It was time to show his face at the Las Vegas Field Office to exert his authority if need be. He looked at the clock on the dashboard of the Bureau car and winced. It was ten thirty AM. Kathryn or someone on the mountain should have called him already. His stomach muscles crunched into a hard knot. Lizzie had texted him earlier in the morning saying she was on a six o’clock flight, and with the forty-minute drive to the base of the mountain from the airport, she would be on top of Big Pine Mountain no later than 10:30 EST unless the flight was late. By his watch, the girls were three hours late in calling. On the other hand, maybe the women had things to catch up on, girl things, before they got down to business. So, okay, two hours. Maybe they didn’t think this was as important as he thought it was. The third possibility, since he was being so generous in giving them leeway, was they were having lunch, and Kathryn always said that the rule on the mountain was no business was ever discussed until after a meal, be it breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
