His Frozen Heart (24 page)

Looking at my watch, I still had
plenty of time. I drove toward the east side of town. It was too
early for Bank Shot to be open, but I had an incessant need to
drive by anyway. I slowed as I approached its empty parking lot.
Thirty-six hours ago, this place had been nothing more than a means
to an end, now it had a near sinister feel to it.

An image of Chris flashed
in my mind. Regret clouded the image as I wondered if the psycho
stalker had come looking for him, too. But why would he? For that
matter, why would this guy be chasing
me
? Four hundred bucks was nothing,
well, it was something, but it wasn’t worth what he had done to
both Libby and me.

School was a breeze. I expected to
completely blow the test I had missed, but it was pretty easy. My
lack of studying between Tuesday night and this morning had me
nervous, but I was feeling much better after having finished it. As
I emerged from the building where my last class had been, bright
sunlight hit my face. It was still sub-zero outside, but something
about feeling the sun was a real treat. Most of the winter was day
after day of gray overcast skies. The sun’s bright rays did
something to me and put the events of the past two days in a better
perspective.

Libby had been attacked, but her
doctor was optimistic. However, he had reminded me several times
they wouldn’t know the extent of her injuries until after the
swelling went down. Larry was spending night and day looking out
for her – something I couldn’t do if I had any hope of finding the
lunatic who did this to her. Mr. Sanders had given me a week off
with pay. When he had first offered, I was stunned. I sort of
figured I’d take a couple days then let him know I’d be ready to
come back, but I hadn’t even driven past the place since I picked
up my car yesterday morning. It was on one of the major streets, so
I must have subconsciously avoided the gas station not to drive by
it.

I turned the key to unlock my car door
when a voice I hadn’t expected came from a car parked right next to
mine. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

My body froze. Cycling through all the
familiar voices, I didn’t need to turn in its direction to know who
it belonged to. I didn’t turn toward him. If he had a gun trained
on me, I didn’t want to see it. Instead, I answered, “Hey, Tony.
Does Teddy know you’re here?”

Chapter 17

“
Of course not. You know
what he’d do to me, right?” I had backed my car into my usual space
this morning. Tony’s car was pulled into the parking spot beside
mine so our driver’s doors were side-by-side.

I whirled on him, “I’ve got a pretty
decent idea. What the hell is going on?”

Sheepishly Tony answered, “I wish I
knew. I overheard Teddy talking to Grey last night. Are you
okay?”

“
No, I’m not okay. Neither
is Libby. Is Grey the guy who attacked us?”

Tony looked around the lot to see if
there were any prying ears. Satisfied that there weren’t, he
started to answer, “Grey’s bad. . .” He stopped abruptly. “Look, do
you have somewhere you can go for a couple weeks? Grey and Teddy
have short attention spans. If you can just disappear for a couple
weeks, they’ll lose interest.”

“
Disappear for a couple
weeks? I can’t just go into hiding.”

Tony shook his head, “They aren’t
going to let it go right away. They’re both on some insane
adrenaline rush.”

Disbelief colored my words, “Over four
hundred bucks? Grey robbed my gas station for more than
that.”

“
It doesn’t make sense to
me, either. Teddy just moved here from Kansas City. Grey came up to
visit. I had met Grey a few times when I lived there. Just trust
me. If you ever wanted to take a vacation, now is the time to take
it.”

I shook my head. I wasn’t going to be
bullied, not by these two losers or by the cops. If the two had
known each other in Kansas City, maybe they had a record. Tony was
already helping me. How much help would he give me if one of the
crazies was his brother? One question, above everything else needed
an answer. “How is Mark involved?”

Surprise registered on Tony’s face at
my question. “Mark? Mark Brewer? He wouldn’t get his hands dirty
with any of this.”

Relief engulfed me. “How can I get a
hold of him?”

“
You don’t get a hold of
Mark. No one does. But that’s someone you better never cross. You
think my brother and Grey are bad news, they’ve got nothing on
him.”

My heart sank. Dave’s brother was
worse than Teddy and Grey? I felt the hair on my arms prickle under
my sweater. Who could be worse than a hot-headed murderer and his
sore-loser sidekick? I didn’t doubt the sincerity in Tony’s words,
but what would have possessed him to try to warn me? “Why are you
here?”

Tony looked nervous. “Your friend is
the first one to get the better of Teddy, ever. I knew he was mad;
I didn’t know how mad at the time. Look, deep down he’s not a bad
guy. He had never been hustled before.”

Did Tony know what the two of them had
done? If he did, why wouldn’t he have turned them in? “You know
that Grey guy put Libby in the hospital, shot at me, shot a friend
of mine, robbed the gas station where I work, and broke into one of
my neighbor’s houses?”

“
I heard. That’s why I’m
here. They were both out looking for you last night, and when they
couldn’t find you, they decided you probably skipped town. You need
to lie low so they keep thinking it, or better yet – leave town.”
Tony gave me a menacing scowl, “Coming to school today was a dumb
move.”

With a confidence woven into my answer
that I didn’t feel, I answered, “I’m not scared of either of
them.”

“
Then you’re an idiot,
because both of them scare the shit outta me.” Tony put his car in
gear. “Pack up. Seriously, just leave for a couple weeks until this
blows over. Right now they’re both so hyped up neither is thinking
straight.”

I appreciated that Tony was trying to
look out for me in his own way, but I needed more information about
Dave’s brother. Before he could drive away, I reached out and put
my hand on Tony’s driver’s side door. “Tell me where I can find
Mark.”

“
He doesn’t live here. He
comes through town every now and again to do business.”

“
What kind of
business?”

“
None I want to know about.
Stay clear of all three of them. Don’t go back to Bank Shot. Don’t
go to any places you would usually go.”

Tony drove away. As I looked around
the parking lot, I was suddenly acutely aware of the fact that I
was alone. Mark blew through town to do business? He was worse than
a killer? If I told Dave what Tony had just said, what would he do
with this information? Dave told me he wanted to go to Bank Shot
tonight, but from what Tony said, that would be one of the places
Grey and Teddy would be looking.

I didn’t know how accurate Tony’s
information was. Maybe he was wrong about Mark. As I watched Tony’s
car disappear around a corner, the reality of everything sank in.
Grey knew where I worked, so even if I didn’t want to take the full
week off, going back to the gas station was a no go. Did he know I
also worked at Cookie’s Cuisine? I was due in again on Saturday. I
had told Teddy that I was in college. There were several colleges
in town, but my car stuck out – he could easily find it the same
way Tony had, by just cruising parking lots. I couldn’t go home
even if I wanted to: it would be a crime scene for the foreseeable
future.

My head was spinning, and I had the
overwhelming urge to retch. I doubled over, waiting to see if my
body was going to unload my lunch. My hands began shaking, and the
cold from the air was doing little to cool the bile and heat rising
inside of me. I took in several deep breaths, filling my lungs with
the arctic air.

As I stood next to my car, grateful
that my body hadn’t betrayed me after all, I let Tony’s words
marinate for another minute. I hadn’t seen Mom and Dad since
summer, not even for Christmas. New Mexico was sounding better by
the second, but even if I could swing a trip down to see them, I
didn’t want Libby to wake up without me. Then there was Dave. I
liked where things had started to go with us yesterday. He was so
much different than the guy I thought I knew. I wanted to get to
know him better.

What little relationship advice my
sister Kim had given me, she was adamant that starting any kind of
a relationship under stressful circumstances was never a good idea.
It was too tough to sort out what feelings were real and which ones
were fed by insecurity. Maybe it would be best if I hit the road
for a couple weeks as Tony had suggested. Dave wasn’t going
anywhere. If I left, he would be here when I got back. Maybe if I
were gone, Libby would be safer.

The cold air began to permeate my
jacket. My shaking fingers I had from fear had morphed into shivers
from the cold. I took a seat in my car and turned the heater on
full-blast. Eyeing my phone, my fingers dialed a self-preservation
call. When the call connected, Mom’s voice picked up,
“Hello?”

Sounding as cheerful as possible, I
said, “Hi, Mom. What’re you and Dad doing?”

“
Dad’s at work, and I’m
watching Rachel.” My mom was a Rachel Ray fanatic. I didn’t give
her a hard time about it because dinner was rarely boring. I missed
that since they had left. Dinner nowadays was Ramen noodles or
whatever was on sale.

A little less enthusiastically I
offered, “I was thinking of taking a road trip.”

“
Here? What about
school?”

“
Spring break is next week.
You want some company?” That was a lie. Spring break was still four
weeks away, but she wouldn’t check. Once she and Dad left, they
stopped paying attention to the little things in my schedule. Lots
of students went south for spring break, so this shouldn’t give her
any cause for concern.

“
Oh, I’d love that Candy,
but it’s such a long drive. Do you think Kim or Carly might want to
drive down with you?”

Although I technically loved both of
my sisters, I didn’t want to be stuck in a car with either of them.
Kim was seriously self-absorbed, and Carly seemed like she intended
to be a career-student. She had been at Midland University in
Freemont for four years with no tangible end in sight. “I haven’t
mentioned it to either of them yet. I wanted to make sure you had a
guest room before I made any big plans.”

“
There is always room for
you. But call your sisters to see if one of them will drive down
with you. I don’t like the idea of you driving that far
alone.”

“
If they can’t, I’ll see if
another friend wants to come along.”

Mom answered, “It would be great to
see Libby again. Will she be able to get off of work?” I couldn’t
tell Mom what had happened two nights ago: she’d be on the next
flight back. That would completely defeat the purpose of the road
trip. Sadly, even if there were no threat from Teddy or Grey, I
didn’t think I could even say what had happened to Libby out loud
yet.

“
I’ll see.”

Mom began telling me about her latest
adventures. She was treating her new surroundings as if she were
semi-retired and had several new interests. She had taken up
knitting, scrapbooking, and extreme couponing. One afternoon she
had called to brag that she was able to purchase $150 worth of
groceries for less than $15.

At the time I had been envious,
thinking this was a hobby Libby and I needed to take up. Then I
learned she had forty boxes of cereal and at least that many boxes
of cake mix – neither she nor Dad ate cereal for breakfast, and I
couldn’t imagine eating that much cake in a year.

She broke off in mid-sentence, as if
sensing through the phone that I wasn’t listening. “Candy, is there
anything wrong?”

Taken a little by surprise, I
answered, “No. Why would you ask?”

“
I’m not sure. I just worry
about you and Libby sometimes. I know I shouldn’t. You’ve got a
good head on your shoulders.” She paused a few seconds, “Of the
three, you were always the one I knew would be able to take care of
herself.”

Pride welled up in me. The shakes,
whether they were from the cold or the fear, stopped in that
moment. “I’m fine, Mom. I just miss you and Dad.”

“
Well, if that’s all it is,
get packed and come on down. But if there is something more going
on. . .” She trailed off briefly, as if knowing I was keeping
something from her, “But if you’re having a problem, running away
from it isn’t the answer.”

My breath hitched at her words. She
was right. I had never run away from anything in my life. Despite
how meager our existence was, Libby and I were making it on our own
without any help from anyone. I cringed at the thought of her
hospital bills. She would owe thousands by the time she was
released. Or rather, we would owe thousands. It might not be my
name on the bill, but I’d find a way to help her make good on them
because that is exactly what Libby would do if our roles were
reversed.

Mom’s words were exactly what I needed
to hear. Still sitting in my car in the parking lot – my decision
was made. I wouldn’t go to New Mexico, or anywhere else. Despite
Tony’s prodding, I had gotten us into this mess, I would get us out
if it. The fear that had tried to attach itself to me diminished
marginally. I wouldn’t let it own me. I wouldn’t let any of what
had happened in the last couple days define me.