Читать книгу More Than A Lawman - Anna J. Stewart - Страница 10

Chapter 1

Icy air shot through Eden’s lungs.

She choked and dragged in breaths as fast as she could and moaned against the pain blazing across her shoulders. She lifted heavy lids and stared down at the yellowed laminate floor, nausea swirling as she swayed in the air.

Her face had gone numb with cold, freezing the terrified tears on her cheeks. Not just cold air. Arctic air.

Stale air.

A whimper escaped her throat as she twisted back and forth and kicked out, but the movement sent new waves of pain slicing through her, especially her arms. She’d never hung like a slab of meat in a freezer before, but she figured there had to be a first time for everything.

She licked her cracked, dry lips and forced her chin up and back. A solitary bulb blazed bright enough for her to look up and see the raw bruises forming around her chained wrists.

Panic set in, stealing what little breath she had. Her head pounded like a freight train had rumbled through her skull. She could hear the thudding of her heart in the tomb-like silence.

Hysteria clawed its way at her, but she ignored the terror as the image of the rusted metal hook that suspended her from the ceiling burrowed into her brain. Fear was useless. Fear wouldn’t do any good. Fear wouldn’t get her out alive.

She kicked harder this time, but only spun herself in a dizzying circle. She took advantage of the miscalculation and scanned her prison. And the bodies surrounding her in what could be her tomb.

No windows, only one door...

She whirled again as her mind caught up with her and questioned how she’d gotten here. The last thing she remembered was heading to Monroe’s to meet Cole...

Cole. Oh, God. Cole.

Wait. Eden squeezed her eyes shut. She recalled getting out of the car. She’d heard footsteps, heavy shoes, quick steps, alarming enough for her to reach into her bag for her stun gun, but an arm had locked around her throat before she could grasp it. And then she was...here.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

She’d let down her guard, fallen into a routine. Predictability was as much an enemy to her as the criminals she stalked. What had she been thinking?

Eden dropped her head back, let out a long breath and blinked her eyes open. No use dwelling on mistakes she couldn’t change. Not when she had to figure out a means to escape. Her eyes adjusted to the dimness, even as she wished she could block out the sight in front of her.

Men and women, various ages, sizes and ethnicities, hung in similar fashion, only their arms were stiff at their sides, hooks pierced through what she hoped were their clothes. Every one of the eight bodies had the same horrified death mask. Icicles had formed on their extremities. Sheer, sharp blades of ice dangled from fingertips and noses.

Eden swallowed. How long had it taken them to die?

She wiggled tingling fingers. How long did she have?

Stop. Detach. Work it out. What do you see? What can help you?

Eden grasped at the calm she’d spent years honing as an investigative reporter. She couldn’t think about these people—people who had once led full lives, had friends and families who cared about them, were missing them. If...when, when she got out, she would do something for them.

Starting with bringing the Iceman to justice.

Even though she was already so cold, Eden’s blood chilled at the thought of the serial killer who had been preying in the Central Valley on and off for the past three years. They—the authorities—had believed he’d disappeared after leaving three frozen, mutilated corpses hanging in abandoned food storage facilities within the Sacramento region, but Eden always suspected otherwise. Her frigid companions proved her right. The Iceman had been stocking up; storing his victims for this one big reveal.

The killer probably thought of Eden as the candle on the cake.

“Okay...whatever God is up there...if I get out of this, I’ll tell Cole he was right.” He’d been saying for years that she’d go too far one day; push someone over the edge. The detective and longtime family friend might be a pain in the neck, but he was the only cop willing to give her the time of day when it came to her theories. She knew what it was like to live without answers, without justice. She was not giving up. Not when she still had to have answers herself.

Her arms strained as she tried to pull on the chains and haul herself up. No go. The air was thinning. Breathing actually hurt.

In hindsight, perhaps she shouldn’t have spouted off about the Iceman. On her blog, she’d called him every name she could think of. Her boss at the paper had accused her of becoming a liability and a danger to both herself and the reputation of the publication. Clearly, he’d been onto something. Karma may be paying her back—given the name of her blog, Eden on Ice, was currently more than just a play on words.

“Maybe it can be my epitaph.” Eden shivered so hard she thought her bones might snap. She was so weak, and yet the monster that dwelled within Eden—the monster that had been birthed twenty years ago when her friend had been murdered—stirred to life. She would not surrender.

Not to one of them.

A searing pain soared between her shoulder blades as she hoisted herself up a mere inch. She bit her lip to keep from crying out. The movement sent blood rushing to her starved muscles. The strain on her wrists was unbearable, but she welcomed the sensation. If she hurt, she was alive.

Terror washed afresh. Wait. Why was she alive?

She turned her head to one side and then the other, as if her kidnapper was about to come through the metal door.

She had to get down. Now.

An image of Detective Cole Delaney exploded in her mind and she laughed. How would Cole handle this situation? What would he do?

“Cole wouldn’t be in this situation,” Eden chattered. “Cole would have taken out the Iceman the second he realized he was being followed.” Oh, how she really, really wanted to live long enough to see if her instincts were right.

Eden might be able to shoot any gun, use any knife, topple any attacker—at least one she saw coming—but a fat lot of good those skills were to her now. All she had to work with was her body. And hanging in the middle of a subzero freezer wasn’t exactly like a visit to her local gym.

Step one, get down. Eden shut her eyes and tried not to think about the red stains on the metal hook. She couldn’t scoot off. The bend in the hook was too deep. She needed to find another way. But how...

Eden grimaced as the idea took hold. Not pretty, but if it worked...

Grunting, panting, inhaling as much air as she dared, she stretched out one leg, testing how far it was to the nearest corpse. She pointed her toe and missed making contact, but thankfully, she’d chosen to wear her pointy-toed ankle boots for the rainy spring day.

This would happen. It had to.

Eden looked down at the floor. It would hurt. A lot. The drop wasn’t long, but the fact that she couldn’t feel, let alone control most of her body, meant hitting the deck could do more damage than the meat hook.

The vow to dump every last pint of chocolate peanut butter ice cream in the garbage if she succeeded was on the tip of her tongue, but the thought only stoked her anger. “No way I’m letting this creep put me off ice cream.”

Never mind the pain; she’d take the risk. Suddenly, she was grateful she hadn’t given up the Pilates classes, even though they were costing her a fortune.

Eden locked her legs together and swung them back. Then forward. Back. Forward. Until she got a good momentum going. With one final push, she tightened her stomach muscles and threw her legs up and over the shoulders of the closest body, then clamped her feet one over the other. She heard a sickening noise.

Bile rose in her throat. The chains dug deeper, rubbing away her skin. Blood beaded beneath the metal as she stretched and arched her back, dragging the links up toward the point of the hook. Two inches up, one back. Metal ground against metal.

With less than an inch to go, poised to yank the chain free and uncross her feet, Eden braced herself for the fall.

Click.

Eden twisted her head and stared wide-eyed at the door. She gritted her teeth, gave one last push and released herself.

The door slid open.

Eden dropped to the ground and rotated at the last second. She landed hard on her side, her shoulder taking the brunt of the impact.

She slammed her eyes shut, not just from the pain but the onslaught of light blazing into the freezer. The world blurred; darkness closed in.

“Eden!”

She heard voices...lots of voices, and for a split second she thought St. Peter himself was hosting her welcome-to-the-afterlife party.

Eden frowned. St. Peter sounded like Cole. She tried to breathe, but the fall had stolen the last of her air. She tried again, managing to inhale a shallow breath. It was enough to clear her mind as a warm, strong arm slid under her shoulders and hauled her into a sitting position.

Firm hands grasped the chain around her wrists and pulled her forward.

Eden screamed.

“It’s okay. You’re okay, Eden. I’ve got you.”

Cole.

She tried to say his name, but the shivering prevented her from speaking. Next, he’d scooped her up, leaving the chains in place. He carried her from the freezer through a maze of hallways and out into the fresh Central Valley air.

Her eyes watered at the change in light. She turned her face into the soft leather of his jacket, forcing herself to inhale his spicy masculine scent as it seeped into her. Warmed her. Surrounded her.

She couldn’t stop shaking. She could barely get her thoughts straight as Cole tightened his arms around her and bent his head to tuck her face deeper into the thawing effects of his jacket. His breath was reassuring against her cheek.

He was talking to her, his voice fading in and out, so she caught only a few phrases. “Scared the life out of... Don’t ever... Kill you myself. First thing... GPS tracker around your neck.”

Eden smiled. He was angry with her. Again.

It wasn’t the first time he’d suggested the tracker, but it was the first time she didn’t feel like clocking him in response.

She knew his concern was out of an obligation he felt he had to her brother, to the promise he’d made years ago to keep an eye on her. Still, it was nice to know Cole cared, and she decided to enjoy the moment. She’d avoided death, unlike her silent companions. Soon enough he’d change tactics, read her the riot act for being so careless, for putting her life at risk. Again. For not following the rules. Again.

And she, in return, would remind him, again, that the rules didn’t apply when it came to stopping killers like the Iceman.

Her stomach fluttered as Cole pressed his lips against her forehead and lingered for a minute.

Odd. No part of Eden St. Claire ever fluttered. Besides, Cole Delaney wasn’t her type. He was a friend. Maybe her best friend. And if there was one thing she’d learned the last ten years, it was that cops and reporters did not mix. Especially not her—a journalist who was so not by the book—and him—a detective so by the book he recited regulations as if they were his nightly prayers.

That warm and fuzzy sensation she was feeling toward him was gratitude. Nothing more.

She felt Cole sit down, keeping her on his lap as he stretched his jacket around her still-shivering body.

“S-s-sorry,” Eden finally managed.

“Shut up,” Cole ordered and then shouted over her head. “Medic! She needs medical attention!”

“D-do n-n-not n-nee—” She smiled a little when she felt his body tense.

“I said shut up. Medic!” His bellow only made her headache worse. Eden heard racing footsteps and her memory flashed back to Monroe’s parking lot. She shuddered and swallowed the fear.

“G-get th-th-these off me.” Eden lifted her wrists and found the chains incredibly heavy. Where was that adrenaline now that she knew she wasn’t going to die? She was so sleepy, and Cole was so safe, so comforting. If she could close her eyes for a few minutes—maybe her mind would slow down.

“Hey!” Cole’s fingers gripped her chin to jostle her. “Stay with me, Eden.”

“Huh?” Eden blinked. She truly hated him telling her what to do.

An older female EMT appeared. Eden anticipated the freedom, reveled in it as the paramedic examined the chains twisted around Eden’s wrists. Smiling, Eden lifted her chin and looked at Cole.

“Hi there, handsome.”

Eden enjoyed the surprise in his dark green eyes. She’d always thought him good-looking, although not in the fairy-tale-prince sense. His angular features, slightly pointed nose, his wide-set eyes and the faded scar that ran from his right ear to his temple evoked images of his Celtic warrior ancestry. The idea was only enhanced by his perfectly honed body—one that had allowed him to lift her off the freezer floor as if she weighed no more than a sack of potatoes.

A sack of potatoes. Eden giggled. She was a bag of veggies.

“Get this around her.” A voice she didn’t recognize came from above her. She focused on a second EMT holding out a thermal blanket.

“Haven’t seen you before,” Eden murmured to the young male EMT. “You new?”

“She’s probably got hypothermia,” the first EMT told Cole.

“You think?” Eden said and then gritted her teeth as the chains were pried off her raw, bloodied skin. “Son of a—”

“Ah. There you are.” Cole’s chuckle sounded strained, and, sure enough, when Eden met his gaze, she loathed the concern she saw reflected in his eyes. “We’ve got to take you to the hospital, Eden. Get you checked out.”

Eden set her jaw. “I’ll be fine. Please take me home.” A long hot shower, a gallon of coffee, and she’d be on the other side of frozen in no time.

“These wounds need treating.”

Eden concentrated on the female EMT and tried her best to appear steady. “I don’t like hospitals.”

“I bet you’d like dying less. Hypothermia can mess with your heart. You’re going to be checked out and probably kept for observation.” The woman gave Cole a stern look. “I can bring a gurney over.”

New panic overtook the fear she’d experienced in the freezer. “No, Cole. Please.” She knew she had no right to ask him to help her again, but she didn’t have to explain—not to him. He’d understand she wasn’t up to facing another of her demons tonight.

Loyalty to her and obligation to his job battled behind the tension reflected in his gaze. “Compromise. No ambulance, but you let me take you to the hospital.”

Eden parted her lips, planning to negotiate, but his eyes narrowed.

“Take it or leave it,” he said.

Heart pounding, she realized she was too tired to fight him. Eden nodded.

“As long as you accept responsibility for her,” the EMT told him.

“I did that a long time ago.”

Eden hid her smirk, but kept her mouth shut.

Once the EMTs were gone, Cole fixed the blanket around her. “Fair warning, Eden. As of right now, things have changed. And believe me, you’re not going to like it.” He lifted her in his arms and strode over to his car. “Not one little bit.”

“Hey, Delaney!”

Cole turned, but continued walking backward as a patrolman called out.

“This is your case! You’re primary!”

“Secure the scene,” Cole hollered over to him. “McTavish is in charge until I get back here.” Cole stumbled. Eden locked her hands around his neck as he righted himself. He might be mad as all get-out at her, but he wouldn’t let her fall. He never had. “You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah.” The shivering had subsided, and while there wasn’t a part of her that didn’t ache or burn, she welcomed every pinprick of pain. “I’ll be fine.”

Cole nodded to the patrol officer who yanked open the door to Cole’s SUV. It was only after Cole secured her seat belt and closed the passenger door that Eden realized she’d forgotten to ask him one very important question.

How had he ever found her?