Al dragged both his weather-beaten hands through his thatch of white hair. God, Hannah, I was supposed to be watching over her.
This is beyond your control, Al, we all know that.
Several phones were ringing. The news of the discovery was out, and media hounds would be baying for information. Amys parents were well connected in Canadas political circles, and the White River Gazette, as Amys workplace, was part of this story no matter what.
Hannah placed a hand on Als shoulder. Why dont you go home. Ill handle this for now. We can regroup when youre ready.
He looked up, angst deepening the age lines that mapped his craggy face, his effort to compose himself visible. Thanks. I think I will. I need to call my sister. He reached out and took Hannahs hand. It was an unusual gesture for Al, a man as independent and robust as the Coast Mountain terrain. She had a sense it was more than her hand he was reaching for. He was reaching for answers.
I dont know what I wouldve done without your help this past year, Hannah.
Its okay, Al. I owe you. Youve always been there for me.
The phones shrilled, relentless. Al stared at the flashing red message lights. Reality calling. It wasnt going to go away. This is one of the biggest news stories to hit this valley. I guess the Gazette should have someone up there on Grizzly.
I know. Ill see to it. She patted his hand. Go home, Al.
He stood, paused.
She knew what he was thinking. That Amys death wasnt an accident. She couldnt believe it, either. Especially after the suspicious break-in at Amys apartment at the same time Amy went missing. Ill be there. Dont worry. Well get to the bottom of this. I promise.
He nodded.
Hannah watched as Amys uncle left the office, his usually powerful posture crumpled.
The gondola doors swung slowly shut. Hannah was cocooned in the little cabin as it swung from its moorings and lifted into the air, swaying slightly from side to side.
It was a twenty-five-minute ride to the top and then a short hike up to the traverse.
She always found the gondola soothing, with its quiet mechanical hum. It was meditative, lifting her above the world, separating her. It helped her think. And she needed to think. She needed to compose herself for what she might find on Grizzly Glacier. She wondered what clues Amys body might yield after sleeping for so long under the ice.
The late-August sun was balmy, and bits of light white fluff, the seeds of the fireweed, waltzed on warm currents of air around the gondola. Summer snowthats what Danny called it. Hannah smiled, thinking of her boy. She was glad she
had relented and let him go and stay with her mom for the last two weeks of his summer holidays.
She had never let him go to his grans smallholding on Vancouver Island for so long but Daniel had conspired with his granny to twist Hannahs arm. Hannah had hoped to join them there for the Labor Day weekend, but with this latest development, she didnt think she would be able to make it. She was pretty much working full-time at the Gazette now, balancing her schedule around Dannys needs.
She had slipped into this routine after Amy disappeared last year. She had wanted to help Al out. It wasnt a bad job, and with Danny going into first grade next month, she would have even more time.
The gondola lurched as it passed another lift tower. Hannah could see a black bear and its cub down on the ski run. White River Valley was a sparkling jewel far below, a community built around a string of glacier-fed lakes. From up high the lakes were shimmering beads, with hues from chalky green to crystal-clear sapphire. The town got its name from the river that cascaded down through the gorge separating Powder Mountain from neighboring Moonstone Mountain. The river was milky with glacial silt and the waters gushed frothing and creamy white into frigid Alabaster Lake below.
So beautiful, thought Hannah, yet so harsh. They always made her think of Dannys father. Beautiful but hard. Cold. Secretive. Rex Logan was like these peaks around her, carved from stone and scarred by time. There was an underlying sense of wildness and danger about him. She should have recognized from the start that he would hurt her.
She hated herself for having fallen for him, for naively believing that he was the one she would spend the rest of her life with.
Never again would she let passion overrule her common sense. Never again would she be so deceived, so lacking in guile.
Never.
She would always stay in control.
Hannah left the gondola station and made her way along the rocky trail that led up to the traverse above Grizzly Bowl, which cradled the glacier and looked like a giants scoop out of the mountain. A marmot ducked and scuttled for cover as she approached.
She could see police tape up on the trail above the glacier. It screamed crime scene, except Amys death was supposed to have been an accident. The bright-yellow ribbon fluttered in the Alpine breeze against a backdrop of painfully bright blue sky and glacial snow. Behind it a crowd of curious tourists and media gathered on the hiking trail. They were all looking down, watching a group of search-and-rescue personnel and police officers on the glacier below.