“Did the emergency services find them?”I pressed my palm onto the cool counter as I awaited Tom’s verdict.
“They found them.”His lips twitched.“One was still alive at the time, but the other…” His hesitation conveyed what the end of his sentence was.
“One was alive?”I couldn’t believe anyone could have survived that fall.
“Initially.”Tom shook his head slowly.“He had massive internal injuries.Even the rescue helicopter couldn’t get him to hospital in time.”
“Shit.”Hearing the men’s fate out loud was demoralizing.
“What happened up there, Eli?”Tom leaned toward me.“You’ve never lost anyone before.”
“I know I shouldn’t blame the dead, but they just didn’t want to listen to me.”Sighing, I recalled James and Miles’ final moments.“I kept urging them to come away from the edge, but they insisted on posing and having photographs taken.”
“I know the type.”He looked at me with sympathetic eyes.“Too much ego and not enough brain-power.”
“Yeah.”Tom had described the James I had met perfectly.“That’s about right.”
“Don’t look so worried,” he assured me.“They all signed the legal disclaimers saying they understood the risks involved in the hike and they accepted them.You shouldn’t be in any trouble.”
In the frenzy of the snow, Erin, Hawkins, and I hadn’t even considered the idea that I’d be in trouble, but Tom was right.Every single person I’d ever taken into the wilderness was made to read and sign the full list of risks, from twisting an ankle to being mauled by a curious bear.James and Miles had been made aware of the hazards, even if they’d chosen to ignore my advice.
“I suppose there’ll be an inquiry.”I cringed, imagining having to drag Erin through that ordeal.As the potential only surviving witness, she could be called to give testimony at such a hearing.
“I don’t know.”Tom shrugged.“But I reckon they’ll shut down the tours.The charity funding the park was already against the idea of private tours on the grounds of health and safety, and well… this will only strengthen their cause.”
“Yeah.”
I wouldn’t have been surprised if Tom was correct, and while I’d miss Niantes’ rugged beauty, I wasn’t going to continue giving the tours anyhow.I had something new in my life—someonewho was more important than spending days out in the wilderness.When I’d burned through the money I’d saved during those years in nature, I’d find another job.
“What about the woman who went missing in the group?”I asked.“She was in her forties, with blonde hair… She was in a relationship with one of the deceased and decided to trek off when the snow started.Has she been found?”
I remained hopeful that either Chelle had found her way back to civilization or the emergency services had found her.
“Yes.”He straightened as though the thought hadn’t occurred to him until I’d mentioned it.“Search and rescue found her around ten kilometers from the river.”
“Alive?”
Time shifted to slow motion as I waited for his answer.I knew whatever came next would be pivotal for my little girl.
“Barely.”Tom flicked on his screen and clicked into the appropriate file.“Hannah’s report says she was hypothermic.”
Hardly surprising, but at least she isn’t dead.Erin will be so relieved.
“How long was she out there?Do we know?”
Tom scanned the date at the top of the screen.“It seems as though she was found in the snow first thing the next day.”
“She’s lucky to be alive.”My sigh spoke of my frustration.“I should have made sure she stayed with us.Do you know which hospital she was sent to?I’d like to reach out and make sure she’s doing okay.”
“Looks like the Royal General,” Tom confirmed with another peruse of the screen.“She might even have been discharged by now.”
“Thanks, Tom.”
I didn’t like to tell him that the woman I’d fallen for in the last week would also have Chelle’s details, so making contact if she was no longer in hospital wasn’t going to be a problem.
“What happened to the rest of you out there?”Tom flicked out of his screen.“They’re saying it was the worst storm around these parts for seventy years!”
I could believe that.“I broke into the nearest ranger’s cabin, and we sheltered there.We had a little wood and food to keep us going.”
