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Terra walked toward her mother’s plaque, which was vandalized in October but received no damage this time. “We know it was someone acting alone. They dressed in black, wore a helmet with a headlamp, and brought a sledgehammer. So the act was premeditated. Our first thought was that this was just some kids, or a kid acting alone.”
“But you don’t know if it was the same person.” Alex remained next to his father’s destroyed plaque and shoved back the harsh memories—the brutal reality of lives forever changed.
Jack rubbed his neck. “We’re comparing the shards of broken stone, but we concluded a sledgehammer was used in October too. It’s probably the same person.”
“What we’re lacking,” Terra said, “is—”
“Motive.” Alex walked around his father’s plaque.
Terra nodded. “Yes.”
“What does Erin think?” The criminal psychologist in their group. He recalled that about eight months ago, back in October, he’d been in town and he, Terra, and Erin had discussed the vandalism.
Erin had suggested the violence was malicious. He offered up revenge. After all, it was the fifteen-year anniversary of when the avalanche took out his father and the other two members of the SAR team. Erin didn’t think someone bent on committing an act of revenge would wait so long.
Violence. Revenge. He’d wanted to leave it all behind when he came back to Montana. When he was home with the fresh air and pristine rivers and waterfalls. This was the place he ran to when he’d had enough of the rest of the world.
Except, well, the rest of the world was encroaching on his home state, what with the murders last fall and now with what happened to Erin and Nathan recently. He accepted the painful reality.
Jack’s shoulders relaxed. “Maybe you can help us with this vandalism.”
“What can I do?” Alex shrugged. “You’ve got nothing.”
“Not true,” Terra said. “We can find out who bought helmets with lamps. Batteries. A sledgehammer.”
“Things someone might already have in their garage.” Alex wasn’t impressed. “Tools everyone around here buys.”
“Okay, wise guy, what’s your plan?” Jack’s brows furrowed.
“I don’t have a plan. But we discussed this before in your living room, Terra, when it first happened. If it’s not just some kid committing a random act of violence, then one question keeps coming back to me. Why now? It’s been fifteen years, give or take. What if it is some kind of revenge?”
“Oh, the revenge idea again?” Terra shook her head.
He shrugged. “You asked what I thought. I admit it’s out there, but Erin’s the one who brought up the reasons people commit vandalism. And I’m gathering that you don’t think it was just a kid out for some fun. Maybe the local news stories surrounding the memorial stirred someone up or reminded them about a past they wanted to forget.”
“I agree with Alex,” Jack said. “My gut feeling is that there’s a reason behind this beyond a kid having some fun.”
“Revenge. Something in the past. How would you go about looking into that exactly?” Terra pushed her hair back into a clip.
“I came back to see Mom and because you called and asked”—Alex noticed that Jack gave Terra a surprised look—“and yeah, I wanted to see the damage for myself. I could dig into this a little bit. I know it’s not a priority for you.”
“Are you even going to be here long enough to bother?” Jack asked.
Maybe Alex was overreacting, but he sensed Jack was referring to the fact that he’d left Montana at the first opportunity, and just kept going. “If you’re asking if I’ll be here long enough to finish what I started, I can’t answer that. You’ve had months to solve this, and you haven’t.”
“Alright, boys,” Terra said. “No fighting in the sandbox.”
“Fighting? What fighting?” Alex smiled. She was right. They needed to dial down the tension. “We’re all on the same side here.”
Jack kicked at a half-buried rock. “What more would you do in terms of digging?”
What did I get myself into?He ran a hand across his jaw and the back of his neck, then angled to Jack. “I’d take a look at what’s changed. Any political or environmental changes that have occurred around here. Then I might go back and look at what was going on fifteen years ago with each of the families represented here at the memorial, specifically yours, Terra’s, and mine, since those plaques have been targeted.”
Terra’s eyes grew wide. “What?”
He bobbed his chin. “It’s just a hunch, okay? The vandalism might not be related. But then again it could be. And if it is, why fifteen years later? Is someone trying to get our attention?”
He held Terra’s gaze, then shifted to someone behind her. A woman hiked up the trail and stopped at the Rocky Mountain Courage main plaque. She wore Army-green cargo pants and a light jacket. Her eyes flashed around the memorial, then flicked to the three of them and snagged on Alex.
