by B. T. Lord
“Shelley?”
“Nope. George Eliot.”
“And the carcass of the animal?”
“You like that? I thought it was a great touch. Found it on the side of the road. Decided to scare the bejesus out of him, the arrogant windbag. A’ course, it’s too bad he died. He may have been full of himself, but he didn’t deserve to get shot.”
Cammie looked at this broken man. She wanted to tell him he was wrong. Yes, Eli had once been arrogant. But he’d changed. He wasn’t the same man who’d tricked the both of them all those years ago. But she knew it would do no good. Eli had given Coach McIntyre the tools to kill himself. And he had. Now only Dancing Harry was left. Perhaps it was better that way.
“Promise me you won’t steal anything from anyone or send nasty notes. And definitely no more animal carcasses.” She saw the look on his face. “It’s important. I have enough things on my plate.”
He hesitated, then nodded. “I promise. No more stealing.”
“And?”
“Okay, okay. No more notes or dead animals either.”
“I need to borrow your truck.”
“I’ll drive you.”
She shook her head. “It’s dangerous out there.”
“It’s dangerous anywhere.” He stood up and approached her. “I owe you too much, Camilla. Allow me to at least drive you to wherever you need to go.”
She saw he needed to do this. So she agreed. “Only if you promise me you’ll stay at Tudor’s inn until the blizzard dies down.”
“How could I turn down an offer to spend an afternoon surrounded by the world’s greatest writer?”
The snow was piling up on the road, making it difficult for Harry to maneuver his beat-up old truck through the blowing snowdrifts. Cammie sat in the passenger seat, her white knuckled hands gripping the dashboard. Part of her mind was on the road while part of her mind was on Audella.
The blood on her parka was still damp and every time she moved her shoulder, she had to bite back a yelp of pain. The gun in her holster was gone, but her cell phone, which she’d kept in the pocket of her snowsuit was still there. As soon as they reached a spot where she was able to get a signal, she immediately called Rick.
“I’ve been trying to call you for the last hour,” he said as his voice echoed and came in and out from the bad reception due to the storm.
“I ran into our murderer.” She quickly filled him in on her conversation with Audella. “Put out an APB on her. She’s probably going to try and make it to the Houlton airport, though no one in their right mind is going to take off in this weather. She’s armed and dangerous. I’m on my way now towards Route 4. Call for back-up and get out there ASAP as well.”
“You sound weird, Sheriff. Are you alright?”
Cammie realized she’d been speaking through gritted teeth. She let out her breath. “I’m fine,” she lied, not wanting to worry her deputy. “After you do all that, would you make one more call for me? Call Jace and tell him what I just told you.”
There was a pause on the other end. “Are you sure you wouldn’t want to make that call yourself?”
“There’s no time. I don’t want him to wait any longer with this hanging over his head.”
“Will do. Be careful, Cam.”
“I’ll do my best.”
After what seemed like hours, they finally pulled into the Shakespeare In the Woods parking lot.
“Now you’re going to stay at the Inn, right?”
“I am.” He reached out a palsied hand and laid it on Cammie’s arm. “You take care, Camilla. The person that shot you means business.”
“Don’t worry. And thank you again for saving my life. I owe you.”
His face grew melancholy. “No,” he whispered. “I owe you.”
The wind was howling now, and almost knocked her over as she jumped out of Harry’s truck and into her own. The first thing she did was turn on the ignition, put the wipers on the highest setting and turn the heat on full blast. The second thing she did was grope under the seat and remove the loaded 9mm Ruger she always kept taped to the underside. The third thing she did was recite a silent prayer that she’d find Audella. Then she put the truck into four wheel drive and drove down the increasingly hazardous road.
The blizzard was intensifying, with visibility steadily growing worse. She had to slow down several times or risk sliding off the road. Frustration and impatience ate away at her, and it was all she could do not to take a gamble and increase her speed. The only satisfaction she had was knowing that if she couldn’t drive fast, neither could Audella. Nor was the Equinox equipped to make it in these conditions. She was sure she’d find Audella. It was only a matter of when. So she bit down on her exasperation and concentrated on the rapidly disappearing road.
For the next half hour, Cammie struggled against the fire in her shoulder, and the exhaustion that washed over her. It was growing increasingly difficult to keep the Explorer on the road. Not only was the accumulating snow making it hard to drive, but the gusts of wind buffeting against the vehicle threatened to push her into a snow bank. Straining her eyes to see through the whiteout earned her a headache to match the relentless pain in her shoulder. It took her full attention to keep going, draining the last reserves of energy she had. Yet, the thought that, if not for Harry’s strange penchant for walking in blizzards, she’d be dead right now or close to it, kept her going, just as it had in the woods. She wanted nothing more than to see the look of shock on Audella’s face when she arrested her.
Through the white curtain of snow, Cammie suddenly saw a pair of red tail lights pop out in front of her. Without thinking, she swerved the Explorer, sending it fishtailing across the icy road.
“Shit!” she bellowed as she struggled to get the Explorer back under control, her arm flaring in agonizing pain. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone waving their arms frantically at her before they disappeared behind the swirling snow.
After a few more harrowing turns, Cammie finally got her vehicle back under control and brought it to a stop across the road. Her heart was racing, her hands were shaking, and she silently offered up a prayer of thanks for not crashing, or worse, flipping the vehicle over.
A knock on the passenger side window caught her attention. She turned and found herself staring into Audella’s eyes. Shock overcame both women – Cammie to find the woman she’d been pursuing and Audella to find Cammie still alive.
Audella acted first. She took a step back, whipped out her gun and shot out the window. Cammie dove across the front seat, fragments of glass raining over her. Scrambling, she took out her own gun and pointed it at the blown out window, firing off a shot. She then quickly opened up the driver door and tumbled out into the storm, the wind ripping her bomber hat from her head. Using the Explorer as cover, she planted herself against the vehicle and aimed her pistol into a wall of snow blowing sideways across the road that eliminated any sight of her quarry.
“It’s no use, Audella!” she yelled out. “Every police officer in Maine is looking for you right now! Give yourself up before we both freeze to death out here.”
Not sure if she could be heard through the screaming gales, she had her answer when a shot crackled through the storm and whizzed past her.
Cammie returned fire.
“Damn it!” she muttered in frustration as the snow continued to hide any sign of Audella. Beneath her parka, she felt a stickiness and knew the wound was bleeding through the bandage.
She quickly reasoned she had two options. Although Audella and the Equinox couldn’t be more than fifteen feet away, she saw nothing but white. She could take advantage of the non-existent visibility and get into the woods where she could come up behind Audella. Or stay put and wait for Rick. Which, in the condition she was in, was out of the question. She had no clue how far out he was and couldn’t risk losing consciousness by the time he did arrive.
If he arrived.
It was now or never. If she didn’t double around
, she was certain Audella would.
Or could already be moving towards her.
Summoning the last of her strength, Cammie started towards the front end of the hood. Just as she was about to dash off into the trees, another shot rang out. This one hit the front windshield, shattering it into the wind. She felt shards of glass hit her face and she fell to the ground, droplets of blood smearing the snow beneath her.
She cursed under her breath as dizziness and pain threatened to overtake her.
Crap. Audella was moving in on her from the front. This woman was worse than the Terminator.
Knowing she had to do something, she braced her left arm against the hood and returned fire.
And paid for it.
Blood was now dripping onto her fingers, saturating her gloves and making it difficult to hold onto her gun. Her whole body was trembling badly. Terrified she was going into shock, Cammie forced herself past the excruciating pain. Reversing her direction, she made her way, as quickly as she could through the rising snow drifts, towards the back of the Explorer.
Somehow she was going to have to take back the initiative. But how? She could neither see nor hear anything except the howling of the winds as it continued to tear across the road. Yet, if she was hampered by the weather, so was Audella. Her only hope lay in using the snow and wind as a shield until they either crashed into each other or reinforcements showed up.
Cammie’s hands were shaking as she slowly made her way around the Explorer. Dots began to appear in her line of vision and she had a momentary panic attack. She couldn’t faint now. If she did, she was dead.
She turned her face into the wind, hoping the needle-like ice pellets would revive her. It stung badly as they hit the scratches on her face, but it did the trick. The dizziness passed. Suddenly, she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. She immediately dropped and rolled, swallowing the yelp of pain as she put weight on her shoulder. Cammie fired, only to be greeted a moment later with what sounded like laughter.
Hysteria bubbled up Cammie’s throat. She couldn’t see a thing, she was slowly losing consciousness, and it was becoming harder to hold onto her pistol.
Could her situation get any worse?
Gritting her teeth against the tortuous pain, Cammie struggled to her feet, hampered by weakness and the deepening of the snow. She looked about, suddenly disoriented by the wall of whiteness. She felt a flash of fear course down her spine. She knew how easy it was not to recognize familiar landmarks in a snowstorm. A few years ago, a man had frozen to death just steps from his front door, completely confused by a passing blizzard.
Terror settled in as she realized she didn’t know where the hell Audella’s car was. Was it to her left? Her right?
Cammie clamped down on the rising panic. She couldn’t stand here forever. Not with psycho killer after her. With no other options, she turned to her right. By now the wind had intensified and it was becoming extremely difficult to walk as it blew against her, causing her to stumble about as if she were drunk. She kept at it, however and almost cried out in joy when she crashed into the Equinox’s back passenger door. She could just make out the hood buried in a deep snow drift. Just as she’d surmised, Audella had lost control of the car, smashing it into the snowbank.
The driver door window suddenly exploded. Cammie jumped and fell back backwards into the snow.
Her fall saved her life as another bullet ripped through the door right where she’d been standing.
How the hell is she seeing me when I can’t even see my hand in front of my face?
Now was obviously not the time to figure it out. She quickly crawled on all fours towards the back and around the other side of the Equinox, where she once more vigorously shook her head to clear the dots that continually impaired her vision.
Audella had to be shooting blindly. If she couldn’t see a damned thing, she doubted Audella could either. Maybe if she created distractions, Audella would keep shooting and run out of bullets. Yeah, but then what? In the state she was in, she wouldn’t win a battle against a kitten. To top it all off, she could no longer feel her hands or feet.
Lovely.
Cammie felt a surge of anger. For the sake of greed, this woman had murdered two men, ripped apart the only relationship she’d ever had that actually worked, and left her for dead. There was no way in hell she was going to let the bitch win.
Come what may, she was taking Audella down.
Gritting her teeth, Cammie fought past the pain and lightheadedness. Hoisting herself up against the back of the Equinox, she dug her right elbow into her waist to steady her arm enough to shoot, then stepping out into the storm, fired to the right, center, then to the left.
She paused. All she heard was the howling of the wind beating against her face. Then, an imperceptible feeling came over her, as if someone were tracing a line down the nape of her neck. The hairs stood up as she caught her breath.
Dear God, she’s behind me.
Without thinking, she pivoted on her heel and fired into the wind, first right, then center, then left.
She thought she heard a cry, but it was impossible to tell through the roar of the snow gusts. She peered through the blanket of white and caught sight of a patch of blue on the ground before it was swallowed up in the blizzard.
Audella had been wearing a blue snow jacket.
Cammie needed to investigate. She needed to know if she’d shot Audella. She needed to know if the bitch was finally dead. With only one bullet left in her Ruger, she had to make it count if need be.
Forcing herself forward, she felt to her knees. But she continued, clawing her way over every hard packed snowflake, inch by inch, dragging herself along. She ignored the gales, the ice numbing her face and mouth. She pushed herself onward until just beyond, the blue patch in the snow reappeared.
This time she saw a fur trimmed hood. And a body. Lying inert. Still. Slowly vanishing beneath a blanket of white.
Seeing that, the adrenalin rush that had kept Cammie going, disappeared. The trembling and weakness returned with a vengeance, leaving her unable to go on. She knew she should get back to her vehicle. There was a chance she could survive until help came if only she could get back into the Explorer. Or even Audella’s Equinox. But she had nothing left.
She fell upon her back, the snow pelting her frozen face. The dots dancing before her eyes grew larger until they merged together to form a curtain of black. Just before she lost consciousness, her last thought again was of Jace.
He’s safe now. At least I’ve done that for him.
In the midst of the blowing eddies of snow, a serene peace came over her. She’d done her job. It was time to rest. She needed to rest so badly.
EPILOGUE
It was the day before Thanksgiving. Doc was a whirlwind of activity, getting the pies baked, preparing his secret recipe for the turkey stuffing, getting the birds dressed so he could pop them into his twin ovens at dawn. He was hosting a celebratory dinner for 20 people and he was leaving nothing to chance.
“He looks like the Tasmanian devil from the Bugs Bunny cartoons,” Rick remarked as he watched the doctor make his tenth trip to the pantry, located on the other side of the stove. “Now that I think about it, they’re actually the same height, aren’t they?”
“Don’t make me laugh. It hurts when I laugh,” Cammie answered, shifting her weight on the couch where she lay, bundled up under a cashmere blanket. Just the feel of its softness against her skin made her almost faint with pleasure.
A week had passed since the shooting. She’d found out through Doc that Rick found her unconscious in the snow.
“If he’d gotten there any later, he would have found a dead, bloodied popsicle that once looked like you.”
Rick called in the scene to the State Police, then quickly bundled Cammie into the back of his truck. Battling the blizzard, he’d barely made it to Doc’s, where she was immediately taken into surgery.
As Doc worked to clean out her wound and
save her toes, fingers and face from frostbite, the weather grew worse, shutting everything down. It wasn’t until 24 hours later that the Staties were able to make it out to the scene of the shooting. It took another two hours to find the frozen body of Audella beneath the snow. From what they could piece together, it appeared one of Cammie’s shots had gone into Audella’s thigh, ripping the femoral artery. Disoriented by the snow and bleeding out from the wound, she’d succumbed quickly to the elements.
When Cammie was told, she felt strangely empty. It was ironic that Audella would die in the same manner she’d planned for Cammie. She thought she would feel good about solving the case and, more importantly, ridding the world of a serial killer. The whole of Twin Ponds certainly felt good about what she’d done. Since she’d regained consciousness, she’d heard nothing but her praises sung. In fact, Doc’s Thanksgiving dinner was a tribute to her and what she’d accomplished. Yet when she thought back to what had been lost – robbing Eli of his last few moments of peace on this earth, Lehane’s life, her relationship with Jace -- heck, her relationship with the town, she couldn’t seem to summon up much enthusiasm. So she did the next best thing. She kept her mouth shut, and allowed the townspeople to celebrate in whatever manner they saw fit.
There was a bright side to all of this. Knowing she could never cope on her own in her tiny cabin, Doc insisted she stay with him during her recovery. At the prospect of sleeping in the bed from paradise, and showering in the bathroom from heaven, it was a no brainer.
With not much to do but lay on the couch in a state of bliss brought on by painkillers, she thought back to Dancing Harry/Coach McIntyre. She recalled their last conversation, and decided that Harry was right. The man who had once been Coach was dead and he deserved to stay buried. She resolved to tell no one he was responsible for saving her life. Nor did she tell Doc, when he asked, who had dressed her wound. That, and the secret of who Harry had once been, would stay hidden.
Within a few days after the shooting, Rick stopped by to tell her that the bird feeders were reappearing on people’s front steps.
