Ice Cold Killer

by Cindi Myers

  Pi tried to hold his expression of surprise, but Ryder’s words broke his resolve. He slumped, head in his hands. “It was just supposed to be a joke,” he said. “I would never have hurt your dog, I promise. I would have returned him to your house before you even knew he was gone.”

  “Giuseppe! What are you saying?” Mrs. Calendri glared at her son. “You stole this officer’s dog? Why?”

  “You did it on a dare, didn’t you?” Ryder asked.

  Pi nodded. “At first, the dare was just to snatch the dog. But there’s nothing really difficult or dangerous about taking a dog out of someone’s yard.” He sent Gage an apologetic look. “We didn’t know about the security camera. So then we decided it would be worth more points if I tried to pass the dog off as my own. So we thought I should take it to the vet. If I could have fooled her, I’d be way ahead of the other guys on points.”

  “How many points would breaking into someone’s house be worth?” Ryder asked.

  Pi flushed. “I don’t know anything about that.”

  “Pi, what are you talking about?” Mrs. Calendri asked. “What other guys?”

  “Greg Eicklebaum and Gus Elcott,” Ryder said. “They’ve been egging each other on in a series of dares, to see who can get away with various stunts without getting caught.” He turned back to Pi. “Who’s ahead?”

  “Right now Gus is,” Pi said. “After he put the bear statue from the city park on the high school gym roof the week after Christmas. He was sure nobody could beat that. That’s why I had to do something really outrageous to top him.” He buried his head in his hands. “Am I in big trouble for taking your dog? I promise I wouldn’t have hurt him.”

  “You could be,” Gage said. “That depends on whether or not you’re willing to help us in another matter.”

  “Of course he’ll help you,” Mrs. Calendri said.

  Pi sighed. “What do you want?”

  “The night Christy O’Brien was killed—Tuesday, the fifth,” Gage said. “You and Greg and Gus were out that night, in the snowstorm.”

  “I saw you in the parking lot of the grocery store,” Ryder said. “You stood out because almost no one else was out in that weather.”

  “So? There’s no law against being out at night,” Pi said.

  “Who else did you see that night? You may have seen the murderer, or his car.”

  “We didn’t see anybody,” Pi said. “That’s the point, you know? Not to see anyone and not to let them see you.”

  “Except the veterinarian, Darcy Marsh, came home and surprised you trying to break in to her house, and a little while later Fred Starling did the same,” Ryder said.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Pi said.

  “We don’t care about that right now,” Gage said. “We want to know if you saw anyone else out that night. Any other car on the road, especially near Fred Starling’s place.”

  “We weren’t near Fred Starling’s place,” Pi said. “I can’t help you.”

  “How do you know where Fred Starling lives?” Ryder asked. “We didn’t mention an address.”

  Pi scowled. “This town is like, three blocks wide. I grew up here. I know where everyone lives. Mr. Starling was my Cub Scout leader when I was in second grade.”

  “He said he doesn’t know anything that can help you.” Mrs. Calendri stood. “If you want to talk to him anymore, you’ll have to wait and do it when his father and our lawyer are present.”

  Ryder and Gage rose also and followed Mrs. Calendri to the door. In the hallway Gage turned back to Pi. “If you think of anything that might be helpful, call anytime,” he said. “Oh, and if anything else happens to my dog, I’ll come looking for you, and I won’t just ask questions.”

  “I would never hurt a dog,” Pi said. “I promise you.”

  Gage nodded, and both officers left.

  When they were in Ryder’s Tahoe again, he leaned back against the driver’s seat and let out a long breath. “Those boys were responsible for both those attempted break-ins,” he said.

  “We’ll never prove it,” Gage said. “But at least we know it wasn’t the murderer targeting Darcy.”

  “The boys didn’t pretend to be an old woman with a dog, and I don’t think one of them ran her off the road,” Ryder said. “All three of them were playing on the varsity basketball team that night. I saw the roster when I checked Ken Rutledge’s alibi.”

  “Right,” Gage said. “I’m still holding out hope they saw something that night that can help us. We’ll try questioning all three of them, but we’ll have to be careful—probably bring them in to the station with their parents and their attorneys. I’ll talk to Travis and see what he thinks.”

  “Good idea.” Ryder started the Tahoe. “Want me to drop you at the station or your house?”

  “My vehicle is at my house. And I need to check in with Maya and Casey. Casey isn’t going to want to let Admiral out of her sight for the next month.”

  “I’m glad your dog is okay,” Ryder said.

  “Me, too. I believe Pi when he said he wouldn’t hurt him, but we need to stop these stunts before somebody does get hurt.” He was silent a moment, then chuckled.

  “What’s so funny?” Ryder asked.

  “I can’t believe a high school kid got that bear statue up on the roof of the gym. The statue is made of bronze. It must weigh a ton. I took the call and the look on the principal’s face was priceless. It was all I could do to keep a straight face.”

  “Maybe we can declare Gus the winner of the contest and put an end to the dares,” Ryder said.

  “Yeah,” Gage agreed. “We’ve got better things to do than deal with high school delinquents.” They had a murderer to stop, and Ryder hated that it didn’t feel like they were any closer to him than they had ever been. It was only a matter of time before he struck again, and every woman in town was vulnerable—even, or especially, Darcy.

  * * *

  DARCY WASN’T SURPRISED to see Ryder waiting for her as she ushered her last patient of the day back into the lobby. She busied herself removing her lab coat and smoothing her hair while the woman paid her bill. As soon as the door shut behind the woman, Stacy demanded, “Well? Did you find out who took Gage’s pup?”

  “It was a high school kid,” Ryder said.

  “I knew it!” Stacy pumped her fist.

  “What did he want with Gage’s dog?” Darcy asked.

  “He did it on a dare.” Ryder came around the counter to join them in the little office space. “We think he and his friends were behind the attempted break-in at your house, and at another house, the night Christy O’Brien was killed.”

  Darcy sagged against the counter. “That’s a relief,” she said. “I mean, to know it was just a bunch of kids.” And not the killer—though she couldn’t bring herself to say the words out loud.

  “Yes and no,” Ryder said. “The kids aren’t dangerous, but this does show how vulnerable you are to someone who could mean harm. Especially while we’ve got a killer running loose, you should be wary of new clients.”

  “I’m not going to turn away paying customers—or hurt animals,” Darcy said.

  He opened his mouth to protest and she rushed to cut him off. She wasn’t going to debate her business practices. “I’ve already made a policy of not going on any more house calls for new patients,” she said. “And I won’t see anyone if I’m here alone.”

  “I’ll start asking every new patient for a copy of their driver’s license,” Stacy said. “They do it at my doctor’s office—I don’t see why I can’t do it here.”

  “That’s not a bad idea,” Darcy said. “We’ll be careful, I promise.”

  Ryder studied her, clearly displeased, but not saying anything. Stacy slung her purse over her shoulder. “I think I’ll head home now.” She looked from Ryder to Darcy. “You two don’
t need me here.”

  When she was gone Darcy steeled herself to argue with Ryder. “I can’t shut down my business or put my life on hold because of the killer,” she said. “Of course I’ll be careful, but teenagers playing pranks don’t have anything to do with that. They’re a nuisance, but they’re not dangerous.”

  “They aren’t the ones who ran you off the road when you went on that bogus call,” Ryder said. “We still don’t know who was responsible for that. They might try again.”

  Her stomach hurt, the old fear squeezing at her. But she couldn’t let fear run her life. If Ryder had his way, he’d want her to shut down the practice and move into a spare cell at the sheriff’s department. As pleasant as it was to know he was concerned for her, she couldn’t live like that. “I’ll be careful,” she said, softening her voice. “It’s all any of us can do.”

  He nodded. “That doesn’t mean I won’t worry.”

  “And I think your worrying is sweet.” She reached for her coat and he took it and held it while she slipped her arms into the sleeves. It was a little gesture, but it touched her. She turned and put her hands on his chest. “It means a lot to me,” she said. “Knowing you care. But it unsettles me a little, too. I’m not used to that.”

  He covered her hands with his own. “I hope you could get used to it.”

  “Maybe I can. But I need time. And I need space, too. Okay?”

  He looked into her eyes. Searching for what? she wondered. He stepped back. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll walk you to your car, then I have to get back to work. I won’t rest easy until we’ve found this guy.”

  “I think all of us can say that,” she said. And she wouldn’t deny that it was comforting to have him walk her to her car—to have him watching over her.

  * * *

  RYDER REMINDED HIMSELF that Darcy was a smart, careful woman who would be on her guard against anyone who might harm her. She was perfectly capable of looking out for herself, and he really ought to be concentrating on the case. He’d always made it a point to seek out easy, uncomplicated relationships—that worked out best for everyone involved. But there was nothing easy or uncomplicated about Darcy. Yet, the thought of distancing himself from her set up a physical ache in his chest.

  He tried to push the thought aside as he headed back to the sheriff’s department—his home away from home these days, since his regular office on the other side of Dixon Pass was off-limits due to the still-closed roads. Gage saluted him with a slice of pizza. “There’s more in the break room, if you hurry,” he said.

  Ryder helped himself to the pizza. “I thought you’d be home with your dog,” he said when he rejoined Gage in his office.

  “I’m on duty this evening,” Gage said. “And the dog is fine—being showered with treats by Maya and Casey, who have vowed not to let him out of their sight.”

  Ryder sank into the chair across from Gage’s desk. “I don’t even know why I’m here,” he said. “Except I keep hoping for a break in the case.”

  “You can help sort through the calls we’ve had from the public.” Gage picked up the top sheet from a stack of printouts on his desk. “‘My neighbor has a lot of guns and looks at me funny whenever I go out to my car. Maybe he’s your killer.’” He tossed that sheet aside and selected another. “‘I overheard a man at the café the other morning tell his wife that Fiona Winslow probably got in trouble because she was such a big flirt. I didn’t get a good look at him, but if you find him, maybe he knows something.’”

  “Are they all like that?” Ryder asked.

  “So far. But we have to look at them all. Someone might come up with something. Oh, and I almost forgot.” He pulled another sheet of paper from a different stack. “This came into the office for you this morning.”

  Ryder set aside the half-eaten slice of pizza and took the paper—a printout from the Colorado Department of Corrections. “Who is Jay Leverett and why do you want to know if he’s been released from prison or not?” Gage asked.

  “It’s a man Darcy dated in Fort Collins,” Ryder said. “The relationship didn’t end well.”

  “And you thought he might have tracked her down here?”

  “It’s always possible.” He glanced up. “You saw what he served time for?”

  Gage nodded. “Sexual assault. And he was released two months ago.”

  “And the DOC has no idea where he is now.” Ryder tossed the paper back onto the desk. “Do you know of anyone in town who fits his description?”

  “Not offhand,” Gage said. “But we have a lot of strangers stranded here by the storms. He could be one of them.”

  “And he could be our killer,” Ryder said. “Or not. But it’s one more lead to follow.”

  Adelaide appeared in the doorway. “If you men are finished stuffing your faces, there’s someone here who wants to speak with an officer,” she said. “Actually, two someones. Tourists.”

  “I’ll take this,” Gage said.

  Ryder and Dwight followed Gage and Adelaide to the lobby, where Tim and Alex stood, studying the photographs displayed on the walls. “Hey, long time no see,” Alex said.

  “Adelaide said you wanted to talk to an officer?” Gage asked.

  “Yeah,” Tim said. “We want to report a crime.”

  “What sort of crime?” Gage asked.

  “Someone tried to kill us,” Alex said. “You’ve got a lunatic running around in your little town.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “You say someone tried to kill you?” Ryder studied the two men before him. Tim looked visibly shaken, but Alex was red-faced with anger. “What happened?”

  “Come take a look at this.” Alex motioned them toward the door.

  Ryder, Dwight and Gage followed Alex and Tim out into the small front parking lot. Alex led the way to a gray Toyota 4Runner. “Some maniac tried to run us off the road,” Tim said. “Look what he did to my ride.” He walked around the car and indicated the bashed-in driver’s side front quarter-panel.

  “Was it a traffic accident, or was it deliberate?” Gage asked.

  “Oh, it was deliberate,” Alex said. “He aimed right at us.”

  “Come inside and tell us what happened,” Gage said. He led the way to an empty conference room. He sat on one side of the table, with Alex and Tim on the other. Dwight sat next to him, while Ryder stood by the door. This wasn’t his case—the two men had come to the sheriff’s department to report a crime. But his interest in the men as suspects in his case made it reasonable for him to be present for the interview, though he planned to keep quiet and let Gage take the lead.

  Gage leaned over and switched on a digital recorder that sat in the middle of the table. “I’m going to make a record of this,” he said. “We’ll transcribe your statements later and have you sign them. All right?”

  Both men nodded. “Okay,” Gage said. “Tell us what happened—where were you, when and all the details you can remember.”

  “We were out near Tim’s aunt’s cabin,” Alex said. “On County Road Five. We were headed into town for dinner when this guy in a dark pickup truck turned out of a side road and headed toward us. He was driving really fast.”

  “Yeah, like maybe eighty miles an hour,” Tim said. “Crazy, because the road has a lot of snow on it—packed down and drivable, but not that fast.”

  “Tim laid on the horn and moved over as far as he could, but the guy just kept coming,” Alex said.

  “It was like he was playing chicken or something,” Tim said. “He headed straight for us and at the last minute sideswiped us.”

  “If he was going that fast and hit you, why didn’t he lose control and go crashing into the trees?” Dwight asked.

  Tim glanced at Alex. “He was lucky, and a good driver,” Alex said.

  “It would have been better if you had remained at the scene and called us,” Gage said. �
�We’ll send someone out to take a look. We may be able to determine his speed by skid marks.”

  “Good luck with that,” Alex said. “It’s all snow out there.”

  “You can see where we went into the ditch,” Tim said. “And there’s, like, glass and stuff from my busted headlight.”

  “All right,” Gage said. “We’ll check. In the meantime, can you tell us where you were Tuesday?”

  Tim laughed. “I can’t even remember what I had for breakfast yesterday.”

  “That was the day after that first big snowstorm, right?” Alex said. “The day those two women were killed.”

  “Yes,” Gage said. “What were you doing that day?”

  “We were hanging out at Tim’s aunt’s place, moaning about being stuck here for who knows how long,” Alex said.

  “Did you go out to a restaurant or bar or maybe to the store to buy groceries?” Gage asked. “Did you see or talk to anyone else?”

  “Nah. We stayed in and got drunk,” Tim said.

  “No offense, but the idea of being stuck here with nothing to do when we could be back in the city, hanging out with friends, really bummed us out,” Alex said.

  “I thought you came here to ice climb,” Gage said.

  “Sure. But you can’t even do that when it’s snowing so hard you can’t see in front of your face,” Alex said.

  “Yeah,” Tim agreed. “We’ve pretty much climbed all the good local routes, so doing them again would be kind of lame.”

  “How have you been occupying your time while you’re stranded here?” Dwight asked.

  “Watching a lot of TV, playing video games,” Tim said.

  “That’s why it was so nice of Emily Walker to invite us to her party,” Alex said. “It was a lot of fun until that poor woman was killed.”

  “Did you get a good look at the driver of the truck that hit you?” Gage asked. “Did you get a license plate number?”

  “I’m pretty sure the vehicle didn’t have a front license plate,” Alex said. “And the windows were tinted. I had the impression of a big person—probably a man, with broad shoulders. He was wearing some kind of hat, like a ball cap.”