by Elaine Viets
We passed through the tiny kitchen to a dark bedroom with a hospital bed, a portable toilet and a walker. A waxen older woman in a pink dressing gown snored in the bed, her white hair as fluffy as cotton, her toothless mouth open. Next to the bed, the blue recliner was empty.
The blood drained from Daisy’s face. “She’s not here. Juliet’s not here.”
She began searching the room frantically, tossing aside folded nightgowns, dropping papers and magazines on the floor, kicking slippers out of the way, her eyes wide with fear. “She’s not here. Juliet’s not here. I can’t find her backpack. There’s no cell phone. Nothing. She’s not here. She has to be.”
Daisy dropped to her hands and knees and looked under the bed, then jumped up and flung open the bathroom door. The bathroom was empty.
“Where is she?” Daisy shouted.
The old woman stirred in her sleep.
“Sh!” I said. “You’ll wake up Mrs. LaRouche.”
“Where is she?” Daisy wailed. “She has to be here. She has to be.”
I heard footsteps in the distance. I dragged the girl through the halls and out toward the back door. Daisy never stopped weeping.
CHAPTER 10
Wednesday, December 28, 11:37 a.m.
Daisy erupted into hiccoughing sobs in the Willingham hallway. I was sure someone would call security, but we made it to the car and out of the home’s grounds.
I parked in the shopping mall lot next door and kept my voice gentle. “Daisy.”
The girl continued her noisy tears, snot streaming down her face. Yuck. Daisy pulled another tissue from her purse and blew her nose. She’d been forced to face reality, and it was ugly.
“Daisy!” My voice was sharper. The red-eyed girl looked up and stopped sniffling. “Is there any place else where you think Juliet could be?”
“No.” Sniff. More tears gathered in Daisy’s eyes. I headed them off quickly. “Then show me the secret path by her home.”
“I can’t!” Daisy wailed. “If her parents find out, she’ll get in like serious trouble.”
“They don’t care if she snuck out to see Dexter. Not any more. All they want is to find their daughter. She’s been missing for two days. They’re not going to punish her if they find out about the shortcut. Take me to the secret path.”
Daisy switched to her default mode, surly defiance. “And if I don’t?”
Time to unleash my inner witch. “Then I’ll leave you here and you can walk home.”
Daisy looked frightened. “But that’s, that’s like miles. I’ll freeze to death.”
“Where does Juliet live?”
“In the old part of the Forest. Even older than where we live. She has one of those really big houses not too far from the Du Pres.”
I didn’t ask which Du Pres family. The Forest was infested with them.
“What’s Juliet’s address?”
“She lives on Ondine Terrace. Number six. First house past the stop sign.”
“Ondine? For real? That’s her street?”
“What’s wrong with Ondine?”
“Don’t you know who she was?”
“Somebody old and dead.”
“Kind of. Ondine was a mythical creature, a water nymph, and she was…”
Tragic, I started to say, but looked at Daisy’s tearful face. I couldn’t say it.
“…incredibly beautiful and very independent.”
“Like Juliet,” Daisy said. I couldn’t believe it. The kid was actually listening.
“Right. And like Juliet, she fell in love with the wrong man. He wasn’t a Toonerville mechanic, he was a noble, like a duke or a lord. Because Ondine was a nymph, if she fell in love with a man and they had a kid, she would lose her looks and get old and die, just like us. That didn’t stop her. Ondine saw this duke and fell in love with him. She didn’t care that he was already engaged, or that she’d get old and die.”
The girl was still listening. Maybe nobody had ever told her fairy tales. Maybe she thought nymphs were like the Kardashians. “The duke said he’d love her forever. He swore his every waking breath would be a pledge of love and faithfulness.”
“That’s kinda stupid,” Daisy said. “So what happened?”
Nothing good, I thought.
“They got married and had a baby and Ondine started getting old. Her husband got bored and had an affair with another woman, and Ondine found them together.”
“What a shit. Did she, like, kill him?”
“Much worse. She cursed him. She told the duke that he’d promised to be faithful with ‘every waking breath.’ She said, ‘As long as you’re awake, you can breathe. If you fall asleep, you’ll die.’ Guess what? He couldn’t stay awake and he died.”
Daisy looked unimpressed. “I don’t see where Ondine has anything to do with Juliet. Juliet’s not pregnant.”
“So no problem.”
“That’s what I said.” Daisy shrugged. At least she’d stopped crying.
I turned off Gravois into the realm of the super-rich. Through the winter dead trees I glimpsed a Bavarian hunting lodge, a French chateau, and a gray gothic pile with honest-to-God gargoyles, surrounded by acres of snow-frosted woods and towering evergreens.
“Ondine Terrace is the next street,” Daisy said. “That’s Juliet’s house through those trees.” I turned and my car slid slightly. Even on a drab winter day, the winding road was scenic.
“That’s her place, straight ahead.”
The LaRouche house was big, even by Forest standards—four stories of blood-red brick trimmed with white limestone. I got closer, and counted six chimneys before I swerved to avoid a squirrel zipping across the street. As I slowed to a crawl, I saw the architect had added a truckload of useless doodads to the LaRouche house—bulging bay windows, rotundas, a widow’s walk, even a bell tower. A half-dozen gables sprouted from the gray slate roof.
“My dad says it’s an architectural mess.” Why did Daisy slam Juliet’s home? Did she need to feel superior to her richer, prettier friend?
“There’s certainly a lot of it.” There were no cars in the gated courtyard, and I wondered if the LaRouches were searching for their daughter.
“There’s the stop sign,” Daisy said. “Turn around by her house and come back. You can park by those evergreens so no one will see you. The path is right there.”
“I’m not parking in a snowbank. We’ll park here on the side of the road. Where’s the path?”
Daisy pointed to the snow-covered woods. “There.”
My eyes followed her finger. “I don’t see it.”
“Well, duh,” Daisy said. “That’s why it’s secret.”
“Get out and take me to it.”
“It’s cold.” Daisy’s whine grated on me worse than her crying.
“If it’s cold for you, what do you think it’s like for Juliet?” I prayed Juliet wasn’t past feeling cold. I hoped she was frolicking with some high school stud.
I saw a trampled path to the right and started toward it. “No! Don’t go there,” Daisy said. “Nobody uses that path.”
“Somebody did. The snow has footprints all over it.”
“That’s the path the grownups know about. We never take it. Our secret place is down this one.”
The wind whipped through my heavy coat as if it was light cotton, and my fingers felt numb in my thick gloves. I pulled my hat down over my ears and my scarf up so only my eyes were exposed to the biting cold, and climbed over the pile of plowed snow along the road.
Daisy followed, grumbling and complaining. I carefully climbed down into and then out of a slippery drainage ditch. I was sweating despite the cold. Dead brown leaves and frozen snow crunched underfoot. At the top of the ditch, I faced a bramble patch draped with dead poison ivy. Behind the thorns and poison was the serene stillness of the Forest.
“Now what?”
“Go around that log,” Daisy said, “and you’ll see the real path.”
I still didn’t see it, b
ut my feet felt it. The ground was smoother now. The path was about two feet wide and no footprints disturbed the snow. Maples, oaks, sweet gums, and persimmon trees reached down to pull at my clothes. I walked carefully through the powdery, drifting snow. Once, I stumbled over a rock, but a convenient branch saved me from a fall. The icy wind was blowing harder now and Daisy’s whining never stopped.
“How long will it take to get to Juliet’s house?”
“About two more minutes. Maybe three,” Daisy said.
“Juliet was last seen going into these woods and she never reached her home. We’ll keep walking until we get to her house and then we’ll turn back.”
“Juliet was last seen by Dex. He says she ran into the woods. How do we know he’s telling the truth? What if he killed her?” Daisy seemed surprised that last sentence slipped out.
I fought to keep her talking. “Do you think he did?”
“He’s from Toonerville. He doesn’t like us, and nobody likes him except Juliet. And they had a fight at the party. So he could have killed Juliet.”
“If he killed her, where’s Juliet’s body?”
“I dunno. I’m cold. Can we go now?” The girl’s teeth were chattering.
“Let’s get to Juliet’s house. I can see it past that big oak. Then we can go.”
The powdery snow stung my eyes. I blinked back tears and saw something red on the path. “What’s that?”
Daisy kicked it with her foot and it clanked. “An old Coke can. We aren’t going to find anything. Can we go now?”
“We’re almost there.”
Crack! A sharp tree branch slapped me in the face, narrowly missing my eye. I stumbled, then brushed against something hanging from a branch near it. Something light blue and soft.
“That’s Juliet’s!” Daisy said. “That’s the velveteen jacket she wore to the party.” The girl reached for it.
“Don’t touch!” I said. “Leave it for the police.” Adrenaline rushed through me, banishing the cold. My heart pounded. I’d stumbled on the first sign of Juliet since she’d disappeared.
A blast of wind nearly knocked me sideways, and the powdery snow swirled, shifted, and revealed sparkling silver in the afternoon sun.
“That’s her shoe!” Daisy said. “We went shopping for those high heels. She wore them at the party.” She reached for the silver shoe with the delicate ankle straps.
“Don’t touch it. The other shoe is next to it.”
“He raped her.” Daisy was crying again. “He tore off her clothes and raped Juliet. He’s an animal.”
“We don’t know what happened.” Something dark blue was draped on a bush. Daisy lunged for it. “That’s her dress. Her blue velvet dress. He did rape her!” The girl tried to grab the dress and I stepped in front of her.
“I said don’t touch. I’m calling the police. They can investigate this scene.”
“But that’s her water bottle. See?” Daisy pointed to a pink plastic bottle near the abandoned dress.
“Let the police handle it,” I said. “You’ll destroy evidence and ruin any chance of finding Juliet.”
Beyond the abandoned bottle, the snowy, leaf-covered ground sloped down to a creek. “Stay back, Daisy. Don’t touch anything.”
I carefully picked my way to the icy edge of the creek. Brown and gray rocks, some as big as basketballs, others small, sharp, and gray, tumbled down the slope into the water where more rocks wore collars of ice on a small muddy beach. The wind howled and blew away more snow, and I saw a mannequin lying in the water. No, not a mannequin. A sculpture. A delicate sculpture of a slender white-skinned girl. She was lying on her back in the cold water, her hair as white as snow, her lips parted, and her blue eyes staring into eternity.
My sluggish brain realized I wasn’t looking at a statue. That was a real girl. She was completely nude and frozen solid.
“Juliet!” Daisy screamed.
CHAPTER 11
Wednesday, December 28, 11:55 a.m.
My heart froze when I saw Juliet in the icy creek. The girl looked like a snow sculpture. Her ice blonde hair blended into her snow drift pillow. Her slight body was pale perfection. Snow frosted her cheekbones and her pink-tipped breasts, and dusted her cold blue eyes.
I could see the searchers’ tracks in the snow on the other side of the creek. They’d passed right by Juliet. As I watched the wind swirl, I realized the searchers couldn’t have seen her snow-covered body until the drifts shifted.
I wanted to find her. But not like this.
The frozen girl was less than five hundred feet from her home. I wondered if someone could see Juliet from the upper windows of her massive mansion.
Daisy’s screams broke my concentration. She lunged for the slope down to her friend’s frozen body. I grabbed her arm and hung on. I was bigger than Daisy, but the sturdy girl was strong and dragged me through the snow. I tripped her and Daisy landed in the snow with a thud.
“Daisy!” I stepped in front of her, barring the girl’s way to the creek. “No. You can’t go there.”
“She can’t be naked like that. People will see her.” She tried to shove me aside, but I blocked her again, holding onto a small tree to keep from falling. I couldn’t let this hysterical girl ruin the crime scene. I lightly slapped her face and shouted, “Daisy!”
The girl was shocked into silence. “You hit me.” More tears, but these were the hot tears of anger.
“Yes, I did. You can’t go down there. You’ll hurt yourself on the slippery rocks and ruin the crime scene.”
“Somebody killed Juliet,” Daisy wailed.
“If you want to know who did this, you have to stay away from her body.”
Daisy brushed the snow off her coat. “We have to cover her up. The police will see her naked. Everyone will. She’ll be so embarrassed.”
I was desperate to make the girl understand. “Listen to me. Juliet doesn’t care who sees her. She’s in heaven. You understand? I’ll be the person who examines her here. I’ll be respectful and careful. Then we’ll cover her and take her away.”
Where she’ll be autopsied and subjected to indignities I hope you’ll never know.
Daisy nodded. Her teeth were chattering again, her lips were gray-blue, and she was having trouble breathing. She was shivering and sweating. She’s in shock, I thought. “Let’s take you back to my car, so you can warm up. I’ll call the police, and we’ll get help for Juliet. We shouldn’t leave her out here.”
The weeping girl was too dazed to protest. I led her back to my black Charger. The car’s cold metal door creaked open like a tomb, and I helped the shivering, sweating Daisy lay down in the back seat. I kept the girl in the shock position – flat on her back, with her feet elevated on my big purse to drive more blood to her head. I pulled out the two warm blankets I kept in the trunk and tucked them around the girl. “You’re going to be okay. I’ll call your parents.”
Daisy went paler still and started to sit up. “No! Please! I sneaked out of the house to go to the Olive Garden. They’ll kill me.” She skipped right past that phrase, not realizing what she’d said. “I’m not supposed to be out in sub-zero weather. Call Rick. You’ve got his cell. He’ll pick me up. Please?”
No trace of her earlier arrogance in that plea. Daisy sounded frightened and much younger than sixteen.
“I promise I’ll call Rick. Now lie down.”
I walked far enough away that Daisy couldn’t hear my phone conversation, but close enough that I could keep an eye on her. Rick answered his cell on the second ring and I blurted out the story. Laid-back Rick was suddenly energized. “Damn, that sucks. Poor little sis. How is she?”
“She’s in shock, Rick. She needs you and she’s afraid your parents will chew her out because she sneaked out of the house. She’s afraid.”
“I’m working nearby. I’ll be there in ten.”
Next I called Jace and gave him the news. “Aw, damn. Poor kid. I’ll call out the troops. How’s Daisy?”
“Sh
e’s not doing well. Her brother is on the way.”
“He’s over twenty-one, right? Because she’s a minor and critical to the case. You found that poor girl’s body and Daisy identified her. I’ll have to question her if she’s well enough. You said she’s in shock?”
“She’s got all the symptoms.”
“I’ll call an ambulance. I’m on my way.”
Jace hung up. I peeked in my car window and thought Daisy might be asleep. Her eyes were closed, her breathing wasn’t as labored, and her color looked a little better.
Rick’s battered pickup slid around the corner. He roared up, slammed on the brakes behind my car, and jumped out, bringing a cloud of pot smoke with him. His face was creased with worry. “Where’s my little sis?”
“Asleep in my car,” I said. “The ambulance is on the way. She’s afraid to tell your parents.”
“Oh, jeez. I’ll have a talk with her and get her to come clean. My folks will be pissed, but they’ll find out anyway.”
The wailing ambulance arrived, interrupting our conversation. After I talked to the two burly paramedics, they gently helped Daisy onto a stretcher and then loaded her into the warm ambulance, where they took her vitals and clamped an oxygen mask over her face. Rick paced up and down outside the doors while they worked on his sister.
I hurried over to see Jace, now parked behind Rick’s truck.
“Go ahead. Chew me out,” I said. “Tell me I’m an idiot for dragging Daisy here and that her parents will sue my socks off.”
“No, you’re not an idiot. The boyfriend’s still in a coma. The doctors think he’ll come out of it, but they’re not sure when. You got through to Daisy when we couldn’t. If you hadn’t found her today, that girl might not have been found for months. Juliet’s death is terrible, just about as bad as it can be. The only good part is her parents will be able to bury the daughter they know and love, instead of animal-gnawed bones and scraps of hair. It’s cold comfort, but it’s all we can do for them. That and find her killer.”