Katy had gone to Derek Lee on Friday to ask for money. He had asked her to meet him the next morning at Woodburn Park. But he claimed she never showed up, and he had alibis for the rest of that weekend.
Mackenzie freed Kim’s wrists from the rope. She almost toppled over in the process.
“Detective? Are you okay?”
She didn’t respond. The searing pain was dripping down her spine now. It frightened her to think how much damage Ben had done. She was at the brink of passing out, but she couldn’t. The next thing she knew, Kim was untying her.
“Ben has your gun. And you’re hurt. Is it safe for us to go out like this?”
Mackenzie recalled that she’d left a message with Nick, telling him where she was. It was only a matter of time before he’d look for her. Once he realized that she wasn’t answering her phone, he’d come.
“We need a weapon.” She looked around at the empty closet space. The hangers. She hoisted herself up and plucked one off the rail. “Kim, who else knew about the switch?”
“I didn’t tell anyone else. Katy didn’t either. She respected the fact that it was my decision whether to come clean to our parents, considering what they did. I was very grateful. I bought her a necklace after she invited me to spend the weekend with her. The one with the Gemini locket.”
“Why didn’t you say anything to us before?”
“Because I thought you’d suspect me!” Tears welled in her eyes. “You’d think I killed Katy to take her place. I know I was a problematic child, but I’m not like that anymore. I didn’t know who to trust. And Ben was still out there. I figured I’d lie about miscarrying the child, leave Cole, and just live as Katy to stay safe.”
“Does the name Bella Fox ring any bells?”
“Who?”
“That’s the woman who was found dead with Katy.”
“I haven’t heard that name before.”
“Have you seen anyone else here? Any other woman?” Mackenzie implored her to think. “Heard any other voices?”
Kim shook her head. “He just slips me food and a bucket from time to time. I don’t know.”
Mackenzie inspected the hanger and smacked it against her palm. It was plastic and wouldn’t do any damage—maybe it could be used to gouge at an eye, but only if she overpowered Harlan first. Her mind raced to come up with a plan. Even if she managed to break down the door, there would be a sound, possibly alerting him. But what other option did she have?
Gravity felt stronger than ever before. Her head still pounded. And now her spine felt too stiff.
A door opened and shut outside the closet. Footsteps got closer.
“He’s here,” Kim mouthed.
The air thickened and pressed into Mackenzie’s skin like deadweight. They had to get out of here alive. She braced herself against the wall and directed her fading strength into her fists. She was going to launch herself at Ben when he opened the door.
No. That wasn’t smart. He had a gun. And she still couldn’t see straight.
Mackenzie gnashed her teeth. There was only one way to get out of this.
Deftly, she pulled Kim down and tucked her feet under her hips, hoping that Ben wouldn’t notice she was free. Kim understood and put her arms behind her. Mackenzie assumed the same position.
Click.
The door to the closet opened with a screech. Ben stood there holding Mackenzie’s gun.
“You shouldn’t have come here, Detective Price,” Ben said, the light from the bulb making his piercings gleam.
“You took her from the Beckers’. You followed her.”
Ben remained silent. His wild eyes and the Glock in his hands were trained on Mackenzie. He hadn’t killed her immediately, and that was a positive sign. There was a way out of this.
“Who knows you’re here?” Ben dodged the question. “Tell me!”
“The entire Lakemore PD,” Mackenzie exaggerated. Ben’s face went pale. “If I’m not back in time, they’ll know to come here and look for you.”
“You’re lying.”
“You think I’d come here and not tell anyone?”
“I can just tell them that you’re not here.”
“They’ve traced my cell, Ben. If you kill me, you’ll be in deep shit.”
His eyes flew between her and Kim. Then there was a sharp knock on the door downstairs. Ben’s neck jerked. Mackenzie breathed a sigh of relief.
“Lakemore PD! Open up!” Nick’s faint voice wafted up the stairs.
Ben’s hand gripped the gun tighter. He shifted on his heels.
“Lakemore PD! Open the door!” Nick shouted again and banged on the door of the cabin.
For a moment, indecisiveness was suspended in the air. The only sound was Kim’s loud and erratic breathing. Mackenzie could taste freedom on the tip of her tongue. It was so close. But Ben was a big obstacle standing in the way. A bigger obstacle was her fading strength. She kept flexing her fists but her grip was weak.
The door crashed open. Mackenzie knew the protocol.
Ben yanked her by the back of her collar, his nostrils flaring when he realized that she wasn’t bound anymore. But there was no time to do anything. The police were inside his house.
“Come with me!” he growled and dragged Mackenzie with him.
She looked back at Kim and gestured toward the door, which was about to lock from the outside if it swung shut. Kim nodded in understanding and crawled forward.
In the commotion, Ben didn’t notice that the door never clicked shut. He pressed the gun into the side of Mackenzie’s throat and pushed her down the stairs.
Nick came into view. He was standing in the middle of the living room holding a gun. A dark look crossed his face when he saw Mackenzie’s bloodied face and the gun to her neck.
Had he come alone?
“Drop the gun, or I’ll blow her head off,” Ben instructed when they reached the bottom of the stairs.
Nick hesitated and gave Mackenzie a meaningful look. He wasn’t here alone. She looked around discreetly, but couldn’t see anyone in sight. Then she caught a reflection in one of the windows of a woman coming in the back door. It wasn’t Jenna. This woman had a tall and sturdy frame.
It was Lieutenant Rivera.
Nick put his gun on the floor. “Mack, are you okay?”
Mackenzie nodded. But Nick was dubious. Her eyes glazed over the scene, and her knees threatened to collapse. She knew she wasn’t going to be of much help.
“Kick it over here,” Ben ordered. Nick did what he said, his eyes darting up the stairs. Mackenzie swayed to catch a glimpse behind them. Kim was climbing down soundlessly, barefooted, carrying a lamp.
No.
Mackenzie wanted to yell at Kim to run back upstairs. Now that Rivera was closing in behind Ben, they had their element of surprise. They could take Ben down. But if she alerted Ben to Kim’s presence in any way then he might panic and shoot her.
Nick’s jaw clenched, but he couldn’t gesture to Kim to turn around either. Not when Ben had him pinned with a look. “Ben, calm down. Let’s talk.”
“If you don’t leave right now, then I’ll kill her. I’ll kill both of them.”
Kim reached the bottom of the stairs, holding the lamp like a weapon, ready to swing it across Ben’s head. Rivera only spotted her then. Mackenzie saw Rivera’s reflection pause. But Rivera was behind Kim. There was no way Kim could see Rivera. Unless Rivera made some sound.
The situation was disastrous.
Then came a sound. A loose floorboard creaked under Kim’s foot.
Mackenzie’s heart sank.
Ben turned around, his grip on Mackenzie loosening enough for her to wrench herself free. Kim lunged at him, swinging the lamp and aiming for his head. But the gun went off.
A beat of silence.
Kim’s back curved out like she had been sucker punched. Jets of scarlet sprayed out of her abdomen. She tripped on her feet, staggering backward. When her limp body dropped to the floor, dust billowed in the a
ir.
The lamp crashed to the ground, and the room sprang to life.
Another gunshot. A bullet pierced Mackenzie’s skin just above her collarbone. She rolled on the floor and shrieked.
Two more gunshots.
From her peripheral vision, she saw Ben collapse on the floor. Blood was soaking through the layers of her jacket. She knew it was a flesh wound. But her whole shoulder throbbed in a dull ache before going rigid.
Kim lay on the floor, her dimming eyes watching Mackenzie. She coughed like a broken motor. Blood trickled out of her mouth.
Mackenzie crawled toward her. Her knees slipped in blood. Whose blood? Kim or Ben’s? Her own? She couldn’t tell. Ignoring the jab at the base of her skull, she reached Kim and looked at her stomach. The epicenter of the carnage.
“Kim!” Mackenzie was startled by her own voice. She placed her palm on Kim’s stomach to contain the bleeding. “Keep your eyes open!”
Faintly, she heard Nick call an ambulance.
Kim’s blinks were languishing. She tried to speak.
“Hush. Help is coming. Conserve your strength. Please,” Mackenzie begged.
Rivera kneeled on the other side and pressed her fingers on Kim’s neck, checking her pulse. She looked up at Mackenzie with pursed lips. “She needs surgery immediately.”
“Kim! Stay with us!”
“Detective Price. You’re injured. I’ll take over.” Rivera gently removed Mackenzie’s hands and pressed her own into Kim’s wound.
Tears streamed down Mackenzie’s face. She felt Nick’s hand on her face and shoulder. Hiccups caused little tremors in her throat. She looked at her hands. Her fingers were sticky with congealing blood.
Forty-Two
The white light above Mackenzie was sharp and blazing. Even with her eyes closed, it was burning her corneas. When she came round, she was in the hospital with tubes going into her skin. Her head was wrapped in a bandage. Her right arm was in a sling.
“Shit,” she grumbled.
“Easy,” a young nurse with pink hair said from her side. “How’re you feeling, Detective Price?”
“My head hurts.”
She placed a pen in her pocket. “Fortunately, your CT scan shows no signs of internal bleeding or swelling. You have suffered a bad concussion, and the back of your head will be tender for a few days. And you have a flesh wound in your trapezius muscle from the bullet. You’re lucky it missed the clavicle.”
“All my injuries are external?”
“Yes. Just monitor your symptoms for a while. If anything changes, come back immediately.”
Mackenzie shifted. “Can I leave now?”
“Let me talk to the doctor.”
As soon as the nurse left, Mackenzie dropped her head on the pillow and groaned. The room smelled like antiseptic and fresh paint. She noted the gleaming white walls; a sharp contrast to the yellow tiles over her head.
A crack ran through the middle of one tile. She glared at the sliver of blackness. Like the force of her stare could pry it further open. She blinked and the vision of Kim collapsing on the floor swarmed her mind. When she opened her eyes, they were brimming with tears.
What had she done? She had tried calling for backup. But she shouldn’t have gone alone in the first place.
There were mutters and burbles outside the door. Quickly, she wiped her tears and sat up on the bed. No one could know Mad Mack cried.
Sully walked in first, followed by Nick, who wore a scowl on his face.
“How’re you, Mack?” Sully pulled a chair from the corner and perched on it.
“Peachy.”
His unibrow rose. “We need to talk.”
Nick made a point of exhaling loudly and leaned against the wall with his hands in his pockets. Sully rolled his eyes, ignoring him. “Kim didn’t make it. She died in surgery.”
Mackenzie schooled her face to maintain composure. Saliva pooled in her mouth. The muscles in her throat went rigid, unable to move and swallow.
“Ben Harlan was shot dead on the scene by Lieutenant Rivera.”
Her eyes darted to Nick. Sensing she was watching him, he gave her an empathetic look.
“When you’re discharged, we’re going to need you to do a walkthrough. Can you do that?” Sully asked.
Mackenzie nodded. Her quirky sergeant usually carried a sense of humor or disinterest—anything to dilute the seriousness of their profession. She had often wondered if it was a management technique. But today was one of the rare times his face was pinched in hardness.
“Why did you go there?” Sully asked.
“I… I suspected Ben after reading that there were traces of vinegar in the shoe casting they lifted.”
“Vinegar?”
“Yes. I thought it was odd that there was vinegar on the bottom of the shoes. Then I remembered that I saw these flowers at Ben’s cabin that grow better in acidic soil.”
“And you decided to go alone?”
Mackenzie’s voice was thick. “It wasn’t a solid lead. As soon as I confirmed that the soil smelled like vinegar, I tried calling for backup, but I didn’t have signal.”
“You had no business going alone in the first place. You could have brought along Justin. Or someone from patrol.”
“I didn’t think it would get this bad.”
“What the hell were you expecting if you thought he’d abducted that woman?” he hollered.
“Sully,” Nick interjected. “It was a bad call, but is this really necessary?”
“It sure as hell is,” he snapped. “I have the prime suspect and another victim dead. Not to mention a detective injured.”
The gunshot rang in Mackenzie’s ears. “Are you okay?” Nick stepped forward. His hands curled on the edge of the bed, his knuckles whitening.
“Yes.” She shook her head. “It was a bad call, Sully. I made a mistake. I underestimated how dangerous the situation could get. I was worried he’d move her to a different location or kill her if I waited any longer. What do we do next? Did they find anyone else in that cabin?”
Sully huffed. “No. Just Kim. You need to undergo a psych evaluation. You’ll be issued another gun, since your Glock is evidence now. And you’re off for the rest of the week.”
She straightened. “It’s only a flesh wound.”
“You have a concussion. You need to take it easy for at least seventy-two hours.”
“But—”
“No.” He wagged his finger. “This time you will follow protocol. I’m protecting you, Mack. You have no idea how mad the brass is. Rivera is seething. The FBI is investigating corruption and now we’re sending the message that we’re negligent.”
She looked at Nick helplessly, but he shrugged. How was she supposed to stay away for the rest of the week? “What about the case?”
“Nick can go at it alone.”
“I have updates.”
“Give them to Nick.” Sully’s tone was stern and unyielding.
Mackenzie stared at him defiantly. “Look, I know I messed up. But I want to be useful. That’s the only way I can still fix this.”
Sully leaned forward. The lines in his forehead dug deep. “You’ll be useful when I’m convinced you have rested and can make sound decisions. You made a rookie mistake by going alone. And now you have a concussion. Rest.”
She almost swallowed her tongue. She didn’t appreciate being treated like a child or a novice. But her actions had led her here. Her stupid, stupid actions. She sighed, resigned, and looked away.
After Sully left the room, Nick spoke. “Give him time. Things are in flux at work.”
“I screwed up,” she blurted and punched the mattress. Pain shot up her injured arm, and she flinched. “Ouch.”
“Don’t be an idiot. Focus on getting better. But give me your update now, while you’re awake.”
Mackenzie rehashed her conversation with Kim.
“Katy was going to pay Ben off, after she collected the money on Saturday?”
She nodd
ed and recalled the nervous flitting of Kim’s eyes. The sweat oozing out of her pores. The blood trickling out of her skin. Mackenzie shoved the image away.
Nick pressed his mouth in a flat line. “Could Kim be lying?”
“Why?”
“It would be a pretty genius idea. To replace Katy and pin the whole thing on the abusive ex.”
Mackenzie frowned. “No. I believed her. She looked sincere.” His eyes searched hers, like he wanted to say something. She egged him on. “What?”
“You’re feeling guilty.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Over her death. It’s fair. But that might make you biased.”
“In her favor?”
He nodded.
Her hands were itchy and restless in her lap. She wanted to clean something. But what could she clean in a sterile hospital room?
“Sterling’s going to be here soon.”
Her eyes popped out. “What?”
“He’s your emergency contact.”
Mackenzie pulled a face. Of course he was. Their lives were still integrated. Kicking him out of their house meant nothing. “What about Alison?”
“Ben could be holding her somewhere else. I’ll look into it and send you regular updates. Just rest.”
But Mackenzie couldn’t rest. Kim was dead, and so was Ben, which meant they were no closer to finding Alison—if she was even still alive.
Their Frozen Graves: A completely addictive crime thriller and mystery novel Page 20