Tuesday Tales: From the Word SNOWY

Welcome back! Christmas is a little more than two weeks away! Are you ready? I’m getting there. This week the Tuesday Tales authors are writing to the word prompt SNOWY. I’m continuing with my Evie Chambers cozy mystery, The Case of the Missing Prince.

Petrov leaned forward in his seat, his gaze meeting mine, the sorrow and sincerity in his eyes at odds with my first impression of the man. It seemed he cared deeply for the prince.

“Stan is my best friend, Evie—if I may call you that.” He had a British accent. Most likely the young aristocrat had been educated at Cambridge or Oxford. “We are more like brothers than cousins. I was supposed to join him at the beginning of his Canadian trek, but my mother’s illness prevented it. I’d just arrived in Calgary to meet up with them in Banff when the accident happened. I spent a few weeks there, helping with recovery efforts and interviewing the people who survived the incident. One of the men claims that Stan went off on his own about five minutes before the landslide occurred. If someone or something lured him away, I want to know who or what it was.”

I narrowed my eyes. Was it possible that the prince had vanished of his own accord? It was something that I hadn’t considered until now. Of course, if he had, then he might be harder to find, especially if he were still in the area. Snowy conditions in the mountains might have forced him to move on, or they might add to his cover. But I was fantasizing.

“Maybe he just needed to relieve himself,” I speculated, well aware that my comment might sound simplistic. “It does happen.”

Vikto peeled himself away from the door and came over to the sitting area. He dropped down next to Petrov, all the starch seeming to leave his body.

“If that was the case, where did he go? Why wasn’t he looking for survivors like the rest of us?”

My ears perked up. Us? Had Viktor been there? If he had, then he knew damn well that every effort had been made to find all of those injured or killed. The cadaver dogs hadn’t found any trace of a human body in the rubble.

“Since I was with them from the onset of this trip, I can help you retrace our steps.”

“Whoa! All your steps?” I wasn’t backing down and giving in, but he’d piqued my curiosity. “And why would we need to retrace all of your steps?”

“Because I’m convinced that whatever happened to Stan didn’t happen out of nowhere. I failed in my duty to protect him.”

Don’t forget to check out the other Tuesday Tales.