Chapter Thirteen
Liam searched for Nina in the crowd, but with so many people packed along the parade route, it was impossible to find her.
He gave up and turned to watch the parade from his position near the bottom of the lift.
SkyCrest had gone all out for this entertainment.
The costumed skiers were beautifully choreographed, and the band managed to somehow march on skis.
Then he became aware of a commotion across the way, farther up the slopes.
The crowd was spilling onto the parade route, forcing the participants to veer around them.
Ski patrol, dressed in red jackets, urged people back, even as they worked their way up the slope toward the disturbance.
Then the wail of an ambulance sounded above the cacophony of horns and voices.
“What’s going on?” Liam asked, but he was answered only by shaking heads and puzzled looks.
He fought his way uphill, until he reached Raz. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“Nothing you need to worry about, sir,” Raz said, not really looking at him. “Just move back and give us some room to work.”
“Raz, it’s me, Liam,” he said. “Just tell me if Nina is all right.”
Raz turned toward him, her eyes wide. “Oh, Liam,” she said. “Nina’s been stabbed.”
“Stabbed?” He repeated the word, as if he could make it mean something different. He looked up the slope. “Where is she?”
“Up there somewhere. Lily and some of the others are with her. And the ambulance should be here soon.”
He didn’t wait to hear more, but vaulted up the hill, trying to run in the snow while avoiding the still-descending parade participants. People shouted at him to get out of the way, but he ignored them.
He pushed into the cluster of red jackets gathered around someone on the ground and found Nina, face pale as the snow she lay on. Lily and a blond man Liam didn’t recognize were pressing their jackets against Nina’s side, but the snow around her was stained crimson.
“What happened?” Liam demanded.
“Who are you?” the blond man countered.
“This is Liam. Nina’s…friend,” Lily said. “Someone cut Nina,” she told him. “With a knife or maybe a razor.”
“Her clothes were slashed,” the blond said. “I don’t know how deep the wound is. We’re just trying to stop the bleeding and let the paramedics take care of her when they get here.”
Liam moved around them until he could kneel beside Nina’s head. He cradled her face in his hands. “Nina, can you hear me?”
Her eyes fluttered and she looked up at him, her gaze clouded. “What happened?” she whispered.
“Someone cut you. But you’re going to be all right.”
“A man. In black clothes. He shoved me and then…” Her voice trailed away.
“It’s okay,” Liam said. “Save your strength.” The man had to be Aaron Nicholson. Rage surged through him, battling with fear.
“Paramedics. Let us through.”
The crowd parted to admit two uniformed paramedics, a man and a woman, carrying medical kits. They knelt beside Nina and listened as Scott explained what had happened.
“Somebody get a snowmobile with a sled up here ASAP,” commanded a man’s voice from the microphone on Lily’s shoulder. “We’ll need to transport Nina to the ambulance.”
Raz and another patroller left. Liam remained with Nina, cradling her head as the paramedics peeled back the bloody clothing.
“The cut is about an inch deep,” one of them, a man with short, graying hair and a square jaw, said.
“Her clothing probably kept him from getting any deeper. Probably a really sharp knife or a box cutter or something like that. It’s a clean cut, not jagged.
We’ll keep the bleeding stopped and get her to the hospital, where they can sew her up and check for any other damage. ”
Raz and Brian arrived with the snowmobile, and Lily, Scott and Renee gently lifted Nina into the sled. She was awake now, not speaking, but watching them. Liam squeezed her hand and then they carried her away.
By this time, the parade had ended. The participants had led much of the crowd away, toward the plaza where the band now played.
As the ambulance was leaving, the sheriff arrived.
Liam headed straight toward him. “If you had taken the threats against her seriously, this wouldn’t have happened,” he said.
“Did you see what happened?” the sheriff asked.
“No. I wasn’t with her. I was down near the bottom of the run.”
“Then I don’t have time to talk to you.” He shoved past Liam and positioned himself on the ski run, in front of the crowd. “Did anyone see what happened?” he shouted.
“We were standing beside her.” A young man in a green helmet and baggy gray snow pants and a woman in a silver snowsuit stepped forward.
Liam moved closer, straining to hear their conversation. “This guy shoved my girlfriend right over,” the man said. “I was ready to punch him, but by the time I’d helped her up, he was already moving away. I mean, he was booking it out of there, shoving people aside.”
“What did he look like?” the sheriff asked.
“He had on a mask,” the woman said. “One of those Mardi Gras masks, with lots of feathers and sequins.”
“It had a bird’s beak,” the man said. “Like this big old beak sticking out in front.” He held his hand out six inches from his face. “You couldn’t see his face at all.”
“What else was he wearing?” the sheriff asked.
“Just a black jacket,” the woman said. “Maybe black pants?”
“Was he holding anything? A knife or a box cutter?”
They both shook their heads.
“Did you see which way he headed?” the sheriff asked.
“No, sorry. We were watching the parade, until we heard that patroller cry out and then she collapsed.”
The sheriff and his deputies spread out among the crowd, asking everyone what they had seen. Liam moved away. He needed to get to the hospital. Wherever Nicholson was right now, Liam was sure he was far from the plaza. Back to wherever he’d been hiding for the past week.
* * *
Nina raised the head of her hospital bed and looked toward the window, which afforded a view of a few inches of blue sky. She wasn’t in any pain—the medication they had given her had seen to that—but she was unsettled and uncomfortable.
Someone knocked on her door. “Come in,” she called.
Liam entered. The sight of him flooded her with relief. Her phone had disappeared, along with all her personal belongings, and until someone at the hospital located them, she was unable to contact anyone.
He moved to the side of the bed and kissed her cheek. “How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Annoyed. Angry at Nicholson for doing this, and at myself for not catching him,” she said.
“No one saw this coming,” he said. “Even the people right next to you. Are you sure you’re okay? Do you know how long they’re keeping you here?”
“Just overnight, for observation. I have a bunch of stitches and I’m sore, but nothing important was damaged.”
His expression hardened, dark eyes cold with anger, jaw tight. “I told the sheriff if he had listened to you and done anything, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“He came here and questioned me. I really couldn’t tell him much. I didn’t get a look at the person who stabbed me.” She frowned. “He said some people said the man who attacked me was wearing a feathered mask, with a bird’s beak. Why don’t I remember that?”
“Maybe because you saw him when he was running away.” He patted her arm. “We’re going to get to the bottom of this.”
“Liam!”
“What’s wrong?” The sharpness of her voice startled him.
“I saw Derek today, before the parade. He told me you questioned him the other day. That you practically accused him of stalking me.”
“You saw him today? Before you were stabbed? What was he wearing?”
“Derek didn’t stab me,” she said.
“How do you know, if he was there right before you were stabbed?”
“He said he was headed to open the gyro truck. He couldn’t be both places at once.”
“That’s something that’s easy enough to check,” Liam said.
“No!” She took a deep breath, trying for calm. “It’s not your place to check up on him,” she said. “Leave that to the sheriff.”
“The sheriff isn’t taking this seriously.”
“Liam.” She spoke more gently and reached for him. He took her hand. “You’re my friend,” she said. “I appreciate all you’re doing, but you can help me most by being here with me, not by assuming everyone is out to get me.”
His chin had a stubborn set to it, and she sensed he wanted to argue, but before he could say anything, another knock sounded at the door.
After a beat, Doug and Marlena entered the room.
Doug’s leather coat had a fur collar, while Marlena was swathed in knee-length silver fox.
“We came to see how you’re doing, Nina dear,” Marlena said as she swept past Liam and stood by the hospital bed.
“I’m going to be fine,” Nina said. “Where are you two headed, all dressed up?”
“Oh, we’re on our way to a fundraiser for the arts association,” Marlena said.
“I just wanted to tell you not to worry about anything,” Doug said.
“I’ll be back at work next week,” Nina said. “The doctor said there shouldn’t be any problem.”
Doug and Marlena exchanged glances. “You don’t have to concern yourself with that,” Marlena said.
“Starting today, you’re officially on leave of absence,” Doug said. “It’s for your own protection. Until your assailant is caught, it’s safer for everyone involved.”
“But ski patrol is already shorthanded,” she protested. “How will they manage if they lose me, too?”
“We’re going to handle it,” Doug said. “No arguments.” He turned to Marlena. “We’d better go or we’ll be late.”
She patted Nina’s shoulder, then followed Doug out of the room. When the door closed, Nina swore. “He doesn’t care two cents about me,” she said. “All he cares about is bad publicity for SkyCrest.”
“You may be right,” Liam said.
She blew out a breath. “Doug hasn’t heard the last of me, that’s for sure. But for now, all I can do is get past this and back on my feet.”
Liam sat on the side of the bed and took her hand. “Did the sheriff say anything about what he’s been doing to find Nicholson?”
“He said he found the mask people described seeing on the man who attacked me. It was lying on the ground near a trash can. At least, they think it’s the same mask.
It could just be a similar one. They’re circulating Nicholson’s photograph, to try to find where he’s staying.
Though I’m still not sure the sheriff is convinced Nicholson is responsible. ”
“Could it be someone else?” Liam asked.
“Do you mean could it be Derek?”
“Derek. Or someone else we haven’t thought of.”
“I supposed anything is possible, but could I be unlucky enough to be targeted by two different men who use the exact same methods? That doesn’t seem very likely.”
“Derek knew about your previous stalking,” Liam said. “He could have read about the notes Nicholson sent you and copied them. Anyone could.”
She closed her eyes. “I hate to think that, but you’re right. I’ll talk to the sheriff. But this still feels like Nicholson to me.” She couldn’t explain the sensation, of having lived through all of this before.
Liam sat on the side of the bed, facing her. “I’ve been trying to think of some way to trap the stalker. We need to lure him into a situation where we would be waiting for him.”
“He wants me,” she said. “If we could make him think he could have me…”
“No! I’m not going to put you in any danger.”
“If you were there—with other people, maybe even law enforcement—you could protect me.” But she couldn’t keep the doubt and fear from her voice.
“I’m talking about a situation where Nicholson—or whoever—thinks you’re there, but you’re not,” he said. “Something where you’d be guaranteed to be safe.”
“Yeah, that sounds better to me, too,” she said. “But we don’t know how to contact him. We don’t know where he’s staying or what he’s thinking. How do you lure someone like that?”
“If both of us work on the problem together, maybe we can come up with something,” he said.
“At least it would feel like I was doing something to defend myself,” she said. “Instead of lying here, waiting for him to strike again.” She bit her lower lip. “Do you know one of the worst things about not being able to go to work every day?”
“What is that?”
“I’m stuck at home. He’ll find out I’m there, I’m sure. That would probably be a tempting enough target for him.”
“You’re not going to be alone,” Liam said. “I’m going to be there with you.”
“You can’t guard me twenty-four hours a day,” she said. “You have a life.”
“I have some time off built into my schedule,” he said. “And we won’t have to be this vigilant forever. Just until this person is stopped.”
She wanted to believe that her tormentor could be captured and sent back to jail, but each time he approached her, he seemed to grow bolder.
Today’s attack could have killed her, though if he had wanted her to die, why not stab her in the back or slash her throat?
He seemed to be playing a high-stakes game of chicken, seeing how much closer he could come to her each time.
But what did he hope to accomplish in the end?
She didn’t like to ponder the answer too closely.
She only wanted to find a way to prevent him from achieving that goal.