His tires slid onto the frozen stream. The car fishtailed, then righted itself. He pressed the accelerator steadily, in search of what traction was possible with the car's front-wheel drive.
The sedan continued its pursuit, weaving as its tires hit the ice.
Lee's headlights picked up the copse of trees at the bottom of the hill, the grove of poplars so dangerous to generations of sledders. The stream was at its deepest point there, and on the other side of the trees was a deep ditch-invisible at night. He gunned the engine and then jerked the wheel all the way to the right, just missing the first tree. With the wheels spinning in the thin layer of snow covering the ground, he turned the car in a tight circle and avoided the ditch.
His pursuer was not so lucky.
Lee heard the crunch of metal as the other car glanced off the first tree. He glanced out of the rearview mirror just in time to see the car land headfirst in the ditch, tires spinning uselessly in the air.
Anxious as he was to know the identity of his pursuer, his instinct to protect his niece was stronger. He knew that if the driver was wearing a seat belt, he might be only mildly injured. He longed to go back for a look at the license plates, but what if their pursuer had a gun? He couldn't take that chance. He turned the Honda in a tight circle and headed back to the road. A wave of nausea threatened to overcome him as he pulled back onto the road, but he took deep gulps of the icy air coming in through his still open window and sped off into the night.
Kylie had grown very quiet in the backseat, so when he had gone a mile or two, he looked back at her to see if she was all right. She sat staring at him without speaking, her hands clutching the stuffed dinosaur he had bought for her earlier.
'Kylie? Are you okay?' he said.
'What happened to the other car?' she asked. 'He hit the tree. Is he going to be all right?'
'I don't know, honey, but I'm going to call the police as soon as I can so they can go rescue him.'
'Why did you go off the road like that?'
Because he was trying to kill us.
'Well, I just wanted him to stop following us.'
'Why was he following us?'
'I think he must have been drunk or something.'
Kylie began to cry. 'But what if he died?'
'Don't worry, Kylie-it's going to be all right. The police will take care of him. Everything's going to be all right.'
But the more he said the words, the less he believed them. Someone was after him, and he suspected that whoever it was, they wanted him off the case-very, very badly.
Chapter Forty-three
Lee drove for a while without looking back, taking side roads and detours. When he was certain that he wasn't being followed, he pulled off the road to call the police. After dialing 911 and reporting the accident, he started the Honda's engine up again. He was worried about his family's safety. The attack had taken place in their backyard this time, and he couldn't be there to protect them constantly.
Kylie had fallen asleep in the backseat again-with the emotional resilience of childhood, she had forgotten her panic, accepting Lee's explanation that the whole thing was just the crazy actions of a drunk driver. He had no intention of telling her the truth.
As the engine turned over, he was seized by an uncontrollable wave of shivering, and had to turn off the car again for a while to calm down. He realized that all he knew about the other car was that it was a dark sedan-any other details were lost in a blur of action and decision making. He couldn't even say how many people were in the car. It could have been more than one, for all he knew, though he didn't think so. Every instinct in his body told him that the pursuer was one man and one man alone.
When he arrived at Fiona's house it was three in the morning. The grandfather clock in the front hall ticked loudly as he tiptoed in through the front door, Kylie in his arms. Surrounded by the familiar smell of apples and old wood, Lee had trouble imagining the threat they had both just survived-here, at his mother's everything felt so familiar, so comfortable, and so safe.
He closed the heavy door behind him quietly and carried Kylie upstairs to her bedroom. She hardly stirred as he laid her on the bed, removing her shoes and socks and tucking her under a thick layer of blankets and quilts. Fiona Campbell kept a watchful eye on the thermostat, and the house was cold at night. 'A cool room at night is better for you than a stuffy one,' she would say. 'A bit of fresh night air never hurt anyone.'
Lee was exhausted but wide awake, so he went down to the living room and lit a fire. He then took out his cell phone and dialed the state police headquarters, located in Somerville, about twenty minutes away. He had a feeling that the state troopers would find an empty car down by the stream, but he wanted the car held and checked for evidence: blood, DNA, anything that could help identify his pursuer. He gave his name to the sleepy operator who answered.
'New Jersey State Police. How can I help you?'
'Hello, this is Lee Campbell of the NYPD. May I speak with your shift commander, please?'
'That would be Lieutenant Robinson. Just a minute, please.'
'Robinson here.' The voice was deep, educated, probably African American. Lee hadn't had much contact with Jersey troopers, but they had a reputation for being fierce and efficient.
Lee explained the situation as calmly as possible, emphasizing to Lieutenant Robinson that he didn't know if the attacker was related to the case he was working on, but that he suspected there was a link. Robinson listened, then asked if Lee and his niece were all right.
'We're fine, thanks-just shaken up a little. I'm at my mother's house, and if it's all right with you I'll come by tomorrow to have a look at that car.'
'Fine. I've already spoken with the troopers who found it-it's right where you said it was, but it's empty. There's a trail of footprints in the snow leading away from the car out to the road, but that's where they disappear.'
'How many sets of prints?'
'One. A man, by the look of it. Medium-sized feet-about a size nine, Trooper Edwards said. Guess we should take a cast of the prints, if there's a possible connection to a murder suspect.'
'I would appreciate that very much.'
'And we'll do a trace on the car, of course. Doesn't look like a rental.'
'Thanks.'
'You're sure you're okay now?'
'Yeah, fine-thanks.'
'Okay, then, we'll see you tomorrow.'
'Right.'
Lee hung up and stared into the fire. The flames licked greedily upward, as if they wanted to fly straight up the chimney and into the night. The pointed tongues of flame reminded him of pitchforks, and, listening to the wind whistling through the house's ancient eaves, he imagined he was hearing the howls of the damned.
Chapter Forty-four
The trip to Somerville the next day was disappointing. The car had been reported stolen earlier that day, and the owner, a well-respected local doctor, was beyond suspicion. He also wore a size-eleven shoe.
No blood was found inside the car, at least not in the preliminary search, but it was being sent to the state crime lab for further analysis. Lee doubted they would find anything-the driver, whoever he was, had probably worn gloves.
The first thing Lieutenant Robinson did was to put a twenty-four-hour guard on Fiona's house, much to her
