Page 46 of Mountain Challenge

He nodded, taking a deep breath, then another. He took off his sling, tossing it onto the back seat.

“Did your therapist tell you to take it off?” she questioned.

“I’m not going in wearing a sling,” he shrugged. “Thank you, Isla. I’m sorry I haven’t been the easiest person over the last few weeks. It’s just?—“

“You’ve had a lot on your mind. I know. Now go in there and find your team.”

22

Ry

There were two types of men in the Chamonixgendarmerie: those who wanted to make it to the top floor as quickly as possible, and from there on to one of the regional commands, or maybe directly to Paris, and those who never wanted to set foot on the top floor if they could help it. Ry was firmly in the second camp.

Hehad,of course, been to the top floor before. He knew where the colonel’s office was, and he knew Beau and Damien, the two commanders of the PGHM team, unavoidably spent time up here in meetings with the colonel and other top brass. But he’d never been invited to the large glass-walled meeting room before.

Ry knocked and walked inside. He looked around the large rectangular conference table, glad he had taken off his sling beforehand. Weakness was the last thing you wanted to project in a room full of sharks, and that’s exactly what this felt like.

He recognized the lawyer from that first encounter over a month earlier, looking slick in a navy blue suit and bright red tie. And the two investigators from Lyon, a man and a woman, their expressions as stony-faced as when they’d questioned him weeks earlier. The woman ignored him, her focus on the pad of paper in front of her, but the man nodded a careful greeting.

There was an empty seat between Beau and Colonel Pelegrin, which Ry assumed was for him. He sat down, sparing a glance at Mont Blanc outside the window. Tall, white, and majestic, it was the reason he’d first come to the Alps. But it wasn’t the reason he’d stayed. That had less to do with the mountain, and more to do with the man sitting next to him and the other men downstairs. His colleagues. His friends. It would kill Ry to leave them.

It might not come to that.

Only one seat remained empty. Ry knew who that one was for. The hiker. The plaintiff. Ry shook his head. That wasn’t the right word for it. This wasn’t a formal court case, even if it felt like one. Even if it held the power to destroy his life.

He forced himself to unclench his hands on his lap. Whatever happened, happened. He repeated the small mantra in his mind several times. He knew the decision had already been made. It reminded him of surfing. This felt like the moment just before catching a tall wave, when you felt like you were going to fall off a cliff, but he’d actually been riding this wave for years. The next few minutes would simply determine how long the ride would last.

“Ry. How’s your shoulder?” the colonel asked gruffly. It didn’t surprise Ry the colonel knew about his surgery. The colonel seemed to know everything.

“Fine, thank you, Colonel.”

Ry purposefully didn’t look at Beau. Ry had been told the investigation had concluded, but he didn’t knowwhoknewwhat—Beau might not know anything, but if he did, Ry didn’t want to put him in an uncomfortable position. He could wait a few more minutes to learn his fate.

The door opened again, and the hiker came in. The first thing that struck Ry was how young the man was—much younger than he’d assumed back on the mountain. Today his face was clean-shaven. He wore a green sweater with smart black jeans, but it was the white neck brace that caught Ry’s attention.Fuck. There was no doubt in Ry’s mind that he’d done the right thing—he’d done what he’d done to stop the man from falling off the cliff, and in doing so he’d saved his life—but he hated to think his actions had resulted in a serious injury.

Ry stared into his pupils—not dilated. He wasn’t on anything today, or at least nothing like what he’d been on that day. Up close, the man’s eyes were the coldest blue imaginable—almost reptilian.

Introductions were made around the table, and the recording device on the table was turned on. Every meeting Ry had had with the investigators had been recorded. Ry wondered vaguely what they did with all those recordings. Somewhere in Paris, there might be a digital wasteland with his name on it.

It took him a moment to realize the conversation had moved on without him. Ry struggled to catch up. The investigators worked well together—this wasn’t the first time they’d done this. The woman went first, checking points off her notebook as she reconstructed what had happened on the mountain. Eventually, her partner came in to fill in the gaps.

Ry’s hopes soared as she got to the part where the hiker was pushed off the cliff by his friend. Ry knew the hiker had always denied that part, but if that had made it into the report, then there was a chance?—

“No!” The hiker stood up, his eyes shining with indignation. “That’s not how it happened! This man tried to kill me. He needs to pay.”

The woman stared up at him calmly. “Sit down, sir, or I will have to ask you to leave.”

The lawyer whispered quickly in the man’s ear, and eventually he sat back down. But his cold eyes stayed on Ry the whole time.

The woman’s colleague picked up where she left off, describing every interview they’d done, the blood test that showed the two men were under the influence of a potent combination of amphetamines and alcohol?—

Blood test? What blood test?

It appeared Beau had formally requested a blood sample be taken from the men at the hospital, and kept for future testing once they had the right to request such testing. Ry spared a quick look at Beau, grateful for his boss’ssang froid. Beau nodded at him, then jerked his chin back towards the other side of the table, where the woman had taken over the conversation again. “After reviewing all the evidence, we can conclude without a shadow of a doubt that there was no evidence of police violence, and that in fact Liutenant Harrison should be congratulated on his actions of that day.”

Some more formal words were said, but Ry barely heard them. No evidence of police violence. Of course he’d known they’d find no evidence of something that hadn’t happened, but to have it confirmed, was … it was everything.

Eventually, after a few more minutes of back and forth, the lawyer and his client were invited to leave. As soon as they did, the tension in the room went down a notch. “It’s over?” Ry asked, looking around him. “Really over?”

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