Dead in winter, p.12
Dead in Winter, page 12
“My goodness! Ann Armor, I haven’t seen you in months,” Betty Adkins greeted her customer. When she saw Ann sway, she came around the counter quickly and caught Ann’s arm to steady her. “Are you okay?”
“Can I sit for a while? I’m exhausted and my legs feel a bit wobbly.”
“Of course you can, dear,” Betty said, looking past her to the road. “I don’t see your snowmobile. Did you walk from home?” she asked, leading Ann to a booth.
“Yeah, and it took me five hours. I just need to rest a bit and have some water.”
Betty grabbed the water pitcher she kept on the counter and a glass. Ann gulped the water down and sighed.
Betty slipped back behind the counter, and got a plate with two cinnamon donuts and a tall mug of hot cider for her friend. When she set them down, Ann’s head was resting on her backpack, fast asleep.
L
Marvin went through bouts of gentle sobbing to scowling to total detachment, sometimes all in the same sixty seconds.
Once she had finished mopping the floor with clear water, and wiping down the immediate chairs, Kate watched silently from the other side of the bar. When she heard the bell jingle over the door leading to the motel office, she stepped around the end of the long wooden bar that she had polished too many times in the last half-hour.
“I’m glad you’re back,” she said, giving Ezra a hug. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t know, Kate, I really don’t know. The scene was right out of a late-night horror flick, complete with her being impaled to the floor with a very long, very wicked-looking knife. I sure could use a drink, but not until I talk with Marvin,” he said quietly and then visibly shuddered. Ron stood stoic a few feet behind.
Ezra stood behind Marvin and put his hand on his shoulder once again.
“Marv, come and have a seat at the table where it’s easier to talk.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” he slurred, choking back his tears.
“I’m so very sorry for your loss, Marvin, and although you don’t know me, please trust that we need as much information from you as you can give, and the sooner the better so we can find the creep that did this,” Ron said.
Marvin stared at the stranger, nodded, and got down from the bar stool, taking his unfinished drink with him. He hadn’t had much of the whiskey, but the glass gave his shaking hands something to do.
“When was the last time you saw Marjorie?” Ezra asked.
“Last night; we had dinner at her house and talked for hours.”
“Why did you go there this afternoon if you just saw her?” Ron questioned, trying to keep him on track.
Looking over to Ezra and ignoring Ron, Marv said, “I don’t know if you were aware Marjorie and I go way back. We’ve been friends…and lovers…on and off for so many years. This super cold snap we’re having kind of brought us together again.” He smiled sadly. “And last night, we decided to end the dancing around and get married.” He gulped down a strangled sob. “Our plan was to wait until spring, and then move someplace warm. We’re both so tired of the cold, ya know? But all that’s changed now.”
“Why wait until spring?” Ezra prodded.
“Roy turns twenty-one in April and he will be able to legally buy and sell liquor at the store. My plan was to train him a bit more in the meantime and give him the store and just take my savings and leave. That way, he would have a good future, and I know that he plans on marrying Mallory, and I think that’s a good thing. But now that Marjorie is gone, I may as well stick around.”
“Marv, we found footprints going out the back door and around the house. They ended at the driveway. Did you see or hear anything, anything at all?” Ron pushed.
“No, nothing.”
Mallory had come in and was wiping down the chairs that were still overturned on the tables, setting them in place as she did, cleaning slowly so she could eavesdrop. The blood drained from her face, almost visibly as the realization hit her: she didn’t have to eliminate Marjorie for Roy to get his dream. She had actually ruined it for all of them.
L
Ron took Marvin back to Marjorie’s house to get his truck, and then followed Marvin back to his house to make sure he got there safely. Marvin drove very slowly, barely able to keep the truck on the road, he was shaking so badly.
“Are you okay by yourself for now, Marvin?” Ron asked delicately once the old pickup truck was parked in his drive.
Marvin lowered his head and took a deep breath of the frigid air.
“Yeah, I’ll be alright. Roy will be back from the minimart soon. I’ll tell him the news; it will be hard on him too.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Ezra sat at his desk, ready to make the phone call he dreaded, but the state police needed to know there were more bodies to pick up and why he wasn’t plowing. It had only been a few days, but it felt like weeks. Reaching for the phone, he noticed the answering machine light blinking.
“Mayor Collins, this is Detective Ken Rhoades with the state police in Brighton, regarding your report of a deceased citizen. Please call me at…” and the detective rattled off a phone number, which Ezra quickly jotted down and then dialed it.
“Rhoades,” was the only greeting when the detective answered his phone.
“Detective, this is Mayor Collins in Hell. Thank you for getting back to me. We have been having a very rough time here and any help would be appreciated.”
“From your initial report, you said you believed the death to be from natural causes. Has something come up to change your mind?”
“Oh, no, not at all. However, we have had more deaths and this is all above my pay grade,” Ezra confessed.
“By more deaths, exactly how many more?” the detective asked cautiously.
“Seven total so far.” Ezra grimaced. When he was met with silence, he went on. “Two days after Mr. Manley passed, his wife died in her sleep. With both of them in their 90s, I still believe those were natural deaths. And then a guest at the Inn appears to have slipped on some ice in the night, hit his head, and knocked himself out.”
“And this resulted in death? Please explain your thoughts on this one, Mr. Mayor.”
“Well, it was after 1:00 am, and he was on a little-used balcony, so no one saw him. It got down to -35 that night and he froze to death,” Ezra explained.
“You’re sure he froze to death?”
“No, I’m not, but there is a gash in his forehead, blood on the railing, and when we found him the next morning, he was frozen solid.”
Ezra could hear the detective sigh before asking, “And where are these bodies?”
“A Dr. Abernathy at a clinic there in Brighton suggested we put them somewhere secure but cold, so they are all in an outdoor shed.” Ezra was getting the distinct impression the detective didn’t believe him. “Is there any way you can get out here? I really am over my head with this.”
“The roads are still blocked, Mr. Mayor…on your side,” Ken said.
This time, it was Ezra’s turn to sigh.
“I know, and that’s another thing: someone got into the road maintenance service bays and turned off the furnace and now the diesel plow truck is out of commission.”
“Deliberate sabotage? Interesting. Could it have been one of your plow crew?”
“The crew is one person, sir, and that’s…me, and I assure you, I didn’t do it. I’ve got a heater hooked up to the plow now. I came here to my office to try to start it and I was planning on doing that after I made these calls. And here I am.” Ezra leaned back in his office chair and waited for the detective to say something.
“Initially, you said there were seven deaths. Tell me about the others.”
“The most recent is the one I’m most concerned with. It was definitely a murder. Our post master was stabbed to death in her home.”
“Marjorie?” Ken sat upright in his chair. This mayor had his full atten-tion now.
“You knew her?”
“Yeah, I went to school with her.” There was more silence. “Mr. Mayor…”
“I have a feeling we’re going to know each well before long, so please call me Ezra.”
“Okay, Ezra, I’m Ken. Now, I’m going to ask you to try starting your plow and then call me back. In the meantime, I’m going to see if we can do something from this side.”
L
The service bay was a comfortable forty-five degrees when Ezra climbed the short ladder to get to the cab of the plow. He closed his eyes, said a short prayer, and turned the key. The engine groaned.
“That’s the best sound I’ve heard all morning.” He climbed down, popped open the hood to the engine compartment, gave a spray of starter fluid into the intake manifold, unplugged the heater from the wall, set up the Jump-it box to the battery, and got back behind the wheel. After another prayer, he turned the key. The engine groaned, whined, and then started. Ezra leaned his head back against the cracked dark gray vinyl and grinned.
“It’s about time something went right.”
He raised the entrance door a few feet to vent the area, then got down and removed the jump-it and set it aside. Leaving the plow running to further heat the fluids and recharge the battery, Ezra then reattached the heater to the pickup where it belonged.
Ezra went back to his office and called the detective.
L
“The good news is I finally got the plow truck started; the bad news is I need to let it run for an hour so I can make sure there isn’t any damage. Once that’s done, I can start plowing again,” Ezra explained.
“Are you sure you can assess any damage?” the detective asked skeptically.
“I’m a certified diesel mechanic, sir, and the only one in town. I’m sure I can diagnose any damage, but without knowing what that might be, I can’t promise I can fix it,” Ezra answered honestly.
“But if there’s nothing wrong, you can start plowing?”
“Yes.”
“Great, how long will plowing take?” Ken asked.
“Hours and hours and quite honestly, with as much snow as we’ve had since the plow went down, I’m not sure I can get through all of it in one day…not unless I get help on the other side.”
“Do you think you can get a path down the middle?”
“That’s not how it works. If I did that, all the snow I moved would just be piled on top of what should be next and we would have one lane, ten miles long. Once I can get this beast moving, I’ll be better able to assess what I can and can’t do.”
“Okay, that’s fair enough.”
“Before you go, Ken, what am I supposed to do now? Things are totally out of hand here. I’m not a cop; I have zero law enforcement training! The most I have right now is a tourist that’s retired military.”
“And that brings to mind something I should warn you about. There’s a small gang on snowmobiles that have been robbing places in the affected area, and they’re armed.”
The statement was met with silence.
“Ah, three guys, all dressed in black, on black long-track sleds?”
“Crap…have they been there already?” Ken sighed in frustration.
“Yeah, they were here; those are the other three bodies.”
“You killed them?”
“Not me, but yes, they’re dead. When they pulled guns to rob the Damn Inn, the bar owner and that retired military guy shot them before they could hurt the guest they were holding hostage. We put the bodies in an ice shanty.”
“Good thinking. Let me know when you have some road cleared. Oh, and the murder scene…”
“We moved Marjorie to a secure place after taking multiple pictures. We also found footprints leading away from the back door and took pictures of those too. I’ll send them over to you before I start plowing.”
L
Ezra paced the small area in his office, thinking about how to plow so much snow.
“If I get rid of the snow on the shoulder first, that will be hardest but will leave the widest path. Then when I make the turnaround area, I can do the same on the other side coming back in, leaving one blade width row each direction. And if I go back again and make a half cut, pushing it to the cleared row, it will be less to move the next pass and keep doing that I might be able to get away with six passes and have it all cleared,” he said aloud and smiled. “In one direction; I can do the other direction tomorrow. I’ll start with going west, so the detective can get in for the…bodies.” He grimaced as he said the words aloud.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“You were gone a long time,” Kate commented, pouring Ezra a cup of coffee.
“And I can’t stay. I got the plow started, and I talked to a detective at the state police. As soon as I can get the road open, they will come out and help us,” he explained. “It will be a big relief to get all this off my hands!”
“It’s really late in the day—are you going to have enough time before it gets dark?” Kate questioned.
“Maybe, maybe not. As long as the snow has stopped, I can see with the headlights, but it will still take several hours. And Kate,” Ezra grimaced, “don’t wait up for me. I’m going to spend the night in my quarters so I can get an early start in the morning.”
“I understand.” She smiled sadly. “This is important for the entire town. Go do what you need to do. I’m not going anywhere.”
L
Ann jolted upright from a sound sleep, confused over where she was.
“I’m glad you’re up. I was about to wake you anyway. I’m getting ready to close up shop,” Betty said, sitting down across from Ann.
“How long was I asleep?”
“About an hour. You conked out so quickly, I didn’t have the heart to disturb you. It’s getting late…do you need a place to stay?”
Ann snapped her head toward the windows and saw the sun fading.
“Oh, crap, I need to hurry back home!”
“Ann, that’s five miles! It’ll be pitch dark long before you can get there. You best stay and leave in the morning,” Betty said.
“I can’t! Harley is there alone and I’m sure the fire is out by now. He could freeze to death with this weather, even inside the house,” she said, panic lacing her voice.
Betty stared at Ann for a minute. “I’ve seen a number of snowmobiles in and out of the Damn Inn. Maybe someone there can give you a ride back. That might take a half-hour instead of half the night.”
L
Ann slipped her hat and mittens back on, took the sled rope from around the power post, and half-jogged across the way to the Damn Inn.
“Well hi, Ann! I haven’t seen you in months. Good to see you out, but isn’t it kind of late?” Kate greeted the woodswoman.
“Oh, Kate, I’m so glad to see you here. Betty said there are a couple of snowmobilers staying here; do you think one of them could give me a ride back home?” Ann pleaded.
“Where do you live?” Ron asked, pushing his half-finished dinner aside.
Ann explained the situation to him and Kate as quickly as she could, including shooting the wolf. Time was critical with the daylight fading even faster now.
“Not a problem.” Ron smiled. “I’ll be back in a few minutes after I get my suit on and grab two helmets.”
Kate watched Ron hurry out the door toward the stairs.
“That’s a good man, Ann, you can trust him. And thanks for killing that wolf; it was getting dangerous out there!” She felt an involuntary shudder recalling her encounter with what was most certainly the same wolf.
L
Ron tied the small sled to the hitch on his snowmobile and waited until Ann climbed on behind him. First stop was the minimart gas station to fill Ann’s container.
“Are you sure that’s going to be enough gas?” Ron asked, using the bungies to secure the gas can. She laid a large bag of kitty litter in the sled and set her snowshoes on top, strapping it all down with another bungie cord.
“Oh, yeah, all I need is enough to get my snowmobile going. I’ll put the rest in the generator and come back in tomorrow and fill it again. And Ron, I really, really appreciate this,” she said, putting the helmet on, not asking whose it was. She didn’t want to know, didn’t care.
Guiding him to the big conifer that marked the beginning of her snowshoe path, Ann held on as he jumped the berm and followed her trail. Two miles in, he slowed to a stop.
“What’s wrong?” she questioned.
“There’s a dead animal on the path.”
“Oh yeah, the wolf I shot when it attacked me. I’ll drag it away tomorrow if it’s still here.”
Ron turned around and looked at her. “You’re one tough woman, Ann.”
A half-hour later, her house came into view, and she sighed in relief.
“Where your machine? I’ll fill it for you,” Ron offered. “And where do you want the bag of litter?”
“The snowmobile is in that building and there is a battery lantern on a hook just inside the door. The litter is for the gas I spilled. I’ll go in and get a fire going.”
“Always carry a flashlight with me,” he said, grinning. Ten minutes later, he tapped on what he guessed to be her front door and pushed. Light from several oil lamps flooded the spacious room and he could feel the heat already spreading from the fire in the wood stove. He stopped when a large dog blocked his way and growled.
“Harley! Sit!” Ann commanded and the dog sat. She stood and went to Ron. “He’s really a sweetie, but protective. Give him your hand.”
As Ron reached forward, Harley stood, sniffed then wagged his tail and went back to his bed.
“I better be getting back, Ann; it’s almost full dark. Are you going to be okay now?” Ron asked, amazed at the transformation of the woman that stood before him. She had ditched her heavy down coat and bulky windbreaker pants, exposing a slender body covered in a long, fitted dark blue sweater that molded to every curve and black leggings that accented her sculpted calves. With her hat gone, she’d pulled the band from her ponytail and let her long black hair hang down her back in gentle waves. Dark lashes accented her deep blue eyes.
