Steve Hamilton - Ice Run

Before I could look in the window again, the front door flew open. Chris Woolsey came running out, just in time for me to stick my foot out. He fell face-first into the snow.

“Help!” he screamed into the cold air. “Somebody help me!”

“Go ahead and yell,” I said, grabbing him by the collar. “They might hear you on the bridge.”

“Let go of me! Somebody help!”

I put the gun away and gave him a good smack across the face. That seemed to settle him down a little bit. Leon came out the door, sliding in the snow.

“Anyone else in there?” I asked him.

“No,” Leon said. “Not as far as I can tell.”

“What’s the deal?” I asked Chris. “Are you alone?”

“Go fuck yourself.”

I smacked him again. “I’m starting to enjoy this, Chris. You better talk to me.”

“I’m alone,” he said. “There’s nobody else here.”

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s go inside and talk.”

I pushed him back through the door and onto one of the covered chairs. “First question,” I said, leaning over him. “Do you know where Natalie is?”

“Natalie who?”

I had to try hard not to hit him again. “Natalie Reynaud. The woman who was at the hotel with me.”

“I haven’t seen her since that night. I swear.”

“Okay, next question. Your uncle Marty-”

“He’s not here.”

“I can see that,” I said. “Is that why you came out here? Were you looking for him?”

He didn’t say anything. He looked out the door like he wanted to make a break for it again.

“We know this is your family’s house,” I said. “That’s why you came here, right?”

“How do you know this is our house?”

“Your roommate told us.”

“Oh, man. That piece of shit.”

“He was trying to help you out,” I said. “Both of your uncles are in serious trouble. You thought if either of them were gonna hide out somewhere, this would be the place. Am I right?”

“Yeah,” he said. He wiped his nose on his sleeve. “Uncle Marty disappeared two nights ago, and Uncle Michael disappeared yesterday, after he…”

Chris looked at the bandage on my neck.

“Fuck,” he said. “After he tried to kill you, I guess.”

“But you haven’t seen either one of them here?”

“No. Not really. I mean, I think Marty was here.”

“How can you tell?”

“Somebody was here. There was some food on the table, and one of the beds was slept in.”

Leon came into the room, holding an ashtray. “Are these yours?” he said to Chris.

“No, I don’t smoke.”

“Let me guess,” I said. “Camel unfiltereds.”

“You got it,” Leon said.

“That’s my uncle Marty’s brand,” Chris said. “He must have come here, but he wasn’t around when I got here yesterday. I’ve been waiting, hoping he’ll come back.”

“The rest of your family is all camping out at your parents’ house,” I said. “Do they know you’re here?”

“Hell, I don’t know. I left a message on the machine, told them I was going out looking. They could probably figure it out if they wanted to.”

“You seem to have a real communication problem in your family,” I said. “Like when you told them I was the guy who made your grandfather come to the hotel that night.”

He looked down at the floor.

“Now would be a good time to tell me everything you know,” I said.

He shook his head.

“I don’t give a shit about your uncles right now,” I said, “but Natalie is missing, too. I’m trying to find her. I swear to God, Chris, I will beat you right here and right now until your eyes bleed.”

“Okay,” he said. He wiped his nose on his sleeve again. He kept looking at the floor. “Okay, man. It all goes back to my grandfather, and some stuff he told me just before he… I mean, when he was still around. I’d go over there a lot, just to see how he was doing, sit with him for a while. Especially lately, since I’d been working at the hotel, which was right around the corner from him. That one night I went to see him, that was the first night where we were starting to get all that snow. I was talking to him about it, and I just happened to mention that I had carried some bags for a woman at the hotel, who had just driven all the way down from this town in Canada called Blind River. I asked her that in the elevator. I said, I hope you didn’t have to drive much in this weather, and she said, excuse me, I know how to drive in the snow and I came all the way down from Blind River.”

“That was the night before I got there,” I said.

“Yeah, I guess so. Anyway, I tell this to my grandfather because we were talking about the snow, and he says, Blind River, that’s where the devil lived. And I’m like, what are you talking about, Grandpa? I thought he was joking, but he got real serious and he said, I’m not making a joke, Chris. As far as I’m concerned, Blind River’s where the devil lived. Then he asked me what this woman’s name was. I said, I’ve got no idea. And he said, well if you get a chance, find out. I’d be interested to know.”

“Let me guess,” I said. “You looked her name up on the room registration.”

“No, it wasn’t like that. I didn’t go snooping around. I just asked Gail at the front desk. I said, hey, who’s that lady from Canada? I think I might know her. And Gail told me her name.”

“Okay, go on.”

“So I stopped in to see my grandfather on the way to work that morning, because my mother had made him something to eat. I told him, that woman’s name is Natalie Reynaud. My grandfather says, Chris, please tell me if you’re making a joke now. Is that woman’s name really Natalie Reynaud? I said, yeah, do you know the name? He said, I know the last name all right. That’s the devil’s name.”

“Did he say anything more about the devil? Like what this person did to earn that title?”

“No, I asked him about that, but he wouldn’t tell me. He said he wasn’t going to pass it down to me, whatever that meant.”

“Did he happen to say anything about killing the devil?”

“No, what do you mean?”

“Never mind,” I said. “Just go on.”

“He did say that the devil was dead now. Then he went into the bottom of the closet and dug out this old hat. He said, see this? This is the devil’s hat right here.”

“He didn’t say how he got it?”

“No, he didn’t.”

“Okay,” I said. “Keep going.”

“So later, when I’m at work, he shows up all dressed up in his suit. I’m totally freaking out, because there’s no way he should be out walking around on his own like that, especially in bad weather. There’s a guy, even, who’s supposed to be keeping on eye on him over in the apartments. I asked him where Tony was and how come he was out. He said don’t worry, he just wanted to see the old hotel because all he does anymore is sit around in his apartment. So here he is sitting in the lobby, saying hello to everyone. He was happier than I’d ever seen him, you know? I figured, why not? This was good for him. I’d let him stick around and then I’d take him back home later. I had no idea he was gonna go out wandering in the snow. I swear to God.”

“Why didn’t you stop him? Didn’t you see him leave?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“You were the doorman. How can you not see him leave?”

“I wasn’t down by the door.”

“Was it a maid or a waitress in the restaurant?”

He mumbled something.

“What did you say?”

“I said it was a waitress.”

“Okay, so what happens next? You know your whole family is gonna kill you, so you look for somebody else to pin it on.”

He started to say something, but stopped.