Fatal Reaction (29 page)

CHAPTER 80

The traffic broke, and it would have been smooth sailing if Mike had any sense of which direction he was headed. He pulled off the highway, his truck barely fitting in the half-cleared shoulder, and answered his phone.

“Mike, it’s Coop.”

“Any news?”

“Elsa went by Noreen’s place with Julian, and they found Ana’s car in the parking lot, under enough snow to say it’s been there a couple of hours, at least.”

“What about Noreen?”

“No answer. Her place is abandoned.”

“Put out a BOLO. Get her information from the DMV.”

“It won’t help.”

“What do you mean ‘it won’t help’?”

“She’s not driving her car. You know we wouldn’t go this far outside of the lines without the proper authorization for anyone other than Ana, but Elsa and Graham knocked on doors. One of Noreen’s neighbors said she’s driving a rental, a dark blue SUV. She said she didn’t know car makes or models. I did some digging, and it turns out Noreen rented a dark blue Land Rover LR2 from a place called Go Rentals that specializes in high-end vehicles, and, Mike, it’s worse than that. The car’s identical to Dorian Carmichael’s.”

“Shit.” Mike slammed his palms into the steering wheel hard enough that a jarring pain radiated into his aging shoulder, one that had been dislocated and shot in his first year on the force.

“Dorian didn’t rape her, did he?” Coop asked.

“My gut tells me no. Any luck tracing Ana’s cell?”

“None, but . . .” A voice in the background interrupted, and Mike strained to listen. “Where? Okay. Off 490?”

“Coop, what’s going on?”

“Are you sure?”

“Sure of what?” Mike shouted.

“Dorian Carmichael owns a place on the other side of the Bristol Mountain Ski Resort, off 490. LoJack on the rental puts Noreen there. I’m sending backup.”

“How do I get there?”

“Mike, you’re off duty. Wait this one out.”

“Coop, I’m not going to ask again. How do I get there?”

“Hang on.” The sound of clicking keyboard keys filled the silence as Coop searched for directions. “Take 490 to NY-64, head toward Bristol. There’s a private access road, Lakeside Lodges Road it’s called, but I doubt it’ll show up on your GPS. Dorian’s place is the last on the right.”

Mike turned on his directional and sped out into traffic with barely a glance over his shoulder. He slammed his foot on the gas and weaved between cars, which were now fewer and farther between.

A long silence followed as he considered his next move.

“Mike, you still there?”

“Yeah, I’m here, Coop. Listen, I need everything you can dig up on Noreen. Find out whatever you can and get back to me.”

“I’ll do what I can, but my guess is you’ll see her first.”

CHAPTER 81

The basement was cold and damp, the only light coming from a single bulb suspended from the ceiling. Pain shot up Ana’s ankles as if she’d been hobbled, the result of having been dragged down the stairs. The blunt-force injury made her wonder if she managed to escape, could she run or even walk.

It didn’t matter.

She wasn’t getting out of this.

The continuous positive airway pressure machine was the only thing keeping air in her lungs, and she lay helpless with each artificial breath.

Noreen looked a mess. Her wispy bangs clung to the droplets of sweat covering her forehead, and her once-styled hair stood on end in a way that made her look deranged.
Appropriate, considering.
Even injured, she’d managed to tape Ana securely to a lounge chair and start an IV line, the insulin dripping at an almost imperceptible rate.

She intended for Ana’s death to be slow and agonizing.

Noreen checked her watch and wrapped another layer of medical tape around the blood-soaked compression bandage on her hand.

“It didn’t have to be like this.”

It didn’t, but she wasn’t going to just roll over and die.

“You could have helped me. I would’ve given you the succinylcholine, and this would have all been over quickly.”

Already the panic was setting in, even as the injection wore off.

Ana’s chest expanded, and she drew her first partial breath, independent of the machine.

Noreen put a stethoscope in her ears and listened to Ana’s lungs before taking off the CPAP mask.

The cool burst of air on Ana’s sweaty skin made her shiver. She gasped, a full, unaided breath rushing into her lungs.

Noreen listened again. “What did you really think was going to happen?” She hung the stethoscope around her neck. “Did you think you were going to kill me, or just hurt me enough to get away? I know you, Ana. I’ve known girls like you. You want me to answer for what I did, but I’m too smart for that. I have a plan. You aren’t walking out of here. And for what it’s worth, neither am I.” She covered her hand with her sleeve and unscrewed the lightbulb, leaving Ana in complete darkness.

CHAPTER 82

The speedometer registered a steady eighty miles per hour as Mike closed in on the Bristol Mountain Ski Resort. He let his foot off the accelerator and took a hard right onto NY-64, steering a bit with the unavoidable skid.

Traffic picked up as he closed in on the mountain, the die-hard skiers and snowboarders with gear strapped to their roofs, driving undeterred. A Subaru Outback cut in front of him and proceeded to do thirty-five as the driver searched for the parking lot entrance. Mike honked and waved his hand for the middle-aged female driver to get out of his way. She flipped him off, but pulled over, allowing him to regain speed.

Heavy snowflakes fell on his windshield, and the wipers turned them into a packed dam. He cranked up the defroster, heat making the problem worse.

Ice coated the end of the driver’s side wiper and prevented the rubber from making contact with the glass. Mike rolled down the driver’s side window and reached for the blade on the upswing. The seat belt held him in place, and he had to loosen it to be able to reach. He leaned forward, the heavy snow pelting the side of his face, and caught the edge of the blade. He pulled it back and let it go with a slap
against the glass, breaking off a small chunk that barely increased visibility. A second hard thump cleared the rest, but Mike nearly missed his turn. He fought the instinct to slam on the brakes as he jerked the wheel to the right and sped through the desolate construction zone. The truck tires spun, then gained traction. Mike squinted to see what looked like fresh tire tracks in the nearly deserted road. The red casing of an extinguished flare stuck out from a mound by the ditch.

“Shit.”

A silver BMW had careened off the road and was back-end first in the ditch. A trail of footprints led away from the car, the headlights of which were half-shrouded by a cloud of exhaust. Mike didn’t want to stop, but when the passenger’s side door opened and Jared Monroe stumbled out of the car, he had no choice.

Snow covered Jared’s dark hair and settled on his eyelashes. His feet sank through the snow, halfway up to his knees, and he waved his arms for Mike to stop. He wasn’t even wearing a coat.

“What the hell are you doing? Are you crazy coming out here?” Mike shouted through the open window and turned up the heat. The fan drowned out Jared’s answer. “What? I can’t hear you.”

Jared held up a finger, turned off the car, and pocketed the keys. He pulled himself up the embankment, holding on to a long sapling branch, and staggered onto the road, shivering. “I need a lift.”

Mike reached across the passenger seat and pulled the door handle. “Get in.”

A clear thread dripped from his nose and he sniffled, holding his bright red hands in front of the vents.

“How much farther?” Mike asked, not bothering with small talk.

“Less than a quarter mile, last house on the right. Dorian should already be there.”

CHAPTER 83

Dorian couldn’t believe how far Noreen had gone.

A Baltic Blue Land Rover, exactly like his, sat parked in the cabin’s driveway.

He thumbed the lever of the front door handle, and stumbled inside. Extreme heat hit him head-on, the contrast in temperature breaking him out in a sweat.

“Noreen?”

A half-empty bottle of wine sat on the counter next to a stack of sterile gauze wrappers, a bottle of peroxide, and a lightbulb.

“Noreen, are you here?”

The silence gripped Dorian’s body like a vise.

“Come on, Noreen, this isn’t funny.”

He walked through the great room, looking around and behind things in case she was hiding.

“Noreen, answer me.”

The sound of tossed sheets catching a breeze echoed in the loft.

Dorian stood at the base of the stairs, contemplating arming himself. The sound came again, and with each heavy step on the hardwood he regretted his decision not to.

He reached the loft bedroom, and the scene sucked the breath out of him.

Noreen rolled onto her side, her head propped up on her hand and her elbow sinking into the mattress. She was naked, except for Colby’s shirt, which he’d torn the buttons off in a lustful fury. “Took you long enough,” she said, a smile spreading across her face.

“Where’s Ana?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Noreen, a white gauze bandage taped to her palm, patted the bed for him to come join her.

“That’s bullshit, Noreen. What are you doing here?”

“You told me to help myself to the place whenever I wanted, remember?”

He reached for his phone, and her demeanor did a pendulum shift.

“Don’t you dare!” She produced a syringe from behind her and removed the cap with her teeth. “Sit.” He hesitated. “I’m not going to say it again.” She pushed herself up and tucked her legs underneath her. Her half-exposed breasts heaved with each heavy breath.

Dorian took a careful step toward the bed and sat on the end, as far away from her as he could get. “What do you want?”

“That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it?” Noreen lowered the needle, keeping her thumb on the plunger. “You know, I heard you made bail. I thought you might be headed to the hospital, but Colby can’t exactly talk to you from a coma, can she?” Dorian didn’t bother telling her that Colby had come to. “You told me you loved me, Dorian. You made love to me, remember? After you’d been in jail, the first time? I never told you that Mitchell called me, did I? He wanted to know what you were looking for, ransacking Prusak’s office, but I covered for you. I always cover for you. I went to post your bail, but you were gone. You didn’t even have to call me, and I was right there, in time to see you leave with
her
. Where did you say you were that night? At the office, finishing charts, burning the midnight oil and all that?” She tugged on the shirt. “Nice job on the buttons.”

Dorian’s nostrils flared as he sucked in a deep breath. “I’d say we’re more than even. I lied to you about where I was, and you lied about me raping you.”

“But did I? I mean, there’s DNA, and there’s that thing with Marco, and the evidence at your house. All of what’s happened makes you look, frankly, guilty. I did what I did to Sydney to keep you, to keep
us
, from being exposed. Marco should’ve minded his own business. Ana, too, for that matter. Everyone could’ve just gotten past this, and you could’ve loved me.”

Dorian curled his upper lip. “Love you? You make me sick.”

“Make sure you tell that to your attorney.” Noreen emptied the syringe into her thigh, her body went limp, and she stopped breathing.