Mountains of Dawn

"Malcolm, let me do it, would you, please?" Paul said, gently removing the hammer from Malcolm's hands. He took careful measurements around the existing Stanley Cup champions on the wall, and marked a spot for the picture of the Dallas Stars.

"Thanks," said Malcolm.

"No trouble. Actually, I do it for myself. I can't stand to see crooked pictures. Makes my skin crawl, it does. When they aren't crooked, they don't align. When they align, they're not in the middle of the wall…" Paul's voice drifted off into silence as he shifted and aligned the pictures.

Malcolm laughed. "And here I was complimenting myself on my previously unknown decorating ability." He smiled at Paul. "I bet you were a wonderful son."

"Uh oh…could you repeat that, please? I want to be certain I heard it correctly."

"No time, no time…" Malcolm glanced around the room. "Where the hell is Joe now? He's always late. I've begun to suspect it was a mistake bringing him into the Invicta. In fact, I suspect Detective Warner sent him to us as a subtle form of revenge." As Paul looked at him quizzically, he added, "Down in his heart he never forgave me for having founded the Invicta."

A noise surprised both.

"Looking for me?" Joe said aloud as he entered the room. "Where's the coffee?"

"Sit down," Malcolm said, annoyed. "Let's get started. Tanya Caldwell." He cleared his throat. "Joe, you were in charge of digging into Tanya's past. Get your file. Paul, you were to gather information on Tanya's close friends and neighbors. Sum up, please."

"Nothing special about the girl," Paul said. "While attending college, she lived in a rental unit close to campus. She was described as being quiet, absolutely nothing wild. She was well liked at school." He shifted his papers, drew one from the stack. "She had a boyfriend, Jeff Leight. I talked to him a while back, when he came home for the Christmas holiday. He said he was very fond of Tanya." Paul glanced at Malcolm. "He said she appeared very shy and quiet at first, but as their relationship developed, she became free and alive. His words were, 'She can be a lot of fun.' "

"What happened? Why did they break up?" Malcolm asked.

"He got a scholarship, pretty far away from her. Somewhere in Colorado. They kept in contact for a while, until about a couple of years ago. They weren't able to get together too often, and the whole thing sort of died a natural death."