“Yeah, but it was nearly dark by then,” he says. “They got hold of the resort office and there’s some discrepancy about her lift pass. The resort computer has no record of her having gone up the mountain.”

“But you saw her,” I say.

“Brent and Heather saw her. I saw her stuff.”

From the way he glances away, I sense there’s something he isn’t telling me.

He paces the room. “What do I do? I don’t want to put people’s lives at risk searching for her in the dark if she’s not even up there.” He sighs and shakes his head. “Maybe she’s just gone off in a huff somewhere. You never know with my sister.”

CHAPTER 59

PRESENT DAY

Curtis grasps the door of the Panorama building.

“Wait,” I say. “I don’t want to do this. I trust Brent.”

“Well, I don’t,” Curtis says. “He’s not the same guy he was ten years ago. He and I used to be good mates but he can’t look me in the eye anymore.”

I don’t want to admit my own doubts. “But there could be other traps. What if you’re wrong and he dies?”

“What if I’m not?”

A movement catches my eye through the glass panel in the door. I rub frost off the glass and see Heather in the corridor.

With the ice axe.

I duck below the glass, dragging Curtis down with me. Ow, my knee. I clutch it, gritting my teeth.

“What?” Curtis says.

“I just saw Heather with the axe.”

Curtis raises his head a fraction to look. “Are you sure?”

I peer cautiously through the window. The image is vivid in my memory, yet the corridor is empty. Doubt creeps in. Did I really see her or has this place driven me out of my mind? “Pretty sure.”

“Okay, this is what we’re going to do. I’ll creep down there and see what’s going on. You wait here. If Heather or Brent come down the corridor, you duck round there.” He gestures to the side of the building. “And hopefully they won’t see you.”

“No,” I say. “I’m coming with you.”

“Oh, come on!”

“I’m not your responsibility. I talked Heather down last night. Hopefully I can do it again.”

Muttering under his breath, Curtis pushes the door. I begin to pull off my gloves.

“No. Keep it all on,” he whispers.