by Sharon Dunn
She’d never spent this much time with another person. Other than her little brother when he was alive. Pain shot through her as though a sword had been driven through her chest. So much had been ripped from her life. She knew that there was a part of her that just didn’t dare open her heart again to ever caring about another person.
She liked being with Jude. He was funny and easy to be with. But theirs was a temporary and fragile arrangement. All she needed was God, her job and her beat-up truck.
She thanked God for the brief reprieve she’d gotten from his company.
She read for a while, threw another log on the fire and then dozed herself. Her nap was interrupted by Ray towering over her.
“Put your snow gear on if you like. People are starting to dig out and emerge. Most people are congregating over at the school on the other side of town, up a few blocks. They have a generator and food. Any announcement that town folk need to hear will be made there.”
Jude had stirred awake, as well. It took them only minutes to race upstairs and get into their boots and coats. They both emerged from their rooms laughing.
“I didn’t realize how bad my cabin fever was until now,” he said.
Lacey and Jude bounded down the stairs and out into the open. Her elation changed to fear. The tall thin man was out here somewhere.
The snow had drifted in front of some of the doors of the shops and in the street, as well. Some snow still twirled out of the overcast sky. But she could see structures and people.
He tugged on her coat. “I have no idea where the school is. First let’s take a look around and see if we can spot the man you saw at the hotel. If that other guy did come down off the mountain, I doubt he’d be out in the open, but he’s my lead for finding Maria. I have to search for him and his car.”
Lacey tensed as a wave of fear rolled over her. “I didn’t get a good look at the tall thin man.”
“I’ll stay with you, promise.” He squeezed her arm just above the elbow and then winked at her, which made her smile. “I have to do my job even with this storm.”
It looked like she and Jude were going to continue to be together for safety if nothing else.
In her brief survey of the town as she’d driven toward the hotel when she’d first arrived, she didn’t remember seeing any buildings that looked like a school. She tilted her head toward the sky and let the flakes melt on her cheeks.
“Ray said the school is not on Main Street. I’m sure we can ask someone to get more specific directions if we can’t find it, but let’s have a look around.”
“Just describe the man you saw and say you’re looking for him. No one needs to know about Maria,” Jude said.
He stopped to ask several people who were outside their homes clearing away snow if they had seen the car or the man from the mountain. He offered a description. None of them had.
Lacey stared down the street. “What if we split up. I can go this way up the street.”
“Okay, but stay on this street so you’re in my sight,” Jude said.
Lacey worked her way up the street knocking on several doors. One was occupied by an old woman and another by a woman with kids hanging on her skirt. None of them had seen the man she described or the car. When she peered around the side of the houses she didn’t see a car that resembled the one that had run Jude off the road. The Davenport was the only hotel in town. If the man was in town, he must be hiding out in a house or maybe there was an abandoned building somewhere.
She walked past an empty lot where a house may have been at one time. When she glanced up the sidewalk, Jude was knocking on another door. The final house she came to was a weathered-looking blue Victorian. She ran up the creaking steps and knocked, waited and knocked again. She stepped down the stairs and peered into the big front windows. It didn’t look like anyone was home. Movement on the upper floor window caught her attention. A man with jet-black hair and a beefy build stared down at her. He locked her in his gaze and then slipped back into the shadows.
Her skin tingled. Why hadn’t he answered the door?
Jude was coming up the walk toward her. She ran to meet him, brushing off the rudeness of the man at the upper window. Some people were just antisocial. She met Jude in the middle of the block.
“There’s some more houses over there we can check out,” Jude said, pointing at a group of houses that lay just beyond an open field.
She followed him with a backward glance toward the blue Victorian house. They wandered toward a side street and then into an open field that was probably for baseball or soccer. The field was set apart from the rest of the town, but there were houses on the other side of it some distance away.
All around them she could hear the sounds of the town coming to life. She heard children laughing in the distance and snowmobiles motoring around.
They were midway across the wide field when the sound of a snowmobile caught her attention. She looked up to see a snowmobile headed straight toward them.
* * *
It took a second for it to register in Jude’s brain that the driver of the snowmobile intended to plow them down. He grabbed Lacey and pushed her toward a snowdrift, landing beside her as the vehicle whizzed past them. The driver had on a helmet with a dark visor.
Heart racing, he pulled Lacey to her feet.
Again, the roar of an engine surrounded them. The driver had turned around and was making a second pass at them, barreling toward them at a high rate of speed. Both of them crawled over the drift and ran toward a grove of trees.
The clang and rumble of the snowmobile engine engulfed them as they sprinted toward the safety of the trees. The grove wasn’t that big, maybe fifty feet across. The snowmobiler circled around it as though taunting them that they could not escape.
Out of breath, Lacey touched her gloved hand to her chest. “What in the world?”
He gathered her into his arms and held her close. Partly to quell her fear but also because having her close made him feel less afraid.
The snowmobile did another circle around them. The noise of the engine was menacing and oppressive.
“Either people in this town really don’t like outsiders, or someone is after us.” Her voice trembled.
He held her close even as the noise of the snowmobile echoed through the trees. The guy wasn’t just going to give up and leave.
He glanced through the bare trees at the snowmobile. “When he gets to the back side of these trees—” Jude pointed out across the field where the houses on the edge of town were visible “—I say we make a run for it.”
“I don’t know if I can.”
When he looked into her eyes, he saw the fear there, how shaken she was by all this. Jude touched her cheek with his gloved hand. “You can do this. Those houses are not that far away. I doubt he’ll come after us in broad daylight with people around.”
“It’s got to be the same guy who was at the hotel. Don’t you think?”
“Probably. Let’s just get to where it’s safe.” He watched the snowmobile circle around behind the trees. “Now, Lacey, now.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her through the trees.
Their boots pressed into the deep and drifted snow slowing them in their flight. Behind him, Jude could hear the snowmobile growing louder.
He hoped he had not made a mistake and put Lacey in even greater danger. He could see the backyards of the houses up ahead. But no people.
Gripping Lacey’s hand, he sprinted even faster. She kept pace with him. The mumbling roar of the snowmobile pressed on his ears drawing ever closer.
Then suddenly it stopped altogether.
Jude glanced over his shoulder. The snowmobiler had parked, still perched on the machine with the engine running. Then Jude drew his attention to the scene in front of him. They were still about fifty yards from the backyards of the houses. A man had come around with
a snowblower and was trying to clear a path while his children played behind him.
The snowmobiler revved his engine and was turning away, disappearing on the other side of the trees, so the guy didn’t want any witnesses.
Out of breath, Lacey and Jude slowed their pace, reaching the houses on the edge of town. The snowblower was too loud and the man too focused to get his attention. Jude and Lacey approached the three children. Two were lying in the snow making snow angels while the third caught snowflakes on her tongue.
Jude’s heart was still racing as he walked toward the girl catching snowflakes. “Did you guys see that guy on the snowmobile?”
The girl, who was maybe seven, wiped moisture off her forehead. “Yeah.”
“I don’t suppose you know who owns that snowmobile.” Jude leaned so he was closer to the girl.
The girl studied him with dark pensive eyes. “Everybody has one. They kind of all look alike.”
It had been a long shot. There was nothing distinct about the snowmobile, no paint job or custom design that would make it stand out. The driver as well had been in a brown snowsuit and black helmet.
“Can you point us toward the school?” Lacey stood beside Jude, their shoulders touching.
One of the snow-angel makers, a boy, sat up, “That’s where everyone is going. We’re headed up there as soon as Dad makes a path.” The boy pointed to the man with the snowblower.
The girl pointed up the street. “You go back to the street where the restaurant is and then turn and walk up.”
“Thanks.” Jude trudged up the sidewalk which was still filled with snow. Lacey walked beside him. “Why are we going to the school?”
“I’m thinking it would be safer with people around,” Jude said. “Maybe I can borrow a snowmobile to get out of town and search that mountain.”
“You’re probably right.” She looped her arm through his. Maybe it was just because she’d had such a fright that she wanted to be close to him. All the same, he liked that she trusted him that much.
The houses were still mostly dark. He saw only a faint light here and there in windows from a candle or lantern. An overcast sky veiled the full intensity of the sun. It felt a little like they were under a dome.
They found their way back to Main Street where there were more signs of activity, more people digging out. Still no cars moved up and down the street. Some men shoveled around where their snowmobiles were buried beneath several feet of snow. The café where they had met was dark as they walked past it.
They trudged about two blocks before what was clearly the school came into view. A front school yard filled with very dated play equipment made of metal and a brick building with another smaller stick-built house next to it. He suspected that at one time the house had been where the schoolteacher lived though it might not be used for that now.
Light glowed from every window and there was a steady stream of people coming from different parts of town headed toward the wide concrete steps.
Lacey jerked.
“Are you okay with this?”
“I’m not sure what choice we have.” She tilted her head to look into his eyes.
She looked kind of cute with the snow falling all around her, her beanie hat, red hair framing her porcelain face.
“That guy on the snowmobile, whomever he is, doesn’t want witnesses. We should be pretty safe staying here,” he reasoned. He wanted to search more, but he knew he couldn’t leave Lacey alone.
“Well, one thing is for sure. I’ll go crazy if I have to hang out in that hotel,” she said.
He laughed. Both of them could agree on that. They headed toward the steps. Jude nodded at the other people going inside. Plenty of them were tall and thin. He wondered if any of them had come after Lacey and him intent on harm less than twenty minutes ago.
Or was the culprit hiding out somewhere in some dark home, waiting for another chance to strike?
FIVE
A tension twisted through Lacey’s chest, making it hard to breathe. Yes, there was a good chance whoever had entered her hotel room and then tried to mow Jude and her down with a snowmobile was among the people going into the school. And there was a chance he was the kidnapper’s accomplice.
They stepped into a sort of lobby area where there were cubbies and places for kids to hang up their coats. There were two doors on either side of them and a wide hallway in the middle with two large doors at the end. A woman in a sweater that had light-up reindeer on it stepped toward them. Her graying blond hair was piled on her head in a series of twists and braids.
“You two look lost,” the woman said, stepping toward them. “This must be your first Lodgepole snowstorm.”
“Yes,” Jude said. “I guess we kind of stick out from everyone else.”
The woman had a warm smile. “Not to worry. Most people in the classrooms are just socializing. We have coffee and tea set up. The rest of us are in the gym trying to put some hot food together to feed everyone.”
Lacey tugged on Jude’s sleeve. “We’ll come give you a hand with the meal.” That way they could stay together. Lacey had worked in enough small towns to know that the way to win people over was to pitch in with whatever work was at hand. Plus, if Jude wanted to borrow a snowmobile, he’d have to win the trust of the townspeople first.
The woman’s face lit up. “Oh delightful. We can use all the help we can get. I’m Terri by the way,” the woman said.
“I’m Jude and this is Lacey.”
“Follow me.” Terri spoke over her shoulder as she walked down the wide hallway. “Don’t tell me you two came here on your honeymoon to cash in on the winter activities.”
“Actually, we didn’t know each other until a day ago,” Jude said.
Jude shot Lacey a look, raising his eyebrows. She shrugged. So, they had given Terri the impression that they were a couple.
Terri pushed open one of the wide doors. They stepped into what was a sort of all-purpose room for the little school. There was a gym floor marked off for half-court basketball and a stage at one end. A piano sat in a corner.
Terri pointed to a door off to the side. “The kitchen is in there. There’s plenty of chopping and mixing to do.” She looked at Jude. “And in a little bit we’ll need to set up some tables and chairs.”
They entered the kitchen where several older women and two teenagers, a boy and a girl, were at work. The boy, who was loading a dishwasher, was too chubby to have been her attacker.
“We’re here to help,” Lacey said to the elderly woman who appeared to be in charge.
The woman smiled and pointed over to where the girl was chopping vegetables. “We’re hoping to get some kind of meal for a crowd thrown together.” She eyed Jude. “You look like you would be good at cutting up chicken.”
Lacey set to work with the teenage girl chopping vegetables while Jude aided in dicing chicken. From the talk of the other women, the plan was to make some pots of chicken soup and some salads. The women were warm and welcoming. The older women had stories to tell about previous snowstorms. They asked Lacey questions about her work. Quite a switch from the earlier reception when she’d first come into town. Maybe it just took a while for people in Lodgepole to warm up to strangers. Nothing like a snowstorm to draw out the best in people.
She noticed that Jude still wasn’t volunteering much information. He must be tight-lipped with everyone.
As the ladies joked and laughed, she caught herself stealing looks at Jude who seemed to be enjoying the company, as well. He met her gaze for just a moment. Other people, strangers, had looked at them and thought they were involved. Her heart fluttered a little when he caught her in his gaze. Maybe there was an attraction there.
One of the older women tapped Jude on the shoulder. “You look big and strong. If you go down in the basement, there’s a pantry. I’m going to need one of those bags of
flour to make my biscuits. I can’t carry such a heavy thing up the stairs.”
Jude glanced in Lacey’s direction. Whatever the reasons for the attacks, these people were not dangerous. She could stay in the safety of the kitchen until Jude got back. “Sure, no problem.”
Another woman caught Jude on his way out and handed him a piece of paper. “Before you go. I wrote down some other things we’ll need from the basement.”
Jude took the note and headed out the door.
Once Jude was gone, one of the older women sidled up to Lacey and knocked her shoulder against Lacey’s. “Hubba-hubba.”
“What?”
The older woman tilted her head to where Jude had just gone. “If I was a little younger. How wonderful for you. He’s handsome and he likes to help out in the kitchen.”
Heat rose up in Lacey’s cheeks. “No, we’re not...” Oh, what was the use? These women were convinced she and Jude were together. Maybe they were seeing something she wasn’t willing to admit. She and Jude had been thrown together because they were outsiders and now she appreciated the protection he offered until they weren’t stranded in this town and they could let law enforcement know about the attacks. But Jude was just as guarded as she was. Once the roads opened up, she suspected they would part ways.
Jude returned a few minutes later with the flour and the promise that he would bring the other stuff up. He disappeared again. While the pots of soup boiled, Lacey helped chopped vegetables for a salad. At least ten minutes passed with no sign of Jude. She grew worried that something bad had happened to him.
She excused herself and searched for the door the women indicated led to the food storage area. She headed down the stairs. There were rows and rows of shelves stocked with all sorts of canned goods as well as some in plastic tubs with labels on them like flour and sugar. Another shelf had first aid kits, water and thermal blankets. The town was clearly prepared for disasters like a snowstorm.
“Jude?”
It looked like there was a hallway on the other side of the storage room.