Not that wild animals weren’t lethal when spooked.
“Benjamin!” Piper was running toward him.
She had boots on her feet and a huge black cape enveloping her head. A new hockey stick was clutched in one hand. Harry trailed behind her, protective and alert.
She looked fierce. She looked vulnerable.
She was breathtaking.
There was something clunky slung around her neck. An unexpectedly hard heartbeat knocked his chest. His boots. She’d tied the laces together and tossed them around her before running out. She pulled his boots off over her head and handed them to him. There was a pair of oversize hockey socks stuffed inside one them. Not his, but they’d fit. His fingers brushed the back of her hand. “Thank you.”
“No problem.”
He paused for a moment, once again feeling the urge to hug her and not knowing how she’d take it. It was funny. Surely he was practically an expert on offering comforting hugs by now—between hugging his sister, his friends, people at church and even clients who needed that bit of extra encouragement to try some extreme sport they’d never done before. Yet whenever he was around Piper he was suddenly awkward about it.
He knelt down and put his boots on. “I’m sorry. She got away. I thought I had her for a moment but she had a snowmobile.”
“Yellow with flame stickers? A neighbor reported it stolen this morning.”
“That’s the one.” He tied up the laces. Something warm and heavy fell unexpected around his shoulders. He stood carefully.
Piper had thrown her large wool cape around him so that now it enveloped them both. Then she slipped both hands around his waist and gave him a firm, strong squeeze. “Don’t beat yourself up, Benjamin. She had both a head start and a snowmobile. Now, come on, let’s get somewhere warm.”
She stepped back and slipped beside him again, holding her edge of the cloak with one hand. Conflicting thoughts flooded his mind, blocking his ability to think. She’d have been able to run so much faster if she hadn’t stopped to grab his boots, let alone a pair of socks. And she’d have been so much more nimble if she’d just grabbed her ski jacket, instead of an oversize cloak that was large enough to cover them both. She won’t let me take care of her. Yet here she is taking care of me.
“Just don’t freeze, okay?” Piper added. “You can’t be in a wedding on Christmas Eve or on an airplane Christmas night if you’ve got hypothermia and frostbite.”
“Thank you.” His voice sounded as if it was coming from somewhere deep inside his chest. He turned to look at her. She was standing so close that if he tilted his head down just an inch or two he’d be kissing her on the nose. He had to stop that line of thinking. “Hopefully, the mechanic will have my truck back on the road before lunchtime.”
She nodded slowly. “I just hope that when we get back to the house, the police will be waiting for us.”
But before they could start back, the lights went out, plunging them and the forest into darkness.
* * *
In a heartbeat the forest was so dark she could no longer see Benjamin’s face hovering just beside hers. The world fell silent, except for the beating of ice pellets on the trees.
“Did the motion-sensor lights go off?” he asked.
She could feel the cloak shake as he waved his hand around to reactivate them.
“They shouldn’t, no. They’re on a very long timer.” She pulled away from him and from the protection of the cloak. Then she waved both hands above her head. The world stayed dark. She glanced through the trees but saw only darkness. “We should also be able to see the house lights from here, but I can’t see them, either. The bad weather must’ve caused a short in the electrical circuit somewhere.”
“I’m sure it’ll be okay.” Benjamin’s arm landed on her shoulders, warm, soft and strong. “Do you have a backup generator?”
“Yeah. It’s in a shed by the garage. But it should have kicked in if the main power went out.” She frowned. They started walking as she talked. “Hopefully it’s just another quick power glitch. Fortunately, there’s a fireplace for warmth, the stove is gas and I’ve got plenty of battery-operated flashlights and lanterns.”
Benjamin kept pace beside her. She was in the crook of his shoulder now, with his arm holding the cape around her shoulder. His hand rested lightly on her forearm. A moment ago she’d hugged him without stopping to think. Now, in the darkness, the simple gesture of his hand on her arm somehow felt like more than she was ready for. But a part of her was grateful for the warmth he provided. Even through her gloves and cloak she could feel the cold and damp seeping through. Cold air and freezing rain stung her face. The dog slipped under the cloak between them. On this cold, wet night they all needed to stay warm. Even the dog knew that.
“I wish I knew if Blondie was Charlotte.” Slowly her eyes adjusted to the dark winter night. “But she was wearing a mask and trying to disguise her voice. Not to mention it’s been six years since Charlotte crashed through here like a tornado.”
“I’m not sure I’m clear on what happened between you and her back then,” Benjamin said.
Fair enough. For that matter neither was she.
“I did most of my college by correspondence, so I could be here to help my uncle and aunt. When I was twenty, I did one semester in Ottawa to finish up my degree. Charlotte had a two-bedroom apartment and had listed a room for rent online. I’d hoped we’d become friends, but we really weren’t. She was the kind of person who kept to herself and never made eye contact. Her life revolved around her history degree and her boyfriend, Alpha. Sometimes I’d catch bruises on her arms and I wondered if he was hurting her. But she wouldn’t talk to me. I was always planning on moving out at Christmas and coming home. So, I was really surprised when she asked if she could come here for the holidays.”
She glanced at the dark sky above. A flurry of falling ice filled her eyes. “She was on her phone with Alpha the whole car ride here. Sounded like he was yelling at her. We arrived and went to a church party with my old youth group. I barely saw her over the next couple of days. She kept slipping out and going places. I’d wake up in the night and her bed would be empty. Uncle Des just told me that he caught her kissing someone in the woods and chased the guy off. Described him as young, tall and broad-shouldered. I assume it was Alpha. I guess Alpha’s in his late twenties now. While there are a whole lot of things about this whole Charlotte-Alpha-Kodiak-Blondie situation that I don’t know, I am convinced that Blondie knows Alpha. You should have seen her panicked reaction when I mentioned his name. She’s terrified of him.”
Which could mean Blondie was Charlotte and the man with the bear tattoo was Alpha. Except that Blondie didn’t react at all when Piper had asked her about a man with a bear tattoo. She closed her eyes for a moment and listened to the storm pushing through the trees. Just when she thought the terrifying picture of what had happened these past few hours was swimming into some kind of focus, everything stopped making sense again.
Their footsteps crunched through the snow. Benjamin’s arm tightened around her shoulder. “You said she robbed you?”
“She did, Christmas Eve.” Piper opened her eyes. “While we were all down in the barn, singing carols and eating potluck, she snuck through the woods to The Downs and trashed the place.”
“When you say trashed the place—”
“She went through every room and all the guests’ things looking for stuff to steal. She ripped open presents. She knocked our Christmas tree through the front window