Chapter summaries Dead Mountain Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

Chapter 35: The DeGregorio Interview and Cheape’s Hidden Cash

Warning: This summary contains spoilers for Chapter 35 of “Dead Mountain” by Douglas Preston. Read after finishing the chapter.

Summary

Corrie Swanson takes a surprise call from philanthropist Alex DeGregorio, former NMIT roommate of Matt Tanner. He confirms his close friendship with missing hiker Rod O’Connell—a nuclear engineering graduate student who hoped to work at Los Alamos on reentry systems—but can’t explain Tanner’s knife or a possible refuge. Afterward, Corrie meets Sheriff Homer Watts for breakfast. Watts reveals that Cheape, the retired Kirtland AFB janitor/supervisor, was killed by a single professional .22 shot to the neck, and had recently made a $10,000 cash down payment on a Tesla, with no corresponding bank activity. The remaining $90,000 is missing; the killer avoided all doorbell cameras, suggesting a sophisticated hit. Watts also discovers that Rod’s father, Harry O’Connell, was a retired lieutenant colonel who worked at Kirtland. Corrie, grappling with a sense of stagnation in the investigation and acute personal awkwardness, accepts Watts’s invitation to spend the afternoon at the Bosque del Apache.

Key Events

  • Dr. Alex DeGregorio returns Corrie’s call from Indonesia. He recalls Rod O’Connell as his best friend and a nuclear engineering grad student interested in ballistic missile reentry, not warheads.
  • DeGregorio knew most of the hikers but had no winter mountaineering experience and wasn’t invited on the trip. He cannot account for Tanner’s knife or a northward refuge.
  • Corrie mentally flags Rod’s nuclear background for deeper inquiry.
  • At Martha’s Black Dog Café, Sheriff Watts details Cheape’s record: a lifelong civilian Kirtland employee, unremarkable career, one minor commendation.
  • Cheape’s murder is execution-style: .22 pistol, silencer, back of the neck. No evidence or useful doorbell footage; the killer avoided all cameras.
  • Cheape put a $10,000 cash deposit on a $100,000 Tesla, and the remaining cash is gone—though bank accounts show no unusual activity.
  • Watts believes the house was tossed to mask the theft of at least $100,000 in hidden cash, and the missing money points toward a targeted robbery.
  • Watts also reveals that missing hiker Rod O’Connell’s father, Harry O’Connell, was a lieutenant colonel at Kirtland AFB.
  • Corrie is surprised she missed that connection and asks Watts to investigate locally. She privately notes her discouragement over eleven case days without progress.
  • Watts invites Corrie to the Bosque del Apache for coffee and a walk; flustered, she accepts.

Character Development

  • Corrie Swanson feels the weight of a stalled investigation and worries that even her boss Sharp seems quieter than usual. Her professional focus is undercut by personal nervousness around Watts, causing her to blush and stumble over words—yet she agrees to the outing, hinting at growing emotional entanglement.
  • Sheriff Homer Watts emerges as a methodical investigator and a considerate companion. He shares his discoveries openly, offers to dig into the O’Connell family locally, and gently steers the relationship toward something warmer. His “wry, dimpled smile” and direct invitation mark a deliberate move beyond professional boundaries.
  • Alex DeGregorio is portrayed as a wealthy but emotionally scarred figure. His high-pitched voice contrasts with a deep burden of grief; he took a term off school after the tragedy and still carries the pain of not knowing what happened to his best friend.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

  • Hidden Knowledge and Connections: This chapter repeatedly unearths buried links—DeGregorio’s nuclear-engineering past with Rod, Harry O’Connell’s Kirtland job, and Cheape’s secret cash. Each revelation suggests the case hinges on what has been deliberately concealed.
  • Professionalism and Violence: Cheape’s murder is described with clinical precision (“professional hit,” “execution-style”), while the Tesla cash hints at an unseen but well-organized underworld. The sophistication of the kill contrasts with the messy, fifteen-year-old cold case.
  • The Bosque as a Liminal Space: Watts’s invitation to the cottonwood grove recalls an earlier sunrise they shared. The riverbank becomes a place where professional roles blur and unspoken personal tension can surface, mirroring Corrie’s internal conflict between duty and desire.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 35 pivots the investigation toward two critical veins. First, Rod O’Connell’s nuclear engineering background and his father’s Kirtland AFB career inject a national-security dimension that hints at a conspiracy larger than a tragic hiking accident. Second, the Cheape murder—with its professional execution and unexplained Tesla cash—ties a present-day killing directly to someone’s willingness to cover up old secrets. On the personal front, Corrie’s acceptance of Watts’s invitation signals her willingness to blend the personal and professional, a development that will likely test her focus as the case deepens.

Study Questions and Answers

  1. How does DeGregorio’s description of Rod O’Connell alter the FBI’s understanding of the victims?
    DeGregorio reveals that Rod was a nuclear engineering graduate student aiming for a career at Los Alamos in reentry systems, not warhead design. This shifts the victim profile from a group of generic engineering students to one that includes someone with direct ties to nuclear weapons delivery technology—potentially linking the case to national security interests and making a cover-up far more plausible.

  2. What makes Cheape’s murder and his Tesla purchase suspicious, and how does Watts interpret the evidence?
    Cheape paid a $10,000 cash deposit on a $100,000 Tesla but showed no unusual bank activity, implying at least $100,000 in untraceable cash. After his execution-style killing, the cash is missing, though valuable items were left behind. Watts deduces that the house was tossed as a cover and that the murderer likely knew about the hidden money, pointing to a targeted hit rather than a random robbery.

  3. Why is the revelation about Harry O’Connell’s employment at Kirtland AFB significant?
    The fact that the missing hiker’s father worked at Kirtland as a lieutenant colonel suggests a multi-generational military connection to the same base where Cheape was employed. This overlaps the victim’s family with the maintenance employee who was recently murdered and may indicate that the truth behind Dead Mountain involves secrets protected by—or centered on—Kirtland Air Force Base.

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