Christmas Stalking

by Margaret Daley

  “Don’t get me wrong. We had our problems, especially concerning Colt’s father, but we always managed to work them out. As long as we had each other, we felt we could deal with anything.”

  “That’s nice. No wonder you’re a romantic at heart.”

  “Me? What gave you that idea?”

  “Oh, the flowers in your house, a tradition your husband started and you continued. The way you talk about Thomas. But mostly some of the products your company sells with names like Only Her and Only Him.”

  “You aren’t a romantic?”

  “Never had time for romance in my life.”

  “Why not?”

  Ellie ended up telling a second person about her childhood. “What is it about a Winfield demanding to know stuff I’ve never shared with others?”

  “It’s our charm.” Winnie grinned, a sparkle in her eyes for the first time since they’d started on this trek hours ago. “That and we care. People sense that about us. Hard to resist.”

  “That could be it.”

  A sound behind Ellie turned her in the direction of the tunnel. Colt crawled out of the hole, his features set in grim determination.

  “Something wrong?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “The tunnel is narrower than I remember, but if I can get through, you two can. Anyone larger than me won’t, though. When I reached the other end, there is a sheer drop-off at the opening that wasn’t there before, but the hole in the cavern is only four feet deep. I’ll be able to lower myself to the floor and make my way to the entrance. It’s still partially blocked. I may have to move a few rocks, but I’ll be able to get through the hole.”

  “So bring back some skinny people to help us,” Ellie said.

  He laughed, then gathered what he was going to take with him—snowshoes, gun, tinted goggles. “I’ll keep that in mind. Stay here. It’s warmer in this cavern than the other one.”

  At the entrance to the tunnel, Ellie placed her hand on his arm.

  He turned toward her.

  “Keep safe. If an avalanche happened once, it can again.”

  His smile began as a twinkle in his eyes and spread to transform his earlier serious expression. “I like this role of knight in shining armor.”

  “Well, in that case, here’s a token of my appreciation.” She produced his scarf he’d left on the floor and put it around his neck. “It’s cold out there.”

  “It’s cold in here.”

  “True, but not as much wind.” Her gaze linked with his. “I mean it. Don’t take any unnecessary risks.”

  “Then it’s okay to take necessary risks?”

  “I’ll be praying.”

  “Me, too, Colt,” Winnie said from where she was sitting against the wall of the cave.

  Colt stepped around Ellie, made his way to his grandmother, whispered something to her then kissed her on the head.

  When he returned to Ellie, he caught her hands and brought them up between them, inching toward her until they touched. “I probably won’t be back for a while.”

  “I know.”

  He leaned down and claimed her mouth in a kiss that rocked Ellie to her core, mocking her intention of keeping herself apart from him. It was so hard when he was storming every defense she put up to keep people away.

  He pulled back, stared at her for a long moment then ducked down and disappeared into the tunnel. She watched him crawl toward the exit, his light fading. What if I never see him again? Her heart lurched at that thought.

  Lord, keep him safe. Please. You’re in control.

  * * *

  Although the temptation was great to check out the front of the cave and the cabin, Colt couldn’t. That would eat into time he didn’t have if he was going to get help back up the mountain before dark. He didn’t know how long Winnie could last in this freezing weather. She had never tolerated the cold like he and his granddad had.

  When he wiggled himself through the opening in the cave, he emerged into more falling snow, but at least it wasn’t coming down too hard. Actually the snow could work to his advantage by covering his tracks if the assailant was still alive and out there waiting.

  The scent of smoke hovered in the air. He looked in the direction of the cabin but couldn’t see any flames. A dense cloud cover hung low over the area.

  In his mind he plotted the trail he would take to the estate. Once there, he could use the phone and call for help. Then he and Doug could start up the mountain even before a rescue team could form and make it up to the cave.

  Hours later, only a short distance from the house, Colt pushed himself faster. It would be dark before he could get back up the mountain if he didn’t move more quickly. Although his legs shook with fatigue, he put one foot in front of the other, sometimes dragging himself out of a hole when he sank too far into the snow. But once he made it over the last ridge he would nearly be home. That thought urged him to pick up speed yet again.

  When he put his foot down in front of him, the snow gave away, sending him tumbling down the incline. When he rolled to the bottom, he crashed into a pine tree, knocking the breath from him. Snow crusted him from head to foot. He wiped it away from his goggles and saw two snow boots planted apart. His gaze traveled upward past two legs and a heavy coat to a face covered in a white ski mask.

  * * *

  “Do you think Colt is all right? What if the bad guy didn’t get caught in the avalanche and was waiting for him? I can’t lose my grandson.” Winnie took a sip from the bottle of water then passed it to Ellie.

  “Colt can take care of himself.” She prayed she was right.

  “I know. I shouldn’t worry. It does no good but get me upset.”

  “In a perfect world we wouldn’t worry.” Ellie worried, too. So many things could go wrong.

  “We’re safe in here while he’s—”

  A roar split the air, sending goose bumps flashing up Ellie’s body.

  Winnie’s eyes grew round and huge. “That’s—that’s a...” She gulped, the color washing from her face.

  “A bear. Nearby.”

  “In this cave!” Winnie sat up straight, the blanket falling away from her. “What’s it doing in here?”

  “It’s a cave and wintertime. Hibernating?” Ellie quickly gathered up all their belongings and stuffed them into one of the backpacks.

  “What do we do?” Winnie asked at the same time another deep growl echoed through the cave.

  “Get out of here.”

  “How? It sounds like it’s coming down the passageway we used.”

  “We’re going through the tunnel. Chances are it can’t get through there. It’s probably still fat since it’s only December.” Ellie felt for her gun at her hip. “If I have to, I will shoot it. Do you think you can crawl through the tunnel?”

  “If I have to, I will.”

  Ellie helped Winnie to her feet, then supported most of her weight as the woman hopped toward the escape route. “You go first. I’m going in backward so if the bear follows, I can take care of it. From what Colt said, there is no room to turn around. Okay?”

  Taking one of the flashlights, Winnie knelt before the entrance and began crawling forward. Ellie backed into the tunnel, pulling the backpack after her. Through the opening she glimpsed a brown bear loping into the area where they had been, sniffing the air. It released another roar, lumbered to the hole and stuck its head inside.

  * * *

  Colt started to spring up when a shovel crashed down on top of him, glancing off his head and striking his shoulder. His ears rang. The whole world spun for a few seconds. The man lifted the weapon again. Colt dropped back to the ground and rolled hard into the man. The action sent a wave of dizziness through Colt, but toppled his assailant to the snow.

  Facedown, Colt fumbled in hi
s coat pocket for his gun, fighting the whirling sensation attacking his mind. Before he could pull it out, his attacker whacked the shovel across his back. Again, pain shot through his body. Someone yelled right before blackness swallowed him up.

  * * *

  “That’s the bear!” Winnie said behind Ellie in the tunnel.

  “A big one thankfully. I don’t think it can get in here. Keep moving as fast as you can just in case.”

  Keeping her eye on the bear and her gun aimed at it, Ellie listened to Winnie’s struggles as she made her way. Ellie didn’t want to go any farther until she knew what the bear was going to do. Even if the animal tried to fit into the narrow passage, it wouldn’t be able to do much. She calmed her speeding heartbeat.

  Wiping first one sweating hand then the other against her coat, she locked gazes with the beast, giving it the most intimidating glare she could muster. “I’m not letting you pass. Don’t make me hurt you.” A fierce strength coated each word.

  The bear released another growl. Its long teeth ridiculed her statements. The animal pushed forward a few inches but didn’t go any farther because the walls sloped inward at that point. Finally it gave one last glower then backed out of the entrance into the tunnel.

  “There’s a really narrow part,” Winnie said behind her.

  When the bear disappeared from her view, Ellie scooted backward toward the other end. Sounds of the animal drifted to her, but it hadn’t returned to the tunnel. A chill pervaded the passage, especially the closer she came to the exit. The thought that it was even colder than where they had been worried Ellie. Winnie needed medical attention and warmth. Ellie couldn’t give her either.

  * * *

  “Colt.” A familiar male voice filtered into Colt’s pain-riddled mind.

  The first sensation Colt experienced besides the drumming throb against his skull was the chill penetrating through his clothing. He opened his eyes to find someone kneeling next to him. With his cheek pressed against the snow, frigid, biting, Colt fought the urge to surrender again to the darkness.

  “Colt, I was checking the grounds when I heard a noise and looked up the rise. I saw someone attacking you.”

  Relief that it was Doug pushed Colt to keep himself as alert as possible. Winnie and Ellie were depending on him. Moaning, he lifted his head and regretted it instantly. The world tilted before him. He closed his eyes, but it still swirled. He didn’t have time for this. He forced down the nausea churning his stomach and slowly he rolled to face upward. Snowflakes pelted him, but the storm had lessened. Which meant whoever attacked him could possibly find the other entrance into the cave because his footprints weren’t totally covered by the falling snow.

  “Winnie and Ellie are trapped in the cave system near the cabin, the one I told you about.” Somehow he strung together a sentence that made sense.

  Doug looked up at the mountain. “That’s the way your attacker fled.”

  Colt struggled to prop himself up on his elbows, searching for the tracks the man made. If he moved slowly, the world didn’t spin too much. “I was coming to the house to call for help. There was an avalanche and it blocked the front of the cave. I used the back way in on the other side of the mountain. It’s blocked, but I managed to remove a few rocks and wiggle out of the opening.”

  “Let’s get you to the house and call 911, then I’ll go up there.”

  “No, you go back. We’re almost into cell range. Alert the sheriff then follow my tracks. I have to go. If that man finds Winnie and Ellie, he’ll kill them. He tried to burn the cabin down.”

  “But wasn’t Mary Ann Witlock the one threatening Winnie?”

  “Maybe this guy was helping her.”

  Taking it slow, Colt tucked his legs under him then pushed himself to stand. Doug hurried to assist him. Colt’s body protested with his every move, but he managed to remain upright. Then he put one foot in front of the other and started up the mountain, following his assailant’s tracks.

  He glanced back at Doug and the man was almost to the fence line at the estate. Help wouldn’t be too far behind, but Colt had to quicken his pace if he was going to stop the attacker from harming Winnie and Ellie.

  I need Your help, Lord. I can’t do this without You. Anything is possible with You.

  * * *

  While Winnie stayed on the ledge at the tunnel, Ellie lowered herself over the cave shelf, clinging to a protruding rock. When her feet touched the floor, she let go of the stone, then positioned herself near the wall.

  “Okay, Winnie. I’m going to guide you down and hold you so you don’t put any weight on your bad foot.”

  “I still hear the bear. Do you think it can get through that tunnel?”

  “No. It’s angry we got away. Come on. We’ll find a place to settle down and wait for Colt where we can also keep an eye on the tunnel.”

  After Winnie made it to the floor of the cavern, Ellie swung her light around to find the best place to wait. Puddles of icy water littered the area. Wind blew through the opening.

  “The good news is that the water isn’t totally frozen so the temperature isn’t much below freezing.”

  Winnie snorted. “Tell that to my body.”

  Ellie pointed to a place a few feet away. “It’s dry there and it looks like it’ll shelter us from the wind. And I can see the tunnel.”

  Shielded from the wind slipping through the opening, Ellie cocooned Winnie in as much warmth as possible. She even used the backpack for her to sit on. “There. Now it’s just a matter of a couple of hours. Everything will be over.”

  “No, it won’t. We don’t know who is after me. Who might have worked with Mary Ann?”

  “I know we looked into her background and no one stood out. She didn’t have a boyfriend, and the couple of members of her family who worked for Glamour Sensations didn’t have much to do with her.”

  “One of the reasons I didn’t pick her to be the spokesperson for Endless Youth was the way she always came across as though she were ten or fifteen years older than she was. An old soul but not in a good way. Weary. Unhappy. That wasn’t the image I wanted to project for this line. Christy is the opposite of that. Young at heart although she is thirty-two. I didn’t want a woman who was too young, but I wanted one who had an exuberance in spirit about her. I was so happy when Christy started dating Peter. She’d been engaged once before, and he was killed in a motorcycle accident.” Winnie hugged her arms against her chest.

  Ellie needed to keep her talking about anything but the situation they were in. “I understand that Christy became engaged to Peter right after you chose her as the spokesperson. Will that interfere in your advertising plans for the product?”

  “No, Peter assured me he would do whatever Christy needed. He’s been a great support for her. I was surprised at how fast he moved. They’d only been dating a couple of months. I think secretly—although he would never admit it—that he was afraid once the world saw her another man would snatch her right up. Men and claiming their territory.” Winnie chuckled. “But I can’t complain. Thomas was just like Peter. We only dated a few months, too. Of course, we worked together for a while before that.”

  “They know a good woman when they see her,” Ellie said over the howl of the wind, its force increasing through the cave.

  “Yes, and I’m hoping my grandson follows in his granddad’s footsteps.”

  Even in the shadows created by the dim light, Ellie could see Winnie’s gleaming eyes. “I have a very persuasive boss who has tried her best to fix me up with a couple of men she knows in Dallas. So far I’ve not succumbed to her tactics.”

  “Colt needs someone like you.”

  “I refuse to say anything to that. I’m sure there is a better subject than my love life.”

  Winnie’s forehead crinkled. “You know, I’ve been thinking. Not
many people knew we were coming up here. We really didn’t make the final decision until we talked with the sheriff yesterday. Remember?”

  “Yes. We were having a late breakfast. But only Linda was in the room besides the sheriff and us.”

  Winnie gasped. “It couldn’t be Linda, Doug or the sheriff.”

  A sound above Winnie drew Ellie’s gaze. On top of the ledge stood a man dressed in white wearing a white ski mask with a gun aimed at Winnie.

  TWELVE

  “Who are you?” Ellie asked the man on the ledge.

  He cackled. “I’m not telling you. You two can die wondering who I am, especially after all the trouble you’ve put me through today.”

  “Why me?” Winnie lifted her face toward her assailant. “What have I done to you?”

  “You continually have ruined my life,” he said in a voice roughened as if he disguised it.

  “I couldn’t have. I haven’t done that to anyone. I would know about it.”

  “Well, obviously you don’t,” the man shouted, his gun wavering as anger poured off him.

  Ellie glanced at her gun lying on the ground next to her. She gauged her chances of grabbing it and getting a shot off before he did.

  “Don’t think about it. I’d have Winnie dead before you could aim the gun.”

  The voice, although muffled by the ski mask some, sounded familiar to Ellie. She’d heard him before—

  recently. Could it be Doug? The sheriff?

  “Why me?” Winnie asked the gunman. “Don’t you want me to know why you’re killing me? What satisfaction can you have in that if I don’t know why, especially if I wronged you as you say?” A mocking tone inched into Winnie’s voice.

  Ellie needed to keep the man talking. “As far as we know you’re a maniac who belongs in a mental—”

  His harsh laugh cut off the rest of her sentence. “Colt isn’t coming to your rescue. I left him for dead and followed his trail to you two. How accommodating he was to show me where you all were.”