Page 61 of The Last Resort
“I thought we could bring this up with us so we can get agood look at the roof without having to actually walk all over it. There are some safe patches up there, but the last thing either of us need is one or both of us, dropping through a weak spot in the roof.”
Rachel slipped on her warm gloves and zipped up her jacket. She pulled her beanie down, so it covered her ears. “Okay, I am good to go.”
He handed her the lantern. “Just wait until we are near the roof before you turn it on. It pushes out a lot of light, and your eyes will need a minute to adjust. You don’t want to be climbing up the final stairs and be blinded by it.”
Noted. Safety first.Or as safe as they could manage while climbing up old stairs—to walk on a crumbling roof— in the dark— while a snow storm loomed. She could just imagine how scathing the coroner’s report would be if anything happened.
He caught her checking out the backpack he was carrying. “I’ve been to this site a few times and it made sense to have my equipment all in one place rather than have it loose and rattling around in my pockets.”
She’d badly misjudged him. Matthew might well be rich and privileged, but when it came to his work, he was a thorough professional. There was no team of minions to carry his stuff. He was not only treating this project as seriously as she was, but he’d also come better prepared.
I brought clothes, make up which I still haven’t used, and a laptop. He’s provisioned for an assault on Mount Everest.
They made their way up to the top floor via the main internal staircases. As they climbed, Rachel took careful note of the state of the wooden banisters. A coat of varnish and they would be as good as new.
Reaching the fourth floor, they pushed open a metal service door, then climbed the short set of steps which led tothe roof. Rachel shamefully admitted. “I’ve never been up this high in the lodge.”
“I don’t make a habit of it, I’m not entirely comfortable with the state of the flooring. The closer to the top, the more likely the water damage.”
The way out onto the roof was through yet another door. But this one was locked with a chain and padlock. Matthew produced a key from his jean’s pocket. “When I visited here late last summer, I noticed some vandals had got in and tagged the walls. I asked the security guy the Brocks had employed, to put a lock on the door to discourage the little brats from coming back.”
“Not much of a security guy if he couldn’t keep them out.”
Matthew shrugged. “He was only a college kid, no one should expect him to go roaming this place on his own. And what if he had met up with some unpleasant intruders? Out here all by himself, who knows what might have happened?”
As Matthew worked to free the chain from around the door handle, Rachel switched on the camping lantern. The enclosed space was filled with bright light, and she turned her head away. Handing the lamp to Matthew, she followed him through the door and out onto the roof.
The strong night wind caught her off-guard and she grabbed for the handrail. The instant she touched it, the rail wobbled. Rachel swayed unsteadily as a wave of nausea washed over her. “Oh. Sorry for not mentioning this until now, but I’m not all that great with heights.”
He took her arm. “Hold on to me. There is an area a little further over where I know it’s safe.”
She might be clever with design programs and high-level concepts, but Matthew had her beat when it came to his real world experience of old buildings. Holding on to Matthew for dear life, Rachel shuffled slowly across the rooftop.
The sun had set a little after five o’clock, and out here in the wilds of the Aspen backcountry there was no overflow light from the town. If it hadn’t been for Matthew’s lantern, they would have been staring out into nothing but pitch-black expanse.
He halted a few yards in and set the lamp down. Prizing Rachel’s hand from its vice like grip on his arm, he helped her to sit. “If you stay with the light and my backpack, I’ll get things set up to take some readings.”
She felt like the first week intern who’d been sent to work with the twenty-year veteran. He was showing her what it meant to be a real architect. To get her hands dirty.
Matthew fell silent for a moment, then nervously cleared his throat. “Since I didn’t plan to keep this building, I hadn’t see the point in undertaking a full scan of the roof. We could be up here for some time. Or at least until the snow starts to fall.”
From the backpack, he took out a tripod, and put it together. Rachel’s already growing interest hit its peak as Matthew proceeded to pull out a small tube-like object and clicked it onto the top of the tripod.
“Is that … is that a Leica laser scanner?” she stammered.
He turned and gave her a wicked grin. “Isn’t it the sexiest beast you’ve ever seen? This scanner is amazing. A total game changer. The only thing it doesn’t do is make coffee.”
The powerful scanner would create a detailed 3D image of the roof, allowing them to see exactly where the faults in the structure lay. It would pick up everything that was invisible to the naked eye. She’d seen one demonstrated at a conference but had never been able to afford one. Top of the range scanners like this were well out of her price bracket.
“Do you want to come and play with it?” he offered.
Oh, hello, double entendre time. Come and play with it …
Her fear of heights was a problem, but getting to workwith a high-tech design tool was too much to resist. “I’ve used a scanner, but nothing like this. Would you show me?”
Matthew shifted the scanner into position. “Grab the iPad out of my backpack and open it. The scanning app is on the home screen. The code is 1234 to open.”
“Over the top security. That’s a solid password.”
