Fire Angel (29 page)

Jake dropped down onto his injured knee, gasping at the sharp stab of pain that had him on his belly. He shuffled forward. He had the flashlight, leaving Alexis in the dark. She scrambled as quickly as she could after him.

Jake reached the center of the cavern and relaxed. The stone walls would protect them from the elements, and in the confined space, their breathing and body heat and a small fire should keep the temperature above freezing. There were plenty of branches lying around, and he had Alexis collect some of them.

When Jake had grabbed his gun, he had also taken the lighter he kept in the glove box. Alexis rooted through her pockets for tissue to start the small fire. Soon, the blaze burned brightly, the smoke rising and moving up towards the cavern's high ceiling.

“There's a vent way up there in the trees. Dave and I found it years ago. We used to use this as our winter clubhouse when we needed to get away from Sally and her girlfriends. Now, you need to take off the boots. Let see how bad your feet are.”

Carefully, he eased off her boots. “You'll have to remove the hose,” he said. “It's wet and I can't warm your feet with it on.”

Alexis pulled off the tights she'd worn, and threw them in the corner.

Jake looked at her feet in the firelight and cringed, calling himself all kinds of a fool for not realizing the danger of walking in the water. The skin was white with yellow and red patches.

“The good news is that it's first degree frostbite. The water wasn't below freezing, so although it will hurt like hell, there won't be any permanent damage.” He took off his scarf and wrapped her feet in it.

“Don't put them too close to the fire; they need to heat gradually. I'll put your boots closer; hopefully they'll dry.” He moved himself around until he could cradle her in his arms.

“We'll be warmer this way,” he said. “Besides, I like holding you.”

He had used his coat to cover them and placed Alexis's under them; the suit jacket that she'd added at the last minute and the wool sweater he wore over his shirt should keep them warm enough. He didn't think they had enough wood to last through the night, but he prayed that when they didn't arrive at the inn, Everett would come looking for them. Dave knew about the cavern; he hoped he would remember it. He reached for his phone. There was no signal, but he left it on; the GPS it contained might give them another shot at being rescued. Alexis had told him about her GPS chip, but he didn't know if it would work this deep inside stone.

He distracted her by talking about their plans for Christmas. He reminded her that Mila was in a Christmas Eve play and would have their heads if they weren't there. Eventually, Alexis fell asleep in his arms and he tried not to disturb her. He knew her feet had to hurt, and while she slept, she wouldn't feel the pain.

The wind had changed direction and blew straight into the cavern; unless they could move themselves and the fire over about six feet, it would soon be of no help. A noise at the mouth of the cave had him jerk and his movement woke Alexis. He reached for his gun, but couldn't grasp it with her atop him like this. He slipped the lighter under him.

Frank entered the cave; he was dressed in camouflage and carried a long hunting knife.

Alexis pushed herself more deeply into Jake's arms, wanting to disappear into him.

“Alexis, nice to see that your death was exaggerated,” said Frank. “Trying to fool the killer were you?”

“Why did you do it?” Alexis whispered. “You killed all those people, why?”

“So, you do know it's me. Too bad; if you hadn't I was going to rescue you.” He turned to Jake.

“I hope you weren't too attached to that car; it caught fire — a gas leak or something. It's a good thing that it stopped snowing; otherwise, I might have missed your trail,” he said and laughed.

“Why did I do it? Because I could, Lexy-Wexy, because I could.” He smiled, and pulled Alexis out of Jake's arms and held her in front of him, running the knife almost lovingly against her face and throat. A drop of blood oozed where the knife had pricked her. Jake was powerless; if he pulled out the gun, he couldn't fire fast enough to prevent Frank from slitting her throat.
Damn!

“Now, since I know you have a weapon because you fired at me the other day, let's see where it is.” He roughly searched her, pushing up her skirt, revealing her thigh band and the gun it held. He pulled it out. “Nice weapon; was it your witch's power, the one that let you get into my brain that told you where I was, or blind luck?” When she didn't answer, he pressed the knife harder on her throat and released more blood. She gasped.

He smiled wickedly. “When my dad taught me to hunt, killing felt good. My father was like your uncle. I got tired of being his punching bag; I blew his face off with his own gun. My mother, always preaching turn the other cheek, never did a damn thing to stop him. I poisoned her tea one night. Don't look so horrified; I gave her a nice, private funeral; she's under the petunias at home. Hell, I'm a dutiful son; I visit her grave every day. Sometimes, I even water it.” He laughed at his own crude joke.

“My wife didn't understand me; I'll bet you've heard that before,” he said and chortled. “She'd bitch about my hunting or drinking, and when I slapped her around, she threatened to leave me. I wasn't going to put up with that disrespect. She was talking to the social worker when Lissa died. I forced her to take every last one of those pills, and when she fell asleep, I dropped her into the pool.”

“Why did you kill the others? How did you drug them? Why use fire?”

For a few moments, she thought he might not answer. Never moving the knife from her throat, he pulled out his cigarette package and mouthed out a joint. He dragged her down closer to the fire; Alexis thought he might be trying to burn her, but he only held the joint to the flame, and lit it. He took a deep drag, and then exhaled. He sat and pulled her into his lap.

“I suppose you know about the hookers; I talk in my sleep, so I gutted those bitches. Fire is the perfect weapon; it's clean and lasts long enough for a man to enjoy himself. Gluttony; the drug was in the icing on the brownies. The more they ate, the deeper they slept.”

He laughed again. “Bandit was raising his prices; these are the only things that let me sleep at night. I had to kill his mother because the old bat had seen us together; she came by the truck looking for him.” He took another deep drag.

“Leroy and his pal were the ones who built that fence around the pool. I enjoyed watching them suffer; they earned it. Duffy, well, it was his fault that I wasn't there that day. He charged me a fortune for that engine job, and the damn thing still leaks. He was such a slob, that place was a mess — all those rags and and junk lying around. I almost got killed that night. I've already told you about the social worker, she was on the phone with Lauren. I'm sure you're eager to know who's next.”

“Besides us?” asked Jake his voice laced with sarcasm.

Frank turned on him like an enraged bull. He pushed Alexis aside and dove at Jake with the knife, but Jake managed to deflect it at the last minute knocking it out of his hand. The action further enraged Frank who pummeled him with his fists. Prone on the ground as he was, Jake could barely defend himself. Frank stood and started kicking him in the ribs; Alexis was certain he would beat him to death. She pleaded with him to stop, but to no avail. Finally, exhausted, Frank ceased his attack. He picked up the joint he'd dropped. Jake lay unmoving. Alexis sobbed.

“Stop that, bitch!” He slapped her hard, knocking her backwards to the ground. “If you'd died in that house, you'd have gone out in a blaze of glory, but now?” He took another drag.

“Do you know how angry I was when my damn cell phone wouldn't work? Stupid cheap phone! The battery was defective. I thought that using Jake's to set off the bomb was a nice touch, but the delay cost me, and here you are. What am I going to do about you now?”

The look he gave her made her cringe.

“Where was I? Ah yes! My final target, Alexis, is Reverend Lewis. Did you know he was my wife's uncle? He said if I'd been a decent husband, none of it would have happened. Well, I'm going to take out his whole damn congregation on Christmas Eve.” He laughed. “The date isn't important; in fact, until Jake mentioned it, I hadn't even noticed. The full moon doesn't matter either, other than the first one. It just took me that long each month to get the next act ready. I'll miss Mila and Minette's cooking, but … ”

He took a deep drag and closed his eyes.

“Now, what should I do with you two?”

He stood and removed his jacket.

“Do you want to know how I eluded the police? I knew it was a trap the minute he insisted Lynette give him the message in front of me. Lately, getting information from that place has been harder than pulling witches' teeth. I'm not stupid. Junior Peterson was in the canteen with me; I just went in one door of the truck, and out the other. I told him I wasn't feeling well and to finish alone. They never saw me leave; I watched them follow the truck out of the lot.”

He seemed to thrive on the fact that he had outwitted them. Alexis watched him closely; there was no telling what might set him off again, and Jake couldn't take any more abuse. She hoped the drug would lull him to sleep. He'd tossed her gun over by the entrance; if she could get to it …

“I sent Junior up to Bear Island to pick up some cigarettes. His last stop is right near my place, and I'll be back in the truck with him before he leaves to go home. They'll see me go in the house. I'll miss Junior though; he's going to have a fatal accident.”

He stood, and with his boot, he scattered the fire until all that was left was a few dying embers. The cavern was black except for the glow from Frank's flashlight. Alexis took the opportunity to move away from him and closer to her gun. She was close enough to note that Jake was still breathing.

“He isn't dead yet, but he soon will be, and so will you. Look at it this way: like my wife, you're getting what you wanted. You're going to be together for a long, long time.” He flashed the light on Jake's bloodied face and snarled.

“No one will find you here; the cavern will be underwater come spring, and your bloated, stinking corpses will feed the fish, that is, unless the wolves get you first. I was going to blow up the entrance, but I think I'll let it be. I like the idea of the animals eating you; maybe they'll get you while you're still alive.”

He laughed again and looked directly at Alexis.

“I like the irony of this; it's too bad that no one else will know of it. Imagine the headline: Deprived of fire, fire investigator freezes to death.” He giggled, the maniacal sound echoing in the close confines of the cavern.

He shone his flashlight on her, moving it slowly down her body.

“But before you die, we're going to have a little fun, you and I. You know that all of this is your fault. I loved you; I even gave you gifts, but you never appreciated them. That mouse in your boot? It took me days to stuff it. It was while we were studying that Steinbeck book; I thought you'd get the irony, but no, you freaked out, and James got mad at me. If you hadn't run away, we'd have been together; I'd have gotten rid of him,” he kicked at Jake. “He's had his turn, now it's mine. Make sure you scream nice and loud for me, I learned to like that in Sarnia.”

He walked towards her and grabbed her hair.

“Stay away from me.” She turned her face and bit his arm.

“Ouch! Bitch! You'll pay for that.” He slapped her again, knocking her to the ground at Jake's feet. She tasted blood. Oh God, she'd never felt so helpless in her life.

He got up on his knees and with one hand, he reached to undo his belt buckle and unzip his pants. With the other, he grabbed Alexis's skirt and shoved it up to her waist. He grabbed at her panties and tore them off.

“Now, look at me, slut; this is what a real man's like; I've waited sixteen years for this.”

The sound of the gunshot echoed loudly in the small cavern and seemed to go on and on. Frank knelt upright for a moment, eyes wide open and vacant. He fell to the side, blood slowly seeping from a bullet hole in his forehead.

Alexis screamed and pulled herself into a ball, whimpering.

• • •

“Alexis, baby, it's over.” Jake spoke to her. He had pulled himself close to her and put his arms around her. “We have to relight the fire; I need your help. We can do this.”

Jake used the flashlight to find the scattered embers and pile them, together with the rest of the wood they had found earlier, in a sheltered section of the cavern away from the draft. There was a small pile of branches in the far corner that they'd missed earlier, and they piled those near the fire. It wasn't much, but it was the best he could do. He picked up Frank's knife and her gun and put them in his pocket.

He dragged Frank's body over closer to the entrance, so that it blocked the wind. Using her tights and the lighter, he managed to get the small blaze going. He wrapped her feet in Frank's mittens, and used Frank's down jacket with her coat to cover them. He noticed how quiet she was; in fact, she hadn't spoken since it had happened.

He held her tightly, rocking her in his arms, until she fell asleep. There was not a single part of his body that did not ache, but he would not change places for anything in the world. Huddled under the coats, they were warm and safe. The Fire Angel would never strike again. Jake fell asleep.

The sound of barking dogs woke him. He shook Alexis awake.

“I think the cavalry is here. I need to get something out of my pocket,” he said. He knew that she'd be afraid in the darkness, but he was grateful for it. She could not see how badly injured he really was. He reached into his pants' pocket and removed his car keys.