A Ghost of Caribou by Alice Henderson

Author:Alice Henderson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Fourteen

As soon as Alex got back to the ranch house, she dumped her pack off on the porch and tried to dust off as much of the remaining powder as she could. Then she overturned the pack onto a chair and emptied its contents. She uncoiled her sleeping pad and tent and turned the hose on them and her pack.

Inside, she descended to the laundry room in the basement. She opened the lid of the washing machine and stripped off all of her clothes, throwing them in. Her sleeping bag would go in next.

Then she climbed the stairs and luxuriated in a hot shower, washing all of the gunk out of her hair and off her skin. She toweled off, then blew her nose vigorously and rinsed her mouth repeatedly with mouthwash. She didn’t think she’d ingested poison. At least, she felt okay.

In the bedroom, she changed into fresh clothes. The washing machine had finished, so she stuck her wet clothes in the dryer and stuffed her sleeping bag into the machine.

She glanced at her watch. It was still early enough to call the sheriff. She retrieved her GPS unit from the porch, where she’d dumped out her pack. In the kitchen, she picked up the receiver and dialed Taggert’s number.

“Dr. Carter?” the sheriff said by way of greeting.

“Hi, Sheriff.”

“How are things?”

“Interesting. You know that tunnel I found?”

“Yes.”

“I found another one. More extensive and booby-trapped.”

“What the hell? Who is this guy?”

“Exactly what I’m wondering. This tunnel didn’t look like it had been occupied in a while. But I thought I’d let you know where it is. I searched around the area in case he might have held Irma or Amelia there, but I didn’t see anything that led me to believe he did. Still, I wanted you to know about it in case you want to check it out.”

“Thanks. What are the coordinates?”

Alex read them off her GPS unit. “There’s something else. Are you aware of an activist camping out at the top of one of the old-growth trees?”

“Agatha. Yes. Why, is something wrong with her?”

“There’s a logger in the area. He’s been harassing her.”

Taggert sighed. “Clyde Fergus. Yep. I’m aware of that. I’ve sent deputies out to talk to him, but he’s a hothead. Keeps getting worked up. He calls every day to report her, and I keep telling him there’s nothing we can do while the case is being considered.”

“He seems a little unhinged. Dangerous. He threatened to kill her tonight.”

“What?” She exhaled with irritation. “Okay. I’ll go out tonight and have a talk with him with one of the law enforcement rangers. Goddamnit. Tomorrow I’ll call the logging company and see about getting him replaced. He’s supposed to be just keeping an eye on the equipment, not harassing her.” The sheriff sounded tired. “Thanks for letting me know.”

“Of course. He actually got caught in a booby trap in a different area, too, the other day. I got him down.” She gave the sheriff those coordinates, too.

“I’ll send someone to check out the areas.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.