P. Parrish - Dead of Winter

“So why am I confused?” Louis asked. He couldn’t believe he was asking this nut anything.

“Because Libra is your secondary ruler and Libras are very peaceful by nature. Totally nonviolent. So, you see, you have this urge to subject yourself to violence yet your gentler nature abhors it. Thus, the confusion.”

Louis stared at him.

“Want a carrot?” Ollie asked.

Louis nodded and took one.

“Should I go on?” Ollie asked.

Louis nodded slowly, munching on the carrot.

“I bet you like very passionate women.”

“Doesn’t everyone?” Louis laughed. The laugh trailed off quickly. He didn’t need to be thinking of Zoe right now.

“No, not really. But you like women who drive you crazy, physically and mentally. The woman you will marry is elusive by nature, mysterious and probably loves the water.”

“The water?”

“As do you.”

“I never thought about it one way or the other.”

“You should,” Ollie said, looking at him. The dashboard lights caught Ollie’s benign eyes. “The water is where you need to settle.”

“Well, I get the feeling the chief is not going to let me do that. I don’t think he wants me here.”

“It doesn’t have to be here. There’s lots of water in the world.” Ollie held out the Ziploc. “Another carrot?”

Louis shook his head. They drove on without speaking for several miles while Louis stared out at the swirling snow. The radio belched a burst of static. Ollie reached over to turn down the volume.

“Hey, Ollie,” Louis said finally.

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For that crack I made about smoking.”

Ollie’s veiny temples twitched. “Forget it. I should quit anyway. Would make my wife happy. But it’s my only vice left.” He suddenly slowed the car and did a U-turn.

“What are you doing?” Louis asked.

“The Castle might be open. I mean, if you’re desperate.”

“Thanks, man.”

They were heading back toward town now. After several miles, Louis spotted the neon halo of the White Castle hamburger joint arching above the dark trees. Ollie swung the cruiser up to the curb and shoved it into park. Louis moved to open the door.

“Jess is a Virgo,” Ollie said. “Virgo rules your twelfth house.”

“What’s that?” Louis asked. “The house of partners?”

“Your house of secrets,” Ollie said.

Louis stared at him for a moment then closed the door. He went inside and ordered six burgers, fries and a coffee. He watched his burgers sizzle then glanced back at Ollie through the sweaty glass. House of secrets. What crap.

He paid for the burgers, grabbed the white bag and walked out, checking his watch. Only three hours to go. He started across the damp parking lot, thinking of Jesse. And then Zoe’s face flitted across his mind, hovering there for a moment like a phantom. He paused, popped off the coffee lid and took a sip. His eyes were burning from fatigue and he looked across the parking lot, trying to focus on the black stand of pines. A ground fog had left the lower trunks shrouded, making the huge trees look as though they were floating in the night. House of secrets. His house, but whose secrets?

Louis climbed back in the warm car and opened the bag.

“Don’t suppose you want one?” Louis said, offering the bag of fries.

Ollie shook his head with a smile and pulled the cruiser out of the lot. They rode on in silence as Louis downed the burgers. He found himself watching a small medallion that hung from the rearview mirror. It took a moment before he realized it was an arrowhead.

“What’s with that?” he asked, pointing.

Ollie gave him a half-smile. “You sure you want to know?”

Louis finished the last fry and stuffed the trash in a bag. “Yeah, I’ll bite.”

“It’s a jasper quartz arrowhead,” Ollie said. “The Indians believed it had special powers to keep them safe against their enemies.”

“Didn’t work too well against the white man, did it?”

Ollie let the remark go. Keeping a tight grip on the wheel, he headed the car through the center of town. Louis stifled a yawn and leaned back in the seat, watching the arrowhead sway back and forth. The dispatcher’s voice ignited the silent radio to life. Ollie turned up the volume.

“Loon-8 and Loon-11, we have a report of a trash fire at mile marker 7, County Road 329, two miles off Highway 33. Do you copy?”

“Great,” Louis said under his breath. He keyed the mike. “Ten-four, Central. We’re en route.”

County Road 329 was a dark two-lane road that stretched east toward Lake Huron. It was bordered by acres of open, snow-covered meadows that loomed out to the ridges of the Huron National Forest. It was a stark, almost alien-looking landscape, white open patches of emptiness set down in the dark canyon walls of the ancient pine trees.

The brush fire was clearly visible as the cruiser rounded a final curve. Ollie pulled over to the shoulder, leaving the rear of the cruiser on the asphalt.

Louis got out first, standing near the door of the unit. There wasn’t a house or an electric light of any kind. Just the rotating red and blue lights of the cruiser and, far off in the meadow near the trees, the eerie orange glow of the fire.

He reached for his flashlight and shined it into the open field. The fire was burning high in an old oil drum. He trained the light on the distant pines, casting feeble arcs into the shadows there. Nothing.

Kids, probably just kids. He drew in a deep breath of cold air. But why were the hairs on his neck standing up?

Everything he knew about Lacey told him that the man wouldn’t strike in a place like this. He had shot both his victims when they were in places where they felt safe, places and situations where a cop was least likely to be acting like a cop. This was too…set. It wasn’t Lacey’s style.

The trunk of the cruiser popped open and Louis jumped.

“What are you doing?” Louis hissed.

“Getting your vest,” Ollie said.

Louis set the flashlight on the hood of the car and stripped off his jacket. Ollie held the heavy vest out to Louis. The wind whipped against his back as Louis slid on the vest. Shivering, he hustled back into his jacket.

“Where’s yours?” Louis asked.

“I’m wearing it.”

Louis picked up the flashlight and swept it again over the meadow, looking for some sign of a vehicle. There was nothing, not even a track in the pristine snow.

“Could be kids,” Ollie said.

Louis shook his head. “Only reason to set a fire way out here is to burn something you don’t want anyone to find.” He didn’t add what he was thinking, that maybe they had stumbled upon evidence Lacey was trying to hide, that maybe there was another dead cop out there somewhere.

“Well, whatever it is we’ve got to check it out,” Ollie said.

“I’ll go,” Louis said, looking at the fire.

“I think I should.”

“Why? Did your horoscope tell you that?”

“Actually, it said I should avoid confrontations on the job today.”

Louis put on his gloves. “Well, that settles it. I’m going.”

Ollie nodded and reached in the car to get the radio. “Central, I’m staying with the unit. L-11 is on foot.”

Louis climbed the snowbank and started out into the field. Away from the cruiser, the darkness engulfed him and he felt his heart begin to beat faster. He stepped carefully, the powdery snow growing deeper with each move. The fire was an orange blur against the black wall of trees.

He squinted, knowing his lack of sleep had affected his eyesight and probably his thinking. He felt as if every nerve in his body was trembling with adrenaline.

Suddenly, he sank to his knees in the snow and he fell forward, catching himself on his hands. He got up, yanked off his gloves and shook out the snow. He wiped down the flashlight and turned to look back at the cruiser. It looked small and far away. Ollie, standing by the driver door, looked even smaller.