Fatal Descent Read online

  What was he doing? Mandy wondered if he had tried to say something to her and she missed it. He was probably worried to death about his wife.

  Mandy yelled at him, “Sit down, Les! I’ll go back for Amy!”

  She glanced behind her, peering for Amy’s body in the water.

  When she turned back, Les was standing right in front of her. Before Mandy could register what he was doing there, he whacked her on the head with his paddle.

  Reeling and confused, all Mandy could think was, Why did he do that?

  As he lifted the paddle again, Mandy dropped the oars and instinctively raised her arms to protect herself.

  He whacked her again on the shoulder, sending her flying into the river.

  She smacked into the brown water and was instantly alert. Water filled her mouth, and the current pushed her underwater. Her body was churned and spun until she didn’t know which end was up.

  Mandy desperately searched for light and clawed her way toward it. Just as her lungs were about to burst, she popped out of the water. A standing wave smacked her in the face. Then another. Finally, she was able to spit out the gritty water in her mouth and suck in a breath of air.

  She got oriented with her feet downstream, fended off a couple of boulders and rode out a few more head-crashing waves. When she could see something other than roiling brown water and whitecaps, she looked downstream. Les was at the oars of her raft, heading for Big Drop Three.

  Not coming back for her or Amy!

  Amy! She spun and searched the river. There. In the water behind her, Mandy spied a bright orange PFD.

  Mandy turned and swam toward Amy’s motionless form. She kicked and kicked and cycled her arms as hard as she could until inch-by-inch she made progress toward Amy’s slackened body. Thankfully, the collar of the PFD had done its job, turning Amy’s face up and out of the water so she floated on her back.

  Mandy reached for Amy’s leg first and grabbed hold of it to pull

  herself closer. She shook the woman’s shoulder and shouted, “Amy!”

  But Amy’s eyes were closed, and she was unresponsive.

  Mandy looped an arm through the shoulder strap of Amy’s PFD so she wouldn’t lose her, then glanced downstream. They were headed straight for Big Drop Three, home of the infamous Satan’s Gut, a huge, deadly whirlpool.

  Mandy frantically tried to remember what Rob had told her about running Big Drop Three. It was a river-wide boulder field. She sure didn’t want Amy and herself pinging off rocks. Rob had said there was a narrow chute, the “Highway to Heaven.” But where was it?

  River left!

  Mandy rolled onto her back. She pulled with one arm and kicked with her feet toward the left side of the river while dragging Amy with her other arm. Then she remembered that the chute was between a huge green rock named Big Mossy and Satan’s Gut itself. She spied Big Mossy’s green bulk jutting out of the water and aimed for it.

  While she huffed and puffed and swam all out, Mandy wondered if she should have gone right instead and taken her chances with the boulder field. If she couldn’t reach the chute before the two of them were swept over the drop, they would wind up churning in Satan’s Gut.

  Too late. She had committed to this course of action. She just had to make the chute.

  Mandy swam until her muscles screamed in pain. Hell, this is it. We’ll both die in that whirlpool.

  Then a calm, masculine voice spoke in her head. “You can do it, Mandy.”

  She felt a renewed surge of strength and swam some more, gritting her teeth against the burning in her arms and legs. Big Mossy loomed closer and closer. Mandy prayed she would make it.

  With a whoosh, the current swept them over the drop. They bounced and rolled. Mandy’s arm looped in Amy’s PFD felt like it was being ripped off, but she held on tight. Water splashed in her face. She couldn’t see where they were.

  Please, not in Satan’s Gut.

  Soon they were bouncing down a wave train at the bottom of the chute—the Highway to Heaven. Relieved, Mandy spit out a mouthful of water and sucked in a deep breath. They had made it! She remembered the voice, and silently thanked her late Uncle Bill for buoying her up once again when she was in trouble in a river.

  She took a moment to gather her strength, then swam to the left again. She had to get Amy to shore before they were swept into rapids Twenty-Four and Twenty-Five, which roared downstream.

  Finally, when Mandy feared she couldn’t lift her arm one more time, she felt river bottom beneath her dragging feet. She pushed off, angling toward shore. When they reached still water less than knee-deep that was safe to stand in, Mandy stumbled to her feet. She grabbed Amy under the armpits and dragged her to shore.

  Once they were out of the water, Mandy flopped down beside Amy, panting, and checked Amy’s vitals. She was breathing but still out of it. Mandy shouted Amy’s name and patted her arm until the woman’s eyes fluttered.

  “Wha?” Amy’s eyes opened and searched unfocused around her. Then she moaned as if in pain and closed her eyes again.

  Mandy gently shook her arm. “Amy! Amy, wake up. Where does it hurt?”

  “L-leg,” Amy mumbled.

  Mandy scooted toward Amy’s legs and ran her hands along each one. Then she felt it. A bump on Amy’s calf signaled a bone break that hadn’t broken through the skin. It was starting to bruise and swell, too, from internal bleeding.

  Mandy looked around and spotted a pile of driftwood. Too tired to walk, she crawled over on hands and knees. She gathered a few strong straight branches that were at least a couple of feet long in one arm.

  She crawled back to Amy and laid the smoothest two branches on either side of the break, then reached into her first-aid fanny pack. Mandy always kept some large rubber bands there. She looped the bands around the branches and Amy’s calf to hold the splint in place.

  By the time she finished, Amy’s eyes were open again. Her gaze roamed the beach. “Where am I?”

  “We’re on a beach below the Big Drop rapids.” Mandy searched downriver to see if anyone was coming back for them, but she saw no people or rafts.

  Amy shifted slightly, eliciting a grimace and moan.

  Mandy held her in place. “Don’t move.”

  After a couple of breaths between gritted teeth, Amy asked, “What happened?”

  “I pulled you out of the river after you went overboard in Big Drop Two. Do you remember how you fell in?”

  Amy frowned as if thinking back, then her eyes grew wide. “Les!”

  “What about Les?”

  “I don’t know why, but he stuck a needle in me just before we went over the first Big Drop.” Her hand moved to touch her neck.

  Mandy bent over Amy’s neck. She saw a needle prick mark, with reddened skin around it, much like the one on Alex’s neck.

  A stark realization jelled in her mind. Les had killed Alex, making it look like an accident, and he had just tried to kill his wife the same way. And herself ! When he realized that Mandy wouldn’t give up trying to rescue Amy, Les must have decided he had to get rid of her, too. He probably hoped to stun her by whacking her in the head before he knocked her in the water. He wanted her to drown along with Amy.

  Lucky thing I have a thick skull.

  Mandy checked Amy’s pupils. They seemed somewhat dilated, but they were at least the same size. “What happened after he stuck you?”

  Amy wiped a hand across her forehead. “I got real sleepy.” She yawned. “I’m still woozy. Head hurts, too. And my leg.”

  “I put a splint on your leg. You’ve got a break, probably from hitting a rock in the river. I bet your head hurts from whatever sedative Les used.”

  “Sedative?” Confusion wrinkled Amy’s brow.

  Mandy hoped the sedative wouldn’t have any long-term effects. “Do you remember what happened next—after you got
sleepy?”

  “I don’t know. I couldn’t talk. I remember him holding me and the raft bouncing. Then wham, I was in the water and all wet, but I couldn’t stay awake. I kept drifting off.”

  “Do you think Les pushed you in?”

  Amy looked at Mandy in alarm. “No. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t have.”

  Taking a deep breath, Mandy decided it was time to be blunt with Amy. “He may have been trying to kill you.”

  “What?”

  “I didn’t see how you got in the water. But when I moved the raft over to you, so Les could pull you out, he dunked you under the water instead, then let go.”

  “Why would he do that?”

  Mandy shrugged. “I’m confused about why, too. Rob and I figured Alex might have been murdered by someone in the family for your father’s inheritance. But—”

  “Murdered? I thought a bear mauled him!”

  “No, Alex had a needle mark on his neck—just like you. The claw marks were suspicious, too. They were from a grizzly paw, and only black bears live here. And all the paw prints were from the same paw—the front left. We think the whole bear attack was staged, including sabotaging the radio, so we couldn’t call out for help.”

  “Staged? I don’t understand.” Amy tried to prop herself up on her elbows, then fell back onto the sand. “Whoa, dizzy.”

  “Don’t get up. But try to stay awake.”

  Amy frowned. “Wait, you’re saying Les killed Alex and tried to kill me? That’s crazy! I’m his wife. Les would never hurt me.”

  “Yes, it sounds crazy, but that needle mark in your neck says different. Les drugged you, pushed you overboard, and knocked me in the water. Then he took off in the raft and left us both to drown.”

  “Ohmigod!” Amy fingered her neck as what Mandy was telling her finally seemed to sink in. Her eyes reddened. “But why … ?”

  With a nod, Mandy said, “That’s what I don’t understand. Why would Les try to kill you? Are you two having problems?”

  “Yeah, some, but … murder?”

  “What about money problems?”

  “I don’t know. Les handles our finances. But I don’t think so. He hasn’t told me to cut back on shopping.”

  “Does he have a big insurance policy on you?”

  Amy shook her head.

  Mandy chewed her lip while she tried to think. “Maybe he’s after the share of the estate you’ll get after your father dies. But wait, that doesn’t make sense. If you die before your father, Les doesn’t get any of the inheritance.”

  Amy blew out a breath. “God … maybe … but no.” She shook her head then winced. “They wouldn’t resort to killing.”

  “They? Who’s they?”

  Amy stared at Mandy for a long while, and Mandy could almost see the gears turning in her mind. Finally, Amy blurted out, “Alice and Les. Les is having an affair with Alice.”

  This new revelation sent Mandy reeling. She sat back on her heels. “What?”

  Amy nodded. Tears welled up and ran down the sides of her face. “I saw them together last week, and, and …” She put a hand over her mouth to stifle a sob.

  Mandy rubbed Amy’s arm. “I’m sorry.”

  Sucking in a deep breath, Amy looked up at the strip of blue sky between the sheer canyon walls, obviously trying to pull herself together. She sniffed and continued. “They were having lunch together at a restaurant in the mall. I was supposed to be at a massage appointment, but my therapist was sick and had to cancel. So I went to the mall to look for these.”

  She raised her unsplinted leg to show off her water sandals. “I saw Les and Alice in the restaurant just as they stood to leave. I was going to go over and join them. Then they kissed. It wasn’t a quick peck, like brother to sister, it was passionate! Tongues and everything.” Amy made a face.

  “Did they see you?” Mandy asked.

  “Oh no.” Amy shook her head furiously. “I didn’t know what to do, so I ran off and hid behind a big planter. They walked right past me, and he said to her, ‘I’ll see you tomorrow at eight.’”

  Amy grabbed Mandy’s hand. “The next day was Wednesday, Les’s poker night. He plays at eight—or he’s supposed to be playing poker at eight. So, I didn’t say anything to him, but I followed him the next night. He drove right past his poker buddy’s house and went straight to Alice’s.”

  “Did you confront him?”

  “Nooo,” Amy wailed. “I didn’t know what to do. I can’t live without Les. He takes care of me.”

  Yeah, in more ways than one, Mandy thought. “Amy, I noticed that Les seems to treat you pretty rough. That’s where those bruises on your thighs came from, right?”

  Amy bit her lip and nodded. “But he’s not that bad. It’s usually just when he’s had too much to drink.”

  Which on this trip had been every night, in Mandy’s opinion.

  “I know he loves me!” Amy shouted. Desperation roughened her voice. “This thing with Alice is just a sordid fling. He’ll get over it soon.”

  “If he’s resorting to murder,” Mandy said, “it’s not just a fling.”

  The weight of that statement settled on them and quieted them both for a while.

  Mandy did some thinking, then said, “Les didn’t kill Alex because of a fling—or even a love affair. If his motive was love, he could have just asked you for a divorce. No, I think Les’s plan was to get rid of both you and Alex on this trip, making both deaths look like accidents—in your case, a drowning, and in Alex’s, a bear attack. That’s why he sabotaged the radio when he killed Alex. He needed the trip to continue so he could kill you, too. Then he planned to marry Alice. She would inherit all of the money, and they’d live the high life.”

  Amy’s brows knitted together. “So he did this for money, not love.”

  To Mandy, the statement sounded pathetically hopeful.

  Then Amy gasped. “Maybe Alice is just using Les, pretending to love him, so he’d help her in this scheme. That would be like Alice. When we were kids, she always resented having to share with her little sister and brother.”

  “There’s another possibility,” Mandy said. “That Les is the one using Alice. We don’t have any evidence that Alice is involved in the murders. Les could be acting all on his own. He may not even have any attraction for Alice at all.”

  Amy stared at Mandy. When her expression darkened, Mandy realized that Amy was reaching the conclusion that Mandy had already made—Les had been using her, too.

  “No, no.” Amy’s tears started flowing again. She clamped her lips tight and hugged herself.

  The action made Mandy realize that the air was getting chilly. The afternoon sun had slid behind the canyon wall across the river, and the long shadow had reached them. She glanced at her watch. She estimated over forty-five minutes had passed since she had dragged Amy to shore.

  Where were the others? Why hadn’t they come back to look for them yet? All of the guides were trained to go back upriver if they lost anyone, to find them and rescue them, no matter what story Les came up with. And if Les hadn’t reached the group, they would come back searching for all three of them. Mandy decided some problem downriver must have held them up.

  Then she had an awful thought. What if Les had beached the raft before reaching the others and was on his way back upstream to make sure she and Amy were dead? If he reached them before the others did, she and Amy would have to fight for their lives. She stood, straining her aching muscles, and carefully scanned the banks on both sides of the river. She saw no movement.

  She realized that there was no way for Les to approach them unseen along the long, flat beach they were on, so if he came for them, they would have warning. She picked up a couple of strong lengths of driftwood and laid them at the ready nearby. That was the best she could do to prepare, other than continually scanning the banks downriver. I
n the meantime, with the temperature dropping, she and Amy were susceptible to hypothermia in their wet clothes.

  “I’ll get a fire going,” Mandy said to Amy. “We’ve got to get dry and try to stay warm until rescue comes.”

  She made multiple trips up and down the beach until she had a large pile of driftwood and broken branches. Then she knelt near Amy to construct a small wood teepee around a waxy fire starter block that she took out of her fanny pack. Mandy lit the block with her fireproof matches. She kept feeding larger and larger pieces of wood onto the blaze until she had a good-sized fire going.

  Then Mandy helped Amy to a sitting position. “Once your clothes are dry on the side facing the fire, I’ll help you flip over so the other side gets dry.”

  Exhausted, she stood with her hands warming over the blaze and searched the shadows of the darkening canyon downriver. Where the hell are the others?

  _____

  “I think I’m going to have to hike out,” Mandy said to Amy two hours later.

  They were sitting hunched over the fire, in the dark, cold, hungry, and thirsty. There had been no sign of the others coming upstream to look for them. Or, thank the river gods, of Les. Still, something was definitely wrong.

  Amy winced as she shifted position to warm her other side. “Why hasn’t anyone come for us?”

  “I don’t know. They should have.” Mandy knew that all of the guides would have been driven to look for them. Rob, especially, would have come as soon as he could. He loved her! He would never abandon her. Unless …

  “Something—or someone—has to be preventing them from coming.” A looming dread crept into Mandy’s thoughts. She peered at Amy. “What does Les have in that camera bag that he always keeps with him? Is he carrying a weapon?”

  Amy stared at Mandy in disbelief. “You think Les is stopping them?”

  Or has already killed them. But Mandy refused to believe that. The thought was too horrible to accept.

  “Either that,” she said to Amy, “or a landslide dammed the river. Which we should have heard. And since the water level hasn’t changed, it couldn’t have happened.” Mandy held out her hands palms-up. “What else could be the reason?”