Where Echoes Live Read Online Free PDF

the ceiling to me. He grinned, winked, and took his feet off the desk. Maybe his thoughts hadn’t been hovering miles above earth after all.
    â€œTime’s up, Ned,” he said. “I’ve got something to brief everybody on.”
    Sanderman looked flustered, then frowned. He opened his mouth, closed it, and folded his arms. I sensed Ripinsky had interrupted him many times before—and even more abruptly.
    Ripinsky went on, “When you came in”—he nodded to Anne-Marie—“you asked about a visit the Tiger Lily paid me this afternoon. I didn’t get a chance to go into it, because right away Ned here started presenting his credentials.”
    Sanderman flushed but didn’t say anything.
    â€œLily and I didn’t have a real amiable conversation,” Ripinsky continued. “In fact, she ended up getting pretty steamed at me. That’s nothing new; woman’s had it in for me ever since I rebuffed her advances after Julie died. But that’s another story entirely, and not terribly interesting. What is interesting is the story she had to tell this afternoon.”
    â€œAnd?” Sanderman asked irritably.
    â€œSeems Lily’s been doing some exploring up on the mesa. She claims she noticed it had been quiet there for weeks now—too quiet for them to be taking core samples—so she decided to check it out. And guess what? There’s no survey crew, no geologists, just a skeleton crew of security people. And no drill rigs, hydraulic shovels, or trucks, either.”
    â€œSo they’re done with the sampling.”
    Ripinsky shook his head. “Can’t be. They only just started.”
    â€œThen the samples showed there wasn’t enough ore to make further tests worthwhile. In that case—”
    â€œNo way. When I took their little public relations tour right after they announced they’d acquired the property, their supervising geologist told me they were dead sure that with modern mining capabilities they could take a minimum of half a million ounces of gold out of that mesa over the life of the mine. That’s twenty million dollars gross at today’s prices.”
    Sanderman got up and went to his computer. He punched a few figures up onto the screen and said, “That’s right.”
    â€œYeah, well, I’ve got a computer, too—it’s called a brain. Anyway, Lily tried to find out from the guards what was happening, but she didn’t get anywhere. Even tried to bribe one of them with … her not inconsiderable charms, but it was no go.”
    We all were silent for a minute. Then I asked, “Why did she get so angry with you?”
    He grinned and ran a finger over his droopy mustache. “Lily’s a bit paranoid, and something of a racist, too. Seems a couple of the guards are Chinese. She started in on her Yellow Peril theory—evil Orientals taking over the county. Talk like that is just plain stupid, and I told her so. And that set her off.”
    â€œWhat was it she called you—a tree hugger?”
    â€œAmong other things. Lily hates environmentalists.”
    â€œI’d think she’d be on your side.”
    â€œNot the Tiger Lily. The only thing she wants from the environment is gold. Lacking that, she’ll take venison, trout, and firewood. But she doesn’t give a damn about nature in its unspoiled state or preserving Promiseville. If she had her way she’d tear down every historic building in the valley except the house she’s squatting in and burn them in her wood stove.”
    â€œThen why did she come to you?”
    He shrugged. “Because she didn’t know anybody else to turn to. And underneath all that bravado, she’s a little scared.”
    Anne-Marie was tapping on her desk with a pencil. “What we need is more information about Transpacific.”
    I asked, “Where are they headquartered?”
    â€œThe