Acts of Malice

by Perri O'shaughnessy

  So this was the mountains! She finally felt like a local. And her thoughts went back again a hundred and fifty years to the Donner Party, struggling up the Sierra in wagons amid a constant series of blizzards. What superhuman strength had brought them, mostly on foot, to seven thousand feet before giving up? How dreadful to see the summit but be stopped forever just below!

  She got behind a snowplow as it progressed slowly along Pioneer Trail, avoiding the splash of snow it spit out as it went. Soon, the Bronco led a convoy of trucks and SUVs behind the plow. She hoped the guy at the wheel of the plow could see better than she could. If it fell into the sewer pond at Cold Creek, they would all cheerfully follow.

  After another ten minutes of this, she saw the familiar turnoff for Pony Express and left her position on the trail, honking out a thanks to the plow.

  The short side street where Matt lived had a slight uphill angle and was unplowed. At the end Matt had turned on his floodlight. Like any self-respecting local, he had an emergency generator. Turning the Bronco off on the right side of the road, she wrapped up as best she could and climbed out into the street, then slowly trudged toward that beacon while the storm raged around her in the dark.

  At the warm house she was greeted with open arms. Andrea gave her a hug and lurched back, wiping wet hands on her slacks. She pushed Nina into the bedroom, saying, ‘‘Don’t come out until you’re stone dry.’’

  When Nina emerged some minutes later in Andrea’s jeans and sweater, the family was finishing dinner. Matt was primed for action, wearing his striped ski hat with the tassel.

  ‘‘Ready?’’ he said. ‘‘It’s five-thirty. We’ll hustle.’’

  ‘‘Hustle? In this?’’

  ‘‘You’re with the King of Snow, Mr. Ten Cylinders, here. I’m the guy they call to dig everybody else out.’’

  ‘‘What’s that mean? Ten cylinders,’’ asked Nina.

  ‘‘It means, he wishes he had that many on his truck,’’ said Andrea. ‘‘Matt slept all day, so he’s very frisky now, but when he gets back, he’s going to work all night. We’ll see how masterful he’s feeling about four A.M.’’ She flipped the tassel on his hat as he passed by.

  While Nina put on a spare parka, gloves, hat, and boots, Andrea went into the kitchen. ‘‘Here,’’ Andrea said when she returned, handing Nina a plastic grocery bag. ‘‘Supper.’’

  ‘‘You are the best.’’

  ‘‘How true.’’ She went over to Matt, unrecognizable in his warm duds, and said, ‘‘Don’t fall off Spooner Summit.’’

  Matt said, ‘‘Keep the lamp lit and burnin’. ’’

  He went first and started up the ignition and heater, holding the door for Nina a few minutes later. They put on their seat belts and settled in for the ride.

  Nina had thought the Bronco was a good snow vehicle, but the tow truck was a complete snow hound. With the chains on its massive radials, the load of tools in the back, the sheer weight of the thing, she felt like they might actually make it. And they had to make it. What could Bob do at night in the airport if they didn’t? Call a taxi and find a hotel at his age?

  ‘‘See, this is why I didn’t want him to go,’’ Nina said, her mouth full of dinner as they bounced over a branch in the road. ‘‘He could cope with an average flight, but not an emergency like me not coming at all.’’

  ‘‘Hush up,’’ Matt said. ‘‘You eat, I’ll drive. No sweat.’’

  It was ghostly. The truck shook from the furious gusts and the traffic lights were dark. The good news was, nobody was insane enough to be out except emergency personnel. The snowplow attached to the front of the truck did its job as needed, and they moved slowly through the white, torn landscape of fallen trees and red emergency lights along the invisible lake to the Spooner Pass turnoff, then over the summit, sliding on new ice, to the dry side of the Sierra.

  ‘‘Feeling better?’’ Matt said.

  ‘‘The food helps.’’

  ‘‘Is all this tension radiating out of you, about Bob? Or is it that case? The Strong case? Are you having problems?’’

  ‘‘Sorry I’m so preoccupied. No, it’s going very well. I’m wiping the floor with the prosecution,’’ Nina said.

  ‘‘Is that why you look so haunted?’’

  ‘‘You’re too damn smart, Matt.’’ It’s the Elephant Celebes, she thought, it’s turning its awful head, I just know it, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to stand it when I finally see its real face. She shook her head sharply to get the image out of it and tried to see ahead of the snow which seemed to be coming right at them onto the windshield.

  ‘‘You ought to be happy and carefree,’’ Matt said. ‘‘You just got married. Why don’t you take a honeymoon?’’

  ‘‘Already had it. The weekend in Hawaii.’’

  ‘‘That’s not a honeymoon! A honeymoon comes after’’—he saw her expression, and finished—‘‘after I shut my big mouth and drive. But, and this is a big but, a big whale of a but, a great big huge ugly but’’—now he was making her laugh—‘‘I’m worrying about you again. Keep your chin up and your eyes peeled, okay?’’

  ‘‘Okay.’’

  They left the blizzard behind and emerged into rain on clear roads, riding down the mountain at fifty toward Reno.

  ‘‘See?’’ Matt said. ‘‘Nothing to it.’’

  Nina looked back. A plume of snow blew off the roof. They were alone on the road. Below, Carson Valley twinkled.

  She looked at her watch and was surprised to discover it was only six-thirty. They would make it.

  And they did, with twenty minutes to spare. Aside from a few airport personnel and the ubiquitous slot machine players the airport was almost empty.

  At the American Airlines gate they hung their wet outer clothing on chairs. ‘‘Coffee,’’ Matt said, and went off to hunt for some.

  Nina sat down and got out her cell phone.

  ‘‘We made it,’’ she told Collier. He was staying at her cabin. ‘‘How is it up there?’’

  ‘‘Very romantic with all these candles and the emergency broadcast station lady crooning weather forecasts. I’m going out every hour to clear the driveway. The plows came by on the street a couple of hours ago. I’ve filled the front closet with wood. The only thing missing is you. Oh. Tony’s trying to get in touch with you. It’s amazing that the phone lines are still working, isn’t it?’’

  ‘‘What did he say?’’

  ‘‘He said it was urgent. He was calling from Reno.’’ Collier told her the number.

  ‘‘Okay, I’ll call him.’’

  ‘‘When do you think you’ll be back?’’

  ‘‘Ten or so. Matt’s working tonight. He’ll take us to the cabin.’’

  ‘‘Call me if you’ll be late.’’

  She looked out the window. No sign of the plane, no announcement yet.

  ‘‘Hi, Tony.’’

  ‘‘Nina! Where are you?’’ Tony’s voice sounded slightly demented. She could hear the br-r-ring of the slots behind him.

  ‘‘Well, I know where you are,’’ she said. ‘‘I’m at the airport.’’

  ‘‘Perfect! Listen, I’ll be there in ten minutes to pick you up.’’

  ‘‘Oh, no, you won’t. I’m picking up my son here. He’s coming home after three weeks in Europe.’’

  ‘‘When will you be free?’’

  ‘‘I won’t be. There’s a blizzard going on up in the mountains, Tony. We have to get home as soon as we can.’’

  ‘‘Are you alone?’’

  ‘‘No. My brother’s with me.’’

  ‘‘Great. You stay over in Reno tonight. I’ll book you a room. Meet your kid, send him home, and come out and meet me in front of the— What airline are you at?’’

  ‘‘What’s going on, Tony?’’

  ‘‘I think I found Heidi.’’

  ‘‘Where?’’

  ‘‘Pyramid Lake. But I’m not going out there alone. You need to be there. I want a lawyer with me
. Just a minute.’’ He left her to a rhythmic clanking punctuated by bells and laughter.

  She listened to the sounds, thinking about what he had said, liking it less and less. After a minute, Tony returned, saying, ‘‘I just won seven hundred bucks in the dollar slots and I don’t even care. That’s how freaked out I am.’’

  ‘‘Talk to me,’’ Nina said.

  ‘‘Aunt Dottie,’’ Tony said. ‘‘Remember Dick and Dottie with the trailer? We got on pretty well when I went to Vegas to see them. Now Aunt Dottie gave me a call this afternoon and said the guy that lives next door to the trailer called her.’’

  ‘‘The baseball bat man?’’

  ‘‘Right. He said the trailer’s starting to stink.’’

  ‘‘Oh, God!’’

  ‘‘He won’t go in there, and they can’t get up there, Dottie’s about to have cataract surgery. She wanted to know, should she call the police.’’

  ‘‘Jesus!’’

  ‘‘Just what I said. Who knows? It could be rotting garbage! Anyway, the neighbor has a key. Dottie called him and said he should give it to me. Did I do wrong? Should I call Dottie back and have her call the cops?’’

  Loudspeakers were reporting that Bob’s plane was landing. Matt ran up with a couple of big paper cups full of coffee. Smiling, he motioned with his head toward the doorway where in a few seconds, Bob would be coming out.

  Nina couldn’t muster up a smile back. ‘‘Okay, Tony,’’ she said into the phone. ‘‘Pick me up in half an hour.’’ She told him where to meet her and hung up.

  Dribbles of passengers, then a flood, came through the doorway. Bob came out, holding his mouth as if to keep a big smile from breaking out, a heavy backpack on his back, wearing heavy cords and a new wind-breaker. He looked several years older.

  ‘‘Hey,’’ Matt said, punching him and making him put up his hands to defend himself. Bob lost it and broke into a smile.

  ‘‘Hey, Mom,’’ he said.

  ‘‘Hey, handsome.’’

  ‘‘Don’t kiss me. Later.’’

  Nevertheless, all the way to the baggage claim, she held his hand.

  24

  THE SKY WAS falling. Rain fell in a solid sheet outside. Tony Ramirez pulled into a loading zone and Nina ran to the car.

  His eyes were wild. He gunned the motor and they sped north. ‘‘Don’t worry, I’m sober,’’ he said. ‘‘I never drink when I gamble. I booked you a room at Circus Circus.’’

  ‘‘Well, that fits,’’ Nina said, rummaging in her bag for something to dry her face with. ‘‘It’s only about half an hour to Pyramid Lake, isn’t it?’’

  ‘‘In this rain—could be an hour, hour and a half. What do you suppose we’ll find up there?’’ Tony rubbed fog off the windshield.

  ‘‘I just don’t know. I hope we’re all wrong. I hope I wake up early in the morning with all this behind me and go home to my family.’’ She remembered that the second prelim in the Strong case started at nine A.M. the next morning. ‘‘And that court gets canceled because of the weather,’’ she added.

  ‘‘I don’t have a family to go home to,’’ Tony said. ‘‘But I have the cats. Right now I’d like to be sitting in my chair smoking a cigar with a cat on my lap.’’

  ‘‘You live in Reno?’’

  ‘‘Biggest Little City Inna World. I love it. The glitz of Vegas, but four thousand feet higher up so you can go outside in the summer. And Tahoe up the hill. So, uh, what happens if Heidi’s in the trailer after all?’’

  ‘‘I don’t know yet. I don’t want to speculate.’’

  ‘‘We have to call the cops if she’s there.’’

  ‘‘I suppose.’’

  ‘‘The neighbor could be wrong.’’

  ‘‘That’s what we’re going to find out.’’

  ‘‘Thanks for coming with me,’’ Tony said. ‘‘Honest to God, I couldn’t go there on my own.’’

  They left the Reno-Sparks lights and entered the desert. The rain lessened, then stopped. She hated imagining Bob and Matt stuck in a blinding snowstorm right now, but the thought of Matt’s tough, heavy truck reassured her.

  At Pyramid Lake, the gas station blazed bluish light out into the darkness. They drove past it to the mobile home park. Night covered up the rusting and peeling trailers, but emphasized the edgy, insecure feeling Nina had felt on her previous visit. All the people living here were one paycheck away from the streets. A trailer in the desert was fine for a winter vacation for a rock hound or a hunter, but she wagered a lot of these folk would rather be watching TV in some modern apartment in Reno.

  They pulled up in front of Dick and Dottie’s yard and sat in the car, getting their courage up.

  ‘‘I’ll go get the key,’’ Tony said heavily. He walked over to the neighboring trailer, each step more reluctant than the last.

  She thought she could smell it with the car door shut. How had they missed it before? She remembered that she and Wish had been chased off before they could even get into the yard. She wondered if the neighbor had checked inside before calling Dottie and decided to forget whatever he had seen.

  The neighbor appeared at his door, said a few words, handed Tony the key, and shut his metal door with a hands-off slam. Tony walked back to the car and opened her door. He held a flashlight.

  ‘‘It’s strong,’’ he said. ‘‘You sure you want to—’’

  She got out, clutching her ski hat. They walked the hundred feet to the trailer. Two forlorn wooden steps led to the door. Tony climbed them, opened the torn screen door, and knocked desultorily.

  No response.

  ‘‘Miz Strong?’’

  No answer. He shrugged, got out a handkerchief, and turned the key in the lock. A wave of sick-making air came out. ‘‘I’m going in,’’ he said over his shoulder.

  ‘‘I’m right behind you,’’ Nina said. She held the damp ski hat over her nose and mouth.

  Tony cast the flashlight around the entrance, but Nina’s gloved hand found the light switch right away.

  They were in the middle of a nightmare.

  Heidi Strong lay spread-eagled on red sheets, her throat slashed so savagely her head had almost been cut off. Her eyes, staring at them, were moving.

  Ants, or worse.

  The smell was overpowering.

  Nina gripped Tony’s arm. ‘‘Don’t go any farther,’’ she said through the wool hat. ‘‘Take a good hard look around, Tony. Remember what you’ve seen.’’

  ‘‘I’m—I’m gonna throw up.’’ He pushed around her and rushed down the steps. She heard him out front.

  She breathed through her mouth, through the hat, and thanked heaven for the strong smell of wet wool. Her eyes raked the freezing room. Heidi on the bed on the right, dressed in boxers and a camisole—her nightwear. Bruises still visible on the arm hanging off the bed. Broken glass on the floor, the bedspread half on the floor. One of her skis lying on the bed as if she had tried to use it to fight back. She hadn’t been caught completely unawares. She had fought for her life.

  Nina was looking for the knife. No knife was visible, and she couldn’t go inside and mess up the murder scene for the forensics team to come. No knife, no other sign of a weapon. Heidi’s purse was gone. That was a smart touch, make it look like a robbery . . .

  Her eyes went back to Heidi. The ants go in, the ants go out . . .

  She felt her equilibrium going. She was going to pass out.

  She brushed at the wall with her elbow and the light went out. Backing out, she closed the door firmly, stumbled down the stairs and back to Tony’s car. He sat in the driver’s seat, motor running, right foot hovering over the accelerator.

  ‘‘Go,’’ Nina said. ‘‘Go!’’

  They putt-putted decorously to the edge of the trailer park and then roared out some side road, stopping only when they came to some picnic tables at the end of the road. In the headlights, they could see a rocky beach. The ancient lake lay ahead in the darkness. The air smelled dank.
Nina breathed in deeply.

  ‘‘Well, we found her,’’ Tony said, throwing his door open. ‘‘I’ll be right back. I just need some air.’’

  Nina was grateful to be left alone for a minute. She should call the sheriff’s office or whoever was in charge here. Were they on reservation land? Probably not. She had to call someone.

  She closed her eyes, but the image of Heidi on the bed opened them. To slow the staccato of her heart, she scanned the scene in her mind for information, moving the energy from her heart to her mind, where she could handle it better. No knife. Heidi’s purse gone. The bedspread pulled down.

  It would take a lot of work to sort it out. Oh, Jim would be questioned. But much information would be lost after so long a time.

  Why, Heidi must have been dead for weeks. The cold air had preserved her so well, even the bruises, but the ants had found her anyway.

  Jim had stopped asking about Heidi, she realized that now. At first, Heidi had been the main topic of conversation. Then, it was as if he had forgotten about her.

  Forgotten about her? Or found her himself? They were husband and wife. Maybe Heidi had forgotten she had mentioned the trailer to Jim years ago.

  Biting her lip, Nina tried to back up, to think of some way it wasn’t Jim. Why was she so sure?

  The scene returned in full color. Broken glass. Heidi had struggled with her assailant. A nightstand, the drawers closed, a book with a page marked. She saw Heidi’s body, her hand dangling over the side of the bed.

  Something had been missing.

  She was staring blindly at her own hand, looking at the nails and ridges and the new diamond that seemed to glitter even in the dark on her finger.

  It had probably been the only item in the trailer worth more than a few dollars. No thief would bother with the most beat-up trailer in the park, all for the sake of Heidi’s gold chased wedding band, the one she’d continued to wear because she liked it, even if she didn’t like Jim.

  Now Nina was sickeningly sure.

  She tried to think through the next steps. She would call the police. All night long, she’d be making statements. She couldn’t—she had to be careful about implicating Jim. She didn’t really know anything.