Rock Bottom (Em Hansen Mysteries) Read online

  River trips can teach many things, especially if one is ready and willing to learn. Brendan was only thirteen years old, but already he was a man.

  APRIL 21: THE VIEW ACROSS FOREVER

  Fritz was standing on the walkway at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon near the El Tovar Hotel when we reached him that evening. He was staring into the vastness of open space and time and stone, hands in pockets, taking in the view. He seemed so relaxed and at peace that passersby might have taken him for any other tourist, not a man who had just been released from false imprisonment. The great vault of the heavens was sprinkled with stars. The occasional tiny dot of moving light traced the presence of a satellite, man’s voyagers across the heavens.

  “Dad!” shouted Brendan, running toward him.

  Fritz grinned and caught his son in his great, strong arms. He mussed up his hair and spoke closely into his ear. “Thank you, son. I hear you put essential pieces of the puzzle together and got me out of that cell.”

  “You’re welcome, Dad.”

  Fritz loosened one arm and gathered me in as well, and the three of us formed up in a group hug. Fritz didn’t say anything to me, but he didn’t have to; the way he nuzzled his lips up against my neck told me everything I needed to know.

  Jerry and Don Rasmussen had followed us from the parking lot where we had left our cars. I waved them over.

  “Thanks,” said Fritz.

  “Our pleasure,” said Jerry.

  Don nodded his agreement. “I don’t know if they’re still serving dinner in the dining room, but I know for certain that you can get something in the lounge until eleven.”

  “Sounds good,” said Fritz. “I’m starved after what I’ve been fed over the past forty-eight hours.”

  I said, “Brendan, why don’t you head on in with Jerry and Don. I want a moment longer out here, okay?”

  Brendan said, “I’m okay to wait with you.”

  Jerry caught my eye and grinned. “Oh, come on with us, Brendan,” she said. “I’ll bet they have cake!”

  For the moment Brendan became just a boy agan and left cheerfully with the Rasmussens.

  “Something on your mind?” asked Fritz, pulling me in for another hug.

  “I have something to tell you,” I said. “I promised you once that I wouldn’t take chances with my work as a detective, and I’ve kept that promise, even today, when it was your neck that was on the line. I called in the big boys to do the work that would have put me at risk.”

  “Thank you,” he said, kissing me along one side of my face and into that ear. “I knew I could count on you.”

  “Well, I want you to know that I hereby double that promise.”

  He straightened his neck and looked into my eyes. “What’s up with you?” he asked. “It’s not like you to … What’s going on?”

  “It’s just that I’m going to be very busy for quite a while to come, with new responsibilities.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Remember that first evening at Nankoweap?”

  “I sure do.”

  I pulled out the little test stick Jerry had bought for me and handed it to him.

  “What kind of busy is this?” he asked. “I can’t see.”

  “Don’t you have that little flashlight in your pocket?”

  “Yes, I do,” he said, producing it. “I’m the Eagle Scout, remember? Always prepared.”

  “Always.”

  In the soft glow cast by the tiny light, I saw his smile widen into a grin. “Always,” he whispered, as he gazed on his first knowledge of the child who was growing in my womb. “Always and forever.”

  Also by Sarah Andrews

  In Cold Pursuit

  Dead Dry

  Earth Colors

  Killer Dust

  Fault Line

  An Eye for Gold

  Bone Hunter

  Only Flesh and Bones

  Mother Nature

  A Fall in Denver

  Tensleep

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  SARAH ANDREWS, a professional geologist, has won numerous science and writing awards for her mysteries. She lives in Northern California.

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  ROCK BOTTOM. Copyright © 2012 by Sarah Andrews Brown. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

  www.minotaurbooks.com

  www.stmartins.com

  Cover design by David Baldeosingh Rotstein

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

  Andrews, Sarah.

  Rock bottom / Sarah Andrews.—1st ed.

  p. cm.

  ISBN 978-0-312-67659-9 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-1-42997765-4 (e-book)

  1. Hansen, Em (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Women geologists—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3551.N4526R63 2012

  813'.54—dc23

  2012013576

  e-ISBN 9781429977654

  First Edition: August 2012