Free One Mile Under by Andrew Gross

raft.
    She stayed with them and finished the Kirshbaum as if it were a Three.
    What’s this all about?
Wade had asked, not knowing what lay at the heart.
    She owed Trey. Owed him everything. He hadn’t given up on her.
    No way she was about to give up on him.
    Especially now.
    That’s what this was about.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
     
    That same night, Wade was in his home up the canyon in Basalt. Not where he used to live, on Red Mountain in Aspen. Those homes went for millions now. In a rented house, kind of a dilapidated eighties chalet, with a dirt drive and the garage filled with his things, so he had to leave his Bronco parked outside. He’d gone to see Allie Watkins at the end of the day, just like he’d said he would. First, to pay his respects; Trey’s father had come down from up north to take possession of his boy’s body. Then to ask her, just for appearance’s sake, if somehow there was anyone out there who would want to see her husband harmed.
    Her raw, red eyes looked back at him quizzically.
    “Just a formality,” he explained, “in these types of things. We’re just crossing off a line of investigation.”
    She shook her head. She had her long blond hair wrapped back in a braid, and was in a kind of peasant dress with a shawl covering her shoulders. “I mean, there was someone who he had a dispute with over the patent they were applying for on his camera mount,” she thought back. “Mark Conners. He and Trey went to school together at CSU. But he lives in Massachusetts now. He wasn’t even here.”
    “Massachusetts,” Wade said, nodding.
    “Anyway, they seemed to have ironed it all out. Trey was giving him a small share of whatever he made. So no, no one, Chief Dunn. You knew Trey. Everyone liked him. I don’t know what you mean …”
    “I’m not meaning anything, hon,” Wade said, putting his arm around her as he went to the door. “Now don’t go worrying about it. You’ve got enough to deal with as it is. You go take good care of that little boy of yours, okay?”
    Later, he scraped together something to eat and sat down in front of the TV with a coffee. Tonight was one of those nights he longed for something a whole lot stronger.
    She’s always been a tough one to rein in. Dani. Going back to when she was a kid. Whatever she did, she did as tough as any of the boys—rock climbing, hockey, snowboarding. Once she got on something, it was like a demon was in her head. One that wouldn’t let go. She had that headstrong nature. Like her mom. Wade hadn’t had much luck in that department, either.
    This time, though, just this once, he knew, he would have to back her down.
    There were things she didn’t understand. Things she would see in a different way if she persisted. A way that could cause trouble for him.
    Things he had to make sure didn’t come out and that couldn’t get around. Too many things depended on it.
    He drank up the last of his coffee and flicked on the TV. His cell phone sounded. He took a look and saw that it wasn’t his office. The words on the screen, UNKNOWN CALLER, made the acid in his stomach shoot up. He didn’t even want to answer, but, he knew, these weren’t exactly the kind of folk you left hanging. “Hello.”
    There was no greeting, only a slight pause, then a firm but soft Oklahoma drawl almost hissing the words at him. “You said this would be a piece of cake, Chief. All buttoned up. So far, I’d say that’s anything but the case.”
    “I know.”
    “I don’t really want to hear that you know, Wade. I think you know the consequences of what happens if we can’t contain this.”
    “I’ll handle it,” Wade said, though he saw the thing unraveling like a spool of thread in a cat’s paw.
    “You’ll handle it, huh? You’ll handle it how, Wade? We already thought you had it all neatly bundled up. And now there’s another person going around making even more trouble. Some girl …”
    “Listen …” Wade said, his stomach tightening as if it