Free 01 Storm Peak by John Flanagan Page B

look narrow enough.”
    Lee considered them skeptically. “Hard to tell,” she replied. “They may or may not be. They could just as easily be alpine skis.”
    Jesse rose to his feet, absentmindedly dusting the dry snow from the knees of his Levis. “What you’re saying,” he said, “is that we’re no wiser this morning than we were last night.”
    “That’s about it.” Lee craned back to look up at the gondola cabins humming overhead. “But I still think this is the most likely spot for him to have got out.”
    Jesse followed her gaze. “Not that it does us much good, unless we know he’s planning on doing it again.”
    “And unless we know when he’s planning on doing it again,” she added heavily.
    “Well,” said Jesse after a while. “I guess the next thing to do is see if there’s any link we can find between the two victims.”
    “I’ve got Tom checking on that already.” Lee took a final look around the site. The first of the morning’s skiers were beginning to make their way down the mountain, their skis virtually silent in the fresh fallen snow. Jesse walked to the snowmobile they’d ridden up the mountain. He flicked the kill button up to the on position, then tugged on the starter cable. The two-stroke engine purred easily to life and Jesse swung his leg over the saddle.
    “Nothing much to gain by standing around here,” he said, gesturing for Lee to climb on the pillion. She moved toward the snowmobile, then stopped, leaned forward and pushed the kill button in. The noise of the engine died. Jesse twisted in the saddle to look at her.
    “Something on your mind?” he asked her.
    She nodded. “Jess, I appreciate your help on this. You know a hell of a lot more about this sort of homicide case than me,” she began.
    He shrugged. “Maybe so. Maybe not. Regardless, I’m pleased to help out.”
    “I was thinking,” said Lee, choosing her words carefully, “that it might be time to make your position a little more… official. I guess you could take a few weeks’ leave from the Patrol, couldn’t you?”
    Jesse considered the suggestion. His poker face told her nothing about what he was thinking. Finally, he replied. “I guess. You trying to give me a badge here, Lee?”
    She nodded. “That’s about the size of it, Jess. Of course, you don’t need an actual badge but it might speed things up if you were a deputy—on a temporary basis, say.”
    Jesse rubbed the side of his jaw with the palm of his hand. “Don’t see that it would make much difference, Lee. I’m happy to help out. Don’t need to be no temporary deputy to do it.”
    She frowned at him. “You’re not concerned about working for a woman, are you, Jess?” she asked. “Or maybe it’s because it’s me?” she added as an afterthought.
    Jesse grinned widely at her. “Well, I’m working for you anyway, Lee, so I can’t see that I’m concerned about it either way. I just don’t see any reason to make things any more official than they are.”
    Lee sighed. She’d known that he was going to react this way. It was probably linked back to what had happened in Denver. Jesse watched her patiently, waiting for her to speak again. He wasn’t helping any, she thought. Finally, she said, “Look, I assume that you’d like to look around Barret’s room in the Harbor?” She made it a question and he nodded slowly.
    “Could be I’d turn something up. I was going to suggest we do it.”
    “Well, that’s the point, see, Jess?” she said, seizing her opportunity. “We’d both have to do it. If you want to nose around a crime scene, I have to be along to make things official, don’t I?”
    He hadn’t thought of that point and he nodded again, considering. “I guess that’s true enough.”
    Lee developed the thought further. “And let’s just say that you turn up a piece of evidence. Let’s say you find something that points us right to the murderer—”
    Jesse stopped her, holding up one hand and grinning