The Grudge (12 page)

“Mark was trained and experienced. Many avalanche victims survive. Maybe Mark’s okay.”

“Do you really believe that?”

“Sure. Why not?”

“You’re such an optimist.” Alyson began to relax as the rest of her body began to warm up.

“Hey, I said we’d be okay and we are. Sometimes optimism pays off. The power of positive thinking and all that.”

“If you say so.”

“I’m going to get up just for a minute,” Devon informed Alyson.

“No.”

“I want to put some more wood on the fire and drag those chairs over here so I can drape our clothes over them. We’ll want them to be dry by tomorrow.”

“Okay, but hurry back.”

“I will.”

Devon did as he’d said and then crawled back into the makeshift bed. He lay on his side and pulled Alyson’s back against him. “Warm?”

“Yeah, it’s nice.”

“So what do you want to do tomorrow?” Devon asked.

“Not die trying to get back.”

Alyson’s breath was slow and steady. She felt herself become lethargic as the effects of the cold wore off.

Devon stroked her hair as she relaxed into him.

“It sounds like it’s windy.” Alyson closed her eyes.

“Yeah, it’s starting to snow again.”

“Oh, good. We’re not only lost in the woods, we’re lost in a blizzard.”

“I doubt it’s a blizzard. Just a little snow.”

“Um.” Alyson could feel herself drifting off.

“Alyson?”

“Um.”

“I don’t want you to go to sleep yet. Not until I’m sure you’re okay. Maybe another hour or so.”

“Okay. You’d better keep talking to me, though, or I’ll fall asleep anyway.”

“We could play Twenty Questions.”

“You mean that thing where I ask you if it’s bigger than a bread box?”

“Actually, I was thinking about the thing where I ask you what your favorite flower is and you ask me what my favorite color is. I’ve known you for four months. In some ways I feel like I know you better than I know anyone, and in others, it’s like I don’t know you at all.”

“Yeah, that’s me. I’m a mystery. You start. But nothing embarrassing.”

“Okay. What’s your favorite flower?”

“A dandelion,” Alyson answered.

“Like those things you pick out of your lawn?”

“Yeah, those.”

“Interesting choice.”

“Not really. I like them because they’re simple and free. They aren’t confined to someone’s perfectly maintained garden; they grow wild and happy wherever the wind takes them. They’re hearty; you don’t have to prune and fertilize them. And they’re resilient; you can pluck them out and they keep coming back.”

“Suddenly I have a new appreciation for dandelions. Okay, your turn.”

“What’s your middle name?” Alyson asked.

“I can’t believe you went there.”

“Come on. ’Fess up. Is it really bad?”

“Lovell.”

“Lovell? Really?”

“It was my grandfather’s name.”

“Oh, that’s sweet. I like that.”

Devon shifted so that his arm was under Alyson’s head and she was lying on his shoulder. He continued to gently stroke her hair as they talked.

“My turn. What’s your middle name?”

Alyson froze. Middle name? Had they given her one? “I don’t have one.”

“Come on. I told you mine, now spill.”

“No, really. Check my driver’s license. No middle name.”

“Okay, if you were going to give yourself a middle name, what would it be?”

Alyson thought for a minute. “Tiffany.”

“Why Tiffany?”

“Tiffany was my best friend before I moved to Cutter’s Cove. We met in playgroup when we were like three. Our moms were good friends, so we got to see each other a lot. She was funny and spontaneous, sensitive and compassionate. If I had a middle name I’d want it to have meaning. Your middle name is in honor of your grandfather; mine would be in honor of Tiff.”

“You’ve never mentioned her before. Do you still keep in touch?”

“No. She died before I came to Cutter’s Cove.”

“Oh, Alyson. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, me too.” Alyson lay quiet for a minute, remembering Tiffany’s laugh and smile. She’d make some big game out of being trapped in the middle of nowhere in a snowstorm.

“Favorite childhood memory,” she finally said.

“Childhood memory?”

“Yeah, from when you were younger and smaller than you are now.”

“Wow, that’s a hard one. I guess it would be the summer my dad and mom and Eli and I all went camping. We set up a tent right near the lake and every night we’d build a fire and sing campfire songs. My dad taught me how to fish that summer. And best of all, no electricity so no computers. When we were at home Dad tended to get caught up in projects and lose track of time. But that summer we had his undivided attention.”

“That sounds nice. My family never went camping; my parents tended to vacation at five-star resorts. That was nice too, but camping sounds like fun.”

“I know your mom and she doesn’t strike me as the five-star resort type,” Devon said.

“She’s not anymore. That was a different life. Now she’d probably really enjoy the camping thing; that is, if there were plumbing and mattresses. Maybe RV camping would be more her style.”

“Okay, let’s see.… What’s your greatest fear?” Devon asked.

Having the Bonatello brothers find me.
“Right now I’m thinking dying in this cabin, but actually I guess it would have to be losing someone I love. I’ve lost enough people in my life; the ones I have now I’d like to keep.”

“We’re not going to die, you know. I’ll get us out of here.”

“I know. I’m just being weak and pathetic, which, by the way, I hate, so let’s move on. Let’s see, what should I ask you? I know: who was your first kiss?”

“Trina Longsville in the first grade. She was quite the cutie. I paid her a nickel to kiss me behind the school.”

“You paid her?”

“Hey, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. She was the cutest girl in my class and I really wanted to kiss her.”

“Have you paid anyone else since?”

“That’s another question and it’s not your turn.” Devon’s hand drifted down her arm. Tiny pinpricks followed his fingers. “What’s something you’ve never done that you’ve always wanted to do?”

“Mac, Trevor, and I cut down and decorated my Christmas tree this year. Up until a couple of weeks ago that probably would have been my answer. My parents always had a decorating service do ours. It was fun to decorate our tree with ornaments I picked out. I guess that doesn’t really answer your question, though. I guess my answer would have to be to fall in love. I used to watch all those old Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies with my aunt when I was a kid. You know the ones, where some guy would sing and dance his way into her heart. They were so romantic. I used to fantasize about waltzing around some huge ballroom with my own handsome prince.”

“And now? Do you still fantasize about a prince who will sing and dance into your heart?”

“No. I guess my notions of the perfect guy have changed. Seriously, if some guy walked up to me and broke into song I’d probably call the cops. Okay, my question. When you were a little boy what did you want to be when you grew up?”

“Honestly, the same thing I want to be now—a software developer like my dad. I know most little boys want to be firefighters or doctors, but I’ve always been fascinated by computers.”

“Well, it looks like you’ll get your dream. You’ve been accepted into a great college.”

“Yeah, looks like. Okay, my turn. If singing and dancing aren’t the primary attributes you’re looking for in a guy, what are?”

“I guess someone who’s always there for me. Who’s strong and independent but secure enough to let me be strong and independent; someone who knows me and accepts me for who I am, flaws and all. Someone who’s is more interested in supporting me than coddling and protecting me.”

“Sounds like you’ve thought about this.”

“Not really. I just know what I want. I can’t believe how tired I am.”

“It’s probably okay to go to sleep now. Your brain doesn’t seem to be scrambled.”

“Dev…”

“Huh?”

“Thanks. For today; for basically saving my life.”

“No need to thank me. We were partners in this little adventure, however ill-advised it might have been. Partners always look out for each other.”

“Well, thanks anyway.”

Devon kissed Alyson on the head. “Get some sleep. Tomorrow’s going to be a long day. You’ll need your energy.”

Alyson felt herself drifting off to that place where dreams become reality and the world melts away. She felt herself being drawn toward a point in the distance, a point where the darkness was bathed in light.

“Tiffany?”

“Hey, Amanda.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I have no idea. It’s your dream. Why’d you bring me here?”

“I didn’t bring you here. At least I don’t think I did. I was talking to Devon and then, all of the sudden, here you were. I’m glad to see you, though.”

“Me too. That Devon is quite a hunk. Is he your boyfriend?”

“Sort of. I guess. Honestly, I’m not sure.”

“How can you not be sure?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Does he know who you really are?”

“No. I guess that’s part of the problem.”

“So tell him.”

“I can’t. You know I can’t.”

“Mac knows. Do you trust Mac more than you trust Devon?”

“No, it’s not that. Mac found out on her own. I couldn’t help that.”

“That’s not really true. Mac found the picture, but you didn’t have to tell her. You could have lied. It would have been easy to do it. You’ve been lying for so long it’s become part of who you are.”

“I don’t want it to be. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t lie to Mac. I needed for someone to know.”

“So tell Devon.”

“I wish I could, but I can’t.”

“Are you afraid that he’ll look at you differently? That if you show him your true face he won’t like what he sees?”

“Maybe. I don’t know; you’re confusing me.”

“You have to make a choice. He loves you. You can’t let him love you if he doesn’t even know who you are.”

“I guess I can’t.”

Alyson woke up the next morning alone in the makeshift bed. She slowly opened her eyes. She could hear Devon in the kitchen. She tried to sit up, but her head started spinning. She lay back down and willed the world to come into focus.

“Look what I found.” Devon walked into the room completely dressed in the clothes he’d worn the day before. He handed her a cup with black liquid. “It’s instant but still caffeinated.”

Alyson wrapped the blanket more tightly around her half-naked body and took the cup.

“You look a little pale. Are you feeling okay?” Devon asked.

“Not really. I feel a little funky.”

Devon put his palm against her forehead. “You feel warm. I’m afraid yesterday’s snow bath didn’t help much. There are a few canned goods in the kitchen. Feel like eating something?”

“Sure. I’ll just get dressed, then meet you in there.”

“It’s cold in the other room. You wait in here and I’ll bring the food.” Devon walked back the way he’d come.

Alyson got up and dressed in the clothes that had dried overnight. She took several long sips of her coffee as she stood at the window and watched the snow.

“We’re in luck.” Devon walked into the room carrying a frying pan and a can of something. “Among the other things I found a can of Spam.”

“Spam?”

“Mechanically separated meat parts reformed into a handy little cube. A staple for camping. Surely you’ve tried it.”

“No, I’m afraid I haven’t.”

“Then you’re in for a real treat. We’ll slice it thin, then fry it over the fire. I found a can of beans to go with it. Believe me, you haven’t lived until you’ve had Spam and beans for breakfast.”

“Sounds good.” Alyson sat down on one of the rickety wooden chairs that surrounded the wooden dining table. “It’s snowing pretty hard again. Do you think we’ll be able to find our way back?”

“I’ve been thinking about that.” Devon stirred the beans. “Between the weather, your fever, and our complete lack of knowing where we are, I think we should wait it out a day. My dad and the others know we’re missing, they know where we were headed, and I’m betting Andi’s dad and the security team know about this cabin. My bet is that they’ll come looking for us.”

“What if Bret comes looking for us first?”

Devon set a plate of beans and Spam in front of Alyson. “I’m hoping he assumes we perished in the elements, but even if he’s still out there, our chances of coming out of this alive seem greater if we stay put than if we wander out into a storm.”

“But what if he does show up?” Alyson took a small forkful of beans. “Do we just sit here and let him shoot us? Shouldn’t we have a plan?”

“Let’s eat and then we can look around to see if there’s anything we can use as a weapon. We’ll figure out how to deal with him before he gets here.”

“Okay,” she said. “You were right. This Spam is really good. I’ll have to pick some up when I get home.”

“Spam is more of a frying-over-a-campfire kind of product,” Devon informed Alyson. “I doubt you’d like it near as much if you prepared it in your own kitchen. It’s more of a theme meat.”

“I see.”

“You seemed pretty restless last night. Did you sleep okay?”

“I kept having these funky dreams.”

“I guess that’s to be expected under the circumstances.”

“Yeah, I guess. Dev…”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think it’s important for two people who care about each other to know everything about each other?”

“I’m not sure it’s possible to know everything about another person, but yeah, I guess it’s important that two people in a relationship know each other pretty well. Hence last night’s game. Before that I would have wasted my money buying you roses for Valentine’s Day. Now I know I just need to pick dandelions out of the lawn.”

“The lawn’s dormant in February. There won’t be any dandelions till spring.”

“I guess I’ll have to have some imported from the south.”

Alyson laughed. “Seems like a lot of trouble for a flower.”

“Yeah, but not for a girl.”

Alyson felt her heart begin to melt. She thought of Tiffany’s words. She knew she was going to have to make up her mind about Devon before things went any further.

Alyson and Devon finished eating, then took an inventory of the cabin. There were enough canned goods to last almost a week if need be, and plenty of firewood stacked up under a tarp on the deck behind the cabin. Although there was no running water, there was loads of fresh snow, which Devon had melted to make the coffee that morning.

“I don’t suppose you happened to run across any guns, did you?” Alyson asked.

“’Fraid not.”

“Maybe a bow and arrow? Sharp knife? Slingshot?”

“It looks like whoever uses this cabin in the summer took his weapons with him. I did find a knife, though, and some rope.”

”We’re going to have to get pretty close to use either of those.”

“I also found a couple of fishing poles, a tackle box, and several animal traps.”

“I’d feel a lot better if we had a couple of guns. Big guns; maybe a rocket launcher.”

“I have an idea.” Devon sat down at the table. “The deck out back is about a foot off the ground. Just enough for us to slide under. If we spread the wood out over the surface of the deck someone standing on it wouldn’t be able to see through the cracks.”

“You think we should hide under the deck if he comes? We’d be trapped.”

“The idea is to trap him. Here’s the plan.”

Devon spent the next fifteen minutes outlining what they’d do. They would use the snowmobile to make fresh tracks out back, leading away from the cabin. They would double back and stash the snowmobile in the back bedroom and cover it with sheets. Hopefully, Bret wouldn’t think to look under them. At the end of the snowmobile path, they’d create a footpath into the trees. They would carefully backtrack, so the path would appear to head in just one direction. Along the footpath they’d bury the animal traps he’d found. Hopefully Bret would find his way into one of them.

“So now we just wait?” Alyson asked.

“We wait and hope the rescue team gets here before Bret does. In the meantime, I found some cards in one of the kitchen drawers. I’m thinking strip poker.”

“How about gin rummy. For points, not pants.”

“Rummy it is.”

“This waiting is starting to get to me.” Alyson discarded a card and picked up another one later that afternoon. “I keep thinking I hear things.”

“If anyone shows up on a snowmobile we’ll hear them long before they get here. The sightline down the mountains is pretty good from here. If Bret shows up we’ll have at least several minutes’ warning.”

Alyson bit her lip as she rearranged her cards and tried to figure out a strategy. “I bet Mac and the others are going crazy right about now. I know I would be if it was one of them missing.”

“I wish there was a way to let them know we’re all right, but I think all we can do is wait and hope someone finds us.”

“It looks like it stopped snowing. Maybe we should just head down the mountain and hope for the best.”

“It’s afternoon. We only have a few hours of daylight. If it’s clear tomorrow and no one has found us yet, maybe we’ll try then. I guess we could always follow our tracks back here if we get lost.”

Alyson threw away her king and prayed for a two. “I’ve been thinking a lot about the murders since we’ve been here. I have to say I still don’t get it. Even if Bret felt he had motive to kill these particular people, why use so many different methods to achieve his objective? There has to have been a reason.”

Devon discarded a four and picked up an eight. “We’ll probably never know. Mario was injured in an explosion. Bruce Long froze to death. Stacy King was poisoned. Todd Wallford fell to his death. Martha Strom was burned to death. Mark Wallace was buried alive. All different causes of death but no common variable that I can see.”

“It’s not even like there was an increasing level of violence with each attack. Mario’s accident was pretty violent, but Bruce and Stacy’s were fairly nonviolent by comparison.”

“I guess only Brett knows why he did what he did the way he did it.”

“Gin.” Alyson lay her cards on the table. “I win again.”

“What are you, some kind of a card shark? That’s seven games in a row. Are you cheating?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Seriously…”

“No, I’m not cheating. You appear to be a very conservative player. I’ve watched you. You get your initial hand, come up with a strategy, and stick with it. Do you know you almost never rearrange your cards once you initially arrange them? Sometimes you have to throw away your original plan, throw caution to the winds, and go for something totally different.”

“You are a card shark. When we get out of here we’re going to Vegas.”

Alyson shuffled the deck and dealt the cards. “I’ve been meaning to ask you what your plans are for after the trip. I mean other than Vegas. You’ve basically graduated.”

“Actually, I’m not sure yet. I was offered an internship with a top software company.”

“Dev, that’s great. Congratulations.”

“It’s in Los Angeles. I haven’t definitely decided to take it, though.”

“Why wouldn’t you take it? It sounds like exactly the kind of thing that can help you with your career. Besides, you love LA.”

“I know. It’s just that I’ll be going to college in the fall and I guess I thought I’d have a little more time to spend with…” Devon paused, “my friends before I had to go. If I take the internship I’ll be gone the rest of the winter and most of the summer.”

“Devon, you aren’t seriously thinking about turning it down, are you? It’s such a great opportunity.”

“I know. It’s just that it kind of came out of the blue. I wasn’t planning for it. I got an e-mail last week offering it to me. I’d have to start right after the New Year. It just seemed kind of sudden.”

“Sometimes you have to be spontaneous and go for what you really want. Life’s about choices. Every day we’re all faced with choices, some big and some small. I think when we look back on our lives we’ll see that there were several key junctures, major choices that defined who we became. I’ve always believed that it’s the opportunities we say yes to that truly define us. You’ve wanted to be a software developer your whole life. You need to go for the things that are important to you. Take a risk; go all in.”

“Yeah, I guess. I just thought maybe … forget it. Alyson, do you …”

“Do you hear something?” Alyson interrupted.

Devon listened. “Sounds like a snowmobile.” He wandered over to the window. “Someone’s coming. It looks like a single rider. A rescue team would be in a group.”

“It’s Bret.”

“Probably. Bundle up, then get under the deck. I’ll be there in a minute.”

“But…”

“Just do it. Crawl as far under as you can. Get comfortable, then lay very still.”

Alyson pulled on her boots, hat, gloves, and jacket. She took one of the blankets to lay on, then got on her belly and crawled under the deck. She could feel the two-by-fours used to support the decking rub against her back as she crawled. She hoped there weren’t spiders—or worse, snakes—hibernating under the deck. When she crawled in as far as she could, she spread out the blanket and waited.

Several minutes later Devon crawled in behind her. “It’s Bret all right,” he whispered. “Whatever you do, don’t make a sound.”

Alyson nodded and willed her breathing to slow. She was sure Bret would be able to hear her heart beating. Devon held her hand as they waited for Bret to find his way out back.

Alyson could hear Bret moving around inside. He was calling to them. As if they’d come, even if they were hiding in a closet or under a bed. Eventually, he made his way onto the back deck.

“You guys out here? I just want to talk. Really, you can come out.”

Alyson held her breath and prayed Bret wouldn’t find them. She closed her eyes and willed herself not to panic. Her instinct was to run, not passively wait to be found.

Bret walked a short way down the snowmobile path, then returned inside through the back door. Alyson heard him leave through the front door and start his snowmobile. Several seconds later, he sped around the side of the house and down the path.

“What now?” Alyson whispered.

“We wait. It won’t take him more than ten or fifteen minutes to follow our track to the end. If we don’t catch him in one of the traps he’ll probably be back this way.”

“And if we do catch him? Then what?”

“I guess we’ll tie him up and wait for the cavalry.”

“He probably has a gun. Chances are he’ll shoot us before we can even get close to him. Besides, how do we open the trap?”

“There’s a tool. We’ll get him to throw his gun away before we help him.”

“How are we even going to get close enough to talk to him? It’s too bad the hunter didn’t leave behind bulletproof vests or something.”