Maggie K. Black - Christmas Blackout

Yet here, in an instant, he’d been reminded of just how easily everything could be taken away again.

Not that that he’d ever forgotten.

A soft whimper came from the passenger seat.

“I’m sorry, Harry.” Benjamin slid one hand into the dog’s thick fur. He scratched the young black-and-white husky on the back of the neck, just where the seat belt clipped into his safety harness. “Don’t worry. We’re almost there. Piper’s bed-and-breakfast is only a few minutes away.”

I hope.

He eased the truck back onto the road and kept driving. He’d met Piper Lawrence during the summer, when the spunky brunette had walked into his sports shop. Truth be told, they’d barely kept in touch since then and he didn’t know her all that well. But he knew she had a bed-and-breakfast, on a huge property on the edge of Lake Erie. While Harry was a pretty good dog he sure wasn’t suited for life on a sailboat, so he’d asked Piper if she’d be interested in giving him a new permanent home. She’d said yes.

But the weather forecast was pretty much as bad as the holidays could be. His deep blue eyes glanced at the console clock. It was quarter to four. It was a seven-hour drive from here back to his sister’s place on Manitoulin Island, the home he had shared with her. At this rate, he’d be driving well into the night.

“See, dog, Meg and Jack are getting married on Christmas Eve, which is the day after tomorrow.” Maybe talking out loud would calm both the husky and himself. “Sounds like your Christmas will be exciting, too. Our friend Piper is hosting a huge Christmas Eve thing.”

Our friend Piper. He scratched his trim brown beard. Why did it feel weird to call Piper Lawrence a “friend”? But he couldn’t think of a better term to call her. The second to last week of August, he’d just looked up over the counter one day and saw Piper there in the doorway. A mess of tumbling dark hair, plaid shirt worn over jean shorts, sparkling eyes behind huge, round glasses. The dog had charged her instantly, tail wagging. Puppy love at first sight.

She’d had just four days on the island and only been there to escort her aunt. But there’d been this glint in her eyes that told him she could use an adventure. So, he’d done his best to find her one. Together they’d gone hiking, boating, parasailing and waterskiing. Sure seemed like a friendship. Good one, too. But then, when they’d gone out for dinner her last night on the island, somehow everything had gone from comfortable to awkward between them, and he still didn’t know why.

“But when it was time to find you a new home, she was the first one I emailed.” Benjamin ran one hand through Harry’s fur. “Living all by herself, taking care of a bunch of strangers, Piper could use a guard dog, I figured.”

He dialed her on his cell phone, which was mounted on the dashboard. The hands-free earpiece was clipped to the corner of his tuque.

“Hello?” Piper’s voice filled the car.

Something about her voice always reminded him of salted caramel. Sweet and light on the surface, yet down-to-earth and gritty at the same time.

“Hey. It’s me. Benjamin. I’m sorry. I’m running a bit late.”

“A bit? I expected you hours ago.” Her tone was somewhere between frustrated and worried. Whatever the tension was between them, this probably wouldn’t help.

“Yeah, I’m really sorry. Had a lot of goodbyes to get through and you’re my last stop—”

“Hang on. The signal’s patchy. I’m just carrying some Christmas decorations down to the barn. I was going to wait until after you’d left. But I didn’t expect you to be so late and now the storm is getting worse.” There was the crunch of footsteps. He heard the sound of a door creaking and the dull sound of stomping. “Now when—”

A loud bang shook the air.

He heard the clatter of her cell phone hitting the floor.

Then the muffled sound of someone screaming.

“Piper? Piper! Hey? You okay?”

The phone went dead.

A shiver shot down his spine. He hit Redial. The call didn’t go through.

The dog growled.

“Don’t worry. She probably just got startled by something and dropped her phone.”

He hoped. He prayed. Eighteen months ago, a serial killer had targeted his sister, Meg. It’s what had brought her and her fiancé, Jack, together. Ever since, every unexplained footstep had sounded just a little more ominous.

Benjamin’s headlights flickered over a wooden sign for The Downs Bed-and-Breakfast. The house lay straight ahead. A smaller sign advertised Christmas Eve at The Downs and Barn. He followed the arrow and pulled a sharp right and found himself driving down a slope toward the barn where he’d find Piper. “See, we’re here.”

The truck jolted over uneven ground. The twisting lane dipped even steeper. Wet snow pelted vertically across the windshield like Impressionistic paint strokes. When the trees parted, he spotted a large wooden barn at the bottom of the hill. The frozen surface of Lake Erie spread out behind it. He hit the brakes but the truck kept inching forward slowly. The hill was in desperate need of both plowing and sanding. Even with snow tires it might’ve been better to wait for Piper at the house.

He tried the phone one more time. Still, no answer.

Below, the barn door opened and someone walked out. Didn’t look like Piper. No, this was a big, wide, grizzly bear of a man. The man was dragging something behind him. He hoisted it onto his shoulders, took a few shaky steps across the snow and then dropped it.

Not it. Her .

The man was dragging a woman’s body out onto the lake.

Benjamin’s heart stopped cold.

She started thrashing, flailing and kicking out against her attacker.

Piper!

Piper was fighting for her life down on that ice.

And he was too far away to save her.

* * *

Ice smacked hard against Piper Lawrence’s body, jolting her into consciousness. She opened her eyes but couldn’t see anything. She tried to turn her head and felt the rough sting of burlap on her cheek. Her glasses were gone. Someone had pulled a feed sack over her head. She tried to scream but the string around her neck choked the air in her throat. Her hands were tied together in front of her at the wrists by the very same string now looped around her neck. She could barely move her arms without choking.

Lord, please save me.

A hand grabbed her ankle, pulling her backward. She twisted around, flailing from one side to the other as she tried to wrench her leg from his grasp. He laughed. It was an ugly sound that filled her veins with dread. She kicked back hard and made contact. The man swore and let go.

She dragged herself to her feet. She was running blind. Desperately her fingers pulled at the string around her neck as freezing rain smacked her body.

Disjointed memories filtered through her fear like pieces of a nightmare. She’d walked into the barn carrying a box of decorations. She’d been talking to Benjamin on the phone. Someone in a ski mask had rushed her in the darkness and thrown her against the wall. It was all a blank after that, until the moment he’d dropped her in the snow.

Please, Lord. Help Benjamin realize something’s wrong and come looking for me. He’s the only person who even knows I’m here.

She could hear her attacker behind her, muttering curses and gasping for breath. She stumbled up the snowbank and struggled to run, but the two feet of snow was coated in half an inch of ice. She managed to take three steps on the slippery surface before her foot plunged into snow up to her knee. She yanked her leg back and lost her boot in the snow. No! She dropped to her hands and knees, and dug for her boot. Her fingers brushed the cuff. She tugged it out and put it back on.