Tough Cookie (6 page)

Doug Portman had returned to the bistro and was looking around impatiently. I felt annoyed to be hurried. But I slipped my hands into my new padded mittens - a gift from Tom - donned my ski boots, and walked as gracefully as possible to the front door. Of course, I walking gracefully in ski boots is like waltzing on cannonballs.

"It's snowing harder," Doug informed me, ever the weather reporter. "We'll take Widowmaker to Doe's Valley to Hot-Rodder to the base. I'll meet you at Big Map."

"Big Map," a familiar landmark at the base of Killdeer Mountain, was a large, plastic-covered map of the entire ski area's terrain. I could find the map without a problem, but when I mentally reviewed the runs Doug was talking about - a mogul-laced "black" run - i.e., a steep ski trail covered with big bumps, designated for expert skiers - followed by a "blue" - intermediate, that would no doubt be treacherously icy under the new snow, followed by another precipitous black slope - I thought: No dice.

"You go ahead," I told Doug politely. "I'll take an easier route, probably be a few minutes after you."

He scowled and shifted in his ski boots. "I don't have time for you to come after me. I want you to come with me," he insisted, still macho to the core. "I'm running late already." He hesitated. "Does Tom know we're meeting today?"

"Er, sure," I lied.

"Great. I've got something for him in my car. Don't let me forget to give it to you." He squeezed my elbow meaningfully. "It's great to see you again, Goldy, after all this time."

I pulled my arm away and wordlessly clopped to the door. If it hadn't meant so much to Tom that he sell the skis to make up for the expense of the new drains, I'd probably be skipping this whole encounter. Great to see me again, sure. I'd go down the runs Doug wanted me to, but very slowly. If he didn't like that, tough tacks.

Outside the entrance to the lodge, giant icicles hung from the roof, their thick bases as solid as tree trunks. The snow was now falling in thick pale sheets. Doug pulled his skis from the rack, snapped them on, and shoved off without so much as a backward glance. Once he whizzed away, the heavy snow instantly enveloped him.

With more caution, I started down the smooth side of Wiuowmaker. Weight on the downhill ski, press through the arch of your foot, my first ski instructor had taught me. I'd do my best.

The new powder on the slope, the falling snow, the lack of sunshine, my gray-tinted goggles - all these made seeing difficult. As skiers whizzed past, I concentrated dutifully on the slope five feet in front of my skis. Usually, I found skiing an invigorating escape. This was not true, however, when the slope you were on was too challenging. The curtain of snow enclosed me tightly. I could hear my labored breathing and feel every creak of my bones.

Most runs are set up like slant-sided wedding cakes. Long sloped sections alternate with narrow flat areas. On the flat sections, you can meet up with friends, figure out where you are, or just plain rest. At the first opportunity, I pulled over to a flat area by a sign marking the beginning of two more blue runs. One was Doe's Valley, where Doug had said he was going. It led to black runs. Right next to it, and feeding into the bottom of Doe's Valley, was the easier-sounding Teddy Bear Run. I decided to take it. I could catch up to Doug on Hot-Rodder.

Teddy Bear Run was smooth and dreamy, yet still steep enough to present a challenge. Feeling less apprehensive, I let loose with some speed. After the pressure of the show, the release was exhilarating. I surged down the slope, and felt as if I was flying.

I hockey-stopped dramatically, flushed with the thrill of my run, on the last flat area. At the top of Hot-Rodder, neon yellow ropes stretched on bamboo poles across the entry to that particular slope. One of the ski patrol's Closed! Hazardous Conditions! signs swung from the middle of the ropes. Which way would Doug have gone? Beyond Hot-Rodder lay a double-black diamond run - the most challenging and dangerous - with the happy name of Coffin-Builder. Few skiers were bold enough to vault down that turnoff. The ones who did were lean and fast; they hung briefly in the air and then plummeted from view. That was probably where Doug had gone. It was where I would not go.

To my left, a blue run named Jitterbug beckoned. Before deciding which way to go, I waited for a noisy class of snowboarders on its way down Teddy Bear. Their instructor, clad in a bright blue ski school uniform, led the group as it artfully carved the snow. The kids balanced on their boards, adjusted to nuances in the terrain, extended their arms, and leaned into the hill - all as graceful and quick as surfers. I thought I spotted Arch in his new burgundy jacket, but when I called his name into the blowing snow, there was no response. Without a glance in my direction, the young snow-boarders slid swiftly past.

I was cold. Icy pinpricks of snow fell on my cheeks and lips. I shivered inside my jacket and headed toward Jitterbug, which I knew to be a curvy blue run without too many surprises. At the base, Doug would be ticked off with me. But there was no way I was skiing down Coffin-Builder. The few straight stretches of Jitterbug were bordered by trees on the left and a yellow cord to the right. After a few moments, I stopped on the right side of the slope to rest. Snow obscured the far mountains, but the vista downward was breathtaking. The yellow cord marked a no-man's-land of rocks and pines that led down to two steep mogul fields, Hot-Rodder closest to me, Coffin-Builder beyond. On Coffin-Builder, a handful of expert skiers zigged and zagged through the bumps. I certainly hoped that it was Arch I'd seen at the top of Jitterbug. If I thought he was boarding down a black run, I'd probably have a heart attack. I skied fast down the next section of Jitterbug. When I careened around a bend, I spied a crowd of people clustered ahead of me. Digging in my skis, I sent up a cloud of snow as I came to an abrupt halt.

Why was everybody stopped?

Something scraped my cheek and I pulled back. It was a large shred of ash. Or a torn chunk of map. Without thinking, I tried to catch it. It was indeed a wadded piece of paper. That's when I realized that, along with the snow, this large confetti was coming down everywhere. It was as if someone had torn up a newspaper and carelessly dumped the crumpled bits of litter from the lift.

Litter?

"Mom, hey, Mom!" Arch's voice sailed past me. "Over here!"

I turned, but did not see my son. All around, gaggles of skiers had halted and were scooping up the tumbling papers. I did not see any snowboarders. "Arch!" I cried into the mêlée. "Where are you?"

"Here, Mom!" Suddenly my son scraped his snowboard next to my skis. Swathed in his dark red outfit and a stay-warm ski mask that made him look like an escapee from a horror movie, Arch clutched a handful of the paper. His prescription goggles had been pulled up at an angle on the top of his head, and I could just make out his merry brown eyes above the mouth mask. "Money!" he announced. "Hundred-dollar bills! It's falling with the snow! Here," he squawked as he thrust a fistful of bills at me. "Put these in your pocket, would ya?" Before I could protest, he scooted off on the board to retrieve more of the falling cash.

There was squawking and yelling among the skiers now, as a sudden updraft swirled the precious bills heavenward, where they mixed with a new tornado of flakes. A member of the ski patrol showed up and started hollering ineffectually for order.

Still uncomprehending, I stood grasping the wad of bills Arch had handed me, then stuffed them into my pocket. I dug in my poles and scooted to the slope's right side. An abrupt shift in the wind spun up a fresh storm of bills. The money smacked my goggles and I was momentarily blinded. I wiped the bills away and strained to see their source. They seemed to be blowing up from somewhere below where I stood.

To my right, the yellow boundary cord had torn loose from its moorings. The cord lay in a loop, then disappeared under the snow. Past the boundary pole, a row of boulders obscured the drop to the lower slope. I hesitated, then cautiously skied to the torn yellow rope. With great care, I glided down to the edge of the rocks that stood between Jitterbug and the steep drop-off to Hot-Rodder.

The view of the lower run was obscured by more boulders and a cluster of pines. Several sets of tracks led through the trees, while more circled the rocks. Money continued to fall. Damn. I had a very sinking feeling, despite the gleeful cries from the skiers downslope. Using the perpendicular-to-the-mountain two-step taught to all beginning skiers when they need to get uphill, I maneuvered up and around the rock pile.

On the far side of a boulder below me, a cowboy hat lay at the base of a small, barren aspen tree. A chill ran through me. Squatting cautiously on my skis, I slid carefully to the edge of the drop off.

Sprawled next to a mogul, Doug Portman lay motionless in the crisp white snow. His legs seemed to be tangled with one of his skis. Beside the sharp half of a broken pole, his left arm was impossibly contorted. A splotch of blood was spreading on the snow.

"Ski patrol," I whispered, as I turned and worked my way back up to Jitterbug run. "I – we - need help."

The crowd of skiers on Jitterbug were still grabbing at the whirling shreds of paper tumbling down with the snowflakes. "Help!" I called. No one paid attention. The bills swirled and landed on the slope, on moguls, on boulders, on branches of pine trees. Greedy hands reached impatiently for them.

I unsnapped my bindings, hefted up my skis, and crammed them into the snow in the X-position, the emergency signal for ski patrol to stop and give assistance. Then I lunged back through the snow to the edge of the run, below the coiled yellow rope and the row of boulders. Surely Doug would be all right. . . They would send in a chopper and take him to safety. . . .

"Mom!" I recognized Arch's ski mask bobbing toward me. He was scooting himself forward, one foot on the snowboard. "Mom, what's wrong? Where are your skis? Mom?" I put both hands straight out in front of me, warning my son to stop. Then, praying even as a stone formed in my chest, I glanced over the cliff. From this vantage point, I could see Doug Portman. He hadn't moved.

I didn't want Arch to see him. I knew Doug Portman was dead.

-5- Mom!" Arch's voice had grown desperate. "Why are your skis crossed? Mom? Are you hurt?"

I shook my head. Unnerved by my silence and outstretched hands, Arch finally skidded his snowboard to a stop.

Around us, the snow fell. Where was the patrol? Another torrent of bills swirled up from the lower run. More jubilant skiers joined those already on the plateau. They stretched, bent, fell, and rolled out of their skis as they merrily dived for cash.

"Agh!" A woman's shriek cut through the din. I could not make out who had screamed. "That's disgusting!" shouted a tallish woman as she flung bills onto the snow. "That's blood! There's blood on it!" Her eyes searched the slope above. She saw me, my crossed skis, and my son, motionless on his snowboard. She took off down the hill.

The skiers hoarding the bills slowed their grasping movements. Heads bent to inspect the money.

Suddenly, mittened hands were throwing down fistfuls of cash. More bloodstained bills blew upward, swirled with the snow, then resettled on the slope. In places, the money left erratic pink trails. Skiers pushed off queasily, suddenly eager to be away.

"Mom! What is wrong?"

"What's going on?" barked a man who'd skied up to Arch. Tall and lean, he wore stylish wrap sunglasses and a uniform. Ski patrol, I thought, in numb relief. A thick red headband held back his gray hair. "Are you all right?" he asked my son. "Whose skis are these?"

Arch gestured and I waved my hands over my head. Another skier hockey-stopped six inches behind me, churning a wave of snow into my face. He too demanded to know what was happening. The ski patrolman shunted away this intruder by assuring him he had the situation completely under control. The skier took off and the patrolman addressed me. "Can you talk? Where are you hurt?" The patrolman's light blue eyes, gray eyebrows, and well-tanned, deeply wrinkled skin conveyed a seriousness I felt I could trust.

"Send my son away," I said tersely, as if I knew exactly what the situation was, which I didn't. "Please. I need to show you something. My son mustn't see it."

There was a fractional hesitation in the patrolman's shrewd eyes. Then he pivoted to Arch. "Young man, could you please proceed to the ski patrol office at the base?" he called. "Wait there. I'll bring your mother down."

Arch cast a worried glance in my direction. I nodded to him that it was all right. Only then, with a last concerned look, did he reluctantly move away.

"Are you injured? Can you tell me who you are?" demanded the ski patrolman.

I told him my name, what I'd seen on the lower run, then motioned to my former perch. As I traipsed up clumsily in my ski boots, the patrolman, a deft skier, quickly two-stepped to the spot. He peered over the edge of the precipice, whistled softly in surprise, then. pulled out his walkie-talkie and spoke rapidly.

A moment later, he snapped his radio shut. "Mrs. Schulz, Goldy Schulz," he said when I arrived at his side. My feet were so cold I couldn't feel them. The patrolman touched my shoulder. "Did you see this man fall?" I shook my head. "Did you see someone hit him?" Again I indicated a negative. "There's no one else on that run down there, Hot-Rodder."

I swallowed. "It's closed."

"Have you talked to any other patrol members? When was the run closed?"

"I haven't seen or talked to anybody." My voice seemed to belong to someone else. "I have no idea when the run was closed."

"How long have you been here?"

"About fifteen minutes. Listen, I'm freezing. I need to be with my son. And - " I hesitated, then added, "I should tell you, I . . . I know that guy down there. We . . . started off skiing together at the top, and I was supposed to meet him at the base, but he was skiing faster - "

"We're getting help for him. What's his name?" I told him, and the patrolman nodded grimly. "Mrs. Schulz. I need you to look over the side again, please. I need you to tell me if this is exactly the way the man appeared when you first saw him." Snowmobiles were roaring up the lower part of Hot-Rodder. "Please, look one time. Try to remember exactly what you saw. It's important."