Murder on Ice

by B. T. Lord

  “What is that?” she asked in surprise.

  Jace grinned from ear to ear. “Open it.”

  “It’s not my birthday. And we already celebrated my election as sheriff last year.”

  “Open the box and I’ll tell you.”

  She gazed at him for a long moment, trying to read his thoughts.

  “Will you stop trying to be Sherlock Holmes and just open the damned box?” Jace laughed.

  She did as he asked and caught her breath. Nestled inside was a half moon pendant hanging on a sterling silver chain. The pendant was decorated with delicate shimmering crystals that caught the light of the overhead lamp, sending a rainbow of colors against the dark velvet interior of the box.

  “I know how much you like to watch the way the light of the full moon shimmers on the pond at night. Those crystals look just like the moonlight, don’t they?” He leaned over the booth and kissed her on the mouth. “Happy one-year anniversary.”

  Cammie was speechless. And embarrassed. Caught up with the Birdman thefts, she’d overlooked the fact that one year ago, she and Jace had met. Right here at Zee’s. Over a game of pool. This was one holiday Emmy didn’t have a tree for. And she’d forgotten.

  “Oh crap…” she muttered.

  He held up his hand. “I know you’ve been busy with that mess over the birdfeeders. I don’t need any gifts. You’re my gift.”

  “I should have remembered.”

  “Do you at least remember the first meal you ever cooked for me?”

  Despite herself, she chuckled. It was during the first weeks of December. She’d grown comfortable enough with the idea of spending time with Jace in a more intimate setting other than Zee’s poolroom.

  A full moon hung suspended in the sky that night. When Cammie and Jace stood on the porch of her small cabin, they watched its reflection illuminate the pines and oaks that surrounded her property. She’d tried to make him a simple meal of baked potatoes and steak, but never having mastered the art of cooking, she’d almost burned down her cabin. It was still a topic of conversation at the Twin Ponds fire department.

  After the firemen left, they’d laughed at her culinary skills. Standing in the darkened kitchen, she’d noticed a stray moonbeam dancing across his face, leading towards her bedroom. It promised a path of possibilities and second chances, of physical and spiritual release.

  In the tiny cabin, on the shores of a frozen lake, they retreated from the world and began the process of discovering each other. Slowly, hesitantly, then passionately, they started down that path of possibilities together. When they were done, they came to the decision that if any cooking was to be done in Cammie’s cabin, it would be safer for Jace to do it.

  “How could I forget?” she responded. “To paraphrase Claude Rains in Casablanca, ‘It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.’”

  “More than a friendship, I hope.”

  She caressed his fingers. “Yes. Definitely more than a friendship.”

  Cammie abruptly ducked her head as a rush of emotions suddenly loomed up and threatened to choke her. Tears unexpectedly welled up in her eyes. His gesture was so typical of Jace, remembering the moon that night and on subsequent nights. She felt horrible for having forgotten.

  “This is the most beautiful gift I’ve ever gotten,” she managed to say.

  “The best thing I ever did was walk into Zee’s a year ago and talk you into playing a round of pool with me. I didn’t even care that you beat the pants off me.” He took her hands in his and gave them an affectionate squeeze. “This has been the happiest year of my life,” he whispered.

  “Me too,” she mumbled.

  She stared down at the pendant, its sparkling lights refracting through the blur of her tears. Deep down in the depths of her being, she felt something she’d last felt when she was five years old. A half buried memory rushed up – of awakening to the sounds of a Beatles tune playing. Of sneaking downstairs, knowing even at that age that to make a sound would ruin something magical, something she’d remember for the rest of her life.

  Sitting on the bottom step, she’d peered through the banister into the living room where, to her amazement, she watched her mother and father dancing slowly together. Her mother’s head burrowed against her father’s chest. His chin resting upon her mother’s red burnished curls. Happy, peaceful, existing only for each other.

  In that moment, watching something that would never repeat again, she’d felt secure and safe in a way she didn’t think she’d ever feel again. Until she met Jace.

  She looked across the table at him, his handsome face distorted through the curtain of tears. A warmth filled her belly, a knowing that the gloominess that had enveloped her life was lifting and disappearing.

  And this man, who loved her despite her baggage, who believed in her and trusted her, had given her back that feeling. That gift that surpassed all others. Throughout the past year, on those nights when he’d slowly peeled off her clothes, he’d also been peeling away her shadows. Allowing a speck of light to penetrate all those dark corners in her soul that she kept locked away. It took this night to make her realize that.

  She took the pendant out of the box and slipped it over her head until it nestled against her breastbone. The silver chain felt cold against her skin as the pendant continued to catch the light of the overhead lamp. She cleared her throat and furiously blinked back the tears. Once she felt in control of her emotions, she lifted her head and gazed into his eyes.

  “I appreciate this gift and I will always wear it. But I don’t need a gift from you to tell me that you love me. You show me every day when you cook me dinner, or bring me lunch at the office. Or hold me at night. Or,” she leaned in and brushed his lips with hers, “remember our first year anniversary. This too has been the happiest year of my life. I realize now how selfish I’ve been. Whatever happened in the past is in the past. You’ve helped me let it all go. I want you to know that with all my heart I –“

  The front door of Zee’s blew open, bringing a sudden hush to the noise filling the busy restaurant. The abrupt silence that followed caught Cammie’s attention, momentarily disrupting her heartfelt speech.

  “What is it? Finish what you were going to say,” Jace prompted, squeezing her hands tighter as if he could wring out the words he’d been waiting a year to hear. He’d hoped, prayed that she’d finally find the courage to say what he longed to hear her say. And finally, here it was. In this crowded restaurant that suddenly seemed empty except for the two of them. He unconsciously shifted his weight to the edge of his seat.

  Cammie gathered her thoughts and turned back to Jace. There was so much to say and she wasn’t sure words existed that could express the depths of her emotions. But she was going to try.

  She opened her mouth to speak, only to close it again when someone slid into the booth next to her. She turned to find Rick reaching into their bowl of popcorn and popping a few kernels into his mouth. She frowned.

  “What are you doing here? I thought you had a hot date.”

  He shrugged. “It turned colder than a winter nor’easter.” He jerked his head in the direction of the entrance. “You guys see who just walked in?”

  “Excuse me, but we’re having a private moment here,” Jace replied testily, clearly irritated at the interruption and hoping Rick of all people would get the hint and disappear.

  “You can have your private moment later. Trust me on this and check out who’s at the door. I guarantee, it’s gonna knock your socks off.”

  He lifted his finger and pointed across the restaurant. Knowing Rick wouldn’t leave until they looked, both turned.

  Cammie gasped and unconsciously clamped down on Jace’s fingers until he winced.

  Is this what her instincts had been trying to warn her about outside? She should have listened and run as far away as she possibly could. Maybe she could still run. She shifted her weight but Rick was in the way. It was too late. She was trapped.

  Unable to tear
her eyes away from the front door, a maddening thought occurred to Cammie.

  For once in that crazy old witch’s life, one of Cora’s damned predictions had actually come true.

  Fuck!

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Jace caught his breath as he surreptitiously extracted his sore fingers from Cammie’s death grip. “Is that who I think it is?” he asked, his eyes glued to the front of the restaurant.

  “I told you it would knock your socks off. Can you believe it?”

  Cammie didn’t want to believe it. She couldn’t believe it. The small amount of beer she’d drunk lay sour in the pit of her stomach. If she opened her mouth, she’d vomit, not only the beer, but years of pain and disappointment and disillusionment. She resisted the frantic need to bolt under the table and hide. It took all her efforts to remain seated.

  Eli Kelley, known the world over as ‘The Puckmeister’, slowly entered the restaurant, smiling the electrifying smile that had graced more than a hundred magazine covers during his brilliant career as an NHL star.

  A crowd materialized around him, gasping at the unexpected sight, before slipping into a fawning, nervous twitter. Men who had grown up with Eli now crowded around him, slapping him on the back and shaking his hand. Women just watched in wonder, drooling at the sight of the handsome, still virile ex-athlete. He raised his arms in the gesture of a pope blessing his adoring flock of worshipers and before Cammie could stop herself, she croaked, “My God, he is the Anti-Christ.”

  “What do you think the dude’s doing here?” Rick asked, his attention riveted on Eli. “We’re not having any kind of hockey torney, are we?”

  “Not that I know of,” Jace answered. “Maybe he’s here for an interview. You know, one of those ‘this is where it all started’ type of stories.”

  “A bit late for that, isn’t it? Didn’t he retire two years ago? I read his knees gave out like Bobby Orr’s.” Rick shrugged to himself. “Maybe it’s a slow sports news week and someone came up with the idea of getting Eli’s old team together. That would be something, huh? Jasper Brooke, Sully O’Callahan, Cammie--” Rick abruptly clamped his mouth shut as he sheepishly glanced at her. “Uh, then again, maybe he’s just here for a vacation.”

  “Cammie doesn’t care,” Jace said as he playfully reached over and nudged Cammie’s shoulder. “It’s been sixteen years. That’s all over and done with.”

  “Fifteen…” she mumbled, wondering if the slamming of her heart against her ribcage indicated she was about to have a heart attack.

  If only.

  Jace turned his attention back to Eli and watched as he ate up the adulation from the townspeople surrounding him. “Can’t believe he’s really here. I grew up worshipping him. No one in the NHL had a slap shot like his. Goalies actually ducked when they saw it coming. Knowing he grew up right here in Twin Ponds made it all the more special.”

  Caught up in the excitement of a sports celebrity in their midst, the two failed to notice Cammie’s silence. Or the pasty white skin where the color had drained from her face.

  She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Unable to look away, her eyes were fixated on the man drawing closer to their table.

  He was still a fine looking man despite the years. His blonde hair, now flecked with grey at the temples, lay curled around his ears and along the nape of his neck. After removing his knee length camel hair coat, she saw he was wearing a light blue cashmere sweater that highlighted his Paul Newman-like electric blue eyes. Before she could stop herself, her eyes went directly to Eli’s left brow where a scar puckered against his eyebrow. The sight of it gave her grim satisfaction.

  She’d put it there.

  He was thinner than she remembered, though encased in the tightest blue jeans she’d ever seen, he still looked good. Damned good.

  So far he hadn’t noticed her. She glanced around the booth, wondering if she could get past Rick and slip out the back door without being seen.

  She tried to move, but found to her dismay that she couldn’t. An avalanche of memories crashed over her, suffocating her with a mixture of poignancy and unrelenting anguish. She’d been so sure tonight that she was ready to move on with her life. That she’d healed her scars and could finally open herself up fully to another human being. The sight of Eli made her realize what a fool she’d been. The wounds of what he’d done to her fifteen years before were still raw, still seeping - all the hurt, the betrayal, the indifference, crashing against a time of innocence, when she thought she and Eli could take on anything and everything.

  Except each other.

  Goddamn it. Cora had been right. Her past had collided with her present in a way she never would have dreamed possible. And it was making her physically sick.

  I can’t bear this, she thought frantically as she felt bowed by the roller coaster of emotions. I can’t stay here and watch myself fall apart. I can’t humiliate myself. I’m out of control. Damn you, Eli! Why the fuck did you have to come back --

  “Cammie Farnsworth! Is that really you?”

  Oh Christ…

  It was zero point. She had to escape or risk coming apart at the seams. Not caring how ridiculous she looked, Cammie gave Rick a hard shove.

  “What the hell--?” he complained as she literally punched his arm to get him to move.

  It was a waste of time. By the time it dawned on Rick that she wanted to get out of the booth, Eli had descended upon them.

  “Mind if I sit there?’ he asked Rick.

  No! Cammie screamed, but no words came out of her mouth. She silently cursed Rick as he slid out of the booth and sat next to Jace while Eli took his place. In the next moment, she found her left cheek plastered against Eli’s sweater, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her shoulders. “Woman, you look fantastic!” Eli exclaimed as he squeezed her tighter.

  A tangy mixture of sandalwood, patchouli, and other spicy scents she couldn’t identify assailed her nostrils. Whatever cologne he was wearing smelled expensive, a fact that tugged at her. Despite the years, he hadn’t changed. He still had to have the best, no matter the cost. Time fell away and she was sixteen again, marveling at how perfectly her cheek fit against Eli’s hard, muscular chest, feeling his arms around her, knowing no one could touch her as long as she stayed in those arms…

  She brought herself up abruptly and pushed away from his embrace.

  “If you hold me any tighter, you’ll cut off my circulation,” she said matter-of-factly, proud that her voice didn’t betray the mess roiling inside.

  “Sorry sweetheart, but you always did bring out the grizzly bear in me.”

  Cammie lowered her eyes, not sure what emotions were visible there. Hatred? Yes. Loathing, definitely. Anguish for what might have been…?

  She resisted the urge to tear at her hair if only to dislodge the disconcerting thoughts. Eli shifted his weight, realizing he was sitting on a parka. He pulled it out and handed it to Rick.

  “Sorry for sitting on your parka.”

  “That’s hers,” Rick pointed out.

  Eli noticed the Sheriff’s Department patch on the sleeve and turned in amazement to face Cammie, noticing her light tan uniform for the first time.

  “You a deputy?”

  “Sheriff, actually.”

  He tipped his head back and laughed. “No shit! I’d better watch myself then or you’ll just have to cuff me, eh?”

  He raised his eyebrow in a lascivious manner. Then he did the unexpected. He lowered his head and firmly planted his lips against hers, catching her completely off guard.

  Embarrassment washed over her. And a searing anger. He was as arrogant as ever. Taking whatever he wanted.

  The restaurant grew silent as everyone’s eyes were on them. Those old enough to remember knew there was bad blood between Cammie and Eli. Those too young certainly knew about Cammie and Jace’s relationship. With a collective breath, they leaned forward, waiting to see what would happen.

  Cammie knew exactly what was about to happen. She
formed a fist and was about to drive it into Eli’s crotch when a quiet voice broke the moment.

  “Let her go, Mr. Kelley.” The voice was polite, but the steely undertone was unmistakable. Eli reluctantly released her and turned to see Jace gazing at him. A fierce protest welled up in Cammie’s throat, but quickly died when she saw the expression on Jace’s face. In the twelve months they’d lived together, she thought she’d seen all his moods. But this was new. His eyes were as icy as a January morning.

  And just as deadly.

  Inexplicably, it sent shivers down her spine.

  “If you’re looking for an autograph, I’m a bit busy right now,” Eli quipped as he leaned in towards Cammie again. Jace’s hand shot out and caught Eli in the chest, halting him instantly. Eli stared down in amazement at the hand planted squarely in his chest.

  “I don’t think she wants you to kiss her again,” Jace replied in that same frigidly polite tone of voice.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Cammie saw people leaning in until their noses were almost touching the floor. Their thoughts were obvious. Was their current hockey star going to get into a scrum with their past hockey star? The thought was too good to be true.

  Anxious to avoid the public spectacle, she took Eli’s hand and firmly removed it and his arm from her shoulders.

  “Eli, this is my deputy, Rick Belleveau. And this is my boyfriend, Jason Northcott. Jace, Rick, this is Eli Kelley.” She was being facetious; everyone knew who Eli was. But the humor was lost in the surge of testosterone bouncing back and forth between Jace and Eli.

  Eli curled his eyebrow sardonically as he looked Jace up and down. “Boyfriend, huh? What are you? Nineteen? Twenty?”

  “Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m twenty-seven.”

  A grin tugged at the corners of Eli’s mouth and the sight of it sent a wave of indignation through Cammie. Steeling herself for the sarcastic remark that was sure to follow, they were interrupted by a high pitched feminine squeal ripping through the tense air.