“Danny…”
“And besides, that’s really not the point. The issue is I didn’t just shoot him in time. I could have stopped him from cutting you…” Danny’s voice trailed off as he blinked back tears.
“If you would have shot him he would have jerked and cut me anyway. You know that.”
“Maybe so. But he might have missed.”
“I don’t blame you,” Caroline repeated. “And I’m tired of watching you live like some kind of zombie.”
“Well then go ahead and leave. I don’t ask you to hang around, do I? Get the fuck out of my life already. It was till death do us part, remember? So go ahead, you’re clear. Shit it’s so god-damn cold!”
Danny cursed as his shivering became more violent. He swallowed hard as Caroline stood up and moved closer to him before kneeling down on the floor in front of him. For a brief second, he stared into her green eyes and felt sure she was the flesh and blood Caroline. Not a ghost, but really there with him.
“Caroline,” he sputtered.
Caroline stroked his cheek with her hand, and made a shushing sound as she put her finger to his lips. Before he could kiss it, she was gone.
Danny blinked furiously, hoping each time he opened his eyes that she would be there in front of him again. But the room was empty.
“Caroline?” he called out. “Caroline!”
Danny’s anguished cries mixed with the howls of the wind, and echoed down the deserted Snow Creek hallway.
Chapter 67
Danny heard voices yelling and feet stomping in the corridor, and was certain the ghosts had returned to keep him company. He wasn’t going to be frightened of hallucinations this time.
“Danny? Are you here? Danny!”
Danny jerked his head up. That was Tessa’s voice. He wasn’t hallucinating at all.
“Tessa,” he whispered.
He stomped his feet on the ground to make more noise, but any sound he could make was muffled by the thick carpet. He tried to swallow, but found no moisture in his mouth. “Tessa!” he croaked.
Within seconds, the door of the guest room opened and Tessa burst inside.
“Danny!” she yelled. “Oh my God, you’re okay!”
Danny tried to speak, but couldn’t form any words. Instead, he let out a deep sigh of relief as tears stung the corner of his eyes.
Tessa fell to her knees at his side and began working on the ropes that bound his hands. Terry Yazzie and Jack Meyer filed into the room behind her, followed by Doug Matheson and a woman Danny had never seen before.
“What the hell were you thinking coming up here?” Tessa said as she struggled with the ropes. “You damn fool.”
Danny couldn’t help but chuckle. “Never mind that,” he said. “Just get these fucking ropes off me. And give me a coat. I’m freezing to death.”
Tessa leaned back on her heels and grabbed Danny’s arms, trying to calm his violent shivering. “Can one of you get us a blanket?”
Terry walked quickly to the bed and pulled off the down comforter. The blanket was cold to the touch.
Tessa grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around Danny. “It’s alright, it’s alright,” she murmured, frowning as she noticed Danny’s pale and bluish skin.
“He’s got hypothermia,” she said. “That son of a bitch must have turned the heat off completely in here.”
Terry knelt down next to her and began to work on the ropes. “We need a knife,” he said.
“I’ll get one from the kitchen,” Doug Matheson said, sounding happy to have a task. “I saw it when we were looking for the Detective here.”
Danny’s teeth chattered as he glanced around the room. Jack Meyer grabbed Danny’s parka from the closet door and tossed it to Tessa, before opening the closet to find Danny’s hat, gloves, and scarf. Danny ached to get into his warm clothes, and felt sure he’d never take them off again. His eyes returned to the brunette woman standing near the doorway.
“Who are you?” he asked.
The woman appeared startled. “I’m Lauren Cooper,” she said. “From Seattle.”
Danny nodded and glanced back at Tessa. “Nechayev?”
Tessa shook her head. “There’s no sign of anyone here but you. Looks like Mr. Nechayev packed up and left.”
“He took her with him,” Danny said.
“Who? Katie Bailey?”
Lauren perked up. “Was Katie here? Did you see her?”
Danny thought back to the sultry vampire who had bared her fangs at him with such wicked delight. “I saw her, yes. But she’s gone now.”
“What do you mean, gone? Did Nechayev take her with him?”
How could Danny ever explain this? He stared at Lauren Cooper and forced his muddled brain to think. No one in this room would believe him if he told the truth about Katie Bailey. It was much better to tell a lie. A lie that had some truth to it.
“No,” Danny finally said. “He killed her. I saw her.”
“Oh no,” Tessa said. “That poor kid.”
“What do you mean, you saw her?” Jack asked. “You saw him kill her?”
“No. I saw her dead body.”
Danny saw the hope drain from all of their faces just as Doug Matheson returned with a thin utility knife.
“This ought to do it,” Matheson said. “I think we can cut the ropes without cutting your hands at the same time.”
Danny cringed. “God, I hope so.” He watched as Tessa grabbed the knife and set to work behind his back. “Be careful with that, would you?”
“I should give you a little slice just to teach you a lesson. I’ve seen some stupid stunts but damned if this doesn’t beat all.”
“I think I already learned my lesson without you adding to it. Just cut the god-damn ropes.”
Danny nearly cried as he felt the ropes fall from his wrists. He brought his arms to his front and laid his limp hands in his lap. He tried to move his fingers and was immediately met with stabs of sharp pain.
“Give it a minute,” Tessa said, wrapping the blanket tighter around Danny’s body. “You’ll be alright.”
Lauren cleared her throat. “I’m going to try to find some bandages,” she said. “His wrists are a bloody mess.”
“I’ll go with you,” Doug said.
As the two left the room, Danny stared at his wrists. The ropes had cut deep gashes into each one, and his attempts to loosen the knots had only added to the rope burn around each gash. It struck him how odd it was to be staring at his cuts and yet not be able to feel them, but he knew that wouldn’t last for long.
He suddenly had a flash of memory. “Oh my God,” he said. “Maria!”
“What?” Tessa said. “Maria Treibel?”
Danny nodded. “A root cellar. You need to find a root cellar. Hurry!”
“What are you talking about?”
Danny stumbled to his feet, leaning on Tessa as his numb legs gave out under him. “Aleksei told me she was alive when I was here last. He had her in a root cellar. I didn’t see it, but we need to find it. She might still be alive.”
Jack and Terry both headed for the doorway.
“We’ll see what we can find,” Jack said.
Danny heard their heavy footsteps running down the hallway.
“I need to find her, Tessa. We could have saved her if I hadn’t been so damn stupid last time. Why didn’t I look outside?”
“Don’t beat yourself up now,” Tessa said, gasping as she tried to support Danny’s weight. “You need to rest here, Danny.”
“I’m fine,” he said. “I just need to walk this off.”
He pulled away from Tessa and stumbled to the door of the room, holding onto the frame as he caught his breath and steadied himself. The feeling was returning to his hands and legs, and it wasn’t pleasant. Still, at least he could walk. He barreled past Lauren and Doug into the hallway, brushing off her bandages.
“I need to get outside,” he said.
“What??”
Tessa followed Da
nny, shrugging her shoulders at Lauren as the two passed. Lauren set the bandages down on the bed, and followed behind.
“Danny, you can’t go outside without your coat,” Tessa said. “You’re already hypothermic as it is!”
Ignoring her, Danny continued to follow the voices of the Jack and Terry to Aleksei’s bungalow and the kitchen, where they had discovered what looked to be a root cellar outside the door. It was half covered with snow, but a strong wind had blown enough snow to the side that they could see a wooden door in the ground.
Danny opened the kitchen door and ran outside, ignoring both the yells of his colleagues and the bitter cold that bit into his skin. He fumbled with the door of the root cellar and reluctantly moved away for Jack and Terry to pry it open.
“Maria?” he yelled as soon as the door was open. “Maria Treibel!”
Danny pushed past Jack and Terry and made his way down the stairs of the root cellar, calling Maria’s name with every step.
“It’s the police, Maria,” Tessa said as she descended the stairs behind Danny. “We’re here to help you.”
Tessa felt an increased sense of dread with each step, as the rotten stench of filth, urine, and feces was impossible to ignore. She knew the smell of death, and she feared what she and Danny were going to encounter at the bottom of the staircase.
It wasn’t long before she saw what she feared, as they found Maria crumpled on the floor in the corner of the root cellar. She was covered by a tattered blanket and her hands were crusted in blood. Bloody fingerprints lined the walls, remnants of her futile attempts to claw her way out of her dungeon.
Danny kneeled down beside Maria and gently shook her shoulder. “Maria?”
“Check for a pulse,” Tessa said, before kneeling down and grabbing Maria’s frail and tiny wrist herself. She almost didn’t believe it when she felt a pulse.
“I think she’s alive,” Tessa said.
Danny pulled Maria into a sitting position, and clutched her neck. The pulse was undeniable. “She is!” he yelled.
Tessa blinked back tears. “Thank God,” she said.
Jack stood in the center of the root cellar, stunned at the scene in front of him. He turned to Terry. “Get an ambulance here, a helicopter or something. We need to fly her to a hospital.”
Tessa turned towards Jack and Doug Matheson, who had now entered the cellar and was standing behind the Captain. “Can you two carry her out of here?” she asked. “We need to get her inside where it’s warm.”
Jack and Doug gingerly picked Maria up and carried her towards the stairs.
“She’s so frail I could carry her myself,” Jack said. “God help us.”
Danny collapsed onto the floor of the cellar as he watched Jack and Doug carry Maria’s limp body up the stairs. He put his head in his hands, and burst into tears.
Tessa wrapped her arm around his convulsing shoulders. “Danny, we need to get you inside too. And to a hospital.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re anything but.”
Danny laughed and took in a deep breath. “No point in arguing with you, I know that.”
“None at all.” Tessa hugged him, and stood up. “I need to put an APB out on Nechayev. How long ago did he leave here?”
“I have no idea. I don’t know how long I was out before you found me.”
“We had a terrible time getting here because of a storm in Fairbanks. Airport was closed. It was 24 hours after Amanda told me about your foolhardy stunt before I could even get a plane.”
“Amanda. So that’s how you knew I was here.”
“Lucky for you she called me.”
Danny nodded. “About Nechayev, you’re wasting your time with the APB. He’s long gone.”
“Well he couldn’t have gotten that far. This weather grounded everyone.”
“Not him. He’s different. He’s a monster.”
“I know that. But that doesn’t mean…”
Danny interrupted her. “I’m not speaking metaphorically, Tessa. I mean it. He’s not human. He’s some kind of creature. I know it’s crazy but I swear it’s the truth.”
Tessa held out her hand to him. “Danny, you’re in shock. And confusion is common with hypothermia, I know. God knows you must be dehydrated too after being stuck in that room for so long. I don’t even know how you’re talking.”
Danny started to protest again, but thought better of it. It was clear no one was going to believe him about what Aleksei really was, and he couldn’t blame them. A month ago, he wouldn’t have believed it either.
“We need to get you to a hospital,” Tessa said. “Let Captain Meyer and me worry about Nechayev now.”
Danny took hold of Tessa’s outstretched hand, and slowly got to his feet. Feeling dizzy, he clutched onto her arm for support as the two made their way up the stairs of the root cellar and back to the kitchen of the Snow Creek Asylum.
Chapter 68
Lauren walked slowly through Aleksei’s living quarters, buttoning her coat against the burst of cold that had engulfed the bungalow as soon as the other officers had opened the kitchen door to the outside. She ignored the chaos of the root cellar and the kitchen, as she knew the others had that situation well in hand. She wanted to get back to the reason she was here in this Arctic nightmare in the first place. Katie Bailey.
She searched the master bedroom and found nothing out of the ordinary, except for the fact that Aleksei had covered the king-sized bed with black. Black comforter, black pillows, and a black blanket. Very cheery place, Lauren thought. The closet looked as if it had been recently emptied, which fit with Danny’s insistence that Nechayev had left the premises for good.
Lauren walked down the corridor, passing a bathroom with no knob on the inside of the door, and wondered if Katie and the rest of the women had been locked into that bathroom with no way to even try to open the door from their end. As she had always struggled with claustrophobia, Lauren shuddered at the prospect.
She shuddered more when she came to what had to be a guest bedroom, and immediately realized that this bedroom door was also missing an inside knob. Lauren had no doubt that this room was where Aleksei had kept his prisoners. Unlike Aleksei’s own bed, this one was unmade, and the sheets and blankets were bunched haphazardly across the bed. Lauren winced as she noticed drops of blood staining the sheets and pillow cases. Was that Katie’s blood?
Looking down at the floor next to the bed, Lauren came to a dead stop. A pile of clothing lay on the floor, khaki pants, brown socks, and a blue polo shirt with an insignia on the chest. A lacy bra and a pair of panties had been tossed on top of a pair of taupe boat shoes. Lauren crouched down to get a closer look at the lettering on the shirt. “George’s Place.”
Lauren immediately recognized the name of Katie’s grandfather’s restaurant and she knew she was looking at Katie’s work clothes. The clothes she had been wearing when she was abducted. Lauren noticed blood stains covering the collar of Katie’s shirt. Had Aleksei sliced her throat? That would be Lauren’s guess.
She stood back up and pulled an evidence bag out of the bag she had been carrying over her shoulder since she had landed in Fairbanks. She snapped on a pair of gloves and picked up Katie’s clothing and shoes, making a mental note to herself to make sure she got a team in place to analyze the bedclothes and the rest of the room.
Satisfied she had seen everything that could possibly be of interest in Aleksei’s bungalow, Lauren carried the bag of Katie’s clothing out of the room and returned to the kitchen.
Chapter 69
“There you are,” Jack Meyer said as Lauren joined the rest of the officers. “I was about to send a search team out. We thought you were still back in the asylum.”
Lauren shook her head. “No, I’ve been searching the bungalow.”
“What do you have there?” Jack asked, gesturing towards the evidence bag in Lauren’s hand.
“Katie Bailey’s clothes. I’m sure it’s the uniform she was wearing when s
he was abducted. The shirt has the name of her grandfather’s restaurant on it.”
Jack’s heart sank. “Aww shit. What a god damn ugly business this is.”
Danny thought back to the Katie he had seen with Aleksei. What was Aleksei calling her? Katerina?
“When I saw her body, Aleksei had dressed her in one of his costumes,” he said.
“What do you mean, costumes?” Lauren asked.
Terry answered for Danny. “When we searched this place last week, we found a closet full of old-fashioned costumes for women. Long dresses, old shoes, that sort of thing.”
“Right,” Danny said. “And that’s what he put her in. It was a long velvet dress.”
Danny didn’t mention that Katie had torn the dress to a much shorter length, and a much more revealing v-neck.
“So he dressed up her dead body in a costume?” Lauren said. “What the hell did he do with it then? There’s not a body here. There’s nothing.”
“He took the body with him,” Danny said.
Lauren shook her head, incredulous. “Holy shit, what kind of freak is this guy?”
“Well it doesn’t matter,” Jack said. “We’ll find him soon enough. He couldn’t have gotten far on his own, let alone carting around a corpse.”
Lauren rubbed her eyes and forced herself to concentrate on her case. “We’re going to need a forensics team up here. We need to go over this place with a fine-toothed comb.”
“Already in the works,” Jack said. “I’m hoping they’ll get here soon with our transport.” He stared at Maria, who was listless and non-responsive on the floor, bundled in as many blankets as the team could find. “We need to get Ms. Treibel to a hospital ASAP.”
To everyone’s relief, they heard footsteps marching towards the kitchen, and two National Guardsmen carrying blankets and a stretcher entered the room.
“We’ve got a jeep for two injured patients,” one said. “There’s a hospital plane waiting back at the air field.
Danny scowled. “I don’t need special transport.”
“Shut up and let us take care of you,” Tessa said, silencing him with both her words and her expression.
Polar (Book 1): Polar Night Page 24