Ice Breakers

by Heather C. Myers

  On the way to my car, I pulled out my phone and called Eric. I needed something to distract myself with, and the best person to do that with was Eric. Not because Eric himself was a distraction – I refused to even debate that – but because I was so close to solving his case and maybe talking to Eric would help.

  “Hello?”

  Except, it wasn’t Eric who answered the phone.

  “Kevin?” I asked after a moment. It was the only person I could think of that would have the ability to answer Eric’s phone in the first place.

  “Mika?” Kevin asked. “Hey, what’s up? Eric’s on the ice right now and told me to hold his phone in case you or the police called. This case has really got him shaken up, Meeks.”

  “Yeah, I don’t blame him,” I said. I unlocked my car and opened the door. “Can you tell him I’ll meet him at Five Point? I know the Bucc’s rink is closed so it would be the perfect place to talk. There’s been new evidence I want to go over with him.”

  “Sure, sure.” A pause. “That’s wonderful news, Mika. I’ll be sure to let him know.”

  “Thanks.” I hung up the phone and clicked on my seatbelt.

  I pulled onto Alton, heading south. Luckily, I was already familiar with where I was going thanks to my father working out of Five Point constantly. As such, I could drive there on autopilot.

  My mind wandered over to the new piece of evidence. The ticket stub Derrick, Ashley’s ex-boyfriend, turned over to IPD. How could he possibly get one of those? Last Night tickets were on the expensive side and only offered to season ticket holders first before they released a limited quantity to the public. But would Ashley go out of her way to buy tickets?

  Maybe.

  If she was trying to get Eric’s attention.

  But she couldn’t have bought them, a voice in my head reminded me. The gold insignia was on it.

  I slammed my breaks even though the light was clearly green. Someone honked behind me, snapping me out of my thoughts. I shook my head, rolled down my window, and waved my hand. It was a crappy apology and the driver flipped me off as he passed me. I proceeded to drive but my mind was back to that stub.

  How could I have forgotten about that golden insignia?

  Before I knew what I was doing, I reached for my phone. I was at a stoplight, but I still glanced around to make sure there weren’t any cops around. I had a good relationship with the department, but Irvine took crime seriously regardless who committed it and the last thing I wanted right now was a three hundred dollar ticket. When I was certain I was safe, I dialed Beech just as the light turned green.

  He answered on the second ring.

  “Yeah?”

  I bristled at how completely unaffected he was. He was chewing something – probably nicotine gum. Not because he wanted to quit smoking, but because long hours indoors on intense cases caused him to sometimes forget to take a cigarette break and this way, he was doing something with small hints of nicotine rather than sitting around with nothing.

  I hadn’t actually seen him chewing the gum lately or even smoking for that matter. However, I had only really seen him indoors for the most part so he could be smoking outside when I wasn’t around.

  “The stub,” I said, bypassing our usually witty banter others might have labeled as small talk. “Are you still in property?”

  “Yeah, why? What about the stub?”

  “Can you check it for me?” I said. I was passing the freeway overpass and was about to turn right on Marine Way. I was a minute or two from the rink at most. “There should be a gold insignia on the bottom right corner with a skull and crossbones.”

  “Hang on.” A pause. My light turned green so I made a slow turn off the main street. “Yeah, it’s there. Does that mean anything?”

  “It means Derrick – or whoever gave the ticket to Derrick – got it from a player,” I said. “I think Derrick mentioned Ashley gave it to him.”

  “Wait, how do you know it had to come from a player?” Beech asked. His chewing became more incessant.

  “That’s why the insignia is there in the first place. That signifies this guest is here because of a player. Basically, it tells the employees to be a little more attentive to this person and their needs.”

  “As opposed to those who actually pay to see the team?” Beech drawled.

  I let out a sigh and followed the roundabout directly to the parking lot of Five Point. Beech always had a problem with the wealthy and with people getting special treatment simply because they had money.

  “So if Ashley gave this to Derrick,” Beech said, deciding to momentarily forget about his unfair biases and focus on what was important.

  “Who gave it to Ashley?” I finished. “Okay, turn over the stub. There should be a two-digit number in the right hand corner.”

  “Twenty-five.”

  My heart sank. It felt like I had been punched in the gut. I shook my head and pulled into a parking spot.

  This didn’t make any sense.

  “Chalmers?” Beech said. The tone of his voice seemed to indicate this wasn’t the first time he tried to get my attention. “What does that mean?”

  I ignored his impatient tone. “It’s Eric’s number,” I said. “It indicates that he was the one to issue them.”

  “Then how did Derrick get it? I highly doubt Eric Foresburg decided to give it to him.”

  “Derrick told me Ashley gave it to him.”

  There was a pause.

  “So Eric gave a ticket to Ashley?” Beech asked. I appreciated the caution in his tone, as though he didn’t want to upset me.

  Because this wasn’t looking good for Eric.

  “I… I don’t know.”

  I pulled into a parking spot and turned off the car. The lot was half empty. The majority of cars had Junior Bucc’s logos on them, indicating the majority of people here were part of the travel team.

  “Is there a way to track who they issued the tickets to?” Beech asked.

  My brows rose at the idea. “I don’t know,” I said. “Let me make a few calls –“

  “Chalmers, I’m in the car as we speak. Dispatch says there was just an accident on Sand Canyon. I’m going to get there as soon as I can. Don’t do anything stupid. Please.”

  “Eric didn’t –“

  “You don’t know Eric,” he pointed out. “Not anymore. This is a good time to be jaded. Don’t let your need for him to like you put you in danger. I’d rather you be alive than liked.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say to that. He was right. I didn’t want to believe Eric was capable of doing something like this, but the evidence wasn’t looking good.

  “I’ll call you when I find out about the ticket,” I said.

  “Be careful.”

  I leaned my head against the seat, staring up at my ceiling. How I got spots of food up there was beyond me.

  I dialed up the front desk of Five Point professional services.

  “Hi, this is Patty.”

  “Patty, this is Mika, Coach Chalmers’ daughter. Can you transfer me to Erika? I need to talk to her regarding distribution of Last Night tickets issued for this year.”

  “Oh, sure, honey, no problem. One sec.”

  I waited on the line as old school Britney Spears played. I nodded my head along with the beat, thumping my fingers on the steering wheel. I didn’t know why I was nervous. I didn’t know why I was impatient. I couldn’t see Eric’s car, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he had parked it in the back where the employees parked. There were designated spaces for them so people wouldn’t bother them or damage their cars.

  “This is Erika.”

  “Erika, hey, it’s Mika. I’m sure my dad told you I’m working to help Eric?” If he was even able to be helped at this point. “Do you happen to have a log of who he gave his tickets to Last Night to?”

  “Of course.” The clacking of a keyboard filled the line and Erika popped a bubble with her bubblegum. “Now, I can’t give you more than the name and the number
of tickets he signed out.” More clacking. “Huh. Looks like he only handed out two this year. He gave them to a Kevin Durante.”

  “Kevin?” I furrowed my brow. “Not Ashley Dunham?”

  “Isn’t that the girl who’s making allegations against Eric?” I couldn’t see Erika but I could picture her shaking her head of brown curls in a determined, no-nonsense way. “No way. You know he doesn’t give those out except to people he cares about.”

  “So,” I said, “just to confirm, he only gave out two tickets this year and both went to Kevin?”

  “I mean, I don’t know who actually got the tickets but those are who he signed them out to,” she replied.

  “Thanks so much, you’ve been a big help.”

  The second I got off the phone, I sent Eric a text. I knew he was on the ice, but I needed to know if Kevin gave those tickets to anyone else.

  Hey, I said. I’m parked outside. Do you happen to know if Kevin was at Last Night with you? Or did he give his tickets to someone else?

  I sent the text without thinking about it and leaned back in my chair. Something about this whole thing still bothered me, though. Even if Kevin himself got the tickets, how did Ashley wind up with at least one she could give to Derrick? Did she actually go to Last Night? Did Eric see her there? More than that, what was the connection between Kevin and Ashley?

  Something tickled my brain, something important. It wasn’t as difficult to ascertain as I thought it might be. I knew this information. I just didn’t know how. I didn’t know what, specifically, I knew, but I knew something.

  Suddenly, Eric’s voice filled my head and I was thrust back into a time when I was interviewing him about how he knew Ashley. He had been in my office. I could still smell the expensive cologne on him – one I hadn’t bought him for Christmas. It had been entirely new but it wasn’t a bad scent. It was actually nice.

  I remember her specifically because Kevin introduced me to her. That was what he told me. Eric thought she and Kevin worked together at the phone company and that was why he had been open to meeting her initially – because Kevin brought them together.

  Which meant Kevin gave the tickets to Ashley.

  Which meant –

  A knock on my window broke my train of thought. I turned my head, expecting to see Eric.

  “I didn’t realize you were already off the –“ I stopped myself from saying anything more.

  Because it wasn’t Eric standing next to my car.

  It was Kevin.

  Chapter 22

  I hesitated. I knew Beech was right. I should stay in my car. If I went into Five Point, I wouldn’t have cell reception. Who knew how Kevin would be? It would be safer if I waited for him. It wouldn’t take Beech longer than ten, fifteen minutes to get here.

  A knock on my window caused me to jump in my seat. I turned to look at who it was, only to see Kevin himself, smiling and waving and looking completely innocent. My heart leapt into my throat like it was trying to escape from my body because it knew Kevin would have no problem doing something to me. If he could rape Ashley, if he could be that violent, what would he do to me?

  I cleared my throat and rolled down my window – not enough for him to throw himself in or even reach for me. Besides his fingers, he couldn’t fit any other body part in the car.

  “H-hey.” I hoped Kevin didn’t know me well enough to know I was scared shitless. I had no weapon. I had no way to defend myself.

  Beech is coming, I reminded myself. Beech is on his way.

  “Hey,” he said. Completely normal. Like he hadn’t raped Ashley. Like he hadn’t somehow pinned it on Eric.

  I still had to figure out how it happened, why it happened, and if Ashley knew who her actual rapist was, but I knew Kevin was the rapist and I knew he was letting Eric – his best friend – take the fall.

  “Eric just got off the ice. Did you want to come inside and wait? He’s expecting you.”

  How could he be expecting me if he just got off the ice?

  Did he really think I was stupid? Clearly.

  Was I this stupid?

  Probably.

  I hadn’t realized it had been Kevin until now.

  “Uh, that’s okay,” I said. I cleared my throat again because I sounded like tennis shoes on a basketball court, and if Kevin didn’t know what a terrible liar I was, he would soon. “He already knows I’m uh, that I’ll wait in my car. I don’t like the cold.”

  “Isn’t that funny?” Kevin asked with a grin.

  “Um, what’s funny?” I perked my brow, wondering how long it was going to take for Kevin to leave or how long it would take for Beech to get here.

  “I mean, your dad is a hockey coach,” he said, twisting his wrist to gesture with it, “so I’d imagine you grew up in an ice rink and you’d be used to it by now.”

  “No!” I let out a bark of sharp laughter. I sounded like a psycho. If he didn’t know I was lying, he definitely knew now.

  His smile slowly slid off of his face. “I think you should go inside, Meeks,” he said. “Eric’s waiting for you.”

  Except he wasn’t. He knew this. I knew this. And he knew I knew this. I had no idea how he got Eric’s phone. Granted, Eric wasn’t on social media except sporadic tweets of the charity events he was attending and maybe to say he was excited about a win, and he wasn’t as attached to it as other people were so losing his phone wouldn’t be a big deal. I just assumed that since he was dealing with a media shitshow and since he had just been arrested and subsequently released on rape charges, he’d be a little more careful with his phone.

  “No, that’s okay –“

  “I wasn’t asking.” At that moment, Kevin pulled out a gun as subtly as he could and tapped on my window a couple of times. “I’m not afraid to use this thing, Mika. Do something smart for a change and come with me.”

  I glanced over at my keys. How long would it take for me to start my car and back up? Would he be able to fire a shot at that point? Would he miss?

  I doubted it. Not when he was so close to me. And even if he did miss, he would shatter my window, glass would spill everywhere, and then he would have a better target since nothing would impede his shot.

  No. The smartest thing would be to go with him.

  “Okay,” I said, putting my hands up. I needed him to think I would be compliant. I needed him to think he had me and that I was scared. All the while, my brain started piecing together as many things as I could to try and fight him, to try and stop him. “I’m going to slowly get out of my car, okay? Is that okay?”

  He nodded. He glanced away, probably to see if anyone had noticed us or if anyone would potentially cause a disturbance.

  I used his distraction as my chance. I unbuckled my seatbelt and thrust open the door. It managed to hit him in the kneecap. He dropped the gun in surprise and I dashed out, trying to go for it.

  I wasn’t planning on his quick recovery.

  “You bitch,” he said through gritted teeth as he tackled me to the ground.

  I managed to catch my fall just before my face smacked against the gravel. My palms burned. I reached for the gun but it was too far out of my grasp as he tightened his grip on my ankle. I kicked behind me with my free foot. He managed to dodge it. However, I heard a muffled grunt, as though dodging the kick meant putting weight on his bad knee.

  He yanked me back, my shirt riding up and my stomach dragged against the street. I hissed. I knew I’d have some scratches after tonight.

  If I survived.

  I started to shout, knowing I couldn’t easily get away from him. The gun was the only weapon I had and I wasn’t able to reach it.

  “Help!” I cried out. “Hel-“

  His hand clamped over my mouth and he got really close to my face.

  “Scream again and I will kill you.”

  I froze. I didn’t know why but I believed him. I held my hands up. He tensed, expecting me to fight him again. He dug the gun into my ribs and I squeaked at the pain. I tried to c
onvey that I would cooperate. Tears decorated my eyes. Snot threatened to run down my nose.

  “Okay then.” He slowly stood up but kept the gun pointed at me.

  I took a breath and then another.

  “Get up,” he said. “And if you move –“

  “You’ll kill me,” I finished. I wiped my nose with the back of my hand. “I get it.” I sucked in a breath. I needed to calm down my pounding heart but I couldn’t seem to do so.

  “Get in the building,” he said, jutting his chin in the direction of Five Point. “Rink 2.”

  “Is Eric there?” I asked as we started to walk towards the entrance. “Are you both going to, I don’t know, finish me off?”

  He had placed his gun in the pocket of his jacket. I wasn’t sure how it fit, exactly, but he kept one hand on it. I imagined he was ready to shoot at any moment. I wondered if I could get him to accidentally shoot his foot.

  “You never should have been involved in the first place,” Kevin said. He grabbed my arm so he could control my movements and make it seem completely normal. “Why Eric went to you, I don’t know.”

  “So Eric did rape Ashley, then.”

  I couldn’t believe it. Everything I thought I knew was a lie. My heart thumped against my chest painfully, like tapping a bruise over and over again.

  “It would have made things a lot easier if he had,” Kevin said.

  I furrowed my brow. I opened my mouth, ready to ask what he meant by that, but he squeezed my arm. We walked through the sliding doors. One of the clerks behind the counter recognized me and gave me a wave. I gave her a smile in return. Hopefully she would see how completely strained it was and somehow decipher I needed help.

  But no.

  The lobby was practically empty. Everyone was on the ice and parents were watching practices or sticktimes across Rinks 1, 3, and 4 in the stands.

  Kevin headed straight for Rink 2. We passed the restrooms and stepped into the cold room. The sliding doors shut behind me and I swallowed. I was instantly slapped with coldness, but there was more to my shivers than that. No one would come check on this rink, not when it was already closed. And because this place was made with concrete blocks, there was no way anyone would be able to hear me if I did decide to risk it and scream. If I was going to get out of here alive, I would have to make it out of the doors.