by J L Raven
“It’s not like we’ve got a lot of options,” Adam snapped.
“Maybe we can come up with something else.” I pointed at the map. “If we do the zip line, it leaves us on the wrong side of the river. Farther away from civilization instead of closer to it. And remember, we don’t have much in the way of backcountry gear. Or snowshoes.”
Yasmine joined us. “Maybe we can get across the river near the road. The bridge is out, but there were a lot of rocks jutting out of the water.”
Adam’s eyes widened. “Like the exercise Tiffany had us do! We still have the two wooden planks—we’ll use them to cross!”
Now it was Melissa’s turn to look worried. “Are you crazy? That water has got to be like ice. If we fall in, we’ll either be smashed into the rocks or die from hypothermia. Or both.”
“No, we can do this.” Adam turned to us all, confidence radiating out of him like sunlight. Once again I glimpsed how he’d forged his friends into a team and transformed his start-up into a multi-million dollar corporation. How, after X-ULT was implicated in a death, he’d convinced officials not to conduct a proper investigation. “It’s going to work. We’ll use the planks, get across, then hike down the road until we run into park rangers. By tonight, we’ll all be warm and safe, drinking spiked hot chocolate while the police drag the bastard who killed Tiffany and Rick off to rot in jail.”
“Rick?” I asked, startled. “But that was an accident. Melissa didn’t mean to do it, it just happened.”
Adam focused all his attention on me. His hands settled on each of my shoulders, firm but unthreatening. “Sure, it was an accident. We all know that, Lauren. But it would never have happened if this psycho hadn’t been stalking us. Playing mind games. He’s really the one responsible for Rick’s death.”
“I guess, but—”
“Let me finish.” He smiled warmly. Encouragingly, even. “Now, even though we know it was an accident, the police might not see it that way. Why take the risk of ruining Melissa’s life, when, if you think about it, she’s not even the one responsible?” He glanced at Yasmine and Melissa, as if making sure they were on board with what he was saying. “What really happened was that this crazy person broke in. He hid the coat in the freezer for you to find. Then, while the rest of us were distracted looking for him, he snuck up on Rick and killed him. It happened so fast we didn’t have time to react. He dropped the meat cleaver and ran away, while we tried to save Rick’s life. That’s why Melissa’s fingerprints are on the murder weapon—she picked it up and moved it while we worked on Rick.”
His gaze bored into mine. “I think we can all agree that’s what happened, can’t we? It’s what Rick would have wanted.”
Was it? I had my doubts. But this was no time to argue. “You’re right. He would have.”
Adam’s smile grew even broader, and he clapped me on the shoulder. “Exactly. You know, Lauren, I wasn’t entirely sure about you when this weekend started. But now I’m glad to have you on the team.”
The road offered the easiest access to the river. Since Melissa was in no shape to clamber over rocks and down gullies, that’s the way we went. Adam and I each carried one of the planks from the “cross the river” game, while Yasmine helped Melissa through the deep snow. I didn’t think Melissa was entirely sold on Adam’s escape plan, but she liked the idea of staying at the lodge alone even less.
The ruts left behind by the van had a coating of snow in them from the more recent fall, but they still offered an easier path than the undisturbed snow. As we neared the bend where it had gone off the road, Melissa said, “I can’t believe Rick packed champagne. He always wanted to party.”
Dark circles showed under Melissa’s eyes, her mouth tight with pain. She was shivering even with her warm clothes on. A side effect of the vodka she’d drunk? I didn’t know exactly how it worked, but I did know alcohol made blood flow to the extremities. Which, in cold weather like this, meant a person who consumed it would lose their core heat faster. Yasmine and Adam had imbibed as well, but not nearly as much as Melissa.
Had she gone into rehab after the DUI? Or at least tried out a twelve-step program? Or were those the sorts of consequences other people suffered, people who weren’t making money hand-over-fist selling dangerous pills to a trusting public?
We stopped when we reached the van, and I gratefully took the opportunity to put down the board. It wasn’t too heavy on its own, but after lugging it down a hill through the snow, my arms had started to hurt. Adam put his down as well, then turned to the rest of us. “Stay here, and I’ll scout for the easiest way across.”
Going was slow in the heavy, unbroken snow, and it took him a while to make it down to the river. While we waited, I looked down at the bridge, or what remained of it after the huge tree had come smashing down.
Heather would be expecting me home today. How long would it take for her to start to worry, when I didn’t show up as planned? Even if the storm had missed our house, she would have heard about the bad turn the weather took up here. So she’d probably allow for a few extra hours of cautious driving before she became truly concerned. When she still couldn’t reach me on the phone, that’s probably when she’d start to panic. To call the police, or try to get ahold of the park rangers.
I had to make it through this so I could get back to her. I ached to hold her, to tell her just how much I loved her. Once this was over, there’d be no more long nights at work. No more plans, no more putting off our wedding. She’d be my number one priority from now on.
But first I had to survive.
Adam reappeared, following the trail he’d broken back up the hill. By the time he reached us, he was breathing heavily from exertion. “I found a place,” he said. “Just down from the bridge. There are a lot of rocks to put the planks on.”
I picked my board up in my sore arms. “Then let’s get out of here.”
The closer we got to the riverbank, the more I started to doubt Adam’s plan. What had seemed possible in the relative safety of the lodge appeared unlikely in the face of the torrent of dark water.
The river was a black slash against steep, snow-covered banks. Just reaching the water would be difficult, especially given Melissa’s bad foot. And yes, the river was relatively narrow here—which meant it moved that much faster.
Gray rocks jutted up through the rushing water, churning it white and filling the air with a fine mist. The water might be moving too fast to freeze, but the rocks were coated with a layer of ice from the spray.
Melissa came to a halt the moment she spotted it. “This is suicide.”
Adam was already finding a way to slide down to the water. “It’ll be fine.”
“Like hell it will!” She took a step back. “Yasmine, you aren’t going down there, are you?”
Yasmine looked uncertain. I glanced at the river, then back up. “We could try the zip line instead.”
That decided Yasmine. “No. This is safer.”
“Safer than what?” Melissa demanded.
“Safer than waiting to be murdered by some lunatic,” Adam snapped. “If you want to stay behind, Melissa, go ahead. The rest of us are getting out of here.”
“This is crazy,” Melissa said. “You’re all crazy.” But she followed Adam.
In short order, the four of us crowded on a slick rock which sloped down to the water. Spray dampened my skin, beading on the waterproof exterior of my coat. It smelled of cold stone and minerals, and I licked it off my chapped lips.
“All right,” Adam said, raising his voice to be heard above the roar of the river. “We take this slow and careful. Just like we did in the lodge, when this was just a game.”
No one pointed out that we’d lost the game, thanks to Rick. Maybe Adam thought we had a better chance, now that he was gone.
Adam met each of our eyes in turn. “We’ve got this. Just work together, and we’ll be fine. I’ll go first and put down the planks. Then Melissa and Lauren. Yasmine, you bring up the rear.”
>
I wondered if that meant he trusted Yasmine the most not to screw this up. It didn’t really matter. My heart thrummed in my chest, and for a moment I felt light-headed from a combination of exhaustion and anxiety.
Deep breaths. I touched the pocket where I kept my adoptive parents’ picture. I can do this.
I was going to survive. Get back to Heather. Back to my family.
Adam laid the first plank down. It took a few tries to wedge it in place so it wouldn’t slide off the icy rock. When he was done the board tilted dangerously to one side. But that was as good as it was going to get.
Adam crossed the plank, as sure-footed as he’d been when we’d done this back at the lodge. Melissa hesitated, her expression a mask of terror.
“You can do this,” I told her. “Remember when we did the climbing tree? You crushed it.”
Her eyes remained fixed on the board, but she nodded. It must have been the confidence boost she needed, because she eased her good foot onto the plank.
It was torture waiting for her to get to Adam, but she did it. I crossed next, resolutely not looking down at the water. Yasmine came last, carrying the second board, which we passed to Adam.
It was working.
We kept going, slow and methodical as Adam had promised. Though this was a choke point, the river was still wide, and the rocks weren’t conveniently lined up to take us the shortest route across. Some of the rocks were large enough all four of us could stand on them while we switched planks, but the unceasing action of the water had ground others away to mere nubs poking above the surface.
We were maybe a third of the way across by now. The front edge of the lead plank rested on one of those nubs. Adam made his way onto the board. Melissa took a step onto it—then let out a shout, her arms wind-milling as she began to teeter to the side.
“Hold on!” I shouted.
Melissa flung herself forward. Her hands closed on Adam’s jacket, even as her good foot slid out from under her, leaving all her weight on the bad one.
She screamed in terror and pain as her leg buckled. Her weight yanked Adam forward, and for a moment I thought they were both going to end up in the river.
Adam’s instinct for survival kicked in. He seized Melissa’s wrists, prying her hands loose. “Let go of me!”
“No!” Her shriek was high and thin. “Adam, don’t!”
The waterproof material was too slick for her to grip effectively, covered as it was in a layer of half-frozen spray. Adam ripped her free, then let go of her arms.
Melissa went backward into the water. The last glimpse I had of her face, it was frozen in an expression of shock, betrayal, and fear.
Then the river had her in its inexorable grip. It whisked her downstream, dashing her against the boulders. I thought I glimpsed blood in the water, before the current yanked her below the surface.
She didn’t come back up.
Twenty-Two
Adam let out a shout of alarm. I tore my gaze from the water where Melissa had disappeared. The far end of the plank Adam still stood on was sliding off the small rock he’d set it on, and if he didn’t get off it, it would take him into the river as well.
“Get out of the way!” he yelled, and sprang at me.
I tumbled back, colliding with Yasmine. For a sickening moment, I thought we were about to follow Melissa. Somehow, though, we managed to keep our balance.
Adam made it to our plank, just as the lead board slid into the river. It tumbled wildly away, spinning and flipping until it was out of sight.
For a long moment, the three of us just stood there, gasping and panting in shock. Everything had happened so quickly.
“Where is she?” Yasmine finally asked in a high, shrill voice not at all like her usual controlled tones. “She went under, but she didn’t come back up.”
Adam had gone white as the foaming water. “One of the dangers they always warn you about in rafting is getting caught by the current and dragged down. Pinned underwater against a rock. The flow of the river against the rock is too strong to get free.”
I swallowed. “She’s dead, then.”
“You killed her.” Yasmine stared past me at Adam. “You shoved her in the water! She’s dead because of you!”
“It was her or me.” Adam turned to me. “You saw, right? If I hadn’t gotten her off me, both our bodies would be down there.” When I didn’t say anything, he switched to Yasmine. “She’d already killed Rick. I wasn’t about to let her kill me, too.”
How quickly the blame for Rick’s death shifted according to Adam’s needs.
I ignored the argument. We had a more pressing problem. “We’ll never make it to the other side with only one board.” I looked over my shoulder in the direction we’d come. “We might not even make it back, if we can’t find enough rocks big enough for us all to stand on while we reposition the plank.”
“Maybe Adam will just push us off to make room,” Yasmine snapped.
“Fuck this. I don’t have to explain anything to you.” Adam’s mouth was a hard line. “We have to try to get back.”
“Then we’re giving up on the idea of escaping?” I asked.
He glanced at the far side of the river, then shook his head. “Like I said, we can’t make it now. We have to return to the inholding.”
It was slow going. With only one plank, our return to the bank had to be even more circuitous. It was hard not to get frustrated with our progress—safety was right there, only a few yards away if we could reach it.
When we finally made it, I collapsed onto my knees in the snow. Yasmine did the same…then doubled over, her black hair falling in a curtain around her face. After a moment, I realized she was sobbing.
“I can’t believe they’re dead,” she moaned. “Rick and Melissa are both gone. It’s not fair.” She threw back her head, and her scream echoed among the trees. “It’s not fair!”
Neither Adam nor I answered. Adam flung the remaining plank into the river, then turned away and started trudging back to the road. I climbed to my feet and followed. After a long moment, Yasmine did too.
Back at the lodge. Again.
We stumbled inside, exhausted. We’d been gone for hours, and the fire had burned out. Adam went to get it restarted without speaking. None of us had said a word since leaving the river behind. There didn’t seem much to say.
So I jumped when Yasmine asked, “What’s that?”
She pointed at the bar, where yet another newspaper clipping now sat.
“That wasn’t in here when we left,” I said. “He’s been in here while we were gone. The stalker.”
Yasmine put her hands up to her mouth. “He was watching us the whole time. He knew we didn’t get across. Knew we failed to escape. Knew Melissa…”
Adam abandoned the fire. “What if he’s still in here?”
I picked up the clipping. “I don’t think he is. He just wanted to leave this for us.”
The first and last parts of the article had been torn away. But enough remained to get the gist.
…response to the allegations X-ULT was responsible for the death, spokeswoman Melissa Clark said: “Our hearts go out to the Lamb family. But the simple truth is, Miss Lamb was a troubled young woman. A friend of hers has come forward—I believe you’ll find he’s already spoken to the police—and revealed she had a reputation as a drug-user. He personally witnessed her taking a cocktail of illegal substances on multiple occasions. Our position, which is supported by the facts, is these drugs and not X-ULT were responsible for Miss Lamb’s untimely death. Sad as it is to say, her own poor choices led to her passing. This scourge on our youth is why Agonarch, Inc. has been a strong supporter of Senator Gilcher’s tough on drugs initiatives.”
In red marker, someone had scrawled “LIES” across the text.
Then, below it: “WHO’S NEXT?”
I read the article aloud, then looked up. “Let me guess. Theodora Lamb wasn’t a drug user. You bribed this unnamed friend of hers to lie abo
ut it to undermine the case and make sure it was dropped.”
Yasmine scratched the back of her neck. “Bribe is such an ugly word. But we did make sure he got a full scholarship to the school of his choice. As a reward for having the bravery to come forward, you understand.”
“It was Melissa’s idea,” Adam said. “The press jumped all over it. As soon as word got out, the girl was on trial in the court of public opinion, instead of us.”
“It was a brilliant tactic on Melissa’s part,” Yasmine agreed. “And look at how you rewarded her.”
Adam turned away. “I’m not having this discussion with you. We need to search the lodge and make sure this psycho isn’t hiding someplace, waiting to jump out at us. Let’s go.”
While Yasmine waited in the main room to make sure the stalker didn’t slip out past us, Adam and I searched every hiding place we could think of. Including the walk-in freezer, which meant being confronted with Rick’s body. The electricity might not have been running, but it was still cold inside, and a layer of frost had formed over his open eyes. I couldn’t help but wonder how he’d feel about the turn of events. Melissa had killed him; would he see her death as justice? Or would he just say both of them died from terrible, tragic accidents in which no one was at fault, least of all their friends?
Since admitting fault wasn’t a strong point for any of them, I inclined toward the latter. Though fault and blame were two very different things. Maybe he’d blame the killer. Maybe Melissa would too.
After all, she’d had no problem blaming an innocent girl for Agonarch’s wrongdoing.
The sun was already setting on the short day when we finished. “I can’t believe we’re stuck here for another night,” I said when we rejoined Yasmine.
“That creepy fucker will be out there watching us again.” Adam extended his middle finger in the direction of the glass wall. “He’s probably there already.”