Renie’s face puckered with curiosity as she stared at Judith.
The rustling stopped, only to be replaced by what sounded
like heavy breathing. Transfixed, the cousins waited.
At last, there was silence. Renie slowly and quietly shut
the doors. “What was that?” she whispered. “People? An
animal? A gas jet?”
“They don’t have gas up here,” Judith murmured. “It’s all
electric. Whatever it is, I don’t think it wants to be interrupted.”
“OTIOSE sex?” Renie put a hand over her mouth to stifle
a giggle. “Why in the big conference room? These people
have private bedrooms, for heaven’s sake!”
“How would I know?” Judith retorted. “You’re the one
who has them all figured out.”
“I’m drawing a blank this time,” Renie admitted. Rapidly,
she opened the doors to the three smaller conference rooms,
including the one where she’d made her presentation.
“Shoot,” she said, espying a folder on the podium. “I must
have forgotten to collect all my stuff.” Hurriedly, she marched
down the aisle between the folding chairs. “This isn’t mine,”
she called back to Judith. “I guess I’ll leave it here. Whoa!”
Judith straightened up from where she’d been leaning in
the doorway. “What is it?”
Staring down at the open folder, Renie shook her head.
“I’m not sure. It’s a list, sort of like a racing form.”
Judith’s curiosity got the better of her. “Let’s see.”
Renie hesitated, then picked up the folder and brought it
to Judith. “Look. It’s a bunch of names, with comments.
‘Heady Amber—light on her feet; Willy-Nilly—slim, trim,
ready to roll; Algonquin Annie—new to the game.’”
Judith grinned. “You’re right, it’s some sort of handicapping. Which one of your OTIOSE pals plays the ponies?”
“It could be any of them.” Renie closed the folder. “I’ll
leave this on that big coffee table in the lobby. I wonder how
it got up on the podium. I was the last to leave.”
Having completed their exploration of the lodge’s main
floor, the cousins went outside. During the half-hour since
Renie had finished her presentation, the clouds had begun
to settle in again but there were still spectacular views. The
tips of evergreens poking out of the snow looked as if they
had been covered with great dollops of spun-sugar frosting.
The elevation was so high and the mountains so close that
the great peaks loomed above the landscape, their sharp
crags pocketed with new snow.
The afternoon sun apparently had warmed to just above
freezing, for there were signs of thaw. Icicles dripped under
the eaves of the lodge and ice chunks flowed freely in a creek
that tumbled among big boulders. The footing was just a
trifle soft, forcing the cousins to walk with care.
They followed the creek, not down toward the parking
