Chilled by Death (41 page)

He’d always been like that. He’d wanted her for a while, but she’d made it clear that it wasn’t in the cards. As she remembered, he’d been after Janice. She thought Janice had spent a weekend with him for fun then no more. It was so Janice’s style. Francine had been the same. When Janice had been done with him, then Francine had stepped in. Hell, they’d both done the rounds with every male in the group. Including Royce and her brother for sure. It had been part of the lifestyle. One Stacy hadn’t been a part of.

She took another step back, her heart in her throat, and fear started to cut off her ability to think. There was no sign of Royce. No sound to say he was anywhere close.

And yet she could hear heavy breathing. Heavy breathing she recognized.

And she thought she knew.

Please not.

Please let her be wrong.

She swallowed and closed her eyes. Her heart pounded as her blood rushed through her body. She could barely breathe.

Where the hell was Royce?

*

Royce couldn’t catch
his breath. He’d been sucker punched from behind so fast he not only hadn’t seen it, he hadn’t felt it until his ribs could no longer expand to gasp for air. He couldn’t groan. He couldn’t move. Someone had snuck up on him and taken him out so damn easily.

Anger filled his brain and the rest of him was so full of pain.

Physical pain. He had to move. If he’d been taken out that fast, not even leaving him a clue as to who had done him in or his intentions, then what would they do to Stevie and Stacy?

He could still hear Stevie sobbing. Had he been the one to rig up the girls? He’d been completely devastated when they’d gone missing. He’d come here for several holidays to be close to them. In a twisted way, Royce could understand Stevie needing to keep the women here like this. But he couldn’t see Stevie attacking Kathleen or Yvonne. And Christine? That made no sense.

So who else?

He rolled over and gasped, willing himself to get to his knees. The shards of pain almost dropped him. Black mist filled his eyes, and his head dropped. Christ.

Stacy. He had to keep going for her.

He used the wall to stand upright. He hit vertical. Dizziness took over and he sagged. He had no idea what the guy had done to him, but it was lethal.

Lethal? He frowned, considering what he was up against. Who he was up against? Did he know anyone with that kind of training? The man had moved too smoothly. Too quickly. It was a practiced move. He’d known what to do and where to hit. Royce had to consider that there might be a few other people hanging here than just the two girls. He’d hate to think so, but if he’d been dropped so easily, his attacker would have been able to pick the winter enthusiasts off without much trouble.

Although there weren’t many missing people from the area.

But they’d found a dead man who hadn’t been reported missing, too.

He took a deep breath, straightened his shoulders, and hobbled a couple of steps forward. There was only darkness around him. He didn’t dare turn on the flashlight. He searched the shadows. Where was Stacy?

Silently, huddling close to the wall, he sent a message screaming for help to George, the only one not here and the only one he could then trust. George would help. And fast.

As soon as he was finished, he crouched and waited. Up ahead in the deep darkness in front of him, an odd sound tinkled through the space. A sound that was odd, discordant to the surroundings. And too damn perfect in timing. He froze.

It was a cell phone.

And it played George’s favorite ringtone.

*

Oh, what fun.
Now the cat was out of the bag. Or was it? They had no idea whose phone went off. Ringtones were fun and easy to change. He smiled. He didn’t even bother looking at the text – but he’d have to remember to thank the sender – it was a great time to get one in.

He wasn’t nuts, although more than a few people might think so.

He wondered if Stacy recognized the ringtone. She was incredibly brilliant in one way but in others…not so much. Still, she was about to take a very different career path.

One she’d been destined for a long time ago. He could feel that sense of accomplishment well up inside.

This was working out perfectly.

They were all here. He had no idea what to do with the sniveling Stevie. God, the man was a mess. A coward and just a wimp.

Well, he wasn’t a wimp himself. He’d never been one. He loved women. Of all kinds. Some men kept mementos. So what if he kept the women? He’d been hearing news stories of all kinds of men out there keeping women as sex slaves in their basements. He wasn’t that bad. Geesh. He did love to look at them though.

He knew where they all were. They hadn’t found
his
collection yet. The matched set was front and center. And that one wasn’t even his.

He’d been forced to find another stage to play on. A happy sigh slipped out.

Creativity was inspiring. He could do so much. None of these women would mind. Even if they were still alive, they wouldn’t. He knew them. Knew what they were like under the skin. The two showcase specimens took the highest position, and that’s where both of them would say they deserved to be. They’d also put Stacy slightly below them both, whether she’d understood that about her friends or not.

They considered her an oddity, someone below them in life. Not as good as they were.

And her place was ready and waiting for her.

At least for a little while.

T
hat ringtone.

Stacy’s heart froze. Then shattered. Blow after blow. How many more could she take and still stay upright? This wasn’t right. This couldn’t be. There had to be another explanation. Her mind struggled to grasp for any logical reason her brother’s ringtone should have sounded in the dark space. She’d curled up tight against the corner beside her friends. Hoping, praying she was wrong. Maybe whoever it was had changed his ringtone so that he’d be mistaken for George. Or, and her heart seized at the idea, maybe George didn’t have his phone because this asshole had taken him out and retrieved the phone. She brightened. Maybe George had left it behind.

She knew she was grasping at straws. There were only so many options ahead of her, and none of them looked good.

And none of them addressed why Royce wasn’t responding.

Her mind kept asking. Was she sure it wasn’t Royce? He could have taken George’s phone before George pulled out. It’s not like her brother had been organized or collected. No, it had to be someone else. Royce would never do that. Janice’s snowboard was only inches away from her hand. She wanted to reach out and touch it, to make sure it was real and she wasn’t caught in some psychotic drug-induced nightmare.

But the thought of touching her friend – board, boot, clothing – three years dead, was too much, even for her. On her table, yes. In the field to get the answers needed, yes. Here and now – no.

She dropped her head to her knees. There had to be a way out of this. Think, damn it. Think, before there’d be no thinking left. She could just imagine this asshole taking out Stevie and Royce. No one would ever find them. Find her friends. Find her.

She’d not believed in God in a very long time. Now she couldn’t help but hope she’d been wrong. Only she suspected he helped those who helped themselves rather than stepping into a scenario like this at the last moment.

A scrape rasped across the ice on her left. Shit. She had no weapon. Nothing.

And for all she knew, she was the last one capable of saving anyone.

Then she heard something that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

Heavy raspy breathing…from the right…

She tried to shrink smaller. A flashlight turned on, blinding her.

“There you are.”

She stared. In shock.

Stevie. She scrambled to her feet in relief. “Oh, thank God. I got so turned around, I didn’t know who was here and who wasn’t. Who was the good guy and who wasn’t.” She threw herself into his arms and hung on.

“Stacy?”

She paused, turned. “Royce! Oh, I’m so glad to see you.” She slipped away from Stevie and gave him a huge smile. “I was so scared.”

“Uh, Stacy,” Royce said, “Come here please.”

She took a step toward him, a little puzzled at the odd tone to his voice.

“Ac—,” she choked back a scream as an arm came around her throat and locked across her windpipe. She was dragged backwards, her chest screaming for air, red swimming before her eyes. She couldn’t focus. Everything was focused on the pain in her throat – the air her lungs were struggling to lock onto.

Her feet slid out from under her as she was dragged backwards.

And she finally heard the words being exchanged.

“Don’t hurt her, Stevie.” Royce’s voice broke. “Please don’t hurt her.”

“I’m not going to hurt her,” Stevie said, his voice a chilling singsong tone. “She’s finally going to be with her friends. They’re best friends, you know. Stacy has been lost without them. She’s going to love being with them again.”

Stacy tried to say no, tried to tell him she didn’t want to be with them. But he wasn’t listening. As she heard the weird tenor in his voice, she realized that he’d likely not hear her anyway. He was in his own world.

She tried to cry out for help. Try to let Royce know she was choking to death.

“Stevie,” she choked out. “I can’t breathe.”

Instantly, the chokehold around her neck eased up, but he still held her tight so she couldn’t get free. She gasped, gulping madly for air.

“There? See, she’s fine, Royce.” Stevie turned Stacy to face Janice. “See, Stacy, they are waiting for you. All this time. They are going to be so happy to have you with them. I’m just going to put you up into the right position so you can look at each other for eternity. You’ll look perfect again.”

“Is that what you’re trying to do, Stevie?” Stacy asked, feeling hot tears in her eyes. She coughed, still trying to get air back into her lungs. “Give the three of us a chance to be together again?”

“Of course. They’ve been waiting for you. I tried to make them look right as they were…” He looked at Janice, frustration and worry on his pale features. “But they never looked right. Something was missing. Incomplete. And I finally knew why.”

A beatific smile shone from his face. “They were missing you, Stacy.”

He pinned her in place with his arms. “And Stacy was missing the girls. You’ve been missing them so much, haven’t you, Stacy?”

“I do miss…” Her voice came out like a frog. She cleared her throat and tried again. “I do miss them, Stevie, but I don’t want to join them.”

With a wary glance at where she’d last seen Royce, she tried to shuffle slightly away from Stevie, but backed up as she was to where Janice hung in the macabre horror show, she had nowhere to go.

“Yes, you do,” he crooned in a soft voice. “I’ll let you visit with them until the cold puts you to sleep permanently.” He looked at the hooks and wires he had waiting. “You’ll like that. But I have to get you into position before you freeze.” Frustration entered his voice. “It’s really difficult to fix the position after you’re frozen.”