The Cold Kiss (16 page)

34

All I wanted was to find Sara and make sure she was safe, but Zack had the gun and a different plan. He took one of the yellow blankets off Syl and tossed it to me. I used it to wrap what was left of Caroline’s skull.

“Make sure it’s tight,” Zack said. “I don’t want her leaking all over everything.”

Caroline’s head was a wet jumble of red and black, and I did my best not to look at it as I worked. Once I got the blanket in place, I put my hands under her head and lifted her up from the table.

It felt like lifting a bag of ice cubes and Jell-O.

When I got her upright, a wave of blood ran down her back to the floor. I jumped out of the way, and Caroline’s body fell forward, hitting the table and sliding sideways off the chair to the ground.

“What the hell are you doing?” Zack motioned toward Caroline, then pointed at me. “Stop fucking around. We have to get both of them out of here and start cleaning. We don’t have all damn night.”

I looked down at Caroline, lying sideways on the floor, and felt my stomach cramp. For a second, I thought I was going to be sick, but I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing until the feeling passed.

Once it was gone, all that was left was the pain building behind my eyes and a voice in the back of my head telling me that I’d got exactly what I’d asked for, and now I’d get exactly what I deserved.

I had a feeling the voice was right.

I knelt down and rolled Caroline onto her back. The blood was already soaking through the blanket, and it took all my willpower to pick her up.

I put my hands under her arms and lifted her into a sitting position. I started to tell Zack to grab her legs when the bells over the office door chimed.

Zack and I both turned toward the sound.

We heard someone kicking snow off his shoes, then Butch’s voice say, “You were right, Minnesota. You weren’t the last one to—”

He came through the door with his notebook in one hand and his jacket in the other. When he saw us, he stopped and stared.

I tried to imagine what we looked like, hovering over the bodies, both of us covered in blood and firelight.

For a moment, no one spoke, then Butch took one tentative step forward. He looked from me to Caroline then over to Zack.

“You dumb motherfucker.”

“Now hold on a minute,” Zack said. “There’s a good reason for this, so just—”

Butch moved fast.

Zack was still kneeling over Syl’s body when Butch came across the room and kicked him in the chest. It didn’t seem to do much damage, but it was an impressive kick for someone that old. I had a feeling if Butch had been twenty or thirty years younger, Zack would’ve been lying on the ground, too scared to get up.

“What the fuck did you do?”

Zack didn’t respond, just stayed where he was and listened to Butch yell.

“We had everything set, and you go and fuck it all up. Well, I’m not going to help you out of this one, not this time.” Butch pointed at him. “You can fix this one on your own.”

“I’m not asking for your help.”

“That’s good.” Butch looked at me. “I guess you got this fucking guy to help. Maybe you’ll both wind up in the same prison.”

“No one’s going to prison,” Zack said. “Not if we hurry and clean all—”

Butch reached out and slapped Zack on the side of the head. It connected hard, and I flinched at the sound.

This time, the look on Zack’s face shifted, grew dark.

Butch slapped him again, harder.

I saw Zack’s hand move toward the gun in his belt, but he stopped halfway and let it drop.

“You think the Cormans are gonna volunteer their pigs again?” Butch asked. “You really think they’ll put their necks out for us this time?”

“They’ll help.”

Butch pointed at Caroline. “This ain’t no goddamn truck stop whore no one’s gonna miss, boy.”

Zack kept quiet.

“Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

“They’ll help,” Zack said.

Butch’s hand went up again, and this time Zack reached for the gun in his belt and pulled it out. He didn’t point it at Butch, he didn’t have to. Seeing it was enough.

Butch lowered his hand, slow.

“You got no idea what kind of shit you’re in,” Butch said. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“I had a good reason.”

“I can’t wait to hear it,” Butch said. “While you’re at it, tell me what you’re going to do when her husband comes looking for her.”

“Her husband?”

“That’s right,” Butch said. “Don’t you think he might notice she ain’t around anymore?”

Zack looked at me and for the first time I thought I saw doubt in his eyes. Then it was gone.

“God has a plan,” he said. “All this’ll work out.”

Butch stepped closer.

Zack flinched.

“God’s plan?” Butch said. “Are you fucking crazy? God doesn’t have a plan for you.”

“You’re wrong.”

“Boy, you are nose-deep in a sea of shit, and the only option you got is to start swallowing. If you think God is going to help you fix this mess then you’re out of your fucking head.”

“He’s given us a way out.”

“We had a way out. We had our share of that money. That was our way out. What do we have now?”

Zack looked at me and smiled.

“Now we have it all.”

We carried Syl out first.

I had his shoulders and Zack took his feet and we followed Butch around the office to the shed behind the building. It was still snowing, but the storm had passed and the clouds had split and the sky was clear and deep. There was a full moon sitting low on the horizon, turning everything a cold silvery-blue.

“I need to check on Sara.”

“We’re going there next,” Zack said. “You got the money in the room somewhere?”

I had no intention of letting Zack have the money, but as long as he had the gun, I was going to play along.

I told him we did.

This seemed to make him happy, and we didn’t talk again until we got to the shed.

This time, the door was locked.

Zack and I stood outside while Butch fumbled with the combination. After watching him struggle for a few minutes, Zack had enough and dropped Syl’s legs into the snow.

“Let me do it.”

Butch stepped aside and Zack took the lock and started turning the wheel.

I eased Syl down to the ground.

“That’s not the combination,” Butch said.

“Sure it is. It’s always been the same.”

While they argued, I backed away. When I put enough distance between us, I turned and ran through the snow and around the corner.

Zack yelled after me, then I heard Butch say, “Christ, boy, stop hollering. Where’s he gonna go?”

Of course, he was right.

I wasn’t going anywhere.

Once I got to our room, I fumbled through my pockets for the key. There was no light coming through the window, and no sounds from behind the door. I wanted to believe that Sara was lying in bed, asleep, but I knew better.

I found the key and went inside.

The room was dark and empty.

I stayed in the doorway and didn’t move.

The mattress had been pulled off the bed.

The suitcase was gone.

I stepped inside then crossed the room to the bathroom and pushed the door open. Sara wasn’t there. I stood for a moment, listening to the slow drip of the faucet, then turned around and walked to the table.

I stood by the window and tried to think.

The first thing I needed to do was find Sara.

Caroline had said she was with Megan, but I didn’t know which room she was in. And since Zack had Syl’s gun, it didn’t seem smart to go wandering around in plain sight.

But I didn’t see any other choice.

I got up and moved toward the door.

I heard a low rumbling sound somewhere in the distance, and I stopped to listen. It was quiet at first, then it grew louder until there was no doubt what it was.

The plows were coming.

35

I stood in the doorway for a while and looked out at the parking lot. When I was sure no one was around, I stepped out onto the walkway.

I thought Megan’s room was on the other side of the motel, but I had to find the right one. There were several cars parked on that side, all covered with snow. There was no way to tell which one was Megan’s, so my only option was to work my way over and look for signs of life.

I ran across the parking lot to Zack’s room then around the corner to the back of the building. I wanted to stay out of sight as much as possible, but that meant fighting my way through deep snow.

I could do it, but it was going to be slow.

I ran the gap between Zack’s building and the next one over without a problem, but to get to the rooms on the other side of the motel, I’d have to cross in front of the playground. If anyone was watching, they’d see me.

My legs didn’t want to move.

I stuck my head around the corner and looked out toward the office at the far end of the lot. There were shadows moving out front. Beyond them, I saw several yellow and blue flashing lights as the snowplows crawled their way up the highway.

I could taste something thick and sour in the back of my throat and I swallowed hard against it, then I pushed off and ran as fast as I could across the parking lot to the other building.

I’d made it almost the entire way when my foot hit one of the cement parking barriers under the snow and I fell forward, striking my head against the side of the building.

For an instant there was nothing but blackness, then a blaze of white light exploded behind my eyes and burned all the way through me. I tried to get to my feet, but the world spun around me and I couldn’t tell which way was up or down.

I sat for a moment and tried to get my bearings. Once I did, I managed to crawl around to the back of the building and collapse into the snow.

I heard someone laugh in the distance, then Zack’s voice say, “We could use some help over here, Nate, when you’re done playing around.”

Then more laughter.

I stayed on my back and stared up at a sea of silver stars and thought about Sara and the baby. A few minutes later, I heard the plows pass in front of the motel.

The road was clear.

The highway was open.

It was enough to get me going again.

I leaned against the side of the building and pushed myself to my feet. When I was standing, something warm and wet ran down the side of my face. I reached up and touched it, even though I knew what it was.

My blood looked black in the moonlight.

I walked the length of the building, ignoring the new shock of pain in my head. When I got to the end, I looked around the corner at the office.

Zack was holding Caroline’s body by the shoulders and trying to back out of the door. The blanket I’d wrapped around her head had started to unravel and was now dragging along the ground.

Zack was saying something to Butch, but I couldn’t hear what. Then Butch yelled, “Just do it, goddamn it.”

A moment later, they were outside.

Zack dragged Caroline out, then he stopped and waited for Butch to close the office door. They were talking back and forth, and the conversation looked tense. Eventually, Butch waved him off and picked up Caroline’s feet and they both started moving around the building to the shed.

I walked around to the front, still balancing myself against the building, and crossed the walkway to the window. There was no light between the curtains and no sounds from inside. I moved to the next room.

Still nothing.

“Caroline?”

The voice sounded panicked.

I ducked low then pushed myself into a shadow, as close to the building as I could get.

I saw Marcus come out of one of the rooms across the parking lot. He wasn’t wearing a jacket, and the way he moved through the snow made me think he wasn’t wearing shoes, either.

“Oh my God, Caroline!”

Butch and Zack stopped, and I saw Butch say something to Zack, who was holding up his hands in a calming gesture and moving toward Marcus.

“What happened to her?” Marcus was yelling. “What the hell did you do to her?”

“Now, settle down,” Zack said.

Behind him, Butch yelled, “Zack, come on, don’t!”

But it was too late.

Zack reached for Syl’s gun in his belt then pointed it at Marcus and fired once.

The bullet struck Marcus in the throat, and a spray of blood tore out behind him in a dark mist that hung in the cold air before dissolving in the moonlight. A second later, the snow turned dark around him, and he dropped.

Zack stepped closer.

Marcus was twitching on the ground, trying to roll over. His glasses had come off one ear and now hung sideways across his face. The thin silver frames reflected clean and white in the moonlight as he struggled to crawl away.

Zack stood over him, watching, then he lifted the gun and fired.

This time, Marcus stopped moving.

Butch went crazy.

He came across the parking lot, fast, yelling, fists swinging. Zack backed away, but Butch kept coming. I didn’t hear everything he said, but it wasn’t hard to put together. Butch had seen enough.

He was finished.

After tearing into Zack for a while, he walked back to the office and slammed the door behind him.

Zack called after him a couple times, but when he got no answer, he turned and started kicking Caroline’s body again and again. Even from where I sat, I could hear her ribs cracking, one after the other.

Once he’d calmed down, he picked her up by the shoulders and dragged her through the snow to the shed behind the building.

I watched all of this from the shadows.

When he was gone, I looked out at Marcus lying facedown in the parking lot. He was curled in on himself and surrounded by a dark swell, while a galaxy of new snow dropped soft and slow around him.

I couldn’t stop staring.

It wasn’t until I saw Zack come back that I realized how much time I’d wasted. It made me wonder how bad I’d hurt my head when I fell.

I stayed where I was and didn’t move.

Zack walked out to the center of the parking lot and looked down at Marcus, then he glanced up and scanned the parking lot. “Nate?”

I kept quiet.

“I better find what I’m after in your room,” he said. “If I don’t, things are going to be bad for you.”

He stood there awhile longer.

At one point I thought he saw me crouched in the shadow against the building, but then he turned away and headed for my room.

It was time to move.