Connor studied the avalanche path. “Just one,” he said. “And whoever deployed it didn’t know what they were doing.”
“Good thing, too,” Anders said. “Someone with experience could have done a lot more harm. We’re lucky the damage was limited to one broken leg and a few hundred feet of snow fence.”
The damage today. But there were ninety-five cast boosters still missing, with the potential for real disaster.
Stacy crossed theski village plaza, heading for patrol headquarters. She told herself she wasn’t going to hide from Connor. Just because she had misread the signals and embarrassed herself last night didn’t mean she needed to avoid him. She would be sure to keep things strictly professional between them from now on.
The door to ski patrol headquarters was locked. No surprise. Connor was probably out patrolling. He would be back sooner or later, though, so all she had to was hang around the base area until she spotted him. She could get her skis and do a few runs. Or revisit the powder magazine in search of new insight about the theft of the explosives.
Was it possible Shane and his people mistook the cast boosters for fireworks? Could it really be something that innocent? She pulled out her phone and tried to look up photographs to compare the various types of explosives, but snow kept landing on her phone screen, obscuring the picture.
She stood in front of the ski patrol office, trying to decide on her next move, when a familiar figure hurried toward her. “Oh, uh, hi.” Jace stopped short in front of her, then glanced toward the Closed sign on the patrol headquarters door. “I’m, uh, looking for Connor,” he said.
“Are you okay?” Stacy asked. The young man was pale, eyes darting from side to side.
“I just need to talk to Connor about something.” He glanced at the Closed sign again. “Could you maybe tell him I stopped by?”
“Of course.” She pulled out her phone. “What’s the best way for him to get a hold of you?”
“I have to work tonight. Bagel Bistro. He can stop by there after four.”
“Sure.” She made a note, then pocketed her phone. “You could tell me what this is about.”
Jace shook his head. “I’d better go now.” He hurried away, snowboard under one arm.
Stacy headed for the row of shops across from the lift—a café, two boutiques, a ski rental shop and a real estate office. She browsed the boutiques but purchased nothing. Her government salary didn’t stretch to $500 ski jackets, and the faux-fur après-ski boots were adorable but didn’t really fit her lifestyle.
She was crossing the plaza once more when a distant reverberation shook the air. Stacy froze. “What was that?” she asked a man walking past.
He looked up the mountain. “Sounded like ski patrol set off a charge to release snow.” He shrugged. “They do that sometimes.”
In the middle of the afternoon?Stacy wondered.
She headed for the lift, but a lift tech stopped her. “You can’t ride the lift without skis, ma’am,” he said.
“I need to get up the mountain,” she said.
“You can’t ride the lift without skis.”
Something was happening. A new tension filled the air around the lift. Several people jogged to snowmobiles and headed up the mountain. The liftie who had reprimanded her moved to a whiteboard in front of the lift and wrote Lift Ten Closed.
“Why is Ten closed?” someone asked.
The liftie shrugged. “No idea. Probably some malfunction or something.”
A skier came flying down the mountain in a racer’s tuck and didn’t stop until they reached the ski patrol shack.
Stacy recognized Nina and ran up to her. “What’s going on?” she asked.
“I can’t talk now,” Nina said. She unlocked the door and pushed into the room.
Stacy followed her inside.
Nina was unlocking her dog’s kennel. “Come on, Sky,” she said. “We have work to do.”
“Is there an avalanche?” Stacy asked.
“I really can’t talk.” Nina pushed past her. “And you have to leave. I have to lock up again.”
