Cold Case Christmas

by Jessica R. Patch

  “He needs medical attention, Ainsley.” Maybe she’d help her husband, forget Nora for a second and give her a chance to escape.

  “No, he doesn’t.” She aimed the gun and fired, shooting Dan in the head.

  Nora opened her mouth but a scream wouldn’t leave her lips. Ainsley murdered her husband in cold blood, then she turned the gun on Nora. “Out the office exit. Now.”

  “You just killed your husband!” Nora held her hands up and walked on shaky legs toward the office exit that led up the steps and into the employee parking lot.

  Ainsley forced her into the blizzard. Snow barreled down; the wind whipped against her dress. Ainsley didn’t seem to be affected in her ball gown and ballet flats. Rage and homicide must be keeping her warm. Nora’s teeth chattered.

  “See that red car? Move.”

  “I don’t understand,” Nora said through trembling lips. “Why did you kill Dan? Why do you think I have a perfect life? Did you ever meet my mom?” The irony wasn’t lost on Nora. “You have no idea how hard I’ve fought to not be the daughter of Marilyn Livingstone. You don’t know how I feel. You only see what’s on the outside and it’s all been a lie, Ainsley. I’m not perfect. I’m an impostor.” But she didn’t want to be.

  Ainsley pulled her keys from a hidden pocket on her evening gown and pressed a button. The trunk opened. “Get in. We’re going for a ride.”

  “Where? Why? Rush is going to know that Dan didn’t do this to me when they find him in the office. He’s dead.”

  Ainsley’s smile turned vile and malicious. “No, dear, he won’t.”

  Nora looked down and gasped. Another body was already in the trunk. Dressed all in black. Nora recognized the coat and ski mask and build. “Who is this?” This man was the one who had repeatedly attacked Nora. “Dan didn’t try to kill me?” Confusion wrapped around her brain, turning it foggy.

  “No. Dan didn’t try to kill you. He trusted his dad to keep things quiet and make this go away, and he would have if you hadn’t shown up once again wrecking it all—wrecking my life. You had my childhood life. You had the man I wanted. And now you want to take my husband!”

  “You just killed your husband!”

  “I had to.” Malicious eyes bore into Nora’s. “You made him so crazy with your snooping, he went off the rails. Was going to confess to what he did all those years ago. I’ve learned if you want something, you have to take it. Make it happen. But when I started making things happen, he figured it out and he wanted to turn me in too!”

  That’s what Nora didn’t understand according to Dan. He wasn’t trying to kill her. Ainsley had been doing it all this time. He was there to rat her out and reveal his crime also. The guilt had been too much for him to bear.

  Ainsley’s long red hair whipped across her face, but she didn’t shiver. “I’m about to make everything good that should have happened to me then, happen now.”

  Nora shook her head, confused. She stared at the man in her trunk. “Is this man...is he dead?”

  “Do you see him breathing? Get in.”

  Ainsley wanted her to get in the trunk with a dead man. No.

  “I can shoot you right here, Nora, but I find it poetic to make it happen where it all started. Where I found you in Rush’s arms. You’re no better than your mother. You don’t deserve the perfect life you’ve been given. You don’t deserve Rush. And when this is all over, when they discover that Dan hired this guy to kill you, he turned on Dan and killed him, then killed you, Rush will need comforting and so will I.”

  Ainsley. She hired this man to threaten Nora. Then to kill her when the threats wouldn’t work. At first to help keep Dan’s secret. But then... Revenge?

  “You need a straitjacket not comfort!” Nora screeched. Her words were returned with a slap to her face.

  “Get in!”

  Nora slowly eased beside the corpse of the man who had once tried to murder her. “Who is he?”

  “A brother of one of my students. Low-life drug dealer. No one special. But he botched the job mistaking your sister for you. Imagine my disappointment when I saw you alive and well heading for the stairwell.” She put her hand on the trunk to close it. “So again. If you want something done, you do it yourself. Here I am.”

  She slammed the trunk shut and Nora heard the car start, then it moved. She could lie here and cry and remain confused or she could figure out how to stay alive. First off, she needed protection from the elements. The cold already worked through her bones, creating a stiffness in her joints. She rolled on her side, facing the dead man. Overcoming the fear of being next to him, she whispered an apology and rifled through his pockets.

  Pocketknife. She took it and slid it down the top of her dress, then she removed his gloves and ski mask, his lifeless eyes staring back at her. She jerked and closed her eyes but used his ski mask as a hat and donned the leather gloves that had once wrapped around her throat.

  Rush wouldn’t let her out of his sight for long. Already, he had to be searching for her. Maybe he’d found Hailey, gotten her help. If she was actually alive. He’d find Dan dead and know someone had taken Nora when she was nowhere to be found.

  Once they discovered this man, they’d connect the dots between Dan and him. No matter what scenario played out, no one would suspect Ainsley.

  She’d be the grieving widow.

  And Rush would be a grieving man. He’d feel guilty and responsible.

  The horrifying truth smacked into her.

  Nora’s and Dan’s deaths would bond Rush to Ainsley. Which was exactly what she wanted. To grieve together, comfort one another, form a new relationship—one she hoped would turn into a romance.

  I’ve learned if you want something, you have to take it. Make it happen.

  Rush would never suspect Ainsley. He’d dated her once. So there had to have been some kind of attraction there in the first place.

  Tears filled Nora’s eyes. Rush would always remember her leaving him. He’d always remember her back not her face.

  God, help me. If I make it through this, help me change. Help me...help to run to You. Then give me the strength to go through the hard times, to hear the hard truths.

  She had run. Away from God. From the people who loved her. Over and over. And all for what? So she could die alone in a blizzard because some crazy woman thought Nora had a perfect life. Perceptions were dangerous. She’d falsely perceived the way others thought of her and it had kept her insecure and hiding. There were so many things she wished she could go back and change, but it was too late.

  Too late to tell Rush she’d made a dozen mistakes. If he were here now, she’d open up and tell him anything and everything he wanted to know. He was right about that too—two people had to communicate and be open and honest with one another.

  She’d unlock everything she’d locked away after Mom died. She wouldn’t bail. God would help her stay. Help her stick it out.

  The car stopped.

  The trunk opened and the barrel of the gun pointed at her head.

  SIXTEEN

  Rush blew through the main doors and into the ballroom. Candles illuminated the room. The band played and guests danced as if there wasn’t a blizzard outside, and like the power wasn’t totally out.

  If Dan had hurt Nora...

  He pushed his way through the crowd.

  Gary Plenk.

  Rush’s fury burned hot. He’d deal with him soon enough. He asked locals if they’d seen Nora. Gary’s wife spoke up. “I saw her going toward the stairwell earlier tonight. Dan Parsons was with her.”

  No.

  “Thank you.” He raced into the stairwell and hurtled down the stairs, then sprinted to Joshua’s office.

  Dan lay on the floor with a bullet wound to the back of the head.

  Oh, no. Wait. Nora wasn’t a killer and didn’t have a gun. Someone else must
have done this and taken Nora. But who?

  Troy burst in behind him. “Joshua is at the hospital with Hailey. What can I do? I have to help do—” His sight landed on his son and he sank to his knees. “Dan! Oh, Dan!” He felt for a pulse but Rush knew what Troy surely deep down did. Dan was dead. If Dan wasn’t the masked killer who had been attacking Nora, then someone else was in on it with him and somehow a struggle or something had taken place.

  Troy continued repeating Dan’s name.

  Rush used Troy’s radio on his shoulder and called it in, though it was far too late for an ambulance.

  “I’m so sorry, Troy. Do you have any idea who might have done this?”

  “No. Dan murdered Marilyn and he’s been acting antsy lately. Especially the past couple of days. I had a hunch he was the one after Nora.”

  “But you never confirmed it with Dan?”

  “No. He called me earlier this morning and told me he needed to talk to me, to tell me something. Get some advice. I assumed it was to confess what he’d been doing. I told him I’d take care of it and I thought I had. I guess he got scared.”

  “So who would do this? Because it wasn’t Nora. Does anyone else know what Dan did all those years ago?” Gary was here; couldn’t be him. Dan could have hired someone to do the dirty work and he killed Dan. But who? Was there anyone who might know anything? “Does Ainsley know?”

  “Doubtful.”

  Dan was dressed in a tux, which meant he’d come to the party as a guest. “Troy.” He laid a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I have to find Ainsley.” She might know something Troy didn’t.

  “Go,” he whispered. “I’m gonna stay here with my boy.” His voice faltered. His sobs echoed through the quiet hall.

  Inside the ballroom, throngs of people danced and milled around in masks. He had no time to waste. He went straight to the stage and took the microphone. He paged Ainsley but she didn’t respond, didn’t come forward. He left the stage. Who had Nora? Where would he have taken her?

  Rush’s heart pounded until it nearly beat out of his chest.

  Gary Plenk approached. “I saw Ainsley earlier.”

  “You sure? Because we both know you’re prone to lying.” He glared until Gary had no way of denying that Rush now knew the truth.

  Gary’s face blanched. “I was backed into a corner, Rush. I made a mistake. I got back on the straight and narrow patch and haven’t so much as looked at another woman. It would kill my wife to know.”

  “I don’t care why you did you what you did. You’re going to answer for lying about documents, but right now, tell me where you saw Ainsley.”

  “She was looking for Nora. My wife told her she was with Dan, like she told you. I haven’t seen her since.”

  Maybe this crazed killer had Nora and Ainsley!

  Or...

  A more chilling thought grabbed him by the throat.

  Could Ainsley be behind this? No. No way. But then he never imagined Dan would be a killer either. If Ainsley knew Dan was a killer, she’d have done whatever to help protect him. But who killed him?

  “Rush.” Troy ran toward him. “I found this outside the office.” He held up a midnight blue mask with silver sequins. “It’s Ainsley’s. She drove separate tonight. I had two deputies check the lot for her car. It’s not here.”

  Either the killer took them both hostage in Ainsley’s car or Ainsley wasn’t so innocent. “You think Ainsley has Nora? You think she killed Dan? Why?” Rush couldn’t quite make the puzzle pieces fit.

  “I know she didn’t like Nora. Talked about her on occasion.”

  Then she hadn’t put the past behind her.

  If she took Nora, she couldn’t have gotten far. Not with these weather conditions.

  “Get everyone on the roads. We have to find them.” God, help us find her. Show us where to go.

  * * *

  Ainsley stood over Nora, gun in hand. “I see you’ve warmed up. Don’t you know dead bodies never stay that way? Out.”

  Nora climbed from the trunk of the car, her legs nearly numb from the weather. She glanced around. They were at Lookout Tower, which opened up to the Great Smoky Mountains. Any other day it would be breathtaking.

  “You’re going to shoot me? You can sleep at night knowing you’re a murderer?”

  “I’m counting on Rush’s warm arms to keep me safe. I’ll sleep like a baby.”

  “You’re underestimating Rush. One, he will figure it out, and two, he was going to break up with you long before we had a thing. But go ahead and think otherwise—most delusionals do.”

  She was aggravating the situation, but if Ainsley thought Nora was going to roll over and go out without a fight—even a verbal one—she had another think coming.

  Ainsley put the barrel of the gun to her head again. “I’d watch your mouth. Now, get him out of the trunk. You can do it. If I could get him in, you can get him out.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he brought you here to kill you. You struggled. You shot him. But he got the gun before he died and he got you. You both died. It’s tragic. Really.”

  Nora dragged the man to the lip of the trunk and struggled, but got him on the ground. As he landed something fell from his waistband.

  A phone!

  She bent to get a grip under his arms and snatched the phone. It was an older model. If she could find a way to call Rush without Ainsley noticing the light of the phone, he might be able to make it in time, and if not, he’d at least know she’d tried. The wind cracked a branch on a tree and Nora ducked as a limb fell.

  Discreetly, she removed her right glove as she dragged him along the gravel. Tucking the phone in the folds of his heavy shirt, she dialed. Thankful his number was ridiculously easy. Sliding her thumb along the side of the phone, she turned the volume down so Ainsley wouldn’t hear. The wind helped with noise control as it howled and whistled through the trees, bending them in odd angles. Any minute one might come down on them. Snow covered her hair, fell onto her eye lashes.

  “Now what?” she asked and glanced down. Rush answered! “Why kill me at Lookout Tower, Ainsley? Shouldn’t this be a reminder of what you lost? Don’t you think Rush will figure out your plan?”

  Hear me, Rush!

  “Billy will take the fall for the murder. Are you a dunce, Nora? What am I thinking? You left a man like Rush not once, but twice, and if you weren’t going to die tonight, third time’s a charm. You’re the dumbest woman I know.”

  “Billy. So that’s the name of the man you hired to kill me. Well, at least I have a name to a dead face.”

  “Drop the body there.”

  Nora released the body to the ground in a way that kept the phone from being exposed.

  This was the end. Rush wouldn’t be able to get to her in time. And she couldn’t hear him if he was speaking on the other end of the line.

  Headlights shone in the distance.

  Ainsley whipped her head in that direction.

  Nora pounced on the open opportunity and charged her, grabbing for the gun.

  The lights came closer.

  Nora struggled to get the gun, the wind not helping as it knocked her off balance. She and Ainsley fell to the snowy ground.

  A car door slammed.

  “Ainsley!” Rush called.

  Ainsley turned.

  “Run! Run, Nora!”

  The gun went off, startling Nora. Then Ainsley kicked her and she slipped over the edge of the mountain, screaming.

  * * *

  Rush watched in horror as his future tumbled over the mountain, unsure if she’d been hit with a bullet. He raced to the edge. A splitting noise cracked through the night and before he could be sure what was happening a tree branch fell, knocking him down and his breath from his lungs, pinning him in the snow.

  Nora! He had to get to Nora.
To see if she was even alive. Moisture burned behind his eyes. What if she was lying down there bleeding out? Bones broken.

  Legs. He couldn’t feel his legs. Couldn’t move anything but his arms. He pushed on the huge limb but it wasn’t budging.

  Nora had found a way to call him. He’d only been about five minutes from Lookout Tower when the call came.

  He’d heard Nora loud and clear but she hadn’t heard him on the other end of the line. Hadn’t heard his promise to come for her. To rescue her. That he loved her.

  He hadn’t rescued her. He hadn’t been in time.

  Rush fought and struggled but it was no use. He couldn’t get the monstrous branch off his body.

  “Hello, Rush.”

  Ainsley stood over him.

  “Ainsley, help me.”

  “Why are you here?” She blinked as if they were chatting over lunch.

  “Why do you think?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “And that’s why I won’t help you. You’re a liar and a cheater and the only reason you want out from under that tree is to see if you can save your precious Nora. Well, guess what? You can’t. She’s lying down there dead as a rock. But don’t worry, you’ll meet her soon.”

  “And what exactly will you tell Troy?” His gun was out of reach. If he could get her closer he might be able to get a hold on her, choke her out, but that didn’t help him out from under the tree.

  “That Billy Arnold kidnapped me and Nora. Killed Nora, shot me. I’ll have to shoot my leg or something, I guess. You showed up and this tree fell on you and he shot you too. I’m the lone survivor. For once I’ll be in the spotlight and beloved by all and not Nora. High time.”

  Rush didn’t have the fight to tell her how many plot holes were in that story. Troy wasn’t stupid, just blinded by love for his son. He’d sniff the truth out before Ainsley realized she’d have gun powder residue on her hands.

  “I loved you, Rush. I’ve loved you since seventh grade when you climbed a tree to rescue my cat. Kinda fitting a tree is between us now. Did you ever love me?”

  Rush closed his eyes. Here came the kill shot. Because he wasn’t going to lie. He couldn’t.