Building the Stubai Glacier and its dedicated road had been an enormous, high-risk project, and most of the people in the valley had thought Doctor Klier (he held a doctorate in literature) crazy. No one—perhaps not even Klier himself—had imagined it would be such a success. For the year 1989, they were on track to have almost a million visitors.
The last stretch of 183 and the parking lots were the private property of the Stubai Glacier, whose personnel regulated traffic. On that note, Angelika said she’d spoken with the head of parking about Duncan’s car. He was, she explained, a very exact man, and he was certain the car had not been in the lot before September 1.
The next day, September 26, the MacPhersons drove to Innsbruck to hear the results of Inspector Klotz’s investigation. With Walter Hinterhoelzl as their interpreter, they had a long discussion, but Klotz’s overall message was simple: The gendarmerie had found no sign of Duncan after August 9. They were unable to trace his call to Ron Dixon in Vancouver, and therefore had no concrete reason to believe that Duncan had made the call after August 9. Klotz suggested they try to trace it in Canada.
As for Duncan’s car, Klotz concluded it must have sat in the gondola station parking lot since August 9. The gendarmerie had not noticed it because it didn’t patrol the lot, which was the private property of the Stubai Glacier. Everyone else who saw it must have assumed that its driver had gone for a long “hut tour,” as many visitors did in August.
It was conceivable that Duncan had gone on a hut tour after his snowboarding lesson. All over the Stubai Alps, huts were built during the late 19th century by the German Alpine Association. Though the word “hut” conjures images of a crude structure, some of them are substantial buildings with comfortable room and board for hikers. With decent shoes and a few layers of clothing, one could set off from the Eisgrat Station and hike from hut to hut. It was a safe and easy way to enjoy the mountains, provided one stayed on the marked paths. Venturing off the trails could be very dangerous.
In short, the gendarmerie believed that Duncan had suffered an alpine accident on the afternoon or evening of August 9. As none of the searches thus far had found his body, it was possible it would never be found. With snow falling at upper elevations, Commander Hofer had decided to call off the official search. However, everyone in the valley was aware of Duncan’s disappearance, which meant that mountaineers, highland herdsmen, and hunters would continue to keep an eye out for him or his body.
With no body and no proof, how could Lynda and Bob accept that Duncan had died in a mountain accident on August 9? Ron Dixon insisted he was “ninety percent sure” he had spoken with Duncan on August 10. The parking lot attendant at the Stubai Glacier—“a very exact man”—was certain the car had appeared in the lot after September 1.
Lynda phoned Ian Thomson at the Canadian Embassy and requested that Duncan’s call be traced on Dixon’s side in Vancouver. She also told him the Austrians were ending the search, and she wanted to know the Canadian government’s response to this decision. Thomson called back the next day and said that the Canadians were struggling to trace Duncan’s call to Dixon, but would keep trying. He then gave Lynda some advice.
“I think you and your family should get on with your lives,” he said. “Life is for the living.”
It was an odd thing for anyone to say to a mother who’d just been told that she would have to accept her son’s death, even without a body or any proof that he was dead. Stranger still was that a diplomat would say it. Lynda knew that External Affairs was tired of her questions and requests, but if she and Bob had not made hundreds of calls and driven thousands of miles all over the Alps, it was safe to say they would have no leads whatsoever. What was the point of keeping fat-assed consuls all over Europe, with their bloated staffs, chauffeured cars, and fancy villas, if they were unable or unwilling to do the work to find one of their missing citizens?
Unbeknownst to the MacPhersons at the time, on the same day that Thomson called them at their hotel, Interpol Vienna sent a cable to Interpol Ottawa with the following message:
MacPherson is believed to have had an accident while snowboarding on 9/8/89. He may have been killed by a fall into a crevasse. The above information has been communicated to the missing person’s parents and to the Canadian Embassy in Vienna.
In fact, this information was not communicated to the missing person’s parents. Inspector Klotz did not tell them that the police believed Duncan to have had an accident while snowboarding on 9/8/89. On the contrary, Klotz used the vague expression “mountain accident,” thereby insinuating that Duncan may have died while hiking after his snowboarding session. Inspector Brecher and Walter Hinterhoelzl both suggested that Duncan had tried to hike up to the Eisgrat on the morning of August 10 and perhaps drowned in a waterfall.
Ian Thomson also failed to disclose this specific information to the MacPhersons, even though the Canadian Embassy did receive the above cable from Interpol. Had Lynda and Bob understood that the police believed Duncan to have had a fatal crevasse fall while snowboarding, they would have recognized that this was indeed the most likely explanation for their son’s disappearance, and acted accordingly.
Without a trace of Duncan’s call to Ron Dixon, the MacPhersons tried to think of some other way to determine whether he’d come off the mountain on August 9. Lynda and Bob racked their brains all day on September 27, and then had a light bulb moment: They would find out if Duncan had returned his snowboarding equipment to the rental shop. Of course! If his gear was returned, that would indicate that he’d come off the slope and either hiked or taken the gondola down to the valley. If his gear wasn’t returned, that would indicate he’d gone out of bounds while snowboarding and fallen into a crevasse.
Surely someone at the rental shop would remember Duncan—the 6’1” Canadian boy who’d rented the equipment and then come back with Walter to renegotiate the price. The girl at the travel agency in Nuremberg and the girl at the music shop in Innsbruck remembered him. If he didn’t return his equipment, someone at the shop would recall thinking, “Uh oh, looks like the big Canadian didn’t bring back his gear.” Why had Inspector Brecher never mentioned this key investigative point?
Lynda called Joe Moffatt at External Affairs in Ottawa and explained to him the critical importance of determining whether the equipment had been returned. He acknowledged her concern and said he’d look into it. However, from recent experience, Lynda had concluded that she couldn’t rely on him to carry out the task, so she decided to look into it herself as well. As luck would have it, Felicity Lamb was coming for a visit that weekend, and she could speak German.
The Sport Shop 3000 was located in the Eisgrat Station. As Lynda and Felicity entered, they saw a girl behind the counter. Felicity introduced herself and Lynda, and explained that they were trying to figure out if Duncan had returned his snowboard and boots. The girl said she didn’t recognize him from his photograph. Felicity then asked to see the shop’s rental log, at which point the girl became noticeably tense and looked to her left at someone standing behind a ski rack. A young man in his twenties, apparently the manager, stepped out and explained that they had recently started keeping a new log.