won’t make much difference at this point, will they?”
“Yes, they will,” Candy said in her most convincing tone. “It’s like you said. Killing Victor was an accident. The police will understand that. But killing us…” She let her voice trail off.
Gina continued, speaking calmly. “We’ll tell them what happened. They’ll understand.”
But her words were lost, for Felicia was already moving. She crossed the room in a half dozen steps, keeping the gun pointed at them the whole time. “Don’t be naive, Gina. We covered up a murder. We dumped the body in the woods. They may not lock us up for the rest of our lives, but one way or another, the next few years will be hell. And I’m not going to put myself through that.”
“So what are you going to do?” Candy asked, steeling herself.
Felicia thought about it briefly before she said, “I’m going away.”
“But where will you go? You’ll be running from the law for the rest of your life. They’ll come after you. They’ll find you.”
“Let them try,” Felicia sneered. “They’ll never find me. And at least I’ll be free.” She motioned toward the luggage by the door, then pointed the gun at Candy. “The two bags on the left. Carry them out to the car.”
Candy hesitated. In her mind she ran through a number of scenarios but quickly realized the best approach was just to do whatever Felicia asked. Still, she hesitated, which caused Felicia’s dark side to flare.
“Now,” she growled, “or I’ll put a hole in you.”
Candy doubted Felicia would take such an extreme measure but she had no interest in putting her theory to the test. She glanced at Gina, who was grim-faced, and then did as Felicia asked, moving cautiously to the door and taking one of the heavy bags in each hand. As she lifted them, she struggled and stumbled a little, causing Felicia to bark at her as she opened the door, letting in a blast of cold air. But Gina rushed forward, taking one of the bags from Candy’s hand and heading out the door into the dark night.
Outside, Candy immediately thought of Maggie and surreptitiously looked over toward the far side of the parking lot, where the Subaru wagon was parked. But it was partially obscured by the trees along the front of the cabin, and she couldn’t get a clear view of it.
Felicia impatiently poked her in the back with the muzzle of the gun. “Wait here,” she instructed as she walked to the driver’s-side door, opened it, and reached inside, pulling a small lever that popped open the rear hatchback door. “Put the bags in there.”
Candy hesitated again. Felicia was several steps away from her. She toyed with the idea of dropping the bag and making a run for it, perhaps trying to get to Maggie’s car, or perhaps even hefting the bag up and flinging it at Felicia in an effort to throw her off balance long enough for her and Gina to escape.
But again she quickly decided against it. She was too tired, too cold, and too cautious to put herself and Gina in further danger. So she did as Felicia instructed, and lifted the bag up into the back of the vehicle. She then helped Gina lift the other bag in.
“Close it,” Felicia said.
Candy did as she was instructed.
“Now stand over there.”
Felicia indicated a dimly lit spot back toward the trees. “I don’t really want to do this,” she said as she raised the pistol. “I’m sorry.”
Candy squinted and turned her face away. Felicia wasn’t really going to shoot them, was she?
Just then a blast from a car horn tore through the air. Felicia, Gina, and Candy all turned toward Maggie’s car. Even through the trees, Candy could see that Maggie had jumped out of her car and was waving frantically in the opposite direction.
Candy heard another sound then, the piercing whine of a police car siren. A few seconds later, she saw the spinning red lights, and a squad car with the insignia of the Cape Willington Police Department came dashing up the parking lot, swerved into the short driveway, and skidded to a halt next to Felicia’s vehicle.
The driver’s-side door swung open and Officer Jody McCroy jumped out, assuming a defensive stance with his firearm in his hands. “Police!” he shouted. “Drop your weapon!”
A second police car raced into the driveway, and another officer climbed out. Candy could hear more sirens in the near distance.
Seeing the police officers, Felicia’s face grew as cold as ice, and she began to back away beyond her vehicle, toward the edge of the cabin. She started to raise her arm, as if to fire, but shouts from the police stayed her hand. Finally, reluctantly, she let go of the weapon. The police rushed forward to arrest her.
Candy let out a breath and looked gratefully at Officer McCroy as he approached her at a brisk pace, holstering his weapon, ever watchful as he nodded toward her. “Ms. Holliday, are you all right?” he asked, looking from her to Gina.
Candy nodded and was surprised to find she had tears in her eyes. “Felicia told us the whole thing. She killed Victor.”
“It was an accident,” Gina put in.
Officer McCroy nodded. “We’ll take it from here,” he said, giving Candy a quick pat on the shoulder.
He started off, but Candy called after him, “Hey, how did you know we were here?”
The young officer pointed toward Maggie. “Your friend called in and told us what was going on. We got here as quickly as we could. Fortunately it looks like no one was hurt.”
“Thank you!” Candy said, letting the words out in a great gush of relief. “Thank you for showing up when you did, Officer McCroy!”
He gave her a professional smile and tipped his hat. “You’re welcome, ma’am, but I was just doing my job.”
Forty-Four
“Something’s not right,” Candy said.
It was near midnight, and they were back at Maggie’s place, where they’d gone after spending hours at the Cape Willington Police Department. They were exhausted.
They sat on Maggie’s sofa with their boots off and stocking feet up on the coffee table. Foregoing wine at such a late hour, they’d opted for hot cocoa to warm themselves, and Maggie had lit a fire. They were sharing a flannel blanket Candy had made for Maggie a few years back as a Christmas present.
Maggie had been staring into the fire, her eyelids growing heavy, but at the comment from Candy, she blinked several times, took a sip of her cocoa, and looked over at her friend with a vaguely interested expression on her face. “What do you mean?”
Candy pulled the blanket up to her chin and settled further back into the sofa as she thought. “Well, there are just too many missing pieces—the most glaring being the issue with the hatchet.”
Maggie yawned. She looked bleary-eyed. “And what issue is that again?”
“Felicia and Gina wrapped Victor’s body up in a blanket and dumped it in the woods using the toboggan. But when Solomon found it, it had a hatchet in its back, and Solomon didn’t mention anything about a blanket. So where did the blanket go? And how did the hatchet get there? Did someone put it there after Victor died? If so, why? Then there’s the issue of their tracks—why didn’t the police find any when they searched the woods?”
“Easy,” Maggie said tiredly. “Someone erased them using a tree branch or something like that.”
“Right, but who? Solomon said he erased his own tracks but not the tracks around the body. So who did?”
“Maybe the wind,” Maggie said, stifling another yawn. “You know, snowdrifts, that sort of thing.”
“And what about Gina?”
“What about her?”
“Well, she said someone texted her and told her where Victor and Felicia were shacked up. Who did that?”
Maggie sighed and dropped sideways, her head falling to a pillow at the end of the sofa. “I’m too tired to worry about it tonight. Can we talk about this in the morning? You want to stay over?”
