Sarah Andrews - In Cold Pursuit

Valena said, “You mean Willy. He strikes me as a prize stumblebum.”

“And the other man?” said Skehan. “What was his name?

Dave? Cal has described him as something of an operator. A bit sly.”

Cal said, “And I hear he’s a womanizer.”

I don’t like you , Valena decided, but she tipped her head to one side, indicating polite inquisitiveness. “I happened to speak with Manny Roig,” she said. “I got the impression that being in that camp at that time was nothing less than traumatic for him. Would you concur with that, Cal?” she added, pushing the question back at him.

Cal knit his brow and nodded. “It was terrible for all of us.”

The beeper on Skehan’s belt went off. He read its message and then picked up the telephone on the coffee table and dialed. “This is Jim,” he said. “Yeah, sure. She’s here.” He handed it to Cupcake.

Cupcake gave the phone a quizzical look, then spoke into it. “Cake here. Oh, really? Now? Shit, can’t it wait? Okay, okay.” She put down the phone. “Sorry, got to run. Can’t be helped.” Glancing at Valena, she said, “You can fill me in later.”

As the heavy fire door at the top of the stairs closed behind Cupcake, Cal said, “What’s the problem? Is Cupcake that much of a sieve for information?”

I really, really do not like you , thought Valena.

Ted chuckled. “I have a long and mutually supportive relationship with the Boss over at Fleet Ops. What can I say? It just happened that he needed her to fill out a report about her part in the search-and-rescue effort.”

“Slick,” said Cal. “We got her input on Dave Fitzgerald and the search and rescue, and then we got her gone. I like the way you guys operate.”

Skehan’s face darkened ever so slightly. “I don’t like to operate , Cal. I prefer to do science.”

Point to Skehan , thought Valena.

Skehan said, “In fact, it’s time to end this little gathering. Cal, Valena, you are excused. I don’t mean to be abrupt, but the rest of us need to meet on project matters.”

Wondering what Skehan’s prior urgency had been, Valena stood up, nodded to each person, and headed for the door. She was relieved to be excused. Cal’s manner had gotten under her skin and she was angry. She slipped through the heavy fire door at the top of the stairs and waited. She knew that he would be the next to exit. A moment later, Cal opened the door and nearly bumped into her.

“Hey,” he said.

“You said you needed to talk to me.”

“Right—uh, but that was before this came up.”

“You mean, this meeting?”

“Yeah. Imagine. They’re having a strategy meeting and trying to make it look like an accidental coffee klatch.” He shook his head. “They got rid of Cupcake, so why shoo us away?”

“You don’t have to second-guess everyone, Cal.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“And why are you still here?”

“Emmett’s my best friend! They should let me help.”

“Did you help Emmett look for the Gamow bag?”

Cal lowered his gaze to the floor. “We tried, but in that blizzard? We couldn’t see our hands in front of our faces, so we went back to the tents.”

“So you stayed at the camp.”

“Yeah. I helped with the patient. We were trying to keep that man alive!”

“And the others? Schwartz and Lindemann?”

“Those putzes stayed in their tent. Regular Akbar-and-Jeff team. No help whatsoever.”

“And Sheila? And Dave and Willy?”

Speaking to himself, Cal said, “Shit, they can’t keep me from trying to help Emmett.” He turned and pushed the door open, heading back into the library.

Valena headed down the stairs and into the lab equipment storage room, looking for a pad of paper and pen to write up some notes for Jim Skehan. While she searched through the shelves, the lower fire door opened again and Cal Hart walked out. Not seeing her, he stepped across the hallway into the doorway of Brenda Utzon’s office. Looked around. Stepped quietly inside. Valena heard the sounds of drawers opening and closing. Two minutes later, he came out eating a handful of chips and headed down the hallway toward the main entrance to the building. She heard the doors open and close.

Easing out from her hiding place, Valena stepped out into the hallway. So you are an opportunistic little filcher , she mused. Not as lily-white as you put on!

The fire door to the stairwell opened again and Skehan stepped out. “Valena?” he called. “Are you still here? Come back upstairs.”

Valena emerged from the storeroom and followed him back up the steps. “I thought you wanted me to leave,” she said.

“I wanted to keep you out of the limelight,” said Skehan. “Make you seem incidental to this investigation. Just in case.”

“In case of what?”

“Call me paranoid, but I’m going to stick only with those people who I know well to trust with my life.” He opened the upper door and strode into the room.

“But you don’t know me,” said Valena, “and—”

“I know you better than you might suppose,” he replied. “You had the guts to argue with me.”

“Does that make me trustworthy?”

“It’ll have to do.” He sat back down on the couch. “Okay, what have we got?”

“I like the program you laid out before Cal and Cupcake joined us,” said Bill.

Valena remained standing. Turning toward her, Skehan explained, “We’re each going to request through our universities that NSF make a formal inquiry into what has happened to one of our most distinguished scientists. He’s been treated like a thug, whisked off the ice like some support staffer who’s gotten into a fight in a bar. And we’re each doing what we can here, and we need your help. Valena, you’re the most flexible, being at loose ends, as it were, and NSF will hardly notice what a graduate student is up to. That is, if you keep your head down. You can do that, can’t you?”

“It would have to be what help I can provide from New Zealand or the US,” Valena said cautiously. “If the weather holds, I’m on my way to an early morning departure.”

Skehan tossed one hand to the side in a dismissive gesture. “We’ve already taken care of that. Your stay has been extended.”

“It has?” A shock ran through Valena. For the first time, she was not so certain that she wanted to stay.

“The strings weren’t all that difficult to pull. Kathy asked for your assistance over the next week because one of her people is down with the crud, I said I needed you the week after that, Bill said he might need you as well, and about then Bellamy caved and just told us to get back to him when we didn’t need you anymore. So that’s taken care of. Now, don’t thank us,” he said. “You have not yet begun to comprehend the long hours we work down here.”

He grabbed at the beeper mounted on his belt, which was again summoning him. He read the instrument and then leaned toward the phone on the coffee table and dialed. “Skehan,” he said into the instrument. “Yes, she’s here.” He passed the phone to Valena.

Valena gripped the receiver, wondering who would know to contact Skehan in order to reach her. “Hello?” she said.

“Hi, Valena? This is Lulu over in Mac Ops. I have a message for you from the guys out on Cape Royds.”

“Who?”

“Nat the penguin guy, and there are some Kiwi archaeologists working out there at Shackleton’s hut. They’re nice enough guys, but they were hitting the sauce, and something about someone stealing artifacts and penguin eggs. If that’s true, I suppose they were getting stinko because wow, that would really bother them, you know? Anyway, the message is that you’re supposed to come visit if you like.” She giggled. “But I’d watch out if I were you, because…well, it sounded like they thought you were pretty cute.”