Текст книги "Cold Betrayal"

She threw that into the bag, along with a scissors, needle and thread.

–FROM “MOLLY WHUPPIE” BY WALTER DE LA MARE

Prologue

As the snow started to fall in thick, feathery flakes, Betsy Peterson, seated in front, checked the tension in the seat belt against her collarbone, clutched her purse to her chest, and peered out through the headlights into the dark night. Marcia Lawson was a good driver, but a fast one. She seemed to be under the impression that just because she was driving a four-wheel-drive Kia, an older and decidedly dilapidated model, she didn’t need to worry about road conditions.

It wasn’t that Betsy was particularly concerned about the snow. Eighty-plus years of living through Minnesota winters had seen to that, but she had a healthy respect for ice, and that was the problem. A week of unseasonably warm temperatures had been followed by freezing rain, leaving a thick layer of ice coating the small country road that led to her farm. And she was right to be worried. As they approached the turnoff on Grange Road, Betsy knew Marcia was going far too fast. They skidded past the turnoff and came within inches of taking out a pair of mailboxes before finally coming to rest on the shoulder of the road.

“Sorry about that,” Marcia muttered, slamming the gearshift into reverse and shooting back onto the narrow ribbon of iced-over pavement. “It’s times like this when four-wheel drive comes in handy.”

Betsy said nothing. Now that a combination of cataracts and macular degeneration made it impossible for her to drive anymore, Betsy had to count on the kindness of friends and relations to get her to and from wherever she needed to go. For decades Marcia had been Betsy’s hairdresser. Once Marcia closed up shop and retired, she came to Betsy’s home once a week to do her hair while also supplementing her meager retirement by ferrying people around and running errands as needed. In this case, she was driving Betsy home from Monday Night Bingo at the local VFW.

Monday Night Bingo, along with her lifetime membership at Bemidji’s First Lutheran Church, were Betsy’s main social outlets. She went to church on Sunday, Bible study on Tuesday, and Prayer Group on Wednesday. On Fridays she had Marcia come do her hair before the VFW’s weekly evening fish fry. At bingo and at the fish fries, Betsy allowed herself a single sloe gin fizz. After all, those were her only purely social activities.

As far as bingo was concerned, it didn’t hurt that her old high school beau, Howard Hansen—still Dr. Hansen, even though he no longer practiced, and now a widower twice over—came to both bingo and the fish fries, with a group bused in from the Sundowner’s Assisted Living Center. He teased her about being too stubborn to give up living alone and dropped hints that it would be slick if she’d consent to taking up residence in his two-room “suite,” always allowing as how he’d be willing to marry her if need be in order to keep her from living in sin. She liked the twinkle in his eye when he said those things.

Other people in the room might think he was just joshing her, but she knew there was more to it than that. Yes, he was teasing, but he also meant it. After their high school romance came undone, they had both gone on to love and marry other people, but the connection forged by young love remained a glowing ember in both their lives.

“I’m sick and tired of these Minnesota winters,” Marcia was saying. “My one daughter keeps inviting me to come live with her in Florida, but I don’t think I could handle all that heat and humidity. Besides, she takes care of her four grandkids when her daughter is at work. I definitely couldn’t handle living in that kind of chaos.”

Again Betsy said nothing. Her own son, Jimmy, was a dentist right here in Bemidji, but she wouldn’t live with him on a bet, not ever, because living with him would also mean living with his wife, Sandra—never to be referred to as Sandy, by the way—who could charitably be referred to as a ring-tailed bitch. That was one reason Betsy didn’t want to move into assisted living in town. Being in town meant that she would be living that much closer to Jimmy and Sandra, giving them that much more opportunity to stick their very unwelcome noses into her business.

Betsy’s granddaughter, Athena, had made it clear that Betsy was welcome to come live with her family in Sedona. Betsy adored Athena, and her husband, Chris, was clearly a treasure. Their twins, Colin and Colleen, were cute as buttons, but when it came to living with little kids, Betsy was on the same page as Marcia. Having grandkids and great-grandkids come to visit was great—twins were especially good when it came to bragging rights over bingo cards—but living under the same roof with them? Nope, that wasn’t gonna happen.

“I’d hate it if you moved away,” Betsy said. “If I didn’t have you to take me back and forth to bingo, I wouldn’t have any idea about what’s really going on in town.”

For Betsy, playing bingo was the least important part of going. Gossip was the central purpose of those Monday night gatherings: whose kid had been sent to jail or gotten out of jail; whose grandson had joined the Marines; whose granddaughter had staged a big church wedding even though her baby bump was clearly visible to all concerned; whose daughter had been picked up for dealing drugs in Minneapolis. All those little tidbits were grist for the bingo gossip mill.

“It’s a shame about Tess Severson’s older son,” Marcia added. “This has to be the fourth or fifth time he’s been through rehab. Maybe this time it’ll take.”

“I hope so,” Betsy said. “It’s got to be tough on his wife and kids.”

“I’ll say,” Marcia agreed. “Why his wife sticks with him is more than I can understand.”

With that, Marcia turned onto Last Road, the one that led to Betsy’s farm. For a long time their road had been the last road, but the name had become official only a few years earlier when all the country lanes, most of which had been nameless before, were assigned names. Sometime after that, the intersecting road was extended as far as the new gravel pit. At that point, Last Road had stopped being last, but the name stuck.

Betsy’s late husband, Alton, had loved having Last Road as part of their official mailing address, and it had certainly been the last road for him. Betsy suspected that despite Howard’s sly invitation, Last Road would most likely be the last one for her, too. She had scattered Alton’s ashes on the farm, and that was where Betsy had asked to have her own ashes scattered as well. At least that’s what it said in the final directions part of her will, right along with her Do Not Resuscitate directive.

“Here we are,” Marcia said, turning into the driveway and skidding to a stop in front of the house. The snow was already starting to stick. Betsy knew that beneath that thin crust of snow was a thick base coat of ice that would make for treacherous walking. She had meant to ask Harold, her next-door neighbor and general handyman, to come by and apply deicer to the walkway after that last bout of freezing rain, but she hadn’t quite gotten around to it. Before she left for bingo, she had left the porch light switched on, and the lamps in the living room were lit as well. Leaving lights on when they were away for an evening was the kind of extravagance Alton never would have tolerated. Tonight, though, Betsy was glad the house looked warm and welcoming through the falling snow.

“Thank you for the ride,” she said as she opened the car door and got out.

As Betsy tottered carefully around the vehicle, Marcia rolled down her window. “Want some help with those steps?”

“No, thanks. I’ll be fine.”

“I’ll wait until you’re inside all the same.”

Marcia was good to her word. She waited patiently in the idling vehicle while Betsy carefully inched her way up the slippery sidewalk and then used the handrail to haul her protesting body up the front steps. She could have used the wheelchair ramp, but with the ice, the zigzag layout would have made for a longer and possibly even more hazardous walk. Crossing the front porch, she pushed the key into the lock. Then, before opening the door, she paused long enough to use the key-fob control to shut off the alarm.

Jimmy and Sandra had given her the alarm system and had it installed as a Christmas present two years ago. Betsy despised the annoying beeping sound it made—not unlike the obnoxious racket her hearing aids made whenever she turned them on or changed the batteries. As a consequence she always tried to turn the alarm off before she entered the house. Once inside, she turned back and waved at Marcia, then stood in the open doorway and watched until the Kia’s departing taillights faded into the snowy darkness.

After closing and locking the door, Betsy dropped her keys into the bowl on the entryway table and put her purse on the shelf in the coat closet. Still wearing her coat, however, she went to the laundry room to rescue Princess.

Living alone in the country, especially now that she could no longer drive, was inconvenient. It would have been incredibly lonely had it not been for the presence of her beloved and very spoiled long-haired miniature dachshund. Princess was the other reason Betsy Peterson couldn’t and wouldn’t move into assisted living. Sundowner’s Assisted Living in Bemidji didn’t take dogs.

Princess suffered from what the vet called separation anxiety and wasn’t entirely trustworthy if given the run of the house in Betsy’s absence. Locking the dog in a laundry room equipped with food, water, and her favorite bed limited the amount of damage Princess could do. After picking the squirming little dog up and being given an ecstatic whimpered greeting, Betsy fastened the retractable leash on Princess’s collar, and then stood in the doorway while the dog went to the far end of the leash to do her business.

Betsy had considered installing a doggie door but had given up on the idea. She had heard of too many instances where other critters, raccoons mostly, had let themselves inside houses and done plenty of damage. Due to Princess’s tiny size and the many predators roaming the nearby woods, the dog was never allowed outside without being on a leash.

Once back inside, Betsy removed her coat and hung it in the entryway closet. Then she went through the house, turning down thermostats and shutting off lights. She kept the bedroom door closed and the thermostat in there turned off. Betsy and Princess both slept far better in a chilly bedroom than in a warm one.

By the time Betsy undressed and took out her hearing aids, Princess had already burrowed her way to the far end of Betsy’s duvet, where she functioned as a living foot warmer. Snuggling under the covers, Betsy turned on her iPad and read a few pages in the most recent Mma Ramotswe story before turning off the device as well as her bedside lamp and falling asleep.

She was awakened sometime later by Princess, who was whining piteously and licking her ear. The glowing hands on the bedside clock said it was ten past one. Betsy was a little surprised that Princess would need to go back outside so soon. Usually she could make it through the night without a problem. Sighing, Betsy climbed out of bed, pulled on her robe, and headed for the door.

As soon as she opened the bedroom door, Betsy smelled gas. Gas? The whole house seemed to be full of it. How was that possible? Where was it coming from? With her heart pounding wildly inside her chest, Betsy raced toward the kitchen, limping as fast as her arthritic feet would allow. She entered the room and switched on the overhead light. Even without her hearing aids, she heard the ominous hissing of the unlit burners on her gas stove top.

Alton had insisted that pilot lights used too much of the LP gas kept stored in a tank outside the kitchen wall. Even though her husband was long gone, Betsy still had the same pilotless stove top he had bought for her and that necessitated the use of matches to light the gas ring burners.

Rushing to the stove top, Betsy twisted the knobs to shut off the gas. Then, coughing and choking on the foul-smelling stuff, she staggered through the laundry room to the back door and flung it wide open. The instant the door opened, Princess slipped between her legs and tore outside, into the yard and up to her belly in six inches of new fallen snow.

“Princess, come here!” Betsy yelled.

Most of the time, Princess would have ignored her and gone in the opposite direction. This time, the desperation in Betsy’s voice must have impacted the dog. She stopped where she was and waited. Terrified and heedless of the danger of slipping, Betsy limped down the steps, scooped up the dog, and then hurried, barefoot, to the far end of the yard. Standing with her bare feet ankle deep in freezing snow was nothing short of agony. Still, she stood there shivering for what seemed like forever, holding her equally shivering dog and waiting to see if the house would be blown to smithereens.

She may have been there for one minute or five, but in the end nothing at all happened. By then the snow had quit. Around her the night was still and quiet. The sky had cleared and the moon was out, revealing a layer of unblemished snow as far as Betsy could see.

Her fingers strayed briefly to the Medical Alert medallion Jimmy and Sandra had given her for Christmas. “You can’t be out there in the country all by yourself without some way of contacting help,” her son had insisted. “What if you fell and couldn’t get up?”

Betsy supposed he had been genuinely concerned about her. Unfortunately, Betsy regarded that remark as another stab at her independence. Ever since Christmas, however, Betsy had worn the medallion dutifully, if under protest, because she knew that if she ran into either her son or daughter-in-law while she was out and about and they discovered she wasn’t wearing it, there would be hell to pay. Wearing it meant less trouble than not wearing it.

Now, touching the medallion with her chilled fingers, she considered hitting the Medical Alert button, but she hesitated. After all, thanks to Princess, this wasn’t a medical problem. What Betsy really needed was her cell phone so she could dial 911. The trouble was, her phone was still in the bedroom on the nightstand next to her iPad and her clock.

Eventually Betsy’s breathing steadied and her heart stopped pounding. If she was going to suffer a heart attack, it would have already happened. As her breathing calmed, so did her brain. Who had turned on the burners? How had someone come into her house without her hearing them? Yes, she wasn’t wearing her hearing aids, but still. Why hadn’t Princess alerted her? The bedroom door had been closed, but a closed door was not a deterrent to a dachshund’s nose.

As for the burners? Betsy was sure they hadn’t been on when she went to bed. Someone must have come into her house while she was asleep and turned them on. Looking down at the dog in her arms, Betsy realized gratefully that Princess had most likely saved both their lives.

“Treats for you, baby girl,” Betsy promised, hugging the dog closer, “but only after we call the cops.”

Her feet were freezing. Knowing she wouldn’t be able to walk if she stayed outside any longer and hoping that the open door would have allowed some of the gas to dissipate, Betsy limped back into the house and placed the 911 call from the landline phone on the kitchen wall.

“Nine-one-one, what are you reporting?”

“Someone just tried to kill me,” Betsy managed, speaking into the phone.

“Pardon me?” the operator asked.

Damn, Betsy thought. Had her teeth been in her mouth, they probably would have been chattering. As it was, they were still soaking in a dish on the bathroom counter. No wonder the emergency operator hadn’t understood what she said.

“Just a minute,” Betsy muttered.

“Wait,” the operator was saying. “Come back.”

By then Betsy had already dropped the phone. She left it hanging there, dangling on the cord, while she hobbled on pins-and-needle feet back to the bathroom. She retrieved her teeth, rinsed them, and shoved them into her mouth. When Alton had insisted on installing a telephone on the wall in the bathroom next to the toilet, Betsy had objected on the grounds of simple decency. Now, glad it was there, she grabbed the receiver.

“Ma’am,” the operator said. “Are you injured?”

“No, I’m not,” Betsy said, “but it’s not for lack of trying. Somebody just tried to kill me. Whoever it was came into the house while I was asleep and turned on the gas burners on my kitchen stove. If Princess hadn’t awakened me  . . .”

“Is the assailant still in the house?”

“No, just me and my dog. No one else is here. Whoever did it left before I woke up.”

“Are you all right? Do you require medical assistance?”

“Would I be talking to you on the phone if I wasn’t all right?” Betsy snapped, growing impatient. She was still chilled to the bone, and she resented being asked the same question over and over. “Of course, I’m all right. I want you to send a deputy. This is an attempted murder, and I intend to report it as such.”

“All right,” the operator agreed. “I’m sending a deputy to your location right now.”

•   •   •

Deputy Raymond Severson, who showed up half an hour later, was Tess Severson’s other son—the one not currently in rehab. Raymond was nice enough, but very young. He looked like he was barely out of high school. Betsy couldn’t help but wish they’d sent someone older and more experienced.

“What seems to be the problem, Mrs. Peterson?” Deputy Severson asked, stamping loose snow from his boots on the front porch while Princess danced circles around his feet, barking her head off. Betsy picked up the dog and tried, unsuccessfully, to quiet her.

“As I told the 911 operator, someone came into my house while I was asleep, turned on the gas burners on my stove, and left them running without lighting them,” Betsy explained. “Whoever did it tried to kill me and would have succeeded if Princess here hadn’t woken me up. When I opened the bedroom door, the whole house reeked of gas. If I’d had a gas hot water heater instead of an electric one, the whole house might have blown sky high.”

“You’re saying whoever did this broke in?” Deputy Severson asked.

Betsy wasn’t feeling especially charitable about then. “How would I know how he got in?” she demanded. “Isn’t that your job?”

For the next hour or so, Severson took his time examining the locks on the front and back doors and peering at the windows both inside and out. The locks on the doors appeared to be undamaged. None of the windows were broken, either.

Betsy had used the time before the deputy’s arrival to give Princess a treat and towel her dry; then she put in her hearing aids and got dressed—complete with a pair of thick wool socks over her still tingling feet. In the time that was left, she, too, had checked for signs of a break-in and had found nothing amiss—not one thing.

“No sign of a break-in,” Deputy Severson concluded at last after completing his outdoor inspection and coming back into the house. “You believe the doors were locked?” he asked.

Betsy nodded. “I know they were,” she said.

“That means that if someone entered the house without your knowledge, they must have used a key. Does anyone besides you have a key to the residence?”

“My son has one, of course. At my age, there’s always a chance of waking up dead and someone would have to come get me, but Jimmy wouldn’t turn on the burners and risk burning the house down. That’s utterly ridiculous.”

“There’s another problem here.”

“What’s that?”

“There’s only one set of tire tracks in the driveway, Mrs. Peterson, and those belong to my patrol car. I can’t see any sign that anyone else has been here, although there is one set of bare footprints coming and going from the back door.”

“Those are mine,” Betsy told him. “After I turned off the gas, Princess and I went outside.”

“In your bare feet?” Deputy Severson asked, peering at her closely.

“Of course I went out in my bare feet. If the house was about to blow up, I wasn’t going to waste time going back to the bedroom for my shoes. That would have been nuts.”

“I suppose so, Mrs. Peterson, but unfortunately, that leaves us with only one other possibility.”

“What’s that?”

The deputy sighed. “Is there a chance you turned the burners on yourself and just don’t remember doing it? Maybe you were going to make yourself a hot drink before you went to bed and then changed your mind.”

Furious, Betsy leveled a withering look in his direction. “My dear boy,” she said scathingly, “I do occasionally make myself a cup of cocoa before bed, but when I do so, I use only one burner at a time, never all four at once.”

“It’s been cold as hell all week,” he suggested, perhaps still hoping to give her an ego-soothing way out. “You said you were in town earlier this evening. Maybe you turned the burners on after you came home in hopes of warming the place up.”

“I’ll have you know the house was already warm when I came home from bingo,” she fumed. “And why on earth would I turn on the stove burners to warm up the kitchen when I have a perfectly functioning thermostat right there on the wall? If the room had been cold—which it wasn’t—that would have been a completely inefficient way getting the job done. I may be old, Deputy Severson,” she added, “but I’m certainly not stupid.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the deputy agreed. “Of course not. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“Yes,” she told him. “You can go straight out to your car, get your crime scene kit, and dust the kitchen for prints. I want to know who turned on those burners.”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Peterson,” Deputy Severson replied. “That’s not up to me. My job is to turn in a report. Once I do that, someone upstairs decides if any further investigation is warranted. If that happens, the CSI team wouldn’t be here until much later this morning. As for the knobs on the stove? I wouldn’t count on their finding anything. After all, you turned off the burners yourself.”

“You let the sheriff know that I expect someone to show up here to go over the kitchen and the rest of the house as well,” Betsy said, escorting him to the door. “And I expect them to be here bright and early.”

She slammed the door shut behind him. And then, just for good measure, she turned the alarm back on before she went back to bed. She didn’t sleep.