Page 99 of Cold as Hell

Good. It’ll be easier for Anders to spot me out there. I make the turn toward the snow-covered ice.

“To answer your question, Detective, you’re half right. Yolanda was my preferred victim, but obviously I was fine playing Russian roulette with those drinks, letting the victim self-select, so to speak. If I’d been set on Yolanda, I’d have gotten Yolanda.”

“Instead you got Kendra.”

“Which was a disappointment. Of the three, she was my last choice. Yolanda thinks she’s tough, but you cansmellmoney on her, however much she tries to hide it. Tough in a boardroom but not out here. Kendra is different. Even drugged, she’d have been a handful. So when I had the excuse, I let her go.”

“And Lynn?”

“Happenstance,” he says. “That storm hit, and she was in her shop. I waited for the storm to whip up, and then I let myself in the back door, where no one could see me. Then I did a bit of theater, acted as if I’d seen someone through the windows, thought she’d be gone for the storm and a thief was taking advantage. Can’t help playing cop, ha-ha. She notices the two beer bottles in my hand. Yeah, I was going to hunker down with Will, but the way this storm is blasting in, I’m never getting to his place. Don’t suppose you’d like to share a beer, wait out the storm? Of course she does. Even lets me open them and slip something in hers. Oh, sure, she was the one telling women to be careful, but that doesn’t apply to good ol’ Marlon. So we drink our beer and talk, and shit, the storm’s getting worse. I’d better walk you home.”

He pauses to tell me to turn right. That’s not the direction I want to go. Straight ahead or to the left, it’s open ice, where Anders would easily spot us. Rocks and trees cut into the lake to the right, forming a secluded peninsula. But I can’t hesitate. Hesitation will make him think, and I don’t want him to realize help is coming.

He resumes his story without prompting. “So I help Lynn through the storm. She’s a little woozy, but just laughs it off, blaming the beer. We get close to her residence building and, shit, I’d better not let Grant see me bringing you back. Wouldn’t want him to get the wrong idea, ha ha. You okay if we goaround the back? Then I can watch you go inside, make sure you’re safe. Sure, that’s fine. Only by then, the snow is coming in so hard we can’t see our hands in front of our faces. That makes it almost too easy. We’re out in the forest, surrounded by trees, before she even realizes we’re off target. Whoops, shit, better double back… only she’s too woozy to realize that I take her in a circle and then keep heading out to the lake, where everything’s set up. I don’t think she even understood something was wrong until I pulled the knife and told her to undress. Even then, she thought it was some weird sex thing and told me, very politely, that she wasn’t interested.”

He barks a laugh. “I should have been insulted. She’s been chasing half the guys in town, and she turned me down. Poor Lynn. Always just a little too eager to please. When she realized I was serious, that clothing came off fast, and I was invited to do whatever I wanted. Just get it over with and let her go. I did what I wanted. Don’t think it was what she expected.”

He chuckles. “You should have heard her scream, tied up on that ice. Oh, she struggled in the beginning, but between the drugs and the hypothermia, her mind went fast, and all she could think to do was scream for help. Scream for you and Eric. Scream for that useless waste of a husband. Scream and scream and scream. It was fuckingdelightful.”

I bite my lip hard to keep from lashing out. Then a contraction starts, and this time it’s so strong that I have to stop walking, heaving breath.

“Keep going,” he says, gun barrel digging into my side.

“Just… just a minute. They don’t—they don’t last long.”

The contraction has my knees wobbling. I just want to sit down. No, I want to squat, with the overwhelming urge to find a toilet, as ridiculous as that seems.

Except it’s not ridiculous at all. I want to bear down, in any way I can. The next phase of labor. When my child is ready to be born.

Tears prickle my eyes.

Not yet, baby. Please. Not yet.

Jerome pokes me before the contraction has even finished. He’s making sure I don’t use them to slow us down. Which, yes, would have occurred to me after the agony of this one passes.

I resume walking. It’s a shuffling stride, and that’s not me dragging my heels. Even after the contraction passes, my legs feel like rubber, from relief now, my body getting a break before the next contraction hits. Only it’s not the same as before, when the contraction passed and I felt mostly fine. My stomach twists, and I’m not sure if it’s nerves or nausea.

I want to stop walking. Ineedto stop walking.

If I take one more step in these soaked sweatpants…

I mentally slow down. My sweatpants and panties are wet, my thighs chafing. I hadn’t even noticed that until now. It feels as if I wet myself.

My water broke, and I never realized it.

All things considered, that’s hardly a shock.

“I… I need to sit down soon,” I say.

“You will. Just up ahead.” His free hand reaches over my shoulder to point. I follow his finger and realize he’s leading me around that peninsula. To a secluded spot where Anders won’t be able to see me.

My knees lock involuntarily.

“Uh-uh.” Jerome digs the gun in. “None of that.”

“I… I don’t think I can go any further.”

“You will. Or I pull this trigger, and if you’re hoping that means Will’s going to hear it and come in time to save you…”He leans down to my ear. “Tsk-tsk.Such a bad mother already. Willing to sacrifice her baby to save herself.”

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