Page 86 of Cold Threat

“Oh. Sorry.”

“Get your gun. I’ve tried calling 911, but I couldn’t get through. We need to get to your parents’ room right now. I know who the Snowman is.”

The overhead light in the room suddenly turned on. River and Tony looked toward the door and found a man standing there, a gun pointed right at them.

CHAPTER

FORTY-NINE

Donnie Schweizer,” Tony said. “You’re the Snowman.” For some odd reason he wasn’t completely surprised. Why was that? Then it struck him. “Your cheek. The scar. You had a birthmark removed, didn’t you? Why didn’t I realize ...?”

“That was the black mark Angie Mayhew saw,” River said. “His job in foster care gave him all the information he needed to hunt people he thought were guilty of abusing children.” She looked at Tony. “I’m sorry. I was so busy thinking about Aimee and ... other things ... that I didn’t see it when I should have.”

“At first I hated that nickname,” Wilson said with an odd smile. “But now I kind of like it.”

“You dyed your hair,” Tony said. “I’m guessing you’re wearing colored contacts to hide your blue eyes?”

“Brilliant,” Wilson said. “But nothing you can say will help you now.”

He’d worn glasses when he attacked Sandra Cooper. That’s why she’d said his eyes were red. As they’d guessed, it was the fire reflected in his glasses.

They had to stall him. Tony had dropped his phone on the bed when Wilson turned the light on. It was partially hidden byhis comforter. Hopefully, Wilson wouldn’t see it. Tony had to try to call the station. He had the number on speed dial. Maybe he could bypass 911 since River hadn’t been able to get through. If only he could reach it.

Tony realized he needed to get ahold of himself. He was worried about his parents and Aimee, but it was as if the gun Wilson had pointed toward him and River was ten times the size he knew it to be. The pain of the last time he’d been shot made his entire body feel like ice—cold and frozen. He had a hard time catching his breath, but he had to stop this guy. He prayed silently for God’s help.

“We ... we heard about your father ... Edward,” River said. She’d obviously noticed he was in trouble and was trying to give him a chance to gain control of his emotions. “How abusive he was. How horribly he treated you and your sister. If anyone has the right to be angry—to give Edward a taste of his own medicine—it would be you and your sister. I’m not sure why you had to kill his wife, though.”

The tightness in Michael’s expression softened just a bit. Narcissistic killers like Wilson liked to talk about themselves. About their compulsions. River knew this. She was buying them some time. Tony took a chance and took a step closer to the bed.

“I didn’t go there to kill her, but she saw me,” Wilson said. “Besides, if she was married to someone like Edward, she had to be just as bad as he was.”

“Look,” Tony said, working to keep his voice steady. “We get it. We really do. But what we can’t figure out is why you killed Sheila Jackson.”

“Although we certainly know how messed up the foster care system can be,” River said. “Did Sheila do something to hurt Stacy?”

River had used Stacy’s name to show that they cared about hissister. That was smart. It was harder to kill people who empathized with you. Tony watched to see if it would have the hoped-for result.

“Yes, she was evil,” Michael said. “When she got tired of Stacy, she passed her off on the Greers. They hurt her too, but she got away.”

Got away? What happened to her? Maybe she was given to someone who wasn’t legally part of the foster care system. Tony hoped she hadn’t ended up on the streets.

“How did you ever find her?” River asked. “We couldn’t track her, and we really tried.”

Wilson’s eyes were wide, and although he’d lowered his gun some, his body language showed that he was still dangerous and ready to erupt.

“When I lost my foster family, they tried to put me somewhere else, but I took off and went looking for my sister. A girl who’d lived in my last foster house was at Sheila’s when Stacy was there. She told me what Sheila did to both of them.” It was as if Michael’s eyes were on fire as he talked about the hate he felt toward the woman who had abused his sister.

“And the Greers?” Tony asked, taking one more step closer to his phone. Wilson didn’t seem to notice.

“Now that’s an interesting story,” he said, obviously enjoying his moment to shine. “I changed my name. My whole identity.” His laugh was chilling. “You’d be surprised by the kind of people you meet in the system. I ran into a guy who knew how to make people completely disappear and be born all over again. I became Donnie Schweizer, a kid who died when he was young. Got a social security number, even went to college. Earned a degree in sociology. Got a job in Des Moines with a foster care agency and was finally able to locate someone else who was at Sheila’s. He told me about the Greers. By then, they’d moved to Burlington.”

“So, you followed them here,” River said.

This explained the gap between killings. Michael was putting himself in the perfect position to deliver revenge.

Wilson nodded, but then started looking nervous and waving his gun around.

“But what about the Craigs?” Tony asked, taking one more step. He’d reached the bed.

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