Silence of the Wolf(16)

“You’re sure the guy pushed you? Didn’t just lose control and shove into you?” Tom asked.

“Okay, possibly, yes, he was out of control, reached his hand up, and shoved at me to get his balance. It’s possible. Sure.”

Tom said, “But not likely.”

“No.”

“Come on down to the hut so we can get your statements in writing,” Tom said to the teens.

Elizabeth tried to remember what had happened right before the skier shoved her. She’d taken a picture of the man who had acted so hostile toward her on the chairlift. He’d taken off from the lift and headed for the slope. By the time she had reached it, he was already skiing down it. He’d stopped and peered up at her, as if checking to see if she was photographing him. How would he know she had followed him?

Maybe the guy in the chair behind them was this guy’s friend, and the man had looked back to see if his ski buddy was joining him. That would make more sense. But if they were ski buddies, why hadn’t the two men ridden the lift together?

“Let’s get you to the base of the mountain and our first-aid hut,” Tom said to her.

She took a deep breath, feeling warm, wrapped snug in the blanket.

She had to admit that despite being annoyed they’d make such a fuss over her, the guys were all cute. The ski patrollers, the teens, the sheriff. And as wiped out as she felt, she would have had a really tough time making it down the slope on her own—and very likely would have taken another spill.

“Do you suspect that the man targeted you specifically?” Tom asked.

She frowned at him. He couldn’t know anything about her uncle, could he?

Tom looked at her questioningly, then smiled a little. “All right. We’ll discuss it more after we get you to the hut.”

“I thought you were working until sunset,” Peter said. “I can follow her to the hospital.”

“I’ve got it covered. Jake’s coming to relieve me,” Tom said.

Radcliff shook his head. “You notice how the brothers stick together?”

Yeah, Elizabeth thought, and they might stick together to kick her out of the territory when Tom’s brothers learned what she was.

***

Tom wasn’t sure what to think concerning Elizabeth’s allegations. Skiers and snowboarders knocked others down on the slopes all the time, and it didn’t mean anything except that they were out of control and practicing unsafe skiing or snowboarding. Since she wasn’t from here, he didn’t think she’d have any enemies. Unless she’d annoyed someone on the slope, and Tom had yet to learn of it.

He fully intended to get to the bottom of this. Peter would handle it from a police perspective, while Tom would stay on top of it from a pack sub-leader point of view.

He took hold of the trace of the toboggan while Kemp took the tail rope to help guide it down the trails. The patrollers all preferred grabbing the trace rather than the tail rope to transport a patient. The lead was responsible for primary braking, choosing the best route, and any change in speed and direction. In other words, he was in charge, which was the way Tom liked it.

The tail operator usually wasn’t needed much unless the trail was particularly steep, as this one was, and then he might be required for secondary braking. He might also be needed to observe the patient’s status, though in this case, Elizabeth wasn’t in any kind of life-threatening condition. Peter pulled that duty instead of being the tail operator, trying to stay close to the toboggan and still interested in the she-wolf, Tom suspected.

Kemp was also responsible for monitoring traffic, as well as keeping the rope under proper tension and parallel to the fall line to halt the toboggan immediately if necessary.

Tom put his hand on the crossbar to brace during the steepest parts of the descent while side-slipping down the mountain. Kemp gripped the tail rope with both hands, underhanded, through the loop at the end. He matched Tom’s speed.

“You okay?” Tom asked Elizabeth as he paused.

“Yeah.”

Once he got them off the expert trail, he eased them onto Fox Run, an intermediate slope.

The teens skied past them, while Peter followed behind the toboggan and Radcliff skied next to it. The ski patrollers got another emergency call and Radcliff answered it. He waved at Tom and Kemp. “A guy jumped off a chair on Lift 3. Possibly broke both legs. Got to go.”

Tom shook his head.

“Automatic revoking of ski pass,” Kemp said cheerfully.

Tom smiled at him. “You think he’d ski the rest of the season with two broken legs?”

Kemp laughed. “As gung ho as some of these guys are? You never know.”

When they finally reached Meadow Lane, one of the bunny slopes, they had to watch out for all the new skiers taking spills, running into each other, or falling without even taking a step.