Cold Death

by Mary Stone

  His eyes widened. “Uh, yeah! That would be awesome.”

  Ellie regarded his unbridled excitement with a stab of envy. “Georgia, huh? You must like the heat a lot more than I do.”

  “I know, I know. Everyone keeps telling me that it’s even hotter in Georgia than it is here.” He groaned before placing a hand over his heart and heaving a theatrical sigh. “But I figured since Jillian is off the market now, then there’s nothing keeping me in Charleston. It’s time to move on and mend my broken heart, sweat or no sweat.”

  Ellie laughed at the lab tech’s goofy reference to his old crush on her roommate and best friend, Jillian Reed. Carl had definitely been a little bummed when the evidence clerk had started dating Ellie’s ex-partner, Jacob Garcia, but his feelings had been more of the puppy love variety than anything serious.

  “I think your broken heart mended just fine if you’re moving to be closer to a woman. I hope you’ll like the change.”

  “Me too. Though I’ll miss everyone here, you and Jillian especially.”

  “We’ll miss you too. And speaking of missing you…any news on Katarina’s phone?”

  As the paramedics loaded her in the ambulance outside of Kingsley’s parents’ home the night he’d disappeared with Bethany, Katarina had grabbed Ellie’s shirt, demanding she recover her cell phone. She’d ditched the bugged device behind a fire hydrant a few blocks away, hoping to mask her movements.

  She’d failed on that front, but with a little luck, Carl would work his magic and persuade the tracking chip to reveal Kingsley’s location.

  The tech hunched his shoulders and twisted his lips to the side. “That phone is a giant pain in the butt. Whoever loaded that bug knew what they were doing. Tracing anything has been a real challenge.”

  When Carl heaved a loud sigh, Ellie’s hopes wilted. That didn’t sound very promising. “Were you able to get anything off it at all?”

  Carl exhaled again before straightening with a wide grin, his eyes sparkling. “I said tracing was a real challenge, not impossible. Not when you’ve got skills like I do.”

  Part of Ellie wanted to scold him for pranking her like that, but the bigger, more excited part overruled the impulse. “So, you did get something?”

  “Yup. That’s what I’m saying. I found the store where the phone was bought and activated. Don’t get too excited,” he warned when Ellie leaned her elbows on the desk, “because I called already, and they don’t have a surveillance system that works.”

  Ellie flopped back in the chair because video footage was exactly where her brain had gone. “Of course not. That would be too easy.”

  “But the cashier remembers the guy who bought the phone, says he paid in cash.”

  Ellie sat back up. Not the best news, but better than nothing. “Thanks for checking on that. I’ll send a sketch artist over to see if we can’t get a decent image. Anything else?”

  “I managed to track a few IP addresses too.”

  Ellie frowned. “A few IP addresses? How many?”

  “The number doesn’t matter. Our guy is tricky. All the messages on Katarina’s phone came from different addresses, so either he was hopping from one signal to the next, or more likely, running his internet through a randomizing proxy server.” Carl spun his chair back and forth. “I’m still in the process of backtracing, but I should be able to get that information for you soon.”

  So, not a complete bust after all. “That’s great news, Carl. You’re the best.”

  “I know.” Carl rubbed his knuckles on his shirt and grinned.

  Ellie snorted. “So modest too. I’ll be sure to add that to the letter of recommendation.” She wagged a finger at him as she rose. “Which I’ll gladly hand over to you the second you finish the backtrace and report to me with your findings.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know.”

  He pretended to grumble, and after winking at him over her shoulder, Ellie headed out of the lab and wandered into the hall.

  Lost in her own thoughts, Ellie didn’t notice Chief Johnson until he called her name. “Good morning, Detective Kline. Mind if I take up a moment of your time?”

  Ellie halted in the middle of the corridor. “Okay.” Not like she could say no when he towered over her with that expectant gleam in his dark eyes. Sure, Marcus Johnson seemed to have a soft spot for her, ever since the day he’d struck her with his police car when she was fifteen and fleeing from Kingsley’s clutches in the middle of the street, but he was still the chief of police. Ellie would remain eternally grateful that he’d found her, but she suspected the by-the-book, no-nonsense officer with a heart of gold had never fully let go of his guilt for almost running her over.

  “This way.” Chief Johnson waved his hand in a hurry-up gesture, so she fell into step beside him as he led them to his office. Her boss, Detective Harold Fortis, was already seated in one of the chairs facing the chief’s massive desk.

  “Go ahead, take a seat.”

  Ellie did as the chief asked, settling into the empty chair next to Fortis. The chief’s chair groaned when he sat his muscular body down, and the wheels squeaked as he scooted in. Despite the trademark bright smile that gleamed white in his dark-skinned face, Ellie remained stiff as she glanced between her boss and the chief, wary of whatever topic might require a private meeting.

  Chief Johnson steepled his long, lean fingers together on the desk. “We’re still waiting on your report on Valerie Price. I hope you’d tell us if there were any problems?”

  The gentleness in his deep voice made swallowing a challenge. “I’m almost finished.”

  Not a total lie, but not the full truth either. As much as Ellie hated to fib, there was no way she could face these two men and tell them how every time she went to type, she wanted to weep.

  “Take all the time you need.” Fortis turned in his chair to face her more fully, nodding somberly. “After everything you’ve been through, you deserve a damned medal.”

  Ellie blinked. That was…definitely not the reaction she’d been expecting. Especially from Harold Fortis. She turned to her boss, noting a few more gray hairs mixed into his brown curls than last time. “Thank you. I’ll admit, the past few days have been rough, but it’s part of the job.”

  “Constantly getting dragged into cases involving your own kidnapper isn’t in any part of the handbook that I’ve read.” Chief Johnson braced his palms on the desk. “Fortis is right. You deserve a medal, along with some time off to enjoy it.”

  In her lap, Ellie’s hands balled into fists. Was that what this was all about? The two of them had teamed up on her? Conspired in some misguided attempt to convince her to agree to a vacation?

  She chose her next words carefully. “I’d love to take some time off here soon, but it’d be a waste of vacation days if I took them before Kingsley is behind bars. There’s no way I’d be able to relax, not until we catch him.”

  Ellie pretended not to see the look her boss and the chief exchanged. Chief Johnson sighed, his chair creaking as he leaned back and folded his hands behind his head.

  “Detective Kline, I know it probably seems that way right now because of everything you’ve been through these past few months. Partly because your adrenaline kicks into overdrive when you’re stressed, so you end up walking around amped up all the time, even when you’re about to collapse on your feet. You won’t do anyone any good if you end up sick or on psych leave for chronic sleep deprivation.”

  If the criminal in question were anyone but Kingsley, Chief Johnson’s lowered brows and stern countenance might have cowed her into submission. But Kingsley was the person behind all of Ellie’s stress, so she squared her shoulders instead. “For my sake, I hope we find that monster soon, because impending breakdown or not, I won’t stop until he can’t hurt anyone ever again.”

  Chief Johnson rubbed the crease between his eyes and groaned. “Fortis, can you talk some sense into her?”

  Ellie fought the indignant burn beneath her ribs and shifted to face h
er boss, preparing to tell him not to waste his breath.

  “I’m sorry, Chief, but I’m going to have to side with Kline on this one.”

  “I don’t…” Ellie stopped when Fortis’s statement registered, sitting there like a fool with her mouth dangling open for the second time since she’d entered the office. Either the sleep deprivation had already kicked in and triggered auditory hallucinations, or her boss had just backed her up. At the moment, she was leaning toward hallucinations. That seemed the likelier of the two scenarios. “I’m sorry, can you please repeat that?”

  “Sheesh, no need to sound so surprised,” Fortis grumbled before shrugging his beefy shoulders. “I might not have started out as your number one fan—”

  “Or even my five hundredth fan.”

  Fortis ignored Ellie’s muttered interjection while Chief Johnson stifled a suspicious-sounding cough. “—but despite that rocky start, you’ve turned out to be the best cop in this department. When you don’t allow that reckless streak of yours to screw things up, that is.”

  Her boss glared at Ellie when he tacked on that last bit, stealing a little of the wind from her sails. Not enough to keep her chest from puffing up, though. Fortis didn’t believe in coddling his detectives or handing out idle praise. A compliment from him was more valuable than ten from someone else. “Thank you, sir.”

  Fortis stared her down for a long, hard second before jerking his head in a curt nod. When he spoke next, his voice was gruffer than usual. “Don’t make me regret this.”

  “I won’t.”

  He met her bright smile with a scowl before grunting and focusing on the chief. “As much as it pains me to say this…if anyone’s gonna bring Kingsley in, it’s her.”

  Chief Johnson studied them both with his head cocked to one side like they were part of a particularly fascinating display at the zoo. “Okay, I guess that’s settled then. Detective Kline can continue working for now.” He tapped a finger to his chin, and his lips began to twitch. “Although, if she’s as good as you say she is, Detective Fortis, then maybe she should throw her hat in for your job soon.”

  Oh boy, he’s done it now. Ellie cringed while she waited for her boss to respond to Chief Johnson’s jab.

  To her relief, Fortis just laughed. “Hey, that works for me. Kline can have my job all wrapped up in a big, shiny bow…right after you hand me yours.”

  4

  “Mama, help me! Please, Mama! Please!”

  Katarina Volkov raced through the empty hallways, turning down corridor after corridor as she chased her daughter’s high-pitched screams. “Bethany! Where are you, baby?”

  Heart pounding, she threw open the first door, only to find an empty room. No furniture, nothing on the white walls. The wooden floors were bare too…and dark.

  “Mama, help!”

  Katarina raced to the next room, but Bethany wasn’t there, either. Somewhere in the distance, a discordant rumble kicked off. The noise grew louder and louder with every footstep as she sprinted down the hall, each one intensifying an impending sense of doom. Katarina felt like a thousand scorpions were crawling across her skin with their tiny feet, curling their stingers in anticipation of a strike.

  “Harmony? Bethany?” At the very end of the hall, the last door waited, glowing a bright, pristine white. Her baby was in there. She had to be. The rumble grew in volume, shaking the walls, the floor beneath her feet. Wordless, but somehow, Katarina understood anyway.

  Hurry, or you’ll be too late.

  Frantic, Katarina sprinted toward the room. When she was only steps away, she spotted the blood. A rivulet of red snaked down the white wood like a river.

  The rumble turned into a primal drumbeat. Too late.

  Too. Late.

  No. No! “Hang on, baby! I’m almost there!”

  Katarina gasped as she pushed through those final steps and shoved the door open, her hands coming away wet with blood.

  Inside, the ceiling disappeared. The walls weren’t wooden. Instead, they were created from cages stacked upon cages, reaching up to the clouds from every side. In each cramped metal cell, faces plastered themselves against the bars.

  “Mama, help me!”

  “Please, Mommy, save me!”

  “Don’t let him take me, Mama!”

  Katarina staggered back. So many children pleading with her to save them. But where was her own child? “Bethany?”

  She ran toward the closest row of cages, searching each face for her daughter. Before her eyes, the images contorted.

  “Save me.” It was the woman known as Val. The same woman Kingsley had killed the night he’d escaped with Bethany.

  “Save me.” Katarina jumped back just in time to avoid Clayne’s outstretched fingers grabbing for her through the bars. His eyes begged for mercy while his throat bled from the fatal wound she’d inflicted.

  “Save me, save me, save me…”

  Everywhere she turned were faces from her past. Her first kill. The adoptive parents Kingsley had murdered before taking her in. That man she’d killed in the hotel room with Eden. That long-haul trucker, Lucky, she’d sold at auction.

  She clapped her hands over her ears. Not now. She couldn’t do this now. “Bethany? Bethany!”

  A mocking laugh from behind sent chills racing across her skin. Katarina whirled, and her heart froze in her chest.

  Bethany was tied to a chair. Quiet and pale, with gaping, bloody holes where her eyes had once been.

  Almost worse, though, was her outfit. Her sweet baby was dressed the same way as Valerie had been before she died. Pink ruffled underwear, a pink cropped t-shirt, and little white socks.

  “Oh, god.” Katarina tried to reach her, but her feet stuck to the floor. She opened her mouth to scream for help, but the cry locked in her chest.

  The little girl’s sightless eyes turned toward her. “You lied. You promised you’d keep me safe, but you’re too late.”

  As her daughter spoke, blood began spurting from her neck, from the same spot where Katarina had stabbed Clayne. Faster and faster, while Katarina screamed and screamed…

  A hand closed around her shoulder. Katarina’s eyes jerked open, her gaze landing on the man’s face that hovered a few inches from hers.

  With one foot still trapped in the nightmare, Katarina noted the familiar hairline and suspicious build. That was the trigger her instinct needed to kick in.

  “You,” she breathed…one second before she lashed out and punched him in the throat.

  While the doctor gasped for air and stumbled back, Katarina ripped off the sheets and bounded to her feet. “Where is she? What’d you do with my daughter?”

  A sharp pain pinched and tugged the skin beneath her collarbone, and with a snarl, Katarina yanked on the rubber tube connected to her chest until the entire thing ripped free, spraying blood across the room.

  The stranger in the white coat was still struggling to breathe when Katarina grabbed his collar and shoved him, hard enough that his spine slammed against the wall. A rolling desk careened away and crashed into the bed. She shoved her forearm across his throat, just beneath his Adam’s apple, and the wheezing rattling from his lips filled her with savage satisfaction.

  “Tell me where Bethany is, or I’ll kill you right now.”

  Her gaze pinballed around the room, landing on a counter bearing a yellow plastic bin and a white towel. Next to them was a small pair of scissors. She released the pressure on his neck just long enough to lunge for the makeshift weapon. The next moment, he was pinned to the wall again.

  Katarina’s blood raced through her veins while visions of Bethany with her throat ripped and her eyes torn out flooded her. A strange buzzing filled her ears, banishing the weird beeps and voices and humming machines, infusing her with the calm she needed to force Kingsley to tell her the truth.

  “Where. Is. My. Daughter?” She shoved the sharp tip of the scissors against his carotid, scraping the edge across his flesh with enough pressure to cause blood to well
up along the scratch.

  Through her red haze, she felt a firm tug on her shoulder. The pressure sent pain shooting through her chest. Surprised, she glanced down to find a red spot growing on the front of her blue shirt.

  She frowned. Not a blue shirt. A hospital gown.

  The pressure yanked on her shoulder again, and Katarina whirled and lashed out her hand, catching the wide-eyed woman in the upper arm. “Where’s Bethany?”

  More people flooded into the space around them, wearing scrubs and white coats.

  Katarina’s gaze bounced from face to face, but none of them was her daughter. “Where is she? Where?”

  She punched and kicked with her bare feet, but there were too many of them. A big brute wrapped his arms around her from behind, trapping hers by her sides. “Calm down, you’re going to be okay.”

  Katarina screamed and threw back her head, feeling the crunch when her skull connected with his nose. The second his grip loosened, she ducked down and wiggled free, her eyes locked on the doorway. That way. She had to escape this place and find Bethany.

  Before it was too late.

  Even though the pain in her chest spiraled and her gown stuck to her skin from all the blood, Katarina lowered her head and attempted to plow her way through. She made it a few steps before more hands grabbed hold, then made it one more before she felt a sharp pinch in her arm.

  “I got her. She’ll calm down in a few seconds.”

  Another hand reached across her face, so Katarina lunged and sank her teeth into the exposed skin.

  “Jesus Christ!”

  The person jumped away, leaving a narrow path to the hallway clear. On bare feet, Katarina darted for the opening, but her limbs grew more sluggish with every step. It was like someone had drained her blood and replaced it with cement.

  The glaring white floors ahead began to spin and grow fuzzy. She stumbled, righted herself, and staggered another step toward freedom. “What did you do…where’s…Beth…”