The Other Side of Lone Mountain

Chapter Twenty-Two

They arrived at the station at two o’clock. They both went into Jeff’s office and shut the door. “Okay Jeff, what do you think about what Gill said”, asked Mandy.

“He’s lying through his teeth”, said Jeff. “Did you see his face when we told him that the victim had told us that he had been pushed over that ridge? I thought he was going to pass out; he got so white. But then when we told him we didn’t think we’d be able to get any further information from him because he was in such bad shape, Gill seemed to relax.

“There’s definitely something going on up on that mountain Jeff, and I believe Gill is smack dab in the middle. If you think about it, we didn’t start having all these so-called
accidents until after Gill took over the position from his dad three years ago.”

“I never thought about that before, but you’re right. We very seldom had accidents up there except for an occasional logging accident. You may be on to something, Mandy.” Maybe, we’ll get lucky and lift some good prints off Mark’s vehicle. Here’s something else I want to give you a heads up on. Be careful what you say around here.”

“Why”, asked Mandy.

“Because I think we may have a leak in the office. It might just be my over active imagination, but I don’t think so. Also, those prints you gave me, one does belong to Mark, but the other one belongs to one of the loggers. A guy named Steve Olsen. I’m going to wait till this evening, then I’m going to his house and pick him up for questioning.”

“Do you want me to accompany you?” asked Mandy.

“No, you go on.”
“Well let me know if you get any information from Steve.” Mandy left Jeff and went to her desk to type out her report before leaving to meet Paul at the hospital. It disturbed her to think that one of her co-workers might be leaking information. She tried to think who it could be but was unable to imagine any one of those guys doing something like that. She finished her report and placed it in the Sheriff’s report tray and walked out of the office.

Upon arriving at the hospital Mandy found Paul in the waiting room. “ Hi Paul, where’s Vickie and the kids?” Paul looked up to see Mandy standing there. Immediately, his eyes lit up.

“They’re in with Mark.”

“How is he today? Any signs of improvements?”

“A little, they think that they may be able to save his feet after all. But he may always have trouble walking.”

“We have to look at the positive side of this whole ordeal. At least he won’t be losing his feet as they first thought”, said Mandy.

“He’s going to need a lot of therapy though. It’s gonna be rough on Vickie and the kids for a while.”

“Have the doctors said when they think he’ll be released?”

“No, they expect him to be here for several more weeks. He’s still having trouble with his lungs wanting to fill with fluid. They say he has developed Pneumonia and he’s having trouble getting rid of it. They’ve been giving him antibiotics and every time they think he’s improving he takes another turn and they have to start all over again.”
“Poor Mark, I wish there was more we could do for him.” replied Mandy.

“Just find out who did this to him and make them pay.” Mandy could hear the anger in his voice. Mandy understood how Paul felt because she felt the same way when her father and husband died.

“Now I have something great to tell you and I don’t want you Jeff and I went up to see Gill this morning. We went up there to find out if anyone saw or heard anything unusual during the last week or so.”

“And?”

“According to Gill, no one has reported anything.” She deliberately left out the part that she and Jeff suspected him of being one of the men Mark saw that day. She continued, “It wasn’t a total waste because I found something up there.”

“What? Another clue?”

“No, better than that, we found Mark’s truck!”

“You did! How! Where!”

“It looks like someone deliberately drove it into a ditch on the old skidway”

“Skidway? What’s that?”

“It’s a road used for skidding cut timber to a landing for transport. We were checking some of the old road to see if we could find anything when we spotted it. That road hasn’t been used for years.” “Jeff is having someone tow it back to town. Maybe we can lift some good prints from it.”

“Speaking of prints did the Sheriff find any matches for the ones Lone Wolfe gave us?”
“I actually forgot to ask him.” Suddenly they are approached by a local police officer. “Hi, I’m looking either for a Paul Covington or Deputy Blake.”

“Well you have found us both, replied Mandy. “You must be the Officer they sent to watch over Mr. Scott?”

“Right, my name is Miguel Lopes.”

“Officer Lopes, we thank you for coming. Let me introduce you to Mark and his wife”, said Mandy. “Paul, I’ll be right back.”


After a few minutes Mandy returned. “All set. Mark doesn’t feel he needs protection but Vickie and I convinced him that it’s best to be safe than sorry and he finally gave in. He didn’t have the strength to argue with two women”

“Listen, I was planning on taking Vickie and the kids to dinner tonight, I’d like it very much if you would join us.”

“I’ve got an even better idea, I know she’s going be tired by the time she leaves the hospital this evening so why not come over to my house for dinner. Besides I’d like a chance to get to know Vickie a little better and the kids can watch television. It’ll be a lot more relaxing than a restaurant.”

“Are you sure you really want to do this? That’s a lot of trouble to go through after a day at work!”

“Please, let me do this for them. They have been through so much." ”

“Okay, I know it’s impossible to talk you out of something once you’ve made up your mind so I won’t argue. What time do you want us there?”

“Why not come directly from the hospital?”

“When Vickie comes out I’ll let her know. When we leave here, she’ll probably want to stop at the B & B to freshen up a little after being here all day. We’ll be there afterwards, probably about seven.”

“Okay, I’m going to go now and I’ll see you guys about seven.”