Winter Lost

So her smile hadn’t been because I wasn’t as tough as she and Adam were, but because my face had shown what I thought about human people hiking for fun in the Cabinets in the middle of the winter. When I was growing up, not too far from here, my foster father had been part of a group of volunteers that went out to find people who had gone hiking in the winter. Once in a while they found them when they were still alive.

“Still think, actually,” she said. “I might be a city girl, but I know stupid ideas when I hear them. Peter tells me they are experienced winter hikers who have done winter hikes in Alaska, Northern California, and even, once, the Swiss Alps. This is the first time they’ve been here. The sudden cold snap that preceded the storm caught them unawares, and when they saw the lights—we had lights then—they decided it was smarter to take shelter for a few days and resume their hike when the weather subsides. Peter says they keep to themselves. Jack says he can’t get into their room.”

“Is that unusual?” Adam asked her.

Elyna shrugged. “He sounded like it was.”

“Curiouser and curiouser,” I said, sliding back into the tub until the water hit the bottom of my chin and wishing my head didn’t hurt. “What about the groom’s people?”

“Zane’s not here,” Elyna said. “He was supposed to be on a plane landing in Missoula. But that wasn’t looking good last I heard.”

“Zane is the groom?” Adam asked.

Elyna nodded. “I haven’t met him, but Peter likes him—and after decades in the CPD, Peter’s instincts are pretty good. The only members of Zane’s party here are his parents.” She grimaced. “His parents—”

“The billionaires?” I said sympathetically.

She looked at me, eyebrows raised.

“The gas station attendant in Libby said it was a billionaire’s wedding.”

She laughed. “I don’t know about billionaire, but rich, yes. The family owns Heddar’s.”

“The grocery store chain?” Adam asked.

She nodded again. “And has controlling interest in two other chain stores I know about. Andrew and Dylis Heddar. Andrew’s grandfather started the grocery chain. Andrew’s father turned it into a national business concern, and Andrew, the biggest shark of all, has taken it international. They are not happy that their only child has chosen to marry a social worker from Chicago. Not happy at all. At least, Andrew isn’t pleased, and his wife…Peter says that she feels however her husband tells her to feel. She was an heiress of some sort, I think. Her family money was what allowed Andrew to expand.”