by Cindi Myers
“I’m waiting for Henry,” Donna said, as if this explained everything.
“Donna’s friend is giving a statement to the sheriff,” Adelaide said.
“A statement about what?”
“I don’t know,” Adelaide said. “Nate brought him in.”
“Nate Hall?” How was Nate involved in any of this?
“He gave us a ride in his truck,” Donna said. “He has a set of deer antlers and a shotgun in it.”
“I don’t understand,” Jamie said. “Did something happen?” She addressed her sister. “Did someone try to hurt you and Henry while you were walking home?”
Donna looked puzzled. “No. We came here with Nate, in his truck.”
“I’m sure he’ll be finished in a few minutes,” Adelaide said. “Then you can ask the sheriff what this is about.”
Not knowing what else to do, Jamie sat, only half paying attention to the conversation Donna and Adelaide were having about the masquerade ball on Friday. After about five minutes, the door to the sheriff’s office opened and Nate emerged with a stocky young man who wore black framed glasses. The young man—Henry—grinned as Donna rushed to meet him. “I still need to walk you home,” he said.
“Hello, Henry. I’m Donna’s sister, Jamie.” Jamie offered her hand and Henry solemnly shook it.
“Nice to meet you,” he said.
Jamie looked past him to address Nate, who supported himself with crutches. “What are Henry and my sister doing here at the sheriff’s department?”
“Henry was friends with Michaela Underwood,” Nate said. “He saw her in the store the day before she died, with a man he thought was her boyfriend.”
“Al,” Jamie said. The man who might have been her killer.
“He gave us a very good description of the man,” Nate said. “He’s been a big help to us.”
“I need to walk Donna home now,” Henry said.
“I’ll drive Donna home,” Jamie said. “And I need to call your mother, Henry. When you didn’t come home, she was worried. The way Mrs. Simmons and I were worried about Donna when she didn’t show up on time.” She glared at Nate as she said the last words. He had the grace to look chagrined.
“I’ll give you a ride to your place, Henry,” Nate said. “After we call your mom.”
Jamie already had her phone out and was dialing the O’Keefes’ number. Mrs. O’Keefe answered after the first ring. “Henry is fine,” Jamie said. “He and Donna are here at the sheriff’s department. Everything is all right. They’re not in trouble. Henry was able to give some evidence in a case we’re working on. An officer is going to bring him home... Of course, if you would rather. I understand.” She chatted with Mrs. O’Keefe for another minute and then ended the call. “Your mother is coming to get you,” she told Henry.
“I’ll wait with him, if you want to go,” Nate said.
“No, I do not want to go.” Jamie took Nate’s arm and tugged him toward the hallway. Reluctantly, he hobbled after her.
She led the way into the empty conference room and shut the door behind him. He held up his hand to stop her speaking. “Before you lay into me, I realize I screwed up,” he said. “I should have let you know what was going on and that your sister was safe. I didn’t mean to worry you.”
“You didn’t mean to worry me? There is a killer out there who preys on women. My sister would be an easy target. I wasn’t worried—I was petrified.”
“I get that, and I’m sorry.” He took her hand, his thumb tracing the contours of her knuckles, the touch reassuring—and unsettling. “I’m really sorry. I promise not to do that to you again.”
She wanted to continue to rage at him but feared that if she opened her mouth again, she’d start crying. She forced back the tears and pulled her hand away from his. “How did you find out Henry knew Michaela?” she asked.
“I was buying groceries and we got to talking. He saw my uniform and asked if I knew about the murders—then he told me he had seen Michaela the day before she died, with a man he hadn’t seen her with before.”
“Then how did my sister get involved?”
“When I showed up at three to pick up Henry and bring him here to make his statement, Donna was with him. He said she needed to come with him and I didn’t see any harm in it.” He grimaced. “I should have realized you’d be worried.”
“I know. And really, Donna should have called me herself. She knows she’s supposed to.”
“Am I forgiven?” he asked.
His contrite tone almost made her laugh. The tension of the afternoon had her emotions ricocheting all over the place. “I’ll think about it,” she said, moving past him.
Henry and Donna waited where Nate and Jamie had left them, seated in chairs by the door, holding hands. “I want to take Donna to the party Friday night,” Henry said, standing as Nate and Jamie approached.
“We’re supposed to wear costumes,” Donna said, bouncing on her toes with excitement.
Jamie opened her mouth to say no. Donna needed to stay home, where she would be safe. But she couldn’t keep her sister a prisoner. And Jamie had planned to attend the masquerade party anyway. “All right,” she said.
Donna looked to Henry, who nodded. “Good,” he said.
Jamie took her sister’s hand. “Come on. I’ll take you to Mrs. Simmons’s,” she said.
“See you tomorrow,” Henry said. He stopped and blew Donna a kiss. She returned the gesture, blushing and giggling. Jamie couldn’t help smiling. Veronique was right—Donna and Henry made a cute couple. She was happy Donna had found a friend, but her heart ached at the knowledge that no matter how hard she tried, she could never protect her sister from all the ways the world could hurt her.
* * *
NATE HAD JUST settled onto the sofa, feet up, a cup of cocoa in one hand, a suspense novel in the other, when someone rapped on his door. “Who is it?” he called. He could count on the fingers of one hand the number of people who had stopped by for a visit since he had moved in four months ago.
“It’s Travis.”
Intrigued, Nate levered himself to his feet and clomped to the door with the aid of one crutch. He unlocked it and opened it to admit the sheriff. “I wanted to see how you’re doing and check if you needed anything,” Travis said.
“Thanks, but I’m okay.” Nate dropped back onto the sofa. He doubted the sheriff had really come over to check on him. Travis had something on his mind. Even back in college, when they had roomed together, Travis had a tendency to brood. “Have a seat,” Nate said.
Travis sat, elbows on his knees, hands clasped in front of his mouth, saying nothing.
“How are the wedding preparations going?” Nate asked. “It won’t be long now.”
“They’re going okay. Lacy is a little anxious about the weather. Some of the guests won’t be able to attend if the road doesn’t open.”
“You won’t be able to get away for your honeymoon, either,” Nate said.
“I’m not going anywhere until this killer is caught. Lacy knows that.”
“You never were one to leave a job unfinished. What’s the latest?”
“We can’t get a police artist to come here, because of the road closures, but I’ve arranged for one to Skype with Henry O’Keefe. I’m hoping we can get an image we can publish in the paper and distribute around town. Someone knows this guy.”
“He may not be the killer.”
“Maybe not. But he might have seen something that morning that could help us find the killer.” He sat up straight. “He’s going to strike again, I’m sure.”
“What about the plan to have Jamie drive around, trying to attract the killer’s attention?” Nate didn’t like the idea, but it wasn’t his decision to make.
“We’re going to do that tonight,” Travis said. “I put it off one night after we got the descript
ion from Henry. I wanted to see if that led to anyone obvious. It didn’t, but maybe we’ll have better luck with the drawing. Meanwhile, Dwight is going out with Jamie tonight. Gage and I will be on duty nearby, ready to close in.”
“Jamie is pretty new to the force, isn’t she?”
“She’s been with us almost a year. She’s been a good addition to the department.”
“I knew her growing up,” Nate said. “I never would have dreamed she’d go into law enforcement. It’s not anything she ever talked about.” Whereas he had decided to aim for a job with Parks and Wildlife when he was still in his teens. The idea of being able to study wildlife and actively protect it, while also helping to educate the public, had appealed to him, as had the freedom to spend lots of time outdoors.
“She’s hardworking and good with people,” Travis said. “She’s smart. And we’re working to diversify the force to better reflect the population we serve. We’re hoping to recruit more women like her.”
“She seems to really like the work. But are you sure she’s up for this decoy exercise tonight? This killer—or killers—has made a habit of killing women very quickly.” His stomach clenched as he spoke.
Travis’s gaze met Nate’s, unwavering. “I wouldn’t ask Jamie to do this if I didn’t believe she could handle it,” he said. “So, what’s going on between you two?”
Nate looked away. “Nothing is going on between us.”
“I thought I sensed some...tension.”
Nate laughed. “Oh, there’s tension all right. She can’t stand me.”
“And why is that?”
He blew out a breath. Travis wasn’t the type to press if Nate told him to mind his own business, but maybe getting his levelheaded friend’s perspective would help. “Jamie and I dated during high school,” he said. “We were really close. I guess you could say we were each other’s first love. But then it was time to go to college and I was going away. I didn’t think it was fair to ask her to wait for me, so I broke things off with her. I thought we could still be friends, but she didn’t see it that way.” His shoulders sagged. “I guess you could say things ended badly. Apparently, she’s never forgiven me. Maybe because I wasn’t around to support her after her parents died.”
“It takes a lot of energy to hold on to anger that long,” Travis said. “It makes me think there’s more than animosity behind it.”
“Think that if you like, but she’s made it clear she doesn’t want to have anything to do with me.”
Travis’s phone rang and he answered. He listened for a moment, frowning, then stood. “I’m on my way.” He pocketed his phone again. “That was Adelaide,” he said. “The Ice Cold Killer has struck again—only this time, the woman got away.”
Chapter Nine
“You’re going to be all right, Tammy. You’re safe now.” Jamie handed the distraught young woman a cup of water, then sat next to her, pulling the chair close. Tammy Patterson, reporter for the Eagle Mountain Examiner, had stumbled into the sheriff’s department ten minutes before, her clothes torn, her face bloodied, tears running down her cheeks. She had sobbed incoherently, something about the Ice Cold Killer coming after her. “You’re safe now,” Jamie murmured again and pressed a cold compress to the swelling on the side of Tammy’s face.
“The sheriff is on his way,” Dwight Prentice said from the doorway of the conference room. “The paramedics are coming, too.”
Jamie nodded. It wouldn’t hurt to have Tammy’s bruises checked. “Drink some water,” she urged. “When the sheriff gets here, we’ll need you to tell us what happened, but remember, you’re safe and you’re with friends.”
Tammy nodded and drank. Her hands didn’t shake as badly now, and the flow of tears had subsided.
Dwight glanced over this shoulder. “Sheriff’s here.” A moment later, Travis entered.
“Hello, Tammy,” he said. “I understand you’ve had a frightening time of it.”
She drew in a deep, shuddering breath. “I was terrified. But I’m alive and safe now—that’s what counts.”
Travis pulled up a chair across from Tammy. “You may be able to help us catch this guy and stop him from hurting other women. So I need you to tell me everything you can remember about what happened—even if the detail seems too small to be important. Can you do that?”
She nodded, licked her lips and began speaking, hesitantly at first, then with more assurance. “I was out on County Road Two. Colorado Parks and Wildlife is going to start putting out food for the deer and elk who have been stressed by all this snow, and they have a staging area out there for the supplies and volunteers. I went out there to get photos for the paper.”
She took a sip of water, then continued. “I was on my way back to town, maybe three miles from the staging area. It had started snowing, and visibility wasn’t that good. Then all of a sudden, I saw a woman standing on the side of the road. She was waving her arms. I had to stop. I pulled over to the shoulder and she ran up to the passenger side of the car. I rolled down the window and she told me she had had a fight with her boyfriend, who was drunk. She needed to get to town—or at least to borrow a phone so she could call a friend to come get her. Of course I said I’d help her. She was so distressed—clearly, she had been crying, and her hair was all down in her eyes, and she sounded almost hysterical. I unlocked the car and leaned over to clear stuff off the passenger seat so she could get in.”
She closed her eyes and a shudder went through her. “All of a sudden, the driver’s-side door opened and someone grabbed me and started hauling me out of the car. I screamed and started trying to fight him off. I thought at first it was the woman’s boyfriend, angry because I was getting involved. But then the woman came around to the side of the road. While he held my arms, she grabbed at my legs and started trying to wrap them with duct tape.”
“The woman was helping him?” Jamie asked.
Tammy’s eyes met hers. “Looking back now, I don’t think it really was a woman,” she said. “This person was really strong.”
“Do you think it was a man, dressed up like a woman?” Travis asked.
“Maybe,” Tammy said. “She was tall for a woman, and she had lots of blond hair, all falling in front of her face. She never really looked directly at me. I think the hair might have been a wig. And like I said, she was so strong.”
Travis nodded. “All right. Tell us about the other man. The one who grabbed you.”
Tammy shook her head. “There’s not much to tell. He was behind me most of the time. I only saw him for a few seconds, from the side. He was dressed all in black, with a ski mask pulled down over his head.”
“How tall do you think he was?” Travis asked. “How much taller than you?”
“He was taller than me—most men are. But he wasn’t really tall, so I’d say, maybe five-ten. But the ground was really uneven there, and he was behind me, so he might have been six feet tall, just standing on lower ground.”
“What about build?” Travis asked. “Was he stocky, or really muscular?”
She shook her head. “No, he was just, you know, average. I wish now I had paid more attention, but I was so scared. I was sure he was going to kill me.”
“You got away,” Jamie reminded her. “You’re safe.”
“What did you do?” Travis asked. “How did you get away?”
“I fought so hard. When he grabbed me, I had picked up my notebook off the passenger seat so the woman could get in. It had a pen clipped to it. I grabbed the pen and stabbed at him—at his hands, his face. And I kicked at the woman. She dropped the duct tape and it rolled into the dirt.” Tammy’s eyes widened. “I remember now—she swore, and her voice was different—deeper. A man’s voice.”
“Did he say a name, or address the other man in any way?” Travis asked.
Tammy closed her eyes. Jamie imagined her putting herself back in that place. �
��No. They didn’t say anything to each other. The man in the ski mask was angry that I fought, and he hit me—hard.” She put a hand to her bruised face. “But I was so terrified. I knew if I didn’t get away from them, I would die. So I did everything I could think of. I kept stabbing with the pen, and I spat at him and tried to bite him. When he dragged me from the car, I hooked one foot onto the bottom of the seat. It threw him off balance. The side of the road is really rough over there, and there’s a lot of snow. He slid down into the ditch, away from me. I got up and crawled back into the car and slammed the door. The engine was still running, so I just floored it. I almost ran over the woman.
“I don’t even remember getting here. I just drove, as fast as I could. I kept looking in the mirror, to see if they followed me, but they didn’t.”
“Where were you, exactly, when this happened?” Travis asked.
“On County Road Two. There’s that little neighborhood of houses in there, then a stretch of woods, then a big curve. This was right after the big curve.”
“You want me to go out and take a look?” Dwight spoke from the doorway.
“Take Gage with you. Find the scene and cordon it off. Do a search, then hit the houses around there. Talk to everyone you can. Find out if they know anything. Or saw or heard anything”
“That’s only a few miles from where Michaela’s body was found,” Jamie said. “The killers might live in one of those houses.”
“I want to go out there tonight, see if we can draw them out.” Travis said. He turned to Jamie. “If you’re still up for it, Deputy.”
“I am.”
“I’ll call Gage,” Dwight said, and left them as two paramedics entered. Travis and Jamie moved away to let them check out Tammy.
“You don’t have to do this decoy op if you’re uncomfortable with it,” Travis told Jamie. “There’s no doubt these two are dangerous.”
“I want to, sir,” she said. “This may be our best chance to catch them. They’ll be frustrated that Tammy got away.”