The Zero Night

29

The woods around Fredenberg Lake refused to give up their secrets. They’d been searching for hours through nearly impenetrable terrain and had still covered only a fraction of the land. It was slow work. Fallen trees blocked their way, making a tangle of moss and dead branches, their trunks sprawled like bodies. Birch trees grew tightly together like columns of snow soldiers, forcing them to step sideways to squeeze between them. There were sharp valleys everywhere, with treacherous footing and swollen creeks soaking their boots. Wind rumbled in the high treetops like ocean waves. The rain fell hard, as it had throughout the day, making everyone wet and miserable. Even the dogs looked unhappy.

What made it worse for Maggie was knowing they might never find what they were looking for. If the body had been buried deep, even the dogs might not smell it. If it hadn’t been buried at all, then they would be lucky to find any random bones that had been left behind by wolves and scavengers. There were definitely wolves not far away. Every few minutes, Maggie would freeze as a bloodcurdling howl rose above the noise of the storm.

She checked her phone. Signal came and went with the wind, and for the moment, she had none. She folded her arms across her skinny chest and examined the forest, which got darker minute by minute.

“Do you think Chelsey is really out here?” Guppo asked. The round detective was flushed and breathing hard as he kept pace with her in the forest, but Maggie had never heard him complain.

“I don’t know. Stride’s going to talk to Gavin about what the hell he was doing up here two days before his wife was kidnapped. But I don’t like it.” She leaned her head back against the nearest birch tree. Briefly, she closed her eyes. “Did you talk to the neighbors around here?”

“I did, but there aren’t many. Nobody recognized photos of Gavin or Chelsey or Hink. There’s not much traffic on the road, but most of the houses are set back, so they can’t see who’s coming and going. Nobody mentioned suspicious vehicles.”

“How about gunshots?”

“There are always gunshots up here,” Guppo said. “People around here don’t even notice. I asked about shouts or screaming, but nobody heard anything like that. Not a surprise. If somebody brought Chelsey up here, odds are she was already dead.”

“Yeah,” Maggie said again, with a sigh.

In the distance, a wolf howled again, mournful and ominous. Another chimed in, and soon they heard the chorus of an entire pack in the distance.

“They sound hungry,” Guppo said.

Maggie shivered. “Man, I can think of a lot of ways to go, but being torn apart by wolves is really low on my list. One time I was up on the Gunflint, and I saw a deer by the lake. Half a dozen wolves came out of the woods and surrounded it. That was not a pretty sight.”

“With me, they wouldn’t need to eat again for days,” Guppo said.

Maggie burst out laughing. Then she shook her head and wiped some of the rain from her eyes. In the gray forest around them, half a dozen police officers tramped through the wet leaves, leading dogs who kept their noses in the weeds. The searchers dodged around an uprooted pine and headed down into a steep gully, where they disappeared from view. With them gone, Maggie felt as if she and Max were alone in the woods.

“So is Stride back for good?” Guppo asked.

Maggie thought about what she’d seen in Stride’s face that day. “I think he is. I figured once he got a taste, he couldn’t stay away.”

“What does that mean for you? If Stride’s back, does he become the lieutenant again?”

“Hell if I know. That’s up to K-2.”

“You’ve been in charge for over a year. Could you go back to being number two?”

“With anybody else? No. With Stride? I guess that would feel normal.” She was about to make a bad joke, but then she stopped herself. I’ve been under him before.

“Think it would work the other way?” Guppo asked. “With you as the boss?”

This time she couldn’t resist. “Me on top? If history’s any judge, I think he’d like that.”

The joke flew over Guppo’s head, and she was grateful.

“The thing is, his ego doesn’t have to fill the room like mine,” she went on. “But could I ever order him around? I don’t know. Plus, I can’t say I’d miss being at the front of the room. And you don’t have to tell me that none of you would miss me.”

“Not true.”

“Serena’s ringtone? ‘Big Time’?”

Max chuckled. “Oh, you know about that, huh?”

“I know about it. You all think my ego’s out of control. Which it is.”

“It’s not ego when you’re good at what you do. And if we miss Stride, it’s only because we miss Stride.”

“Yeah. I miss him, too.”

Maggie checked the time and squinted through the treetops at the charcoal sky. Where they were standing, darkness and shadow crept through the forest like a damp fog. The rain beat down on her head, as hard as ever, and showed no signs of letting up.

“We’re going to have to knock off for the night soon,” she said.

“Yeah.”

“We’ll start again in the morning.”

She squeezed through the nest of sharp branches to the edge of the slope. Where the land fell off sharply, she could no longer see the bottom of the gully thirty feet down. The cops below her had switched on their flashlights, making a crisscross pattern of lights winking on and off through the trees. She cupped her hands around her mouth to call the team back to higher ground.

Then she heard a noise below her, and she froze.

One of the dogs barked. It was a frantic, excited bark, and it didn’t stop. In the aftermath, she heard one of the police officers shout, then another, then another. The overlapping voices carried up the gully, and when she understood what they were saying, Maggie dove down the slope at a run.

“We’ve found something.”

Across the brightly lit UMD student center, Cat recognized Delaney Candis hurrying into the rain. The other girl was tall, and she walked fast. On an impulse, Cat gathered up her own books into her backpack and quickly followed. Outside, night had fallen, and the wind whipped her wet hair into her face. Delaney had opened up a large yellow umbrella, which made her easy to spot as she headed toward the south side of campus. Cat jogged to catch up to the other girl, and by the time Delaney reached the border of campus at College Street, Cat was right behind her.

The noise of her footsteps gave her away because Delaney spun around before crossing the street.

“What do you want?” she demanded.

Cat stopped. They were on the grass near the street, which was empty of traffic in the rain. Underneath the umbrella, Delaney was dry, her brown hair full and wavy. Her dark eyes were wary. Cat knew she must look a sight, with her clothes soaked and her hair pasted to her face. Cat was older than Delaney by three years, but the other girl was several inches taller, which made Cat feel small.

“My name’s Cat—”

“I know who you are.”

“Oh. Okay.” Cat tried to make a joke out of it. “Usually, it’s not a good thing when people know who I am.”

“Don’t be cute,” Delaney snapped back. “Yes, I know all about you from the papers, and I know you’re smart because you keep beating me on math tests, but most of all, I know you’re connected to that detective. Serena. I don’t want to talk to her, and I don’t want to talk to you.”

Cat held up her hands in surrender. “Look, I just wanted to say hi.”

“Hi. Is that all? Are we done?”

“Sure, fine, sorry to bother you,” Cat said with an edge in her voice. She began to walk away, but then she stopped and took a breath. The rain was harder than ever. “No, actually, I want to say something else.”

“What is it?”

Cat took a step closer to the other girl. “Hey, if you want to act like a bitch, that’s fine, go ahead. Believe me, I’ve been where you are, and I’ve got the act down cold. It’s a lot easier than letting your guard down. We don’t have to talk. That’s okay. But you and me, we’re not so different. We’ve both been through shit.”

“You don’t know anything about me.”

“No? I think you’d be surprised how much I know. Like I said, I’ve been there. And I know something else, too. It’s about Zach.”

Delaney’s wide mouth pressed into a flat, unhappy frown. “What about him?”

“He’s still in love with you.”

Cat watched the girl’s lower lip tremble. Her eyes grew glassy with tears, but her face twisted in defiance.

“Don’t talk to me about Zach. Get away from me. I don’t need this.”

“Okay. Whatever you want.”

Cat turned her back on Delaney and started toward campus, but she hadn’t gone far when she heard a low voice calling after her. The word was barely audible above the rain.

“Wait.”

Cat reversed her steps. Delaney stood in the same place near the street, trying to hold the umbrella straight against the wind.

“Is that really true?” she asked. “About Zach?”

Cat nodded. “Yes, it is.”

“I heard he likes you.”

“He doesn’t. He hasn’t gotten over you. I could tell that after talking with him for five minutes.”

“Well, he needs to move on,” Delaney said.

“He can’t. He wants to know why you dumped him.”

Delaney opened her mouth, then shut it tight and said nothing. One tear slipped down her cheek.

Cat looked up and down College Street. A few cars were parked along the curbs. Directly across from them was a row of old houses, most of them now used for student apartments. The rain poured down over her face, making it hard to see.

“Hey, do you mind if we share that umbrella?” she asked.

Delaney shrugged and tilted it upward. Cat came under the protection of the rim, standing close to the other girl. Delaney had a long, slender nose and perfect creamy skin, which was in contrast to Cat’s golden face. Her brown eyes stared at Cat with a mixture of loneliness and resentment. Cat remembered how much time she’d spent feeling the same way. Alone. Bitter. Suspicious of the world and everyone in it.

“I don’t know if it was in the articles about me,” Cat said, “but my mom died when I was six. My dad killed her.”

Delaney nodded with something that looked like sympathy. “Yeah, I read that.”

“It sucked then, and it still sucks.”

“I know how you feel.”

“I bet you do,” Cat said.

They stood awkwardly under the umbrella, neither one moving.

“I should go,” Delaney said. “If you talk to Zach—”

“Do you want me to tell him something?”

She shook her head. “No. That’s okay.”

“Zach’s cute. Kind of a big bear.”

“Yeah.” A little nostalgia shined in the girl’s eyes.

Cat made a snap decision. “Listen, I’m hungry, and I haven’t eaten. You want to order a pizza or something?”

“I can’t.” After an awkward pause, she added, “Not tonight.”

“Okay.”

She offered up the tiniest smile. “Maybe another time, though?”

“Okay.”

“You’re right,” Delaney went on. “I’m not really a bitch.”

“Yeah, I can tell.”

It was a strange moment, when it was obvious to both of them that they actually liked each other.

“Look, I appreciate you reaching out to me,” the other girl said. “You didn’t have to do that. Particularly when you know I’m going to kick your ass on the next test.”

Cat grinned. “You think so, huh?”

Delaney’s smile got wider, and she had a face that was born to smile. It was so dazzling that it made Cat a little jealous.

“Listen, for what it’s worth, I’ve been in some bad places and done some bad things,” Cat told her. “The only reason I’m on the other side of all that is because of two people, and one of them is Serena. You don’t have to talk to her, but if you ever want to, you can trust her. She’ll protect you. I promise.”

“That’s good to know,” Delaney replied.

“She’s been through shit, too. Like us.”

“I know. She told me some of it.”

“There’s a lot more.”

“Okay.”

“Anyway,” Cat said. “That’s all I wanted to say.”

“Thanks.” Delaney gestured at one of the houses across the street. “That’s me. My apartment is over there. Gotta crack the books.”

“Sure. Me too.”

“I feel bad leaving you without the umbrella.”

“I’m fine,” Cat said.

Delaney smiled again, that high-wattage smile. She turned away and walked out into the street, her umbrella the one splash of color on a dark night. Cat felt the cold rain again and grimaced. She kept her eyes on Delaney as the other girl reached the middle of College Street.

That was when, half a block away, headlights burned to life.

Cat heard the screech of tires on wet asphalt. A car that had been parked at the far curb accelerated like a rocket, shooting through the rain directly at Delaney. Cat screamed, but the other girl didn’t hear her. Delaney seemed lost in thought, not noticing the car as it bore down on her, gathering speed. Cat sprinted into the street, shouting Delaney’s name. The other girl had reached the opposite curb, but Cat saw the car bump off the street and tear through the green grass.

The headlights loomed like two monster’s eyes. Their brightness finally jolted Delaney out of her trance. She realized what was happening, but the shock of it froze her in place, and she stood on the grass, not moving as the car roared toward her with a new burst of speed. It wasn’t slowing down or turning away; it wasn’t out of control. The driver knew exactly what he was doing. Cat raced onto the grass and threw herself at Delaney’s back, hitting her so hard that the two of them flew into the air.

A fraction of a second later, the car cleared them by inches, covering both of them with spray and mud. It carved furrows into the lawn before lurching back onto the street and speeding away.

Delaney was facedown. Cat grabbed frantically at her shoulder.

“Are you okay? Delaney, are you hurt? Are you all right?”

With a choking cough, the younger girl pushed herself up in the wet grass. Her sneakers were in the ruts left by the car. That was how close it had come to killing them both. Delaney’s brown eyes were wide. She shook her head in shock, and Cat quickly threw her arms around the girl.

“It’s okay. We’re okay.”

Delaney gasped for breath. The impact of Cat landing on her back had knocked the wind out of her. When she could suck in a little bit of air, she managed to say, “How could he not see me?”

Cat hesitated. She wasn’t sure whether to tell her the truth.

“He saw you, Delaney. He was aiming for you. He was trying to kill you.”