over.”
Ava knew enough not to feed into her uncle’s pie-in-the-sky notions. Even though she was barely twenty-seven, she had to be the mature voice of reason. “Whatever you think you’ve found, leave it where it is. I’m selling. I’ve got no choice.”
He looked behind them at the stretch of road that meandered up to the top of the next hill separating Whisper Mountain from Gold Summit, immediately to the west of them. A lacy curtain of snow had begun to fall, the flakes blown around them by a frigid wind.
“Why did we have to meet here?” she demanded again.
He shrugged, but she thought she saw a shimmer of fear in his eyes. “Proper thing, to tell you here that Whisper Mountain is saved. I come here to pray all the time and you used to, didn’t you, Ave? Do you still come?”
She shook her head. “Not anymore.” Whisper Mountain was a place dead to her, buried in the past. The only reason she’d returned from Westbow was to sell it. Snow settled onto her lashes and she brushed it away.
She’d lost too much because of her mother’s suicide ten years before. Ava’s own life would forever be bisected by her mother’s decision, into the time when she had been a normal, happy teen and after, when the world became an uncertain place. The source of her pain was right here on this piece of snow-covered world, and she was finally going to let it go.
“Uncle Paul, tell me—” she broke off as he started visibly, body tense.
“Did you hear that?”
“What?” she said, trying to pinpoint the source of his concern.
“I thought I heard Mack Dog. He must have gotten out and gone wandering again.”
They both stood motionless, listening. The sound of an engine floated through the air and a snowmobile appeared at the bottom of the slope.
Paul’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“Who is that?” she asked.
The snowmobile took off in their direction, gaining speed as it went. Ava stood frozen as it barreled toward them. Surely, the driver would stop, slow down as he approached.
He didn’t. Incredibly, he seemed only to increase his speed. Paul shoved Ava away. “Get in the car.”
“Wait,” she screamed as Paul took off heading for the trees.
The snowmobile roared closer, changing course to target Uncle Paul.
“Get away, Ava,” Uncle Paul yelled over his shoulder. “Get away now.”
* * *
Luca looked over the pristine slope, skis poised to begin the descent. He could not keep from turning his gaze to the valley down below, ringed with hills. He remembered his high school winter breaks spent skiing here. His heart replayed the memory of the young woman who was so at home on the snow she seemed to fly over it, like a hawk skimming over the crystal world below. He was proficient on skis but never as good as she was, not even close. He wondered if she ever visited here, now that her property was closed up. Everything had changed her senior year after the car accident crippled her father and her mother committed suicide six months later.
“Hey, there,” Stephanie said softly. “Lost in thought?”
He avoided looking at his sister. Even though he was elated that she and her high school sweetheart, Tate, had reunited in the course of their last treasure hunt, the happiness that shone on her face reminded him that he had just ended things with a woman he’d dated casually. There was no spark there, no spring of devotion like he’d seen in the eyes of his sister when she talked about Tate. “No, just remembering how good the runs were on Whisper Mountain.”
She didn’t answer, pushing a strand of her short dark hair back under her ski cap, gazing into the distance at the empty slopes. “It’s a prime piece of real estate. Do you think Dad will buy it?”
He nodded. “I think he’d be a fool not to. Anyway, let’s get some slope time before Victor lines up our new mission.” Victor was the eldest Gage sibling and recently married in a double wedding along with Tate and Stephanie. It was fitting, as their last job at Treasure Seekers had turned up an eighteen-million-dollar violin and nearly gotten them all killed at the hands of a psychopath. They were all due for some good times.
Stephanie shivered, and he knew she was reliving the memories of their near escape, too. “Let’s get back. Tate’s probably missing us.”
Luca grinned. “Missing you. We’re still not best buds.”
“That’s because you’re both stubborn gorillas.”
“True, but he’s your stubborn gorilla now, and he looks at you like he can’t believe you’re really his.”
She blushed. “It drives him crazy that his bum leg keeps him down there while I’m up here, so I suspect he’s strong-armed someone into giving him a pair of skis. I’d better get back before he thinks he’s ready for the expert slopes.”
“You go on,” Luca said with a chuckle. “I’m going to take it slow. Meet you down there.”
“Take it slow? Since when?” Stephanie cocked her head and gave him that look. “Sure?”
“Sure.”
“All right, but don’t do anything crazy on the slopes. There’s a storm coming in. Remember, you’re a treasure hunter, not an Olympic athlete.” She swished away down the hill, skis gliding smoothly over the sparkling ground.
She was right, he was a treasure hunter at heart and it had been his idea to form the Treasure Seekers agency in the first place. He’d told himself it was to help his brother Victor deal with his first wife’s sudden death, but it was more than likely a way to soothe his constant restlessness. In the off season when he wasn’t piloting a helicopter for the U.S. Forest Service, there was not enough to keep him busy and busy was the only thing that kept him sane. He was the kid in grade school who could never seem to stay in his seat. Some things hadn’t changed.
He and his siblings had found treasures, all right, everything from lost masterpieces to priceless stamps, yet he always experienced a letdown after each case, as if the treasure, rich though it was, was somehow not the prize he was meant to be looking for.
“Earthly treasures aren’t going to satisfy,” he could hear his father say. But he felt so alive when he was deep in the throes of a search, however dissatisfying the ending might be.
He shook the thoughts away and pulled his goggles into place.
One more run.
He shouldn’t be skiing here, so close to the shut-down Whisper property. He puzzled over why the fond memories of his past there felt so strong. Idly he wondered what Ava would do after her family’s property was sold. At least the sale might afford them some security. That’s what Luca’s father believed when he proposed buying it pending Luca’s report.
Head out of the clouds, Luca.
He mentally picked out the path he intended to take down the mountain and readied himself to push off.
A
