Chapter 4 — The Photographer
Mason Keene was a professional landscape photographer.
His photographs of Eagle Ridge appeared in travel magazines and tourism advertisements.
He also led private sunrise photography workshops.
“I was taking pictures,” Mason said.
“That’s all.”
Cole pointed toward the gate.
“Below a closed trail?”
“No.”
“Oliver says he saw you open it.”
Mason looked toward the boy.
“Children get confused after traumatic events.”
Sarah’s expression hardened.
“Don’t talk about my son like that.”
Alex noticed Mason’s boots.
Dry.
Unlike Dean’s.
That seemed to help Mason’s story.
But Cole wasn’t convinced.
He examined the gate more carefully.
A thin streak of bright blue material marked the underside of the metal latch.
Not mud.
Not paint from the gate.
Something else.
Cole rubbed it between his fingers.
Powdery.
“Climbing chalk?” Dean asked.
Mason immediately looked toward him.
Dean shook his head.
“Blue photographer’s chalk, maybe.”
Mason carried a small piece of colored chalk on his camera strap.
Landscape photographers sometimes used removable chalk marks on equipment or rock tripods during complicated setups.
Cole looked toward Mason’s camera bag.
A blue chalk stick was clipped to the outside.
Mason laughed nervously.
“Half the photographers out here carry that.”
“Maybe.”
Cole pointed toward the gate.
“But not half the photographers were accused by a nine-year-old of opening this exact latch.”
Mason stopped smiling.
Then another hiker spoke.
“I saw him too.”
Everyone turned.
A woman named Linda Chen raised her hand.
“About an hour ago.”
“Doing what?”
“Standing beside the gate with two people.”
Mason quickly replied:
“They were clients.”
Linda nodded.
“And you were all on the other side of the barrier.”