Page 30 of Peak Suspicion
“Go home and mind your own business.” This was followed by a rock, which whizzed close by the daughter’s right ear.
“Mom, stop that nonsense!” the son-in-law shouted.
Her response was another rock. This one hit the son-in-law in the chest.
“Mom!” the daughter shrieked.
Helen laughed, an eerie, hoarse sound. She held up both arms and executed what Carter thought must be a victory dance, but stumbled and slid perilously close to the edge. “Be careful!” someone shouted—perhaps one of the other volunteers, or one of the neighbors who had gathered below to witness the scene.
“Look what you made me do!” Helen shouted. “Are you trying to kill me? Go away!”
“Mom, come down from there!” the daughter tried again. “You’re going to get hurt.”
“I was fine until you showed up.”
Jake moved in and said something to the daughter. Her husband put his arm around her and the two, along with Jake and Shane, made their way back down the slope. “Let’s give her a chance to calm down,” Jake told Tony when they were even with him.
“It’s past her bedtime,” the daughter said. “If we leave her in peace, maybe she’ll lie down and go to sleep and you can slip up there and grab her.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Tony said. “She might startle or wake up suddenly and fall. It would be better if we could talk her into coming down on her own.”
“She won’t come to me,” the daughter said. “She’s too angry.”
“What is she angry about?” Jake asked.
“I told her I wanted to visit a new senior living facility in Junction. I told her they were having an open house and I had heard it was very nice. I was hoping that would start a conversation, or that Mom would even like the place enough to consider moving there. But she read it as we want to put her away in a home tomorrow. She’s got it into her head that I’m going to take her up there and leave her and she’s not having it.” She sighed. “I remind myself that she’s just speaking out of fear, but it’s hard sometimes, when she says mean things to me.”
She started to cry and her husband put his arm around her. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s get where she can’t see us and let her calm down.” He led her away.
Tony was on the radio with Danny. He ended the transmission and turned to the volunteers. “We need to get most of the volunteers down and out of sight,” he said. “We’ll keep a couple of people up here to watch her, maybe try to have another conversation in a bit.”
Carter approached Tony. “Could I try talking to her?” he asked.
Tony didn’t answer right away. “You really think she’d listen to you?”
“I have an idea. I won’t get too close to her, I promise. And if she gets upset or throws rocks, I’ll retreat right away.”
Tony looked over his shoulder at Helen, who was still on the ledge, a slim silhouette that appeared to be watching them. “Let me check with Danny and the sheriff,” he said, and moved a few feet away to make the call.
Carter moved into the shadow of a boulder, his eyes still on Helen. He tried to put himself in her shoes—confused, afraid of being forced from her home. Terrified of losing herself.
Tony returned. “You can give it a try. But don’t try to approach her. See if you can get her to come to you.”
He nodded. “Somebody put a light on me so she can see me,” he said.
Someone switched on a portable spotlight that illuminated a somewhat flat stretch of ground halfway up the slope, about the size of an apartment patio. Hands in his pockets, Carter strolled into this light. He had performed in some drama class productions in high school. This felt somewhat the same, like being on a stage, the lights making it impossible to see the audience. But so much more depended this time on him making a good performance.
He studied the ground and kicked at a rock, pretending to look for something.
“Who are you?” Helen called after a few seconds.
“I’m Carter.”
“What do you want?”
“I’m looking for something.”
“What are you looking for?”
