Shattered Read online

  The boy simply stared back. He hadn’t expected the old man to be so strong.

  “All right then,” Gramps said, pointing toward the utility room.

  The boy slowly unzipped his coat and reluctantly hung it on the hook inside the utility-room door, taking a good look at Gramps. He was a big man, over six feet tall, and quite agile. The boy guessed him to be over seventy. The boy inched his way up the hallway toward the kitchen with Nelly close behind.

  “Thatta boy,” Gramps said as the lad slumped down in a chair at the kitchen table. Gramps wanted to tell him to straighten up and sit properly, but he figured he’d probably demanded enough for the time being. Both remained silent as they ate. The boy finished his first helping quickly and stared at the empty plate.

  “Want some more?” Gramps asked. The boy gave a quick nod to the affirmative. “Well then, pass your plate on over.” Gramps was beaming. He enjoyed cooking, especially when those doing the eating were appreciative of his efforts. He wouldn’t admit it to the boy, but he was also enjoying the company. It was better than the alternative—being snowed in and alone at the cabin.

  * * *

  Beth Moon stared into the blizzard from her front room window. Her weary eyes were red and her cheeks were tear-streaked. She hadn’t changed her clothes from the day before.

  The sudden ringing ripped her gaze from the blizzard’s hold. “Kenny?” she cried into the receiver.

  “No, ma’am, this is Officer Miller.”

  Several officers had been put on the case, since her husband was on the force, but she couldn’t remember one from the other. “Oh. Sorry. You have news?”

  “A lady said that someone rode by her place yesterday on his bike. She remembered because she thought it was rather stupid.”

  Beth winced at the unkind remark but maintained her composure. “Where was that, please?”

  “It was over at Stella’s Bakery.”

  He’s headed north, thought Beth. But there’s nothing north. “No one has seen him since?”

  “No, ma’am. But he couldn’t have gone much farther. We’ll go looking as soon as this weather lets up.”

  “I’ll wait for news.” Beth hung up the receiver and stared again out the front window at the falling snow.

  * * *

  Gramps was wiping the counter when Nelly broke into a thunderous bark and pranced excitedly at the front door. “Pipe down already! Let’s see what’s out there.” Gramps opened the door, filling the entry with a frigid mass of blowing snow. Two crystal-covered bodies marched past. “Come on in, why don’tcha,” Gramps called, forcing the door closed.

  Ryan and Jessie took several minutes removing their layers of protection. Gramps brought in a couple of towels, and the dryer was put to use.

  “You guys walked from my place?” Gramps asked incredulously as they entered the kitchen.

  Ryan cracked a smile through still-moistened lips. “Remember that snowmobile old man Henry sold Ruth a few years ago?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Well, it broke down about half a mile back.”

  “We’ll find it when it clears. Did you stick a marker on it?”

  “Yes, he did,” Jessie replied disgustedly.

  Ryan blew into his fists and smiled. “I used Jessie’s Christmas scarf.”

  “That wasn’t an ordinary Christmas scarf. It cost me forty-five dollars!”

  “Forty-five dollars for a scarf?” Gramps gawked.

  “It was deep gray, hand-spun wool with the tiniest white snowflakes all over it,” Jessie pronounced as if she had raised her right hand and been told to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

  “Well then, it’ll feel right at home out there!” Ryan jested.

  “You two hungry?” Gramps asked. “I can reheat breakfast.”

  “No, we’ve eaten,” Ryan answered.

  “That’s if you can actually call burnt pancakes food,” Jessie retorted. She unzipped the pack she’d been wearing, and out pounced Barkley. He quickly slithered under the couch. “That big brown dog is around somewhere and he knows it,” Jessie laughed.

  “The cat could have survived at home, you know,” Ryan teased.

  “You have your pet, and I have mine. Now if you two will excuse me, I think I’ll go and at least decorate the room I’ll be staying in, since you’re being Mr. Scrooge this year.” Jessie threw Ryan a final disapproving look as she turned from the kitchen and headed down the hall to the guest room.

  When Jessie had first arrived in June, she’d been silently astonished at the immensity of Ryan’s cabin and the grounds outside. The immense log construction was surrounded by bushes and trees, and a miniature hedge encircled the front deck and the porch that held an antique swing and chair which had been put away for the winter. Oval-shaped windows decorated the architecture, and a vaulted roof with skylights added one more unique touch to the three stories of grandeur.

  But it was the space inside which overwhelmed Jessie. The kitchen was large enough to house a small apartment. It was U-shaped and opened on its long side to the great room. There were windows running from the solid granite countertop to the ceiling. The appliances were restaurant-style stainless steel. Six black-leather barstools stood perched at an island in the center. The entire back wall and portions of the side walls were made of glass. On the other side of the glass wall was one of Ryan’s favorite rooms—the solarium. A waterfall fell from a protrusion of volcanic rock built up in the center. Set off to one corner stood a Jacuzzi, with a sauna built into the wall behind it.

  The cabin’s decor was simple, sporting contemporary off-white leather with glass-and-chrome accents. Assorted throw pillows and a few knickknacks added color. The great room held an overly large fireplace on one side and a large glass wall on the other, both of which reached all the way up to the three-story vaulted ceiling. A spiral staircase led to the two open floors above. Even as familiar with her surroundings as she now was, Jessie admired the views before her as she headed to the guest room.

  “Apparently you found your way out here last night through that maze,” Gramps said to Ryan, glancing through the frosted window.

  “Lost visibility. I left the truck about a mile or so from your place. Rammed my face into the top of your mailbox. Good thing, or I’d be frozen goods by now.”

  Gramps slid his glasses down to the top of his nose and picked up his crossword puzzle. “Hmm, truck and a snowmobile? Remind me not to let you drive anything of mine when there’s snow on the ground. I could have survived just fine here on my own, you know. You didn’t have to risk a life out there this morning.”

  “Wasn’t my idea. Jessie was worried about you. I’m sure the prospect of being snowed in with me bothered her to some degree, too.”

  “Seems Nelly has found a new friend?” Jessie probed as she reentered the room.

  “Ah, I see you’ve met our guest.”

  “Huh?” Ryan asked, confused.

  “Go take a look,” Gramps muttered. “By the way, sorry he landed in the room you usually use,” he said to Jessie.

  “No big deal. I can use the room upstairs.”

  Ryan returned a few seconds later. “There’s a kid in there.”

  “Very perceptive, Ryan,” Jessie said.

  “Gramps, why is there a kid with orange hair in my guest room?” Ryan asked after narrowing his eyes at Jessie.

  “Didn’t think I ought to leave him out in the storm.”

  “Who is he?” Ryan asked.

  “Dunno.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “Dunno.”

  “Where’s he from?”

  “Dunno.”

  “Is there anything you do know?”

  “Yep.” Gramps filled in the remaining squares of his puzzle. “Annoy is a five-letter word meaning to harass repeatedly.”

  “Gramps!” Ryan yelled.

  “What?” Gramps lifted his eyebrows, peering over his glasses.

  “Let’s start over.
There’s a kid—”

  “Okay, we’ve been there. It didn’t go so well the first time. Let’s try a different approach. Now, you two behave while I’m gone,” Jessie said.

  Moments later Jessie stood at the doorway of the boy’s room. “Hey there.”

  The boy was sitting in the rocker, staring out the window. He shifted his eyes away long enough to give Jessie the once-over, then back to the falling snow.

  “Don’t blame you. If I were here, I wouldn’t want to talk to three people I didn’t know.” Jessie leaned on the edge of the bed. “One thing is for sure, though. You’re a good kid or Nelly wouldn’t be drooling all over you.”

  The boy turned his head toward the dog draped over his feet, asleep.

  “I’m sure Gramps has fed you and you’ve slept?”

  There was no response.

  “You have your own private shower in there.” Jessie pointed toward the closed door next to the closet. “And the hot water never seems to run out. You’re safe here.” Jessie’s words offered the genuine warmth and acceptance she felt as she went forward and gently placed her hand on his wrist in assurance.

  * * *

  “You’ve got to contact someone,” Ryan said, staring at Gramps.

  “I’m open for suggestions. Phones are dead and power’s out. Tucker’s supposed to be by this afternoon, though. I’ll get him to take us into Summitville. It may take us longer than the usual hour to get there, but at least it’s something.”

  “Uh, Tucker you say? Tucker Hansen?” Jessie queried, reentering the kitchen.

  “Yeah, that’s right, I almost forgot. It’s his scheduled day to plow our road,” replied Ryan.

  “Whoops,” Jessie’s response was barely audible as she walked over to search for the hot-chocolate mix.

  “Whoops?” Ryan echoed, his brows raised with piqued interest as he walked toward her.

  Gramps continued to peer over his glasses.

  “Well, you weren’t around when he called.” This whine was directed to Gramps, as though somehow her error should be considered his fault. “And, well, the storm didn’t look that bad to me, and . . . his daughter Cammie went into labor early, and his wife wanted to leave right away for Virginia. He asked if you’d mind him taking off. He said he’d be home on Christmas and could come the day after to bail us out if necessary.”

  Before she braved facing their stunned faces, she frantically ripped open the pouch of chocolate mix and poured it into a cup of lukewarm tap water.

  “Jessie, are you out of your mind? Look at it out there.” The pitch of Ryan’s voice rose ever so slightly, but the tone was unmistakable.

  “I didn’t know it was going to get this bad. I’m from the city, remember?” Her cheeks were flushed.

  “All right, you two. That’s enough.” Gramps laid the crossword puzzle down on the table with his glasses, then lowered his voice slightly. “You’re gonna scare that kid in there. I figure he’s got enough problems as it is. Doesn’t need to hear you yelling. Besides, I remember a time when you made a similar mistake, son.”

  “I was ten!”

  “No matter. Not gonna help any to be all upset over it. What’s done is done. Besides it’s not like you to get so upset, son.”

  Ryan wiped at the small beads of sweat building at the back of his neck. He wasn’t one to lose control so easily. He let out the breath he’d been holding but said nothing. Now wasn’t the time.

  Gramps continued. “We got enough food here to last till spring. Hey, what about that cell phone of yours?”

  “I didn’t have it when I reached your place last night,” answered Ryan. “I figure it must have fallen somewhere between the truck and the house.”

  “Mine’s dead. I haven’t needed it for a while,” Jessie added.

  “Well, might as well look on the bright side. You’ve wanted to get that program for kids started. Maybe the good Lord wants you two to start with that one in there.”

  “It’s a summer program, Gramps. He’s a little early,” Ryan grumped.

  Jessie pulled out a chair from the table and sat down. “I’m betting he’s fourteen or fifteen. It’s obvious he’s run away. He was in a hurry, too. Things must be really bad if he rode his bike in that storm.”

  “You got him to talk?” Gramps asked, surprised.

  “No. Uh-uh.”

  “Then how did you get all that?” Ryan asked.

  “Ryan, you do big people. I do little ones, remember?” Jessie responded.

  “Yes, okay. The age is easy to guess. But ‘running away in a hurry,’ and the bike? How did you get that?”

  “The bike is near where you buried the snowmobile,” Jessie said. “I smashed my leg into it. You didn’t see me because you were too busy yanking the scarf off from around my neck. I could have been buried alive out there and you wouldn’t have even noticed. Hey Gramps, you have those miniature marshmallows I bought last week?”

  “Yep. They’re in the cupboard behind Ryan.”

  Ryan retrieved a bag of red and green marshmallows and laid them on the counter. “I knew where you were the whole time,” he smiled, attempting to diffuse the remaining tension.

  “And if he’s on a bike in this weather,” Jessie continued, “with only a backpack—which, by the way, is hanging in the utility room along with his parka—then it’s fairly obvious he’s run away in a hurry.”

  “There’s a backpack?” asked Ryan.

  “Yep,” responded Gramps.

  “Have you looked through it? Was there any identification?”

  “It’s not my place to be searchin’ somethin’ that ain’t mine.”

  “Gramps, someone’s most likely missing this kid. That backpack could give us the information we need to get him home.”

  “So what if it does? How we gonna get him anywhere?”

  “And how did he get here exactly?” Ryan asked Gramps.

  “Was pickin’ up some supplies in town last night. And it’s a good thing I did, by the way. Spotted somethin’ red on my way home. He was out cold—pardon the pun—and slept the whole night on the couch. He tried to leave this mornin’.”

  * * *

  “Kid couldn’t’ve got too far in this storm,” the man said through the smoke-filled room. He carefully looked down, avoiding the eyes of his employer, Randolph Thornton.

  “What I’m trying to figure out is how an inept, teenage boy can avoid getting picked up by you people,” Thornton replied. He looked up from his leather chair and met the eyes of the three men he’d put in charge of killing Ken.

  “He’s never alone. Couldn’t get him at the school, and with his dad bein’ a cop—”

  Before the man could finish, Thornton raised his hand and the room fell silent.

  “In the event that anyone in here is confused, I’ll spell it out one more time. This kid has got to be found and silenced. He hasn’t been missing for long; he can’t have gotten too far.”

  “But the storm—”

  Thornton interrupted the protest. “I don’t care about the storm—I don’t care if half of you die out there. Those bodies were found because you were too lazy to do the job right. That kid wasn’t going to say a word. He was too scared. Between his messed-up past and psycho family, nobody would’ve believed him anyway. But now there are bodies and he’s on the run. The cops are looking for him. When they find him, he’ll talk. So if you don’t bury that kid, you’ll wish you had died in the blizzard.”

  * * *

  Beth opened the door to her best friend and neighbor. “Trudy, thanks for coming over.”

  “No place I’d rather be.” Trudy sat at the kitchen table, asking all the pertinent questions.

  “Is there any money missing?”

  “No. That’s the strange thing,” Beth said. “We have that cash set aside for our trip to Hawaii, and it’s all there. His backpack is gone, along with a couple pairs of jeans, and I’m sure he took some shirts and stuff, but I can’t be sure. Can you believe he actually took
his toothbrush and toothpaste? He’s never cared about hygiene before.” Beth forced a faint smile as she wiped a tear. “He’s taken the cell phone, too. I’ve tried to call, but he’s not answering.”

  “Well, it’s not like it’s the first time he’s done this. He’s been missing up to two days before.”

  “There is one other thing that’s missing, Trudy.” This came as a whisper.

  Trudy raised her eyebrows, waiting.

  “He took the gun.”

  “WHAT?” Trudy’s large frame slid back abruptly from the dining room table.

  “I hate guns, you know that, but Michael insisted, demanded, that there be one, since it was just Kenny and me. It’s been locked in that cabinet.” Beth pointed to an old walnut china cabinet.

  “Kenny knew where the key was?”

  “Yes, he’s fifteen for heaven’s sake—it’s not like he’s two!” Beth clenched her fists at her side as she turned her gaze to the all-too-familiar view out the front window. “Oh, Trudy, what am I going to do?”

  CHA­PT­­ER­ 4

  The old rocker creaked as Kenny stared at the dropping snow. It could snow for days, he thought, at least that’s what he was hoping. He didn’t mind it here. It wasn’t where he’d intended on ending up, but it wasn’t so bad. The old man, while a bit ornery, was tolerable, and the woman was nice. But from the conversation he’d been listening to, it was the other guy he had to worry about. He sounded willing to shovel his way through to the nearest city or hire an airplane to write a message in the sky: “annoying boy found. come and get him!” Kenny’s eyes remained fixed on the snow for several seconds as he pictured his mother doing the same thing, her eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep. But in the end, she’d understand and forgive him. He’d had to leave.

  “Hey, there.” A voice interrupted his thoughts. “You’ve probably heard my name already, but in case you missed it, it’s Jessie.” Kenny continued his stare out the window. “I’m not sure how long you’re going to go speechless, but you may want to keep one thing in mind. It doesn’t matter if we find out who you are. We have no way of getting you anywhere in that storm. You must have wanted to get somewhere awfully bad, or maybe away from somewhere. Either way, there’s most likely someone worried about you. The phones are out and we don’t have a cell phone that works. We’re wondering if you have one in your backpack?” Jessie laid the weathered pack by his side. “You wouldn’t have to say where you are, because you probably don’t even know. But you could at least let your family know you’re safe.”