“Is that Brody?” I whispered looking around at the others.
They all shot me uncertain looks.
I took a step forward.
“Don’t!” Ronnie shouted. “I’m telling you. It’s a trap.”
I shook my head. I was kind of thinking the same thing, but … “We don’t know anything for sure.”
“What about the bank account?” Kyle asked.
I froze. “Oh yeah.”
“You open that door,” Ronnie said sharply, “the assassin comes in.”
“Please,” the voice called again. “Let me in!”
I took another step, Kyle grabbed my arm. He had his big, big eyes going again. “You said you would protect me.”
“I know. I know.” I squeezed his hand. “I’m not going to open the door. I’m just going to take a peek and—”
“Get shot in the head!” Ronnie finished.
“Please! Hurry!” I could hear the panic rising in the voice on the other side of the door. “He’s out here.”
“I know what it’s like to be out there. I’m just going to talk to him,” I said to Kyle. “Go over and stay with them.”
Julie held a hand out to him, but he didn’t move.
“Look, I could be wrong about”—I shook my head—“everything. But we can’t just leave him out there to be killed. Not without at least asking him a few questions.”
Kyle held my gaze a moment then moved to crouch by Julie. I wiped my hands on my jeans and looked back at the door.
“She’s going to die,” I heard Ronnie moan. “She’s going to let the webbed killer guy in, and we’re all going to die.”
“I’m not going to let him in!” I shout-whispered.
“Please. He’s coming!” The shout was followed up with a scream and a whole bunch of thumps on the porch.
I launched myself toward the door, got up on my toes, and peeked out through the small window at the top. I couldn’t see anything.
“Brody?” I called out.
Nothing.
“Brody?”
Oh God, what if he was crumpled in a heap at the foot of the door?
Or waiting to shoot me in the face.
I reached out for the door handle.
“Don’t do it!” Ronnie yelled.
I yanked my hand back.
Just then Brody’s face popped up out of nowhere on the other side of the glass.
I yelped and spun around so that my back was against the wood.
“Please, don’t let me die out here.”
“Brody,” I said, gulping a breath. “I’m going to have to ask you a few questions.”
“What? Just let me in!” He hit the door again, hard enough to bounce my shoulders on the wood.
“Brody, focus. Where’s Ashley?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know, man. I heard her scream.”
“What?” Ronnie shrieked.
“Let me in!”
I shook my head like he could see me. “I don’t think I can do that, Brody. Not yet.”
“Why not?”
I pulled my bottom lip through my teeth. “Why do you think someone is after you?”
“I saw him! Just a minute ago! The big dude. The bodyguard Gramps hired, who took our boat!”
I backed away from the door and rubbed my hand over my mouth. I looked over to the group. Julie was practically sitting on Ronnie to hold her down. “What do you guys think?”
“He’s lying,” Julie said.
Kyle nodded.
“Let him in!” Ronnie shouted, smacking the floor with her palm. “If he did something to my daughter, I’ll—”
The producer plunked her weight more squarely on Ronnie’s back.
“Brody?” I called out, stepping back toward the door.
“What?”
“Why did you transfer fifty thousand dollars to a Swiss bank account?”
“What are you talking about? Just let me in!”
My eyes flashed over to the others. “What am I supposed to tell him?”
“Nothing! Anything!” Julie shouted. “Who cares?” I couldn’t blame her for feeling that way. She was now pulling Ronnie back from the table by her bodysuit while Kyle was trying to yank his step-mother’s outstretched hand away from a steak knife.
I turned back to the door. Problem was, I cared. Kind of. It really did look like Brody was guilty … in a really circumstantial way. What if we were wrong? What if I was wrong? I had started this whole thing. It hadn’t seemed like Brody was faking all his crazy stuff earlier. If we were wrong about this …
I should at least maybe give him a little heads-up instead of letting him bang on the door out there like some blue-highlighted sitting duck.
“Brody?”
“Thank God, you’re still there. Let me in!”
“Yeah, about that.”
“What?!”
I took a step back. “We took a vote.”
“You took a vote and what?” Brody shouted.
“We took a vote,” I began again, “and we decided that certain parts of your story are troubling, and—”
“And?”
I shook my head at the wooden planks in front of me. Man, it was hard breaking this kind of news to a door. “We decided that those of us in here … are more comfortable with you being out there.”
I looked back at the others. Julie mouthed the words, Good. Good, while she and Kyle still wrestled with Ronnie.
I looked back at the door. It hadn’t said anything.
I couldn’t help but think that probably wasn’t a good sign.
“Brody?” I called out. “Did you hear me?”
Nothing.
“Brody?”
I scurried back around to the couch and leaned across, planting my hands on the back of it to peer out the window.
It was hard to see anything in the dark, but …
“Guys,” I said in a whisper. “I think he might be gone.”
And that’s when I heard the window in the kitchen shatter.
Chapter Thirty
“Oh no. Oh no!” I screamed flinging myself away from the window.
“What’s happening?” Julie shouted.
“I think he’s coming in the kitchen!” I yelled, yanking Kyle up off the floor. “We gotta go people! Now!”
“Oh, I’m not going anywhere,” Ronnie said lurching herself forward to snatch the knife off the table.
“Your choice.”
Julie stood motionless by the couch.
“Come on!” I shouted. “Last chance.
“I’m not leaving Kenny,” she said, shaking her head. “He can’t defend himself. He wouldn’t leave me. We’re a team.”
I thought about arguing even more with her, but by the sounds of the grunts coming from the kitchen, Brody was about halfway through, and the look on Julie’s face was resolved.
I shook my head at them both.
“Go!” Julie said. “Protect the kid.”
“I got this,” Ronnie said, swirling the knife to point at the kitchen, fumbling it, then re-establishing her point.
“At least, take this,” I said, rushing to hand Julie the poker from the fireplace.
She took it with a nod. Now that the decision had been made, fear slipped through her steely look.
“Good luck,” I said.
“You too.”
I yanked Kyle toward me, grabbing a flashlight from the table. “Stay close.” A loud thump sounded on the kitchen floor just as I whipped the front door open. Icy wind barreled into the lodge. “Don’t let go of me.”
Chapter Thirty-one
We pushed our way out the door and stumbled down the front steps into the snow. I felt Kyle fall behind me, but he didn’t let go of my jacket. I could barely keep my eyes open against the driving wind and now … blinding sleet? I crossed my free arm over my forehead, taking a moment to orient myself. There was no way we would make it to Kit Kat and Tweety’s. We wouldn’t even find the opening to the trail.
/> Now what?
The shed!
The lodge had a rusted-out old shed in the back for the lawnmower my mom never used.
It was worth a shot. With the flashlight, I was pretty sure I could get us that far.
“This way!” I shouted, but the wind tore the words from my mouth. I grabbed Kyle’s wrist with one hand and dragged him forward, while bracing myself against the wind with the other.
We made it just a few steps when I heard Kyle scream something. I stopped, feeling for his shoulders to bring his face closer to my ear.
“I think I saw someone!”
“Who?”
“I don’t know. I just saw a light!”
“Forget it! We have to keep going!” I clicked off my flashlight. If Kyle could see somebody’s light, that probably meant somebody could see ours. We needed to do this blind.
We trudged across the lawn for what felt like hours before I clicked my beam back on again, grateful to find it bouncing off the aluminum siding of the shed. Tears of relief flooded my eyes.
“Hang on!” I yelled back to Kyle. I gripped the cold metal handle of the shed door and gave it yank. Didn’t even budge. I jerked it again, putting more weight behind it. Not an inch. The top of the flimsy door had a lot of give, but the bottom wasn’t moving.
I grunted and gave it a good kick.
“What’s going on?”
“It won’t open. It’s wedged in the snow!”
“Just hold the top down,” Kyle yelled. “I’ll slide in, then hold it open it for you!”
“Okay!” I pulled as hard as I could on the door, creating a sliver of space from the top of the threshold to just under the door handle. Kyle turned sideways and with a big step climbed in. Once he was through, I passed him the flashlight, and he pushed against the top of the door, creating the same space for me to follow. Mirroring Kyle’s move, I stepped over the closed part of the door and slid my body halfway through when—
“Ow! Son of a—”
“Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!” Kyle yelled, bringing his hands to his mouth. “I slipped!”
Kyle had been pushing so hard on the top of the door, he’d lost his footing. His hands slipped off the slick metal, allowing the sheet to snap back on me—which would have been okay, if an errant nail or a screw hadn’t driven its way into my back.
“It’s fine,” I said trying to choke out the words without screaming in pain. I was really starting to rethink my desire to have kids. “A little help, though?”
“Oh, damn!” He launched himself back at the door, hands outstretched to give it a pretty good hit … taking the nail and my flesh with it.
“Sweet mother—” I cut myself off as I hit the dirt.
Kyle dropped to his knees. “Are you okay?”
“Yup. Good,” I said through my teeth. “Just really in need of a tetanus shot.”
“I’m so sorry. I—”
“No, it’s fine,” I said, hauling myself up into a seated position. “Really. Fine.”
I dragged myself toward the back of the shed on my hands and knees, resting my shoulders against the one bit of wall that wasn’t covered with rusted-out equipment left behind by the previous owners … fifty years ago. Yeah, it wasn’t creepy at all in here. Well, except for maybe that scythe hanging on the far wall. That was a bit disturbing. Kyle huddled in beside me.
This night. This freaking night!
Nope, a part of me still couldn’t believe this all was happening. It was just too crazy. I clutched my shoulders to warm my trembling arms, but I knew I wasn’t shaking from the cold.
We sat in silence a good moment listening to the wind screech and pound against the thin metal walls. The noise drowned out any real possibility of conversation, so both Kyle and I stayed quiet, falling into our own thoughts.
How could this have happened? How could any of this be happening? If only my mother hadn’t—
And there it was again.
My mother.
I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about her anymore. My mom … she wouldn’t have left a bunch of strangers alone in the retreat. Especially not members of an estranged family. She would have felt it her duty to stay and help. I had known that all along.
So, where was she?
I closed my eyes.
And what was happening at the retreat right now?
Was Brody telling the truth? Did it matter? Had the assassin gone in after him? Had I left them all to d—
Nope. Nope.
Even if I could have helped them in any kind of meaningful way, I didn’t have a choice. I looked sideways at Kyle. He was hanging in there, but by the looks of it, just barely. He caught me looking at him and said, “You okay?” in a voice loud enough to compete with the sleet that was battering the old tin roof like a million tiny drums.
I nodded at him. The glow of the flashlight illuminated his face. For the first time, he suddenly seemed a lot older, like he had aged about a decade in one night.
“Look,” I shouted. “We’re safe now. We’ll just wait the whole thing out in here. Help will come. We’re going to make i—”
And that’s when someone crashed into the door.
Chapter Thirty-two
“Erica!”
Kyle clutched at me, his hard, bony fingers digging into my bicep. I had told him to keep his snowmobile gloves on!
“Don’t worry! They’re not getting in.” I lurched forward and grabbed the handle to the door. I felt the person yank at it on the other side. But there’s was no way they were getting it open. I ground my feet into the dirt floor, holding the door back with all of my weight.
The person yanked at it again with a yell this time, and I felt it jerk a bit, but my grip was holding. Uh-unh. No way they were getting in. Not with me—
WHAM!
My hands flew in front of my face as I fell back into Kyle.
“Erica!”
I tried to scream back, but my throat wasn’t working.
Nothing was working.
My body had shut down the moment I saw the blade of the ax rip into the door.
“They have an ax!” Kyle screamed again, shaking my arm.
“I know,” I moaned, but I doubted he heard me.
“Do something!”
He was right. I knew he was right, but I just couldn’t seem to move. We’d lost. We had hung in there as long we could, but Brody was right. No one was getting off this island. And I was tired. I didn’t have anything left. I just—“Ow!”
Kyle had slapped me.
Okay, apparently I wasn’t completely numb. I hopped to my feet and lunged for the scythe. I yanked it off the wall, but it dropped from my hands to the floor. Wow, that was heavy. Okay, probably not the best defensive tool in this cramped space.
Another deafening WHAM! exploded behind me followed by an ear-splitting metal on metal screech as the blade cut a strip down the door.
Okay. Okay. I whipped back around, my flashlight dancing spastically over the wall. Weapon … weapon … garden sheers! Okay, maybe not the best match against the ax, but all I needed was one good strike to the belly. Oh God, could I really do that? Stab someone in the belly? It seemed so—
WHAM!
I could do it. Totally. No problem.
“Kyle! Take the flashlight!”
I tossed it behind me, but it tumbled to the floor. Didn’t matter. The shed was small enough that the beam still cast enough light regardless of where it was pointed. I grabbed the rusted shears from the nail on the wall, gripping the handles in my hands.
WHAM!
I spun around, pointy end out. “Kyle!” I screamed. “Get behind me.”
The last ax strike had torn a good shred out of the door right at face height.
I raised the shears.
A hand reached in to pull the cut metal down.
That’s right, I thought. Get just a little closer. I didn’t want to waste my one surprise shot on an arm wound.
Hands gripped the side of the metal, and a
face loomed forward just as Kyle pointed the beam of the flashlight up and—
“Rhonda?”
Chapter Thirty-three
Rhonda’s glowing white face popped in the space cut into the door.
“Hey, guys.”
I dropped the shears and collapsed back down again to the dirt muttering something like “Ohmygod. Ohmygod. Ohmygod.” And then, “I could have stabbed you in the belly.”
“What?” she yelled, looking at my garden shears.
“Well, you were all coming in here with an ax! What was I supposed to do?”
“I tried knocking,” Rhonda said, shaking her head tightly in the gap. “You didn’t answer. I thought somebody might be hurt.”
I didn’t say anything.
“Are you okay, Erica?”
I nodded. Probably too quickly. My stomach lurched.
Rhonda squinted. “Are you going to help me get in?”
“Right. Right,” I said, trying to get to my knees. Apparently all my adrenaline had exploded and laid waste to my muscles. I felt very floppy.
“Who is she?” Kyle asked, helping me up.
“She’s our freaking salvation.”
Both Kyle and I pushed at the ruined door while Rhonda pulled from the other side. With just a few good yanks this time, we got the door a foot open. Rhonda slipped inside and pulled it half-way shut behind her. It was the best she could do.
I couldn’t help it. The minute she turned around, I threw my arms around her.
“There. There. Doom,” she said in my ear. “You’ve done good.”
“I’m so happy to see you,” I said barely able to get a sound through my too-tight throat. “How? I thought Lake Patrol—”
“Bah. They were being jerks.”
I pulled back to look her in the eye. “You mean…?”
She shrugged. “I’m in big trouble back on the mainland, but I knew you were in even bigger trouble here. Besides, it seemed like there was a small break in the storm when it changed from snow to freezing rain. I decided to go for it.”
“How did you know we were in here?” I asked, giving my face a wipe. Not that I was crying or anything. “And where did you get the ax?”
“The ax was leaning against the shed,” she said. Huh, kind of wished I noticed that before I chose this as our hiding spot. “I was coming up the steps just as you ran from the lodge. I’m surprised you didn’t see my flashlight.”
Snowed In with Murder Page 17
