Page 38 of The Catcher (High Peaks Murder, Mystery and Crime Thrillers #5)

McKenzie braced himself against the wind while on the phone with Noah, trying to make himself heard over the chaos. Terry’s voice echoed in the background, filled with impatience. “I will try, but he’s a stubborn bastard,” McKenzie said into the phone before hanging up and striding over to Terry.

“Braithwaite,” McKenzie called out, determined to make his point heard.

“I told you, not now,” Terry snapped back, his attention elsewhere .

“You’ve got this wrong. The kid was a friend of Elizabeth Anderson. Her father murdered these teens. That kid up there is just traumatized. Let me go up and speak with him.”

Terry scoffed dismissively. “Like hell.”

“He’s going to jump,” McKenzie insisted.

“That’s what I’m hoping,” Terry replied callously. “Would save us a lot of paperwork.”

Frustration boiled over within McKenzie, and he grabbed Terry by the arm. “Listen to me, you prick! You are going about this the wrong way. Unless you want to find yourself trying to crawl out of a civil lawsuit because an innocent teen jumped to his death, stand down!”

“Stand down!? Who the hell do you think you are? State supersedes the county sheriff’s office. Now, back off before I call your superior,” Terry threatened.

McKenzie met his gaze, his resolve unyielding.

He released his grip and walked off, running a hand around the back of his head.

He didn’t do well with heights. It was one of his fears, if not his greatest fear, since childhood.

Just looking up made his legs wobble. Why anyone would leap off a jump in skis was anyone’s guess.

It only cemented what he believed: that people were batshit crazy.

McKenzie glanced back at Terry, then looked up again.

“Screw it.”

He moved quickly, crossing the lot before he could be noticed.

McKenzie stood at the base of the towering structure, his gaze fixed upward on the daunting silhouette against the night sky.

The Olympic Jumping Complex loomed before him, its imposing presence casting a shadow over his resolve.

With a deep breath, he steadied his nerves and approached the lift, his heart pounding with apprehension.

As he stepped onto the platform of the glass-enclosed lift, McKenzie couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling creeping up his spine. He glanced around, half-expecting shadows to leap out from the darkness, but the only sound was the soft hum of the lift machinery coming to life.

With a faint shudder, the lift began its ascent, slowly carrying McKenzie higher and higher into the night.

The ground below slipped away, swallowed by the darkness, and McKenzie’s grip tightened on the railings as his fear of heights threatened to overwhelm him.

He tried to focus on the teen, pushing aside his unease as he ascended toward the summit.

As the lift climbed, the city lights twinkled in the distance, painting the night sky with a soft glow.

McKenzie glanced downward, only to quickly avert his eyes as a wave of vertigo washed over him.

“Aye, shit!” He clenched his jaw, willing himself to remain composed despite the rising panic threatening to consume him.

He took deep breaths.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the lift reached its destination, stopping at the top of the 120-meter tower.

McKenzie stepped out onto the observation deck, his legs feeling unsteady beneath him as he took in the breathtaking view from the summit.

The city stretched out below, a glittering jewel against the dark canvas of the night, and McKenzie couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe despite his lingering fear.

Nearby, the youth was over a railing, arms behind his back, clinging to the rail. He glanced toward McKenzie. “Don’t come any closer.”

“Aye, laddie, trust me, I don’t want to get any closer. I hate heights. It’s dangerous up here. Come on over.”

“No. I’m going to jump.”

McKenzie extended a hand. “Nicholas, you don’t want to do that. Look, just climb back over the railing, and we can talk.”

Nicholas shook his head; he leaned a little forward.

“Whoa! Nicholas, okay, just talk to me from there. What’s going on?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“I know more than you know.”

“Yeah, like what?”

“That you were a good friend to Elizabeth Anderson.”

He shook his head. “Not good enough. I couldn’t stop it.”

“I know. We know, Nicholas.”

“I didn’t kill them. I didn’t.”

“We also know that.”

Nicholas looked over his shoulder at McKenzie. “She was my only friend, the only one who understood. And those bastards…” He trailed off at the sound of the radio.

The radio crackled on McKenzie’s hip. It was Terry. “McKenzie!” he barked .

McKenzie lowered the volume so it wouldn’t distract the kid.

“Look, it’s over. They’re gone. They can’t harm you anymore,” McKenzie said.

“All of them?”

McKenzie thought about what Noah had told him.

That there was the potential that Tyler Ashford was still alive.

He also knew that Addison was in the hospital, hooked up to a ventilator.

“All of them,” he said, lying. All that mattered was getting him back over that railing.

If he had to withhold the truth, so be it.

“It doesn’t matter. There’ll be others.”

“Nicholas. I get it. Kids can be brutal. Adults, too,” he said, turning down the volume a little more after hearing Terry swearing over the radio.

“No matter where you go in this life, you will find assholes. Most of them are just reacting to cover up their own inadequacies, pain, and trauma. And some, well, they’re just jerks.

But you need to know there is life after this.

One day, you will look back and wonder how you ever thought they could win. ”

“Win?”

“Yes. If you jump, they win. Don’t give them that satisfaction.”

“Elizabeth did. She escaped. Happened right here,” he said, looking down.

“And look at the ripple effect. The community. You. Her father killing those teens. Your life matters, Nicholas. What about those who care for you?”

“No one does.”

“Someone does. I do. What about your parents? It will destroy them,” he said.

Nicholas looked away. McKenzie could see him chewing it over.

He wanted to bridge the gap so he could lunge forward and grasp him, but fear of heights kept him at a distance.

Still, McKenzie began to inch forward just a little more, his one hand extended.

“Come on, Nicholas. Give me your hand.”