"Broken neck, completely twisted around, you know?"
"Bad then?"
"Brutal way to die." He drifted off for a moment, just staring at nothing. "I tried my cell, but the reception is crap out here. I told Gunter to come back with me. He wouldn't leave her." The tiniest shake of his head told me he didn't really understand. "Shit, man, he had to know she was dead.
A half-blind monkey would know she was dead. I think it was starting to sink in. He got real calm looking down there. So I headed back toward the ranch. Wasn't until I hit the spot where we met the people fishing that I got any reception.
That would have been close to nine-thirty, maybe ten I think.
Called. Got back to the ranch and waited for you guys."
"Doing chores?" Whoa Nelly, Ramon's tone was snide. I never pulled my emotions into an interview. Didn't serve no purpose and just got interviewees all defensive.
"Might as well." Kabe didn't rise. Prisoners learned that early, too. Don't let nothing rile you, 'cause you can't do nothing about it. "Kept me from thinking about it, you know?"
For the first time during the ride, Kabe moved more than just an inch or so. He leaned forward against the back of Ramon's seat and pointed out the windshield. A house-sized boulder listed across the dirt road a couple miles ahead. Like a party favor, a lone pine tree jutted from the center of the stone.
The mountain we headed towards loomed not too much farther than that. Distance though, up here, could really spin 34
Hard Fall
by James Buchanan
your head 'round. "You'll want to turn there. Truck's not going to make it all the way up. Trail gets real narrow about the second bend."
The rest of the ride I spent chewing on what Kabe'd said ...
grinding it down to a good set of assumptions that might be subject to change at any given moment. The facts were only the facts until something told you different. A few miles up, Ramon parked in the middle of the trail ... wasn't like there was a side to move off onto. Fact, we'd probably have to back out just to find a turn around. As I swung out the passenger side, Fred and Nadia came to a halt just in back of us.
Nadia Slokum slid out of the Park Service truck and ambled up toward me. "Meant to ask you, we going to wait for the coroner?"
"Naw, not really." I snagged my hat outta Ramon's seat and snorted. "The coroner 'round these parts, he don't do field work much, runs one of the funeral parlors in Panguitch."
When he did that even. We'd had good, we'd had bad and right now we had a guy who preferred boating in the Caribbean. I slammed the door and shrugged. "Pretty much if it looks dead, he calls it dead ... and he waits for some doctor to tell him why. We've got to ask him for an inquest when we think there might be cause to." I smiled as I settled the Stetson on my head. "Anyhow, Fred's got a couple disposable body bags in the truck, right?"
"Yeah," he held up a set of yellow pouches, "and I snagged the collapsible back-country stretcher and a Reeves Sleeve. If the corpse is in full rigor you'll probably just have to stuff it in the sleeve and haul it out as a ball."
35
Hard Fall
by James Buchanan
"Depending on time of death ... well, Kabe says she looked pretty done for 'round nine or so. That's maybe three to four hours and it's been pretty cool up here. She might still be pretty loose. I'll take both."
Fred nodded. "I'll get 'em out of the back." Leaning into the back of the pickup, he began shifting gear.
"So, you and me," Nadia stepped closer, "who's playing good cop?"
I considered her with one eyebrow raised. "Good cop?" If I didn't think she was half teasing, I'd have been worried.
"Yep, good cop, bad cop." She smiled. Yeah, I wouldn't want to go crossways with this woman.
"Well," settling into a wide leg stance, I looked up the trail and thought a bit, "if he were local, I'd say I'd play good cop as the insider, but why don't we go with your nice southern charm?"
Kabe'd made it out of Ramon's truck and
"Bad then?"
"Brutal way to die." He drifted off for a moment, just staring at nothing. "I tried my cell, but the reception is crap out here. I told Gunter to come back with me. He wouldn't leave her." The tiniest shake of his head told me he didn't really understand. "Shit, man, he had to know she was dead.
A half-blind monkey would know she was dead. I think it was starting to sink in. He got real calm looking down there. So I headed back toward the ranch. Wasn't until I hit the spot where we met the people fishing that I got any reception.
That would have been close to nine-thirty, maybe ten I think.
Called. Got back to the ranch and waited for you guys."
"Doing chores?" Whoa Nelly, Ramon's tone was snide. I never pulled my emotions into an interview. Didn't serve no purpose and just got interviewees all defensive.
"Might as well." Kabe didn't rise. Prisoners learned that early, too. Don't let nothing rile you, 'cause you can't do nothing about it. "Kept me from thinking about it, you know?"
For the first time during the ride, Kabe moved more than just an inch or so. He leaned forward against the back of Ramon's seat and pointed out the windshield. A house-sized boulder listed across the dirt road a couple miles ahead. Like a party favor, a lone pine tree jutted from the center of the stone.
The mountain we headed towards loomed not too much farther than that. Distance though, up here, could really spin 34
Hard Fall
by James Buchanan
your head 'round. "You'll want to turn there. Truck's not going to make it all the way up. Trail gets real narrow about the second bend."
The rest of the ride I spent chewing on what Kabe'd said ...
grinding it down to a good set of assumptions that might be subject to change at any given moment. The facts were only the facts until something told you different. A few miles up, Ramon parked in the middle of the trail ... wasn't like there was a side to move off onto. Fact, we'd probably have to back out just to find a turn around. As I swung out the passenger side, Fred and Nadia came to a halt just in back of us.
Nadia Slokum slid out of the Park Service truck and ambled up toward me. "Meant to ask you, we going to wait for the coroner?"
"Naw, not really." I snagged my hat outta Ramon's seat and snorted. "The coroner 'round these parts, he don't do field work much, runs one of the funeral parlors in Panguitch."
When he did that even. We'd had good, we'd had bad and right now we had a guy who preferred boating in the Caribbean. I slammed the door and shrugged. "Pretty much if it looks dead, he calls it dead ... and he waits for some doctor to tell him why. We've got to ask him for an inquest when we think there might be cause to." I smiled as I settled the Stetson on my head. "Anyhow, Fred's got a couple disposable body bags in the truck, right?"
"Yeah," he held up a set of yellow pouches, "and I snagged the collapsible back-country stretcher and a Reeves Sleeve. If the corpse is in full rigor you'll probably just have to stuff it in the sleeve and haul it out as a ball."
35
Hard Fall
by James Buchanan
"Depending on time of death ... well, Kabe says she looked pretty done for 'round nine or so. That's maybe three to four hours and it's been pretty cool up here. She might still be pretty loose. I'll take both."
Fred nodded. "I'll get 'em out of the back." Leaning into the back of the pickup, he began shifting gear.
"So, you and me," Nadia stepped closer, "who's playing good cop?"
I considered her with one eyebrow raised. "Good cop?" If I didn't think she was half teasing, I'd have been worried.
"Yep, good cop, bad cop." She smiled. Yeah, I wouldn't want to go crossways with this woman.
"Well," settling into a wide leg stance, I looked up the trail and thought a bit, "if he were local, I'd say I'd play good cop as the insider, but why don't we go with your nice southern charm?"
Kabe'd made it out of Ramon's truck and
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