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they’ll follow up. Later today, maybe tomorrow.” He read the look in her eyes. “And no, I’m sure Clarence doesn’t want you to say anything to your parents.”
    Too late, she looked away.
    Chuck continued, “He’s refusing to let me get him a lawyer. Says it’ll make him look guilty.”
    She turned back. “But you disagree.”
    â€œI do. He’s got a point, though. There’s no actual crime involved. Not yet, anyway.”
    â€œWhat do we do next?”
    Chuck closed his eyes. All he wanted to do next was sleep.
    He opened his eyes and looked down the drive toward the Y of the Rockies lodge and conference center. “Parker,” he said.

T EN
    As he drove down the two-track, Chuck called Professor Sartore. In addition to the text he’d sent the professor in the morning, he had emailed Sartore a brief rundown of the previous night’s events before setting off for the mine after breakfast.
    â€œWhat the hell is going on up there?” Sartore barked over the phone. “I’ve already heard from three different sets of parents.”
    â€œYou know college kids,” Chuck said. “They love drama.”
    â€œHow much drama are we talking about?”
    â€œMore than I’d prefer. But things are settling down.”
    â€œThat’s not the sense I’m getting. What’s this I hear about your brother-in-law’s knife?”
    Chuck braked to a stop where the driveway reached the gravel road. He filled Sartore in on the appearance of the cop at the mine, picturing the professor’s bushy white eyebrows working up and down in consternation as he listened.
    â€œYou understand,” Sartore said when Chuck finished, “this is a multi-year contract we’ve signed with the park service. The plan is to start with Rocky Mountain and expand from there. Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone. The opportunities for Fort Lewis and the School of Anthropology—and for you, too, I might add—are significant.”
    â€œI know, professor.”
    â€œAnd this is the first year,” Sartore said, gaining steam. “The very first summer.”
    â€œYes, sir.”
    â€œThis whole thing with your guy’s knife?” Sartore thundered. “And blood? And now you’re saying it’s human? It’s absolutely the last thing we need.” The professor’s heavy breaths came over the phone. “Don’t you have something else you want to tell me about?”
    â€œI was getting to that.”
    â€œGo right ahead.”
    â€œA small section of the tunnel floor gave way. No one was hurt.”
    â€œThe parents who called made it sound like it was the end of the world.”
    â€œCollege kids,” Chuck reiterated.
    â€œI hired you for a reason, Chuck. I tracked you down after all these years. You’re my adult up there, my boots on the ground. There’s as much opportunity for you in the summers ahead as there is for the college. But not if things keep going the way they are right now. You’ve got to keep a lid on things there, understand?”
    â€œPerfectly, sir.” Chuck hoped the professor was thinking the same thing he was: three more days, just three more days.
    â€œKeep me up to speed on this situation with the knife,” Sartore said. “And make damn sure nothing else happens up there, because right now, your ass is on the line.”
    â€œGot it, professor.”
    Chuck pulled around the conference center and threw the truck into park, steaming. Who was Professor Sartore to put him on the spot for events beyond his control?
    He cut the engine and sat behind the wheel while he calmed himself down. The truth was, he couldn’t blame the professor for being so concerned. A lot had happened in the last twenty-four hours, none of it good. If he wanted to work for Sartore again next summer, he had to do as the professor said—keep things quiet from here on