Chapter Five #2
“We’ve got him on a safety line and cut his arm free,” Sheri radioed a little while later. “I need to splint the injury before we maneuver him into the litter. Tony’s going to get the air splint from my pack. Mike could use some pain meds, but we’re short medical personnel today.”
“He’ll feel better once the arm is splinted,” Caleb said. “And the ambulance will be here soon.”
Another long wait. This was the hardest part of rescue work, Bethany thought. You couldn’t rush, but every minute that passed meant more suffering for the injured person.
A siren’s wail drifted up from below, gradually growing louder.
An ambulance drove into the canyon and parked at the base of the cliff.
Bethany noticed that several sheriff’s department vehicles had also arrived and the crowd had thinned out.
She wondered where Ian was. He had been so upset.
What a terrible thing to have happen in what was essentially his home.
“We have Mike secured in the litter,” Sheri radioed. “We’re ready to bring him down.”
“We’ve got him now.” Caleb and Eldon moved in to take over handling of the litter.
Sheri had positioned herself underneath the litter to guide it to the ground and keep Mike calm.
Ryan and Tony waited until she was on the ground before they began their own descent.
The team at the top of the canyon watched as Mike was transferred from the litter to a gurney and loaded into the ambulance.
As soon as the doors were closed, they moved in to disassemble the delicate network of ropes and equipment.
By the time they drove away from the cliff, there was no one left in the canyon. Sheri had sent the other rescuers back to headquarters. They spent another hour unloading and stowing gear.
“Good job, everybody.” Sheri came in to report as they were preparing to leave. “Mike has a concussion and he may need surgery to repair the damage to his arm, but he’s going to be okay.”
“Did anyone retrieve the banner he was hanging?” Bethany asked. She had just remembered it.
“You mean the sheet that said No Via Ferrata?” Sheri asked. “I think we left it up there.”
“It’ll give Ian Seabrook something to think about,” Ryan said.
Bethany opened her mouth to argue, but Carter took her by the arm. “We need to get home,” he said.
She glared at him, but he only shook his head. “This isn’t your fight,” he said quietly.
She was too tired to argue, drained by the day’s exertions and the turmoil of her emotions.
And maybe Carter was right. What was Ian to her but a good-looking man she had spent a few hours with?
For all she knew, he blamed her for finding those skeletons on his property, drawing attention he didn’t need or want.
* * *
All that night, Ian kept replaying the events of the day, from his first sight of the protesters to Walt Spies’s taunts about disturbing the dead to the injured climber dangling from the cliff.
He hadn’t handled any of it well. As the first rays of the sun lit up his bedroom, he lay on his back and stared at the ceiling.
He knew what his father would do. Phillip Seabrook would order up a fleet of armed guards to protect the property.
Then he’d find a way to cajole or outright bribe the proper county officials into approving the project.
Ian didn’t want to bully his way into acceptance. But he didn’t want to waste time trying to change the minds of people who had already condemned him. Which left the people out there who hadn’t yet made up their minds.
He showered and shaved, then headed into his office. George was waiting for him. A stocky, bow-legged man whose résumé included everything from bull riding to well digging, George seemed a good choice to handle all the jobs associated with this project that Ian wasn’t equipped to do.
“I stopped in to tell you I’m quitting,” George said.
“Why are you quitting?” he asked.
“I could deal with the nasty signs and people giving me the stink eye when they found out who I worked for. Then that business with the skeletons happened, and I was pretty creeped out. Then yesterday, with that climber getting hurt…that was the last straw. Maybe Walt Spies is right and this project is cursed. Whatever. I don’t want any part of it. ”
Ian’s first instinct was to argue that George wasn’t thinking straight. He was letting people he didn’t even know drive him away from a good job. But did he want someone working for him who didn’t really want to be there?
“I’ll send your last paycheck to the bank in a few days,” Ian said. “Good luck to you.”
“You need that luck a lot more than I do,” George said and left.
Ian couldn’t even muster any anger over this latest setback. The only thing to do was move forward. He disagreed with his father about a lot of things, but that was one bit of his dad’s advice that he had found useful. Do the next thing.
With that in mind, he grabbed the keys to the Jeep.
The first thing he saw when he stepped outside was the banner the protesters had affixed to the cliff.
No Via Ferrata, in crooked black letters on what must’ve been a bed sheet.
One corner had come loose and rippled in the breeze.
He would have to figure out how to get it down—or maybe the wind would do the job for him.
Right now, he had more important things to do.
His first stop was Peak Jeep Tours. Bethany’s smile when he walked in made him feel at least two inches taller. “I came to apologize for my behavior yesterday,” he said.
“You don’t have anything to apologize for,” she said.
“Yes, I do. You and the rest of the search and rescue team were there to help that climber, and I distracted you, almost brawling with that protester. I should have waited for the sheriff’s department to handle the crowd.”
“I don’t blame you for being upset,” she said.
“Not everyone is as understanding as you are.” He came to stand beside her desk. “How are you doing? That was an impressive rescue yesterday. It looked intense.”
“The people on the ropes were doing all the hard work. I was just there to assist.”
“Still, that’s an important job, too.”
She nodded. “It takes the whole team. That was something I learned really quickly.”
He looked around the office. “Are you here by yourself?”
“I am. Dad is having a root canal and Mom drove him. Carter took one of the Jeeps to a glass place for a new windshield, and Dalton is leading a tour.”
“Do you have a minute to talk?”
She swiveled her chair toward him. “Of course.”
“I want to offer you a job.”
She stared. “Um, what kind of job?”
“Administrative assistant. I need help juggling everything to do with this construction project. After that, I’ll need someone I can trust to run the via ferrata in my absence.”
“Won’t you manage it?”
He shook his head. “My main focus is still climbing. And I have other projects I need to check in on. All that involves a lot of traveling. I rarely spend more than a few months in one place. I need someone here to keep an eye on the everyday operations.”
“And you want me to do that? I don’t know anything about climbing or via ferratas.”
“I’ll teach you what you need to know.” He bent down beside the desk so that he was more at her eye level. “I’ve seen how good you are with people, and you’re calm under pressure. I’ll pay you more than whatever you’re making here.”
“Wow.” She sat back. “I don’t know what to say.”
“How about yes?”
“I’ll have to think about it,” she said.
He stood. “That’s fair enough.” The door opened and a couple entered. He moved away. “Let me know when you decide.”
Ian hurried out, feeling more optimistic than he had before he’d walked in. He had one person on his side at least.
His next stop was the sheriff’s office. A trim woman with short white hair, red eyeglasses and red hoop earrings greeted him. “Good morning, Mr. Seabrook. What can I do for you?”
“How did you know my name?” he asked.
“You were pointed out to me in town the day before yesterday, and you have a face a woman doesn’t forget.”
Had she just winked at him? He blew out a breath. Okaaay. “I’d like to speak to Sergeant Walker.”
“Let me see if he’s available.”
A few minutes later, Gage Walker entered the lobby. “Hello, Ian,” he said. “Come back here.”
“I wanted to know if you had found out anything more about those two skeletons.”
Gage leaned into an open door. “Aaron. Ian Seabrook is here. Let’s bring him up to date.”
Aaron Ames gave Ian a wary look, then followed him and Gage across the hall to another office. “Sit down,” Gage said, as he settled behind the desk on one side of the small room. “Aaron, close the door.”
He did so, then leaned back against it, arms crossed.
“We have a good lead,” Gage said. “We’re waiting on dental records to confirm the identities.”
“Do you have any idea who killed them?” Ian asked.
“None,” Gage said. “But we’re looking into it.
” He shuffled through the papers on his desk and pulled out a couple of eight-by-ten black-and-white photographs.
“I had the local historical society pull these photos of Humboldt Canyon as it looked approximately fifty years ago. This is from a newspaper story at the time about a local canyoneering club.”
Ian examined the photographs, which depicted half a dozen young people, some at the base of the cliff and some halfway up the steep slope.
“I think in here is where those caves are located.” Gage pointed at an area above the climbers. “You can see it’s just an area of underbrush. No sign of the caves.”
“So they didn’t show up until the mudslide took out part of the slope,” Ian said.
Gage nodded. “This is a photo taken about ten years ago. It’s actually from a previous attempt to sell the property that didn’t go through.
” He passed over a second photo, this one devoid of people, and pointed out the same area at the top of the photo.
“A lot of the brush had been cleared away or died off by this time. There’s some shadowing here that might be openings to the void below.
They might have been there before, obscured by the brush. ”
“And what—those two just crawled in there?”
“We don’t know. But maybe when we confirm their identity, we’ll know more.”
“Is it still okay if I proceed with construction?” Ian asked.
“Go ahead. I think we’ve gotten all from the site we’re going to. Have you had any more trouble?”
“No. I’m hoping that climber’s accident made the protesters think twice about their misguided efforts.” He stood. “Will you let me know when you find out the identity of these people?”
“Why do you want to know?” Aaron asked.
Ian turned toward him. “They were found on my property. I’d like to know their names. I think most people would.”
Aaron looked like he wanted to answer, but he glanced at Gage, then pressed his lips more firmly together.
“We’ll keep you posted,” Gage said.
“Thanks.”
His final stop of the morning was at the city offices. “Is Walt Spies in?” he asked the woman behind the desk.
“May I ask who’s calling?”
He looked past her to the frosted-glass door of an office with Walt’s name in gold on the front. He could make out a shadowy figure inside. “Tell him Ian Seabrook wants to speak with him.”
The door to the office opened and Walt stepped out.
Ian moved toward him. “We need to talk,” he said.
Walt looked him up and down. He was at least six inches shorter than Ian and almost fifty years older, but he did his best to look intimidating. “I don’t think we have anything more to discuss.”
“I think it will be worthwhile for you to listen to me.”
Interest sparked in his eyes, and he opened his office door. “Come in.”
Walt settled behind his desk and didn’t say anything. Ian waited. He was good at this game, had seen his dad use silence to his advantage many times. Blowhards like Walt liked the sound of their own voice too much to keep quiet for long.
“So what do you want?” Walt asked at last.
“You’re head of the county commissioners,” Ian said.
“Yes.”
“So you’ll be voting on the operating permit for the via ferrata.”
“I will.”
“Then I want to invite you and the rest of the county commissioners to come to the canyon. See what I have planned there. See how it’s going to benefit this community.”
Walt leaned forward. “And what’s in it for me if I do?”
“You’ll be making an informed vote. One based on facts, not just public opinion.”
He laughed. “You don’t know anything about politics, do you, Mr. Seabrook? Public opinion is all that really matters.”
Ian remained silent. Walt sobered. “I’ve been doing my research on you. Your father has made billions in business. I figured he taught you a few tricks.”
“What do you mean?”
He rubbed his thumb and forefinger together. “When you said it would be worthwhile for me to listen to you, I thought you were going to offer up cash. Isn’t that the way your old man does it?”
“You thought I was going to bribe you?”
“Aren’t you?”
“No.” Ian stood. “The offer still stands to come see for yourself what I’m doing.”
“I don’t have to do that. If the voters don’t like it, then I don’t like it.
And something else I don’t like is people coming in here and trying to change the way we do things.
People move here because they like our way of life.
They like being able to drive out to a canyon and climb or hike there. ”
“They have plenty of public land where they can do those things,” Ian said. “Humboldt Canyon is private land, and it always has been.”
“Private land that climbers were allowed to use.”
“What do you think would have happened to that land if I hadn’t purchased it?” Ian asked.
“That doesn’t matter because you purchased it and you’re trying to change things. I’m on the side of the people who are against that.” He stood. “Quit while you’re ahead, son. That’s my advice.”
“You didn’t do enough research when you looked into me,” Ian said. “If you had, you’d know I’m not a quitter.”