Page 14 of Chilled

Nick removed his boots and jacket and followed, glad he didn’t have holes in his socks.

“Can I get you a cup of coffee?” Mr. Helmke asked.

“No, thank you.” Nick took a seat across the room. “We’ll only take a minute of your time.” He nodded at Brenna. Having made the man feel at ease, she could lead the questioning.

Brenna waited until Mr. Helmke sat in a faded recliner before she launched into her questions. “Sir, when was the last time you saw Dr. Drummond?”

“Last Wednesday when she got home from work. I offered to help carry in her groceries.” He dropped his head into his hands, and his bony shoulders shook. “Can’t believe she’s gone. I should’ve gone by and checked on her later that night.”

Brenna sat patiently until the man straightened.

“I’m sorry.” The old man scrubbed a hand down his face and looked up, his eyes red-rimmed. “I keep thinking of all the things I should’ve done, if I’d been a good neighbor.”

“You couldn’t have known, Mr. Helmke. You weren’t responsible for what happened to her,” Nick said.

But Mr. Helmke wasn’t listening. No matter what Brenna or Nick said, he’d probably carry the guilt, anyway.

Brenna patted the man’s hand, a good technique for gaining his confidence. Yet, Nick didn’t think she was as worried about technique as she was about the man’s feelings. She had a natural familiarity with the people of Riverton, an affinity with their way of life and the loss of one of their own. She rested her elbows on her knees, clasping her hands together. “Did you hear anything, or see anything unusual Wednesday night?”

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing.” He shook his head. “How could someone walk right in and steal a person away and no one see or hear anything? How?”

“I don’t know, Mr. Helmke.” Brenna stared straight ahead at nothing Nick could see. “But we’ll do our best to catch him.”

The old man kept talking as if Brenna hadn’t said a thing. “It’s so bad my wife is afraid to sleep at night and afraid to take sleeping pills in case the kidnapper comes after one of us.” He reached out and grabbed Brenna’s hand. “I have a loaded pistol in my nightstand. Never in the sixty years I’ve lived in Riverton have I slept with a loaded pistol in my nightstand.”

The fear in the old man’s face made Nick’s gut tighten.

“Oh, Mr. Helmke.” Brenna brows dipped low. “Please be careful that you or your wife don’t end up shooting each other.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll be careful.” He squeezed her hand. “I knew your daddy, God rest his soul, and I’ve heard good things about you. You’ll catch him, won’t you? We won’t sleep at night with that maniac on the loose. I don’t see how anyone in this town can rest, knowing they aren’t safe in their own beds.”

Brenna’s shoulders straightened. “We’ll do our best. I promise.”

Damn right they would. Nick always got his man, and this killer wouldn’t get away without paying for his crime.

The winds had died downby the time they stepped out of the Helmke home into the sunshine. After the brisk breeze out on the lake, the sunshine felt good on Brenna’s face, like God was making a promise that spring wasn’t far behind. The snow she trudged through on her way to the Jeep was quickly becoming a dirty, slushy mess with water streaming into the streets. “The weatherman said we’d have three full days of this, maybe more.”

“This what?” Nick stood next to her vehicle, staring back at Janine Drummond’s house.

“Sunshine and warm temperatures.” Brenna tipped her face to the sun and closed her eyes, absorbing the rays.

“You call this warm?”

Agent Tarver’s voice felt like the sun on her skin, teasing her with a promise of more to come. The thought brought her back to the cold, wet earth with a splash. “It’s above zero,” she said. “What do you want?” She unlocked the door to the Jeep and kicked off the crusty snow from her boots before climbing in.

Tarver repeated the process and got in on his side. “Seventy and sunny would be nice.”

She laughed. “Around here you learn to appreciate anything out of the minus temperatures. A person doesn’t know real misery until he’s stood out in minus forty-five with a wind-chill factor of minus sixty. That’s when you think seriously about braving the hurricanes of Florida rather than a blue norther.”

Nick shook his head. “Then why do people live here?”

Brenna stared at the silent white cottage where Janine Drummond had once lived and asked herself the same question. “It used to be a good place to raise a family.”

CHAPTER 5

Brenna trailedbehind Agent Tarver as he entered the Riverton Police Station’s conference room.

He hadn’t stopped to strip his jacket, performing this function on the go as he crossed to the whiteboard.

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