Dosed to Death

by P. D. Workman

  The wind picked up until it was howling around the little house and, despite Kenzie’s assurances that the house was well-sealed and weatherproof, she could still feel the wind through the cracks around some of the windows. They didn’t have any way to seal them better, so everyone donned extra clothing. The furnace hummed and the fan blew warm air throughout the cabin. The snow started to come down outside, blown at a sharp angle by the brisk winds, until they couldn’t even see the cars in the driveway or the shape of the next cabin over.

  The kids stared out the window oohing and ahhing to start with, but quickly grew bored of watching the snow fall and went back to the TV.

  Until the power went out.

  Alisha gave a little shriek of surprise. Mason went barreling across the room to his father, nearly knocking him over when they collided. Tyrrell didn’t scold Mason, but put his arms around him and held him close.

  “It’s okay, bud. It’s just the power. Sometimes a storm like this makes it blink off. You’ve seen the power go out before.”

  Mason held on to his father fiercely. “Turn it back on,” he insisted. “Go find the box thing and flip the switches.”

  “I don’t think it’s the breaker box.” Tyrrell shuffled over to the window with Mason glued to him. “You see, there aren’t any other lights on. It isn’t just our cabin. It’s probably everything in the resort and for miles around.”

  “You said it blinks.” Mason blinked his eyes several times. “It’s not blinking. It’s not going back on.”

  “I can see that. But you’re okay, Mason. Daddy’s here. We just need to find something else to do until it comes back on.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like... see if we can find some board games. It would be fun to play some games, wouldn’t it?”

  “In the dark?” Mason challenged.

  “It’s not that dark. It’s still daytime; it’s just a little bit dark because of the storm. We can still see well enough to play a game, can’t we?”

  “I saw some games,” Alisha offered. She went into the bedroom that Lorne and Pat had used overnight, and pulled a stack of boxes from the closet. “Look. There’s lots of them.”

  Kenzie hadn’t even thought about the power going out. That was going to throw a wrench into things. The storm would last for a few hours, and then, hopefully, someone from the County would be able to get out and fix whatever lines had gone down. In the meantime, there was no electricity to blow the heated air through the house, to keep the food cold in the refrigerator, to heat the food, or to light the house.

  She looked over at Zachary.

  He avoided her eyes.

  While Tyrrell and the children chose a game and started to set up the pieces, Zachary started to pace. At first, it looked like he was just making sure that everything in the cabin was in order, but after the first couple of circuits around the rooms, it was obvious that he was just moving to try to keep his anxiety under control.

  Mason had run straight to his daddy for comfort. Although he was a grown man, part of Zachary was still just a little boy. A little boy who had been trapped, terrified, in a house fire and was now thinking through the same things as Kenzie was. That they would need some alternate source of heat and light by nightfall. The power out wasn’t just a blink, as Tyrrell had suggested, but could quite possibly be out for a day or more.

  And the thought of having to light a fire in the fireplace or candles to see by was terrifying to him.

  Kenzie approached him. She held out her arms and, after a moment of hesitation, he stepped into them, and they held each other tightly.

  “Are you okay?”

  Zachary cleared his throat. “Sure. I’m fine.”

  “What does Dr. B. say about sharing your feelings? Is saying you’re fine sharing your feelings?”

  He swallowed, his Adam’s apple prominent in his thin neck. “No. But with the kids...” he said in a hoarse whisper, looking over at them. “I don’t want to scare them or make them think there’s anything to worry about.”

  “Okay, that’s fair.” Kenzie rubbed Zachary’s back. His muscles were as hard as rock, knotted up in tension. “Then let’s just say not fine. Do you want to call her?”

  Zachary looked at Kenzie blankly.

  “Do you want to call Dr. Boyle? Tell her about what’s going on and see if she has some suggestions that might help.”

  Zachary considered this, then nodded stiffly. “Yeah.” He glanced over at the children. “I’ll call from the bedroom.”

  Kenzie released him from her hold. “Okay. Just shout if you need me.”

  Tyrrell watched Zachary’s departure. “Is he okay?”

  “This might end up being pretty rough if the power doesn’t come back on. He’s going to talk to his therapist.”

  “He brought his pills with him, right?”

  “Yeah. That will help, but I’m hoping that having a meltdown and medicating to the eyeballs are not the only two choices if we have to use that.” Kenzie nodded to the fireplace.

  20

  It wasn’t long before Zachary was back. He didn’t look much calmer, and Kenzie didn’t think that he’d had enough time for a good chat with the therapist.

  “You couldn’t get her?”

  Zachary held up his phone. “Just for a couple of minutes. Bad connection. And then it cut out.” He peered out the window at the flurry of snow blowing almost straight across and the dark clouds overhead blocking out most of the sunlight, even thought it was early afternoon.

  “Did you try to get her back?”

  Zachary looked at her. Like he might not have tried again? Of course he had tried her again. Knowing Zachary, he’d probably tried again a dozen times.

  Kenzie sighed. “I’m sorry. Did she have any suggestions in the two minutes you managed to talk?”

  “Keep my distance. Positive self-talk. Meditating or saying a mantra.” He ran his fingers through his short, stubbly hair. “Apparently, exposure therapy is really good for anxiety.”

  A choked laugh escaped Kenzie’s throat. “Yeah. In this nice, controlled environment.”

  “At least you’re a doctor. If I have a heart attack, you could give me CPR, right?”

  Kenzie was momentarily distracted by his mention of a heart attack. Was there something that Stuart Dewey had been extra anxious or stressed by? Could an outside factor or situation have triggered his heart attack, if that was what had killed him?

  She went over to Zachary and gave him a quick hug. “We’ll get you through this. One step at a time. You can have some control over when we switch to... alternative heat or light sources.”

  She wanted to say that the decision was his alone, but decided she couldn’t put it all on him. He might decide he’d rather freeze than light a fire. Or he might feel pressured to make the decision for everyone else’s comfort as if his own didn’t matter. It was better if they all decided together.

  Tyrrell had played with the kids until they were too bored to attend to it anymore. Kenzie made some sandwiches with some of the leftover turkey, and everyone had eaten a quiet supper together. It was too dark to see much after that, so their options were limited to going to bed, a game that could be played in the dark, such as hide and seek or murder, or lighting some candles or the fire.

  There was a knock at the door. It sounded more like a mule kick than a knock, making them all startle or shriek. The sudden noise breaking the silence of the cabin was alarming. It was a minute before Kenzie could steel herself to go to the door. Who would be out and about when the weather was still so nasty? They had watched the snow piling up outside. It was getting pretty deep and would not be easy to slog through. She wondered whether anyone had made it out before the storm hit. Were the newlyweds getting home now? Getting tucked into a warm, cozy bed?

  Kenzie opened the door, holding it tightly to keep it from banging open with the wind. A large shape shouldered its way into the room, putting down heavy equipment with a clang. Kenzie jumped back, unable
to tell who it was or why he was nearly dropping the hardware on her feet. She pushed the door shut behind him.

  Burknall unwrapped the scarf around his face and pulled down his face mask to speak. Kenzie felt a little better being able to see who it was.

  “Space heater,” Burknall declared, giving the big piece of machinery a kick. “Could see that you folks didn’t have your fireplace lit.” He gave Zachary a look.

  “Oh.” Kenzie felt a sudden, warm rush of gratitude toward the big, curt man. “Thank you so much!”

  He grunted, took a moment to stomp most of the snow off of his big boots, then lugged the heater over to the fireplace. “We’ll vent it up the chimney. That will help keep fumes from building in the room.”

  “Thank you.”

  She watched him get the heater set up, attaching a tube that led to what she assumed was a propane tank. She moved in closer to him. “You have to light a burner, though...?”

  He glanced at her. “Just a pilot light, like the furnace. It’s got an auto-igniter.” He tightened up the connections and pressed a button in a few times. “There. Just like that.” He stripped off his gloves and held his hands in front of it to feel the warmth from the heater. “Got all kinds of safety features. Tip over protection, oximeter. It will stop if there are any problems.”

  “That was very thoughtful,” Zachary spoke up, his voice hoarse. “I really appreciate it.”

  “Don’t let the kids play near it,” Burknall said, ignoring the thanks. “It does get hot enough to burn you if you touch it.” He dug through several large pockets, looking for something, then pulled out a long, flat box, which he tossed on the floor. “Don’t use those all tonight. I don’t have any more.”

  Kenzie picked up the box and opened it. It was filled with long plastic cylinders filled with chemicals.

  Glow sticks.

  “You run into any trouble, I’m in the barn and Mrs. Hubbard is in the main house. Phone lines are down as well as power, so we are cut off from the outside.” Burknall stood and looked out the window. He gestured to the last piece of equipment that he had left by the door. “Camp stove. If you need to heat something up. The dining room up top is still providing meals, but if you want to take your meals here...” He shrugged.

  Kenzie assumed that the Lodge would be lit with candles, so it was probably a good idea for them to eat on their own.

  Burknall went on. “Strange things going on tonight. I suggest you stay in your cabin.” He went back to the door and started to gear up to go outside again.

  “What does that mean?” Kenzie asked, confused. “Strange things going on tonight? You mean something about the weather?”

  “No. People. Acting squirrelly. That little Raven tore up one side of me and down the other, said that she saw me stealing from her cabin. The newlyweds—they didn’t make it more than a mile or two down the main road—they are...” he paused, considering his words. “They go from arguing and acting like they’re going to kill each other to flying as high as kites, if you know what I mean.”

  “You think they took something?”

  “Oh, they took something, all right. And who knows what they’ll do before they come back down. You can never predict. Keep your door locked. Don’t let anyone in.”

  With that, he pulled his scarf around his head, pulled on his gloves, and departed.

  Kenzie locked and latched the door before turning to face the others.

  It was dark, so she couldn’t see their expressions, just the shadows across their faces. Zachary looking even more skeletal than usual, though she was sure that he would be feeling a lot more relaxed knowing that they weren’t going to have to light a fire.

  “Well, that was nice of Mr. Burknall, wasn’t it?” Kenzie said cheerfully. She walked closer to them and handed a glow stick to each of the children. “You know how to use these, right?”

  “I like Mr. Burknall,” Mason declared. He took the glow stick and began to snap it down the length. He shook it vigorously and it started to shine. They actually threw a good amount of light. The room immediately felt warmer and more cheerful.

  “He comes across as an old grouch,” Kenzie said, “but he really is very thoughtful, isn’t he?”

  “He let me drive the horses,” Mason reminded her.

  “Yes, he did. Let’s sit closer to the fireplace and warm up. Now that we can see, we can play another game or read a book.”

  “But no TV,” Mason said sadly, as if missing a departed friend.

  Kenzie smiled at him. “No. No TV.”

  21

  Kenzie noticed that the kids started to act ready for bed much earlier than they had the night before. Maybe because there were no devices to keep them entertained. They had all shut off their phones, tablets, and games to conserve batteries until they used them again or the power came back on. Zachary had a couple of battery packs that he used for charging devices when he was out on surveillance for a long time, and they held those in reserve. With no TV or internet access, once the children grew tired of playing board games or reading books, they were ready for sleep.

  It probably helped that it wasn’t the first day in a strange place and that there hadn’t been a big dinner with more strangers, as there had been the night before. Mason put up a little bit of a fight over going to sleep, but it was nothing compared to the difficulty Tyrrell had with him the night before. Tyrrell stayed up for a bit longer, enjoying a chance to talk with the grown-ups, and then he headed off to bed as well.

  Kenzie put the glow sticks into the snow out the back door, as freezing them was supposed to preserve the glow, and she turned the heater down to a lower holding temperature for the night. They all had plenty of blankets and each other to help keep them warm for bed.

  Zachary moved around the bedroom slowly, seeming reluctant to settle in for bed. There wasn’t really anything to do to get ready for bed. No staying up catching up on social networks or working on his computer.

  “Do you want something to read?” Kenzie suggested. “I could help you find something you like. There’s a pretty good selection on the shelves here.”

  “No.” Zachary shrugged. “I’ve never really been able to read for pleasure.”

  “Maybe now, with no other distractions...?”

  He shook his head vigorously. “There are plenty of distractions here.”

  “There are?” Kenzie thought that without the electronics, he would, like the children, be bored. He would go to bed earlier than usual because there was nothing else to do.

  “Yeah.” Zachary looked out the window, putting his face close to the glass and cupping his hands around his eyes to see better. After a minute he withdrew, apparently not seeing anything of concern. “Mr. Dewey dying. The snowstorm. The power and phones being out. Worrying about how long it will be and whether we’ll run out of fuel for the heater. People acting squirrelly.”

  “But we’re in here, safe and sound. We have heat and light for now. Everything is good.”

  “For now. But it won’t last forever.”

  “You’re worrying about things that you don’t need to worry about yet.”

  “I thought I would get a head start.”

  Kenzie smiled at this. “Really, though. Dr. B. has talked to us about catastrophizing. Thinking that the worst possible things are going to happen and blowing everything up out of proportion. The snow is slowing. By tomorrow it will probably be stopped. The plows will clear the highway and Mr. Burknall will clear the Lodge’s roads. The power will be fixed and the cell phones won’t be blocked by the clouds. It’s only temporary, and by this time tomorrow, you’ll probably be wondering what you were so worried about.”

  “I’ve never wondered why I was so worried.”

  “Maybe you should worry about that,” Kenzie said flippantly. “That’s not normal.” Then she held up her hand. “Forget I said that. Don’t worry about not wondering why you were worried...”

  Zachary sat down on the edge of the bed. “What do you th
ink Burknall was talking about with weird things going on? It’s normal for people to be stressed at a time like this. Was he just overreacting or being dramatic? Like telling ghost stories?”

  “I don’t know. I get the feeling that he doesn’t joke around a lot. But sometimes really serious people still have a good sense of humor, they are just understated or keep it to themselves. He might think that it would... make things more entertaining for us.”

  “Yeah. You don’t think there’s anything to be concerned about?”

  “I think that everything is under control. We’re safe in the cabin, so it doesn’t really matter what everybody else is doing. And I’m sure that with this storm, everyone else is going to stay inside too. Who would want to be out wandering in weather like this?”

  “And the newlyweds? He said they were high as kites?”

  “They might just be tipsy. Or giddy with the stress. Some people get like that, just a little hysterical and out of control. Or they might have taken anxiety meds. Sometimes those can make people a little loopy.”

  “It could be something else. Illegal drugs. Something that could make them dangerous to us. Bath salts or PCP...”

  “They didn’t strike me as the type of people to experiment with that sort of thing. I think that Mr. Burknall was probably just overstating. Raven was extra stressed, so she took it out on him by getting angry and accusing. The newlyweds are feeling jittery, and they argued and were a bit silly. You know how it is when people are stressed.”

  Zachary rubbed his jaw. Kenzie could hear his fingers rasping across the whiskers in the dark, and it set her teeth on edge.

  “Maybe we should have stayed at home. Maybe coming here was a bad idea,” Zachary said