Heart of Ice

by Parrish, P. J.

  She pulled in a breath. “I was at home in Bloomfield Hills,” she said. “I was planning on coming up here to Mackinac Island to meet Cooper. We were going to run away to Canada.”

  “Why had you decided to run away?”

  “Cooper was going to be drafted. We thought it was our only way to be together. We were going to stay with a friend of his, Fred Grasso.”

  “How did you plan to get up here?” Rafsky asked.

  “I was going to take the bus,” Julie said. “But when I told Rhonda what Cooper and I were going to do, she offered to come down and get me.”

  “Rhonda who?” Rafsky asked.

  Julie looked at Rafsky, confused. Of course they knew who Rhonda was, but they needed Julie’s statement to be complete, with nothing that could later be interpreted as being suggested by the police.

  “Please answer the question, Miss Chapman,” Rafsky said.

  “Rhonda Grasso,” Julie said. “I met her that last summer and we became friends. Cooper didn’t want anyone to know we were going to Canada, especially his father, but I was so excited I called Rhonda.”

  “So she drove down to Bloomfield Hills and brought you back up here?”

  Julie nodded. “She was going to just drop me off at the ferry, but at the last minute she decided to come with me to the island. She told me it was too dangerous for me to be alone at the lodge.”

  Louis was thinking about what Edna Coffee had told them, that the girl she saw with the stuffed monkey wasn’t with a man. They hadn’t thought to ask her about two girls traveling together.

  “You were going to Canada,” Rafsky said. “Why didn’t you just cross the bridge to St. Ignace and go from there?”

  “That was what Cooper wanted me to do,” Julie said. “But I told him I needed to go to the island first.”

  “Why?”

  Julie drew a deep breath that flushed her cheeks. “I had been stealing money from my father’s wallet and hiding it at the lodge,” she said. “I knew Cooper didn’t have much money, and I wanted to surprise him with it.”

  “How much had you taken?”

  “About a thousand dollars,” Julie said.

  Louis had been standing near the door and came forward. “You stole a thousand dollars in one summer?”

  Julie looked up at him. “I had been stealing on and off since I was about twelve. I guess I always thought about running away. But after I met Cooper I started taking more because I think I knew in my heart we would need it someday.”

  “What happened after you got to the island?” Rafsky asked.

  “The ticket lady at the ferry told us there was a snowstorm coming. Rhonda said I shouldn’t stay at the lodge alone and offered to come with me,” Julie said. “I was worried Cooper would be upset that I brought someone, but I thought he’d be okay if it was Rhonda. She had been helping us exchange letters.”

  “Cooper was supposed to meet you at the lodge?”

  “Yes. Rhonda and I got to the lodge about two. Cooper was supposed to get there by three. When he didn’t come, I didn’t get too worried because in winter the ferry is often delayed.”

  “What did you do while you waited?”

  “By four it was really cold and getting dark because of the storm. We only had one flashlight, so Rhonda and I huddled in one of the front rooms and just talked.”

  “What did you talk about?”

  Julie looked down at her hands clasped in her lap.

  “Miss Chapman, please.”

  “We talked about our parents, school, and horoscopes. Rhonda told me I probably had a lot of trines in my chart because my life was so charmed.”

  She paused.

  “She asked me a lot of questions, about going to a private school, about living in Bloomfield Hills. She really liked my Kingswood ring, so I let her try it on. She said she’d be rich one day, too, designing her own jewelry in San Francisco.”

  When Julie paused again, Louis thought he saw a flicker of impatience in Rafsky’s eyes and hoped he didn’t start pushing her as he had Dancer and Cooper. He glanced at the coffeepot, then back to Julie.

  “Would you like a cup of coffee, Miss Chapman?” Louis asked.

  “No, thank you.”

  “Then let’s go on,” Louis said. “You’re doing fine.”

  Julie wet her lips and nodded. “I knew Rhonda had a brother in Canada, and I asked her what it was like up there, what it would be like for Cooper and me. Rhonda got quiet and she changed the subject. She started asking me what my surprise for Cooper was. I didn’t want to tell her because I was afraid to trust her. But Cooper said he had known her for a long time and she was a good friend to us.”

  “So you told her about the money?” Rafsky asked.

  Julie nodded. “She said she wanted to see it. So I decided to go get it from my hiding place.”

  “Where was that?” Rafsky asked.

  “In the kitchen,” Julie said, “behind a loose stone in the fireplace. It was dark, so I asked Rhonda to come with me to hold the flashlight.”

  Julie shook her head slowly. “I trusted her,” she whispered.

  “What happened?” Louis pressed.

  “I showed her the money. She told me she had never seen a thousand dollars before and she asked if she could hold it. I let her. Then she shined the flashlight right in my face and I knew something was wrong. I couldn’t see her but I could feel something change.”

  Julie pulled in a deep shuddering breath.

  “I couldn’t see her but I could hear her, and I could hear her voice change. She said . . . she said, ‘You know Cooper doesn’t love you.’ She said, ‘You’re just his little West Bluff whore. He brags to all his friends about screwing you.’ ”

  She was gulping for air, her body bending with each inhalation.

  “Miss Chapman, take a breath,” Louis said gently.

  She didn’t seem to hear him. “She said that Cooper really loved her, that they had loved each other for a long time and that she could prove it. She said she was pregnant with Cooper’s baby and that they were going to run away to Canada.”

  Her eyes came up to Louis.

  “Then she told me I needed to disappear,” she said.

  Tears fell slowly down her face.

  Louis looked around for a Kleenex but saw only a roll of paper towels. He ripped off two and held them out to her, but she didn’t take them.

  “What happened next?” Rafsky said.

  Julie was just sitting motionless.

  “Miss Chapman,” Rafsky said. “What happened next?”

  Her eyes swung to Rafsky. “She picked up the stone from the fireplace and came at me,” she said. “She hit me on the shoulder but I got away. It was so dark, but I saw a door. I pushed through it and suddenly I was falling down some steps. I hit my head and thought I was going to black out.”

  When Julie didn’t go on, Louis prompted, “Could you tell where you were?”

  “Not at first,” Julie said. “It was completely dark. But then I saw a light. It was coming toward me, and I knew it was the flashlight and that Rhonda was coming down the stairs. I knew then I was in a basement. I crawled away and hid under the steps.”

  Her face had gone ashen, her eyes dark.

  “I could hear her boots on the stairs, and I could see the light’s beam. Then I saw her legs through the steps.”

  She held her hands out. “I grabbed her and pulled hard. She fell and the light . . .”

  Louis put a hand on Julie’s shoulder to calm her, but she didn’t seem to feel it.

  “. . . the flashlight. She dropped the flashlight, and it was laying there on the floor. I tried to get up the steps, but she grabbed me and pulled me back down. She was strong and she was on top of me, hitting me, choking me. I couldn’t see her, I couldn’t see anything. But I felt something. My hand touched something hard, and I knew it was the stone from the fireplace. I grabbed it and I . . . God, oh God.”

  She covered her face with her hands, sobbing. Lo
uis looked up at Rafsky. He was sitting ramrod straight in his chair, the pen poised above the pad.

  Louis touched Julie’s shoulder and held the paper towels under her bowed head. She took them, pressing them to her face. She took two deep breaths and looked up. Her face was streaked with mascara.

  “Suddenly she was gone,” she said. “I gulped for air and couldn’t see anything for a few seconds. I was afraid she would come back after me, so I got on my hands and knees and tried to crawl away.”

  Julie shut her eyes. “I saw the light first, from the flashlight on the floor. Then I saw her. She was lying over by the boiler. She wasn’t moving.”

  “Did you go to her?” Louis asked.

  Julie shook her head slowly.

  “What did you do?”

  “I went back upstairs to wait for Cooper.” She opened her eyes. “But he never came.”

  “How long did you wait?” Louis asked.

  “All night,” she whispered.

  The tape clicked off. Rafsky opened the recorder, turned over the tape, and hit the RECORD button.

  “Rhonda was right,” Julie said.

  “About what?” Louis asked.

  “Cooper. She was right. He didn’t love me.”

  Louis glanced at Rafsky, who gave him a subtle shake of the head.

  “What did you do in the morning?” Louis asked.

  She had drifted away and it took her a moment to come back to him.

  “I knew I couldn’t go home,” she said. “I had killed someone, and all I could think about was what Rhonda had said.”

  “What was that?” Rafsky asked when she didn’t go on.

  “That I needed to disappear.”

  Her eyes had gone blank.

  “But to do that, you couldn’t just leave Rhonda in the basement as she was,” Rafsky said.

  She looked at him.

  “You need to tell us what you did, Miss Chapman.”

  When she reached up to push her hair back her hand was shaking. “I remembered my father talking about this man who had killed some students in Ann Arbor. He was worried about me going to school there. I had this idea that I could make it look like someone like him had killed her. So I took her clothes and the stone from the fireplace.”

  “But you left your school ring,” Rafsky said.

  “I didn’t mean to,” Julie said. “I had forgotten I gave it to Rhonda to wear.”

  “What did you do after you left the lodge?” Rafsky asked.

  “I threw the stone out in the weeds outside. I got Rhonda’s clothes and her purse and I took the ferry back to Mackinaw City. I got in Rhonda’s car and drove away. I drove for two straight days.”

  “Why did you go to California?”

  “Rhonda had told me about a friend she had there named Dirk. He worked in the free clinic in Haight-Ashbury. He took me in and helped me get a fake ID.”

  She let out a long tired breath. “It was easy to disappear in those days.”

  Rafsky sat back in his chair and glanced up at Louis. Louis knew it was a signal. Julie Chapman had told them what they needed to know. Now they could tell her what she needed to know.

  Louis looked at her. She had wrapped her arms around herself, and her head was bowed. Her hair had come loose from its ponytail and hid her face. She was rocking slightly.

  “Miss Chapman,” Louis said.

  Nothing.

  “Julie.”

  She looked up at him, her eyes wet and expectant.

  “Rhonda Grasso was pregnant, but Cooper wasn’t the father,” Louis said. “Your brother, Ross, was.”

  Her face lost all its color, and she tipped forward as if her bones had dissolved.

  “There’s something else you need to know,” Louis said. “Cooper was coming to the island to meet you. He fell through the ice bridge and nearly drowned. He spent a week in the hospital.”

  Julie crumbled to the side and let out a cry. Louis started to reach for her, but Rafsky was there first, on one knee to catch her as she collapsed into his arms. She buried her face in his shoulder, clutching him.

  44

  Louis heard a faint rapping sound. It was coming from the front of the house, someone at the door. He looked back at Rafsky. He still had his arm around Julie, but she had stopped crying.

  He left the kitchen and went to the foyer. When he opened the door he was surprised to see Maisey—and coming up the steps behind her was Flowers.

  Maisey’s eyes went beyond Louis, and she tried to push by him. “Is she here?” she asked.

  Louis took her by the shoulders, holding her back. “Maisey, wait. You can’t go in.”

  “Where is she?” Maisey demanded.

  “I can’t let—”

  Maisey’s eyes dipped to the two suitcases, and she saw the sock monkey. She picked it up, her eyes welling.

  “I made this for her. Please let me by,” she said. “I have to see her.”

  Louis let her go, and she ran toward the kitchen. He turned back to Flowers. He was staring hard at Louis, his mouth pulled in a thin line.

  “Why didn’t you tell me about this?” he asked.

  “Chief—”

  “You knew Julie Chapman was alive, and I had to hear it from the housekeeper? If I hadn’t seen her leaving the coffee shop and offered to drive her back here I might never have found out.”

  Damn it. Maisey had told him. It wasn’t her fault; she assumed that because he was the chief he had to have known.

  “Look, Chief, Rafsky and I didn’t even—”

  “Rafsky’s here?” Flowers shoved past him, heading for the kitchen. Louis followed.

  Julie and Maisey were in a tight embrace, crying. Rafsky was standing near the stove, watching them, and looked up at Flowers as he came into the kitchen, Louis a step behind.

  Flowers stopped abruptly. He stared at the two women for a moment before his eyes went to Rafsky.

  “Chief, please,” Louis said quietly. “Don’t do this now.”

  Flowers was rooted to the spot. Rafsky put a hand on Maisey’s shoulder as he stepped around them and came toward the door.

  “You son of a bitch,” Flowers said.

  Rafsky positioned himself between Flowers and the women. “Let’s take this somewhere else,” he said.

  Flowers spun and headed back to the foyer. Rafsky let out a sigh as he and Louis followed. Flowers was standing, arms crossed, in front of the door.

  “What the hell is going on?” he demanded.

  “How much did Maisey tell you?” Louis asked.

  “Just that Julie was alive and you were talking to her at the cottage.” His eyes shot back to Rafsky. “I want to know what the fuck is going on. I want to know everything!”

  Rafsky blew out a breath. “The bones in the lodge belong to Rhonda Grasso. Julie killed her.”

  “What?”

  “We couldn’t bring you in on this because—”

  “How did you find her? How did—”

  Rafsky held up a hand. “Let me explain.”

  Flowers listened, arms still folded over his chest, as Rafsky laid everything out. When Rafsky was finished, Flowers shook his head.

  “Who made the decision to cut me out?” he asked.

  “I did,” Rafsky said.

  Flowers looked to Louis. “And you agreed?”

  “Things were moving fast,” Louis said.

  Flowers stabbed a finger at Louis’s chest. “This is my island,” he said. “This was my case.” His eyes swung to Rafsky. “Right from the start you didn’t think I could handle this, and when you fucked it up, all you could think about was covering your ass.”

  Rafsky was quiet.

  Flowers looked toward the kitchen, and when he spoke again his voice was lower but no less angry.

  “You people,” he said, shaking his head. “You come up here and take over everything. You make your messes and then you leave.”

  It was the same thing Flowers had said back in Chester Grasso’s garage about Rhond
a and Julie, but now Flowers was looking at Louis and it stung.

  “Excuse me.”

  They all turned. Julie and Maisey were standing in the hallway. Julie was still wearing her raincoat and looked as if the only thing holding her up was Maisey’s arms.

  “Julie is really tired,” Maisey said, looking to Louis. “I made up a room for her. Would it be all right if I took her up so she can rest?”

  Louis nodded.

  Julie gently disentangled herself from Maisey and came to Louis.

  “No matter what happens, thank you for bringing me home,” she said.

  She picked up the small suitcase and the sock monkey and slipped her arm through Maisey’s. About halfway up the stairs, Maisey stopped and looked down.

  “Are you leaving?” she asked, looking at Louis.

  Louis glanced at Rafsky but his face was a blank.

  “I’d like to talk with you, Mr. Kincaid,” Maisey said. “Can you stay for a while?”

  When Louis nodded Maisey gave him a small smile and led Julie up the stairs.

  With a final glare at Louis, Flowers jerked open the door and went outside, jamming his hat on his head. Rafsky blew out a tired breath and headed back to the kitchen.

  Louis watched Flowers trudge down the walk and went after him.

  “Chief, wait!”

  Flowers kept going toward the SUV.

  “Jack, wait!”

  Louis caught up as Flowers got to the driver’s door and grabbed the sleeve of his parka.

  Flowers slapped Louis’s hand away. “I trusted you!” he said.

  Louis held up his hands. “I know.”

  Flowers moved away, turning in a small, tight circle, his head down.

  “I’m sorry,” Louis said.

  Flowers wouldn’t look at him. He pulled out his gloves and jerked them on. He looked up at the house. “What’s going to happen to her?”

  “I don’t know. We haven’t even told the DA yet. Right now, other than me and Rafsky, the only people who know Julie Chapman is alive are Maisey and you.”

  “You think you’re going to keep something like this quiet?”

  “We have to, at least for a while. It could still blow up on us.”

  Flowers looked at him over the hood of the SUV. “You mean it could blow up for him.”