Chapter 2 - The Ledge BelowSadie woke to the sound of someone shouting her name.
At first she thought it was her father.
She tried to answer.
Nothing came out.
Her throat felt raw.
Her left shoulder burned, and every breath sent pain through her ribs.
“Sadie!”
Not her father.
A man.
“Sadie Mercer! If you can hear me, don’t move!”
Sadie opened her eyes.
Rock filled her vision.
Then sky.
She remembered falling.
Her entire body began shaking.
“No,” she whispered.
A shadow moved above her.
A man wearing a ranger’s helmet was descending carefully toward the narrow shelf.
“My name is Graham Cole,” he called. “I’m with county mountain rescue. Stay exactly where you are.”
“Where’s my dad?”
“We’re contacting him.”
Sadie began crying.
“Corinne pushed me.”
Graham stopped.
He was still several yards away.
“What did you say?”
“My stepmom.”
Sadie tried to move and cried out.
“Don’t move, Sadie.”
“She pushed me.”
Graham’s expression changed.
He did not tell her she was confused.
He did not ask whether she was sure.
He simply said, “I heard you.”
Those three words made Sadie sob harder.
Above them, another rescuer secured the recovery system.
The next twenty minutes became fragments.
A medical collar.
A blanket.
Hands checking her arms and legs.
Someone explaining every movement before touching her.
Graham stayed close enough that Sadie could see him whenever panic returned.
“You’re doing great.”
Sadie squeezed her eyes shut.
“Don’t say that.”
Graham hesitated.
“What?”
“She said that.”
“Who?”
“Corinne.”
Sadie swallowed.
“She kept saying I could do it.”
Graham’s face tightened.
“Okay. I won’t say it.”
When they finally lifted Sadie from the ledge, she looked upward.
The cliff seemed impossibly high.
“Did she call you?”
Graham looked away for half a second.
“No.”
Sadie understood.
Corinne had left her.
At St. Catherine Regional Hospital in Denver, Grant Mercer arrived before the helicopter team had finished transferring Sadie.
He came through the emergency entrance running.
“Where is she?”
A nurse caught him before he reached the trauma room.
“Mr. Mercer—”
“My daughter came in by helicopter.”
“Sadie Mercer?”
“Yes.”
“She’s alive.”
Grant closed his eyes.
His knees nearly buckled.
“Can I see her?”
“They’re evaluating her now.”
“What happened?”
The nurse hesitated.
“Someone from law enforcement will want to speak with you.”
Grant stared at her.
“Why?”
A voice behind him answered.
“Because apparently there are questions about how she went over that cliff.”
Grant turned.
Corinne stood near the entrance.
Her hair was windblown.
Her face was pale.
Tears streaked her cheeks.
She ran toward him.
“Grant!”
He caught her automatically.
“She slipped,” Corinne sobbed against his chest. “Oh God, she slipped.”
Grant pulled back.
“What were you doing there?”
“I wanted to surprise her.”
“With what?”
“A confidence exercise.”
Grant stared at her.
“She’s ten.”
“I know.”
“She’s terrified of heights.”
“I thought helping her face it would—”
“You put a parachute on my ten-year-old daughter and took her to Granite Crown without telling me?”
Corinne’s expression cracked.
“I made a mistake.”
Grant stepped away.
“What happened?”
“She panicked.”
“Then what?”
“She backed toward the edge.”
Grant’s face went white.
“And?”
“I tried to grab her.”
Corinne covered her mouth.
“I missed.”
Grant stared at her.
A sheriff’s detective standing across the waiting room watched them both.
Corinne noticed.
She lowered her voice.
“I would never hurt her.”
Grant rubbed both hands over his face.
“I told her I’d be at the lodge by noon.”
“I know.”
“You told me she wanted to spend the morning with you.”
Corinne blinked.
“She did.”
Grant looked toward the emergency room doors.
Something small inside him shifted.
Not suspicion yet.
Just discomfort.
The doors opened.
A doctor approached.
“Mr. Mercer?”
“Yes.”
“Sadie has a fractured collarbone, two cracked ribs, significant bruising, and a mild concussion. She was incredibly fortunate.”
Grant’s eyes filled.
“Can I see her?”
“For a few minutes.”
He followed the doctor inside.
Sadie looked impossibly small beneath the hospital blankets.
Her face was scratched.
Her arm was immobilized.
Grant stopped beside the bed.
“Hey, bug.”
Sadie opened her eyes.
“Dad?”
He bent over her and kissed her forehead.
“I’m here.”
Sadie started crying.
Grant carefully took her good hand.
“I’m right here.”
“Don’t leave.”
“I won’t.”
Her fingers tightened around his.
“Corinne pushed me.”
Grant stopped breathing.
Sadie stared at him.
“She said if I didn’t jump, she’d shove me.”
Grant’s face became still.
Then he looked toward the doorway.
Corinne stood beyond the glass.
Watching.
Grant lowered his voice.
“Sadie... are you sure?”
The moment the words left his mouth, he hated himself.
Sadie’s expression changed.
Not anger.
Something worse.
Betrayal.
“You don’t believe me.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You think I fell.”
“No.”
“She pushed me!”
“I believe that you’re scared and hurt—”
Sadie pulled her hand away.
Grant closed his eyes.
He had handled it wrong.
Completely wrong.
A detective entered moments later.
“Mr. Mercer, I’m Detective Lena Ortiz.”
She approached Sadie gently.
“I need to ask one very small question before we let you rest.”
Sadie nodded.
Ortiz looked at the watch on Sadie’s wrist.
The glass was cracked.
“Was this watch running when you were on the cliff?”
Sadie looked at it.
“I tried to call Dad.”
Ortiz carefully examined the damaged screen.
“Does it record voice commands?”
Grant answered.
“It can.”
Ortiz looked at him.
“Then there may be a record of what happened.”
From the hall, Corinne heard every word.
May you like
Her eyes dropped immediately to the watch.
And for the first time since Grant had arrived, the grief disappeared entirely from her face.
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