Over the Edge Page 8

  Placing himself directly in her line of vision, he inquired, “Do you remember what happened to you, Dr. Landon?”

  “Yes.” Olivia touched her neck brace again. “I…I was standing. At the rim. But not too close.”

  “Not too close?” Ranger Kenton’s eyes widened. He looked as if he were from the military, holding himself in a way that elevated every millimeter of his five-foot-ten-inch height. Something about what she said seemed to have caught his concern. “Right. Not too close. Watching a condor.”

  “Ted, is this necessary? Can’t you wait?” Lisa interrupted. “We should take her for x-rays.”

  “Just one more minute,” he said, holding up his hand. “Were you alone?”

  Olivia’s face clouded as she attempted to remember. “Morgan was gone. There was nobody around. I called to him to see the condor, but….” Her voice drifted off.

  “Did you slip, Dr. Landon? Was the gravel under your feet loose? Were you trying to climb down?”

  “No.” Her eyebrows wrinkled in concentration and she cried, “I’m sure of—I heard footsteps. From behind.”

  “Footsteps?” Ranger Kenton’s face was unreadable, but he began writing in a notepad.

  “Yes. Fast. Running, maybe. I thought it was Morgan….”

  “Olivia, you don’t need to…” Steven began, touching the side of her cheek with his fingertips. But she clutched his hand so tightly he asked, “What is it? What’s wrong, Olivia?”

  Olivia’s eyes had widened so that Jack could see the whites all around. “I remember—I remember going over the edge!”

  “But you’re OK now,” Steven said soothingly, shooting Lisa a worried look. “Can we finish this later?” he asked Ranger Kenton. “This is obviously upsetting her.”

  “No!” Olivia cried. “I want to say it. There was a smell. Strong. Like—kerosene.”

  “What else do you remember, Dr. Landon?” Ranger Kenton asked, bending close.

  “I felt something slam into my back.” Suddenly, Olivia looked as though she could connect her thoughts with perfect, frightening clarity. “I didn’t slip. I didn’t fall. Someone pushed me!”

  CHAPTER NINE

  It took a moment for his mother’s statement to register.

  “Someone pushed me!” Olivia cried again.

  The words seemed to slow time, as if every frame of Jack’s life hung suspended between the seconds.

  His mother hadn’t slipped. She’d been pushed. The ravens suddenly appeared again, their cries mocking as they soared in slow circles, black wings cutting the air like scythes in a sky that looked as though water and air had merged into a deep blue glass. Someone had tried to kill his mother. It was impossible to comprehend.

  Ranger Ted Kenton’s face became grave. “Do you know who could have done this?”

  “No!” Olivia began to tremble as Steven rubbed her arm soothingly.

  “We got a threatening e-mail. Someone said my wife deserved to die—I should have stayed with her,” Steven said, choking up.

  “I heard running…and then…” Olivia moaned.

  “Ted, you’ve got to let me take her to the clinic,” Lisa broke in. “Her pulse rate is going up, and we must get those x-rays. I’ll have to ask you to do this later.”

  “Yes, of course.” Ted nodded tersely. “But I’ll need that e-mail and the laptop.”

  “I already took it to the park police office. That’s where I was when this happened,” Steven answered.

  Snapping his notebook shut, Ranger Kenton said, “I realize all of this is extremely difficult for you, but I would like to talk to these children.”

  “Now?” Steven asked, somewhat surprised.

  “Yes, while the information is still fresh. I’ll bring them to the clinic as soon as I’m done. Since they’re minors, I need your permission to question them. Are all of them yours?” He looked from Jack to Morgan.

  “I’m not,” Morgan answered. His eyes turned a cold, wintry gray, but no one but Jack seem to notice.

  “Morgan is a temporary foster child,” Steven explained to Ted. “It’s not a problem—I have legal authority over him. You have my permission.” Then he turned his attention to Olivia.

  “On three!” Lisa commanded. The paramedics hoisted the litter up to knee height.

  “But I want to go with Mom!” Ashley wailed.

  Ted Kenton said, “There’s nothing you can do to help your mother.” He ushered the three of them to one side as the paramedics carried the stretcher to the ambulance. Holding a transmitter close to his lips, he said, “Dispatch…541. I’m at Grandeur Point, and I’ll be needing backup for investigation of a possible crime scene. I’ll keep the area clear until backup arrives.” He listened for a minute, then said, “Check if Rex Tilousi is in the area and send him down—he’s got a good eye. I have three juvenile witnesses I’m going to talk to—541 clear.” Shutting off the transmitter, Ted turned his gaze on the three kids. “So,” he said calmly. “Why don’t you tell me what happened.”

  “I don’t know. I wasn’t here when she fell,” Ashley answered, trembling. “But Morgan was.”

  “Try to think back and tell me exactly what went on. Can you do that for me?”

  Ashley swallowed, hard. “When I got to the rim, Morgan was standing right there, looking over. He was all white—he was really scared when he saw me. He said….” She took a wavering breath as a tear spilled down her cheek to land softly on the shoulder of her jacket. “He said my mom was gone. And then he—he pointed down there! I started screaming for Jack.”

  Ted looked at Morgan sharply, but continued to speak to Ashley. “Where were you before that?”

  “In the parking lot. There was a condor. Number 72.”

  A condor? Jack realized how fragmented his thinking had become. Had the condor been today? It seemed as though a lifetime had elapsed since then.

  Now Ted turned to Jack. “What about you, son?”

  Jack tried to focus his mind. What had he witnessed? Ashley, screaming. Morgan running to call 911. His mother’s twisted legs. Shards of images that were hard for him to piece together, all of them jumbled though the visual lens of his memory. The crowd. The paramedics. The rescue. If there was one thing he could remember with certainty, it was that except for Morgan and Ashley, the rim had been completely deserted.

  “I heard Ashley scream, and then I saw Morgan, just like my sister said. That’s all I know.”

  “Did you see anyone else when you ran down the trail? A man, maybe? Or a woman?”

  “No one else was here.”

  “Morgan?” Ranger Kenton turned toward him.

  Jack watched Morgan tense. His question-mark posture straightened as he dug his hands deep into his pockets and asked, “What?”

  “I’d like to hear your side.”

  “What do you mean, my ‘side?’”

  Ranger Kenton flipped a page of his notepad to a fresh sheet. He clicked his pen and replied, “You are the closest thing I have to an eyewitness. You were the only other person at the rim at the time of the incident.”

  “Me and whoever pushed her over.”

  “Exactly. So, what happened?” When Morgan didn’t answer, Ted Kenton moved closer. “Do you have a problem with that question?”

  “No. I just don’t like how you’re asking it.” Morgan’s voice was even, but his face had gone hard. This must be the side of himself Morgan had shown in Dry Creek—stubborn, resistant, wary.

  The next words out of Ted Kenton’s mouth were nothing short of a command. “Tell me.”

  “I was gone for a few minutes. I came back. Mrs. Landon had disappeared. I called for her, but she didn’t answer. I started looking around. I went up the path, then came back to the rim. I looked over the edge and saw her legs sticking out. Right after that Ashley showed up. She yelled for Jack, and you know the rest.”

  “Go back to the statement, ‘I was gone for a few minutes.’ Where did you go?”

  Morgan flushed. “Away.”
>
  “Before you left, did you see anyone else? Tourists snapping pictures? Anyone walking around?”

  Morgan shook his head and touched his goatee.

  “How close to the edge would you say Dr. Landon was standing? Before you left, I mean.”

  Morgan shrugged. “Maybe about three feet.”

  “So where did you go?” Ted Kenton persisted.

  “I already told you. For a walk in the trees. Over there.” Morgan swept his arm out to the left, toward a cluster of pines.

  “May I ask why?”

  “No, you may not.” Morgan thrust out his chin, refusing to say more. Jack could tell that the ranger was growing impatient.

  “Hey, cut the attitude,” Kenton demanded.

  “I was the last one there, right? She was pushed. It’s all implied—I must be the one who pushed her. Just like Dry Creek, guilty without a trial.” Eyes narrowing into slits, Morgan spat, “By the way, I’ve spent a lot of time learning my legal rights. You need parental consent to even question me, and you haven’t got it.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Ted Kenton’s hands pressed into the air, as though he were pushing back an invisible wall. “Hold on. I’m asking you to explain why you went into the trees. There’s no need to be so defensive.”

  Sighing, Morgan closed his eyes. It seemed as though he were waging an internal argument, one that played out through his expressions. Finally, he blurted out, blushing, “All right. I was in need of a bathroom, OK? I knew Dr. Landon would freak if I went ‘natural’—so I waited until she was busy looking for that condor. Then I used a tree. I came back, and she was gone. That’s it.”

  “But that’s not all of it.” Ashley said, her voice sharp. “Tell him about your Web site and the bad things you wrote about Mom and me!”

  “Ashley!” Jack cried, but his sister vehemently shook her head. “No, I should never have listened to you. If anyone had believed me, this wouldn’t have happened! Ranger Kenton, my mom and Morgan were fighting.”

  Ted zeroed in on every word. “Fighting, like physical fighting? Or fighting with words.”

  “Words.”

  “Aw, man, we were taking a walk together!” Morgan protested.

  “That’s because you had won her over,” Ashley sputtered. “Like you did Dad. And Jack. But not me!”

  An expression of anger mixed with panic twisted Morgan’s face as he turned to the ranger. “Forget what she said. Ask Jack. He’ll tell you I didn’t do it. Go on,” Morgan demanded, “ask him!”

  “I’m only interested in facts,” Kenton answered. “Ashley, I promise I’ll look into the e-mail business. Morgan,” he said, pointing his finger at Morgan’s chest, “if I hear even a hint of retaliation against this girl, I will haul you in so fast—do you understand?”

  “I understand everything.”

  Abruptly, Ted looked over Morgan’s head to wave at a figure approaching them from behind. “Rex—over here!”

  Jack turned to see a rather small Native American man approaching them. Salt-and-pepper hair hung down his shoulders in thin braids, and his weathered skin broke into a thousand wrinkles when he smiled. His uniform seemed softer than the other rangers’, as if it were a comfortable skin that moved easily with him. His leather boots were scarred and the tips dusty. When he spoke, his voice sounded warm and even. “I hear things went well today. A life saved. A blessing.”

  “Yes. But Dr. Landon believes she was pushed,” Ted added bluntly. He led the way to the spot where the rescue had taken place. “I took a cursory look, but nothing popped out. Can you give it a try? You kids stay here.”

  Rex made his way to the very edge of the rim and stared intently at the ground. Jack and Morgan hung back under a knot of trees, waiting for any clues to be sifted from the earth. Ashley went farther away and sat by herself, her back toward Jack, arms wrapped tightly around her legs, and her chin resting on top of her knees. The breeze ruffled her hair so that it moved like dark water.

  “She’s pretty upset,” Jack stated.

  “I’m the one who should be mad,” Morgan declared hotly. “She said….”

  “I know what she said. I also know why she said it.”

  “Yeah…well….” Shoving his fists into his pockets, Morgan went to where Ted had begun to tape off the area with bright yellow plastic ribbon printed with Crime Scene—Do Not Cross. Jack drifted toward it as well. He could hear Rex talking in his slow, even way.

  “The ledge is rocky, and those here for the rescue stirred the earth. The edge reveals little.”

  Ted sighed. “Anything else?”

  “I found this juniper twig. It was at the point Dr. Landon fell.” Holding up a plastic bag with a small bit of green inside, Rex said, “Look close, and you can see this twig has been broken. The edge is sharp. The person you seek may have been waiting in a stand of trees.”

  “You mean someone could have been hiding in there, so as not to be seen?”

  Rex nodded. “Or it could have come from one of the paramedics, or even Dr. Landon herself. To push a person over the edge can be a perfect crime.”

  “Thanks for looking, Rex. I would have missed this twig, and it could be significant. We’ll send it to the lab to look for fiber evidence.”

  When Ted suddenly caught sight of Jack, he spoke to Rex quickly and then hurried over to the kids.

  “Change of plans. I’m pretty tied up here. Would you guys mind if Rex took you to the clinic?”

  “I just want to get there,” Jack answered.

  “Bring your sister and your friend,” Rex said gently. “And follow me.”

  The clinic smelled clean. Two green love seats and an assortment of chairs filled the tiny waiting room. A coffee table, stacked with worn NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazines, had been set squarely in the center. Small ferns sprayed from the corners in hammocks of braided macrame, like emerald waterfalls. Jack went directly to the receptionist, who looked up at him placidly. “May I help you?” she asked.

  “I’m Jack Landon, and I’d like to see my mother, Olivia Landon.”

  The receptionist, whose name tag said Marie Ophan, was rounder than most of the people at the park. Her pale eyes looked at Jack from behind wire-framed glasses, which were resting halfway down her nose. “Oh yes, the miracle lady,” she said, breaking into a smile. “She’s in the back, getting x-rayed.”

  “I—we’d like to see her.”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that. There’s not enough room back there for the four of you.”

  “I won’t be staying,” Rex told her. “Just the children.”

  Marie made a clicking sound with her lips. “Why don’t you all have a seat while I find out what’s going on. I will say this—not many people fall into the Grand Canyon like that and live to tell about it!”

  Jack nodded woodenly.

  “Come and sit down,” Rex suggested, leading them toward the chairs. “I will stay with you for now—until you get settled.”

  Marie bustled off to the back, leaving the front room of the clinic completely empty.

  “You don’t have to wait around,” Jack told Rex, dropping into one of the chairs. The fabric felt rough against his skin. Shifting uncomfortably, he said, “I’m sure you’ve got other things to do.”

  “No,” Rex said simply. “I will stay.”

  Suit yourself, Jack said in his mind. All he wanted now was to get this day over with and start another one. He tapped his foot on the floor. The rubber sole of his sneaker didn’t make much of a sound, just a soft thump, thump, thump, like a dog’s hind leg when you scratch its sweet spot. Ashley took the band out of her pony tail, re-smoothed her hair, then rebanded it. She hadn’t spoken since she’d entered the car, and Rex, too, didn’t appear to feel the need to talk. Face placid, he rested his hands on his knees and looked straight ahead while Morgan hung around the work station, staring at the computer screen.

  “Are you a Hopi?” Ashley asked Rex.

  “I’m Havasupai.”

  “Real
ly? Aren’t they the ones who live in the Grand Canyon—I mean, way down there, at the bottom?”

  “My people do. I stay above, in a village close to headquarters. I’m an interpretive ranger for the park.”

  “Oh,” Ashley said, and after that the conversation seemed to dry up. Ashley practically jumped out of her seat when Marie returned to the waiting-room area, a smile pushing her cheeks into doughy balls. “Well, I’ve got some good news,” she told them brightly. “Your mother is fine. But they are doing x-rays, so the doctor doesn’t want anyone in there until he’s finished.”

  “Pardon me, ma’am?” Morgan asked loudly. “Are you connected to the Internet? I desperately need to check something online.”

  “Our computers are for staff only. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m needed in back.” She hurried out of the reception area, swinging the door behind her.

  Rex looked puzzled. “Why does the boy need the Internet?”

  “He’s a computer geek,” Ashley explained without looking at Morgan.

  “My grandchildren are the same way. They let their spirits be taken over by the speed of that world. Now they have no time to listen, to hear from us elders, to discover our stories. A computer is like a thief who steals our children.” He stopped speaking as quickly as he’d started. Morgan, though, had heard every word. He stomped to where Rex sat and demanded, “Have you ever been on the Net?”

  “No,” Rex answered pleasantly.

  “Then how can you say it’s ‘stealing’ our children? You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Anything that takes minds away from the old ways creates a loss. I am an elder of my people, yet even my own grandchildren do not know the stories. They want things that flash. They do not care for what was, for what we know.”

  “Do you have a story about the condor?” Ashley asked quickly. Jack guessed that she wanted to keep Morgan from arguing with Rex. Or maybe she just didn’t didn’t want to hear any more from Morgan.