Read Online Behind His Blue Eyes by Kaki Warner - Free Book Online

rock slide.
    Ahead, he saw a middle-aged man and an adolescent, who was probably his son, working beside a stack of logs. Both wore the ragged homespun clothing and tattered slouch hats Ethan had seen on many a prospector. Since the sluice was a town project and not part of the bridge line, most of the labor was local, rather than Chinese, who worked exclusively for the railroad. Another boost to the Heartbreak Creek economy.
    But neither of these workers looked particularly happy.
    â€œAfternoon,” he said, stopping beside them.
    The older fellow paused in his sawing. The younger continued skinning a thick log with a two-handled bark stripper.
    Introductions were brief and without enthusiasm.
    Keeping his tone friendly, Ethan asked if they knew anything about the recent landslide.
    â€œWarn’t our fault,” the boy blurted out. “That’s what we know.”
    The man, who had introduced himself as Hopewell—an apt name for a prospector, Ethan thought—doffed his hat and swiped a dirty sleeve over his brow. “Nine sections. A week’s work, tangled up at the bottom of the ravine like a pile of them eating sticks the Chi-nee use.”
    â€œDo rockfalls happen often?”
    Hopewell put the hat back on his head, and looked Ethan square in the eye. “With help, maybe.”
    â€œWhy do you say that?”
    â€œWe send crews ahead to check for loose rocks. ’Specially ones big enough to do damage or hurt somebody. Me and the boy walked that ridge ourselves, and we didn’t see nothing that could come down on its own.”
    Ethan digested that. “You think someone intentionally caused the slide?”
    â€œMaybe.” Anger flashed in the man’s weathered face. “But it warn’t us. That’s all I know.”
    â€œYou tell anyone about this?”
    â€œNo time. Nobody seemed interested, anyway. Too busy pointing fingers.”
    â€œWell,” Ethan said with a smile, “we’re interested now.”
    Waving an arm to get his attention, Ethan motioned Brodie over. When he arrived, Hopewell told his story again. The sheriff posed a few more questions, then nodded his thanks and let the workers get back to their tasks.
    â€œYou think what he says has merit?” Ethan asked as they headed back to where the horses were tied.
    â€œMaybe. Maybe not. Only one way to find out.”
    They rode on up the canyon to the site of the destruction, and dismounting, walked the area. Not much to see—a pile of loose stones and uprooted vegetation shoveled aside so the supports could be reset, and a few broken timbers scattered in the creek running along the bottom of the ravine. All the salvageable lumber had already been hauled out and used in the repairs.
    Hands braced on his hips, Ethan scanned the slope rising above him. He could clearly see the path of the rockfall. But the longer he studied it, the more it seemed that either it had split near the top or there were two points of origin. Two separate falls—in the same area—at the exact same time? Hardly.
    He turned to Brodie, who was also studying the slope. “There were two slides,” he said, and pointed. “Quite a coincidence, don’t you think?”
    â€œYeah. I do.”
    â€œI’m going up for a closer look.”
    â€œHead right. I’ll go left.”
    Moving through brush on either side of the chute, they struggled up the steep incline. It was rough going. Twice Ethan slipped on loose rocks, and once almost ripped open his hand when he grabbed a thorny shrub by mistake. By the time he reached the top, winded and sweating, he’d developed a new respect for Hopewell and his son. And a deep regret that he hadn’t brought his canteen.
    It didn’t take long to figure out what had happened. The two slides were about thirty yards apart. The starting point for each was a deep depression in the earth near the top. The kind of depression a big boulder