Page 20 of K-9 in Pursuit

“Why me?” he asked.

“You saw Sharee at the resort, on the ski runs and with her friends. You can tell me who those friends were and what they’re like. And I figure you’re more motivated than most people to find the real killer.”

He was definitely that. “I don’t know how much I can help you,” he said. “I didn’t really know Sharee.”

“I’m not sure how well I knew her, either. But maybe together we can figure some things out.” She glanced around. “Is there someplace we can sit down and talk?”

He was supposed to be working. But he was pretty sure the whole point of this assignment was to keep him out of the way. He dug in his pocket and pulled out a ring of keys and sorted through them. “It’s not all that comfortable,” he said. “But at least we can sit.” Then he led the way to the T-bar lift shack.

She removed her skis and followed him into the small wooden shed with windows on two sides, some hooks on the wall, and two folding chairs, a shovel and a wooden counter. A gas heater hung from the ceiling, turned off. The temperature inside the shack equaled that outside, and the place smelled of mouse droppings and old cigarette smoke. “I can’t turn on the heat,” he said, and offered her one of the folding chairs. “The propane tank needs to be filled.”

“That’s okay.”

She sat, and he studied her. “You came down one of the Apex runs?”

She nodded. “I followed your tracks.”

Those were expert runs. “I didn’t know you skied. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here.”

“I came to SkyCrest for the skiing, several years ago,” she said. “But when rent and lift tickets both skyrocketed, I couldn’t afford to ski anymore. Plus, I needed to focus on my business.”

“But you bought a ticket today.” He winced inwardly. A single-day lift ticket would run her over $200. Plus she had to take off a day of work.

“I needed to talk to a lot of people at the resort, not just you,” she said. “I spent my first hour here questioning every lift tech and ski patroller I could find. I asked when they last saw Sharee and who she was with.”

“Did you find out anything?”

“Everyone knew her. That’s not really surprising. My sister drew attention, wherever she went. From the time she could talk, she liked being the center of attention and she had the kind of personality and the looks that made that easy for her.” She leaned toward him, elbows on her knees. “Who do you remember seeing her with?”

“Most of the time when I talked to her, she was alone.” He grimaced, remembering the time she had cornered him in the lift shack.

“But you must have seen her other times. She wasn’t always alone, was she?”

He tried to conjure up some memory of Sharee. An image formed in his mind of a group of young people her age. “There were some local high school students I saw her with a few times. A couple of girls… Winter and Leah?”

“Leann? Leann Royberg?”

“I don’t know the last name, but Leann sounds right. And there were some guys—Josh and Trevor? There were others, but I only heard the names in passing.”

“What were they like? I mean, with her? Did you get a sense they were friends or was there tension?”

“They all seemed friendly. But I only saw them in passing.” He paused, thinking. “They were all about her age and the girls seemed a lot like her.”

“How do you mean?”

“They were pretty and outgoing. Friendly. Flirty.”

“Did they come on to you, too?”

“No. They’d say hi and everything, but they were focused on guys closer to their own age.”

“Josh and Trevor?”

“And others. Four or five guys altogether. I’m pretty sure they go to the local high school.”

“Did you ever see her talking to an older man—in his thirties, good-looking with dark brown hair and eyes?”

He considered the question, then shook his head. “No. But I didn’t really focus on Sharee. I was working and only paid attention to her when she was right in front of me, talking to me.”