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In January they found the girl's body.
They found it in Pine Crest. Pine Crest is a small town
about 90 miles from Denver, in the Rocky Mountains. In the
past was famous for silver and gold. But now it's a place
where people go on vacation; they ski there in winter and
walk in the mountains in the summer. Movie stars have
houses there. It's beautiful and quiet when the snow falls.
And snow falls a lot in the winter. Pine Crest is not usually
The kind of place where you find a dead body.

It was sad what happened but it happens. But to murder, to kill someone, well, that's different.
So that morning in January my boss, Leo Cohn, Head of the
The Denver police called me at his office.
A girl's body in Pine Crest, Flick, Leo said.
"Looks like someone killed her," he said, I didn't say
anything. 'Murder,' he said, as if he didn't understand, I
waited. He didn't look at me. Then he said: 'I want you to
Go to Pine Crest.

But Leo, why me?
It's too soon. It was just two months ago... I can't!
'Flick, you're the best,' she said, 'and you need to get out of
Denver…is the best.”
'Listen, Leo…' I started, but stopped myself. leo looked at me
the eyes.
Come on, flick. Bill Gershon, the police chief there,
he is an old friend of mine. He is not happy. If he is murder, he is
bad for business. Nobody wants to ski when there's a killer on them.
Well, yes, I thought, looking out Leo's window at
the city, a dead body was bad for business. I met Pine Crest.
I used to go skiing there on weekends. The people did their
money from the thousands of visitors who flocked there every
year. Restaurants, cafes, hotels, ski school, all done
money from the people who went to beautiful Pine Crest to
his vacation and I walked to my office to get the things I needed for a few days out of town: my laptop, cell phone, and car keys. Yo, I thought of Scott the detective
Scott King of the Denver Police. So I took my gun and
put it under my jacket. I went down to the parking lot. Scott and I have worked together for four years. We were the best, the best the Denver Police Department had. Me
Hunt. I smiled. That car always made me smile. Some days
I felt like it was the only good thing in my life.
I drove fast to my apartment in Alameda, went inside
and packed a bag. I changed into my blue suit and looked
myself in the bathroom mirror. I looked good. Look
as if he came from the big city. I felt my gun inside my jacket.
I was ready. Ready to find a killer... without Scott.
Fifteen minutes later I was driving down I70 toward Pine Crest, Colorado. I was trying to forget about Scott. And I was trying to forget about Eddie Lang.

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King Scott. Yes, it was hard to forget. As I drove to the

Images of the Rocky Mountains came to mind. The first time we worked together, his smile, the things he said.

The twenty-three-year-old was a visitor from Texas, in town for a ski vacation. Policeman i think it was a murder. We were in a police car in downtown Denver. At school

everyone thought it was really funny, so I became Flick.”

The path was already at 7,000 feet. But it was a beautiful day in the Rocky Mountains. Really beautiful.

The sky was clear blue and could be seen for miles. But she couldn't stop thinking about Scott. I thought about the day he died, in November, just two months ago. The day we went looking for Eddie Lang, one of the worst in Denver
criminals he killed people for money. But we were in to the. We knew where he was. We were in an old and dark house. We knew that Eddie Lang and his men were there.
"Don't worry Scott, I'm right behind you," I said quietly.
I could see Scott in front of me. He was dark, but I could
just see it. Suddenly I heard a loud noise.
I kept driving. An hour later I drove to the parking lot. Gershon didn't smile. I sat down. There were still men in the police that I thought policewomen and murder didn't go together. It seemed that Gershon was one of those men. I looked at Gershon. He was a round person: round body, round face, round glasses. About fifty, fifty-five maybe, with almost no hair. The Chief of Police said nothing for a moment or two, and then went on. ‘Janine Anderson was her name. A student from Austin, Texas. She wanted to write for a newspaper – to be a journalist.
I looked at the papers. There wasn't much. her name, her
Parents name. Journalism student at the University of Texas, Austin. Cause of death: drowning.
The Mountain Hotel was in Pine Crest. many skiers
He was there.
They skied all day, Gershon continued. 'Janine went to the
swimming pool at about nine o'clock. The pool is at the top.
hotel floor. I had to go up and get out. A
At eleven o'clock the Douglas girl came up to get Janine.
Teresa Douglas tried word of mouth. Then we got a 9-1-1 call around 11:15. Us
they were there five minutes later. Janine was dead. I wanted to know if there was a fight before Janine died,
Clark Johnson was Governor of Colorado and
everyone said that he was the next president of the United States. He lived near Pine Crest.
I looked at Gershon. He wasn't thinking about the dead.
girl. I was thinking about the bad news, I thought.
I finished my coffee and stood up.
Gershon came to the door with me. He still didn't smile.
'You may not like it, but we have to work
together. If this is murder, we need to find this killer before he or she kills again. I looked at Gershon and walked away.
Great, I thought, just what I need: a police chief who
he doesn't want to work with me. I went back to my car, took
I take out my winter coat and put it on. It was cold here, very
colder than Denver. We were at 9,000 feet. But it was a
beautiful clear day and there was a smell of wood smoke in
The air. I walked up the road to the Mountain Hotel.
I looked at the town. It was a nice place. Behind the small houses were the large houses of the illustrious personages who
He lived in Pine Crest. Many famous sports and movie stars and people had homes there. Sometimes you saw them on the ski
runs, in stores or in the most expensive restaurants in the
village. I looked up at the snow covered mountains and I could
see ski slopes everywhere, but there were only a few people coming down the mountain. It was a beautiful day for skiing,
cold and clear But nobody wanted to ski. they thought that
there was a free killer in town.

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Then I saw the Hotel de la Montaña. I entered the hotel and
he looked towards the bar. There was fire; it was warm and
comfortable. It looked good, I thought.
Janine Anderson's friends Teresa Douglas and Jeff Mason,
they were in room 203. They were about twenty-two, twenty-three years old. They seemed young, lost.
It's terrible, Teresa said. Her face was wet. She cried softly.
Jeff sat down next to her on the bed and put his hand on top of her.
shoulder.
I looked around the room. It was Jeff's room. From the
window you could see a very high mountain, the one they
called Snowy Peak. There were clothes everywhere, ski boots
under the window.
We can't believe she's dead, ma'am. It's terrible," Jeff said.
When he spoke I could hear that he was from Texas. He was
a tall, fair-haired, good-looking young man.
I looked at the girl. I gave him time to tell her story.
Janine went to the pool around nine.
I fell asleep at about half past ten. I was very tired; we skied the
all day. But I woke up just before eleven and saw
that Janine wasn't there. In her bed, I mean. so i got dressed
and she went up to the top floor. It was very cold outside. I saw
her in the pool. Right above the water. The girl
put her head in her hands.

'And there was no one else around?' I asked after a few minutes.
"I couldn't see anyone," she said. 'I screamed and a hotel
worker heard me. She called the police.
"And Janine was a good swimmer?" -I asked for.
Oh yes, ma'am, Jeff said. 'She was a great swimmer. Am
I'm sure Janine didn't drown alone.
"And how long have you been here?" -I asked for.
"Almost ten days," Jeff said. 'We have to leave tomorrow.
Classes start next week.
And you want to write for a newspaper, like Janine?
he asked him.
'Yes. I study journalism,” Jeff said. His face is gone
white. "Janine wanted so badly to be a writer," he said. 'She was
her what she wanted most in the world. and she was really
Okay.
"Janine knew anyone here in Pine Crest?" -I asked for. 'ME
I mean did she, did she see anyone while she was here? To a friend?
any?'
Teresa shook her head. 'I don't know,' she said. 'I do not
I think. Just us I think.
Like the night she died?
'Yes. Janine always went to the pool alone in the afternoons.
Theresa said. But she did not speak of anyone. I don't think so
she knew someone here. I think she just thought, or she wrote in
her notebook and she went swimming.
“Yes, Janine wrote in her notebook every day,” Teresa said.
She wrote about her day, about her thoughts, her feelings, I
to think. About things that happened to her, things that she saw.
Like Jeff said, she wanted to be a writer.She liked to write when she woke up in the morning. You know, the dreams of her and stuff. You
I think it could be. We all went up to room 309. It was the same as Jeff's room. room, but with two beds. Teresa looked for the notebook. She always had it next to her bed!
We search everywhere in the room. But Teresa was right. Janine's notebook was missing. Maybe she took it with her to the pool last night? I left the girl's friends dead
with some questions in my head.

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I went up to the pool where Janine died.
From there you could see everything: the town and the
mountains. Two of Gershon's men were there. and found a pen right here next to the
swimming pool. They are looking at it, to see if it was from the girl.
It looked like Janine Anderson was actually writing on her
notebook last night, I thought. The pen was there, but I spoke to the hotel manager and he
They told me they never had any problems.
Until now, I thought, as he left the Mountain Hotel.
I went out into the street. On one wall was a
commercial. Governor to run for the White House desia
There was a photo of Clark Johnson, the governor of
Colorado. Elections for president were later in the year.
I looked back at the top floor of the Mountain Hotel.
I couldn't see the pool or Williams from here. I looked across the street and saw a restaurant called Columbine. You could sit outside in the
upstairs and I could see people at the little tables. between and
went up the stairs.
I showed the young waiter my police badge. i looked over
to the Mountain Hotel. I could see Sergeant Williams. The killer could see Janine Anderson and could sit here in the restaurant and wait, then just walk over to the hotel.
I have to talk to you.
I got up and showered. I tried to wake up, I tried
forget Scott's blood on the floor. The redness of it. I let the water fall on my body. It was hot and it felt good. Scott
He was dead, but the water felt good. Ten minutes later Jeff arrived. I went down to reception to see him. We sit next to
fire. The young man looked at me. 'Well, maybe it's nothing,
but...' he began. I could see that he really wanted to talk.
"Well," I said, "the best thing is that you tell me if you think he is
important. So the winner, the one who writes the best story, gets a
big prize,' he said, 'and Janine really wanted to win.'
'And she was good.
The best. Jeff smiled. And she was working on something
very big, I'm sure. 'She was always
writing in her notebook. I could see that she was. It was
something big. And I'm sure it was something about Pin and I watched her, Jeff said. 'Well, you know, we were friends And she went to the library at least two afternoons in the last ten days, after skiing, for books she was trying to put the
story together and looked out the window. The mountains were smooth and
calm.
I looked at Jeff. He looked so young and so sad. I do not
I know why, but I wanted to talk to you about Scott. perhaps
it was because my dream was so close to me. maybe it was
because Jeff had kind blue eyes. Maybe it was because Jeff
friend was also dead. I told him the story. the story about
scott. We never caught him, I told him. Eddie Lang, I mean. I never caught him. I knew it was him. I knew he killed Scott.
But most days I said, I think we'll get Eddie
Lang! One day, Eddie Lang will be in prison for a very long time.
long time!

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That night, around nine-thirty, Janine Anderson's parents
flew into Denver International Airport. they were coming back
early from his vacation in Italy. A police car took them to
Pine Crest Hospital. They had to see the body of her daughter, to
see that it really was Janine.
The Andersons were also staying at the Pine Lodge, and
late at night, around eleven, Bill Gershon
took them to the hotel.
Gene and Loretta Anderson were between forty and forty-five years old,
Rich, well-dressed Texans. Janine's mother soon went to see her.
room and talked to the father. Gene Anderson was a Texan
oilman, a man who was now very rich, but who started life
on a farm, a ranch, near Houston.
She was studying for
become a journalist, and she was an "A" student.
she smiled for the first time. "She was a very good writer," she said.
she said she. "All of her teachers said that she could be a very good
journalist one day
Gene Anderson tried not to cry. Wait
for a few minutes.
'Mister. Anderson, Janine's friend Jeff told me that she was
write something for a college competition,' I said.
"Yes," said the dead girl's father, "and she really wanted
victory. She wanted to be a journalist more than anything in the
world. And she knew it was a good start. She told me
something about it at Christmas.
No, not really, ma'am, said Gene Anderson, but I think
it was something big.
I looked at Gene Anderson.
She continued: "Dad", she told me, "this story is so big that it is
gonna get me the journalism award and maybe someone
He will go to prison for a very long time.”
The next morning I got up early and went out. It was very
cold in the early morning. The snow was hard and it was
hard to stay upright.
I thought back to what Gene Anderson told me.
'Someone will go to prison for a very long time,' his
his daughter told him.
I looked up the Pine Crest Municipal Library, the library where
Janine Anderson went to study for her story. then i saw a
building with a big sign outside. It said: 'Books can change
The life of her. '
I went into the library. The young woman at the desk had
big hair and a big smile. Yes, I told him, and I showed him my police badge. 'Detective
Flick Laine, Denver Police Department. it's about death
by Janine Anderson.
She stopped smiling. 'Oh yes, poor girl... it's terrible.'
She was a student, you know.
The young woman turned to the computer in front of her.
'Here,' she said. 'Have a look.'
First, there was the name and home address of the dead girl in
Texas. Then there was a list of books; they were all about
Colorado and land development. Then there was a list of
about ten newspapers that Janine took from the library in the
the last two years. I asked to see them all. in every newspaper
there was a story about ski resorts and hotels. One of them
He talked about a famous movie star.
Movie star Susan Hunter, who lives in Pine Crest, said:
“People have always come to Colorado to get rich quick. In the past
it was gold and silver. Today, most of the gold and silver is gone.
The new gold is land that can be used for ski resorts and hotels.
Developers make millions of dollars from this land. This day
in Colorado, there is a fight between big business and nature
lovers who want to stop this.
I closed the newspaper. Great business, I thought. Great
money. Every year in Colorado there were more houses, more
shops and more ski resorts. More and more people are trying
earn money. I knew that the people who lived here in Rocky
The mountains often got angry. "That's right to nature," they said. 'Us
You don't need more buildings. We don't need more ski resorts."
But it was like standing on the beach and trying to do the sea returns

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I called Gershon on my cell phone.
“Susan Hunter,” I said. 'She seems to be very active in the
fight against land development.
"Yes, she was," she said. But she hasn't done anything for
A while.'
'Where does she live?' I asked.
"Great house on Hillside," she said. Hillside was the part of
Pine Crest where all the famous people lived.
What time did she die?', I asked.
"Between ten-thirty and eleven," he said.
Janine Anderson died minutes before Teresa Douglas left
to the pool and found her body. And probably minutes later
the Columbine waiters left.
I put my phone away and felt my gun in my inside pocket.
At three in the afternoon I parked my Chevy next to
Susan Hunter's Jaguar, outside her beautiful big house.
Movie stars, I thought. They don't like development, but
They live in big houses!
I got out of my car and looked at the mountains. Saw that
there were cameras everywhere around the house. a very high
man came to the door. I could see he had a gun underneath
his jacket.
I showed him my Denver City Police badge.
"Good afternoon, Detective Laine," he said, smiling.
He led me to the star's living room. a few moments
later, she entered.
Susan Hunter was a beautiful woman in her thirties, with
black hair and light blue eyes. she was dressed in gray
pants and red high-necked blouse. we sit together
in the very large room, drinking tea. around the room,
there were photos of the star with other famous movie stars.
There were also photos of her husband and her three children. Now it is a very large complex with hotels, expensive shops
and restaurants, and ski slopes everywhere. has thousands of
visitors every year.
'So I asked. 'Isn't that good for the city?'
Susan Hunter laughed. 'You've seen?' she asked.
'Tell me more,' I said.
“The Government Land Office,” she said, “bought the
Redridge Land fifty years ago. Then in 1997, they – the GLO wanted to sell the land. They knew they could sell it as a
vacation spot and get a lot of money.
I knew this happened a lot. the government was
Always trying to find ways to make money. susana hunter
she continued: 'So they asked the resort companies to tell them
them about their plans for the city. there were five big
companies that wanted to develop Redridge. The company
the one that won was Alpine Resorts. His boss is a guy named Ricky.
Klein said, then it was too late. My group was called Save
Colorado. We knew about the bribery of someone who
He worked for the GLO. But we don't know who took the
bribery.
I looked at her. she came here to talk
me last year. I told him what I knew.
That's it, I thought. Janine Anderson discovered the name
of the person in the Government Land Office who took the
money.
There was silence for a few moments. What
she passed Redridge will pass here. They will kill your
her natural beauty. She smiled sadly. And no one can save him.
I stood up to go. At the door, I turned around and that
It happened at night and I didn't see his face. but I am sure
It was because of all this. These are dangerous days. We must be
Very careful.'
Yes, dangerous days, I thought. I felt my gun under me
jacket and left the movie star's house.

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"Whiskey, please," I said to Bill Gershon.
I sat down. It was nine o'clock at night. we were in his
his office. He needed a drink. Gershon drank the whiskey from his
cupboard. I smiled at him. Just like Leo said. 'do everything
Gershon smiled and put the whiskey down on the little boy.
table in front of me.
I had a drink of whiskey. It was good. Look
Gershon. He was alive.
'Tony Rizzo,' I told Gershon,
The only thing she knew about the gunman was his name.
The police found his body in the snow. Tony Rizzo was the
his name on the driver's license in his pocket.
Gershon "he spent four years in prison near
Santa Fe, New Mexico, from 1993 to 1997 for killing a
Security guard and his friends helped him. The
he jumped out of a window and onto a furniture truck.
he looked at Gershon. He was almost having fun, I
thought. Well, it was different from parking tickets.
Well, almost everything I said. 'I got Rizzo to speak on the
trace he killed Janine Anderson. And Ricky Klein was behind it.'
someone rizzo
called the "Big Boss, Big CJ". Janine Anderson knew a lot.
Everything, I think. About Klein, how he gave a lot
money to this Great CJ. This man who was in the
Government Land Office. Here are the names.
I took Gershon's papers and put them on the table.
infront of me. I read them. I was looking for a
famous name
A few minutes later I looked at Gershon. 'Bill, there's
a name here than Johnson. She wanted to write everything about it. of course she had
To die. The next president of the United States took money from
Ricky Klein to allow Klein to build a new Alpine Resorts. What was bigger than that?
But now we have enough to send Klein to prison for a while.

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“You can't do this,” I told the man.
"Shut up and get on the chairlift," the man said. he pushed
me.
The chairlift had a seat for two people. the man pushed me
on the seat and then he sat next to me. I looked around
but there was no one up here. The chairlift went up. Until the
Mountain summit.
I looked at the man, into his brown eyes. He was skinny. He was
He the man at the Columbine?
I looked down. We were thirty feet above the snow.
"And don't do anything stupid," he said.
I reached inside my coat and felt my gun. I took it
He came out and I gave it to him and I thought fast. 'I know you work for Ricky Klein,' I told him,
taking a chance. He needed time and wanted him to talk.
The man looked at me. "You're smart"
'We had to do it,' he said. She knew too much. she also asked
Many questions. And she was very stupid. she wanted to say
everyone about it.
"I watched her," she said, "I watched her for days."
“From the Columbine restaurant,” I said.
'Yes, she often went to the pool by herself at night. It's
it was easy. I just entered the hotel through the parking lot.
Yes, I thought. Could not been more easy.
I didn't want it to stop.
'And she knew the name of the man in the Government
I looked down. We were very high. snow and trees
they were far away. I could see two skiers in the
mountain but they were very far away. I couldn't scream. me
I could not do anything
'You're next, Detective Laine,' she said. 'Time to Die.'
I looked down again. It was a long way down and he was
trying to push me I had to do something and I had to do
Is now.
The gunslinger moved to raise the bar of the chairlift.
Quickly, I moved forward and hit him in the face with my
right hand. At the same time, I hit his hand with the gun in
with my left hand. The gun flew out of his hand and fell.
It made no sound as it fell into the snow far below.
I looked down and watched him. His skis were heavy and
he fell fast. He fell between the trees far below. i pulled down
the bar. The chairlift kept moving. go up go up I was calm
again. All I could hear was the sound of my heart.

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I walked away from Susan Hunter's house and back to my
hotel. I thought about my talk with the movie star. Ricky
Alpine Resorts' Klein gave someone in the government
Land Office a bribe to take the worst plan for Redridge. Y
Janine Anderson knew everything. but who was it and how
I went back to my room and called Gershon.
'Bill, I want a complete list of people on government land
Office since 1996.
The same Gershon as always.
The next morning I woke up early. I took my gun. me
he remembered Susan Hunter's question about Redridge:
'You've seen?'
It was time to visit Redridge. I wanted to see it for myself.
I got in the Chevy and drove the thirty miles to town.
Alpine Resorts Colorado was almost
like a small town. When you walked through the big door there
there were many different buildings. there were three swimming
swimming pools, four hotels, vacation homes, restaurants, and ski equipment rentals.
It was very, very big.
We have the whole vacation here, Tina smiled. 'You
can do it all You don't have to leave Alpine Resorts.
I looked around. Many of the buildings were so large that
you couldn't see the mountains. It is a holiday for the whole family we will be happy to give you a half price ski pass in the morning. That will be only seventy-five
dollars, well, okay I said. I could ski for an hour or two, I
thought. He needed some time to think.
I went to the ski rental and bought some skis, boots and poles.
I went up the mountain on a chairlift and spent an hour or two
ski the lower slopes. It was a beautiful day to be in the
mountains. But from above I could see how big Alpine is
Resorts really went to get coffee, I took my ski map out of my pocket and looked that above the cafeteria there were some difficult "black" runs
with interesting names like Mad Dog and Killer Run. me
wanted to try them. And I wanted to get away from the
people. I needed to think.
I took the Mountain Tops chairlift another 1,000 feet.
Here, at 10,500 feet, the world was white and silent. It was
very cold. There were hardly any people, only a few figures away.
far. Most of the skiers stayed down. I felt alone. I put my hand in the pocket inside my coat and felt for my gun. He wanted to go even higher, to 12,000 feet, almost
the mountain's top. I started walking slowly towards him.
Summit lift. Suddenly, I heard someone behind me.
I turned around. The man was wearing a black ski mask. me
I couldn't see his face. Just his brown eyes.
He felt like a weapon. there were no people
anywhere. Just the man with the gun and me.
"And don't do anything stupid," he said, "or I'll kill you."