The Cold Kiss (15 page)

31

Now, the pain was there.

I sat up and rubbed the spot between my eyes with my fingertips then looked back toward the office. It wasn’t bad yet, just a dull ache building in the center of my head. I cursed myself for leaving my pills in the room.

“I thought the bells would wake me up if anyone came in,” I said. “I must’ve really been out.”

“You were.”

Caroline stacked her gloves then dropped them on the table and sat down. “How’s he doing?”

“Woke up around ten,” I said. “Nothing since.”

“Did he say anything?”

“A little,” I said. “A woman and some money.”

Caroline nodded.

“You don’t seem surprised,” I said.

“It sounds like what I heard this afternoon.”

“Did he tell you who shot him?”

“He told me a lot of things,” Caroline said. “Which just led to more questions. That’s why I thought we should talk.”

“I still don’t know how he knew my name.”

“Not about that.”

“Then what?”

“About your plans, Nate. You and Sara.” She leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table. “This situation has her scared. You know that, don’t you?”

“How do you—”

“Oh, I talked to her,” Caroline said. “While you were sleeping.” She smiled. “Actually, I’ve talked to everyone here. We all know what you two did.”

“What we did?” I tried to smile, to look amused, but it wouldn’t come. “You’ve got it all wrong.”

“I don’t think I do.”

“Do you think I shot him?”

Caroline nodded. “That’s one theory.”

“Then you’ve got it all wrong. It’s not true.”

“People do a lot of things for money,” she said. “And two million dollars is a lot of money.”

I looked at her then opened my mouth to say something, but she held up one hand, stopping me.

“Don’t bother to deny it,” she said. “Sara confirmed the amount.”

“The hell she did.”

“Not in so many words, you’re right, but you don’t always need words.” She tapped one finger under her eye. “Sometimes, all you need to know is right here. Windows of the soul, or so they say.”

“You’re lying.”

“Nate, the poor girl is scared to death. She’s practically crying out for help. All I had to do was provide a shoulder and she opened right up.” She frowned. “You put her in a terrible position, and you don’t see it.”

I got up and grabbed my jacket.

“Where are you going?”

“Back to my room,” I said. “Talk to Sara.”

“She’s fine,” Caroline said. “Megan is with her.”

“Why is Megan with her?”

“To keep her company. The poor girl is a bundle of shattered nerves right now, and the two of them seem to get along well. I swear she’s fine.”

I slid my coat over my shoulders and started for the office. Butch stepped into the doorway and didn’t move.

I prepared myself to go through him.

“Nate, hold on,” Caroline said. “Let’s just talk before you go storming off and making things worse. Can we do that, please?”

I looked back at her. “If you talked to Sara, then she told you I didn’t shoot him.”

“That’s what she told me.”

“But you don’t believe her either?”

“I’m not saying I don’t believe her, or you,” Caroline said. “I just want to talk.”

“About what?”

She motioned toward the chair. “Sit, please. Five minutes, I promise.”

I looked back at Butch then moved toward the chair and sat down.

Caroline leaned across the table. “I want you to know that I believe you. I don’t think you shot anyone. You don’t seem like that kind of person.”

I nodded, but I wasn’t sure I agreed.

I didn’t know what kind of person I was anymore.

“I just want to know what happened,” she said. “All I can do is piece together what I’ve heard from him, and it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s not, considering his state of mind.”

I kept quiet.

Caroline looked at me, waiting for me to speak. When I didn’t, she said, “You two do know each other, right?”

“What did Sara tell you?”

Caroline leaned back in the chair. “Give and take? Is that what this is?”

“I don’t have to talk to you at all.”

“No, but you will,” she said. “You will because you’re a good person at heart who made a mistake, and you’re going to need someone on your side when the police get involved.”

“I didn’t shoot him.”

Caroline paused. “I believe you.”

Behind me, I heard the office door open. We all looked as Zack came inside.

Right away I knew something was wrong.

Zack’s skin was pale and drenched with sweat. His eyes were the size of silver dollars and they jittered black in his skull. There were scratch marks on his neck, and when he walked, he seemed to stumble over his feet.

When he saw us, he stopped in the doorway and took off his jacket. “What’s all this?”

Butch pointed at me. “This is the guy who shot our friend over there.”

Zack looked at me and nodded. “That so?”

Caroline held up her hand. “We don’t know that. All we’re doing is talking. I’m sure it’ll all make sense.”

“I didn’t shoot anyone,” I said.

Butch leaned close to Zack and said, “Guy was carrying two million dollars on him. This kid took it.”

If he’d been trying to whisper, he failed at it.

I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, Zack was staring at me. I could see his jaw muscles pulse and twitch under his skin. At first I tried to tell myself that it was the meth making him grind his teeth, but I knew better. This wasn’t the drugs.

This was rage.

The look in his eyes gave it away.

32

“Butch,” Caroline said. “You’re not helping.”

“Just filling in the blanks.”

For a while, everyone was quiet.

I could feel Zack staring at the back of my head, but I didn’t turn around. Instead, I stayed focused on Caroline and tried to ignore him.

“Two million dollars,” Caroline said. “You can see why people might think you were involved.”

“Not if they knew me.”

“But shooting a man for that kind of money isn’t all that far-fetched. Even I’d be tempted.”

Zack walked around the table and grabbed a log off the stack by the fireplace, then used it to open the spark screen. “She’s got a point. Two million is a hell of a lot different than, say, two hundred thousand.” He shook his head. “That’s more than I’ve ever seen.”

He smiled at me.

I ignored him.

“Sara told us you have a gun,” Caroline said. “Is that true?”

“It’s his gun, not mine.”

“Can I see it?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because who the hell are you?”

“Nate, I—”

“You’re accusing me of something I didn’t do.”

“No one is accusing anyone of anything.”

“You’re trying to muscle a confession out of me.”

“You admitted you knew him.”

“Not like you think.”

“But you were involved, weren’t you?” She hesitated. “Come on, Nate, we’re all going to find out eventually.”

I started to argue, but there was no point. She was right. Everyone was going to find out.

“You want to know the truth?”

I saw Zack turn, fast. He stared at me.

Caroline nodded.

I didn’t say anything right away. I wanted to be sure I was doing the right thing. I figured I’d be telling the story to the police eventually, so I might as well tell her. At least then, I could get it off my chest.

So I did.

When I finished, Caroline frowned. “You thought he was dead?”

“We both did.”

Behind me I heard Butch laugh. The sound was low and rolling. “My God, boy. You must’ve shit yourself when you saw him lying out there in the snow.”

“Is there more?” Caroline asked.

I told her there wasn’t, at least not that I knew about. Then I said, “I didn’t shoot him.”

“I believe you, but I’d still like to know who did.”

I pointed at Syl. “He told me a woman named Lilith shot him. Said they’d planned to kill her husband and run off with his money.”

“He told you that?”

I nodded. “He said after he shot the guy she turned on him.”

“Sounds like bullshit to me,” Butch said.

“The man’s been through a lot,” Caroline said. “It’s hard to know what’s true and what’s a delusion.”

“What did he tell you?” I asked.

“Nothing that made sense,” she said. “He thought he was in Chicago, for one. He was frantic over this Lilith person chasing him, and about you stealing his money. He wasn’t conscious for very long.”

“That’s it?”

“Honestly, I was so surprised when he knew your name that I didn’t focus on much else. And like I said, he didn’t make a lot of sense.”

I thought about what she told me and tried not to let my imagination run wild. Still, something didn’t feel right.

I turned to Butch. “Who was the last person to check in last night?”

“You were.”

“No, there was a car after us. I saw it.”

He thought about it for a moment then said, “I guess I can double-check. I put the notebook in my room to keep it safe, in case anyone else decided to rip out a few pages.” He paused to look at me. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

Butch turned and walked out.

“What are you thinking?” Caroline asked.

I shook my head, didn’t answer.

Zack started whistling a song I didn’t recognize.

I looked up at Caroline.

She was staring at me, and the warm light from the fireplace reflected white off her glasses.

“Have you thought about what to do next?”

“I don’t think I have many choices,” I said.

“You should know that no one here blames you for what you did.” Caroline reached for the deck of cards on the table. “I meant it when I said I would’ve been tempted, too. I think we all would’ve been.”

“It’s a lot of money to let go.”

She split the cards and started shuffling. “Just bad luck on your part, if you ask me.”

“I doubt the police are going to agree with you.”

“Oh, they won’t.” Caroline dealt five cards facedown between us. “Then again, maybe they don’t have to know.”

I stared at her.

“Check your cards.”

“I don’t think I’m in the mood,” I said.

Caroline ignored me.

“The trick to poker isn’t playing the cards, it’s playing your opponent. They’ll tell you what they’re holding if you know how to look. Do you understand?”

I hesitated then picked up my cards and fanned them out. I was two cards off a low straight.

“Luck doesn’t play as big a roll in this game as people think.” She pointed to my hand. “How many?”

I pulled two cards and pushed them across the table.

Caroline took two off the top of the deck and slid them over.

I missed my straight.

I wasn’t surprised.

“All you have to know is how the person across from you plays the game. Once you do, you can use it to your advantage.”

“What did you mean, the police might not have to know?”

Caroline didn’t look up from her cards. “There are seven of us out here, right?”

I nodded.

“How much is two million divided by seven?”

Behind her, Zack stopped whistling.

Caroline looked at me. “Butch and I discussed it on our way over. We thought you’d agree that walking away with something is better than nothing.”

“You want to split the money between all of us?”

“Why not?” Caroline sat back in her chair. “We’ll all be equal partners, everyone comes out ahead.”

“And Butch agrees?”

“He does,” Caroline said. “So does Marcus, once I tell him. And Sara doesn’t want the money at all, but I’m sure she’ll do whatever you ask her to do. That little girl is crazy about you, Nate.”

“What about Megan?”

“We’ll talk to Megan.”

“And him?” I motioned toward Syl. “What’s going to happen to him?”

“That’s Butch’s area,” she said. “Apparently he knows someone who can help.”

I looked past Caroline to Zack. He was standing next to the fire, staring at me. His face hidden in shadows.

Caroline turned her cards over on the table.

Three queens.

“Do we have a deal?”

I smiled, couldn’t help it.

She asked again, and this time I answered.

“Yeah,” I said. “We have a deal.”

33

Zack went out for more firewood while Caroline and I stayed at the table playing cards.

I wasn’t winning, but I was getting better.

I listened to her talk about Marcus and how they’d lost their entire savings in the stock market. I didn’t follow the technical stuff, but it was clear that they needed money.

This was a good situation for everyone.

I’d just lost another hand when the chimes over the door rang and Zack walked in carrying an armload of wood. He was sweating and his breath was fast and heavy.

“I thought you might be Butch,” Caroline said. “I wonder what’s taking him so long.”

“Maybe someone stole the notebook,” I said.

Caroline laughed. “At least this time you have an alibi.” She looked over at Zack. “Did you see Butch?”

Zack ignored her and began stacking the wood on the ground next to the fireplace.

Caroline waited then turned back to me and rolled her eyes. “Well, he’ll show up eventually, I suppose. Why did you want to find out who checked in after you, anyway?”

I motioned toward Syl. “The story he told me,” I said. “And because of his fingers.”

“His fingers?”

“They’re broken. At first I thought it might’ve happened outside, but someone would’ve noticed when we brought him in.”

“You think someone around here broke his fingers?”

I pictured someone leaning over him, snapping one finger after another, asking one question over and over.

Where’s the money
. . .

I pushed the thought away then said, “It’s stupid, I know.”

“It’s not stupid,” Caroline said. “I just wonder why anyone would do such a thing.”

“If they knew he had the money and wanted to find it.”

“Lilith?”

I shrugged. “Told you it was stupid.”

I looked over at Zack. He was adjusting the logs in the fireplace with his hands. Reaching in, moving one, then pulling away fast, cursing under his breath, not paying attention.

“Everyone here knows about the money,” Caroline said. “So, if Lilith is here, we’ll never find out.”

“That’s why I wanted to see who got here after us. If she was chasing him, she would’ve come later.”

“Well, I personally think he’s delirious,” Caroline said. “But if she is real, I hope she can live with a seven-way split.”

We both laughed.

Zack stood and took the poker from beside the fireplace and used it to close the spark screen. “That should burn for a while.”

“I don’t see the point of keeping it so damn hot in here,” Caroline said. “Do you?”

“I think it feels okay,” I said.

“If you say so,” Caroline said. “I’m warm-blooded, so I guess I’m always hot.”

I looked up at Zack and saw him take a step back from the table. He stood for a moment, then lifted the poker over his shoulder and swung down hard, connecting with the top of Caroline’s skull.

The sound, thick and wet, hung in the air.

Caroline made a sudden small choking noise deep in her throat then her eyes went wide and rolled over white.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I thought I heard a voice, far away and thin. It sounded like laughter.

Zack pulled back on the poker, but the curved metal barb on the end had embedded itself in the top of her skull and wouldn’t come loose. Each time he tried to work it free, Caroline’s body would puppet back and forth, dancing jaggedly in her seat.

Finally, he put one foot on her back and pulled, ripping the poker out. The sound was like splitting wood.

Caroline fell forward.

Her head struck the tabletop and a swell of blood poured across the surface toward me.

I got up fast and backed away until I hit the wall.

“Give me the gun.”

I was staring at Caroline, unable to look away.

Her body shuddered and twitched.

“Nate, give me the gun.”

I heard the voice again.

This time it was close, and it was screaming.

“Goddamn it, Nate, give me the fucking gun!”

I looked up at Zack. He had the poker in one hand and was reaching out to me with the other.

I tried to speak.

Nothing came out but a moan.

Zack said something under his breath then turned toward Caroline. He raised the poker over his head and brought it down on the back of her skull, again and again, creating a fountain of blood and bone.

I felt my legs give out and I slid down the wall to the floor. The screaming in my head stopped and was replaced by blinding sharp pain.

I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, Zack was standing over Caroline’s body, breathing hard. His face was freckled with blood and his eyes looked black and lifeless in the firelight.

When he saw me, he came at me fast. He grabbed the front of my jacket and pulled me to my feet then punched me hard in the stomach.

I felt the air rush out of my lungs and I dropped.

“You just can’t do things the easy way, can you?”

I wanted to answer, but there was no air and no voice.

He picked me up again.

This time he pressed the end of the poker into my neck, just under my throat. I saw thick clumps of skin and bloody gray hair on the metal.

“What gives you the right to make that kind of deal without me? I’m supposed to be your fucking partner. What the hell were you thinking making that kind of split?” Zack motioned toward Caroline’s body. “That is your fault. She’s dead because of you, asshole, one hundred percent.”

I closed my eyes.

Zack leaned in close, and I could feel his breath against my face. It smelled wet and ripe.

“Now,” he said, slow. “Give me the fucking gun.”

I hesitated, then reached behind my back and took the gun out of my belt and handed it over.

Zack let go of me.

“Is it loaded?”

I told him it was.

He looked at it for a moment, then walked back to the fireplace and leaned the poker against the wall. “Are you sure it’s his?”

“What?”

He motioned toward Syl, lying unconscious on the floor. “The gun, are you sure it belongs to him?”

I told him I was.

“You’re positive?”

“It was with the rest of his stuff.”

Zack turned his attention back to the gun, and for a while, the only sound in the room was the soft crackle of burning wood and the slow drip of blood on the carpet.

We both stayed like that, neither of us saying a word, then Zack lifted the gun and pointed it at Syl.

I tried to say something to stop him, but it was too late. Zack pulled the trigger twice and fired two bullets into Syl’s head as he slept.