Chapter 7 #2
She sighed as she pulled onto the two-lane highway that bypassed the busiest parts of Shelby and was far more scenic.
She turned on her headlights as she entered a stretch of road that was shaded on both sides by tall pines.
The road grew curvier as it passed through the foothills of the nearby mountain range, and she tapped her brakes to slow the car before navigating an especially tight turn.
The brake pedal felt mushy to her, giving little resistance, and the car didn’t slow nearly as much as it should have.
Her pulse spiked as the rental car took the curve too fast, and she drifted into the oncoming traffic lane.
Trembling with the rush of adrenaline, Noelle stepped on the brakes again, heard a squealing sound from under the hood.
She gasped as the pedal went all the way to the floor without the car slowing.
Noelle’s breath came in short, shallow pants as she grasped the danger she was in, speeding around mountainous curves and down hills without any way to stop or slow the car.
Her hands sweated inside her gloves as she squeezed the steering wheel tighter.
She continued to stomp the brakes, despite the lack of response.
The twin beams of her headlamps lit only a few dozen feet in front of her, giving her little warning of what turns or obstacles lay ahead.
Could she use her parking brake to slow the car?
Grasping the stick lever of the emergency brake, she pulled it up slowly.
Her efforts earned her a grinding noise and a hot smell, but the rental car did seem to be slowing.
She’d just released a sigh of relief when an elk doe stepped into the road from the shadowy shoulder.
With a shriek of surprise and dread, Noelle cut the wheel hard to the right, and the rental car bumped off the road.
In quick succession, the headlights illuminated dirty snow drifts, weeds and a thatch of seedlings before a large pine trunk loomed before her.
Instinctively, she braced her arms against the steering wheel.
The airbag exploded, dousing her with powder as it smacked her in the face and chest.
For several seconds, Noelle only sat in stunned silence.
She took a slow and careful inventory of her physical condition, her unexpected situation and her isolated location.
She coughed as her frantic breathing led her to choke on the fine dust from the airbag.
In her ears, she heard the thumping of her heartbeat.
Her nose ached, but when she felt the length of it, she didn’t think it was broken.
She’d bitten her tongue, though, she realized, tasting the metallic flavor of blood.
The rental car was going nowhere without a tow truck, and she gritted her teeth in anger for the rental company having loaned her a faulty vehicle.
She added Aunt Jean to the list for her grievances.
If Jean hadn’t messed with her funeral plans, she wouldn’t have been out on this dark road in the first place.
While she was at it, she grumbled mentally over the Luddite funeral home that didn’t have the means to sign paperwork electronically.
Then tears pricked her eyes, and she wallowed for a moment in pity.
She felt so alone. Why had she bothered to come to Alaska at all?
Did she really think that Allison would have gone to this much trouble had their situations been reversed?
If Noelle had been murdered, Allison likely wouldn’t have even attended her sister’s funeral.
The relationship had always been lopsided that way.
Noelle had tried to love her sister, but only received lukewarm sentiment in return.
Only Eli had ever matched her depth of emotion…
A stinging pang slashed through her chest, and she quickly shut down that line of thought.
Wiping her face with trembling hands, she reached for her purse, which had landed on the floor of the passenger side.
She fumbled out her cell phone, praying she had reception here. And groaned when she found she didn’t.
Fortunately, another car came along ten minutes later and picked her up. She rode with the middle-aged woman and her three children back into the business district of town where, after Noelle refused to go to the ER as a precaution, the woman dropped her off at the car rental office.
The car rental company was in the process of closing for the day, but when they learned what happened to Noelle, the manager stayed late to help her.
He set her up with an upgraded replacement vehicle at no charge and dispatched a tow truck to recover the wrecked sedan, all while repeatedly apologizing and asking after her health.
The rental manager was so obsequious, Noelle grew awkward with his fawning.
“I can’t imagine how this happened,” he said, handing her the paperwork for the new vehicle.
“We are meticulous in inspecting every vehicle and staying up to date on all maintenance. Our mechanic checks all of the cars routinely. He’s not sloppy.
I just don’t understand. I’m so sorry! Can I get you anything else? Some water or coffee?”
“Just the replacement car, please. I’m not injured. Only rattled, and I want to get home and soak in a hot bath.” Her muscles would be plenty stiff tomorrow she was sure, hot soak or not.
“Of course.” He took the keys from a hook on the wall and handed them to her. “The white Chrysler out front.”
Noelle accepted the keys and headed for the door, pausing when a thought came to her. “When your mechanic has the wrecked car back and has determined why the brakes failed, will you call me with his diagnosis?”
The manager hesitated a moment before nodding. “Yes, ma’am. I will.”
Noelle sat in the front seat of the new vehicle, familiarizing herself with all the knobs, screens and switches to operate the car. She pulled out her phone to call the funeral home and tell the director she would not be able to make it tonight but would try again first thing in the morning.
She debated calling Eli to tell him what had happened but discarded the idea.
He was already loaded with responsibilities and worries due to the serial killer case.
Since she was, except for a sore nose and some muscle aches, no worse for the wear, she would spare him the news.
As it was, she had to tell him about the strange inconsistencies she was uncovering in his case files. One bad news bomb was enough.
Once she’d driven back to the hostel, she filled her bathtub with the hottest water she could stand and climbed in to soak.
She tried to relax, to regroup, but the terrifying moments before the car crashed left her edgy.
The knowledge her aunt was undermining her with Allison’s final arrangements and the disturbing results of her initial analysis of the Fiancée Killer files paraded through her brain, leaving her more tense and achy than before the bath.
She found much the same that night when, even after taking an over-the-counter pain medicine for her body aches, she lay awake and restless for hours.
Finally, fed up with her insomnia, Noelle got up and crept back to the makeshift desk where she’d left her laptop.
If she was awake, she might as well work.
Maybe she’d figure out why her results were so skewed.
Before she alerted Eli to the strange results she’d gotten in her first run of the data, she wanted to double-check her work, try new calculations and confirm everything.
If she was going to turn his investigation upside down, she darn well wanted to be sure of her facts.
Two days later, Eli was deep in the weeds of recordkeeping and witness reports when his cell phone rang. He rubbed both eyes with the heel of his hands, attempting to ease the fatigue of tedium before he answered. His pulse jumped when he saw Noelle’s number.
“Have you got something for me?” he asked without preamble.
After a beat of silence that felt heavy, Noelle said, “Do you think I could come by your house for a while?”
He detected a strange quality to her voice. Was this a booty call? His blood heated at the thought, and he had to consciously calm himself. “I can’t right now, Noelle. I’m at work until at least five.”
“I’m aware. But this is…important. Very important.”
The emphasis she put on the words rang alarm bells. He started saving files on his computer and closing up things at his desk for the day. “All right then. I’ll meet you there as soon as I can.”
He was already shoving back his desk chair by the time he disconnected. “I’m going out,” he called to Asher. “Not sure if I’ll be back tonight.”
“What’s up? Should I come with you?” Asher asked.
Eli waved him off. “No. I don’t think so, but I’ll ring if it turns out I need backup.”
“Backup?” Scott asked, strolling in with a cup of coffee in one hand and a file in his other. “What’s happened? Another body?”
Eli brushed past the forensics specialist and shook his head. “No. Personal business.”
As he pulled on his coat and hurried out of the office, he heard Scott ask, “What sort of personal business requires your backup?”
“I don’t know,” Asher said, “and mind your own.”
A weak winter sun peeked through the clouds as Eli rushed to his Jeep. At 3:30 in the afternoon, the sun was already low in the sky, approaching sunset. The long nights and cold winds from the bay added a gloom to the season that wouldn’t release its hold until spring.
Traffic was light, and he made his way home in record time. His mind taunted him with all manner of disaster as he drove—from plumbing backups at her hostel to a hostile visit from her aunt to the Fiancée Killer having detected her work on the case and tracked her down.
By the time he arrived at his house, she was already in his driveway.
His heart drummed double time as he climbed out and rushed to her.
Taking her by both arms, he drew her against his chest, thankful she seemed physically unharmed.
She grunted as he hugged her, and he tried not to let her odd response to his embrace bug him.
Was all physical contact between them off the table?
He’d thought they were reconnecting at least as friends.
A large messenger bag slid from her shoulder, and she backed away from him and grabbed the strap before the bag could hit the ground.
“Thanks for coming so quickly,” she said, avoiding his eyes. She seemed unhurried, stiff as they moved inside.
“Of course I came. You said there was an emergency.”
Noelle wrinkled her nose, and he noticed dark smudges like bruises under her eyes. “No, I didn’t. I said it was important.”
“But you sounded—” He rubbed his temple and tried again. “Just…tell me what’s wrong.”
“I’d rather show you.” She crooked a finger and strolled to his kitchen table.
She opened the messenger bag and pulled out her laptop and a few paper files.
He offered her a drink while she set up her makeshift desk, but she declined.
She woke her laptop and clicked through a series of screens with charts, maps, spreadsheets and graphs.
“I’ve spent the last three days inputting all the information in the files you gave me on the Fiancée Killer crime scenes and the condition of the women’s bodies. ”
“Okay. And?”
“And it doesn’t add up.”
He flashed a wry grin. “I could have told you that. If it added up, we’d have found our killer and arrested him by now.”
She shook her head and angled a stern look at him. “What I mean is, the information in the files is…wrong.”