Frozen Stiff (14 page)

“So no one was guessing who the father was?”

“Not a clue.”

Claire slid down next to her daughter. “How’re you and Curt?”

“Oh, you hear the word sex and then you want to know how we are?”

“Now, don’t get so defensive.”

Meg laughed. “Okay, I guess. He’s been hanging with this one guy I don’t really like very much. But other than that, things are fine.”

“What guy?”

“Andy Palmquist.”

Rich walked into the room and plopped down in his chair. “What’re you two gossiping about?”

“This and that,” Meg said. “Nothing you’d be interested in.”

“Well, speaking of Andy, I just saw him today at lunch. Kinda surprised he wasn’t at school.”

“The seniors can leave if they want. A perk.”

“Where’d you have lunch?” Claire asked.

“At Burger King. I was in Durand picking up some stuff at the Co-op. Yeah, Andy was sitting there with Danielle Walker.”

Claire pushed herself up. “Danielle Walker? Really? How do you know who she is?”

“She and her dad came and got some pheasant from me for Thanksgiving this year. She’s pretty memorable.”

Claire and Meg looked at each other. Almost in unison they said, “Andy and Danielle?”

Claire asked, “What would they be doing together?”

Rich said, “He probably met her down here. What’s so surprising about that?”

Meg said, “Why would someone like Danielle go out with Andy? When she would come down to the beach, she wouldn’t give any of us locals the time of day.”

“I wonder,” Claire said.

4 January: 10 am

I
’m getting out today,” Daniel Walker said to Claire as she walked in his hospital room. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, one of his feet bandaged, the other bare but blistered.

Claire stood next to his bed and said, “Congratulations.” She was surprised to notice that he looked a little better than he had yesterday—his face had more color and he seemed more lively. His face was still a scabbed-over, blistering mess, but he was even smiling.

“Can I go back to the cabin?” He looked up at her. “Or is it still under your jurisdiction? Casing the joint?”

“We’re done checking it out. You can stay there. I have to tell you, so far we’ve found no particular evidence of anyone else in the house with you that night. All the fingerprints checked out—no surprises. Are you remembering anything more about what happened?”

“I’ve tried. I think back and I can vaguely remember being in the sauna, I can remember having a cigar, and then it just goes blank. Like a curtain falls down in my brain. But I’m not worried about going back to the house. To tell you the truth, I don’t think anyone did this to me. I know you think someone
tried to do this to me, but I’m not so sure. I have a feeling I decided to go out and roll in the snow and just couldn’t get back in.” Walker shrugged his shoulders. “After all, I was doing some drinking.”

“But Sherri claims that all the doors were locked.”

Walker looked at the door as if checking to see if anyone was there, then back to Claire. “Just between you and me, she has a vivid imagination. She probably had trouble getting the back door open and decided it had been locked. I wouldn’t trust her memory. Anyway, she’s going to come and stay with me for a few days while I recuperate so I won’t be alone.”

Claire stepped closer and lowered her voice. “There’s something else I need to talk to you about, Mr. Walker. I’m not sure that you are aware of this but Bonnie Hegstrom is in the hospital too and she just had a baby.”

His head jerked up, but his voice was casual. “Bonnie. Sure, I know Bonnie. Cute kid.”

“Yes, well, she told me that you are probably the father of this baby.”

He braced himself with both arms and stared at her. “What? You’ve gotta be kidding me. She’s lying if she said that.”

“Mr. Walker. I think you need to think about what you’re saying. We can do a paternity test if it comes to that. She’s claiming that you had sex with her twice when she was working for you.

His voice deepened as he explained, “It wasn’t like that. We were just fooling around. I didn’t force her or anything.”

“She’s not saying you did, but, you know, Bonnie’s underage.

It was hard for Claire to read Walker’s face, but he shook his head. “No, I didn’t know. How old is she?”

“Only seventeen.”

He sagged down onto the bed, his arms giving way and his head dropping to his chest. “I had no idea. She’s a big girl. I didn’t really think about it. I was sure she was at least nineteen or twenty. I didn’t know.”

“Unfortunately not knowing is no excuse.”

“Are you going to put me in jail?” He looked down at his red, scabby hands. “Like this?”

“I have to talk to her parents. Nobody’s pressing charges at the moment, so you’re free to go home. But don’t think about leaving the state.”

“To tell you the truth, I was thinking of going to Arizona and bake in the sun for the rest of the winter.”

“You hang tight and watch your back.”

“Hey, I don’t have any enemies.”

Claire didn’t bother to list for him the ones she could think of off hand.

11 am

As Amy walked into the Government Center, she knew she had huge red roses blooming on her cheeks. The cold always did that to her. She stripped off her jacket, her scarf and her gloves, and was glad that she had pulled office duty for the next few hours. She had just spent the first half of the day tagging stranded cars and helping people who didn’t have enough sense to wear some warm clothes get home.

She jumped up and down and jogged to her desk just to get the blood circulating in her body. Once the cold got into your skin, it was hard to ever get warm again.

“You got a moment? I’d like to put our heads together about what’s going on with Mr. Walker,” Claire said, coming up to Amy with two coffees in her hands. “He’s getting out of the hospital and doesn’t seem to feel he has anything to worry about. I’m not so convinced.”

Amy happily took the mug of coffee and held it in her cold hands. “Conference room?”

“Sure, I always like to write on the chalkboard in there. It seems to help me organize my thoughts,” Claire said as they walked to the conference room. “I have a couple things to tell you. You know Bonnie Hegstrom?”

“Yeah, she just had a baby. Poor kid. There goes her life.”

“Well, I had a talk with her and she claims Daniel Walker is the father.”

“Shit,” Amy said and spilled some of the coffee on the table. “Excuse my language. That just popped out.”

“Hey, I hear you. There are too many coincidences happening with this case.”

Claire wrote DANIEL WALKER on the board. “Then I go to see Walker today—and as I’m leaving he says to me, ‘But I don’t have any enemies.’”

Amy laughed. “That’s a good one. I think the better question is—does he have any friends?”

“Oh, lord, I know. Well, at least his wife and him seem to be getting along better. Sherri is going to go home and stay with him while he recoups.”

Claire wrote SHERRI WALKER below the first name. “She’s gotta be a suspect. The dumped wife. It’s a cliché, but then that’s why such things are clichés—because they happen all the time. Plus, I still think she’s got the best motive.”

Amy nodded. “Money.”

“Love and money.” Claire looked at the board, then wrote: CLYDE HEGSTROM, REVENGE. “Bonnie told me that her father knew about Daniel Walker being the father of her baby. She claims he said he was going to kill Walker. I don’t think she knew that he was in the hospital with her.”

“What about his wife, Sara, the cleaning lady?”

“Well, from what I can gather, she didn’t leave the hospital once the baby was born. She was there when Walker was brought in. She slept right next to her daughter’s bed, according to the nurses.”

Amy knew she was going to have to add a name to the list. Reluctantly, she said, “I think you need to write down John Gordon.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, he was pretty darn angry about Mr. Walker trying to buy the farm from his mother. I don’t blame him. Walker really took advantage of his mother.”

Claire wrote: JOHN GORDON. Then she wrote: MOTIVE: FARM, REVENGE

“I suppose it could have been someone from the Cities, but it’s a long way to come on such a cold night.”

Amy thought of one more person. “What about his daughter, Danielle?”

“I’ll add her to the list, but she seems to be very close to her father. She’s hardly left the hospital.”

“Well, according to her, she was really the one who was going to inherit all his money. She was throwing this in Sherri’s face during one of their fights. I checked with the lawyer and it’s true. As of New Year’s Eve, she stood to gain the most from Walker’s death. Plus, she gives me the creeps.”

“Well, that alone is a pretty good reason.” Claire wrote: DANIELLE WALKER. Then added, MOTIVE: MONEY

2:30 pm

Meg caught Andy as he was leaving school. She grabbed his arm and he turned and gave her a quizzical look. They were standing right by the main door to the outside, and Meg could feel the cold blasting in every time someone left the school.

“Hey, how was Burger King yesterday?” she asked him.

His quizzical look turned to a scowl. “What’s it to you?”

They weren’t best friends, but he didn’t usually treat her this way. “Just wondered. I heard you were there, hanging out with some babe from the big city.”

“Who told you that?”

“My step-dad, Rich.” She didn’t feel like saying, my step-dad to be.

“I hate this place. Why don’t people mind their own business?

“What’s the prob? I heard you were hanging with Danielle Walker. She’s going to college, isn’t she?”

“Hey, we just ran into each other there. No big deal. I kinda know her from this last summer. Met her at the beach. Then I did some work for her folks when they were at the cabin.”

“Fine. Don’t have to get so weirded out about it.”

Curt came walking up. “Hey, guys. What do you say? Want to go sledding this aft?”

Meg loved to sled and Curt knew it, but she wished he hadn’t invited Andy to come with them. Him being along would change the whole nature of the sport. She could just see those two guys, ramming into each other on the hill, having to make it into some big competition.

“Later, man,” Andy high-fived him. “I got things to do.”

Curt turned to Meg. “What’d you think?”

“It’s pretty cold.”

“Bundle up. Then when we hit a bump, you’ll bounce.”

“You two be careful. Sledding’s not for sissies.” Andy shook his head. “On the news they’re saying that a lot of people are busting up their spines this winter because the grounds so hard and frozen. Who’d think sledding could be dangerous?” With that, Andy walked outside to catch his bus.

Curt slung his arm over Meg’s shoulder. “I’ve got the car. Can I give you a lift home?”

“Absolutely. I’ll even make you some hot chocolate.” They dove into their parkas and scarves. “Did you know that Andy was seeing Danielle Walker?”

Curt popped his head through his hood and shook it. “Who’s Danielle again? The name sounds familiar.”

“You know that guy whose house you can see from Bogus Road. They’re weekenders. She’s his daughter.”

“Oh, I think I know who you mean—that Danielle from the Cities. I remember seeing her around this summer. You’re kidding.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t know, what with you two being soul brothers and all, or is it comrades in arms?” Meg said.

“Never said a word to me.”

“Hmm. Wonder why not. Doesn’t seem like Andy.” They linked arms and pushed out through the main doors.

“Oh, the guy can be deep.”

“So deep that he didn’t even tell you about her? I wonder what the big secret is.”

4 January: 4:30 pm

I
thought
I
was going to stay with you for awhile at the cabin. I was planning on it,” Danielle said, pouting as only she could do, while still looking fairly attractive at the same time.

Dan wasn’t happy to see his daughter lodged in the doorway. She looked like she hadn’t changed clothes in a few days and she had only a smear of lipstick on, not her usual full makeup. The set of her jaw and her stance told him she was upset.

He, on the other hand, was feeling pretty good, considering. He was glad to be back in real clothes and sitting up on the bed. But he wasn’t looking forward to this conversation with his daughter, knowing how much she disliked Sherri.

“No, Danielle. That won’t be necessary. Sherri and I have decided to give it another try. My accident has changed the way I’m looking at everything. I guess I’m seeing things more clearly.”

She flounced into the room and stood in front of him, arms folded over her chest, blond hair falling around her face. “Oh, really? What’s that about? I thought you two were through. That’s what you told me. You said Sherri was just using you. That she was boring. What’s with you?”

“Maybe I changed my mind. Maybe I know now that she’s steady, not boring. Maybe I was wrong.”

“Geez, Dad, for once you can admit it. That you were wrong about something. Big whooppety. Well, I think you’re going to regret letting her back into your life. I don’t want to hear about your problems with her anymore. As far as I’m concerned, she’s a bitch. She ripped up my life when she took you away from mom.”

“Danielle, give Sherri a break. You don’t have to like her, but I ask you to be at least civil to her.”

“Whatever.”

He reached out for her hand, but she pulled away from him.

“Dad, you said you would give me some money. You promised. I need it now. You know, for the down payment on that condo I was looking at. Remember? You promised.”

“Danielle, now’s not the time. Wait until I’m feeling better. Besides, nobody buys a piece of real estate in the winter.”

“What about you? You bought that stinking old farm. Stole it from an old lady, that’s what you said. You bragged about it.”

“Danielle, I’m your father. You need to calm down. That’s different. I know what I’m doing. Listen, in a couple months I’ll go condo shopping with you. We’ll find you the perfect place.”