Vanessa Gray Bartal - Lacy Steele 07 - Icy Grip of Murder (10 page)

“Technically it’s not your car, and
you know I was. I have to meet Jenny. She left a message on the porch.”

“You’re not going alone,” Jason
said.

“I have to. She said to come
alone,” Michael said.

“Of course she did. She’s a
psychopath who wants to kill you,” Lacy said. “There is no way we’re letting
you meet her alone.”

“If she sees you, she’ll spook,”
Michael said.

“Then we won’t let her see us,”
Jason said. “We’ll keep a safe distance and be there as backup or insurance.”

“You might as well give in because
you don’t have a choice,” Lacy said when he remained uncertain.

“I don’t want anyone to get hurt,”
Michael said.

“Neither do we, so let’s make sure
that doesn’t happen,” Jason said. “I wish I had my gun.”

“I think you’re better off without
it this trip,” Michael said.

“Why?” Jason asked.

“You really don’t see it?” Michael
asked.

“See what?” Jason said.

“Lacy, back me up here,” Michael
said.

“I think he’s perfect,” Lacy said,
threading her arm through Jason’s.

“Love is blind. I’m glad I’ve never
been so stupid. Now let’s go meet my criminally insane, supposedly dead
ex-girlfriend,” Michael said as he turned and led the way outside.

The meeting was being held at the
deserted ice fishing camp where they had first encountered Flea. Michael
dropped Lacy and Jason in the woods. His instructions were to meet Jenny by the
lake and come alone. Jason caught Lacy’s hand in his
mittened
paw and they strolled slowly and silently through the woods. They hadn’t said
as much to Michael, but they planned to be closer than he realized if or when
he needed them. From all they had heard about Jenny, he would need them sooner
rather than later.

“What if she has a gun?” Lacy
asked.

“Michael can take care of himself,”
Jason replied.

“What if she shoots him dead on
sight?”

“She would have to have excellent
aim. Most people don’t. And it’s night and he’ll be expecting an attack. Plus
she wants to talk to him first, remember?”

“You have all the answers,” she
said.

“I really do,” he agreed, squeezing
her hand.

“I’m glad you’re here. Everything
is so much better with you than without you,” she said.

“I’m sorry I gave you a hard time.
I still don’t agree with our purpose in being here, but it’s important to
support your girlfriend, even when she flies off half-cocked across the
country.”

She started to protest, but he
pressed a kiss to her lips to shut her up. And then he walked into a tree.
“Geez, why does that keep happening to me?” he asked, clutching his head in his
free hand.

“I’m sorry,” Lacy said sincerely.

“It’s not your fault,” Jason said.

Lacy felt that it was. As
irrational as it was, she believed that by ridding herself of her clumsiness, she
had somehow inflicted it on Jason. On the other hand, there was a part of her
that wanted to test her new abilities, like a superhero
who
first discovers his radioactive powers. If she ran blindly through the woods
right now, would she stumble? Would she be able to run without the awkward
hitch in her gait that made running so difficult? If she challenged Jason to a
race right now, would she win? Would she arrive breathless and upright at the
finish line? Only concern for Jason held her back from making the suggestion.
If they raced right now, she might come out on top, but he could die. She
couldn’t take any chances with him until he was back to normal.

What if he never got back to
normal, though? What if this trip had somehow reversed their polarity and she
was going to be the capable one? Could she live with that? She wouldn’t miss
the cuts and bruises, that
was
for sure. She would
miss Jason as he had been, though. He was her rock.

She shook her head, sure that the sleepless
nights were getting to her. Jason was clumsy because it was icy and his limbs
were cold. And he was probably eating more because he was shivering so much. It
was below zero; of course his body was telling him to eat more. He was like a
bear heading into hibernation. To think otherwise was silly. They hadn’t traded
places. She was used to slipping and probably therefore more geared toward ice
and snow than he was. That was all.

But just as she had herself
convinced that everything was all in her head, Jason tripped on an exposed root
and went sprawling to the ground.

“Son of a nutcracker,” he
exclaimed. Lacy helped him up and checked his hands for wounds. “How is it
possible to fall so much and not be seriously hurt?”

“It just is,” she said in a
resigned tone. She had long experience in such matters. Her father had once
said she was like a Timex; she could take a
lickin
’
and keep on
tickin
’. “Jason, don’t you think it’s
weird that we’ve sort of traded places?”

“How so?” he asked, picking pine
needles from his mittens.

“You seem hungry.”

“I don’t seem hungry. I am hungry,”
he said.

“And I haven’t fallen once since
I’ve been here,” Lacy said. “My underwear hasn’t fallen off. I haven’t suffered
any head wounds. My teeth are intact.”

“Those are all good things.
Except the underwear.
That one’s debatable.”

“My point is that we’re both acting
differently,” she said.

“It’s a vacation, of sorts.
Everything is always different on vacation. That’s why I rarely take them.”

Could it be that he was only normal
in their hometown? Did he always behave this way when he traveled? “So this has
happened to you before?” she asked.

“What?”

“This, the falling, the eating.”

“I don’t get where you’re going.
I’ve tripped a couple of times and eaten a few pastries. I don’t understand
what the problem is,” he said. He sounded cranky.

“There’s no problem,” she assured
him. “I’m being overly analytical, I guess.”

“Everything is fine,” he assured
her, but it wasn’t. As he finished speaking, an ear-piercing whistle split the
night air. It was their signal; Michael was in trouble.

Lacy had the chance to test her
theory then because at the sound of the whistle, she ran. As she had suspected,
she didn’t trip on anything or run head first into anything. It was only when
she reached the clearing—full of breath and lacking a stitch in her
side—
that
she realized Jason wasn’t beside her.

“Jason,” she hissed, immediately
panicked. In his present state, anything could have gone wrong. She tried to
think what might have happened to her had she been her normal self. “He could
be treed by a moose for all I know,” she muttered. To her right, she heard a
loud crash, a splash, followed by an exclamation. She streaked toward the sound,
her heels barely touching the earth. If not for the immediate danger of the
situation, she could have run all night.

She stopped short at another
clearing. This one dumped out onto the lake. By the light of the half moon, she
saw Jason fighting his way out of the icy water and went forward to help him.
“What happened?”

“I ran into the lake. I don’t know
how I didn’t see it,” he said. If she had thought he could shiver before, it
was nothing to the way his body and teeth clacked now. She took off her coat
and put it around him, but it was too small to be efficient. If not for
Michael’s impending doom, she would have led him back to the car. As it was,
they had to find their friend.

She kept her arm around him as she
led him back toward the way Michael was supposed to be. A long time had passed
since the whistle. Would he still be there? Would he be alive?

They cleared the woods. Ahead of
them, something dangled from a tree. The moon slipped behind a cloud and she
couldn’t make out what it was. Her heart was thrumming nonetheless. Something
was ominous about the movement of the swaying thing. As she drew closer, the
moon returned from behind its cover. Lacy fought a yelp of surprise. The thing
dangling from the tree was a person. Her first panicked thought was that it was
Michael, but even from far away she could tell the limbs were too short.
Michael was tall. Whoever swung from the tree wasn’t.

“It’s her,” Michael said, and this
time Lacy yelped. She had been so intent on the body in the tree that she hadn’t
noticed him standing there. “It’s Jenny. She’s dead.”

“Are you s-sure,” Jason said. “We
could cut her d-down and try to resuscitate.” He reached out his hand and felt
the wrist for a pulse. “She’s cold.”

“So are you,” Lacy pointed out.
Everything would feel cold to his wet, frozen fingers.

“No, he’s right. She’s been gone a
while,” Michael said. “Do you have your phone?”

Lacy pulled out her phone with
trembling hands and dialed 911. She didn’t know their location, so she handed
the phone to Michael. His presence was sure to earn them an all-star response. He
finished talking and handed her the phone.

“You have four missed calls from
Pearl.”

“She’s relentless,” Lacy said.

“She’s insane,”
Jason
added, though it was hard to hear him through the clattering of his teeth.

Lacy put her arm around him, trying
to think how best to keep him warm until the police arrived. It was too far to
walk back to the car. He was soaked and the temperature was quickly dropping below
zero. The wind began to pick up, causing Jenny’s body to sway silently in the
breeze.

The cafeteria where they’d met Flea
was nearby and it was their best bet. At least it was out of the biting wind.
“I’m taking Jason in there to get warm,” she informed Michael.

He nodded, still staring at the
body.

“I think you should come with us,”
she said. “It wouldn’t look good for you to be standing here alone when they
arrive.”

“It feels weird to leave her,” he
said.

“I know.” She put her free arm
through his and tugged him along with her. She was like Mary, leading her two
little lambs. One was frozen and one was emotionally numb.

Inside the cafeteria wasn’t much
warmer. She led her brood to the fireplace and inspected it. It was propane and
she breathed a sigh of relief. Dealing with fire had never been her forte
before, but this looked as simple as pushing a button. Hopefully there was
enough propane to warm their little circle of bodies. The pilot was already
flaming. She pressed a button and the fake logs flared to action. Lacy felt
immediately warmer, though she realized the effect was probably psychological.
There was no way such a small fire could heat the cavernous room. Logic told
her there was probably another heating system somewhere, but they huddled close
to the flickering blaze and absorbed whatever comforting balminess it offered.

The police arrived fifteen minutes
later. Michael tensed and gripped the arms of his chair when he heard them.

“Tell me what happened,” Officer
Andersen said with no preamble. He pulled over one of the long benches and sat,
removing his pen and notebook from his pocket.

“We were having supper with Len and
Linda Swenson. The Doorbell rang and there was a message telling me to meet
Jenny here and come alone,” Michael began.

“What time was that?” Andersen
asked.

“Six?” Michael guessed, looking to
Lacy and Jason for confirmation.

“Six or there about,” Lacy agreed.

“And you immediately rushed off to
meet a woman you thought was dead,” Andersen said.

“I didn’t think she was dead.
You
thought she was dead. Guess you were
wrong about that,” Michael said.

“Not anymore,” Andersen said. “What
time did you arrive here?”

“We finished supper and cleaned
up.”

Andersen arched his brows.

“Believe it or not, even murderous
orphans clean up their supper dishes,” Michael said dryly. “By the time we
left, it was seven.”

“I noticed you didn’t come alone,”
Andersen said.

“They wouldn’t let me,” Michael
said.

“It seemed like a trap,” Lacy said.
“Plus she had already threatened our lives earlier today. You remember, I’m
sure. I told you about it and you basically called me a liar.”

“I never said that word,” Andersen
replied. His tone was defensive. “What happened when you arrived?”

“We split up,” Michael said. “I
went to meet Jenny alone, as per her instructions. Lacy and Jason hung back in
case I needed help. I was supposed to signal them with a whistle if that
happened.”

“We heard his whistle and started
running toward him. Then, ah, we had a little mishap,” Lacy said.

“What happened?” Andersen pressed.

“I ran into the lake,” Jason said,
hunching his shoulders to try and control his shivers.

“You ran into the lake,” Andersen
said.

“It was dark,” Jason said.

“Okay,” Andersen drawled.

“Anyway, we regrouped and went to
find Michael. What we saw instead was Jenny,” Lacy said.

“Where was Michael?”

“He was there. We didn’t notice him
at first until he spoke. But there’s no way he did this. There wouldn’t have
been time. Jenny was cold when we reached her, and it was only a matter of
minutes,” Lacy said.

“I know,” Andersen said. He put the
cap on his pen, closed his notebook, and shoved both in his pocket.

“What do you know?” Michael asked.

“I know you didn’t do it. It was
clearly a suicide. Still, I’m going to check your story with the Swensons to
make sure the time matches. Don’t go anywhere until you get the all clear from
the prosecutor that the charges against you have been formally dropped.” He
stood and left them.

“Do you think he actually believes
this is suicide?” Michael asked.

“You don’t?” Jason said. His lips
were blue, Lacy noted as she attempted to turn up the fire.

“No way. There is absolutely no way
Jenny would kill herself, especially not now.”

“Why not now?” Lacy asked. “I’m not
saying I believe she did, but if I were playing devil’s advocate, I would say
that it seems like the perfect time. You’re back and you know she’s still
alive. She’s about to be in big trouble for framing you for her murder.”

“And the solution is to kill
herself? No way. She would have wanted to rub my face in it; she would have
wanted the glory. Maybe I might believe it if we had the meeting and she got to
say whatever she wanted to tell me, to gloat a little, but there is no way she
would off herself without rubbing my nose in it first. Plus Jenny was a
narcissist. She valued herself too much to take her own life.”

“What do you think happened?” Jason
asked.

“Someone killed her, obviously.
What I can’t figure out is if Jenny had someone deliver the message to me to
meet her here or if the person who killed her sent it to me so I would be the
one to find her,” Michael said.

“Did you keep the message?” Jason
asked.

“Yes, but my prints are all over
it, probably obliterating anyone else’s prints. And what good would it do if
the cops don’t believe she was killed? It’s not like they’re going to waste the
energy to check it for prints for a girl they believe killed herself.”