Page 85 of Cold as Hell

Then I see Anders, coming at a lope, and I exhale.

“Hey,” I say. “Satellite must be down. We can’t get through.”

Anders gets close enough for me to see his grim expression and my gut twists, another cramp hitting. “Will?”

“My phone’s missing,” he says. “So is Marlon. I just—” He breaks off with an angry shake of his head. “I just realized about the phone. I went to bed late and gave mine to April. Yolanda has the other one, and April was pissed, worrying about you since you couldn’t make it to Whitehorse yesterday. She came barreling in this morning and woke me up, thinking I’d taken the phone back. It was missing from her…”

He trails off, gaze slipping to mine and then away. I know what his next words would be, because if April was worried I might need late-night medical attention, she would have left the phone beside her bed.

Marlon went into April’s room, while she slept, and took the phone. While she’d been lying there, with her eye mask on, alone and vulnerable.

“April’s fine,” he says quickly. “She doesn’t even seem fazed. But, of course, that’s April. I told her to grab the other phone from Yolanda. Then I went to check on Marlon. His apartment is empty, and I’m worried that’s not a coincidence—one of your suspects is gone along with the sat phone.”

“Taken it to try getting a ride out of here,” Dalton says as he joins us.

“How long’s he been missing?” I say as we start toward town, moving as fast as my waddling body can move.

“I’m not even sure heismissing. He’s just not in his apartment, and I was starting to search when I saw the plane. He was supposed to take a patrol shift starting at eight, but I asked him to switch to Grant’s job, which doesn’t start until ten.”

I check my watch. It feels as if it should be early afternoon, and it’s only 9:55. That’s what happens when your day begins before dawn.

“For all I know,” Anders continues, “he could have been grabbing breakfast before his shift starts, and someone else stole the phone. I was about to search for Marlon myself while getting Yolanda or Kendra to check on our other suspects, see if anyone is missing.”

“It’s Marlon,” I say grimly. “That’s why we came back. We were trying to call to tell you Marlon isn’t Marlon. That is to say, he’s not the guy we admitted as Marlon.”

Anders stops short before resuming his walk with, “What?”

I give him the quickest possible rundown as we near town. When I tell him what I found, about the murders I think could be Jerome’s work, his face goes ashen.

“Holy shit,” he whispers.

“Yep,” Dalton says.

“I… Part of me says I should be furious because he played me. Played me like a goddamn violin.” He swallows and rubs his mouth. “But all I can think about is those girls, those women, and I want to ask if there’s any chance you’re wrong but there’s not. He was exactly what we needed. Especially whatweneed—you, me, Eric.”

I nod. “A resident with military experience to fill the gap left by me being pregnant. And a gap in general. We’re all working our asses off to build and protect this town. To have a resident with the skills, the personality, and the willingness to help out? Gold.”

“Casey?” Dalton says, lowering his voice as we enter town. “I’d like you to take Storm and get that sat phone from Yolanda.”

“Got it,” I say. “I’ll tell her what’s happening, and I’ll get in touch with Émilie while paying April a visit to check on her. You guys are looking for Marlon, I presume.”

“We are. Will? Can you round up Kenny, Phil, Kendra, Jacob… Find Gunnar, too. Put him in his perch. Get the others up to speed.”

“You want to lock down?” Anders asks. “Everyone inside?”

Dalton shakes his head. “If Marlon’s still in town, the last thing we want is him being tipped off by too much activity. Kenny, Kendra, and Jacob should be on patrol. Gunnar in his perch. Phil is working with Isabel on a plan for a lockdown, if that’s needed.”

“Eric?” I say as he starts veering left.

He glances back.

“If he’s not around, come see me before you leave town? Take Storm and backup?”

“I will.”

I head straight for Yolanda’s apartment. Anders hadn’t gotten a chance to check in on her. She’s not doing any regular job right now, having been semi-recruited to help Anders on the case and town security. He says she was on patrol yesterday afternoon, ending early evening when her Parkinson’s tremors started up. He hasn’t seen her since her patrol shift began—he’d spoken later to Kendra, who said Yolanda passed on a message that she’d be back on duty by late morning.

Yolanda has an apartment in the general residences. We’ve tried getting her to take a larger one in the family building, but she’s never as stubborn as when she’s determined to be treatedlike everyone else. Except, you know, when she doesn’t want to be treated like everyone else.

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