Ice Cold

17

HYDRATE, HYDRATE, HYDRATE. THAT WAS THE MANTRA THAT KEPT going through Maura’s head as she coaxed Arlo to drink water, ever more water. She mixed a pinch of salt and a tablespoon of sugar into every cup-a poor man’s version of Gatorade. By forcing the fluids into him, she’d keep up his blood pressure and flush his kidneys. It meant repeatedly changing his towels as they got saturated with urine, but urine was a good thing. If he stopped producing it, it meant he was going into shock, and he was doomed.

He may be doomed anyway, she thought as she watched him swallow the last two antibiotic capsules. Against the infection now raging in his leg, amoxicillin was little more than a magical charm. Already she could smell the impending gangrene, could see the creeping edge of necrotic tissue in his calf. Another day, perhaps two at the most, and she would be left with no choice, if she wanted to save him.

The leg would have to come off.

Can I really bring myself to do it? To amputate that leg without anesthesia? She was familiar with the anatomy. She could hunt down the necessary instruments from kitchens and garages. All she really needed were sharp knives and a sterilized saw. It was not the mechanics of amputation that made her hands sweat and her stomach clench at the prospect. It was the screaming. She thought of relentlessly sawing through bone while her patient shrieked and writhed. She thought of knives slippery with blood. And through it all, she would have to rely on Elaine and Grace to hold him down.

You have to bring help soon, Doug. Because I don’t think I can do it. I can’t torture this man.

“Hurts so bad,” Arlo whispered. “Need more pills.”

She knelt down beside him. “I’m afraid we’ve run out of Percocet, Arlo,” she said. “But I have Tylenol.”

“Doesn’t help.”

“There’s codeine coming. Elaine’s gone up the road to look for her purse. She says she has a bottle of it, enough to last you until help comes.”

“When?”

“Soon. Maybe even tonight.” She glanced at the window and saw that it was now afternoon. Doug had left yesterday morning. By now, he was surely down the mountain. “You know him. He’ll probably swoop back up here in style, with TV cameras and everything.”

Arlo gave a tired laugh. “Yeah, that’s our Doug. Born under a lucky star. Always manages to skate through life with hardly a scratch, whereas I…” He sighed. “I swear, if I live through this, I’m never going to leave my house again.”

The front door flew open and cold air swept in as Elaine came stomping back into the house. “Where’s Grace?” she said.

“She went outside,” said Maura.

Elaine spotted Grace’s backpack in the corner. She knelt down and unzipped the pack.

“What are you doing, Elaine?”

“I can’t find my purse.”

“You said you left it up in the Jeep.”

“That’s where I thought it was, but Doug said he never saw it. I’ve been looking all up and down the road, in case it got dropped somewhere in the snow.” She began digging through the backpack, scattering the contents on the floor. Out came Grace’s iPod, sunglasses, a sweatshirt, a cell phone. In frustration, she turned the backpack upside down, and loose change clattered onto the floor. “Where the hell is my purse?”

“You really think Grace would take it?”

“I can’t find it anywhere. It had to be her.”

“Why would she?”

“She’s a teenager. Can anyone explain teenagers?”

“Are you sure you didn’t leave it somewhere in the house?”

“I’m sure.” In frustration, Elaine threw down the empty backpack. “I know I had it with me in the Jeep when were driving up the road. But after the accident, we were all panicking. I was just focused on Arlo. The last time I remember seeing it, it was on the backseat, next to Grace.” She scanned the room, searching for any hiding place where the purse might be concealed. “She’s the only one who had the chance to take it. You ran down the hill to get the sled. Doug and I were trying to stop the bleeding. But no one was watching Grace.”

“It could have fallen out of the Jeep.”

“I told you, I looked all up and down the road.”

“Maybe it got buried in the snow.”

“It hasn’t snowed for two days, and everything’s crusted over in ice.” Elaine suddenly jerked straight as the front door opened. She was caught in an unmistakably guilty pose, kneeling beside the empty backpack, the contents strewn on the floor.

“What are you doing?” said Grace. She slammed the door shut. “That’s my stuff.”

“Where’s my purse, Grace?” said Elaine.

“Why are you looking in my backpack?”

“It has my pills. The bottle of codeine. Arlo needs it.”

“And you thought you’d find it in my stuff?”

“Just tell me where it is.”

“How would I know?” Grace snatched up the backpack and began thrusting her belongings back into it. “How do you know she didn’t take it?” The girl didn’t have to name names; they all knew she was referring to Maura.

“Grace, I’m just asking you a simple question.”

“You didn’t even stop to think it could be anyone else. You just assumed it’s me.”

Elaine sighed. “I’m too tired to have this fight. Just tell me if you know where it is.”

“Why should I tell you anything? You wouldn’t believe me anyway.” Grace zipped up the pack and threw it over her shoulder as she headed toward the door. “There are eleven other houses here. I don’t see why I have to stay in this one.”

“Grace, we need to stick together,” said Maura. “I promised your father I’d look after you. Please stay here.”

“Why should I? I came to tell you what I found, and the first thing I hear when I come in the door is, You’re a thief.”

“I didn’t say that!” Elaine protested.

Maura rose and calmly approached the girl. “What did you find, Grace?”

“As if you’re interested.”

“I am. I want to know what you found.”

The girl paused, torn between injured pride and her eagerness to share her news. “It’s outside,” she finally said. “Near the woods.”

Maura pulled on her jacket and gloves and followed Grace outside. The snow, earlier churned up by all their comings and goings, had crusted over into knobby ice, and Maura navigated carefully over the slippery surface as she and Grace circled to the rear of the house and started across the field of snow, toward the trees.

“This is what I saw first,” the girl said, pointing to the snow. “These tracks.”

They were animal footprints. A coyote, thought Maura, or perhaps a wolf. Although blowing snow had obscured the prints in places, it was obvious that they moved in a direct line toward their house.

“It must have left these prints last night,” said Grace. “Or maybe the night before. Because they’re all frozen over now.” She turned toward the woods. “And there’s something else I want to show you.”

Grace headed across the field, following the tracks toward a snow-covered mound. It was just a white hillock, its features blending into the vast landscape of snow, where everything was white, where bush and boulder were indistinguishable beneath their thick winter blankets. Only as they drew closer to the mound did Maura see the streak of yellow peeking through, where Grace had swiped away the snow to reveal what was underneath.

A bulldozer.

“It’s just sitting out here in the open,” said Grace. “Like they were in the middle of digging up something and they just… stopped.”

Maura pulled open the door and looked into the driver’s cab. There was no key in the ignition. If they could somehow get it started, they might be able to plow their way up to the road. She looked at Grace. “You wouldn’t know how to hot-wire an engine, would you?”

“If we had Google, we could look it up.”

“If we had Google, we’d be long gone from this place.” With a sigh, Maura swung the door shut.

“See these tracks?” said Grace. “They go right past here and head toward the woods.”

“We’re in the wild. You’d expect to find animal tracks.”

“It knows we’re here.” Grace looked around uneasily. “It’s been sniffing around us.”

“Then we’ll just stay inside at night, okay?” Maura gave her arm a reassuring squeeze. It felt so thin, so fragile through the jacket sleeve, a reminder that this girl was, after all, only thirteen. A child with neither her mother nor her father to comfort her. “I promise, I’ll fight off any wolf that comes to the door,” said Maura.

“There can’t be just one wolf,” Grace pointed out. “They’re pack animals. If they all attacked, you couldn’t fight them off.”

“Grace, don’t worry about it. Wolves rarely attack people. They’re probably more scared of us.”

The girl didn’t look convinced. To prove she wasn’t afraid, Maura followed the tracks toward the trees, into snow that was deeper, so deep that she suddenly plunged in over her knees. This was why deer so easily fell prey in the winter: Heavy animals sank deeply into the snow, and could not outrun the lighter and nimbler wolves.

“I didn’t do it, you know!” Grace called out after her. “I didn’t take her stupid purse. Like I’d even want it.”

Suddenly Maura spotted a new set of impressions, and she paused at the edge of the trees, staring. These prints had not been left by wolves. When she realized what she was looking at, a sudden chill lifted the hairs on the back of her neck.

Snowshoes.

“What would I want with her purse, anyway?” said Grace, still standing by the bulldozer. “You believe me, don’t you? At least you treat me like a grown-up.”

Maura peered into the woods, straining to make out what lurked in the shelter of those pines. But the trees were too dense, and all she saw were drooping branches and tangled underbrush, a curtain so thick that any number of eyes could be watching her at that moment, and she would not be able to see them.

“Elaine acts all sweet and concerned about me, but that’s only when Dad’s around,” Grace said. “She makes me want to barf.”

Slowly, Maura backed away from the woods. Every step seemed alarmingly loud and clumsy. Her boots cracked through the snow crust and snapped dead twigs. And behind her, Grace continued.

“She’s only nice to me because of him. Women always start off being nice to me. Then they can’t wait to get rid of me.”

“Let’s go back to the house, Grace,” Maura said quietly.

“It’s just an act, and Dad’s too blind to see it.” Grace paused as she suddenly saw Maura’s face. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing.” Maura took the girl’s arm. “It’s getting cold. Let’s go inside.”

“Are you pissed at me, or what?”

“No, Grace, I’m not.”

“Then why are you squeezing me so hard?”

Maura instantly released the girl’s arm. “I think we should get in before it’s dark. Before the wolves come back.”

“But you just said they don’t attack people.”

“I promised your dad I’d look after you, and that’s what I’m trying to do.” She managed a smile. “Come on, I’ll make us some hot chocolate.”

Maura did not want to make the girl any more fearful than she already was. So she said nothing to Grace about what she had just seen in the woods. Elaine, though, would have to be told. They needed to be prepared, now that she knew the truth.

They were not alone in this valley.