down the hallways from the various people trapped in the center, even though no one was in sight. I wondered where Brian was interviewing people. Where was Liam, who seemed to appear and disappear randomly? My office was a short distance down the hallway, but long before we reached the office, we could hear Indy’s excited voice.

  “Icebolt, Icebolt, use your cool down. Ice Burst! You got him. Great job.”

  I stepped into the office, and Indy leaped back from Mouse. She was staring intently at the laptop screen with her face all scrunched up in concentration.

  Indy’s face turned red for a second, then he seemed to pull himself together. “Mouse is an awesome caster. She’s a natural at DPS. I got her started on my computer, but as soon as the game downloads on your computer, we’re going to run some dungeons.”

  “Uh…” That was a lot of words that made no sense. “I need the office for a bit. Can you both clear out for about ten minutes?”

  “Do we have to? The game only needs like five more minutes.”

  “Perfect, then when we are done, your game will be downloaded, and you can play.”

  “Ya, ya, ya, okay. Come on, Mouse, I can introduce you to my dad.” He offered her his hand, and tentatively, she grabbed it. They left the room hand in hand.

  After they were gone, I raised an eyebrow at Mary. “The holding-hands thing is new.”

  “At least someone is having a good day.” She pulled out the chair that Indy had been sitting in and sat.

  I slid the memory card into a reader and waited for the computer to register it. Opening up the folders, I saw two video clips; one from today and one from the previous month. After I clicked on the clip from today, the video popped up on the screen.

  The footage popped around on the screen as Cold got the camera settled on the action. Minx was on the screen, facing off with Kandi. The audio wasn’t loud enough to hear what they were saying, but the body language made up for it. Kandi shoved Minx hard. Even knowing what was coming, I was shocked when Minx slapped Kandi.

  When Minx’s hand hit Kandi’s cheek and she disappeared from frame, I couldn’t help when a snort of laughter escaped. I rewound and watched again, laughing even
harder. Then I rewound and added commentary. “You have something on your face.” Slap! “Let me introduce you to my little friend.” Slap! “Kandi-covered slap.” Slap! I was laughing so hard, I could barely talk.

  Mary tried to suppress a giggle. “You are enjoying this a bit too much.”

  I tried to stop laughing. “Sorry, you’re right. See anything new?”

  She pointed to the background on the screen, where Mac was arguing with a thin man. “That’s Bucky. He’s one of suspects.”

  “Oh, ya, I saw him fighting with Mac when the fight first occurred. He’s one of the suspects? Interesting.”

  I rewound until I found the point where Mac and Bucky started interacting. Mac said something with a smug smile. Bucky’s face was tense and angry. They went back for forth until the fight was broken up. The whole time, Mac smirked while Bucky’s face got redder and angrier.

  “We need to see if we can get Bucky to tell us what they fought about.” I closed the video player and clicked the other video on the card. The camera appeared to be sitting on a desk or table and was pointed at a bed in an otherwise-empty room. A man’s voice was talking, and then he looked into the camera. It was Cold, and he was on the phone.

  “Don’t ever put that in writing again. No e-mail, no texts, nothing.”

  He walked around the room as he listened to the phone.

  “Ya, I can get it. Just remember, if this gets into food, it would kill someone, and if it was spicy or flavorful, they would never taste it. So I am saying not to do that. You’re such an idiot, I swear. Okay. Bye.”

  A few seconds later, the video ended.

  “What was that about?” Mary asked.

  I shook my head and we watched the short clip three more times. We leaned in close to the screen, straining to hear more details, but nothing more revealed itself.

  A chill crept over me. “Do you want to watch again?” Mary shook her head, and I popped the memory card out and put it on my desk. “That was ominous. Do you think he was getting poison for someone? Or convincing someone not to poison someone? Why did he film that? Is this connected to Mac’s murder or something different?” I had so many questions that were unanswerable.