Steve Hamilton - Ice Run

Natalie stopped to wipe her face with her hands.

“Two years, Alex. Two years I thought he was dead. I was up in Hearst, remember. Way the hell up there. What was I supposed to do, start calling people to make sure he was really dead?”

“Okay, so then what?”

“I just had to get away from her. I went outside for a while, just walked around, freezing my ass off. I almost went down the street to Mrs. DeMarco’s house, like I did when I was twelve years old. But I couldn’t, you know? That was Albert’s house, too. It was like I couldn’t escape him, no matter what I did. He’d always be there haunting me. So eventually, I just went back inside. Marty was gone already. I got in a big fight with my mother, told her I wished she was dead…”

She stopped again.

“And then I called you,” she said. “I called you and I told you it was over between us. I’m sorry, Alex. I just didn’t want you to be a part of it anymore.”

“You should have told me what was going on,” I said. “I would have helped you.”

“I know that.”

“So why didn’t you?”

“It was my problem, Alex. You’ve already been through enough for me. My God, just look at you.”

She reached out and touched the bandages on my neck. “What’s this, anyway?”

“I’ll tell you in a minute,” I said. “Just finish your story.”

“The next day, my mother was up early. She was actually cleaning the house if you can believe it. She acted like there was nothing going on, but I knew better. I finally got it out of her. When she was alone with Marty the night before, they hatched up this plan. They were gonna blackmail Albert.”

“With what? That videotape?”

“That’s what I said. It’s an old man talking about something that might have happened thirty years ago. Albert would just laugh at her. You know what she told me?”

“I’m afraid to ask.”

“She told me that nothing on that videotape was a surprise to her. Albert had told her the whole story a long time ago. A full confession. You know what else? Apparently, Albert paid Simon Grant ten thousand dollars in cash after he killed my father. He was a full accessory, before and after the fact. My mother would be willing to testify to all of this in court.”

“But Simon didn’t say anything about money on that tape. And why would Albert-”

“Alex, did you hear what I just said? This was my mother’s story.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “Of course. But you’re telling me she’d actually say all of this under oath?”

“She’d tell it to a lie detector, Alex. She really would, and I’m sure she’d pass.”

“Okay, so what happened next?”

“I told her it would never work. Albert would know it was all a lie. But then it occurred to me that Albert would also know how good a liar she was. That’s when I started getting a headache. Anyway, the plan was that Marty Grant would come out here to his house on the island and call Albert, and tell him he had twenty-four hours to get out here with a hundred thousand dollars. He didn’t want my mother to be here, but he wanted her to stay by the phone so he could call her when Albert got there-you know, in case he needed to hear it from her directly. If he didn’t show up, they’d go to the police in Las Vegas, the Gaming Commission… they’d even send copies of the tape to his wife and kids. It was all a big bluff, of course. The whole thing. I told her they were both crazy. And now…”

She looked out the window.

“They didn’t know who they were messing around with, Alex. They had no idea.”

“So what did you do?” I said. “How did you end up out here?”

“My mother didn’t have Marty’s phone number. She just knew he was going to call her. So I took the tape and I told her to stay put. I came out here to give it back to him, and to tell him to forget the whole thing, to leave my mother alone or else I’d find a way to have him arrested. When I got out here, it wasn’t hard to find his place. It’s such a small island, and Mrs. Larusso downstairs knows everybody. When I got to the house, it was empty. But I knew somebody had been there. I started to get a bad feeling about it. I called back home, but nobody answered. That didn’t make any sense, because I knew my mother…”

She swallowed hard.

“I knew she was waiting by the telephone. But I just figured… I don’t know, maybe that she was drinking again, that she was passed out somewhere. So I left. I caught the next plane out and drove back to Blind River. When I saw what had happened to her…”

“We got there later,” I said. “Michael and I came out to the house.”

“Michael Grant?”

“Yes. When we found your mother, Michael panicked. I remember him saying… what did he say? Something about Marty, no, why did you do this…”

“He thought Marty killed my mother?”

“I don’t know what he was thinking,” I said. “He tried to kill me. He grabbed an old shotgun from your basement, from that stash of guns in the closet.”

“What happened?”

“The barrels exploded. He bled to death.”

She closed her eyes. “God,” she said. “When does it end?”

“Natalie, what did you do after you found your mother? Why did you come back here?”

“I called him, Alex. I knew Marty was able to contact him, so I called information out in Las Vegas. He wasn’t listed, but they had a number for his company. The DeMarco Group. I called and I got this woman on the line and I told her Albert needed to call me right away. I gave her my name, told her he’d know who I was. It didn’t take more than five minutes, Alex. He called me back. All of a sudden it was that voice on the phone, that voice I hadn’t heard in thirty years. He pretended he had no idea why I was calling. I asked him what kind of man would do that to a woman he once loved so much? He said he had no idea what I was talking about. He had been there in his office all day, he said. I told him he hadn’t changed one bit. He was still getting other people to do his killing for him. He asked me if I was about done because he’s a busy man, and I said, no, I’m not done. I’m going to call your wife and tell her what you did to me when I was a kid, and what you did to my father… and my mother. I’m going to tell her everything I know about you so she won’t feel so bad when I come out there and kill you.”

“What did he say to that?”

“Not a word, Alex. Not a word. I told him I was heading back down to Mackinac Island. I told him I’d have the last copy of the videotape with me, and if he wanted it, he had to come get it.”

“Why here?”

“I couldn’t stay in that house,” she said. “Not with my mother there. I figured this was as good a place as any. Nice and isolated. Just me and Albert.”

“There’s no way he’d come alone,” I said. “You know he’s got somebody else here.”

“Maybe,” she said. “I honestly don’t know. For me, maybe he’d come by himself. He still thinks of me as that twelve-year-old girl.”

“No,” Vinnie said. It was the first thing he had said since we had come up to this room. “He wouldn’t come alone. Not if he’s a born coward.”

“Wait a minute,” I said. “When I saw him getting off that plane…”

I tried to bring it all back in my mind. Standing there in the airport, looking at every face.

“There was another man with him,” I said. “He was big.”

“That’s at least one other man he has,” Vinnie said. “Who knows how well armed they are? We’d be fools to go out trying to find them.”

“You’re right,” she said. “We have to stay here. At least for now.”

“You’ve got to be kidding,” I said. “We’re sitting ducks.”