Baxter and Tuffy greeted me enthusiastically at the door and bounded out to meet me. Tuffy stopped in mid jump when he realized I wasn’t Seth. Before I had a chance to snap a leash on him, Baxter ran through the snow flinging the fluffy stuff over his head. Tuffy stayed much closer to me, did his business and returned to the doorway, where he sat shivering.
I clapped my hands and called to Baxter. I saw him dive into a snowbank, tail wagging.
“Come on, boy! Let’s have a treat!”
At the word “treat,” he pulled his head out of the snow and whirled in my direction. He had something in his mouth. He ran at me, full force, and I braced myself for impact. I didn’t want him racing through the cottage covered in snow, plus I had to get whatever he had found away from him. I just hoped it wasn’t anything dead.
Rather than run into me, he stopped just in front of the door and dropped his prize at my feet. I bent to pick it up, my brain not willing to believe what my eyes were telling me and not wanting to make the connections it was making.
Vi’s bright pink and purple striped mitten sat on the ground. Vi adored these mittens; they were the first pair she had managed to make that fit humans and not some alien life form and she had been wildly proud of them. She’d made others over the years that were much better than this pair, but she always returned to these. She’d used yarn that had belonged to my grandmother and said they reminded her of her mother’s love of bright colors and winter walks.
I knew I wouldn’t find Vi in the cottage. Alarm bells sounded in my brain. I had to find her, and fast. The snow fell in big heavy flakes and the temperature had been dropping throughout the afternoon. I had worried about Mac and Kirk venturing out in this new storm and now Vi was out in it as well.
Thinking about Vi’s love of these mittens had my brain spinning in other directions. Sometimes the things we work so hard to make or to preserve take on a life of their own. Protecting the past can become a mission, or an obsession. I wondered what a person would do to protect his or her heritage, even from one’s own family. I thought about the list we had found in the box.
I gave the dogs their promised treat and shut them back in the cottage. I followed Baxter’s paw prints to the place where he had found the mitten, dreading what I might find. But there was nothing. Just a trampled snowdrift.
I pulled the hood up against the wind and realized Seth had stuffed his ridiculous fur-lined deerstalker hat in the hood. I put it on and rethought my position on the hat. It was soft and warm and my ears thanked me. I put Vi’s glove on my left hand and stuffed my other hand in the coat pocket. I felt Seth’s penknife and a pack of gum.
I surveyed the landscape, looking for footprints, but the snow and the wind had smoothed everything except the area Baxter had just stepped on. Some slight depressions headed into the woods. Clutching the knife in my pocket, I followed the only lead I had.
I was fairly certain they were footprints and as I got to the edge of the trees, the prints became more clear. There was more than one set. They walked into the woods where the land sloped down and away from the castle. The shed where Clarissa’s body was stored sat at the top of the slope and the prints curved around behind it. I knew I was now lost to view from the hotel.
I called Vi’s name every few steps but there was no response. Finally, I heard a weak “help” off to my left. I turned and followed the sound. I spotted the mate to the mitten in another snowdrift, but this one moved when I approached.
39
I rushed to Vi’s side and brushed the snow off of her.
“Vi! Are you hurt?”
Her whole body was covered with snow like someone buried in sand on the beach.
She didn’t answer and I slid my arm under her head to try to get her to sit up. I heard a muffled snap behind me and turned just in time to see a large tree branch swing toward my head.
I ducked and the branch glanced off my left temple. If I hadn’t been wearing Seth’s hat and hood, I would certainly have been seeing stars. As it was, I fell on top of Vi.
I quickly got up and moved away from Vi. If there was a branch-wielding lunatic in the woods, I didn’t want Vi caught in the cross swings. I dodged to the left and turned just in time to see the branch swing again. I spun toward it and grabbed it as it whistled past. The person at the other end was thrown off balance and we both fell to the ground. The assailant was bundled up like a Michelin man and wore a ski mask.
I rolled onto the branch to keep my attacker from using it again, but before I could turn, he or she was on top of me, trying to bury my face in the snow. I tried to fight but I couldn’t get a grip on the slippery coat.
The snow burned my face, it was so cold. I felt her—and I knew it was a woman now—pushing my head into the ground and pulling on my scarf at the same time. She thought she could strangle me with my own scarf. I reached over my head and tried to grab any body part I could. I came away with the ski mask but didn’t slow the efforts of the maniac trying to choke me.
I remembered Seth’s knife and fought to get my hand into the pocket. I momentarily felt the scarf tighten as I only held it with one hand. I barely felt the coldness on my face anymore and it was hard to breathe. The snow was thick—a moment of fear flashed through me. Could a person suffocate in snow? I didn’t want to find out. Flicking the knife open, I reached behind and jammed it into what I hoped was a leg. The blade was too short to penetrate very far past a heavy coat, but it would go through the thin pants I had felt while grappling with my attacker.
A satisfying howl resulted when I made contact. I felt her grip loosen and she rolled off of me. Even before I turned I was certain I would see Linda.
She scrabbled away from me, clutching her thigh where I had stabbed her. I was still worried about getting Vi to safety and trying to figure out how to subdue Linda and drag Vi to the hotel when I heard huffing and snow-crunching noises.
“What’s going on back here?” Wally rounded the corner of the shed. His eyes grew large when he took in the scene of me holding a short Boy Scout knife and looming over a moaning Linda.
“Wally, thank goodness,” I said.
He stood straighter and looked at me warily. “What’s going on?” He took a step back.
“Linda just tried to kill me and Vi.” I tilted my head toward where she lay under the snow. “Vi needs to get back to the hotel.”
“She’s lying, Wallace!” Linda said. “She’s the one with the knife.”
Wally hesitated and looked at me. I showed him the Boy Scout knife, folded it, and tossed it to him. “Vi really needs help, Wally.” I pointed to where she lay, still and silent.
Wally rushed to Vi’s side and finished brushing her off. “She’s really cold,” he said. “Did she pass out?”
“I’m not sure how Linda got her out here, but we need to move Vi inside quickly,” I said.
“Right, of course,” Wally said.
He turned to Vi and picked her up. Since she couldn’t weigh more than one hundred pounds, I figured he staggered under the weight of her coat and all those sweaters. He took a few unstable steps and then put her feet down in the snow. He put his hands under her arms and dragged her backward toward the hotel.
Linda whimpered quietly as I hauled her to her feet. I kept a firm hand on Linda as she hobbled toward the hotel, making a much bigger show of her injured leg than I thought necessary.
It was a noisy procession with Wally huffing and puffing and Linda gasping each time she took a step.
“How did you know we were out here?” I asked Wally.
“I was looking out the window from one of the upstairs hallways to see how much snow was piling up.” He stopped dragging Vi so he could catch his breath and talk. “I saw Mrs. Garrett heading in this direction. She never ventures into the woods in the winter if she can help it, so I came out to see what was going on.”