Chilled by Death (29 page)

So good. Royce
lay in bed listening to Stacy’s heavy breathing as she slipped back into dreamland. At least he hoped her dreams would be sweet and joyful. He knew his would be. He was so damn happy right now. Emotion swamped him and he held back the sudden burning in the corner of his eyes. But damn it, he wanted to cry. For joy. She’d never left his heart. He’d wanted her back in his arms for so long. Wanted her back in his bed for so long. His arms squeezed convulsively.

She murmured a gentle protest. He immediately relaxed and dropped kisses on her head, “It’s fine – sleep,” he whispered.

She snuggled closer and broke his heart.

He had no idea what time it was. The cabin was dark. He couldn’t see the top of the stairs from where he lay, and no light shone from the windows below. And he’d have seen a lightening in the room if it was dawn.

There were a few sounds below. An odd rustle. Someone snoring. That made him grin. That would be Stevie. That guy could move mountains with the force of his snore.

There were a few other gentler noises, but nothing out of the ordinary.

With Stacy slumbering gently in his arms, he felt his own worries slip away. Surely they were all safe for the night?

*

They’d never be
safe.

Or maybe it was more a case of some of them would rest forever. Soon. At least one of them.

It was all in the planning and the execution. The reason he hadn’t been caught – he was careful. Damn careful and no matter the temptation, he’d wait until the timing was right to make his move. In the meantime, he’d continue to imagine the possibilities.

After all, an artist was only as good as his or her imagination.

And he’d never come up short yet.

He wasn’t about to start now.

S
tacy couldn’t keep
the smile off her face the next morning. George teased her mercilessly. Thankfully he kept it generic so not everyone would know but from the hidden grins, most did. Stevie had given her a hug in the morning, an unusual thing for him to do.

He’d whispered in her hair, “Another one bites the dust.”

She hadn’t been sure if he’d been referring to her or to Royce. She’d hoped Royce, considering the laments Stevie had poured out over the years about losing his boarding buddies to women. More to the point, the women had usually added to the men’s life, but to Stevie there was something completely male about going to the mountain and blasting down at psychotic speeds in conqueror mode.

Not that she saw him as a conqueror type. But he did. She could see Royce fitting that role. She perked up. Maybe he had. That would be a good thing in her book. He was on his way to becoming a lawyer. Something he never advertised. It was seriously hard work and few recognized it. He’d also had a later start than most.

Stacy understood. Getting her degrees had been nothing short of brutal – but with a difference – she’d at least enjoyed the knowledge, the learning, the problem solving. And puzzles. She’d always loved puzzles as a kid. They’d been a highlight on her Saturday evenings to do one with her grandpa. Nostalgia hit as she thought about those evenings so long ago.

Her gramps had died close to ten years ago now. His death had hit her harder than expected.

Then there’d been more deaths, like her aunt, followed by her grandmother. All older people, all dying well past the first bloom of life.

She shouldn’t have been as distressed by those deaths as others, but they’d had an accumulated effect that had been blown out of proportion with the sudden and tragic loss of her friends.

Her job was separate from her personal life. She excelled in death at work and was terrified of it at home. She’d become a workaholic, burying herself in death to avoid the reality what death really was. She was sure a shrink would have a heyday with her crazy mindset. But death at work was fine. Death at home was not. She honored death at the one so she didn’t have to deal with it at the other.

It was as if she’d gone into this line of work thinking that would garner her a special pass from death in her private life.

When it hadn’t, she’d felt betrayed.

Stupid.

But enlightening. She’d have to ruminate a little longer. Maybe find another few truths that were a little too close to home for comfort but were the better for being brought into the light.

“Thoughts?” Royce asked beside her. She threw him a sunny smile. “Nothing special.”

He quirked an eyebrow but she turned away. Most of the others were going to try and find some sunshine and empty runs before the day became too busy. They’d all decided to try for one more day and see if they could leave on a good note.

George had called the hospital to check on Yvonne, but she was in a coma. Still, she was alive. That’s what counted at this stage. She’d pulled through the night, and every night extra gave her body a chance to heal.

“Okay, we’re ready to head out. Everyone got cell phones? We’ve had enough problems this week, let’s have no more.” Geoffrey turned to look at Stacy as if to say he knew she’d be the one to have problems. She smiled and waved at him.

He sighed, turned, and headed out the door into the bright sunshine.

Stacy grabbed the pot of coffee and refilled her mug. Being up late meant most of the others had eaten and had their fill of coffee before she’d even made it down. Royce and George had been speaking quietly in the corner. She had a good idea about what. Now that George was walking out, she could relax alone with Royce. Although, as she turned to the bedrooms, she realized she hadn’t seen Kevin. “Where is Kevin?” she asked Royce.

He looked at her and shrugged. “No idea. I didn’t get downstairs much before you and he wasn’t here.”

“He must have gone out already then.”

She turned to stare at the back bedrooms. “Unless he is still asleep?”

She walked down the hallway, checking the doorways as she came to them. There was a closed door. She wondered about opening it. She turned back to Royce and motioned, “Do we open it? He could still be asleep.”

“True.” Royce grabbed the doorknob, turned it gently, peered inside, and then withdrew. Kevin was still sleeping.

“Oh good.” Stacy stepped back as he closed the door. “Kevin was pretty exhausted last night.”

“Hell, we all were.”

“True.” She returned to the living room. “I need food, what about you?”

“Yes,” Together, they made up a hearty bacon and egg breakfast. Happy in the glow of a new relationship with the added warmth of knowing this was their time, Stacy fought back the worry that the bubble might burst.

She deserved happiness.

But it felt fleeting. As if it wouldn’t last. She figured that her previous experience with Royce was behind it all and tried to toss the feeling away.

They polished off their breakfast and did the dishes.

“Do you want to go skiing?”

She smiled at him. “I want to go back to that corner.”

“Well, as that’s not going to happen, at least not right now, how about a few hours of skiing instead?”

She sighed and agreed. It took a short while to get dressed for the weather, grab their gear, and make their way to the lifts.

The sun was shining. The sky was blue. The wait lines for the lift were short.

It was a perfect ski morning. They sat on the chair climbing up the mountain, loving the moment. At the top, they slid off the chair, cut around the people standing at the top, and dove off the edge of the run. Royce was a scary boarder and he loved to play in the parks, whereas Stacy was a great skier and loved doing runs through the trees.

Together they found a middle ground and raced, laughed, and raced some more. By the time they had several runs under their belt, Royce suggested they try a couple of different ones. And for the next couple of hours they skidded, swerved, and explored new terrain.

Her cheeks were cold and her lips chapped by the time they decided to take a break. She didn’t want to go to a restaurant. Maybe the cabin was empty and they could have it to themselves.

Royce pointed out the break in the trees. “Shall we go back for some food?”

She nodded. They cut into the side run and came to a peak. She recognized the area. She motioned toward where they’d been yesterday. He frowned, considered, then shrugged his shoulders. They wouldn’t be able to get far because of the angle they were coming across. She led the way, trying to stay high, and that also meant she couldn’t ski fast. She was going almost uphill. Royce held his speed a little better. Finally, they were across the top and could descend to the other side.

They were still a ways away from the place she’d fallen when Royce pointed to the right.

“Stacy,” Royce called. “Look.”

She studied the area. There was still the dark shadow that she had to consider was open space behind. But there was nothing different about it today. Her gaze shifted higher to the area where she had fallen.

“Damn it,” she whispered beside him.

“There’s someone up there.”

*

Royce admitted to
being curious of what they’d see today back at this spot. Especially after Stacy’s images were caught on camera. But to see someone walking around up there was odd indeed. They were too far way to identify who it was, and he couldn’t even be sure if it was a man or woman.

“Could it be the search and rescue team putting up warning barriers?” Stacy said in a reasonable tone.

“Hell, this whole area is out of bounds.” They only came this way because it led to the cabin without having to drive around the roads.

He glanced over at her to see her frowning up at the ridge. He turned back to stare himself. And sucked in his breath. As he watched, the man disappeared from view.

“He’s gone down that damn hole,” she whispered. “If he’s alone, he might get stuck.”

“First, we can’t see what he’s done. Second, he’s obviously brought gear and set it up to get out on his own if that’s the case or…” but he couldn’t think of an
or
.

Stacy had. She said, “Or he knows the area and has another way out.”

They waited to see if the man would surface again.

He didn’t.

The two returned to the cabin in silence. With their winter gear off and drying by the heater stove, Stacy rummaged in the kitchen to warm up leftover stew. It didn’t take long. And that, with a couple of buns and a fresh pot of coffee, was lunch.

They never said a word. They both sat down on the couch and ate in silence. When Royce finished his bowl, he set it down on the table and said, “We’d better go check.”

He glanced over at Stacy still eating her stew, the rosy flush on her cheeks calming down. He knew the combination of heavy activity in the cold followed by a hot meal would have a deadly effect on her energy. She’d likely need a nap. But he couldn’t get what he’d seen out of his mind. He also didn’t want to drag Stacy back up that hill. Not that she’d allow herself to be left behind.

Leaving her alone here wasn’t an option. He glanced down the hallway to where Kevin had been sleeping. The door was ajar. Good. So he’d gotten up and probably hit the slopes. It was a perfect day for it.