Andrew Gross - One Mile Under

“Nothing.” Hauck waved politely. “I’m fine.”

“So where’d you come in from, Mr. Hauck?” The duty officer had given him Hauck’s card. “Says Greenwich here. But you look kind of relaxed. L.A., maybe. You look kind of L.A., if you don’t mind me saying.”

“The Caribbean, actually. I was on a boat yesterday morning when Ted got in touch with me.”

“ Caribbean? ” Chief Dunn’s eyes widened. “Well, I have to say, you certainly do take the godfather role pretty seriously.”

Hauck smiled back. “Ted and I go back a long way. He said Dani was in some kind of trouble. There was no breeze. Here I am. So is she …?”

“Is she what?”

“In some kind of trouble.”

“Ty Hauck …” The chief leaned back and crossed his legs, and looked at Hauck’s card. He narrowed his gaze back on Hauck. “Jeez, I know who you are. I saw you on CNN or something. You’re the guy who was part of that investigation that led to that Treasury secretary’s arrest.”

“Thomas Keaton.” Hauck filled in the blank for him. “But I was only the one who got shot up a bit. Others did most of the work.”

“Not from what I heard. You look a little different,” the chief said, drawing a hand across his chin, “maybe because of the …”

“Midlife crisis,” Hauck said, referring to the growth.

“Well, I sure as hell know a lot about those.” Wade Dunn laughed. “Though mine landed me in this job. I used to run the force over in Aspen. Well, how about that, Dani has a celebrity godfather. So you knew her dad?”

“Ted and I went to college together. Back east.”

“Only met him a couple of times,” the chief said. “You’re one helluva friend to have, Mr. Hauck, if you don’t mind me saying. To drop everything and come out here.”

“So what’s Danielle done? I understand that she’s being kept here. Ted wasn’t quite clear.”

“It’s a bit hard to explain exactly what she’s done. Nothing really, when it comes to the law, except make my life a living hell. Professionally speaking. Personally, I like the gal. Practically raised her. But I guess you could say it’s sort of for her own good, if you know what I mean.”

“I’m not sure.”

“Look.” Dunn let his chair come back up. “We’ve had kind of some misfortune in the valley in the past week. Two things …” He told Hauck about the tragic, but likely unrelated, accidents. Dani’s friend, Trey, on the river, and the hot-air balloon that caught on fire in the air.

“That’s terrible …” Hauck winced. “How many were aboard?”

“Five.” Dunn shook his head. “Including the pilot. Who Dani claims wanted to tell her something about the rafting accident before his balloon went down.”

“What was that?’

The chief shrugged. “Claims he saw something on the river, but she never got to hear. The guy was a bit of a lone steer to me, if you know what I mean. Not all there. But Dani seems to think it was important. Look, these two events would be terrible for any community to undergo …” The chief lit up a cigarette. “Hope you don’t mind if I smoke, Mr. Hauck. Only real vice I have left,” the chief said. “The rest have all been legislated out …” Hauck nodded for him to go ahead. “But for us, here … Aspen may seem like a big, worldly place, Mr. Hauck, with all the glitzy stars and private jets, but truth is, this whole valley is just three small Colorado towns. Everyone knows everyone else. I know Dani was close to that young man who was killed on the river. Seems she’s gotten it in her head that these two terrible accidents weren’t exactly that.”

Hauck cocked his head. “Not sure I’m following you. Weren’t exactly what ?” he asked.

“Accidents,” the chief said, taking a drag. “Worse, that they’re both somehow connected.”

“What do you mean by ‘worse’?”

The chief seemed to be taking a read on Hauck, his granite gray eyes settling on his. “Look, we’re both law enforcement professionals here … I may not have had the headlines you have on your résumé, and this is kind of a sleepy job now, but up in Aspen as you can imagine, I’ve seen a lot in close to thirty years …”

“I’m not sure I’m following.”

“What I’m saying, sir, is we turned over both of those incidents from hell and back—there’s been a state parks investigator on the river and a national safety team all over every part of that balloon, or what was left of it. And so far there’s not a stitch of evidence that says there’s been any foul play.”

“But Danielle is convinced that there is?”

“Dani’s like a mule. She gets on something and … You said you knew her mother?”

“For many years. I was the best man at their wedding.”

“You don’t say … Bowdoin, right …?’”

“Bates. Nearby, though. It’s—”

“I actually know where it is … I took Dani on her college trips when Judy took sick. I think she applied there, too. Could’ve gotten in anywhere she applied. She always had the quickest brain I knew. Maybe too quick for her own good. But there’s another part of her. That’s kind of her enemy. We all have those parts of us, don’t you agree? If you knew her mom, then you know what I’m talking about, Mr. Hauck.”

“Might as well call me Ty. If we’re related.”

Chief Dunn laughed. “Ty it is then … and I’m Wade. But what I’m saying is, that woman never once let anything stop her or get in her way if she had her mind set on it. Hell, I ought to know, I was married to her for eight years. Except the cancer, maybe.” Wade shrugged. “That stopped her. Cold. And Danielle …” He shook his head wistfully and ran a hand across his hair. “Well, she’s got her father’s smarts and her mother’s temperament. And I guess it’s worth saying, she’s never been the keenest fan of me.”

“And why’s that?” Hauck asked him.

“’Cause I was there. When her mom died. And best to say maybe I wasn’t the most caring person to have around at that time of my life, going through some weak moments of my own …”

“I hear you,” Hauck said. “I was sorry to hear what happened.”

“Years ago now. But anyway, Dani’s stirring up some wild accusations. Threatening to take what she found to the press, or to the police chief in Aspen. That’s just not helpful now. It’s not the way we do things here. I thought it would be better if we just took her out of the picture for a day or two, while the investigators were here. If you know what I mean?”

“You put her in jail?”

The chief shrugged. “We were fully vacant. The rooms were there.”

“They still around?”

“Who?” the chief asked.

“The investigating teams.”

Dunn shook his head. “Nope.”

“I think I get the picture. Ted only said she was in some kind of trouble. Can I see her?”

“ See her? You can take her if you want, be my guest. We’re all hoping you will. Hell, for such a pretty thing, she eats more than I can afford anyway … You can see, we’re only a small department.”

Hauck stood up.

The chief stood up, too. “Try and talk some sense into her, would you? No one gains by her stirring things up like she was. Maybe let her show you the state for a few days. Until this all quiets down. I don’t know how long you have, but it’s beautiful country out here. Sorry to drag you off your boat, Mr. Hauck. For such a mundane reason. Can’t say I’d be a happy camper if it were me.”

“Show me the way. I’ll see what I can do.”

Hauck went inside the small cell block, down to the last of four manually locked cells. The only one that was occupied.