“What do you think of rounding up the skiers tomorrow morning and having them go from house to house out there, encouraging those home owners to stay at one of the hotels where we can keep a better eye on everyone?” Mitch moved his finger from one red pin to another, counting in his head. “I would imagine the home owners all have skis or a snowmobile to make it through the snow, right?”
Brad appeared to consider Mitch’s plan. “Definitely. Everyone’s got some way to get around. Of course, there are a few who are holed up waiting out the storm and don’t have a clue what’s going on here.”
“Do you think most folks would come?” Jonathan asked.
“If they know what’s going on, yeah.” Brad pushed off the desk, walked toward the map and pointed at the red pin closest to the runway. “Except him. I suspect he won’t even answer the door.”
“Why not?” Jonathan asked gruffly.
“He’s a hermit.” Brad shrugged. “A recluse.”
“A hermit?” Jonathan snorted loudly, his disgust evident.
A quiet, slightly garbled sound from Elise made Mitch turn, but Brad’s words caught his attention instead.
“From what I’ve heard, Old Man Fogarty hasn’t left his home since he bought it over ten years ago.” Brad picked up a small rubber ball on his desk and tossed it into the air, catching it with ease. “So I don’t think he’ll be comin’ into town. And, truth be told, he’s exactly the kind of person who could disappear and no one would notice.”
~ ~ ~
She heard Mitch running through the people they needed to interview. The reunion group members, the orienteering guys, and even Joe, but it wasn’t sinking into her head. Her mind was on her uncle. A man she’d loved so deeply yet lost in the blink of an eye.
Elise looked across the room at Mitch, saw the way he moved around the station discussing strategy with Jonathan and Brad. He was so passionate about his profession, so determined to catch the bad guys. And as much as she wished it weren’t so, she knew there was a chance he’d see Uncle Ken as one of those bad guys—someone who’d gotten away with another person’s death.
How could she blame him if he did? She knew it was an accident, believed it with every fiber of her being. But she hadn’t suffered the same kind of personal losses Mitch had.
Twisting her hands in her lap, Elise was sure of one thing. There was no way she could tell Mitch about Uncle Ken. She simply couldn’t risk losing him. Sure, one day she’d have to—if their relationship progressed into a lasting one—but she’d cross that bridge when it came.
In the meantime, she couldn’t ignore the relief she felt knowing that Uncle Ken was here on the island. He’d disappeared after the grand jury refused to indict him, retreated from the town that had turned on him at a time he needed support. Severed ties to everyone in the family, including her.
That loss of contact had weighed on her heart the past twelve years, crept into every fond memory she had of her time with him. With them.
Elise swiped at the tear that trickled down the side of her nose, willed herself to breathe slowly, to keep it together in front of Mitch.
She hadn’t realized until that moment that her desire to come to Mackinac went way beyond cross-country skiing and cuddling in front of a fireplace with Mitch. Somewhere in her subconscious she’d wanted to reconnect with a happy childhood moment. A moment in time when Uncle Ken and Aunt Faye were happy and full of plans for their future.
Elise shivered and looked out the window at the snow-encrusted trees reaching toward the station house like a pair of bony arms. Knowing that he’d come here gave her hope that he, too, had been looking for the same connection.
Chapter Ten
4:00 p.m.
Elise slipped the set of walkie-talkies into her winter coat and waited as Mitch and Brad firmed up a meeting time for later in the evening.
It was hard not to feel a little hopeful now that plans were beginning to take shape. Jonathan had already headed back to his hotel with a set of walkie-talkies, while the other two sets would be used between Sophie’s and the Island Inn. While certainly not a flawless system, the radios would enable Mitch and Brad to keep in touch with the places that housed the most people.
The skiers would be dispatched in the morning to round up the outlying residents, and Elise planned to go with them. She had to. It might be the only way to coax him out of that house.
“Elise?”
Looking up, she met Mitch’s worried gaze. If she didn’t watch her demeanor more closely, he was going to grow suspicious.
“Are you ready?” Elise forced her voice to sound natural, her lips to turn upward.
“Yeah. But you sure looked like you were a million miles away just now.” She felt his leather-clad fingers gently nudge her face upward so that she was, once again, looking into his eyes. “I’m gonna get us through this, Elise.”
Tears sprang to her eyes as she looked at him. Tears of love for Mitch, tears of frustration for everything she wished she could share with him yet couldn’t.
A burst of wind howled through the station as the front door banged open behind her.
Elise spun around, saw the anxious eyes that peered at her over the tightly wrapped red scarf.
“Can I help you?” Mitch asked.
The woman pulled her scarf down around her neck and pushed her hood back, revealing a long, dark blonde ponytail. “I’m not sure. I’m not sure if it’s anything important. But I thought I should let Officer Matthews decide.”
Brad put an arm on the woman’s shoulder and guided her over to the lone chair in the station’s waiting area. “Why don’t you sit down and catch your breath a minute, Annie.”
“I’m okay, I’ll stand.” The woman pulled her white woolen gloves from her hands and clenched them in her left fist. “I was working the front desk last night. It was a fairly busy night with many of our guests coming down, asking questions about the storm. The housekeeping crew stayed late and made sure everyone was comfortable and had something to eat.”
Elise studied the woman as she spoke. It was hard not to rush her to the part that made her venture out in the snow to talk to Brad, but if she had learned anything over the past seven months at the newspaper it was the simple fact that people share more if you simply shut up and listen.
“Anyway, last night, around ten, a guy came in looking for a room. I didn’t think much about it at the time. But today, I heard some of that ski group talking about their friend. You know, the one that was stabbed to death? That’s when I started thinking.” Annie dropped into the chair and looked at Mitch and Brad with big round eyes. “Who on earth would check into a hotel at ten o’clock in the middle of a blizzard when the last plane on the island was at two?”
Elise looked at Mitch, saw the way his eyebrows cocked as he squatted down beside the woman’s chair.
“What can you tell us about this guy?”
“He was tall. His hair seemed to be dark, but it’s hard to be certain. What wasn’t tucked under his hat was covered with snow.”
Elise covered her mouth with her hand and looked at Brad. His eyes were wide, his mouth slightly twisted. He too seemed interested in the woman’s account of the previous night’s guest.
“Where do you work, Annie?” Mitch asked.
“The Lakeside Inn.”
“That’s Jonathan’s hotel, isn’t it?”
Brad and Elise nodded simultaneously.
“How do you know it was ten when this guy checked in?” The words surprised Elise as they escaped her mouth and she hoped Mitch and Brad wouldn’t be angry. This was their interview—not hers.
“I know it had to be about ten because I’d had another guy come in at nine thirty asking for work and a room. Poor thing was about my age and looked pathetically cold. He was wearing a flimsy coat with a blue blanket wrapped around his shoulders, a fairly full knapsack on his back, and an almost empty cup of coffee in his hand.”
“A blue blanket?”
“Uh-
huh.”
“That’s gotta be the kid our sled driver told us about, Mitch.” Elise pulled the small pad of paper Brad had given her from her pocket. “But if he arrived ahead of us, why’d it take him ’til almost ten to look for a room?”
“Good question!” Mitch said. “We need to find this kid and get some answers.”
Elise turned back to Annie. “Did he say anything?” She could feel the reporter in her taking over, questions firing through her brain faster than she could ask them.
The woman shrugged. “He said he was here to see someone and was hoping to find a job. He wanted to know if I needed any help at the hotel in exchange for a room. I felt horrible telling him we weren’t hiring. But he was real nice and said he understood. And then he left.”
“And he ventured back out in the blizzard with nothing but that blanket?”
Annie lowered her voice and looked directly at Elise as she spoke. “Now, I could get fired for this, but I gave him another blanket from the housekeeping closet and refilled his coffee mug. I just didn’t have the heart to send him out like that. Besides, he was kinda cute, ya know? Had a thick head of gorgeous wavy brown hair and blue eyes that just took your breath away.”
“So how do you know the second guy came in at ten?” Mitch asked the woman gently.
“Because I looked at my watch ’bout the same time that cutie left and it was nine fifty-five. The other guy checked in ’bout five minutes later. Heck, they probably passed each other outside in the snow.”
“Do you remember his name?”
“John. John Smith.”
“That’s original,” Brad said with a sneer.
“And obviously made up, which begs the obvious question—why?” Mitch ran his hand over his hair, then placed it on the armrest of Annie’s chair. “Could you ID him?”
Annie grew silent as she cast her eyes upward for a few short moments. “I only saw him for the time it took to get him a key and a travel item he forgot. He wasn’t real chatty other than to say he knew someone here on the island. But sure, I’d recognize him if he came back in.”
Elise drew back. “What do you mean if he came back in?”
“He took off first thing this morning and he hasn’t been back since.”
Angry shouts outside the station interrupted any further questions. Elise looked out the window and saw a sled off the path, its driver yelling. Mitch and Brad pulled on their coats and hurried out the door, leaving the two women alone.
“Do you think I was an idiot for coming here?” Annie nervously tugged her hood upward, secured it to her head with a drawstring.
Elise touched the woman’s shoulder. “Absolutely not. You did exactly the right thing.”
A small smile temporarily erased the worry lines around Annie’s eyes. “I best get back. The other desk guy and I are taking shifts since there’s nowhere else to go and nothing else to do. This is my shift, but I asked one of the maids to cover for me so I could run over here real quick.”
“Okay. Thanks, Annie, for all your help. I imagine we’ll come up to your hotel as soon as the guys get that sled out. I’m sure Mitch is real anxious for you to ID this mystery guest.”
“I’ll be there, ready to go.” Annie slowly pulled her scarf over her mouth, then pulled it back down. “Hey, thanks for listening. And thanks for having that man bring over the walkie-talkie.”
“Jonathan gave it to you?”
“Yeah, I guess that was his name. I considered telling him about the guy last night, but decided not to. I’ve known Officer Matthews for a while now.”
“You did fine, Annie. It’s probably better that Brad and Mitch heard everything from your mouth anyway.”
Elise followed Annie out the door, waved as the woman stepped off the porch and into shin-deep snow. The strength of the wind and the angle of the falling snow forced the hotel clerk to bend forward, cup her face with wool-covered hands.
She watched Annie walk for a few moments, then looked in the direction of the main road. It was completely deserted, the brutal weather forcing vacationers to view the island from behind a window. Cut off from everything. And everyone.
Chapter Eleven
4:40 p.m.
He looked at the branches that sagged above him, weighed down by more than a foot of snow. His body was becoming numb to the cold, the tiny hairs in his nose stiff against his breath.
It would be nice to be somewhere warm for a while. But that would have to wait.
They’d left him no choice. He would have to deviate from his plan this one time. He simply couldn’t risk being discovered until he was finished.
Chapter Twelve
4:40 p.m.
A skier in a navy blue parka slid to a stop in front of the station and pulled his ski mask off.
Mark.
“Do they need more help?” he asked, pointing toward Mitch and Brad, who were still working feverishly to get the old man’s sled and horse out of the ditch.
She tried to smile a carefree smile, but it was hard. Mark was on Mitch’s list of possible suspects. His best suspect, in fact—until Annie came in. But she couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that Mark was nothing more than a quiet, awkward guy.
“Yeah, I’m sure the guys will take all the help they can get right now. That horse is making it mighty hard on them.”
Mark reached down, snapped off his skis and waded through the mounting snow. She stood on the front porch and watched, swirling flakes stinging her bare skin.
A few grunts later, the sled was out of the ditch and the horse was more than ready to be on its way.
Mitch, Brad, and Mark walked back to the station door, brushing snow from their clothes.
“Thanks, Mark.” Mitch pulled his wet glove off and extended his hand for the skier to shake.
“No problem.”
“What brought you out in this?”
Elise studied Mitch, knew his innocent question held much more than simple conversation.
“I can’t stop thinking about Pete. I know I just met the guy yesterday, but everyone’s painted such a great picture of him. I guess it’s bugging me that some creep killed him and is roaming the island. Free. Guess I’m kinda looking for him on my own.”
Mitch hunched his shoulders and blew into his hands. He seemed to pause momentarily, ponder Mark’s words.
“Well, we might have a lead. A woman who happens to work at the Lakeside Inn may be able to ID our man.”
Elise stood transfixed to her spot, completely oblivious to the snow whipping around them. Why was Mitch sharing that kind of information with a possible suspect?
She glanced at Brad for his reaction, saw the same look of surprise on his face.
“In fact, she’s in the station right now. Want to come in?” Mitch gestured toward the door, his eyebrow slightly cocked as he searched Mark’s face.
“Um, Mitch. She. Left.” Elise felt her stomach lurch. Mitch’s question was pure bait. “She said she had to get back to work. I told her we’d be over soon.”
The color drained from Mitch’s face as he pulled his gaze off Mark and stared at her. “You let her go?”
“Hey, no big deal. I gotta get going anyway. My feet are getting really cold.” Mark reached down, snapped his skis into place, grabbed for the poles that rested against the station’s brick exterior. “I’ll see you around.”
The threesome stood silently as they watched the parka-clad redhead ski off, his head bent low.
Mitch’s low voice finally broke the silence.
“Crap.”
Chapter Thirteen
5:20 p.m.
Oh, what she wouldn’t do to turn the hands of the clock back an hour. That way she could actually use her brains and keep Annie at the station until Mitch and Brad finished digging out the sled. If she had done that, then Mitch would have been able to put his main suspect in front of the desk clerk right on the spot. Instead, Elise’s rookie mistake caused him to tip his hand too early.
Elise jamm
ed her hands deep into her coat pockets and trudged through the deepening snow behind Mitch and Brad.
“What’s the odds that my damn snowmobile would pick now to run out of gas? I mean, how much more are we expected to take?”
Brad’s words echoed through the air, frustration evident in every biting word that left his mouth. Mitch and Brad couldn’t be more different in the way they dealt with each roadblock thrown their way. Where Brad whined and moaned, Mitch was silent.
She inhaled deeply, felt the cold air fill her lungs. As much as she wished they were somewhere, anywhere else at this very moment, she knew Mitch was needed here. Brad would have been useless to the island’s residents if he’d had to go this alone.
“Here we are,” Brad said. “The Lakeside Inn.”
The Lakeside Inn was a quaint Victorian-style hotel that overlooked Lake Huron. The muted glow of kerosene escaped from several of the upper-floor windows, a throwback to a long-ago era that served as an unexpected blessing to hotel guests in this storm.
She was careful to avoid direct eye contact with Mitch as she walked through the door he held open. Even though he’d apologized for his reaction to Annie leaving the station, she still couldn’t quite shake her own anger—at herself.
A single kerosene lantern atop the registration desk cast a shadowy light across the foyer. Small puddles of water pooled on the wood flooring beneath their feet, the warmth from the lobby fireplace beckoning them to come closer, dry off. The sitting area to the right of the desk was empty despite the much-needed heat provided by the crackling flames.
Elise set her elbow on the counter and looked around the tasteful room. The high-backed chairs and flowered upholstery were a perfect fit with the Victorian architecture.
It was hard not to wish for the trip this should have been, to wish for cozy evenings cuddled up with Mitch in front of a fire. But it wasn’t meant to be.
Deadly Getaway Page 6
