Free Death at the Summit by Nikki Haverstock Page A

anything important?”
    Mary shrugged. “Ya never know.” She wrapped her arms around her middle. “Let’s get back inside.”
    I looked out at the snow then back at the center. We were trapped here with a dead body. “Do you think they’ll replace the carpeting?”
    Mary turned to me blankly. “What?”
    “All that blood. Mac’s dead body’s in that room and we’re stuck at the center. It’s kinda freaking me out.”
    We stood and stared at the center. Mary gave a little shiver. “I wasn’t freaked out before, but now I am. Thanks a lot.”
    “What can I say? Misery loves company.”
    Moo finished his business and kicked snow over the area with stiff, awkward legs. He ran back to the door. I looked over the snow that was still falling heavily and headed toward the door, stumbling over a parking block obscured by the snow. “Wow, I can’t believe how much snow there is.”
    Mary held open the door. “Welcome to Wyoming.”
    We chuckled and dusted ourselves off before going into the main hallway with Moo. Noises bounced down the hallways from the various people trapped in the center, even though no one was in sight. I wondered where Brian was interviewing people. Where was Liam, who seemed to appear and disappear randomly? My office was a short distance down the hallway, but long before we reached the office, we could hear Indy’s excited voice.
    “Icebolt, Icebolt, use your cool down. Ice Burst! You got him. Great job.”
    I stepped into the office, and Indy leaped back from Mouse. She was staring intently at the laptop screen with her face all scrunched up in concentration.
    Indy’s face turned red for a second, then he seemed to pull himself together. “Mouse is an awesome caster. She’s a natural at DPS. I got her started on my computer, but as soon as the game downloads on your computer, we’re going to run some dungeons.”
    “Uh…” That was a lot of words that made no sense. “I need the office for a bit. Can you both clear out for about ten minutes?”
    “Do we have to? The game only needs like five more minutes.”
    “Perfect, then when we are done, your game will be downloaded, and you can play.”
    “Ya, ya, ya, okay. Come on, Mouse, I can introduce you to my dad.” He offered her his hand, and tentatively, she grabbed it. They left the room hand in hand.
    After they were gone, I raised an eyebrow at Mary. “The holding-hands thing is new.”
    “At least someone is having a good day.” She pulled out the chair that Indy had been sitting in and sat.
    I slid the memory card into a reader and waited for the computer to register it. Opening up the folders, I saw two video clips; one from today and one from the previous month. After I clicked on the clip from today, the video popped up on the screen.
    The footage popped around on the screen as Cold got the camera settled on the action. Minx was on the screen, facing off with Kandi. The audio wasn’t loud enough to hear what they were saying, but the body language made up for it. Kandi shoved Minx hard. Even knowing what was coming, I was shocked when Minx slapped Kandi.
    When Minx’s hand hit Kandi’s cheek and she disappeared from frame, I couldn’t help when a snort of laughter escaped. I rewound and watched again, laughing even harder. Then I rewound and added commentary. “You have something on your face.” Slap! “Let me introduce you to my little friend.” Slap! “Kandi-covered slap.” Slap! I was laughing so hard, I could barely talk.
    Mary tried to suppress a giggle. “You are enjoying this a bit too much.”
    I tried to stop laughing. “Sorry, you’re right. See anything new?”
    She pointed to the background on the screen, where Mac was arguing with a thin man. “That’s Bucky. He’s one of suspects.”
    “Oh, ya, I saw him fighting with Mac when the fight first occurred. He’s one of the suspects? Interesting.”
    I rewound until I found the point where Mac and Bucky started interacting. Mac said something