Winter's Curse

by Mary Stone

Don’t cry, don’t cry, Winter cautioned herself.

  Jodi heaved a sigh that was part relief and part exasperation. “She’s got a long road to recovery ahead of her, but she’ll get there. If, of course, I don’t kill her first. Shannon’s not the best patient. I won’t keep you since I understand you’re still working hard. But I wanted to thank you too.”

  Noah was watching her, a half-smile playing about his lips. She looked away. “Thanks, Jodi, but honestly, it wasn’t—”

  “Oh, but it was.” The interruption was polite but firm. “There was a traffic accident that happened around the same time as the house explosion. It took extra time for the ambulances to get there, because of the backup in both lanes of the highway. The paramedics told me that if you hadn’t been on the scene when it happened, hadn’t kept up the CPR…seconds counted. Shannon wouldn’t be alive right now if it weren’t for you. I almost lost her. You saved me that day too.”

  When Winter was finally able to hang up, after giving Jodi her email address and making her promise to keep her updated on Shannon’s progress, Noah was still watching her.

  Her emotions felt raw. Scraped and exposed.

  “Don’t say anything, all right?” She didn’t care if she was pleading.

  “Me?” His voice was innocent, his green eyes lit with humor and understanding. “I’d never.”

  The moment expanded, growing too thick for her comfort. She busied herself by looking back down at her own list. “Have you matched up any more of those phone numbers? Like the unlisted one?”

  “No. I think it might be Ryan, though. None of the others appear to be.”

  “One way to find out for sure.” She picked up her own phone.

  “You should use the burner,” Noah cautioned. “No need to freak anyone out on the other end if we don’t have to. I’ve already sent the number back to Sun. She’ll get a warrant to trace it.”

  “I’m betting there were cameras everywhere in Heidi’s house.” Winter chewed thoughtfully on her lower lip, trying to think everything through. “Chances are she already knows we were there. And this could be a way to establish contact. We’ve already decided that the crimes don’t fit Ryan’s usual M.O., and it’s one theory that he’s participating in this whole thing against his will. Maybe we’ll get lucky, and he’ll call back, or answer.”

  The phone, though, just went straight to voicemail. The message was an automated one, instructing the caller to leave a message after the beep.

  “No luck,” she told Noah. She tried one more time, but the phone didn’t even ring before going again to voicemail. This time, she left a message. “Ryan, I’d like to talk to you. Give me a call back when you get a chance.” She rattled off her own number but didn’t leave her name.

  “Who knows,” Noah shrugged, gathering up his gear as their boarding announcement was called overhead. “Maybe he’ll call back and give us detailed instructions on where we can find them, and there won’t be a last hit. Weirder things have happened.”

  27

  Ryan blinked, groggy, staring up at the ceiling. A fat spider was spinning a web between two rafters. It looked like a shiny black blob. He was pretty sure it was a spider. He couldn’t make out any legs on the critter.

  After what could have been hours or minutes, the spider came into focus. It was wrapping a bug in its web, getting ready for a snack.

  Heidi.

  Bloody hell, she’d drugged him again. It all came back in a nauseating wave.

  He was in a shitload of trouble.

  He glanced around the room, his gut twisting in fear, but nothing had changed in the time he’d been out. Thankfully, he hadn’t pissed himself, either, though it looked like it might be a near thing.

  He gave a couple of test tugs at the wrist restraints that still held him shackled to the bed. The right one was a bit looser than the left, maybe by a notch. Good. Something in his favor, finally.

  He braced himself and pulled, squeezing his thumb into the center of his palm as much as he could. He felt his pinkie pop out of joint and bit back a roar of pain as his hand slipped free.

  It was a trick he’d used once before. It hurt like hell, but it was effective.

  His hand would swell and be all but bloody useless for a while, but those were the breaks.

  He now had one arm free. It would remain to be seen if he could get the other loose. He scanned everything within arm’s reach. A bobby pin would be ideal, but there weren’t any convenient hairpins lying around. He rolled over on his side and focused on the cuff. Single locking, which was another stroke of luck. Double locking cuffs were far more difficult.

  He looked at the bed frame itself. It was metal, and old. Not very sturdy.

  He could get a screw loose from it, but it would take time and wasn’t guaranteed to work. He needed something pliable. A nail thin enough to bend. A small piece of metal to use as a shim. He didn’t know when Heidi would be back.

  When his palms started to sweat, Ryan cautioned himself to calm down. It wouldn’t help anything to go chickenshit now.

  What if the rattling of the bed brought Heidi down from upstairs to investigate? Would she get pissed off enough to take it out on Ionie? For all he knew, she could call up a hit in Jamaica with the ease some would have in ordering a pizza. If Heidi had known how credible her threat was, she wouldn’t hesitate.

  Ionie had a child. Christopher. The sweetest little four-year-old, with dusky skin and soft brown curls just like his mother’s. A smile that stretched from ear to ear every time Ryan had visited, bringing him a little toy or some candy before Ionie sent him over to a neighbor’s house to play.

  If Ryan were completely honest with himself, he’d started bringing Christopher little treats and gifts because he wanted to butter up the boy’s mother. But after a few visits, when Christopher would come running to the door to see him, his pudgy hands outstretched, his dark eyes lit in avaricious glee and natural good humor…something about the kid reminded him of himself. Greedy, sure, for whatever he could get. But good-natured and charming about it. Not that he’d ever been that young.

  Heidi hadn’t mentioned knowing about the child, but he couldn’t take any chances. He didn’t want that vicious bitch anywhere near either one of them.

  Cursing, he went back to work.

  He hit the jackpot with a loose slat in the headboard. With some wrenching, he was able to rock the bed enough to pull the narrow metal tube loose. At one end, a small metal notch, slightly rusted, stuck off about an inch long. It was just thin enough that it might work as a shim.

  Working with the finesse that he’d become notorious for, he eased the notch at the end into the space where the teeth on the cuffs entered the bracelet. He had to push the cuff inward, tightening it for this to work, and if it didn’t, the cuff would be tighter than before, and he’d still be stuck.

  That would suck.

  Holding his breath, ignoring the pounding pain in the side of his hand, he eased the shim into the bracelet and started to pray.

  Heidi pulled up in front of the house in Erie that she’d rented several months ago. It was dingy and old, with flaking white paint and bedraggled bushes in the front yard, but they wouldn’t be there long. Her heartbeat sped up. This was it. The final scene in her well-orchestrated play.

  She wondered how her leading man was doing. Hopefully, she hadn’t given him too much of the sedative she’d added to his water.

  She grabbed her laptop bag from the back seat of the rental car, along with the bags of McDonald’s takeout she’d picked up. She was too revved up to eat, but her captive was probably hungry. Not that she cared. The food was an excuse. The real reason for her trip to the drive-thru was to get an in-person look at the first target that Ryan would find on his list.

  Google Maps was good for planning purposes but seeing things in person was much more satisfying.

  The door creaked as it swung inward, and she wrinkled her nose at the mildew smell of the stained beige carpeting. She droppe
d her laptop on the sagging brown sofa that had come with the place. Just another couple of days, she reminded herself. Then, she’d be off for greener pastures.

  The floor creaked under her feet as she moved through the dim house. The basement door was shut and locked, just as she’d left it. Heidi tucked the bag of food under her arm and pulled out the key ring that held the key to the lock she’d installed as soon as they’d arrived in Pennsylvania, Ryan still passed out like a drunk from the first dose of sedatives.

  On the landing, she locked the door behind her. Couldn’t be too careful.

  The mildew smell was stronger in the basement and it mixed with the greasy smell of cooling French fries. She juggled the bag again, unlocking the basement storage room where she’d stashed her “partner.”

  The door scraped along the cement floor, and she moved in with caution. Ryan was still out, she saw, sprawled on his back and snoring softly, his mouth opened just a bit. She relaxed, but not completely. Never completely.

  Since he’d been a good boy, she’d unlock one of his cuffs and leave the bag next to his bed. He could eat when he came to. She set the fast food bag on the small, rickety table beside his bed and shuffled through her key ring for the key to the handcuffs.

  Leaning down, she reached for his wrist. A second too late, she realized that the cuff wasn’t fastened.

  Before she could react, his fist hit the side of her head in a crushing blow that knocked her off-balance. She smashed into the halogen light on the floor, knocking it over. The bulb shattered against the cement, and the room was plunged into darkness.

  Heidi tried to scramble to her feet but got tangled in the cord of the work light. She heard heavy breathing and a thump, and then the metal door screeching open. Enough light leaked in from the main room outside for her to get her bearings. She grabbed for her gun, tucked in its underarm holster. She could hear more thudding outside, along with muffled curses, and her lips parted in a grim smile.

  Silent, gritting her teeth against a surge of lightheadedness, she made her way to her feet and moved for the door. Ryan had gotten across the room and was at the top of the basement stairs, throwing his weight against the heavy wooden door that she’d locked behind her.

  She took careful aim, just like her dad had taught her when he’d taken her deer hunting years ago. As soon as he stopped moving for the briefest moment, she fired.

  The blast echoed off the cinder block walls, muffling Ryan’s grunt as he stumbled against the railing. The old wood splintered with a loud cracking noise and gave out under his weight. He went backward, falling the eight feet or so to land heavily on his back on the dirty floor.

  Heidi went to his motionless body.

  He wasn’t dead, but the wind had been knocked out of him. She kicked him hard in the ribs as he struggled to pull in a breath. He hardly reacted. Just opened his eyes and stared up at her, his blue eyes dull and defeated, clouding with pain. Blood seeped from the bullet wound high on his arm, soaking his shirt through his clutching fingers.

  “Get on with it then, you sadistic whore,” he wheezed in a low, flattened voice, as soon as he’d sucked enough air into his lungs. “Fucking end it, will you?”

  “Get up.”

  At first, she didn’t think he’d move. But, with slow, painful movements, he pushed to his feet. Shuffling like an old man, he made his way back to the storage room.

  She stood at the open door of the darkened room, still aiming the Ruger at his dim outline, center mass. “The next time you try anything, I will blow out one of your kneecaps.”

  The words were just for dramatic effect, she admitted to herself. She knew defeat when she saw it. Ryan’s shoulders slumped, his body trembled in pain, and his face. Oh, his face was the best. She wished she could see it better. Hopelessness and resignation and pain blended together in one dreary mix.

  Piling on a little more wouldn’t hurt.

  “Just so you know, I’m not going to punish you for this little attempt. But Ionie? She is so dead. And I’m going to make it very, very painful for her. You try another escape, and I’ll look forward to putting some of my knowledge of torture methods to good use.”

  Without another word, she slammed the door and locked him in. There was no more need for handcuffs. She was pretty sure Ryan had gotten the point this time. He wasn’t going anywhere.

  28

  “Any luck yet on the trace?” Winter asked Doug Jepson, the IT guy that Noah insisted had a crush on her.

  He blushed, which looked strange and kind of endearing on a guy his size. Doug didn’t look like your stereotypical tech. He was muscular, broad-shouldered, and hard-faced, and could probably stunt double for the actor Terry Cruz. He had hands like sledgehammers but tapped at his keyboard with the delicacy of a brain surgeon…if the brain surgeon was a mafia enforcer in his spare time.

  “Nothing yet,” he replied in a deep, slow baritone. “We’re not picking up any signal from it. The carrier company hasn’t shown a ping from the phone since almost three days ago in New York, at The Phoenix. Usually, even if the battery is dead, we can detect a signal.”

  “Thanks, Doug.” She hadn’t really expected anything, but it was still disappointing. “Let me know if you get anything else.”

  He nodded in agreement and went back to his multiple-screen desk setup.

  Winter was at loose ends. Sun had cut her out of the investigation almost completely since they’d gotten back from Michigan. She’d been closeted in a conference room with Noah for hours, having given Winter curt instructions to work on her own angles, since she was “good at flying solo.” The woman was driving her nuts. It was unfair, but she didn’t want to go to Max and seem petty.

  Things around the office were still quiet and subdued. Bree, one of the other members of their unit, was the only person who had tried to make a tentative approach.

  Winter, though, didn’t feel like talking to anyone. She appreciated the show of support but shut the other woman’s attempts at conversation down with as much politeness and gratitude as she could. Bree hadn’t taken offense. She just gave Winter a commiserating nod and a sympathetic look and left her alone.

  After three more hours, there was still no progress with the phone. The computer forensics team was working on Heidi’s laptop but hadn’t cracked it yet. As they’d figured, the entire system was locked up tight, with kill switches in place to wipe the hard drive if anyone trying to hack it made one wrong move. The mood in their department was intense, and she caught dirty looks every time she tried to pop in for a progress update.

  Knowing she wasn’t doing any good at the office, Winter gathered up her things and left.

  She made a phone call from her car in the parking lot, and Aiden agreed to help her out with the profiling issue. She headed for his apartment, hoping he’d have some insights. In her head, it felt like there was a clock ticking down to explosion time. She’d even been hoping for a vision. She’d gladly deal with the pain and brief incapacitation for a chance to stop whatever Heidi planned to do next.

  Aiden looked better when she got to his place. Despite her not being around for a while to bring him food, he’d gained a little weight. The hollows in his cheeks were filling out, and he looked like he was moving around more easily on his bad leg.

  His face creased in a wry smile when she walked through the door, clutching a bag of donuts she’d stopped and grabbed on the way.

  “Still trying to feed me?”

  “Still scrawny and half-dead?”

  “Not quite that bad. I’ve been doing my PT.”

  “Nurse Ratched hasn’t driven you crazy yet?”

  “It’s been close.” He sneered, but there was no heat in it. “I think she’s starting to like me. I wasn’t in nearly as much pain after a session with her yesterday. Come on in.”

  She dropped the donuts on Aiden’s coffee table, within easy reach, but he made no move to take one.

  “Catch me up,” he instructed instead, as she sank down in
to the chair across from him.

  “There’s not much you don’t know,” Winter began, letting her head fall back against the soft upholstered back. “We found her house, and she blew it up. We’ve got phones to trace and a laptop that would probably break everything wide open if we could get into it, but so far, no luck.”

  “Why aren’t you with Ming and Dalton?”

  “She cut me off.” Winter opened her eyes. She knew they glittered, hard and bright with anger. “That brilliant, knowledgeable, professional agent you all rave about? She’s not only a bitch, but she doesn’t like anyone who’s a threat to her. Did you hear that she had inside info and didn’t come to anyone with it? The suspects, or at least Heidi, had been emailing her directly. She deliberately kept it quiet. We should be looking into her computer.”

  Aiden looked thoughtful. “I heard about that. I know she’s ambitious, but I didn’t think she’d pull something like this.”

  “She’s Teflon. That’s what Bull said.” The words were tinged with guilt. “How’d she slide out of it?”

  Aiden just looked at her, raising one eyebrow. “That’s between Sun and Osbourne.”

  She felt chastised, and it irritated her. “Still, it’s not right.”

  “No,” he agreed. “She should have known better. But you’d better bet she’s on thin ice now. You okay? I’ve lost a colleague before. It’s not easy, even if you didn’t know them well.”

  “No, it’s not easy. I feel like it’s my fault.” She held up a hand to stave off his automatic argument. “Save it,” she advised. “You can’t say anything I haven’t heard or somehow make me feel better about the whole thing. I’m dealing with it.”

  He nodded. Sometimes she really appreciated his no-nonsense, emotionless attitude, and this was one of them. She didn’t want anyone’s sympathy, and he wasn’t offering it.

  “Just be sure to talk to someone about it if you need to.”

  “I will. What about you? Has that super-intelligent brain of yours come up with anything we can use?”