Heart of Ice (32 page)

As she ran, Nic reached back and tapped the grip of her Glock. Not surreptitiously, but to tell her the exact position of her weapon. She might need to draw it fast.

When Nic ran through the open doorway into the room, Makayla was at the far end of the short pool, her upper body resting on a yellow foam kickboard. Behind her, the sun had slipped below the level of the horizon, the floor-to-ceiling windows already growing dark. Elizabeth was fifteen feet nearer, her back to Nic, encouraging Makayla to kick to her.

At the sound of Nic’s clattering footsteps, they both turned to stare.

“Makayla, get out of the pool right now,” Nic ordered. “Use the ladder behind you.”

Makayla tilted her head to one side, her expression puzzled. But she didn’t move.

Elizabeth did not suffer the same kind of paralysis or confusion. Not wasting any time in talking, she just knifed through the water. Straight toward Makayla.

“Get out of the water now, Makayla!” Nic screamed. “Get away from her. The ladder’s behind—”

Elizabeth erupted from the water. Seeing her wide smile, Nic’s blood chilled.

“Oh no. Come on, sweetie, you’re coming with me.” Wrapping one arm across Makayla’s chest, Elizabeth jerked her off the board.

Without the safety of the flotation device, or the pool bottom beneath her feet, Makayla was suddenly drowning in fear.

“Mama!” she screamed, her wild eyes rolling so far the whites showed, her mouth opened in a scream. “Help! Mama!”

Without a second’s hesitation, Elizabeth pressed her lips together and dropped to the floor of the pool. Dragging Makayla along with her. The water closed over both their heads.

In one motion, Nic set her gun on the tile and dove into the water. Not even bothering to kick off her shoes.

The chlorine burned her eyes, but Nic fought to keep them open. She saw water churning, long dark legs kicking, her daughter’s open mouth and wide eyes.

Makayla, who was so afraid of drowning. And Nic had just handed her over to her murderer. Her daughter’s last thoughts would be filled with terror.

Nic had to put her head up to breathe, sucking in as much air as she did water. Coughing, she launched herself forward again.

On land, Elizabeth would have been no match for Nic. But Nic had always been clumsy and anxious in the water. Now she tried to grab her daughter, but Elizabeth shoved Makayla behind her. Then Nic felt Elizabeth’s fingers knot viciously in her hair. Her strong hands pressed her down. Nic kicked out her legs but connected with nothing. She tried—and failed—to bring her feet underneath her.

No air.
No air
. Somehow Nic managed to heave her head above water, snatch a single gulp of precious air. The room was suddenly filled with white, red, and blue light from a car’s revolving light bar, washing over the pool, dancing on the waves, reflecting and multiplying. Someone was coming. But would they come soon enough? And then Nic’s head was pushed under again. She was weaker this time. It was harder to fight. She let herself stop moving. She would fool Elizabeth. Pretend to be dead. And then surprise her.

Except that Nic wasn’t certain how much she was pretending.

Suddenly, the hands were gone. Gone. With a gasp, Nic lifted her head above the water. Just in time to see Elizabeth drag Makayla up the stairs and out of the water—and grab Nic’s Glock.

Then Elizabeth turned, pointed it at Nic, and pulled the trigger.

CHAPTER 54

Channel Four

D
uring the six o’clock local news, Cassidy had given viewers the latest updates on Portland’s two murders. All the while wishing she knew what the latest really was.

After all, she was the one who had figured out that Jenna had purchased a hidden camera and that it was still at the motel. But she hadn’t even been allowed to look at whatever images it had captured.

Driving home, Cassidy called Allison, who wasn’t making any sense.

“Leif and I are on our way to get Nic and Makayla at the gym.”

Cassidy strained to hear Allison over a siren in the background.

“What? What does that have to do with the tape?”

“It’s
Elizabeth
, Cassidy. Elizabeth is behind it all. She killed Jenna and Deciccio. She ordered that woman and her kid to be killed.”

“What?” The thought was impossible to grasp. Cassidy tried to hold on to it, but it slipped away from her. Still, she automatically merged into the right lane. The freeway exit for the street that led to the gym was only a mile away.

Allison launched into an explanation of how everything was connected—Elizabeth and Lindsay, Joey and Elizabeth, Jenna and Joey, Elizabeth and Ian.

“I was watching the tape, Cass, and I see Elizabeth! Shooting Jenna! And then I think—Makayla. Makayla is taking lessons from Elizabeth right now. I called Nicole and warned her, and she ran off to get Makayla. We’ve got Portland police and FBI agents scrambling over to the gym. Leif and I are almost there. I just pray we’re not too late. I’ve got to go.”

Cassidy took the exit at far more than the posted speed limit of thirty-five. She hadn’t followed everything Allison had said, but she had gotten the gist.

Elizabeth. Funny. Fascinating. Beautiful.

Elizabeth.

A killer.

A sociopath.

A human scorpion.

And Cassidy had let her ride on her back.

She pulled into the gym’s parking lot, her thoughts swirling. Elizabeth had played Cassidy like a virtuoso. Everything Elizabeth had said had been calibrated to make Cassidy do and think exactly what she had wanted.

She had gotten Cassidy to buy her a whole new wardrobe. She had pumped Cassidy for information, lied to her, tried to turn her against her friends.

But what Elizabeth didn’t understand was that you didn’t mess with Cassidy. And you especially didn’t mess with her friends.

This was all her fault, Cassidy thought as a car raced past her, a police light strobing blue on the dash. She had to make it right. She had to think of some way to fix it. If anything happened to Nicole or Makayla, she couldn’t live with herself. She skidded to a stop.

The car with the police light drove up over the curb and onto the lawn until it was facing the big glass wall of the swimming pool. Automatically grabbing her purse, Cassidy got out of her car and started to run. The driver’s side door of the other car flew open and Leif leapt out, sheltering behind the door, holding a gun in both hands. Inside the car Allison leaned forward, her hands on the dash. The pool was churning with a struggle. As Cassidy watched, Elizabeth dragged Makayla out of the pool and then snatched up a gun from the tiles.

Then Elizabeth turned and fired at the pool, the bullet as loud as a thunderclap.

“No!” Leif shouted, a shout that was very nearly a scream.

Cassidy’s heart stopped when she saw what Elizabeth had done.

Nicole’s body now lay motionless on the bottom of the pool.

But Cassidy didn’t have time to grieve, because Elizabeth, still holding the gun, was dragging Makayla toward the emergency exit. Sirens rose and fell behind Cassidy as more police cars began to converge. She realized it was already too late for Nicole.

She couldn’t let it be too late for Makayla.

Cassidy ran to the edge of the building and pushed her way into the bushes planted in a line next to it. As she scrambled through the narrow gap, she rummaged frantically through her huge black bag. Past pens, lipsticks, candy bars, mascara wand. Where was it? Where was it? Everything she touched was either too slender or too long to be what she needed.

Then her hand closed on the cylinder.

Pepper spray. The guy at the I Spy Shoppe had called her back to the counter and told her she needed it to keep herself safe. At the most, she had imagined using it to fend off a mugger in a parking lot. Not attacking the woman she had counted as a friend. Trying to stop her from killing a child.

Because Cassidy knew that Elizabeth would. She would use Makayla as a bargaining chip to get out of here. And then discard her when she stopped being useful. Not even looking back at her broken body as she walked away.

Cassidy flicked off the cap with her thumb. Dozens of cop cars were squealing into the parking lot, but it was too late. Elizabeth pushed the door open with her back, and the alarm began to blare. Cassidy pushed her way out of the bushes, staring at the woman who she had thought was her friend.

Elizabeth looked her in the eyes. “Cassidy,” she started to say, still following some vestigial impulse to try to manipulate her. As if she could explain away the gun in one hand and the terrified girl she held with the other.

“Sorry, I’m not listening to you anymore.” Cassidy lifted her hand and sprayed Elizabeth directly in the face.

But the pepper spray was far from pinpoint. Cassidy sprayed herself and Makayla too. The three of them fell to the ground. Gasping, coughing, choking, eyes and nose burning. More than burning. On fire.

Cassidy heard more than saw the cops swarm them. One pulled Makayla away, another snatched up the gun, a third grabbed Elizabeth, and a fourth yelled at Cassidy that she was under arrest.

CHAPTER 55

FBI Portland Field Office

A
llison walked into the meeting room. Nicole was waiting for her. After everything that had happened on Friday, Nicole had taken a three-day weekend, but her eyes still had dark circles under them. She stood up.

Allison gave her a tight hug, then pulled up a chair. “Are you still coughing up pool water?”

“I think I’ve finally got it all out of my system,” Nicole said.

“I’m sorry I sent you into a panic.” Allison looked down at her hands. “It’s just that when I realized it was the same girl Lindsay had known at Spurling . . .”

Nicole pressed her lips together. “I usually have a pretty good poker face, but once I knew the truth, all I could think was to get Makayla away from that . . . that monster.”

“I’ve been thanking God every day that you both survived.” Allison raised her head and met Nicole’s steady gaze. “I still can’t believe you’re alive after she shot at you. I was sure you were dead.”

“Well, if I hadn’t watched that one
Mythbusters
on TV with Makayla, I would be.” Nicole shook her head, looking bemused. “They were seeing if diving under water could really protect someone who was being shot at, the way it does in old movies. It turned out to be one of the few myths they’ve tested that is actually true. They had someone stand at the edge of a pool and shoot down into it. Most bullets lost their punch by three feet and came apart by five. When I saw Elizabeth point the gun at me, I just had to hope that I could get far enough down. That pool’s only five feet deep. I guess it helped that she was shooting at an angle. The bullet never even touched me.”

“You’re very lucky,” Allison said, and again thanked God for it.

Nicole’s mouth twisted into something like a smile. “I can’t decide if I’m blessed or cursed. You know, it’s like—I got cancer, but it probably got caught early. Or—my daughter nearly got murdered, but then she was saved. So am I lucky or unlucky? That kind of thinking can make for some looong nights.” She took a deep breath. “Speaking of which, right before I took Makayla to her swim lesson, I told my parents about the cancer.”

“You did? Oh, Nicole, that must have been hard.”

“They took it pretty well. I mean, if I put myself in their place, if I imagine how I would feel if Makayla told me the same thing, I think I would have gotten a lot more upset than they did. Maybe it took a little while to sink in. Yesterday they told me they started a prayer chain for me at their church.” Nicole shrugged. “I guess it can’t hurt.”

Allison patted Nicole’s hand. “I have to admit they’re not the only ones with that idea.” She had submitted Nicole’s name on Sunday.

“Well, we all do what we can to protect those we care about, don’t we?” Nicole put her hands over her eyes for a moment, then took them away. “I used to lie awake at night and think about Makayla getting leukemia or being hit by a car. Part of me thought that if I worried about those things, I could make it so they didn’t happen. I know, I know. Rational Nicole, doing something that was definitely irrational. And clearly, it didn’t protect her.” She managed a weak smile. “Or maybe I should have worried about different things. Like being nearly killed by her sociopathic swimming teacher.”

“How’s Makayla doing?”

“She’s been sleeping in my bed. And we’ve been talking about it a lot. The gym is horrified, of course. They’ve located a therapist who actually works with people in the water. Only this time I’m going to be there too. We’ll be starting lessons again about ten days after I have my lumpectomy. Give it time to heal before I get into the water.”

Allison was surprised. “Do you think that will be too fast for Makayla?”

Nicole bit her thumbnail. “I actually don’t think it’s fast enough. Last time I let her go four years, with her fears getting bigger and bigger every day. If I let that happen again, then she’ll never feel safe in a pool, or a kayak or a canoe or even on a boat. Not even by the time she’s an adult. I’m actually going to take the lessons right along with her. It’s a miracle neither of us drowned in that pool.”

Allison nodded. It was indeed a miracle.

Nicole took a deep breath. “So enough about me. Do you want to know about Elizabeth?” From the table, she picked up a thick manila folder with a large red stamp on the outside that read E
XPUNGED
. “I had to get special clearance from the Justice Department for you even to look at these. You can’t take notes, you can’t photocopy them, and they can’t leave this room.”

“I know.” Allison couldn’t keep her eyes off the file. “And we can’t use them at trial. But I appreciate you tracking them down. I just keep going around and around in my head, trying to understand what makes someone like Elizabeth tick.”

“I’ve just spent the last two hours looking through the files, so let me give you the highlights.” Nicole opened to the first page. “Elizabeth’s name used to be Elizabeth Hewsom, but when her cousin started calling her Sissy, it stuck.”