Murder at Sunrise Lake

“Vienna, you should have opted out,” Stella said. “The rest of us could have figured this out.” Vienna looked tired, something that was rare for her. “Why don’t you go lie down in one of the guest rooms?”

“I’m good right here. I’ll stretch out on the couch, and if I start snoring, just dump water on me, okay? Snoring is so obnoxious.”

The women laughed but exchanged worried looks as Vienna really did lie down on the couch, something she wouldn’t ordinarily do. She often worked in the ER, but she was the hospital’s top surgical nurse, and when it was an emergency, it was Vienna who was called in. No matter what, she always answered the call.

“I’ll leave you ladies to it. I’ve got work to do.” Sam leaned over and gave Stella a kiss on top of her head before sauntering out the door.

Zahra stood at the window, watching him walk away from the house with his easy, fluid stride. “He really is pretty, Stella,” she said.

Stella burst out laughing. “Get away from there. You aren’t allowed to flirt with him or drool over him. If you do, I’m putting ice in my water and crunching it every time I’m anywhere near you.”

Zahra hastened away from the window. “It was only an observation. No one should drink cold water, let alone put ice in it.” She gave a little shudder. “Hot water with lemon only.” She snatched up cheese, put it on a cracker and popped it in her mouth. “Crunching ice is pure torture.” She threw herself on the floor beside the others and sat, tailor-fashion.

Stella spread the sketches out on the floor of the living room. “I’ve been here before, so that means one of you took me out there. The climb was definitely way above my ability. Does anyone recognize the way in or the boulders just from what little I’ve drawn?”

She did her best to keep her heart from accelerating out of control. She was counting on them to help her find this elusive set of boulders. She’d lived there a long time, and yet she didn’t know where this place was.

Zahra scowled down at the sketches. “I’ve never seen that place, Stella, and I go bouldering with you all the time.”

Actually, that wasn’t quite the truth. Zahra preferred trad climbing. Give her a harness, a few friends, someone to lead climb and someone else to clean up, and she was happy. Bouldering was definitely not her preferred climb, but she did it when Stella wanted company, just like she hiked or backpacked when Stella wanted company.

Raine looked the sketches over carefully and shook her head. “Sorry, hon, I don’t recognize them.”

Shabina leaned over Raine’s shoulder, examining the drawings closely. “Me either. It wasn’t me who took you out there.”

That left only Harlow and Vienna. Harlow was already shaking her head. Vienna stayed on the couch but held her hand out for the sketches. She moved through the drawings quickly and nodded, stretching her arm out again, eyes closed.

“I took you out there three years ago. Very few locals know of it. The boulders are called Twin Devils. When you’re up on top of either one of the boulders, you can see forever. You have to take the old Hot Springs Road, the one no one uses anymore. Keep going and approximately seven miles past the hot springs there’s a turnoff. It isn’t marked. There’s just a dirt road, probably mostly grown over by now. It’s on the left side. Nothing marks it. No fences, nothing at all. That’s why no one ever goes out there. It’s mostly forgotten and when people try to find it, they get lost. The road is flat right there, so it looks like you’re turning into a meadow. You have to look really carefully or you’ll miss it.”

“Why isn’t the road marked?” Raine asked.

Vienna cleared her throat, a faint grin coming and then disappearing. “I was told the property is privately owned, a pretty big acreage, but the owners don’t live up here and there’s no house or cabin. They never come around. They inherited from great-grandparents or something like that and it’s been in the family forever. Since no one goes out there, the land just gets wilder and wilder. Lots of wild animals. Bear. Mountain lion. Rattlesnakes.”

“Why don’t they sell?” Harlow asked.

Vienna sighed. “Some sort of feud going on, if any of this is to be believed.”

“No one ever goes out there?” Zahra said. “Are there No Trespassing signs up?”

“There used to be. There hasn’t been for years. At least the last time I went out there I didn’t see any signs.”

“Vienna. You knew it was private property and you still trespassed?” Shabina said. “Who knew you were such a bad girl?”

“All of you knew.”

“And you took me out there too,” Stella pointed out. “If we’d been caught, I would have had to plead innocence.”