- Hard Fall Read online

  Hard Fall

  by James Buchanan

  head in Kabe's general direction. "This is Sandy's sister's grandson, Kabe."

  "Nice to meet you, boy." They shook, Old Man Jennings patting the back of Kabe's hand like he'd known him all along.

  Well he knew T and he knew Sandy ... so 'round here, meant he knew Kabe because he knew his family. Then he sniffed, like he might have a cold. More likely years of chaw and snuff caused it. "Fall, huh?"

  "Yeah," I willed myself to relax. Leaning back against the door of my truck, I hoped it came off casual. "A little German tourist gal fell while she and her husband were out camping."

  "Oh," Jennings nodded like old men do when something new links up to memories, "like the other one."

  That pushed a button in the back of my brain. "Other one?" Couldn't quite put it together though. The moment he'd said it, however, a tiny memory sparked for me.

  "Years back, mind you, my memory ain't so good now." He set the can at his feet and screwed up his face like it helped him think. "Can't remember where I put my hat this morning, but I can tell you what color shoes my wife wore to the dance I met her at." Looking up to the right at nothing in particular, he spun it out, "I think you were still working the prison then, when that other girl fell, maybe you weren't even there yet."

  He grinned and winked at Kabe. "Known Joe's family for a long time."

  Kabe leaned in a bit, he'd been hooked with the idea, too.

  "There's got to be a lot of falls out here."

  "We get our share," Jennings conceded, "locals mostly, some climbers and tourists, remember a highway patrolman 135

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  who ran off the road. Naw, but what Joe said, it just stuck something in my mind." He shrugged. "German gal falling I guess. Although I think she was over in Zions." Holding up his hands near his face, Jennings shook 'em like he was pulling the thoughts out of his head. "Wait, I remember why I know it. My friend Carl, died four years ago maybe, he helped bring that little gal's body out. Name was Warren, Wartner or something."

  "Warner?" I prompted.

  "Could have been. Look, got to go." He picked up the can, and grinned. "Nice meeting you, boy, say hi to T for me when you see him."

  Kabe and I both, as Jennings walked away, said, "We need to find out about that fall." He snorted. I laughed. Well, okay, I could forgive him the little lapse in judgment while with the missionaries. Hard not to tease kids like that. And I kinda liked that Kabe and I were thinking along the same lines.

  Made it real comfortable to be with him.

  Now, 'course, I still had to deal with the camera. Well, the park wasn't too far off. I might be able to pull a little help from Fred. That'd work. If not I was up a creek without a paddle on pulling out the pictures before hell froze over.

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  Chapter Eight

  As we drove into the park, I tried Fred's line. Fred's phone dropped into voice mail right off, so I figured he was somewhere out of range ... or he forgot to charge it. Since the Ranger Station and Admin area weren't all that far down from Ruby's, I decided just to drive on in. In summer the park stayed open 'till eightish and the gate guard waved me in without much pause. After a whole summer, most of the seasonals knew me well enough, recognized Deputy Joe, if not my personal truck. I usually checked in with Fred or the others I knew well enough when I cruised my beat.

  Somebody around should be able to give me a hand with the camera. Once we parked behind the New Admin building, it took me a while to track down help. It was late, almost closing time, so most staff were off-shift. Kabe and I saw a good part of the New Admin, Visitors' Center and the Old Admin offices before I found Nadia Slokum in her office.

  Well, she'd said if I ever needed anything to ask. Guess it was time to see if she meant it. I knocked on the frame of the door, not quite leaning into her space. "So, Ranger Slokum, can we annoy you for a bit?" Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Kabe dropping onto an old chair someone'd left in the hall. Boy looked as beat as I felt. I'd be good to climb in a bed and sleep good, long and hard.

  Nadia looked up from the pile of reports scattered over her desk. Boxes sat in disarray around the margins of the tiny office. "Well, hello there, Sugar." I got a broad smile.

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  "Depends on what you want to annoy me about." Bare bookshelves, no personal items cluttered the desk or photos hung on the wall yet. A battered, government issue computer hulked off to Nadia's right, keyboard propped up under the monitor. Definitely looked like someone moving in.

  I figured that to be an invitation, so I stepped on in and found the excuse for a guest chair hidden behind a stack of books. Pulling it out, I huffed a little, then got to it. "I hate to ask when we've only just met." I flipped the chair around and sat with my arms crossed over the back. The camera, in the stuff sack, dangled from my hands.

  "But you're going to anyway." She laughed and pushed her hair behind her ear with a delicate, dark hand. "That's okay."

  Resting her chin on the other fist, Nadia continued, "Told you if you need something to let me know."

  I heard Kabe move into the spot I'd vacated—glanced up to see him leaning on the door. Lord, even filthy, tired and camp-sore, that boy looked fine. I didn't think I'd ever get enough of looking at him. Kabe raised his eyebrows and smirked when he caught me looking and I couldn't help but grin back. About a second later I remembered myself and where I was.

  "The photo processor up at Ruby's is down." I sputtered out, trying to cover by tugging open the drawstring bag and fishing out the camera. Hopefully, Nadia didn't know me well enough to pin me. "I've got a SIM card from a digital camera I need to process. I don't have anything at the station or home that'll do it, have to send it out to the crime lab in Salt Lake and I don't think we can wait that long." It took a bit, 138

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  but I managed to pull it free. Then I set the camera, still in the plastic evidence bag, on the lip of the desk. "From what Fred'd done for us in the past—some search and rescue displays and stuff—somewhere around here the station's got a pretty good set up. Think you might be able to download and print up some pictures for me?"

  "Where the hell did you find this camera?" Reaching out, Nadia took hold of the ziplock and pulled it closer. "Looks like it's fallen off..." She jerked her eyes up from the camera to lock on mine. "My God, did this belong to who I think it belonged to?"

  "Haven't got confirmation on that." I'm sure my smile told Nadia I thought we were on the right track even if I fudged a bit on the words. "But I'd put it darn likely. One of the reasons I don't want to wait."

  "Well, can you wait till tomorrow?" She swung her arm over the general chaos of her office. "My personal computer set up is still in boxes. This thing," she thumped the monitor with the back of her hand, "has been around since creation by the look of it, haven't even tried to fire it up." Then Nadia picked up the camera, bag and all. Turning it over in her hands, she studied it. "The head ranger, his office computer could do it," her voice dropped down, almost like she was talking to herself, "but since it's not an emergency I don't want to pull a chit and wake him up." She shook it off and snorted. "I may have a high enough number behind the G on my paycheck giving me enough seniority that I don't have to worry about being fired. Take an act of Congress to get me out before I retire. Still, not a good idea to piss your new 139

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  manager off too early." Another snort wrinkled up her nose.

  "I'll log it into my custody so we keep chain of evidence and look at it first thing. Satisfactory?"

  "Faster than the two month turn around otherwise." I shrugged. Not what I'd hoped for, but I'd suffer not knowing a few more hours. That settled one prob
lem but not another.

  "Y'all still know where Gunter is, right?"

  "Yep." She set the camera back down. "I have a ranger posted near the exit to his campground. I don't like Gunter Warner, couldn't finger exactly why, but he crawled up my butt and died. So he ain't going nowhere, lest I know about it."

  "Fine by me then." I liked being in step with another officer. Meant we'd work good together, that I could trust her if I needed something. And around here, that was worth more than gold.

  "Hold on for a bit, I got to get some forms from next door." Nadia stood, eased around the desk and then between the desk and me. I tried to give her space enough. 'Course I realized as she edged by that even sitting down my eyes were level with Nadia's shoulder. Woman was a petite powerhouse.

  "Let you sign it out and me sign it in ... badge numbers and all to make it official." That powerhouse paused, reached back over her desk and grabbed a mug. I hadn't seen it earlier. A squirrel gripped a branch, trying not to fall. Its little feet brushed the words just hanging on till my next cup. She held it out toward Kabe. "Hey, Sugar ... Kabe," she added to let us know which of us she meant. "I would love you to death if you'd get me a refill of coffee—black with lots of sugar."

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  Holding out the cup and smiling big, she waggled it at him.

  "Take my mug, tell them you're on an official go-fer assignment for Ranger Slokum, and they'll be nice to you.

  Want anything Deputy? Coffee, tea..."

  Shook my head, "I'm fine." Most everyone around here already knew all about me. At least the not drinking caffeine part of me.

  "Got instant cocoa," Nadia wheedled, "kind with the little marshmallows."

  I rolled my eyes. Woman could talk a dog out of its spots.

  "Twist my arm for marshmallows." I conceded.

  Nadia pushed the mug into Kabe's less than enthusiastic hands. Taking him by the shoulders, she walked them both out of the office. "There's cups back there, too." I twisted in my seat and watched her shove him down the hall. "Mix the cocoa two packets to one cup hot water. They're weaker than a Baptist's resolve on Saturday night. Get yourself whatever you want. We'll be in my office." Then Nadia walked into another office.

  While I waited, I studied the camera. I knew, just knew, somewhere in there was my answer. Nothing could convince me that Gunter didn't have something to do with Anya's fall.

  My gut told me. Something had called me back to that cliff, drew me like a moth to a flame, something besides just lusting after Kabe. I needed to be out there, it was meant to be. 'Course the only reason I'd been out all night, stayed to look the next day, was Kabe. I'd wanted to be with him.

  I guess that meant Kabe and I were meant to be as well.

  That scared me. Boy did it scare me.

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  "You know," Nadia's voice startled me, "he's a nice kid."

  "Yeah," I managed a weak smile and hoped I hadn't jumped much as I probably did. "He's nice. Don't know as I'd call him a kid though."

  Nadia slid past me and sat down at her desk. "True. He's all grown up in all the right places." Pulling out a form from the stack she carried, Nadia took a moment to scribble a few boxes in. Then she kinda looked up at me, sorta sideways, and tried not to smile. "'Course, figuring you know all about that, probably about things I don't."

  "I have no idea what you're talking about." Somehow, I managed to get that out without choking. What I really wanted to do was get up and run. The only people who ran were those who had something to hide. I didn't want to seem like I had anything to hide.

  "Right." Now Nadia looked at me head-on. She wasn't smiling. "And I'm the President of the United States." If her southern drawl got any thicker, even I wouldn't be able to fathom it.

  I blinked. "Nice to meet you, Madam President." One of the most difficult things I'd done, keep my face that blank.

  Nadia rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, you two are cute together." Bile rose in my throat at her words and I shoved it back down, quick. "He is so looking for his daddy bear, it hurts."

  I reminded myself I needed to breathe. As evenly as I could manage, I denied it. "Look, I don't know what you think is going on, but it ain't like that."

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  Eyes narrowed, lips tight, she called me on my lie. "Ain't like what, Sugar?" Somehow her voice was more gentle than I expected.

  Not wanting to come at it straight on, I hedged. "What you're thinking."

  Slowly, she set the pen down on her desk. "And just what am I thinking?"

  "You're thinking, like, we're all about each other," I swallowed, "and it just ain't that way." Like it was some joke, a misunderstanding, I pulled a smile onto my face. "Not out here."

  "It's not that way." Resting her chin in her hand and tapping her nose with her index finger, she smiled at me. My mom used to smile at me like that, every time I done something wrong and she already knew it and just waited for me to tell her. "Or it's not that way 'cause you're out here."

  "Y'all just need to go talk to Fred, he'll tell you all 'bout me. I'm as stand up as they come."

  "I don't doubt that at all, Sugar." I don't know why there seemed to be so much pain in her face. "And I did talk to Fred. 'Course I was more interested in what he wasn't saying than what he was. Why I'm so good at my job, I read between the lines. I watch people. And between you and that boy, there's something." Nadia reached out across that small metal desk of hers, had to lean forward some, so that her fingers just brushed the back of my hand. "Something kinda nice."

  "Nice?"

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  "Yeah," she sighed, "nice like I haven't seen since I lived in Frisco." She had to draw back, couldn't maintain that position too long. For a bit she went back to writing. When the form was finished she signed off and slid it and the pen my way. As I started to sign off on my line, Nadia rested her hand on mine. "Miss my partner, you know."

  That came out of left field. I searched for a moment and the only thing that came up in my memory was her past service. "NPS at Alcatraz?"

  "No," she laughed with kinda low, sad tone under it,

  "school teacher in Oakland. She died of breast cancer a few years back." With that my hand got a little squeeze. "That's when I asked to be transferred back to the South where I grew up. Got all the southern charm back." She drew back and folded her hands on the desktop. "Now I'm here and I'd really like to think I wasn't all alone in the Land of Bubba.

  'Course I'm old enough to be your mama, specially as early as these gals start. Thinking you might need mama's shoulder once now and again: couple biscuits, cup of coffee with a shot of whiskey, and an ear. I got 'em."

  Well, maybe that's how she figured things. I'd always heard jokes about 'gaydar' and such ... never believed 'em.

  Kabe didn't hide it much, though, even if I did. Maybe living in a big city, San Francisco of all places, that kinda sense wore off on her. "I don't drink coffee and I don't drink whiskey." I signed my name and dropped the pen. After I licked my lips, I dredged up a smile. "Company I probably wouldn't turn down, though."

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  "Boy," Nadia rocked back in her chair and crossed her thin arms over her chest, "you done picked yourself one hell of a hard row to hoe, you know that?"

  "There's harder." I gave her one of my biggest smiles. It faltered about half way through.

  "Not by much, Sugar, not by much." About that time Kabe came back, balancing two Styrofoam cups and Nadia's mug.

  Our conversation switched to how we found the camera. I could feel Kabe standing behind me, right up against my back. A few times I caught Nadia in an I knew it smirk, which I ignored and Kabe seemed oblivious too. Could be he was watching me too much to catch what Nadia was d
oing.

  Finally coffee, cocoa and conversation were done. Kabe, Nadia and I wandered back out to the parking lot and found that night had fallen while we talked. Nadia said her goodbyes at that point, waving as she swaggered away. I watched her walking from light pool to light pool, waiting until she made it to employee housing. Made sure she made it. Not that I didn't think Nadia could handle herself ... heck, I'd be afraid to take that sleek little polecat in a dark alley. Still, never hurt to have someone watch your back. When the front door to the apartment block had open and closed, I turned back to find Kabe resting his arm on the hood of my truck.

  "It's late, let's get." I clambered into the cab and fired her up as Kabe got in. As I swung out of the lot, I glanced over at him. Couldn't see much with just the dashboard light, mostly just outline and shadows on his face. I sighed to myself, time to stop playing around and get back to real life. There was stuff I had to do tomorrow before I went back on shift. Had 145

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  one of those weird schedules where they played with days so everyone got a Saturday/Sunday off once in a while. "I'll take you home now." Heck of a round trip; out to T's and back to mine. Maybe I could sleep in some tomorrow.

  "Cool," a little mischief hid in his voice, "wanted to see your place."

  "What?" I choked it out.

  Like it was all settled he shrugged. "We're going to your place."

  I had to focus on the road and keep driving. As we passed the exit to the Park I finally managed to put some words to it.

  "You just decided that? All on your own there?"

  "Yeah, I kinda did." Kabe laughed. I liked his laugh. All amusement and no scorn ... those were the best. "Look, you're beat, I'm beat. Your options are to come back to T's place and stay there with me. Go back to T's place, drop me off, drive an hour and forty minutes back home and risk falling asleep behind the wheel. Or you can drive me back to your house, which is only forty minutes that way. I'll crash while you drive. I'll cook while you crash." A little wheedle crept into his voice, "I'm pretty good at what-luck."