Tess Gerritsen - Ice Cold

She shook her head. “I’ve never seen one.”

“So you don’t believe.”

“No.”

He stared beyond her, focused on something that she could not see. “But they’re here, in this room. Watching us.”

She touched his forehead. His skin was already cooler to the touch, his fever fading. Yet he was clearly delirious, his eyes tracking the room as though following the progress of phantoms gliding past.

It was light enough now for her to look at his leg.

He did not protest as she lifted the blanket. He was nude from the waist down, his penis shriveled and almost lost in the nest of brown pubic hair. In the night he had wet himself, and the towels they had placed under him were soaked. She peeled off layers of gauze from his wound, and the gasp was out of her throat before she could suppress it. She’d last examined the wound only six hours ago, by the light of the kerosene lamp. Now, in the unforgiving glare of brightening daylight, she could see the blackened edges of skin, the bloated tissues. And she caught the foul whiff of decaying meat.

“Tell me the truth,” said Arlo. “I want to know. Am I going to die?”

She struggled for reassuring words, for an answer she did not truly believe. Before she could say a word, a hand suddenly settled on her shoulder and she turned in surprise.

“Of course you’re not going to die,” said Doug, standing right behind her. “Because I’m not going to let you, Arlo. No matter how much damn trouble you give me.”

Arlo managed a weak smile. “You’ve always been full of shit, man,” he whispered and closed his eyes.

Doug knelt down and stared at the leg. He didn’t have to say it; Maura could read in his face the same thing she was now thinking. His leg is rotting before our eyes.

“Let’s go in the other room,” Doug said.

They stepped into the kitchen, out of earshot of the others. Dawn had given way to a blindingly bright morning, and the glare through the window washed out Doug’s face, made every gray hair stand out in his stubbly beard.

“I gave him amoxicillin this morning,” she said. “For all the good it’ll do.”

“What he needs is surgery.”

“I agree. You want to be the one to cut off his leg?”

“Jesus.” He began to pace the kitchen in agitation. “Ligating an artery is one thing. But to do an amputation…”

“Even if we could do the amputation, it wouldn’t be enough. He’s already septic. He needs massive doses of IV antibiotics.”

Doug turned to the window and squinted at the brilliant reflection of sunlight on ice-encrusted snow. “I’ve got a full eight, maybe nine hours of daylight. If I leave right now, I might make it down the mountain by dark.”

“You’re going to ski out?”

“Unless you have a better idea.”

She thought of Arlo, sweating and shaking in the other room as his leg bloated and his wound slowly putrefied. She thought of bacteria swarming through his blood, invading every organ. And she thought of a corpse she’d once dissected, of a woman who had died of septic shock, and remembered the patchy hemorrhages in the skin, the heart, the lungs. Shock caused multiple system failure, shutting down heart, kidneys, and brain. Already Arlo was showing signs of delirium. He was seeing people who did not exist, ghosts hovering around him. But at least he was still producing urine; as long as his kidneys did not fail, he had a chance of survival.

“I’ll pack you some food,” she said. “And you’ll need a sleeping bag, in case you don’t make it out by dark.”

“I’ll go as far as I can tonight,” said Doug. He glanced toward the front room, where Arlo lay dying. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to leave him in your hands.”

GRACE DID NOT WANT her father to go. She clung to his jacket as he stood outside on the porch, pleading with him not to leave them, whining that he was her father, and how could he leave her behind, just as her mother had? What kind of father would do that?

“Arlo’s really sick, honey,” said Doug, peeling her hands away from his sleeve. “If I don’t get help, he could die.”

“If you leave, I’m the one who could die!” she said.

“You’re not alone. Elaine and Maura will take care of you.”

“Why do you have to go? Why can’t she go?” Grace pointed at Maura, a gesture so aggressive it felt like an accusation.

“Stop it, Grace. Stop it.” He grabbed his daughter’s shoulders and gave her a hard shake. “I’m the strongest. I’ll have the best chance of making it. And Arlo is my friend.”

“But you’re my father,” Grace shot back.

“I need you to grow up right now. You have to realize that you’re not the center of the universe.” He strapped on his backpack. “We’ll talk about this when I get back. Now give me a kiss, okay?”

Grace backed away. “No wonder Mom left you,” she said and walked into the house, slamming the door behind her.

Doug stood stunned, staring in disbelief at the closed door. But the outburst should hardly have surprised him. Maura had seen how hungrily Grace vied for her father’s attention, and how skillfully the girl used guilt as a weapon to control him. Now Doug seemed ready to pursue his daughter into the house, which was just what Grace wanted, and no doubt expected.

“Don’t worry about her,” said Maura. “I promise I’ll look after her. She’ll be perfectly all right.”

“With you in charge, I know she will.” He took her into his arms for a farewell hug. “I’m sorry, Maura,” he murmured. “Sorry for everything that’s gone wrong.” He pulled away and looked at her. “Back when you knew me at Stanford, I’m sure you thought I was a fuckup. I guess I haven’t done too good a job of changing your mind.”

“You get us out of here, Doug, and I’ll rethink that opinion.”

“You can count on it.” He tightened the chest strap of his backpack. “Hold the fort, Dr. Isles. I promise I’ll be back with the cavalry.”

She watched from the porch as he headed up the road. The day had already warmed into the twenties, and not a cloud was visible in the sky. If he was going to attempt the journey, today was the day to do it.

The door suddenly opened and Elaine came flying out of the house. She had already said her goodbye to Doug moments earlier, but here she was again, running to catch up with him, running as though her life depended on it. Maura could not hear their conversation, but she saw Elaine pull off the cashmere scarf she always wore and gently drape it around Doug’s neck as a parting gift. They embraced, a hug that seemed to last forever. Then Doug was on his way, climbing up the rutted road that led out of the valley. Only when he’d rounded the bend and vanished behind the trees did Elaine finally turn back to the house. She climbed the porch steps to where Maura was standing but didn’t say a word, just brushed past her and walked inside, shutting the door behind her.

EVEN BEFORE DETECTIVE QUEENAN INTRODUCED HIMSELF, JANE would have pegged him as a cop. He stood beside a snow-covered Toyota in the parking lot of the Mountain Lodge, conversing with a man and a woman. As Jane and her party climbed out of their rental car and approached the Toyota, it was Queenan who turned to look at them, watching with the alert gaze that characterized a man whose job was all about observation. In every other way he seemed ordinary-balding, overweight, his mustache streaked with the first hints of gray.

“Are you Detective Queenan?” said Gabriel.

The man nodded. “You must be Agent Dean.”

“And I’m Detective Rizzoli,” said Jane.

Queenan frowned at her. “ Boston PD?”

“Homicide unit,” she said.

“Homicide? Aren’t you folks kind of jumping the gun here? We don’t know that any crime’s been committed.”