“Look at this. You made the front page.” Quinn held out the paper.
“This is Scarlet Springs. The weather makes the front page.” Kenzie took the paper and saw a photo of herself and Gizmo beneath a big headline.
Scentsational: Local woman trains dogs for search & rescue work.
She sat with a cup of coffee and glanced through it, pleased to see that Wendy had quoted her correctly and hadn’t sensationalized her job or mentioned her relationship with Harrison. As far as Kenzie was concerned, this was proof that Wendy hadn’t done this story to get to him.
Quinn had managed to find another copy and sat nearby reading it. “This is fantastic. This is going to bring you lots of business.”
“That would be nice.” In the meantime, there were kennels to clean.
Kenzie set the paper aside and got back to work. But by ten, five people had stopped by the kennel and the store with copies of the paper just to make sure she’d seen it, including Rose, who asked about Harrison.
“I hear the two of you are serious.”
Kenzie didn’t take the bait. “Well, you can’t believe all the gossip.”
Rose had just turned to go when there came the sound of sirens, several sheriff’s vehicles racing, one after the other, through the roundabout and speeding up the canyon. “That looks like every deputy in the county—and Boulder police, too.”
But Kenzie wasn’t thinking about that.
In the center of the roundabout, Bear was hunched over, hands covering his ears. She couldn’t see his face from here, but she could tell he was afraid.
“I’ll be back in a minute.” She jogged over to the roundabout, where Bear still held his hands over his ears. “Hey, Bear, are you okay?”
Most of his face was covered with a shaggy gray beard, but she could see the fear in his eyes. “The sirens are loud.”
“Yes, they are, but they can’t hurt you. It’s just noise. Those deputies are rushing somewhere to try to help someone.”
Bear took this in, but she could see he wasn’t convinced.
“Why don’t you come with me to the kennel and play with the dogs?” She’d brought him there before when it was cold or raining.
Winona Belcourt, whose animal sanctuary was a block away from the kennel, did the same thing. Between the two of them—and Eric Hawke’s crew at Scarlet FD—they made sure Bear had shelter.
Bear smiled, lowering his hands, the sirens now distant. “I like dogs.”
“I know. Come.”
Chapter 16
Conrad’s morningwent to shit not long after Kenzie left for work. He had just come back inside from letting Gabby romp in the backyard when Candace called.
“You’re making it hard for me to help you. Have you been online?”
“Hey, Candace.” Why did the woman never start withhello? “No, I haven’t.”
“Let me read you some of the trending headlines from the climbing world.” This was obviously the reason she’d called. “‘What is Harrison Conrad hiding?’ ‘Conrad calls sheriff on editor of climbing webzine.’ ‘World’s greatest alpinists loses his nerve, quits.’”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”
“This is what happens when you let them make up the news.”
“You’re blamingmebecause people are posting bullshit about me online?”
“You need to do those interviews. You’ll put the lies to rest and get the media people off your back. If you don’t want the money, put up a memorial for your friend.”
Everest was Bruce’s memorial—and Felix and Luka’s, too.
