than five minutes, Alex. He called me back. All of a sudden it was that voice on the phone, that voice I hadn’t heard in thirty years. He pretended he had no idea why I was calling. I asked him what kind of man would do that to a woman he once loved so much? He said he had no idea what I was talking about. He had been there in his office all day, he said. I told him he hadn’t changed one bit. He was still getting other people to do his killing for him. He asked me if I was about done because he’s a busy man, and I said, no, I’m not done. I’m going to call your wife and tell her what you did to me when I was a kid, and what you did to my father… and my mother. I’m going to tell her everything I know about you so she won’t feel so bad when I come out there and kill you.”
“What did he say to that?”
“Not a word, Alex. Not a word. I told him I was heading back down to Mackinac Island. I told him I’d have the last copy of the videotape with me, and if he wanted it, he had to come get it.”
“Why here?”
“I couldn’t stay in that house,” she said. “Not with my mother there. I figured this was as good a place as any. Nice and isolated. Just me and Albert.”
“There’s no way he’d come alone,” I said. “You know he’s got somebody else here.”
“Maybe,” she said. “I honestly don’t know. For me, maybe he’d come by himself. He still thinks of me as that twelve-year-old girl.”
“No,” Vinnie said. It was the first thing he had said since we had come up to this room. “He wouldn’t come alone. Not if he’s a born coward.”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “When I saw him getting off that plane…”
I tried to bring it all back in my mind. Standing there in the airport, looking at every face.
“There was another man with him,” I said. “He was big.”
“That’s at least one other man he has,” Vinnie said. “Who knows how well armed they are? We’d be fools to go out trying to find them.”
“You’re right,” she said. “We have to stay here. At least for now.”
“You’ve got to be kidding,” I said. “We’re sitting ducks.”
“No, not here,” she said. “They’re probably up at the Grants’ house, waiting. If we go up there now, we’ll be playing right into their hands.”
“That’s true,” Vinnie said.
“I’m so tired,” she said. “I haven’t slept in two days.”
“If we do this in the morning,” I said, “you have to promise me something.”
“What’s that?”
“You have to promise me that we’re going to do this together. We’re going to be smart about it, and if it looks bad, we’re going to bail out.”
She didn’t say anything.
“Promise me,” I said. “We’re together, no matter what.”
“Okay,” she said. “I promise.”
“What do you think, Vinnie. Are you up for this?”
“I’m with you,” he said, looking at Natalie. “You know that, Alex.”
“We should try to get some sleep,” Natalie said.
“Good idea,” Vinnie said. “I’ll go see the woman downstairs about another room.”
He stood up, went to the door, then looked back at me. “Alex, you gonna stay here?”
“Yes, he is,” Natalie said. “If that’s okay. I’d rather not be alone.”
“I’ll see you in the morning,” he said. Then he left.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t even ask you if you wanted to stay.”
“It’s okay. If you don’t want to be alone…”
“It’s more than that.”
“Natalie, I don’t know where we stand right now.”
“Show me what happened.”
“What?”
“I can see the bandages. Show me where you got shot.”
“I didn’t get shot,” I said. “It was a piece of metal, from when the shotgun exploded.”
“Show me.” She pulled me to my feet.
“Natalie…”
She shushed me. She unbuttoned my shirt and touched my neck. “My God,” she said. “Look what happened to you.”
“It’s not that bad.”
She shook her head. “After everything you’ve done for me, this is what you get.”
I took hold of her hand. “We’re going to make everything right,” I said. “We’ll do that tomorrow.”
She kissed me.
“Why did you come here?” she said.
“I had to.”
“I pushed you away so hard. What kind of a man would do that?”
I didn’t say anything.
“I’m glad you’re here,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper now. “That much I know. This is better.”
She pulled my shirt off my shoulders. I reached my arms around her and held her tight. I put my nose in her hair and breathed in her perfect sweet scent.
“Everything’s going to be okay now,” I said. “I promise.”
She spun me around and pulled me down onto the bed. I kissed her, again and again. We pulled the rest of our clothes off. We made love on top of the covers and then under them when it got too cold. It kept snowing outside, more and more white flakes coming down like it would bury us forever.
Afterward I held on to her tight. She was breathing deeply. She was falling asleep in my arms. I tried to say something. This is how it should be. I am in bed. I should stay awake for a while, think about what we’re going to do tomorrow. No, I should sleep. Sleep.
The wind blew. The sound turned into the faraway droning of an engine. A snowmobile. Then the sound became the wind again.
“Natalie,” I said, finally finding my voice. I reached for her. There was nothing there. My left arm was being pulled upward now. It made my neck hurt.
“Natalie.”
A clicking noise. I know that sound. I’ve heard it before, a long time ago.
What’s wrong with my arm? I reached with my other hand and heard the noise again. A light came on, blinding me. I felt the pain in my neck again. Pain and what was that? Something cold on my wrists. A metallic rattling. Almost like…
Handcuffs. I squinted at the bright light and looked up at my hands. I was cuffed to one of the iron railings at the head of the bed.
“What’s happening?” I said. “Natalie, where are you?”
There was movement beside the bed. I shook my head and blinked.
“Natalie!”
“I’m right here,” she said.
Everything came into focus. She was standing in the center of the room, putting her clothes on.
“What the hell’s going on?” I said. “Why did you handcuff me to the bed?”
“I’m sorry.”
I pulled at the cuffs. The iron rail was as strong as a prison gate.
“I broke my promise,” she said. “I told you I’d never lie to you.”
“Natalie, listen to me. Just let me go, okay? We can talk about this.”
“You know, it’s funny,” she said. “I think I understand my mother a little better now.”
“Please, Natalie. Let me go.”
“A lie really does have a lot of power, doesn’t it? It makes everything easy.”
“No. Come on.”
