Page 45 of Canyon Killer
“I told some people—well, search and rescue volunteers and Deputy Jake Gwynn—the reason you purchased the canyon. I mean, I told them you wanted to build the via ferrata so all kinds of people could enjoy climbing. But I also told them about your dad wanting to destroy the canyon by mining it and how you bought it to save it.”
Ian closed his eyes and said nothing. He was so pale, his features sharpened by suffering.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t have told you like this, when you’re in pain. I know I promised not to tell anyone, but I couldn’t stand there and have them all thinking you were only building the via ferrata out of greed or selfishness. I wanted them to know you’re not like that.”
He opened his eyes again. “It’s okay,” he said. “I know you meant well.”
“Do you want me to leave now?”
Ian took her hand. “No. Stay.” He even managed a smile. “It’s okay. Really. I doubt anything you said will change very many people’s minds. I learned that when I got into competitive climbing. People believe what they want to believe about you, all evidence to the contrary.”
“I overheard some climbers talking one day. They said you had a bad reputation in the climbing community.”
His expression darkened. “I like to think I have a good reputation with most people in the climbing world, but I have my enemies, and they like to tell unflattering stories. What did you hear?”
“Something about you moving someone else’s anchors?”
“Tyler Grey. I didn’t move his anchors, but he’s convinced that I did. He set a route, and I climbed it a couple of days after he did. There were no anchors then, and I said something to him about it. Because I pointed out they were missing, he jumped to the conclusion that I had removed them.”
“So who did remove them?”
“There was a group of environmentalists in the area at the time who were lobbying hard for legislation to prevent the installation of permanent anchors in climbing areas. My guess is one of them removed the anchors, but I don’t know for sure. But Tyler spread the story that I had taken them, and his friends believed him. I didn’t waste a lot of breath defending myself, and some people took that as an admission of guilt.”
“There was something else about bailing on an expedition you organized.”
He groaned.
“Are you okay?” She stood. “Should I call a nurse?”
“I’m just disgusted that story is still around.”
She sat again. “What happened?”
“I did organize an expedition to climb Mount Khuiten, in Mongolia. And I did drop out at the last minute. Because my mother was in a car wreck and ended up in the hospital. People always leave out that part of the story.”
“Why would they do that?”
“Some of them lost a lot of money on airfare and stuff. I offered to reimburse them, but that wasn’t good enough for some of them. Money can do a lot of good things, but it can also make people mean.”
“Do you think any of them could be behind what’s going on in the canyon?”
“I doubt it.” He sighed. “I’ll make some calls, see if I can find out what Tyler and a couple of others who had it in for me are up to, and I’ll try to get a read on my dad’s attitude toward me these days. There’s something else I’ve been thinking about, though.”
“Oh, what’s that?”
“Maybe these threats and vandalism and even the shot that was fired at me and Aaron aren’t related to the via ferrata at all but to us finding those skeletons,” he said.
“Gerald and Abby have been dead fifty years.”
“That doesn’t mean whoever killed them isn’t still alive. They’ve gotten away with murder for years because everyone who knew the Bostons thought they had moved away. I start work in the canyon and find those skeletons, and all of a sudden the killer might be discovered.”
“It wasn’t your fault that cave opened up. The mudslide a few months ago did that.”
“Right. But maybe there’s something else in the canyon the killer doesn’t want to come to light.”
“Or maybe they’ve heard we’ve been asking around about Abby and Gerald,” she said. “That might explain why I was threatened, too.”
“Or maybe the culprit really is a disgruntled climber who doesn’t want me to build the via ferrata.”
