“Mark.” Robin said her husband’s name louder. “Mark! We have to get up to Keane. We have to leave now.”
* * *
Val and Sully spent the night of the storm in the sleeping loft over the main room of the cabin, curled up in blankets on a mattress they’d rolled out on the floor, cuddling through the night. It was the first time Val had really slept with someone other than one of her kids since she’d gotten divorced, and it was a lot more relaxing than she’d anticipated.
Of course, it helped that Sully was like a giant furnace and she was freezing cold.
Josh slept in the living room below them on the couch by the woodstove, waking up during the night to keep the fire going.
It snowed through the night, only stopping about five or so that morning. Looking out from the small window on the second floor, Val saw at least a foot of new powder on the ground.
“It’s beautiful.” She sat near the window, wrapped in a heavy quilt she’d dragged from the pallet.
Sully sat next to her. “It’s going to be a bitch getting out of here.”
“Yep.” She turned and brushed a kiss over his lips. “You know, Monica said she was going to pray that we got snowed in together.”
“Did she mean for us to be snowed in with your ex-husband?”
“I don’t think she was really thinking that part through.” The delicious smell of bacon rose up the stairs. “He’s making breakfast. It’s one of the few things he’s actually good at. We should take advantage.”
He slipped a hand under her shirt. “I wanted to last night, but it felt like the wrong time.”
“You think?” She didn’t wiggle away while he explored the sensitive skin along her belly and the curve at the small of her back.
“When we get home, I want you to come over.” He bent and moved his lips over her neck, kissing and licking the skin just below her ear. “I’ll make it worth your while.”
Val couldn’t believe that confessing her weird psychic power hadn’t turned the man off. “I’ll have to think about it.”
“Okay.” He kissed up her neck and across her cheek before he captured her mouth. “You won’t regret it.” He paused and pulled away. “I mean that. You’ve got a good life. A good family. A good business. I don’t want to take anything from that. You’ve worked too hard. But maybe think about how I could add something. How being with me could add something to your life.”
Val blinked. “I’ve never thought about it that way.”
“Fair enough.” He leaned back on the pallet and stretched his arms over his head. “Being with people who always take is exhausting. I’ve been there. But that’s not the kind of person I am.”
“Good.”
His smile was slow and sweet. “I like you, Valerie Costa.”
“I like you too.”
“Good.” He rolled up and dropped one more kiss on her lips. “That’s not a bad place to start.”
Sully rose and reached for the blue jeans he’d been wearing the day before under his snow pants. He tugged them on over his base layer and heavy socks. “Okay. Let’s go convince your ex-husband to share his bacon and follow us down the mountain.”
* * *
They walked downstairs and sat at the table, which was already set.
“This looks good,” Val said. “Thanks.”
“Help yourself. Eggs and bacon are on the stove. There’s some biscuits too.” Josh was drinking a cup of coffee by the fireplace, and he looked fresh and ready for a fancy outdoor-gear company’s modeling shoot. He’d shaved and his hair was brushed neatly. He was wearing a clean undershirt and a blue-and-green flannel. His jeans were the exact right amount of worn, and he looked like he’d slept for a solid twelve hours.
He looked up, and Val was surprised to see the look of resolve on his face. “I’m going to straighten things out, okay?”
Sully nodded. “Sounds good.”
“I’ll follow you back down the mountain. I’ve done all the work I need to here. I mean, this place is completely livable and the water pump is working again. That was the main reason I came up.” He walked over and poured more coffee. “What are the full charges against me?”
Sully filled a plate and sat down at the table. “As of right now, there’s one warrant standing, and that’s for the criminal theft of the ten thousand. Which you say never happened, so you’ll have to deal with that. As of right now, it’s his word against yours.”
“But won’t he have to show that he withdrew that money or something like that?”
“Yes. But he may have done that and then put it in a safe for all we know.”
“Damn.” Josh took a swig of coffee. “I mean, I’ve never stolen anything in my life.”
“Unfortunately, you just admitted to us that you stole West’s snowmobiles and trailer,” Val said. “Where’s the other one, by the way?”
“I left it in the garage back at the house.”
“Figures,” Val muttered. “So unless West suddenly found the note—”
“I did leave him one. It’s probably sitting in a pile of mail. If it’s not a bill, he has a tendency to ignore it.”
Sully said, “The more serious issue is that Bridger PD will want to talk to you regarding Savannah’s accident. The good news is that if I can connect with this Bill guy and he can confirm you’ve been here all week—”
“Which he can. But he’s usually not awake until ten or so.”
“If I can confirm your alibi with Bill,” Sully continued, “then the charges against you for Savannah’s accident aren’t going to be an issue. You’ll still have to deal with the theft and the snowmobiles though.”
Josh nodded. “I can handle that.” He looked at Val. “And I’m calling Rachel as soon as we get back in range. I’m letting her know that it’s over and I want her to move out as soon as she can.” He shrugged. “She already moved a lot of stuff to her friend’s house, I think.”
Val nodded. “Very adult of you.”
“So we have a plan.” Josh nodded. “I should go out and get more wood. Get the path to the shed dug out so we can get the sleds out.”
Val stood. “I’ll clean up the house and the breakfast dishes, Sully can go talk to Bill, and you get shoveling then.” She was feeling optimistic. They ought to be back in Glimmer Lake before noon as long as the path wasn’t too snowed over. Even with that, the machines were designed for fresh powder, so they’d be able to get out.
Val started clearing the table while Sully and Josh went outside. She turned on the old radio and managed to find a country station to play while she worked. She washed the dishes and set them in the drying rack. She poured the bacon grease into a can near the stove and wiped down the table.
The cabin was basic but comfortable, and Val tried to imagine Savannah Anderson living there or even visiting. It was light-years away from her fancy house in Pheasant Creek, but it was possible the woman had never wanted that to begin with. It was possible that was all Americano Asshole.
She walked upstairs and shook out the blankets, folding them and storing them in the cedar chest. Then she rolled up the mattress and propped it in the corner near the other mattresses and sleeping bags.
If you brought a bed up to the second floor, you could make it a proper bedroom. Of course, just the mattresses and pillows were pretty comfortable too. She was tempted to ask Josh if she could bring the boys up for camping in the summer, but she hesitated to ask him. She hated owing him anything. Even a favor.
She fluffed all the pillows before she put them in storage tubs, then she headed down the stairs to see how the guys were doing.
She had grabbed another cup of coffee and was just peeking out the front window when she heard the crack.
What?
Val threw on her coat and stuffed her feet in boots, throwing open the door. Sully was running toward the house.
“Back!” He waved a hand and pointed to her. “Get back in the house!”
“Was that a tree branch?”<
br />
“Get back in the house!”
“Where’s Josh?” Val’s eyes swept the yard. “What’s—?”
The crack came again, but this time Val knew exactly what it was.
A rifle.
“Josh?” She didn’t leave the porch, but she scooted close to the house. “Josh?”
“Get in the house!” Sully was running, halfway crouched, ducking behind trees as he made his way toward the shed. “I’ve got Josh; get in the damn house, Valerie!”
Val backed toward the front door, but she still couldn’t see Josh. “Where is he?”
Sully ran toward the shed, and another crack broke through the air, making a puff of snow rise just past Sully’s feet.
“Sully!”
He bent down and lifted something from the snow. It was Josh’s prone body.
Val’s heart stopped. No. Sully was running across the clearing, exposed to God and whoever was shooting at the house.
“Get in the house.” Sully grunted, hoisting Josh over his shoulder. “He’s not dead.”
Her heart started beating when he reached the steps. She cleared the doorway as Sully came barreling through the front door.
“He’s bleeding,” Val said.
“I think it’s just a graze.” Sully laid Josh down on the couch. The left side of his head was covered in blood, but his color was fine and he groaned a little when Sully moved him.
“Son of a bitch.” Sully stretched his shoulder back. “That man isn’t a lightweight.”
“Get me a kitchen towel.” Val was already cleaning the side of Josh’s face with a handful of paper towels.
Sully was right. The bullet had grazed his temple and ear, but it hadn’t struck his skull. Heads just bled a lot. She put a hand on the wound and held the paper towel to his head. “Josh, can you hear me?”
“The shed door is open and the sleds are out.” Sully walked back with a wet towel in his hand. “He was walking back to the house when I heard the shot. He turned and the second one hit his temple. Would have gotten his head if he hadn’t moved.”
“Who the hell is shooting at us?” Val asked.
Sully’s eyebrows went up. “I can think of one person who doesn’t really want this guy found. And he doesn’t have much love for me or you either.”
“Americano Asshole?” Val was incredulous. “He’s shooting at us?” She knew the guy was an asshole, but this really went beyond.
“He tried to kill his wife. Is shooting us really out of the realm of possibility here, Val?”
“I’m just saying he doesn’t seem like the type.”
Sully laughed hard. “Know what he got that gold medal in?”
“Sharpshooting?” Another shot fired and Val heard glass break upstairs.
“He’s a gold-medal biathlete,” Sully said. “You know that weird racing thing where they cross-country ski and then target shoot?”
“Are you kidding me?”
“I wish I was.” Sully stood and moved an armoire in front of a window, shoving the piece of furniture like it was made of cardboard.
Val pictured Anderson’s precise haircut and cold eyes. He was ruthless and full of himself. And apparently he was shooting at them.
“How did he even find us?”
“He must have followed us yesterday and put the pieces together when he saw the signs for Keane.”
“So he skied in and decided to shoot us?”
Another shot and another window broken upstairs.
“I don’t know how he found us, but we’re sitting ducks in this house.” Sully shoved a bookcase in front of another window. “He found a position somewhere on that hill and he’s got a line of sight directly into this clearing.”
“So what do we do?”
With all the windows on the ground floor blocked by either furniture or the porch overhang, Sully began to pace. “We can’t get to the snowmobiles. Even if we could reach them without getting shot, that road is wide open. We’d be riding away and our backs would be exposed.”
Val knew that calling for help wasn’t an option. “So we’re stuck here?”
“No.” Sully shook his head. “There’s got to be a way.”
“Anderson planned this perfectly. We don’t have any mobile phone reception out here. We’re isolated. He could—”
“Listen to me.” Sully turned to face her. “Panic is useless right now, so don’t go there. The television lies; criminal masterminds are fiction. Criminals are mostly pretty dumb. This guy”—he was still pacing—“is dumb and arrogant. Sadly, the only gun I have is a shotgun, and that’s going to do fuck-all when we have a gunman working at that distance, so I’m taking ideas now.”
Josh mumbled, “Bill has a full gun safe.” His eyes flickered open. “Is Anderson actually shooting at us?”
“Pretty sure he is, Mason.”
Josh muttered, “It was a really bad idea to come up here.”
Val was holding the towel to his head, but she really wanted to hit him. “If you hadn’t decided to sleep with a sociopath’s wife, it would probably be a fine idea. Unfortunately—”
“I really need to keep my dick in my pants.” Josh blinked and sat up. “That burns like a mother. I got it.” He held the towel to his head and searched for Sully. “Bill,” he said. “He has a small arsenal in his house. But you’re going to have to go across the road and through the village. I can show you where—”
“I know where Bill lives, remember? I was over there this morning to confirm your alibi. We had coffee.”
“Right.” Josh snapped his fingers. “He has a radio too. He might be able to call for help.”
Sully took a deep breath and put his hands on his hips. “So I need to get to Bill’s house without letting the sharpshooting biathlete know where I’m going. Any ideas?”
Josh frowned. “Run fast?”
“Right.” Sully looked out the door. “Run fast.”
Chapter 22
Val hid on a corner of the porch, waiting for Sully’s signal. She had her supplies piled next to her, and she was holding her breath.
She looked at Sully, who nodded and gave her a thumbs-up.
Val turned and tossed a bright blue hat from the corner of the porch toward the shed just as Sully took off toward the shelter of the trees in the other direction.
A rifle shot cracked the air and a puff of snow rose from the bank by the shed. Val looked over her shoulder and saw Sully, already under the shelter of the pines and moving silently through the scattered cabins in the village.
“Is he out?” Josh called from the house.
“Yeah.” Where was that asshole perched? The shots were being fired from an angle, based on the way the snow was flying. “Where is this guy?”
“Up the hill somewhere,” Josh said. “Get inside. You’re making me nervous out there.”
“I don’t think he can see past the porch roof,” Val said. “So he has to be pretty high.”
“We could always just make a break for the snowmobiles and try to outrun him.”
“Didn’t you hear Sully? The entire road is open. We’d be sitting ducks.” Val walked back in the house and tried to watch Sully through the trees. But the man was already out of sight. “How’s your head?”
“It hurts, but I don’t feel light-headed or anything.” Josh walked to the kitchen, put the bloody towel in the sink, then grabbed a fresh one. “Just have a massive headache.”
“This guy is screwing himself,” Val said. “He’s shooting at a law-enforcement officer.”
“He doesn’t have any choice, does he? He counted on pinning Savannah’s accident on me. If I have an alibi up here, the suspicion is going to turn to him in a heartbeat.”
“That means he’s desperate.” Val peeked out the window. She thought she heard snowmobiles and prayed no random recreational vehicles would get caught up in this mess. “Desperate men are even more dangerous.”
“What does he think is going to be the end game here?” Josh said. “Th
at’s what I don’t get. If we’re dead up in the cabin, it’s obviously not an accident. Sully’s a sheriff. They’re going to come looking for him and—”
“I hear engines,” Val’s eyes widened. “Those are definitely snowmobiles. Fuck.” She walked out to the porch, planning to wave off whoever was stupid enough drive through Keane, only to see two snowmobiles carrying three familiar figures.
“Oh shit.” She crossed her arms and tried to wave them away, immediately recognizing Robin and Mark’s ski jackets. “Go back!”
The sleds surged forward, eating up the ground between the road and the house until—
Crack!
A bullet went through the front of Mark’s sled. He pulled it to the side and tumbled off.
“What the hell?”
“Get in the house!” Val was screaming.
Crack!
Another puff of snow and someone screamed.
“In the house!”
All three figures were in the snow, scrambling through the fresh fallen powder between the road and the porch.
Crack!
“Thank God this asshole is out of practice,” muttered Val.
Monica was the first to make it onto the porch. Robin was behind a tree, her breath coming in clouded bursts.
“Robin, just jump toward the porch.”
“Blood on the snow.” Monica panted. “Is Josh—?”
“Grazed him. He’s only grazed.”
“There was no way to warn you.” Monica crawled through the front door as Mark sheltered behind the shed and Robin shook behind a tree.
Val waved at them to get their attention.
“Okay,” she said in a low voice. “I’m going to distract him—”
“Don’t you dare!” Robin hissed. “Val—”
“Just wait.” She reached for another hat from the basket by the door. “When I toss it, run.”
She threw the hat toward the tipped sleds in the front of the house.
Crack!
Robin dove onto the porch and Mark ran from the shed. Both of them ducked into the house and into each other’s arms as Val slammed the door shut.
Semi-Psychic Life: Glimmer Lake Book Two Page 18