Douglas Preston - White Fire

But it wasn’t the chief. It was his secretary. Before Corrie could even get through the usual niceties, the lady was talking fast and breathily. “The chief is so sorry, so very sorry, but it turns out he can’t give you permission to examine the remains.”

Corrie’s mouth went dry. “What?” she croaked. “Wait a minute—”

“He’s tied up all day in meetings so he asked me to call you. You see—”

“But he said—”

“It’s just not going to be possible. He feels very sorry he can’t help you.”

“But why ?” she managed to break in.

“I don’t have the specifics, I’m sorry—”

“Can’t I speak to him?”

“He’s caught up in meetings all day and, um, for the rest of the week.”

“For the rest of the week ? But just yesterday he said—”

“I’m sorry, I told you I’m not privy to his reasons.”

“Look,” said Corrie, trying to control her voice without much success, “just a day ago he told me there wouldn’t be any problems. That he’d approve it. And now he changes his mind, refuses to say why, and…and then dumps on you the job of giving me the bum’s rush! It isn’t fair!”

Corrie got a final, frosty I wish I could help you, but the decision is final , followed by a decisive click. The line went dead.

Corrie sat down and, banging her palm on the table, cried: “Damn, damn, damn !”

Then she looked up. Ted was looking over at her, his eyes wide.

“Oh, no,” Corrie said, covering her mouth. “I’ve disturbed the whole library.”

He held up his hand with a smile. “As you can see, there’s nobody here right now.” He hesitated, then came around his desk and walked over. He spoke again, his voice having dropped to a whisper. “I think I understand what’s going on here.”

“You do? I’d wish you’d explain it to me, then.”

Even though there was nobody around, he lowered his voice still further. “ Mrs. Kermode. ”

“Who?”

“Mrs. Betty Brown Kermode got to the chief of police.”

“Who is Betty Brown Kermode?”

He rolled his eyes and looked around furtively. “Where to begin? First, she owns Town and Mount Real Estate, which is the real estate agency in town. She’s the head of the Heights Neighborhood Association, and was the force behind getting the cemetery moved. She’s basically one of those self-righteous people who run everything and everybody and brook no dissent. Fact is, she’s the real power in this town.”

“A woman like that’s got influence over the chief of police?”

Ted laughed. “You met Morris, right? Nice guy. Everyone has influence over him. But especially her. I’m telling you, she’s fearsome — even more so than that brother-in-law of hers, Montebello. I’m sure Morris had every intention of giving you permission — until he called Kermode.”

“But why would she want to stop me? What harm would it do?”

“That,” said Ted, “is what you’re going to have to find out.”

At nine the next morning, Corrie pulled her Rent-a-Junker up to the gates of The Heights. There the guard — not nearly as friendly as the last time she’d passed through, with the chief of police — spent a long, insolent amount of time checking her ID and calling to verify her appointment, all the while casting disdainful looks at her car.

Corrie was careful to remain polite, and at length she was driving along the road toward the clubhouse and development offices. A cluster of buildings on the valley floor soon came into view: picturesque, snowcapped and icicled, their stone chimneys smoking. Beyond, well up on the far side of the snow-blanketed valley, Corrie could see a massive dirt scar of ongoing construction — no doubt the new clubhouse and spa. She watched backhoes and loaders busily at work digging footings. She couldn’t help but wonder why they needed a new clubhouse when the old one looked pretty amazing.

She parked in the visitor’s lot and entered the clubhouse, where the secretary pointed her toward the offices of Town & Mount Real Estate.

The reception area of Town & Mount was sumptuous — all wood and stone, with Navajo rugs on the walls, a spectacular chandelier made of deer antlers, cowboy-style leather-and-wood furniture, and a stone fireplace in which a real log fire burned. Corrie took a seat and settled in to wait.

An hour later, she was finally ushered into the office of Mrs. Kermode, president of Town & Mount and director of the Heights Association. Corrie had dressed in her most corporate mode, a gray suit with a white blouse and low pumps. She was absolutely determined to keep her cool and win Mrs. Kermode over with flattery, charm, and persuasion.

The previous afternoon, she had done her damnedest to dig up dirt on Kermode, heeding the Pendergastian dictum that if you want something from somebody, always have something “ugly” to trade. But Kermode seemed to be a woman above reproach: a generous donor to local charities, an elder in the Presbyterian church, a volunteer at the local soup kitchen (it surprised Corrie that a town like Roaring Fork would even have a soup kitchen), and a businesswoman of acknowledged integrity. While she was not exactly loved, and was in fact heartily disliked by many, she was respected — and feared — by all.

Mrs. Kermode surprised Corrie. Far from being the dowdy woman conjured up by the name Betty Brown Kermode, she was an extremely well-put-together woman in her early sixties, slender and fit, with beautifully coiffed platinum hair and understated makeup. She was dressed in high cowboy style with a beaded Indian vest, white shirt, tight jeans, and cowboy boots. A Navajo squash blossom necklace completed the ensemble. The walls of her office were covered with photographs of her riding a stunning paint horse in the mountains and competing in an arena, charging through a herd of cows. A water cooler stood in one corner. Another corner of the office was dominated by a magnificent western saddle, tooled all over and trimmed in silver.

In an easy, friendly way, Mrs. Kermode came forward and shook Corrie’s hand, inviting her to sit down. Corrie’s irritation at being kept waiting for an hour began to dissipate in the warm welcome.

“Now, Corrie,” she began, speaking with a pronounced Texas accent, “I want to thank you for coming in. It gives me a chance to explain to you, in person, why Chief Morris and I unfortunately can’t grant your request.”

“Well, I was hoping to explain—”

But Kermode was in a hurry and overrode Corrie’s attempt to present her talking points. “Corrie, I’m going to be frank. The scientific examination of those mortal remains for a…college thesis is, in our view, disrespectful of the dead.”

This was not what Corrie expected. “In what way?”

Kermode gave a poisonous little laugh. “My dear Miss Swanson, how can you ask such a question? Would you want some student pawing through your grandfather’s remains?”

“Um, I would be fine with it.”

“Come, now. Of course you wouldn’t. At least where I come from, we treat our dead with respect. These are sacred human remains.”

Corrie tried desperately to get back to her talking points. “But this is a unique opportunity for forensic science. This is going to help law enforcement—”

“A college thesis? Contribute to forensic science? Aren’t you exaggerating the importance of this project just a teensy little bit now, Miss Swanson?”

Corrie took a deep breath. “Not at all. This could be a very important study and data collection of perimortem trauma caused by a large carnivore. When a skeleton of a murder victim is found, forensic pathologists have to distinguish animal tooth marks and other postmortem damage from the marks on the bones left by the perpetrator. It’s a serious issue and this study—”