Read Cold Hunter's Moon Online
Authors: K. C. Greenlief
Cold Hunter's Moon (26 page)
“I do. How many women have you âslept' with for three nights and not made love to?”
“None.”
“Same for me. That's part of what makes this so awkward.”
“You're right.” He got up to get a Diet Coke. “Want one?” he asked, holding his up.
“Make mine a beer. Maybe it'll help me sleep.”
“Great idea.” He grabbed two beers and the bag of potato chips before he came back to bed.
They scooted away from each other and made small talk about the case, wondering why no one in Big Oak seemed to know Katey was gay, while they gobbled down chips and drank. After the beers were gone, they turned out the lights, rolled over on their sides away from each other, and attempted to go to sleep.
Five minutes later, Lacey started laughing. “You know what this is like?” she asked, rolling over on her back.
“What?” he mumbled, not turning over.
“A slumber party.” She giggled.
“My sisters used to have them. They drove me crazy,” he said, turning over on his back and staring up at the ceiling. “All these girls laughing and giggling whenever I came near them.”
“This is a bit like having a slumber party with your big brother.”
“Oh, so you see me as a brother?” Lark said, turning up on his side and looking down at her. “The sexy older brother. What would the psychiatrists make of this?”
“I didn't say you were sexy. I said you were handsome.”
“So I'm not sexy?” he asked, rolling back over on his back.
“Oh, you're sexy, all right,” she said, crossing her arms and glancing over at him. “And you damn well know it. This conversation is dangerous.”
“Why's that?” He rolled his head over and looked straight into her eyes.
“You know why. You're not ready for anything other than a roll in the hay and I don't want to start anything that I have to get over later. I've been down that road.”
“What road?”
She stared up at the ceiling. “The road where I fall into bed with
someone I really like, have terrific sex, and begin seeing a future with him when all he sees is sex.”
someone I really like, have terrific sex, and begin seeing a future with him when all he sees is sex.”
“That's happened to you? Some guy loved and left someone who looks as good as you?”
She snorted and looked over at him. “How long were you married?”
“Ten years.” He thought of Maria and his mood deflated in more ways than one.
“You never went to bed with someone you liked and then distanced yourself because you didn't want a relationship?”
He blew out a big breath. “Yep, I've done it.”
“As much as I'd love to jump your bones, we have to get up and have a working relationship tomorrow morning. I don't want any problems. I don't want one person to get up wanting something the other doesn't.” She kissed him deeply, pulling away before he could wrap his arms around her.
“That stopped way too soon.”
“That's exactly why it stopped.” She turned over on her side away from him. “I'm a little vulnerable right now. For the first time in my life, I'm thinking about settling down. Neither of us needs this right now.”
“Shh.” He rolled over and put his arm around her. “We'll sleep better if we just snuggle up. In ten years of marriage I spent a lot of time snuggling. Let's curl up and go to sleep.”
Wordlessly, she pulled his arm around her, relaxing against him. They were asleep within fifteen minutes. Although they slept soundly, they were dimly aware of turning over and refitting their bodies to each other throughout the night.
NOVEMBER 28âSWENSON
Lacey woke up at seven-thirty to find the other side of the bed empty. A note propped up on her nightstand read, “I'll be down in the bar reading the paper. Come down for breakfast when you get up.” A large “L” and “0700” were scrawled at the bottom. She rolled out of bed, feeling more refreshed than she had in a week. Although her fractured ribs still ached, she decided against any pain pills and hoped that the shower would loosen them up. Lark had left half a pot of coffee and she poured herself a cup on the way to look out the window.
It was exciting to see how much snow had fallen the night before. The cars in the parking lot looked like snow-covered dinosaurs. She flipped on the television to hear that most of northern Wisconsin had gotten between eighteen and twenty-four inches and that many homes and businesses throughout the area were without power. Another three to six inches were expected by nightfall.
Shaking her head in wonderment, she headed for the shower. She had just gotten out of her clothes when the phone rang.
“What's up?” Joel asked.
“You sound like shit,” she said, hearing his exhaustion through the phone.
“We've had a horrible, horrible night. I helped the county and state patrol with accidents. Wausau got at least two feet of snow and almost everything is at a dead stop.” He took a breath and she could hear him sipping something. “I spent most of my night helping ambulance crews. I just got done ferrying a bunch of nurses to the hospital so they'd have enough staff to take care of patients. What can I do for you and what the hell are you doing in a hotel in Minocqua? Are you two having a little fun away from prying eyes?” he asked, the devil coming back into his voice.
“Good old Joel. Mind always in the gutter. For a minute there I thought you were too exhausted to make innuendoes this morning.”
“What the hell are you two doing? I assume you're not there by yourself. Knowing you two, you're probably in the same room,” he said laughing.
“We are, but you can rest easy. It was the last one left. Hold on.” She dropped the phone on the bed when she heard Lark's key in the lock and dashed in the bathroom to put her sweats back on.
She came out to find a grinning Lark talking to Joel. “She just ran in the bathroom. No, nothing happened between us so there's no way you'll be a godfather anytime soon. I don't know if they're real, you'll have to ask her yourself.”
“Give me that phone,” Lacey said, grabbing the receiver from him. “We don't have time for this shit,” she shouted. “Shut up and listen to Lark while I take my shower.” She tossed the phone to Lark and stomped into the bathroom.
“One of these days you're going to go too far,” Lark told Joel as he watched the bathroom door slam.
Lark finished his conversation just after she finished her shower. He hung up as she poured herself a cup of coffee.
“Wausau sounds like a nightmare,” he said, surveying her face.
“You talk to anyone in Big Oak this morning?” she asked, working her fingers through her tangled hair.
“They did surprisingly well. No accidents after ten last night and no emergency calls. No one has reported any power outages, but with this amount of snow, who could get out to report it?” He poured himself the last of the coffee and sat down at the table. “The road crews have scraped
most of the main roads. They're going to start on the side roads this afternoon.”
most of the main roads. They're going to start on the side roads this afternoon.”
“Did they get a chance to search that area across from your house?”
“They got out there yesterday afternoon and found the faint tracks of a snowmobile going up over the hill to a little dirt road that leads out to the highway.”
She nodded and he went on, “They found boot tracks but couldn't identify them because too much snow had fallen into them. They also found half a dozen Marlboro butts.”
“Maybe Joel can get someone up to help out. They have any breakfast down there? I'm famished.”
“They've got a buffet. That's why I came up. I thought we could eat before the food runs out.”
Ten minutes later, they were sitting in front of plates heaped with scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, and hash browns. Their table looked out on the deck. They ate quietly, watching the bird feeders that hung from the deck ceiling. Chickadees, woodpeckers, and nuthatches were the most common visitors. Doves and raucous bluejays scavenged up the leftovers from the snow-covered deck. Two standoffish pairs of cardinals waited their turn at the feeders. The radiance of the scarlet males against the snowy backdrop reminded Lacey of Christmas ornaments. The females in their dull brownish red feathers looked bedraggled in comparison.
After breakfast, Lark and Lacey wandered out to the motel entrance to see what condition the roads were in. They watched the road graders working away at snow removal while the police attempted to deal with the biggest obstacle to clearing the road: abandoned vehicles.
“We're not getting out of here any time soon,” Lark said, surveying the mess. “Let's see if they have a conference room with a blackboard we can use.”
Within thirty minutes they were settled into a small meeting room off the lobby. They reviewed their notes and compiled a list of questions for Ron Chevsky and Jim Kryjack.
“Did you tell Joel about last night's conversation with Ann?” Lacey asked, adding Katey Lowery and Sandi Waltner to the board with Ron and Jim.
“Yeah. He was quite surprised.” Lark leaned back in his chair. “He hasn't picked up even a hint from anyone that Terry or Gemma were gay.”
“Damn,” Lacey said, sitting down. “You'd think someone would see that as an issue.”
“If it's true.” Lark rolled his pen between his hands. “What if there's nothing to it?”
“Did Joel pick up any names of boyfriends?”
“He didn't,” Lark replied, making a note on his legal pad as Lacey got up to write “boyfriends” off to the side on the board. Radiating out from it she lined up the names of Katey Lowery, Sandi Waltner, Gemma Patterson, and Terry Foltz.
“Take Sandi off there, she's engaged,” Lark said, waving at her new list.
Lacey stood back and surveyed the board. “Nope, she's staying.”
“Suit yourself,” he said, flipping through his notes.
“I'll never believe Jim did this.” She sat down to copy the chart onto a legal pad. “We'll need to get details of every minute for Jim and Ron. There has to be something we're missing.”
“The state police did a pretty thorough job of canvassing for any witnesses on Gemma's case. That's probably a dead end.” Lark pulled Gemma's case file out of his briefcase and paged through it.
“If I remember right, the Foltzes said that Terry drove up on 1-94 when she was coming home. We need to find out which way she would have driven to Big Oak.” Lacey jotted another note on her legal pad. “Maybe Joel can get that route checked.”
“Good idea,” Lark said, distracted by Gemma's police report.
“You know who else we didn't question?”
“Who?”
“The Lowerys and the Waltners.” When he looked at her blankly she went on. “She stayed with both families. Don't you think we should interview the parents as well as the kids?”
“Damn. How the hell could we have missed them? I must be slipping.”
“We all missed it. Eliminate the obvious, and the kids are all obvious.” She paused to scribble another note. “Plus all we've heard is Katey and Sandi, Sandi and Katey,” she said in a sing-song voice.
“Shit, just when you think things have narrowed down, we get more people to screen.”
Lacey fished the notes on Terry out of Lark's briefcase. They agreed that they would reread both files and see if they came up with anything
new. Lacey quickly got through the scant notes from the Foltz case and wandered up to their room while Lark read the more voluminous Patterson file. At noon they sat down to review their notes while they took a break in the bar.
new. Lacey quickly got through the scant notes from the Foltz case and wandered up to their room while Lark read the more voluminous Patterson file. At noon they sat down to review their notes while they took a break in the bar.
“What have you got?” Lark asked when he got back to the table with their soft drinks.
“Not much we didn't already have,” she said. “Were there any boyfriends or any other intimate relationships? Gemma's car was found in Eau Claire and her body in Big Oak. Terry's car was found in Wausau and her body in Big Oak. Did someone move the cars and the bodies or both? How are these murders connected to the snowmobile shootings, or are they?” Lacey asked looking over at him. “That's all I found.”
Lark nodded over at her. “The bodies were both moved. How far is the question.”
“Do we go to Madison and interview Sandi and Katey again or do we have Joel send someone down?”
“We've got to talk to them. I also want to interview Ann's friend.”
“Do we go straight to Madison or back over to Big Oak?”
“Back to Big Oak,” Lark said, grinning over at her. “You don't want to spend the next two days in these Packer sweats do you?”
“I've been in less comfortable clothes,” she said, fanning the waistline of the sweatshirt out. “It beats the hell out of pantyhose and heels, but it would be nice to have a change of underwear and some makeup.”
“Surely you have an entire cosmetic counter in that purse of yours.”
“I have things you'd never believe in this purse,” she replied, with an evil grin.
He gulped down the last of his Coke. “Let's grab some lunch, and see if we can get back to Big Oak. Cathy Lowery's in town so we can interview her before she goes back to Michigan.”
“We'll still have to interview Mr. Lowery,” Lacey said as they trotted upstairs.
“We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.”
When they got to their room, they had three phone messages. “Wonder why no one used the cell phone?” Lark grumbled as he played through the calls.
The first one was from Brian Foltz, who left a number for Lark to call after 7 P.M. The second was from Flo, asking him to call in and scolding
him about not keeping his cell phone charged. The third was from Joel, telling them that he and two officers would be in Big Oak by noon tomorrow, if the weather held.
him about not keeping his cell phone charged. The third was from Joel, telling them that he and two officers would be in Big Oak by noon tomorrow, if the weather held.
Lark called the Big Oak station only to find that Flo had gone to lunch. George was covering and told him that they had picked up Lonnie Chevsky drunk, his van in a ditch. He made Lark's day when he told him that Lonnie had his van rigged to haul a snowmobile in the back. He told Lark that Lonnie was charged with reckless driving and DUI and would be sleeping it off in jail.
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