The Cold Kiss (14 page)

29

I didn’t say anything to Sara when I went inside, and she didn’t say anything to me until she saw me take the gun out of the nightstand drawer and check the clip.

“What are you doing?”

“Being safe,” I said.

“Nate, I don’t think—”

“I’m not asking for your opinion.”

She didn’t say anything else.

I slid the gun under the back of my belt then went into the bathroom and ran the water hot in the sink. My face felt numb from the cold, and the water stung when it touched my skin. But it cleared my head.

Things were falling apart, and I could feel myself slipping. Even if Syl died tonight, there would still be questions, and all eyes would be on me.

The pain behind my eyes was strong.

I turned off the water and went out into the room. My pills were on the nightstand next to the Bible. I opened the bottle and tapped three into my palm and swallowed them dry, then I motioned to the Bible and said, “What’s with this?”

Sara looked then shook her head and said, “Nothing.”

“Why do you have it out?”

“I don’t know. It helps, I guess.”

“You’re going to wind up just like your mother.”

Sara was quiet for a moment, then she said, “Do you believe in God, Nate?”

“I don’t know what I believe.”

“We’ve never talked about it.”

“We’ve got bigger things to worry about now.”

Sara looked at me and frowned. “You’re mad at me, aren’t you?”

“No.”

“About the money,” she said. “You are, I can tell.”

“Not now, Sara.”

“Are you still going to let Zack do this?”

“It’s not my choice,” I said. “He’s involved now, and he’s going to do it whether I want him to or not.”

Sara looked down. “I can’t believe this.”

Part of me wanted to laugh and part of me wanted to scream at her. There was a voice in the back of my mind asking me what I’d expected from her, that she was just a kid and all of this was my fault for listening to her.

If we’d never given him a ride, none of this would’ve happened. If it was anyone’s fault, it was mine for not being man enough to say no.

I pushed the voice away then slipped my coat on and opened the door.

“Nate, wait, please.”

I stopped and looked back.

She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out.

“I’ll be careful,” I said.

Sara nodded, and I walked out.

“She came to see you, didn’t she?” Marcus asked.

I told him she did.

“And she got to you, too. I can tell.” He laughed then placed his bookmark between the open pages of his book and closed it on the table. “Don’t let her ruffle you. It’s just the way she is.”

“What way is that?”

“She’s a bully, or didn’t you notice?”

“Hard not to notice.”

Marcus smiled. “She’s like that with everyone. Ask our mailman or the guy who comes over and fixes our pipes. Hell, ask anyone she comes in contact with. The woman is a bully, plain and simple.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” I motioned toward Syl. “How’s he doing? Still talking?”

“Not a peep,” Marcus said. “Between you and me, I don’t think he’s going to last the night.”

“That’s too bad.”

“Is it?” Marcus shook his head. “Look at the guy. I wouldn’t want to live like that, would you?”

I stepped closer to Syl and saw the puffed skin and black blisters covering his face. I turned away and said, “No, I guess not.”

Marcus and I talked for bit longer, then he put his coat on and stuck his book under his arm and said, “I’m going to get some sleep. Sorry again about Caroline.”

I told him it was fine.

“Be happy you get to drive away from her,” he said. “Think about my life.”

We both laughed, then he waved back over his shoulder and walked out of the dining room and into the office. A second later, the bells over the front door chimed.

I was alone with Syl.

I sat for a long time and listened to the wind press against the side of the building. When the fire started to burn down, I got up and grabbed another log off the pile then used the poker to open the spark screen. I set the log on top of the coals, and a few minutes later the fire was burning strong.

I looked down at Syl and heard a slow rattle of breath in his chest. He didn’t move.

I thought about what Marcus had said about Syl not making it through the night. If he was right then Zack wouldn’t have to do anything. We could wait it out.

The problem was getting Zack to agree.

I could talk to him, but I didn’t think he’d listen.

And what if Syl didn’t die? He’d already survived the storm and a gunshot. What if he survived this, too?

In the end, I decided it was better to be safe and let Zack handle it. I thought it would be better for everyone, including Syl. All I had to do was stay out of the way.

I walked back to the table and reached for Caroline’s cards. I took them out and shuffled them then laid out a game of solitaire. For a while, it took my mind off everything, and that was good. Zack wasn’t coming for a few more hours, so I had time to think. If I got lucky, Syl would give up and go quietly in his sleep before Zack arrived.

If I got lucky.

I put a black queen on a red king then moved a red eight to a black nine. I felt good, but in the end I lost the game. I played again, but lost that one, too.

Eventually, I got tired and I put the cards away then leaned back in the chair and closed my eyes.

I don’t know how long I was like that, but when I opened them again, the room was completely dark except for a carpet of red coals smoldering in the fireplace.

I got up and grabbed a couple logs off the pile then dropped them both on the coals. When I turned and reached for the poker, I noticed Syl was sitting up.

I made a sharp sound in the back of my throat and jumped away. I stood for a moment, staring at him, then the wood popped in the fireplace and caught fire, spilling a dancing yellow light into the room.

Syl’s blanket had fallen off his chest and settled around his waist. I could see the bandage on his side, as well as several scars along his shoulders and chest. Some were thicker and longer than others, but each one looked bad, painful-bad.

I stepped closer.

Syl had his hands out in front of him, and he was staring down at his black fingers. He didn’t seem to notice me.

I reached for a bottle of water on the table and unscrewed the cap and held it out to him.

He looked up, saw me, saw the water.

I moved it toward his mouth and helped him drink.

He took two swallows and coughed, heavy and deep. Blood flew from his mouth and covered my hand and ran down his chin. When he finished coughing, I held the bottle out to him again, but he shook his head.

I set it on the table.

He went back to staring at his hands, and he didn’t speak for a long time. When he finally did, he looked up at me and said, “Where is she?”

His voice was thin, broken.

I noticed I’d been holding my breath.

I let it out, said, “Who?”

“Lilith,” he said. “Where is she?”

“She’s not here,” I said. “It’s okay.”

Syl ignored me then looked past me toward the door. “She’s here, I saw her here. Standing in the dark.”

He was shaking, and I reached out and touched his shoulder. At first I didn’t think he was going to calm down, but after a while I started to feel the tension ease away and his breathing slow.

“How are you feeling?”

Syl lowered his head and a long trail of saliva dropped into his lap.

“Do you need anything?” I asked.

Syl held up his hands. “What’s this?”

I looked closer and saw Syl’s hands in the firelight.

All the fingers on his right hand had been twisted and snapped at the middle knuckle, and each of them bent out at a different angle.

For a second, I couldn’t find my voice.

I tried to remember if his fingers had been broken when we’d brought him inside, but I didn’t know for sure.

I remembered watching Megan take off his clothes and wrap him in the blankets, but not his fingers.

I told myself Megan would’ve noticed, and she would’ve said something. But she hadn’t.

Someone had gotten to him.

Which meant someone knew.

I sat back and tried to stay calm.

I wasn’t ready to believe it, and I did my best to convince myself that he’d broken them coming out of the field, and I’d just overlooked it. It was the only explanation I’d accept, and after a while I started to believe it was true.

Syl asked again what had happened.

I leaned forward and told him about the frostbite, but I could tell it wasn’t registering.

When I finished, he asked again.

He was in shock.

I told him again.

There were several long gray strips of skin hanging from his cheeks and wavering in the air like cobwebs. I tried not to look at them.

I told him about the storm and about the motel.

As I talked, Syl kept looking at his hands, turning them over. Every time he took a breath, his chest buzzed like a chorus of flies.

When I finished, we were both quiet for a long time. I watched Syl sway gently in front of the fire. I thought about asking him if he wanted more water.

Instead, I said, “Can you hear me?”

Syl let his hands drop to his lap, then he looked up at me. In the firelight, the whites of his eyes looked deep red, as if filled with blood.

“Yeah, kid,” he said. “I can hear you.”

30

“I don’t blame you,” Syl said. “But this is a hell of a way to wind up.”

“Syl, what happened to your fingers?”

He looked at me like he didn’t understand then down at his hands and said, “She did.”

“Who?”

“Lilith,” he said. “She wanted the money.”

I looked away. “And what did you tell her?”

“I don’t remember.”

I frowned. He was obviously delirious, and there was no point in trying to get an answer. With Syl, everything seemed to circle back around to Lilith.

Syl coughed and a thick trail of blood came out of his nose and ran over his lips and dripped onto the blanket.

He didn’t seem to notice.

“You know you won’t be able to keep it.”

“Why not?”

The look that crossed his face was probably a smile, but it was hard to tell.

“She’s not going to let you.”

“Who’s ‘she’?”

“Lilith.”

“Even if she is out there, she won’t find us.”

Syl coughed again, and this time there was laughter behind it. “This is why I don’t blame you.”

I shook my head.

“You don’t believe me?”

I told him I didn’t.

“It’s true, I don’t blame you. I feel sorry for you, both of you, but I don’t blame you.”

“Sorry for us?”

“Neither of you have any idea what’s coming.”

“What’s coming?”

Syl’s eyes dipped shut for a second, and I reached out and touched his shoulder. He jerked back, his eyes opened.

“What’s this about?” I asked.

“The money,” he said. “She’s following the money.”

“Lilith?”

“We had everything planned. Her husband, she knew his schedule. She told me when he was home and when he’d be alone. I trusted her.”

“Syl, I—”

“She told him she was out of town, but before she left, she unlocked a window. All I had to do was get inside and wait. The rest was easy.”

“Did you kill someone?”

“He was a criminal,” Syl said. “A wannabe gangster. It wasn’t a loss.” He paused. “But I didn’t do it for the money. I did it for her.”

Syl looked up and I saw his eyes roll back. I thought for a second that he was going to pass out again, but he didn’t.

“She was supposed to meet me,” Syl said. “That’s what we decided. Make it look like a robbery. Get in, pull the trigger, grab the money, then get the fuck out.”

“She didn’t meet you?”

“She was there.”

I hesitated. “I don’t understand.”

“She was there, in the house. She was waiting for me.” Syl looked at me. “She used me to kill her husband.”

“Did she shoot you?”

“I grabbed the money and ran,” he said. “I panicked.”

Syl’s body shook, but his voice was steady.

“She worked for him,” Syl said. “Before she married him. I should’ve seen through it. I knew what kind of woman she was.”

I didn’t know what to say.

“I left town and took back roads, but it didn’t matter. She knew what I’d do, who I’d call.”

“You’re a cop. You could’ve called other cops.”

“No,” he said. “I couldn’t.”

I waited for him to go on. Instead, he swayed slightly and his eyes fluttered.

He was fading. I needed him awake, so I kept talking. “She can’t know you’re out here.”

“She knows,” Syl said. “She knows because I fucked up.” He coughed. More blood. “I called my brother. He kept a house out here somewhere for hunting. He was going to pick me up at that diner.”

“Where we met?”

“When he didn’t show, I called him again. Except this time she answered. She’d made him tell her where I was and where I was heading, then she killed him.”

“Do you think she’s coming?”

“She’s already here,” Syl said. “I’ve seen her.”

“In the dark?”

“That’s right.”

I shook my head. “She’s not here, Syl.”

“You can’t keep the money,” he said. “She won’t—”

He coughed again, and when he finished I saw him start to fall backward. I reached out and helped ease him back onto the floor, then I covered him with the blanket.

“Bring it here, leave it, then go.”

I didn’t say anything.

“Use your head, kid. It’s probably too late, but if she gets the money she might just leave.”

“We can run.”

“She’ll find you.”

“How? We can go anywhere.”

“She’ll find you,” he said. “And you don’t want her to. She’s got a black soul.”

I sat back and stared into the fire. I was having a hard time taking any of this seriously. I couldn’t help but think he was delirious or just making the story up to scare me into returning the money.

It wasn’t going to work.

I started to ask him more about Lilith, but it wasn’t any use. He was out again.

The fire had burned down, so I stacked a couple more logs on the coals then pushed them around with the poker until they caught.

I looked at my watch.

It was ten past midnight.

Zack was late.

I sat at the table and waited. Syl was where I’d left him on the floor. He hadn’t moved or made a sound for over two hours, and the idea that I was the last person he’d ever talk to was up front in my mind.

That, and his story.

I wasn’t sure how much I could believe and how much was delirium. Someone had shot him, and maybe he was telling the truth. Maybe he’d gotten involved with the wrong woman. It was possible, but to believe she was following him to kill him and take back the money?

That, I had a hard time believing.

I played the story over in my mind. It helped keep my thoughts quiet and off Zack and what was going to happen.

The only sound I heard was the occasional spark popping in the fireplace, and the tired moan of the wind outside. I kept expecting to feel that familiar sharp pain behind my eyes, but it never came.

No pain, just calmness and peace.

It didn’t seem right.

With everything that’d happened, the last thing I should’ve felt was peace. But I did, and I didn’t question it. Instead, I leaned back and put my feet up on the table and closed my eyes and thought about Sara.

I’m not sure how long I stayed that way, but when I opened my eyes again, I wasn’t alone.

Caroline was standing across from me, pulling her gloves off one finger at a time. Butch was behind her, standing in the doorway.

They both stared at me.

“Sorry to wake you,” Caroline said. “But I think we need to talk.”