Page 31 of Peak Suspicion
“I think I dropped some money out here.”
“That was careless of you.”
“Yeah. I’m like that sometimes.” He leaned down and pretended to pick something off the ground.
“What did you find?” she asked.
“A quarter. Do you want to see?” He held up a quarter he had palmed from his pocket.
“Don’t come any closer,” she shouted. “You can’t trick me.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” He crouched and continued to study the ground.
“How much money did you lose?” Helen asked.
“Around fifteen dollars.” He tried for a sum that might be enticing, but not too large. “Lots of change and some loose bills.”
“You shouldn’t be so careless,” she said.
“I know. My mother tells me the same thing all the time.” True. He reached forward and pretended to pick up something. “I found a dollar bill.” He hoped the combination of dim light and aging eyesight would keep her from seeing he had lied.
She moved to the edge of the ledge and leaned over for a look. He rose. “Be careful,” he said. “It’s a long way down if you fall.”
She looked alarmed and stepped back.
“Do you want to help me look?” he asked. “I’ll give you part of the money.”
“How much?”
“How about whatever you find, up to five dollars.”
“If it’s lying on the ground, you can’t prove the money is yours,” she said. “Finders keepers.”
“Then you might as well come look for it and not let someone else claim it,” he said.
In answer, she moved carefully off the ledge. She stepped onto a faintly discernable trail and walked toward him, watching the ground and moving carefully. When she was still six feet away, she stopped. “You don’t try anything,” she said.
“I won’t,” he promised. He returned to his pretend survey of the ground, while watching her out of the corner of his eye. She was bent over, hands on her knees, staring intently at the leaf litter.
“I need a flashlight,” she said. “Can’t see anything in this dim light.”
“I have one you can use.” He reached into a side pocket of his pack and felt for the flashlight. She started forward, hand outstretched.
Then she was falling, landing sprawled in the leaf litter. Heart racing, he rushed to meet her. “Helen, are you all right?” he asked.
“I tripped.” She tried to push herself up, but didn’t have the strength.
“Lie still,” Carter said, one hand resting lightly on her shoulder. “I have some people with me who can help.” He looked back toward his fellow team members and raised an arm to motion them forward.
Five minutes later Helen, unharmed except for a skinned knee, was reunited with her family. “A person can’t even go for a walk without everyone making a fuss,” she groused.
“Mom, you scared us,” her daughter scolded. “Please don’t do that again.”
“As if you never scared me,” Helen said. “That time you rode the Simpsons’ mare bareback and tried to jump that fence. Broke your arm in two places.”
The daughter looked puzzled. “I never did anything like that.”
“You always were a terrible liar, Frances. And I got in trouble, too, because I was supposed to be watching you when you ran off to the horse.”
