Page 100 of Tessa's Trust

We kept rolling, and she landed on top of me, straddling me with a knife in her hand. I scrambled for it, but she pressed it to my neck. I stilled. The snow and ice stung against my back and bare legs, but I could only focus on the blade.

She slowly levered off me and scrambled around, grabbing the gun off the floor of the Rogue to point it at me. “Get up,” she said.

I rolled over and stood, looking down at my sliced arm.

“That looks bad.” She gestured at my wound.

“It feels bad,” I snapped, wavering. I was bleeding, but I didn’t think she’d hit an artery. My gaze caught on the bloody knife. “Well, that’s a six-inch serrated hunting knife now, isn’t it, Louise?” I asked dully.

She looked down and nodded. “Yeah. I used to work over on the St. Joe with my family. These are the knives I used.”

I slowly lifted my gaze to face her. It was exactly the kind of knife used to kill Lenny Johnson and then left in my box at Silver Sadie’s. I’d looked carefully at the picture of it. “I bet a lot of people use those kinds of knives,” I said slowly, the blood rushing through my ears and making my head ring.

“Yeah, they do.” She stuck it into her back pocket.

I couldn’t breathe. The snow burned the skin on my legs, and my arm pounded with pain, dripping blood everywhere. “You killed Lenny.”

She sighed. “Yeah.”

I shivered. “Why?”

She motioned toward the trees. “Head that way. I’m right behind you.”

Almost on autopilot, I turned, wincing as more snow fell down my shirt. “Why Lenny?” The old guy had never physically hurt anybody.

“Shut up and move.”

I carefully picked my way, trying to keep as much snow off my body as possible, but it wasn’t easy. My legs were going numb, and my arm was starting to hurt even more. At least the cold had stemmed the flow of blood a little bit. My mind spun.

“Go left,” she said, her teeth chattering.

My arms were turning blue. I moved between two blue spruce trees and saw a cabin just ahead. Smoke rolled from the chimney.

The gun pressed against my back. “Here’s the plan,” she murmured.

I was too cold to move and take her by surprise. Hopefully, whoever was inside would be able to help. Thoughts scattered through my head like falling ice. “Lenny was going to be Sadie’s partner,” I said, my lips barely moving.

“Yep.” She moved to my side, keeping the gun against my ribs.

I looked at her, somehow able to feel shocked. “You killed Lenny because of Bobbo?” Was I way off base? That seemed insane.

She sighed and brushed snow off her heavy jacket. “Yes. I took out Lenny and was going to get Sadie next. Bobbo would’ve inherited everything.”

So she had broken into my new building and planted the murder weapon. My jaw slackened, and I quickly closed my mouth as freezing air wound down my esophagus. “Why in the world did you leave the knife in my stuff?”

“Duh. You’re the strongest suspect in Rudy Brando’s killing, so it made sense that you probably killed Lenny as well. It was entirely too easy to get into the vacant place, you know. Even after you had the locks changed.” She sounded pretty proud.

I wanted to puke. “So you did kill Rudy Brando.”

“Pay attention, would you? Now,”—she gestured toward the cabin—“you’re going to lead very quietly, and if you make any sound, I’m going to shoot you right in the head.”

Chapter 35

I couldn’t make a sound if I wanted to because my vocal cords had frozen. I wasn’t feeling the chill in my feet anymore, which was a bad sign. So I kicked through the snow, careful to keep low, conscious of the gun at my back.

The cabin was a one-story structure with a tipped roof that allowed snow to fall. The blinds were drawn, and I couldn’t see inside. No doubt the door was locked.

Apparently, Louise had the same thought.

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