Page 31

“ O kay, so we just drive up this road, and the cabin is on a side road to the left?” Andy asked, determined to catch the perps this time and keep them in custody until they were incarcerated.

“I sure hope so. It was hard to tell when the conditions were snowy. But I think so.” Monica sounded like she hated to admit she’d gotten lost in the blizzard. And they’d only gotten lucky that they had found the cabin where Denny and Helen had been.

As far as he was concerned, she’d made the best move. “Here’s a drive. Let’s take it.”

He drove down the driveway, but when he came to the end, the property was just cleared off, like someone had planned to build a cabin but hadn’t started.

He turned around, returned to the main road, and drove in the direction they figured the cabin had to be again. The next driveway they found had fresh tire marks in the snow.

Monica’s heart rate increased. “This could be it.”

“We can’t call for backup.” Andy’s heart rate was surging, too. However, he realized it could just be someone else’s cabin. But then he recognized Eloise’s green Nissan Rogue.

“No. But if we’re lucky, it will be just the two of them. I’m sure Denny will be the only one we’ll have issues with. If Eloise is like how she has been the last two times we’ve seen her, she’s still wasted.”

He drove slowly down the drive but out of view of the cabin. He would block the drive so that Eloise’s car couldn’t get past them without ending up down the embankment and in the trees. After that, he and Monica needed to sneak in on foot through the forest.

“Are you ready?” He put on his emergency brake.

“I sure am.”

They got out of the car and carefully closed the doors so they wouldn’t make too much noise. The sound shouldn't reach the occupants because they were so far from the cabin unless they were outside getting firewood, but they wanted to take precautions.

This time, Andy made the path through the deep snow in the woods while Monica followed his trail. He was ready to take the two down, though he suspected Eloise didn’t have much to do with anything. It was likely that she was more of a tag-along.

Still, if they could interview her, she might be able to tell them more of the story.

Smoke curled out of the two chimneys of the square, two-story log cabin.

An overstory of alder and an understory of spruce and hemlock surrounded the place.

A large front deck wrapped around the cabin.

Lights were on in both the first and second-floor rooms. The second story also had a large balcony across the approximately twenty-foot front of the cabin.

The green metal roof covered the upstairs balcony, and the balcony floor partially covered the first-floor deck.

Both were cleared of snow, indicating the occupants had to have removed it after the blizzard.

The front of the cabin had a window on either side of the windowed door on both floors.

On the east side of the cabin, there were no windows.

“Let’s navigate through the forest over there.” Monica pointed in the direction.

Eloise’s car was parked next to the side of the building.

“We need to disable their car.” Andy figured that Eloise and Denny wouldn’t be able to escape if he and Monica accidentally alerted them before they had them in custody.

Even though he parked his car to block the drive, he still didn’t trust that they wouldn’t try to use her vehicle to shove his off the driveway.

Monica brought out a retractable knife and slashed the passenger’s side tires while he took care of the other tires.

They moved through the deep snow to the back side of the cabin.

It had a door featuring a window and windows on each side of the door, and there was another deck back there and up above, but the snow hadn’t been cleaned off.

They climbed onto the deck and then, staying low, crept to the first of the windows.

They paused, and then Andy looked first through the frosty window.

He ducked down again. “A fire is in the fireplace, but I don’t see anyone in the living area.

A kitchen is located to the east. I didn’t see anyone in the living area or kitchen.

Stairs are to the west, and there’s a balcony, probably to a bedroom or two. ”

Monica moved through the dense snow to the door and tried it. It was locked. “Have you got your handy door opener?”

“Always.” He joined her, removed his lockpick, and carefully unlocked the door. He twisted the doorknob, peeked inside, and listened. “Voices upstairs.”

“Let’s go.”

He walked into the house, his boots covered in snow, tracking it into the house. He shouldn’t have been concerned about it when he was on a mission, but he wished he could have kicked off the snow before he entered the house—just a natural reaction to not wanting to make water puddles on the floor.

On the other hand, Monica tracked in just as much snow but didn’t seem bothered by it as she pulled out her gun, ready for action.

Now, it was time to move up more wooden stairs, hoping they wouldn’t creak and warn Denny and Eloise that they were here. Well, at least Andy hoped he didn’t alert them this time.

Like before, Monica was quiet as she moved up the stairs. They didn’t hear anything on the second floor. No talking, no movement, nothing.

He wondered if they were asleep. They couldn’t have been alerted that they were here. Hell, if Denny and Eloise climbed off the balcony, found her car disabled, and saw his car down the road…

He could imagine them breaking into his car, possibly hot-wiring it and taking off, leaving Monica and him stranded!

He ran ahead of Monica to the door and shoved it open. No one was in the bed. Hell. He rushed into the bedroom and looked out the glass door at the deck. There were no footprints.

Monica dashed to the bathroom door and signaled to him that someone was in there.

She opened the door, and Denny rushed her, naked as the day he came into the world and was covered in soap and water. He quickly tackled her for her gun, throwing her back onto the slippery tile floor. The shower was still on, and the bathroom was steamy from the hot water.

Andy was on top of Denny instantly, but he was wet and soapy, and getting hold of him was nearly impossible.

Andy got him in a neck hold finally and yanked him off Monica.

She quickly pulled her handcuffs out and slapped them on one of his wrists.

Then Andy helped her to get the cuff on the other wrist and locked them in place.

“Hey, you can’t leave me here like this!” Denny said.

They dragged him out of the bathroom onto the wooden bedroom floor.

Monica quickly headed for the bathroom again while Andy joined her. “Out of the shower now!” Monica shouted to Eloise, who was in the shower stall.

The glass was fogged up, and it was as if she could hide in there until they left.

“What are you doing here! Shit! Give me a towel, why don’t you? Damn pigs.”

“When you get out. Turn off the shower now.”

Instead of turning off the shower, Eloise opened the door and sprayed Monica with the shower hose. The water was steaming hot, and Andy yanked Monica out of the bathroom to keep her from being scalded.

“Now what?” Andy asked, calling from outside the door as water splashed all over the floor. “Eventually, your hot water will run out. You’re coming with us whether you want to or not.”

Denny began moving behind them, and they turned to see him on his knees now, his hands still handcuffed behind his back. He was trying to get them to his front, but unlike Lionel, who had been able to do that, Denny was having a hard time, which was good for Andy and Monica.

They still had the problem of taking them to the car like this. They had to get them to dress themselves, which could be practically impossible if they didn’t cooperate, and nothing in their previous actions said they were about to do so.

"We could always resort to calling in the white coats," Monica told Andy.

Yeah, as bears, they wouldn’t have all the guff. "We could. We’ll let them prove they can get dressed on their own first. I would rather not have to dress them ourselves."

"Agreed."

Eloise was no longer shooting water out of the shower, so Monica peeked inside the bathroom. "Turn off the water now."

Eloise aimed the hot spray of water at Monica again.

Only this time, Andy rushed in, yanked the hose out of Eloise's hand, and dragged her out of the stall.

With Monica's bad hand, he couldn't wait to see if she could manage to wrestle with the violent woman.

Instead, Monica shut off the shower, still holding her gun at the ready.

"You know, if you hadn't tried to scald us and had acted civilly, we wouldn't have had to take such drastic measures.” Monica grabbed a towel off the rack and shoved it at Eloise.

Andy released Eloise's arm so she could wrap the towel around her. Instead, she started to towel dry herself. Andy grabbed another towel, dried off his parka, and hung the towel back on the rack. Then he left the bathroom while Monica continued to hold the gun on her. He returned with Eloise’s clothes, handed them to her, and left the room again to keep an eye on Denny.

"He's cute for being a pig." Eloise walked into the bedroom with her clothes in hand; probably because the floor was so wet, she would have gotten her clothes wet—or at least her pant legs and socks.

Monica watched her dress while Andy glanced out the window, and his heart rate increased.

Hell. Wendell was trudging up the drive through the path the rest of them had made.

He wouldn't know the car sitting on the drive belonged to Andy, but he would probably be wary of who it belonged to.

Wendell headed straight for the front door of the house.

Andy checked on Eloise. She wore her bra and pants but was still playing with her sweater. Andy stalked over to the bed and yanked the sweater from her hands.

"Hey, dammit! I can do?—"