On Thin Ice

by Linda Hall

  “Megan, slow down. A bobblehead doll? Denise reported one stolen from her house.”

  “Well, it ended up on my garbage can lid. Don’t ask me how.”

  “Megan, can you go over your story once more?”

  She did, slower this time, while he wrote everything down. He shook his head. “I’ve got to get this information to Stu right away.”

  “Plus, there’s something else.” She unzipped her computer case, pulled out her laptop and opened it to the bookmarked page. “This doesn’t have anything to do with the black-wigged stalker, but I found out that Lorena doesn’t exist.” She explained how “Lorena” was really a manipulated model image used for art shots.

  Alec studied the image. His face fell. “This is what I’ve been suspecting.” His voice was quiet and, when he raised his head, his eyes were sad. “My brother’s in trouble.” He looked down at his notebook.

  “I want to get this information about the wig and bobblehead to Stu. He’ll be handling this for a few days. I had to make a right decision.”

  “A decision about what?” she asked.

  “I’ve booked a flight for tomorrow night to see my brother.”

  “You’re going away tomorrow?”

  “I won’t be gone for more than a day or two, but…”

  The silence lengthened. Megan didn’t know what to say. How could he even think of leaving when there was a murderer around? “But what?” she asked.

  “There’s something else I need to tell you.”

  “Go on,” she said.

  He began, “I’ve carried this secret for twenty years. I lied on the stand to protect my brother. I wasn’t with him the evening your grandmother was pushed down the stairs.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I wasn’t with my brother that day. He asked me to lie for him and I did. I lied to protect him and I have deeply regretted that every day of my life since.”

  Megan said, “You chose your brother over me.”

  He nodded. “I did.”

  “And you’re still doing that.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m being stalked, and you’re flying out tomorrow night to see your brother. What if it’s your brother who’s doing all this in the first place? What if Vicky is Lorena? What if she and Bryan are doing this?

  “I can’t believe you’re doing this again, Alec. Even when we were dating, poor, troubled Bryan always came first. You are more worried about Bryan’s safety than you are about mine.” She shook her head. She would regret saying this later, but she had to continue. “I don’t think there is a future for us. You’ll always be running to your brother, bailing him out.”

  “That’s not true. I…”

  She stood up. “Your family defended Bryan, even when my grandmother said he pushed her…She told me. I have no idea why he did it, but I believe what my grandmother said.” She backed toward the door. “I’m leaving. I came here because I thought you could help me with the wig. But you can’t, can you? All you can do is worry about your brother. I already know he killed my grandmother. But, what if Bryan killed Sophia and Jennifer and Paul? You can’t even face reality. What if Bryan is here?”

  “Wait,” he called after her. “What do you mean by Bryan being behind this? Have you seen him?”

  There was real concern on his face. Megan hesitated but only for a second. No, she hadn’t seen Bryan. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t behind this.

  Alec’s cell phone rang. He ignored it. You better answer it. It might be your precious brother, she thought, but didn’t say. Was she selfish in thinking this way? She didn’t know, but maybe she, too, should leave. Maybe she would be safer in Baltimore.

  “I’m leaving, too,” she called after him. “I’m driving home tonight.”

  “Megan! Wait! Don’t leave. A storm is coming!” But she was already on her way back down the icy sidewalk to her car.

  It was snowing lightly. Her wipers slapped across her windshield. If she packed up now she could be gone by nightfall. And this time she would make herself forget all about Alec. This time she wouldn’t be back. But she had to hurry. The storm was on its way.

  So much for honesty. Alec had finally been totally one hundred percent honest and Megan had walked out. Just like he knew she would. Just like he would if the shoe was on the other foot.

  He was about to lift the phone receiver to call Bryan when his phone rang. It was his mother, finally connecting with him. He wondered if he should tell her about Lorena, or about Bryan’s rent. Or about the fact that Bryan had double locked his apartment. It was good that he was flying out there. He needed to figure out what was going on. And maybe when he got back home he’d try to figure out what to do—if anything—about Megan. All of these mixed up thoughts flitted through his mind when he said hello to his mother.

  “Alec, I need to talk to you about your brother. I should have when you and Megan were here, but I was afraid. Bryan is in some kind of trouble. I can just sense it.”

  When he told her he was going to New Mexico, his mother heaved a huge sigh of relief. “I’m glad to hear that. There’s something going on that I don’t understand. It’s probably nothing but I can’t be too sure.”

  “What? Have you heard something? Seen him?”

  “Seen him? No. Why would you ask?”

  Alec checked himself. “I don’t know. Go on.”

  “Alec, it’s funny that you would ask me that. The reason that I wanted to talk to you is that Mrs. Covington told me she saw your brother in Bangor a few weeks ago.”

  “That’s impossible.” But even as he said it, he wondered.

  “Alec, she was very sure. She said she saw a man who looked exactly like Bryan.”

  “How would she know Bryan, twenty years later? He’s never come back here at all.” He sat down on the couch and cradled his forehead with his left hand.

  “She said it was a man who looked, in her words, exactly like Bryan would look, only twenty years later.”

  Alec shook his head. “If Bryan was here, then he would’ve called us. He would have called me.” Bryan called him all the time, usually about simple things. How could Bryan be in Maine and him not know about it? Or did he not know his brother the way he thought he did?

  “She says he looked right at her, and she swears he recognized her, but turned and crossed the street. When she told me this I called the electronics store in New Mexico, and Alec, your brother hasn’t been to work in several weeks.”

  Alec closed his eyes. Something was definitely wrong and getting worse. “Mother, why didn’t you tell me this when we were visiting?”

  “I tried to. I wanted to. I know I should have, but I couldn’t get the words out. As soon as you and Megan left I realized that I should have, and decided I needed to call you right away.”

  Alec sighed.

  “Did you find anything out about Lorena, like I asked?”

  “Oh yes. Yes, I did.”

  When he told her what Megan had found, there was a strangled cry on the other end of the phone.

  His voice was almost a whisper when he said, “I’ll figure it out, Mother. I’ll let you know what’s going on.”

  Alec’s next call was to his brother.

  “Hey, bro,” Bryan answered.

  “Where are you?” Alec tried to remain calm, but he paced while he talked.

  “In my apartment, watching the tube.”

  “And where would that be?”

  “What do you mean where would that be? You’ve been to my apartment lots of times.”

  “So you are in New Mexico right now.”

  “Where else would I be?”

  “Here,” Alec said. “Here in Maine. One of Mom’s friends saw you in Bangor.”

  “Me in Bangor?” Alec heard a loud guffaw. “That’ll be the day. I wouldn’t go back to Maine if my life depended on it. Why would I? Everyone hates me there. Besides I got a nice girlfriend here. I go to church. We’re getting married.”

/>   “And that’s another thing. It’s about your girlfriend. Do you know her real name is Mandy, and that she’s not a real person?”

  There was a long silence. Bryan’s voice was quiet when he said, “Of course she’s a real person. She was over here this morning as a matter of fact. Alec, you’re scaring me. What’s all this about?”

  Alec leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees. Could Megan have it wrong? But no, Alec had seen the picture of Mandy with his own eyes. “I’m coming for a visit, Bryan. I’ll be there in twenty-four hours.”

  “Hey, that’s great. Lorena and I will show you a great time. You’ll be here in time for the Bible study.”

  “What about your job?”

  “What about my job?” Bryan asked.

  “You haven’t been to work at the electronics store.”

  “What are you—a private detective? I quit that minimum-wage job. Lorena and I are going into business together. I was going to tell you about this. It was a surprise. That’s why she was here this morning. We’re setting up a carpet cleaning company.”

  When Alec hung up he stood for a long time looking out the window. Either Bryan was telling the truth and Megan had figured it out all wrong, or Bryan was the smoothest liar on the planet.

  Alec would know in less than twenty-four hours.

  THIRTEEN

  Megan didn’t leave that night. She decided she didn’t want to drive in the dark. Her suitcase was all packed, and if she left early in the morning, she could be in Baltimore by evening. It was much better to drive during the day in the winter.

  By morning it had already begun to snow, however. Megan felt she had no recourse but to stay in her cabin, work on her Web sites and wait out the storm. It didn’t escape her notice that today was Valentine’s Day.

  Earlier that morning she had seen Steve and Nori and their girls drive past on their way to the airport. They were going to Boston to pick up Steve’s son who was coming to Trail’s End for a visit. The boy lived with Steve’s ex-wife. Alec had probably gone to the airport by now. Brad and Vicky were still here. She had seen Vicky the previous night gathering wood and Vicky had expressed excitement at being here during such a big storm.

  “Oh, it’ll be so much fun!” she had said.

  “Hey, Vicky,” Megan had said sidling up to her. “Did Brad give you back your wig?”

  Vicky stopped. “Wig? Why would Brad be giving me a wig?”

  “I found a black wig on top of my garbage can. Brad said he thought it was yours.”

  Vicky laughed and fingered her long hair. “With this much hair, you think I need a wig?”

  “Just curious.”

  “Oh, that Brad. What a character he is.”

  But Megan didn’t leave. The snow was coming. She had no choice but to wait it out. She would attempt to get some work done today.

  By lunchtime the snow was swirling around her cabin windows, and by late afternoon, the blizzard was in full force. Snow had piled halfway up on her door. The windows were covered with it. Some had even come down the chimney and landed on her burning firewood.

  Megan exhaled deeply and stretched her fingers, un-cramping them from the hours of computer work she had just done. She had come so close to allowing herself to fall in love again. She had come so close to allowing herself to feel again. And now Alec was gone.

  The knock on her door almost made her jump out of her skin. Her cabin lights went out at just about the same time. It was Brad who stood at her door. Snow fell off the brim of his hat and caught in his beard. He really did look like Santa Claus.

  “Yes?” She opened the door a crack. He was all smiles.

  He said, “It’s just me. You look like you’ve seen a ghost. You okay?”

  “I’m okay.” She still hadn’t opened her door more than six inches.

  “Vicky and I were just wondering if you wanted to come over and work on a jigsaw puzzle with us. I see you lost power, too.”

  “I guess I did.”

  “My cabin has a whole shelf full of jigsaw puzzles.”

  “That’s nice.”

  He reached up with one motion, grasped the door from her hand and opened it up. He walked right in past her, climbing over the drift of snow that had already accumulated on her sill. “Hope you don’t mind. I just want to see your power box. Mine’s all fluky. So’s Vicky’s. I was up at the lodge trying to get the generator going. Do you know anything about generators?”

  Megan shook her head. “Nori said Steve showed you how to run the generator should the power go out.”

  “Steve showed me, but I couldn’t get the generator running. The phone lines are out, too. It’s really coming down out there. They’re saying it’s going to be worse than they thought.”

  She felt the tiniest frisson of fear go through her body like an electrical current.

  She said, “But we’ll all be okay. We have plenty of firewood and candles. And Steve and Nori will be back tomorrow.”

  “I doubt the roads will be plowed by then. It’s going to take days to dig out after this. Nope, I’m thinking the three of us are going to be on our own here for quite a while.”

  He was standing close to her, looking down at her and grinning. She could see his eyes through the gray lenses of his sunglasses. They seemed cold and hard despite his smile. She hugged her arms around her and moved away from him a bit. He took a step toward her. He was making her nervous.

  He said, “I thought that since we’re the only ones here, the three of us could hang out together.”

  The only ones here. “I’ve been spending the day working on my computer,” she said. “That’s what I plan to do.”

  “But the power’s out.”

  “I’ve got five hours of battery time.”

  He grunted. “You can’t get Wi-Fi. It’s out. I tried it. That was my thought, too. Get started on my documentary.”

  “We can try to get the generator going. It can’t be that hard.”

  He took off his glasses, folded them carefully and put them in the pockets of his coat. It was the first time she had seen his eyes.

  She stared hard at him. They looked at each other for a long time. She suppressed a shiver because suddenly she realized who he really was.

  Did he see her shock? The silent gasp? Did he know that she knew his true identity? Her only chance was to pretend she didn’t know. She glanced at the door surreptitiously.

  “Brad, uh, I think I’m going to head outside and get me some more firewood.” If she could get past him, she would run far away from him.

  “That’s not needed. You’ve got plenty stacked up in here. And it looks like your suitcases are packed. What do you need with so much wood when you’re going home?”

  She shrugged. “As you said, it might be a long time before I can think about driving home.”

  “And where’s home for you? You never did tell us, you know.”

  “Plattsburgh, New York.” It was the first city that came to her mind.

  He chuckled.

  She said, “I still need kindling, though.”

  “Plenty of kindling here.”

  She tried to laugh it off. “Not the way I make fires. I seem to need a lot. I want to stock up before it gets snowing too much.”

  “You don’t need it.” His voice was harsh. It was a command.

  She moved toward the door, purposefully. “I’m getting some anyway, Brad.” She had to get out. She had to get away from him.

  He pushed in front of her. “No. You don’t need to go anywhere.”

  “Brad—um…”

  She backed into her kitchen looking for anything that might serve as a weapon, hoping he hadn’t seen where her eyes had settled—a sharp paring knife lying in her sink. She backed toward the counter, her hands behind her. She reached for the knife, was able to grab it. In the dim light of the kitchen she was pretty sure he hadn’t seen the way she’d shoved it into the pocket of her jeans.

  “It’ll be just the three of us tonight
,” he said. “You and me and Vicky. Do you like jigsaw puzzles? There’s lots of jigsaw puzzles at my cabin. We could put one together. See if we can get all the puzzles pieces to fit together. Puzzles are like that. They take a lot of figuring, lots of hard thinking.”

  He knew she knew!

  “Okay,” she said, her voice light, “Let’s go to Vicky’s then.” Megan stepped into her boots. Outside she would run.

  “No. I changed my mind. We’re not going to Vicky’s. Don’t you know what day this is?”

  “No,” she said, trying to keep her voice light.

  “It’s our wedding day.”

  The words hit her like a punch. It was several seconds before she found the breath to answer. “What are you talking about, Brad?”

  “I’ve been planning our wedding for twenty years,” he said. “I even put an offer on a house. You’ll like it. I sent you a picture.”

  She stared at him. He began shedding bits of himself. The first thing to come off was the gray wig. He threw it on the kitchen table. Next was the beard, which he peeled off from right to left. He massaged his chin. “Whew, that stings,” he said.

  She looked on horrified as he reached in and seemed to pull out his teeth. “You can get these at any good gag store. They’re professional. I got these teeth at a place that makes disguises for professional actors. Really good, aren’t they? It takes a bit of practice to learn how to talk with them and eat with them. And you end up having to brush them like real teeth.”

  “Bryan…” Her voice was hoarse.

  “The last thing is this fat suit. I’m glad that it’s winter rather than summer. This thing is so hot. I don’t know how professional Santas do it.”

  “What do you want?” The knife was in her pocket. She would use it if she had to.

  “What do you mean, what do I want? What I’ve always wanted. What’s always been mine. You left me for Alec. But I made sure your wedding never happened.”

  “You killed my grandmother just so the wedding wouldn’t go through?”

  He leaned back his head and chuckled. “How do you like my chuckle? I worked on it. My cellmate was an actor. He taught me all kinds of things.”