Iced Malice

by Marla Madison

  “I won’t lie to you, Kendall. I wouldn’t give up hope yet, but the odds that he is alive aren’t good.”

  “That’s what I thought,” she breathed, her heart aching.

  “If there’s anything we can do for you, let us know. TJ talks about you a lot. If you need to get away, come stay with us for a weekend,” he added.

  His kindness nearly made her break out in tears. “I might just do that. Thanks for your help.”

  As she hung up there was a knock on her door. It had to be Brynn. When she opened the door, Brynn said nothing, but walked in carrying a tray with her best china cups, a pot of tea, and a plate of brownies.

  25

  Kendall studied her reflection in the mirror the next morning: she looked like she had aged five years. Her eyes were puffy, her complexion was blotchy, and she felt even worse than she looked.

  A quick shower and a cup of coffee put her in a better frame of mind. There was nothing she could do about Nash’s disappearance—she refused to even consider he could be dead—she could only wait to hear from Detective Conlin and hope he would be able to tell her something more about Nash. She had to transfer her worry to another part of her brain and put all her efforts into her work; there was a murderer out there that had killed two teenagers.

  She picked Ross up at his apartment rather than meet him at the station and subject herself to the sympathetic looks and comments she would receive once word got out about Nash. And, if word hadn’t leaked by now, everyone would know once Ross got there.

  When he stepped into the car and handed her a go cup filled with coffee, she knew he’d already been informed. Kendall accepted the drink. “We’re not going to discuss it.”

  Ross opened his mouth to object.

  “No,” Kendall interrupted. “Unless you know something that I don’t, keep it shut. A detective I know from Milwaukee is looking into it for me. End of discussion.”

  In her peripheral vision, she saw him nodding. “I can do that,” he said. “If we aren’t going in to the station, do you have a plan for the day?”

  “You said you have a list of the people from Courtney’s book club. Let’s find them and interview them, see if we can get a better feel for what happened to her. I’m not saying I believe there’s any connection with Karla Foley’s death, but the rest of the team is on that now and getting nowhere. ”

  “Good. I told her parents we would keep looking for her.”

  “We need to talk to that guy she told you about, the one that made her suspicious, and see if he actually knows something useful about the Fiancé case, or if he’s just blowing smoke.”

  “She didn’t say he was suspicious. She just said he was real interested in the case.”

  “Still, he’s what started her thinking about the Fiancé case. And don’t forget, everything we know so far points to her leaving on her own.”

  Ross slapped a hand on the dashboard. “You didn’t talk to her, Kenny. She was damn fired up about that case; she wouldn’t have left, especially after she talked to Hank Whitehouse. He promised to get Pete Jasecki from Menomonie over here to talk to her and she was really excited about meeting him.”

  Kendall thought she’d better keep her opinion to herself for now, and changed the subject back to the members of Courtney’s book group. Daniel Holmes, the only man in the book club, had to be the one Courtney told Ross about. Ross had yet to get any details on him, and Kendall hoped one of the other members of the group had his contact information.

  Their first stop was the Eau Claire Library where Claire Bolte, a member of the group, worked as the library’s head clerk. The library, located in the downtown area, was a spacious, modern building with limited parking. Kendall parked illegally in a small lot behind the lower level and put a “Law Enforcement” parking notice on the dashboard.

  They found Bolte near the checkout desk on the first floor, and she immediately shuffled them back to the lower level. She was a thin woman in her fifties who walked hurriedly, tilted forward as if on a never-ending mission. She edged them into a small conference room and shut the door behind them.

  “I heard about Courtney,” she whispered

  “How long have you known Courtney?” Kendall asked.

  “Well, a few years maybe. She’s been a patron here, but I didn’t really get to know her until she joined the library’s mystery readers’ group.”

  “That’s the same group you’re in with her now, right?”

  “No, that one is a new group. Six of us broke away from the group that meets here and started our own. The library one doesn’t meet during the summer, so some of us began meeting in our homes. We liked the informality it gave us, so our summer group kept meeting in the fall and ever since.”

  “Did everyone who’s in it now belong to the other one first?”

  “No, a friend joined who wasn’t. And Daniel Holmes. He joined shortly after we started.”

  Bolte offered them seats at the table.

  “Did Courtney ever talk about her personal life, maybe mention that there was something or someone she was afraid of?” Ross asked.

  “She never said much about her personal life. When she did, it was about school. Or about trying to lose weight. She was very self-conscious about it.”

  Kendall asked, “Is there anyone from the group she was especially close to that she might have confided in?”

  “Other than myself and the friend of mine I mentioned, I don’t think any of us get together outside of our meetings.”

  “Courtney’s friends gave us names of a few of your members, but we’re going to need all of them. Can you give us a list? And contact information?”

  “I think I have everyone’s except Daniel’s. He said he didn’t want to give it out yet because he was moving and also said his cell phone wasn’t working. He was supposed to add it to our contact list at the next meeting, but I don’t think he ever did.”

  “Was he at the last meeting?” Ross asked.

  “No, Mr. Holmes wasn’t there. We had a small group because Courtney wasn’t there either. I think it was the first time either of them missed.” Her eyes widened. “You don’t think Mr. Holmes has something to do with Courtney being missing, do you?”

  Kendall said, “Right now we’re just gathering information. Frankly, it looks like Courtney left of her own volition. Did she ever say anything about wanting to leave town?”

  “No, never. Courtney still had to finish school. And she was eager to start working on her book.”

  “What do you know about this Daniel Holmes?”

  “Not much, really. He joined us because someone from the library told him about our book club. We weren’t looking for new members, but we agreed to let him join on a temporary basis in order to see if he fit in. Not everyone liked him, but his input was always excellent. Most of us are writers, too, and exchange writing samples. Daniel’s writing and his critiques were very good.”

  “You wouldn’t have a group picture?”

  “No.”

  “Can you describe Holmes?” Ross asked.

  “I can’t tell ages very well, but I’d guess he was in his late twenties. He’s thin, maybe five feet eleven, has brown hair and wears eyeglasses. He’s really quite average looking.”

  “Does he have any tattoos? Scars?”

  “None that I noticed.”

  “Did you see his car?”

  “He said he didn’t have one.”

  “Did he ever mention where he worked?”

  “He told us he was new in town and came here for a job, but later he said it fell through and he was looking for another one.”

  “No one asked him what kind of job he was looking for?”

  “Not that I recall. Courtney is the one who talked to him the most, because they were both interested in that old murder case.”

  Kendall and Ross left the library with the contact information for the rest of the group and nothing new to tell them what happened to Courtney. Or anything about Daniel H
olmes. She called in to have his name run and then called Brynn and gave her what little she knew about Holmes. If anyone could find him with the little they had to go on, it would be Brynn.

  26

  Daniel Holmes pulled his knitted cap lower on his forehead, nearly touching the mirror-lensed sunglasses he wore. He left the library right behind the detectives, grateful for the clothes he had put on that morning, an outfit that made him appear nondescript. He’d run in to pick up a book he’d ordered online—with an illegal library card—just in time to see that skinny-assed Bolte pow-wowing with the detectives. A stroke of luck that he’d seen them, but what it told him wasn’t good news. Their meeting with Bolte, although brief, meant they were looking for Courtney.

  Jorstad, that fat bitch. Her disappearance could blow his carefully choreographed cover right out of the water. No one would want to abduct her; she must have taken a powder on her own. But why? And where the hell was she?

  He never should have piqued her interest in the Fiancé Murders; this was his own frickin’ fault. He’d struck up a long conversation with her when she expressed an interest in them and now it was biting him in the ass. No more appearances in the library for him, even with the fake card. But he did have options. He could just go with it, talk to the cops and make sure they weren’t looking at him as anything other than just one more of Courtney’s friends, but that might be as chancy as calling attention to himself by being unavailable. There really was only one option. He had to be the first one to find Courtney.

  Someone knew where she was. It had to be the boyfriend. Daniel had met him at their first book club meeting because it was held at the Jorstad house. He’d never seen the parents, but the boyfriend had hung around for a while, asking annoying questions.

  Trent, that was his name. Guy looked part Chinese, a mongrel of some kind. With a name like Trent and Daniel’s keen computer skills, he’d be easy to find since he was a student at UWEC same as Courtney. He also recalled a mention that Trent lived with his parents, so his home base wouldn’t be hard to find.

  Daniel would find her before the detectives did.

  27

  Kendall and Ross spent the rest of the day tracking down members of the readers’ group. They never located Holmes, and the others were pretty much a washout, with nothing to add to what the detectives already knew about Courtney. They returned to the station for the last hour of their workday. Kendall was hoping they would find something that would keep her working more hours. With what she now knew about Nash, being alone was going to be a real bitch. She needed something to keep her mind occupied.

  The call from Detective Conlin came in from Milwaukee late that afternoon. “Kendall, I wish I had something of substance to report, but I’m sorry to say I’m not going to be much help.”

  “I appreciate that you tried. I really do.”

  “I did get a chance to talk to the guy I know who was on Nash’s team. He said that Nash had an assignment separate from the others. When their lieutenant questioned them after they got back, no one could really say he wasn’t alive. He could be in a real dicey spot to get out of, Kendall, so I wouldn’t give up hope yet. If I hear anything at all, I’ll call you.”

  Fighting back tears, Kendall thanked him and hung up the phone, wondering if she should call Shari and tell her what Conlin said. She resolved to do it, but not from the station; it would wait until she got home.

  She resented sharing her grief with Shari, and that made her feel guilty. Shari had been nothing but kind to Kendall even though it could easily be argued that Kendall broke up her marriage. The marriage, though, had been headed south long before Kendall appeared in Nash’s life. When she and Nash got together to find the Glausson baby, neither of them was expecting a relationship to develop. Kendall hadn’t even liked him. But maybe that’s what all cheaters said. Not that Kendall and Nash had actually cheated. Emotionally, maybe they had, and they did share a few passionate moments once before Nash broke the news to Shari that he was in love with Kendall.

  Now here she was, in limbo, while her heart was breaking, and in the eyes of the law, Shari was legally still his wife.

  Overcome by a flood of emotion, Kendall needed to talk to someone. Someone other than Nash’s soon-to-be ex-wife. She drove to the theater owned and operated by her former roommate, Natalie. When she arrived, Nat was busy on stage with a group of people arranging a set. Nat raised her hand, motioning for Kendall to wait until she finished. But when she got a better look at Kendall’s face, she told everyone to take a break, and led Kendall back to her office.

  The office looked more like a dressing room, with makeup pots, costumes, and accessories strewn over a desk and filing cabinets. The place was all Nat. It even smelled like her perfume. She ushered Kendall to a chair after sweeping a pile of scarves from it.

  “Kenny, what’s wrong? I could see it a mile away—you’re hurting.”

  “Well, you know about Nash’s new job, you and Becca were at the going-away party.”

  Nat nodded, her perfectly tweezed brows frowning.

  “He couldn’t tell everyone at the party, but he went to Milwaukee to join an undercover task force. He couldn’t even tell me what it was about. Anyway, after the assignment ended, they notified his wife, not me, that Nash hadn’t returned with the others.” Kendall swallowed hard to keep from choking up. “I just talked to my friend from Milwaukee, Detective Conlin. All he could tell me is that none of the men that were with Nash on the assignment know what happened to him.” As soon as she got the words out, her emotions let loose. Nat reached for her and held the sobbing Kendall in her arms.

  When Kendall finally came up for air and reached for a tissue, Nat said, “That really sucks, Kenny. About Nash, not about Shari. He tried to get the divorce in place before he left, right?”

  Kendall nodded.

  “So call her when you get home and tell her what your detective friend told you. It’s a little weird, but why shouldn’t you two lean on each other now? You always said she was a nice person and understood how things happened with you and Nash.”

  Finally able to take a long, relaxing breath, Kendall said, “You’re right. I guess I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

  “And I have to point out that you and Nash, you’re a new thing. What, you’ve only known him for five or six months? This is painful now, of course, but you will be able put it behind you and move on. Shari was married to him and gave him his son. She spent a lot of years with the man. If he doesn’t come back, that will be harder on her than the divorce.”

  Kendall choked on a bitter laugh. “You’re telling me to man up. It’s what I always do, isn’t it?”

  Nat leaned forward and placed her hands on Kendall’s shoulders. “You’re a strong woman, Kenny. You’ll get through this. Don’t be afraid to share this with Shari. It’ll be good for both of you. This is out of your control; all either of you can do is wait it out.”

  Well, that wasn’t all she could do, Kendall thought. She could put this away in a tiny compartment in her brain and focus on work. After she called Shari.

  28

  Daniel Holmes parked two doors down from the house Gullickson lived in with his parents and waited. The kid left the house shortly after the dinner hour driving a dark SUV. Holmes followed him to a large house west of town that appeared dark and uninhabited, not a light anywhere on the grounds. Gullickson pulled into the driveway, following it behind the house to park in front of a two-car, detached garage.

  Holmes parked where his car wouldn’t be easily seen and quickly followed Gullickson on foot, being careful to stay out of sight. Gullickson had stepped out of his vehicle and was using a small flashlight to guide him to an iron stairway that led to the second floor of the garage. He was carrying what looked like bags of groceries. Something really weird was going on here.

  He watched as Trent trudged up the stairway to the door and fumbled with a lock. In seconds, he had the door open, and Courtney Jorstad’s form filled the do
orway, distinguishable even in the sparse light. She snatched the bags from Gullickson and began to ream him out. Holmes couldn’t hear what she was saying, but the woman sounded royally pissed, so he moved close enough to hear their conversation. The hair on the back of his neck rose when he heard her say, “I need to talk to the police and tell them what I found. You have to let me out of here.”

  Trent’s voice rose to match hers. “No, Courtney. You’re just making that up so I’ll let you out. We talked about this, remember? I’m doing what I promised you I’d do.”

  Courtney renewed her tirade, and while she was still talking, Holmes saw Gullickson back out of the apartment and quickly redo the lock. Courtney banged on the door, shouting, as Trent made his way down the staircase, promising to be back the next day.

  Holmes’ fear mounted. Did she actually know something, or was the information she’d supposedly found really just a trick to fool her friend into letting her out? She was obviously in there with no way to communicate with the outside world, so what could she have discovered? He figured he had nothing to worry about as long as she was locked up, but who knew how long it would be before she convinced the skinny kid to let her out. Or how long the agreed-on captivity was supposed to last.

  He had no clue what was behind Courtney’s strange imprisonment, but his mind reeled with ways to use it to his advantage. The cold forgotten, Holmes remained hidden from sight and weighed his options. His first thought was to tip off the cops to her location, hoping they would forget all about her interest in the Fiancé Murders, but that option sucked now that she might have found out something. He couldn’t chance it. She had to go. Getting rid of Courtney had never been part of his plan. She wasn’t even his type, so offing her would be no fun. Or would it? This place was so isolated that he would have plenty of time to experiment.

  29