Page 58 of Winter

Whiteout #3

Sparks. If she unfocused her eyes and pretended they were sparks of light from Christmas twinkle lights, or something more calming than the endless red-blue flash of the emergency service vehicles, then maybe she would be able to bear this.

No.

This could never be bearable. Inca slid her eyes over to the sheet covering the body of her friend.

How can you be gone?

She kept hearing Scarlett’s laughter in her head, feeling the way her arms felt when she hugged Inca. The smell of her perfume. Kept seeing the blood. Scarlett’s eyes open and staring.

Inca whirled around and threw up. She had refused to go inside, out of the ice storm, and now she was soaked through and shivering. She closed her eyes and felt a blanket being wrapped around her, someone pulling her close.

“I’m so sorry, honey.”

Nancy. Knox—poor, shocked, Knox—must have called her. When Inca had found Scarlett shot to death, her screams had brought people running, and now her throat felt raw and desiccated. Inca leaned against her mother and let her guide her inside.

“I don’t want to leave her alone,” she whispered in a voice cracked with grief. Nancy kissed her head.

“They’re taking her away now, sweetheart; they’ll look after her.”

Inca nodded. God, why was she so tired? Was it the shock? “Where’s Dad?”

“He went to get Tommaso. He thought it would be better for Tommaso to hear it from him, rather than let him find out via the police.”

Inca felt a rush of gratitude. “That’s good. Thank you.”

“He’ll be here soon.”

“Mom?”

“Yes, baby?”

“Why is all this happening? All of it, the other murders, the weird stuff that’s being going on. And now this … who would kill Scarlett? Why?”

Nancy hugged her daughter harder. “I don’t know, my darling. I wish I could tell you why. Bad stuff happens—it just seems we’re on a run of it. God, that doesn’t even cover it, does it? But I don’t have the answers you want. I’m sorry.”

Inca nodded, sighing. Her eyes felt like they had sand in them. “Mom … about Tommaso and me …”

Nancy smoothed the hair away from her face. “What is it?”

It had been on the tip of Inca’s tongue to tell her about Raffaelo and how she felt about Tommaso’s brother, but then she faltered. Even she didn’t understand what was going on between them or how she now felt about Tommaso. She did love him; she had no doubt, but could you really love two people with this much ferocity?

She was saved by the arrival of her father and Tommaso, whose stricken face told her everything she needed to know about how he felt about her. She went into his arms. He kissed the top of her head.

“Thank God you’re okay,mio Dio, grazie a Dio, stai bene.”

Inca sank into his embrace, breathing in his comforting scent. “Someone killed Scarlett, Tommaso.”

“I’m so sorry,mio caro, so very sorry.”

Inca saw Tyler and Nancy exchange worried looks, but she couldn’t process what they meant. Just then, Knox, pale, sickened, and grief-stricken came in. “Hey.”

“Man, sit down before you fall down.” Tyler steered him into a chair and Nancy went to put some coffee on. Knox shook his head.

“I don’t believe this is happening.” Inca pulled away from Tommaso and went to sit by the shaken cop. She took his hands in hers.

“I’m so sorry, Knox. Where’s Olly? He should be handling this, not you.”