His Frozen Heart

by Nancy Straight

  “How else? Dave.”

  “Dave told you where I lived?”

  “I wouldn’t say he told me.” He leaned back against the wall. “Remember that schmuck Dillon Ford you went with to prom?”

  Schmuck was an understatement. He turned out to be a grade-A loser. I had cut him out of every picture the two of us were together in and tried to block out the whole experience. “I’d rather not.”

  “Dave was trying to get up the nerve to ask you to prom. He and I sat in my car on your street for almost an hour one Saturday. Eventually he talked himself out of asking you at your house, thinking he wanted to ask you at school instead, so we drove away.”

  “Dave never asked me. I only went with Dillon because prom was like two weeks away.”

  Mr. Kravitz smiled, “I know. Dave tried lots of times, but could never close the deal.”

  I tried to think back. I couldn’t remember ever talking about prom with Dave. The subject had never come up. After finally getting to know the real Dave, I wish he’d have found a way to ask. Prom was one of the worst dating experiences of my life. It was supposed to be a special night, but ended up being little more than an evening of Dillan trying to grope me while he attempted to shove his slimy tongue down my throat.

  I showered and dressed in record time. I had fifteen minutes to get to Cookies’ Cuisine, which was only five minutes from my house. After being pulled off of the lunch shift during the week, I couldn’t afford to lose my weekend hours, too. Mr. Kravitz wasn’t at the front door when I came downstairs. No tools lay anywhere around it. As I looked, the shiny new deadbolt was secured into the floor and all the wood shavings that had been lying on the carpet were gone.

  The sound of the drill echoed from the back of the house. He’d finished this and started on the second in less than a half hour. I didn’t know how he was working so fast, but I was grateful. I found him kneeling beside the door for the entrance to the basement. He looked up after he felt my eyes watching him. “One down, two to go.”

  “The front door looks great. Thanks so much for doing this for me.”

  “No problem. It was a smart idea to install these. They won’t keep out someone who wants in, but they’ll force them to make enough racket to wake the dead, so no one can sneak up on you. Here,” he tossed me a single key. “That’s for the front door. I’ll lock the front door on my way out, you’ll be able to get back in with that one. I’ll leave the other keys on the table for the two back doors.”

  “Thanks,” I stumbled for a second, “Ryan.” He smiled when I had finally been able to call him by his first name. It felt strange and wasn’t something I’d easily be able to make a habit out of. “I’m going to work. If you see Dave. . .” my voice trailed off.

  “If I see him, I’ll let him know you’re worried. Don’t think just because I’m putting these locks in that you aren’t welcome at my house. The guest room is yours if you need it.”

  “At least until Aunt Jean’s next trip.”

  Mr. Kravitz laughed, “Right.”

  Chapter 24

  I checked in with the manager as soon as I arrived at the restaurant. I wasn’t sure what was going on today, but the place was packed while people were huddled in the front waiting for tables. Saturdays were busy, but not typically saturated with hungry people.

  I grabbed an apron from the back. Kelly saw me, and directed, “Tables two and four.” Kelly was one of my favorite people to work with.

  “Got it,” I called. The next three hours were non-stop. Although I was deemed unreliable because my morning classes routinely ran long during the week, I was one of the better waitresses on staff. My tips showed it. Just as the lunch crowd was beginning to clear, I did a quick calculation and had pocketed almost fifty dollars. That was almost a full tank of gas.

  Kelly called over her shoulder. “Some guy in a black truck stopped by a while ago to see you. He was delicious! I told him you were off at four. He said he’d be back then.”

  My heart lurched, “Did he say his name was Dave?”

  “He didn’t say. You been holding out on me?”

  What could I tell her? The last time I had worked, Dave hadn’t been in the picture; it was hard to believe that was less than a week ago. “It’s sort of recent. Dark hair, dark eyes, big arms?”

  “I didn’t see past his chest. He had to turn sideways to make it through the doorway. My God I want his babies.”

  “So, should I plan on seeing him a little closer to four-thirty?”

  We both giggled as Kelly straightened her uniform and said, “That should be adequate enough time for me to convince him you aren’t as good of baby momma material as I am.”

  The manager eyed us from the kitchen. Gossip was frowned on, and I was already under his scrutiny for breathing. Having the sudden urge to look productive, I announced, “I’m going to go wipe down tables.”

  “Hey, Amazon, can you grab some napkins from the supply cabinet first?” Kelly was five foot three in heels, so anything past the third shelf required climbing on her part.

  I laughed at her, taking a detour to the back, “No problem, my little Pygmy friend.”

  Dave had stopped by to see me. I felt giddy. I looked at my watch; he would be here in less than two hours. If he were still angry with me, he would have left a message or just continued to ignore me. Driving all the way here meant he wanted to talk. If I could get him to listen, he’d know I didn’t purposely hide the fact from him that I had seen Mark.

  Thoughts of Dave stretched out beside me assailed my memory. I stopped by a mirror hanging in the back hallway and checked my hair in case he came back early. I couldn’t wipe the stupid grin off my face. A heaviness that had been on my chest since yesterday morning eased.

  Shaking my head at myself in the mirror, I stepped into the supply closet, quickly eyeing each of the shelves, and finding the box of napkins all the way in the back of the fifth shelf. I could reach it without a step stool, but had to do it on my toes holding a lower shelf for balance. The door opened behind me and slammed shut hard. “Geeze, impatient much?” I called to Kelly.

  My fingers grasped the packet of napkins as I turned toward the door to toss the packet at her. My heart stopped as my eyes took in the man who I last saw sprinting down my street with Dave giving chase. A knife glinted in his hand.

  I screamed, a high-pitch I wasn’t even aware I was capable of producing. He jumped forward shoving his hand over my mouth. He glared menacingly, then whispered, “Not a sound or your little waitress friend doesn’t make it home tonight. Clear?”

  A second later Kelly swung the door open to the supply room. Grey stood behind the door glaring at me out of her view.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I saw. . . a rat, I think.”

  “A rat?” Her voice hitched up two full octaves as she bounded back into the hallway holding the door open, “Oh my God, where?”

  “I’m not sure. Something moved behind the door and scared me.” Kelly leaned back in and moved the door slightly to get a better look behind the door when I reached out and held it in place. “It’s fine. I’m sure I imagined it. Here.” I tossed the package of napkins to her. “I’ll be right out. I just need to calm down a little.”

  “You look a little pale. Do you want to take your break? I can cover for you.”

  Glancing back toward the killer behind the storage room door, he mouthed the word, “Yes.”

  “Uh, thanks. Yeah. I’m going to go get some air.”

  “Okay. I’ll tell Cookie. She’s going to freak when she hears there’s a rat in the store room.”

  Kelly left the door cracked when she walked back toward the front. Grey’s voice was sinister and made my skin crawl. “Nice. At least you’re smarter than you look. Let’s go.”

  He grabbed hold of my shoulder, hard. He was leaving a bruise, but I was too scared to ask him to loosen his grip. As we walked out of the storage room, we had to go past the entrance to the vacant bar. I peeked insid
e and saw Cookie tallying up lunch receipts. I tried to catch her eye, but she was consumed with the slips of paper in front of her. Just before we reached the back door, there was an opening into the kitchen where the dishwasher worked.

  The dishwashers were on a constant rotation. None of them stayed on the job longer than a couple of months. Working for minimum wage in a steamy room whose temperature routinely topped 100 degrees did little to inspire long term employment. The dishwasher today looked Asian, and was wearing headphones, so calling out for his help would have been wasted breath. He didn’t even notice Grey and me walk past the area where he worked.

  Grey shoved me through the back door as the blast of cold air assaulted me. Our uniform was a thin short sleeved t-shirt and black trousers. Within seconds I was shivering. Grey wore a thick leather jacket and seemed to enjoy the goose bumps holding the hairs on my arms at attention. “Oh, so sorry, it’s a little chilly out today, isn’t it?”

  He zipped up his coat while the smug expression on his face grew. I told him, “My coat is just inside on the hook. Let me reach in and grab it.”

  He shook his head as a smile grew in front of me, “I don’t think so. You’re as slick as a greased pig. Avoiding me the way you have has been quite an accomplishment. You must be very proud of yourself.”

  “You tried to kill me!”

  “Tried being the operative word. You’ve proven yourself a worthy opponent.”

  “Opponent? I don’t even know you! You attacked my roommate – she’s still in the hospital. You scared the crap out of the old lady across the street. What is your problem?”

  “My problem is you are still breathing. Teddy didn’t appreciate the scam you played on him and Tony.”

  My face was numb and my arms freezing. The high today was supposed to be five degrees. Shivers rocked me as I stuttered from the cold, “There wa-wa-wa-was no sc-sc-scam.”

  “No sc-sc-scam,” he mocked. “No one plays Teddy and gets away with it, no one. Your roommate is lucky she’s still alive.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the photo of my two sisters and me which he had stolen from my bedroom. “Give me a reason to hunt these two down, too.”

  Pure fear rocked me. I had to stop this guy. Two men were walking toward us in the alley, neither paying much attention to us, so I screamed to catch their attention, “H-H-Help me!”

  A fist crashed hard into my jaw as my body landed face-first in the snow. The snow was even more cold against my uninsulated skin than the subzero temperature of the air. I lay there a second as the pain registered from my jaw. I had never been punched before – ever. The sharp throbbing brought tears to my eyes. I heard Grey warn the two men, “Keep walking. Nothing to see here. Just teaching my girl some manners.”

  Their footsteps crunched faster in the snow as they ignored him and drew closer. Grey reached down and pulled me up from the ground by my hair, holding my body in between him and the approaching men. His voice was raw, “I said back off. It’ll be worse for her if either of you take another step.”

  I saw one pull out a cell phone, then Grey punched me hard in the kidney from behind as I went to my knees. I prayed the guy had called the police. I lost focus of the two men through the searing pain, but heard one of the voices shout, “Easy man. Take it easy. Just let her go.”

  Grey dragged me by my hair and shoved me toward an awaiting car. It wasn’t his Nova. It was blue with four doors. He pushed me through the driver’s side door while he held a fistful of my hair in his hand. My jaw ached, but the throbbing in my back from his punch was indescribable. My neck was wrenched at an odd angle from him using my hair as a handle.

  Grey let go of my hair long enough to turn the key in the ignition. Away from his grasp, I fumbled for the door handle in the few seconds I wasn’t under his control and was rewarded with a punch to the throat. I saw spots and couldn’t make a sound if I had wanted to. I gasped for air.

  The car fishtailed out of the alley as he sped down the narrow road. Welcomed heat blasted on me from the dashboard. I was too frightened to move, even to flinch. I tried to watch where he was going but had difficulty paying attention to my surroundings. A jacket lay bundled on the floorboard. If he stopped at a red light, I would grab it and run. Grey’s brutality in the last few minutes told me I wasn’t going to be breathing if I didn’t escape.

  He slowed as I recognized the entrance to Pioneers’ Park. I ran the trails here during the summer months and was familiar with this place. This park offered the advantage of me knowing my surroundings, but the distinct disadvantage that it was a nature preserve, so hardly anyone came here during the winter months.

  A few lonely tire tracks stretched out in the snow in front of us. The car wasn’t built for off-roading, so he would need to keep it on the pavement if he hoped to get back out. The sky was overcast: it was still light out, but the day’s sunshine was completely blocked by the blanket of winter clouds. A heavy hit against my temple landed so hard my teeth clanged together, then everything went black.

  Chapter 25

  I came to in a small wooden structure, possibly a toolshed or an equipment shelter. There was enough light to make out shapes, but not bright enough to make me wince as my faculties slowly returned. I was covered by a jacket. It smelled of cheap cologne and sweat. The stench made me want to gag, but I breathed through my mouth to keep from alerting Grey that I was no longer unconscious.

  I wiggled my toes: they were numb, but functioning. My fingers were the same. I was suspended a few feet off the ground, lying on what appeared to be an old Army cot. The canvas was stretched tight on metal poles. Knowing my slightest movement would make the canvas complain, I held very still. From what I could tell, I wasn’t tied up or bound, just dumped on the canvas. My temple throbbed, my neck ached, and I could feel the tightness of a fresh bruise that had formed on my back.

  It was cool in the structure, but not cold. Something was giving off heat, but the throbbing in my head and my desire to stay motionless persuaded me not to turn to see what that source might be. The scent of kerosene was heavy in the air as I overheard Grey’s angry voice, “I’m freezing. You want in on this, you’ve got thirty minutes.” He paused briefly, then answered, “She’s still out.” Another short pause, “I don’t give a shit what’s on television. You want a piece, you got thirty minutes, then I’m gutting her.”

  My body reacted to his words: the fine hairs on my arms stood at attention, every muscle in my body tensed while I sucked in a silent breath. I tried not to let my body betray me by outwardly reacting to his words, preferring instead to stay stiff as a board so as to remain silent. If he believed I was still unconscious, that was preferable to being gutted. Without moving a muscle, I scanned as much of the structure as my eyes could take in without giving away my current state.

  A door stood along the same wall where my cot lay. The building had a cement floor. Light shown from the other side of the room as the cot I was lying on cast a shadow against the wall. Grey was pacing the floor on my right – his footsteps echoing a sinister march in the little shack. I believed the heat source behind me was a fire because the shadow from my cot danced along the wall. If he had built a fire, there was a good chance his back was to me. People normally faced a fire when they were cold. With his back turned, I’d have a two second advantage if I could make it through the door, maybe more.

  I discreetly made a fist with my right hand, then my left, proving to myself that my hands worked and neither were bound. Both fists relaxed again in the position I had awoken to. I wiggled my toes in both of my shoes a second time to be sure. My head throbbed, but my vision wasn’t blurry and I didn’t see double, so I didn’t think he had given me a concussion. I slowly filled my lungs with as much air as they could hold, then released it just as slowly.

  His pacing continued as if he were a caged animal. I didn’t know where we were – I hoped we were still in the park he had pulled into before knocking me senseless. The park was on more than 500 wooded acr
es. Once I got outside I’d have to look for landmarks to tell me where we were. If I were lucky, I’d be able to find one of the trails that I routinely ran after work in the summertime. Many of the trails in the park overlapped, and I knew nearly every route back to Cookie’s.

  I took my third lungful of air, then instead of releasing it slowly, I jumped off the cot, grabbed the jacket that had been draped over me, and bolted to the door. It wasn’t locked, and it flew open easily under my grip. My legs took enormous strides: I was running for my life – my body knew it.

  I had been running full speed for at least thirty seconds before I saw a landmark I recognized – a large oak tree with trail signs tacked on it. Choosing a trail I was familiar with, I continued to run full speed, peeking over my shoulder every few strides to see if I was being pursued. I couldn’t hide my tracks in the snow, but it had been an overcast day today and the clouds hadn’t lifted. The moon’s illumination was poor from the clouds, and if Grey were trying to run as fast as I was, he would have a tough time seeing my tracks.

  After a full ten minutes at a dead sprint, I could hardly breathe. Each breath I took felt like knives piercing my lungs, so I slowed my pace and tried to push through the ache. I couldn’t feel my fingers, and my toes were growing more numb with each stride. The park was empty. I hadn’t passed a single person my whole trek through. The paths were hardly visible this time of year on the clearest of days, so trying to stay on the snow-covered path proved daunting in the dark. Every few strides my feet would land on a patch of ice, threatening to send me sailing into the air if I continued running.

  Just to the right of my path I spied a thick grove of evergreens. Jogging the last few feet to them, I crouched down in the shadow of the largest evergreen bush to try to catch my breath. The sounds of traffic in the distance were all I could hear over my own labored breathing. I don’t know how long I stayed cowering next to the bush, but it was long enough that the breaths I took were no longer burning my lungs.