Devoted to the Blizzard: A romantic winter thriller (Tellure Hollow Book 3) (21 page)

“The staff who have worked here since we arrived.”

I snorted as I sat up. “That’s ridiculous. We haven’t seen anybody. Might as well be little elves for all I know.”

He shrugged. “Fair enough, but given some of the photos this person took of you…” he paused and chewed his lip, obviously as disturbed by the intrusion as I’d been. “Are you up to it? We can wait until later.”

I shook my head and steeled myself once more. Honestly, I’m not sure where the strength came from. “No, it’s all right. It won’t take long.”

Henry looked at me more like a concerned father than a policeman. “You hanging in there, Miss Croyden?”

“Oh, you know me, Henry,” I smiled wanly. “Knock me down and I pop right back up again.”

My attention drew to the counter where an array of photos had been spread out. Josh was already flicking through them, flipping them over to read the biographical information on the back.

“So, this is everyone?” I hesitated a few steps back.

Bryan nodded as he studied a photo of an older woman with graying hair. “All the background checks came through clean, but they just want us to go through and see if there’s anybody you recognize. Maybe someone who you’ve seen around a lot, maybe following you. Could be a face at the lodge you recognize.”

I stepped around to the opposite side, my fingers tracing along the shiny photos. They all looked so normal and happy. Average people doing average jobs. Why would any of them want to hurt me or go to all this trouble?

My eyes fell on another letter hidden under a few photos, the handwriting painfully familiar. I pulled it from the pile and read it aloud. “‘Three. You talking about little ‘ol me?’ I don’t get it,” I said flatly looking around the room. “When did this come in?”

“We… uh, intercepted it in your mail before it left the post office,” a young officer with a shaved head replied.

“What is she talking about? I haven’t said shit about her… or is she talking about you guys?” I frowned.

Bryan shook his head and spoke up. “There was a newspaper clipping with it. It’s referring to an article saying the nature of the accident indicated foul play.”

I snorted. “No shit.” I paused over a photo of a young guy with short hair who looked no older than eighteen.
Would he want to hurt me?
“What happens when the countdown reaches zero?” I wondered, almost rhetorically.

“We’re hoping we catch this creep before we find out,” Henry replied softly.

Just then, Josh sucked air through his teeth, a wild look in his eye. “This one. I recognize this one.” Henry was quickly at his side, looking at the information on the back.

“Susan McKenzie.”

“Yeah, except… shit,” he said as he wiped a hand down his face.
He looks tired
, I realized numbly.
He’s been really worried about all this, hasn’t he?
I tried to focus as he continued. “When I met her, she was blonde, not brunette.”

“What’s your relationship with this woman?” Henry asked as he started taking notes.

Josh’s eyes flicked to mine before looking away guiltily. “We had a few drinks and I brought her here after.” The room erupted in grumbles and he was quick to defend himself. “It was before you got here! The house was empty, no one was working here yet. I wanted to impress her.”

“Anything you can tell us about her? Anything at all,” Henry prodded.

Josh placed his hands on the counter, his forearms flexing as he leaned forward, wracking his memory. “She said she had family in Wanaka, was in town visiting friends, but that they bailed on her. It was honestly really normal, nothing stands out,” he said.

“Did she talk about the race coming up or skiing? Anything like that?” Bryan asked.

“No, nothing. We didn’t really talk about much. Just a bit of a tumble in the sheets,” he replied, a flush rising in his tan cheeks. “She was American, I remember that much.”

Henry grunted and yanked the photo from Josh’s hand. “You didn’t think to lead with that bit of information? It says here she’s from Canada. You’re sure she was American? It’s easy to confuse the two, no offense,” he said with a wink to me.

“Why don’t you go slap some shrimp on the barbie, mate,” I chuckled, playing along with the joke. If I learned anything while being in New Zealand, it was that they hated it when someone thought they were Australian.

Josh vigorously shook his head. “No. She definitely said Colorado, which I remember because that’s where you guys are from,” he gestured to us. “I thought it was funny that I was meeting three Americans in the span of a couple days all from Colorado.”

Bryan outstretched his hand with a scowl. “Can I see it?” There was something about in his tight voice that made me watch his reaction. He read the information on the back and flipped the photo over. Instantly, his expression dropped. He squeezed his eyes shut and swore. “Fuck me…”

“What? You recognize her?” asked Henry.

Bryan met my eyes with a pained expression before wiping his face with one hand. “I should’ve known. I’m so sorry, Liz.” He looked to Henry and nodded. “Yeah, she’s my ex-fiancée.”

“You’re shittin’ me?” I half-laughed, half-cried as I jogged around the island. Sure enough, there was Angie smiling back at me from the page. Her hair was dark, and she looked thinner, if that were somehow possible, but it was her.

Something inside of me snapped as I looked at her photo. I can’t tell you why, but the moment the pieces connected, all the dread in my body melted away. I had a face to put to all of this. It wasn’t some ghostly, gray menace… it was Bryan’s stupid ex-girlfriend. All of this was from that idiotic little stick figure.

I giggled. The giggle turned into a little chuckle. Before I knew it, I was outright laughing like a maniac, a room full of shocked men staring at me like I’d lost my mind. I laughed so hard, I cried out as the gash in my side pulsed with pain. I forced myself to take calming breaths because I was afraid the stitches in my side might burst.

“So, okay. This pretty much explains everything then. It’s not because I’m skiing, it’s because I’m with you,” I giggled again.

“How are you finding this funny?” Bryan asked incredulously.

“I’m not, really,” I laughed. “It’s… I don’t know. Relief, I guess. We know who’s doing it now.” The whole thing washed over me again, this time with a bit more shock. “Jesus, why now? Why wait all this time and go to an entirely different country?”

“She probably had no way of getting to either of you anonymously in the States,” Henry offered. “You would’ve seen her coming.”

“Whew!” I exclaimed as I shook my hands out, trying to throw out the excess tension and anxiety. It sounds horrible, but I was glad that for once it was Bryan’s past coming to bite us in the ass and not mine. I rolled my head around to loosen the muscles in my neck. “Right, so I guess we just go get the bitch and throw every charge possible at her. If you can arrange a couple minutes alone for me, I’d appreciate it,” I laughed nervously.

“Does she have a history of mental illness?” Henry asked Bryan.

I looked to Bryan and couldn’t read his expression. He didn’t meet my eye. “She… uh, she’s always been a little highly strung, but nothing like this.” He pounded his fist once on the counter in frustration. “I’m sorry. I should’ve said something earlier, but I didn’t think it had anything to do with all this. She’s been emailing me for the past couple months, but nothing threatening. Just bullshit stuff. I didn’t outright ignore it, but I eventually told her to stop contacting me.”

With the emotional rollercoaster I’d been strapped to, hearing this revelation was barely a blip on the radar. A sharp stab of something akin to betrayal hit me in the chest, but it quickly disappeared. I trusted Bryan completely, especially when it came to Angie. Whether I was in his life or not, he would’ve never gone back to her. I understood his reasons for keeping it from me.

“If it’s all right with you, I’d like to take a look at those emails,” said Henry.

Bryan nodded and finally met my gaze. “I’m sorry,” he mouthed.

“It’s okay,” I replied, reaching for his hand across the island.

Bryan is definitely the romantic one. He has this uncanny knack for turning the mundane into some of the most romantic moments of my life. He always keeps me on my toes. So the night before the race, when he proposed we cuddle outside and look at the stars, I was instantly up for it. I sometimes felt bad that I wasn’t the romantic softie he deserved, but I was sure to reciprocate my love in other ways.

Layered with thick clothes and socks, he’d bundled me under a couple of blankets out on the deck before disappearing inside for a few minutes. He returned with two giant mugs of the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had.

Bryan slipped his arm around my head as I rested on his chest. “This is incredible,” I whispered. “There’s like, no light pollution whatsoever.”

“It’s pretty special,” he replied, kissing the top of my head. “Have you thought about… wait, never mind. Forget I said anything.”

I poked his side. “You can’t do that. You know I hate it when you start a sentence and don’t finish it. What should I have been thinking about?”

My head rose and fell as he took a deep breath. “The race. What you’re gonna do. I forgot we said we weren’t going to talk about it.”

I nodded as my eyes scanned the sky. “Yeah, I’ve been thinking, but I haven’t decided anything yet. Josh hasn’t said anything official, and Janet keeps getting hassled by reporters, so… yeah. It’s not like I have to decide any time soon.”

“No, not at all,” he chuckled. “Just in the next ten hours or so.”

“Exactly,” I quipped. The days had slipped away, and yet I was no closer to a decision.

“
Mmmhmmm
,” Bryan replied.

“What’s that mean?” I asked. I lifted my head and twisted to look at him. The stitches in my side tugged a little, but weren’t nearly as sore.

“You said you didn’t want to talk about it,” he protested with a grin. “I think the general gist of your declaration was that you were sick of talking about nothing but skiing.”

“What do you think I should do, then? Should I go for it?” I settled on my elbows, intent on making him answer.

Bryan looked at me thoughtfully before he traced a line along my cheek with his finger. “I think you need to ask yourself how you’ll feel if you leave here without racing. Picture us unpacking back in Tellure Hollow, and imagine how you’ll feel.”

The moment he said it, my chest tightened with emotion.
I’d hate it. I’d feel like a failure. Like I’d gone half way around the world for nothing, spent two years for nothing
. But I kept my mouth shut, swallowing my sudden realization. I didn’t want to ruin this moment he’d planned.

“What about Angie?” I countered.

“What about her? They know what she looks like, security is going to be through the roof tomorrow. Even with all the letters, I just can’t believe she’d actually try to hurt you in any way. I don’t know what she was hoping to accomplish in the first place.”

I frowned and chewed my lip in thought. “But on the other hand, you never would’ve pegged her as someone who could do this much. What if she tries to mess with my equipment? Or, she’s camping out on the side of the mountain right now, waiting to get me with a blow dart gun.” The ridiculous scenario only shielded my genuine worry… that girl was clinically crazy and the truth was, no one knew what she was capable of.

Bryan traced another line down the ridge of my nose, bopping the end. “It’s completely up to you. But I think you need to ask yourself if you walk away, will you be happy?”

I snorted in derision. “The threat of death kind of forces my hand a little, doesn’t it?”

“You face death every time you get on those skis. It’s obviously your decision, but I think it’s that simple,” he concluded.

“Oh, do you now? Well, who asked you, anyway?” I laughed. I leaned forward and gave him a kiss to show I really was kidding. “You’re right, though. We shouldn’t talk about this.”

A comfortable silence grew between us as we lay in the still darkness. He idly caressed my shoulder while I worked my own hand under his sweatshirt to steal body heat. He gasped when my frozen fingers made contact, but he didn’t pull away. The clear night sky loomed above, thick with bright stars arranged in constellations I didn’t recognize.