Page 97 of Cold as Hell

Grant rubs his face. “You need to get to town. I shouldn’t have asked. I’m sorry. I’m just… I’m not…” He swallows. “I’m sorry.”

I search his face. It’s haggard, eyes dark with exhaustion. Grant didn’t help Jerome murder his wife. He’s tired and grieving, and he wants to see the spot where his wife died. That’s common. Not necessarily a good idea, but when people are groping for closure, they grasp at everything.

See where their loved one died. See the body. Visit the killer in prison. Sit in court through gruesome testimony.

All the things they hope will help.

“If you want to see the spot tomorrow, someone will take you,” I say. “Give it more thought first. But we’ll do what you want.”

He dips his chin, gaze downcast. “Thank you.”

We resume walking. I’d like to ask him to get in front of me, but I can’t do that without coming up with a logical explanation for an illogical request, and my brain isn’t capable of handling that right now. So I listen to his footfalls. They’re hard to pick up—we’re heading through the trees now, with very light snow cover.

My stressed brain is trying to figure out a solution when he provides one by talking, and I can hear he’s at least five paces behind. Lagging, not wanting to take me to town, wanting to go back to the lake.

“Was it Thierry?” he says.

I give a quick “No,” mostly because we can’t have him going after Thierry while we deal with Jerome.

“The kid? Sebastian?”

“No,” I say. “It wasn’t any of the initial suspects, and I need you to stop asking, Grant. You’ll know as soon as Eric brings him back to town.”

“A guy then. That’s what I figured. It had to be a guy to overpower her. She was stronger than she looked. She took Pilates and did some weight training and…” His voice drops. “She stopped doing the weights because I was always making jokes about how light they were. I don’t think she took it as teasing.”

No woman takes that as teasing. But I only keep walking, focused on his voice, which has dropped a little farther back as he dawdles.

“I think that’s why she did the Pilates,” he says. “And some yoga. Because she knew I wouldn’t come along, so she could do it in peace. Without me teasing her or getting cranky because other guys were checking her out.”

I can see a storage building just ahead, through the trees.

He continues, “I was an asshole. I don’t know why she put up with me.”

“She loved you.”

A pause. “She did, didn’t she?” Another pause. “Can I ask for something else, Casey?”

“Hmm?”

“Five minutes. When you bring the guy back, just give me five minutes alone with him.”

I exhale and slow. Words are on my lips.You don’t really want that. I can’t do that.With a shake of my head, though, I decide to say nothing. Leave this fight to others. I have a baby who really wants to meet the world. Now.

Grant makes a low choking sound, a stifled sob. I slow some more but don’t turn. I’ll let him cry in peace, which is half consideration and half that I really don’t have time to comfort him. Again, someone else will need to do that.

A soft thud behind me, and I wheel, as if he’d used the distraction of a sob to catch me off guard and lunge. But he’s on his knees, hands to his face, making ugly, half-stifled crying sounds.

Or that’s what I see at first, exhaling in the relief ofnotbeing attacked. Then the image reprocesses. He’s on his knees, yes, but his hands are at his neck. Those sounds are half-strangled gasps as his eyes round… and blood seeps through his fingers.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

I run to Grant, and I’m halfway there when hands grab me from behind. An arm slaps over my mouth, a forearm in a thick parka sleeve. Then something presses against the side of my belly.

“That’s a gun, Casey,” a voice says. “Go on, look down and check.”

His grip eases just enough for me to look and see Yolanda’s gun digging into the side of my protruding stomach.

“You fight, you try to scream, you do anything except what I tell you to do, and I’ll fire this gun. You know that’s not an idle threat. You saw what I did to Lynn, and you are a good enough cop to understand how much I’d enjoy pulling this trigger and watching you as your baby dies inside you.”

---