Down the road the police van stopped and their prisoners got out. The one cop said to them, “next time be more careful, remember we are not here to fight with that PI team unless we have to do so. Now, make sure you deal with that little girl, she knows too much.” “Like, what do you want us to do?”, said the one man. “I mean shut her mouth,” he answered, “I do not care how you do it, just shut her mouth!” “Okay, we will take care of that,” he said.

The van then sped off down the hill. The two men hiked back up to their cabin in the woods where their friend was waiting for them. “I know where those people went for a picnic,” he said, “not far from here either.” So they proceeded to the spot but high above them. Back with us. “Thank you Sigurbjorn for saving Steve,” said Kat. “But that is just what we are supposed to do,” said Sigurbjorn. “Yes, I know, but thank you,” Kat said again.

“You are welcome,” she said, then went back to her room. I called Galyna over. “I want you and Sigurbjorn to talk with that little girl later,” I said, “she knows more than she realizes, but she embellishes her stories so we need to separate fact from fiction.” “That should not be so hard,” she said. “Also, talk with Sigurbjorn,” I said, “something is bothering her and we need to catch it quick.” “That is my job, I will go see her right away,” she said and off she went.

“So, what is her problem Steve?”, asked Kat. “If I knew that I would not need Galyna to talk with her,” I said, “but I could tell today that something was wrong.” Galyna went into the bedroom and found Sigurbjorn crying. “What is wrong?”, asked Galyna softly. Sigurbjorn opened up to her and after a bit she came out and got Carine to come back with her. “For our team leader you are sometimes not very smart Steve,” said Kat looking at me and shaking her head.

And sometimes I feel like I have no idea what is going on. Sigh. Back to those families out for their picnic. The father looked up, then over at his daughter. He took her close to the edge of the cliff where they were telling his daughter not to be scared, the rock was plenty safe to hold them. There was a shot not heard by anyone and a large puff of smoke by the fathers feet.

The rock crumbled as he and his daughter fell over the edge. He yelled as he went down, “NO, not me!!” The father plunged deep into the gorge below, but the little girl was caught on a ledge about 50 feet down. Soon the people came running back to the resort yelling and screaming! We all came running out to see what was happening and heard the news. Off we all went to the site.

Sigurbjorn lay down and looked over the ledge. “Not too far down, we can do it,” she said. Her, Salka and Angel were our mountain climbers. We had everything needed and soon Salka and Angel were over the edge. As for me, I stayed as far from that edge as possible, heights and I are not on friendly terms. They had made a small stretcher to put the girl in and the others brought her to the top while Salka and Angel made their way back up.

Meanwhile Sigurbjorn looked at the rock along the edge. I could see something was going on with her but she said nothing at the time. On the way back she said to me, “that was no accident.” I looked at her. “I noticed you found something along the edge,” I said. “Yes, like a tiny explosion that broke the rock apart,” she answered. “Then someone deliberately wanted to kill them,” said Kat. The man from the other family, Ron, said, “I heard him yell, no, not me, after he fell.”

That would mean he was helping to kill his daughter and they got rid of him too so he could not talk. On the way back we heard a large rumbling sound. “An avalanche,” said Angel. “No, not a real avalanche, this one began with an explosion,” said Sigurbjorn. Then a few minutes later another one, but it sounded further away. “Is there some mining activity going on around here Paul?”, I asked. “Not that I am aware of,” he said.

To Be Continued.

©2022 Steve McLeod.