Jack Frost: Detective Jack Stratton Mystery Thriller Series Read online

  Leah’s brown eyes blazed. “Who was just in here?”

  “No one.” Gavin sat up in bed. “I don’t know what—”

  “You fool. If that was Vicky, so help me, you’ll never work again. I should fire you right here and now.”

  “You can’t prove anything. You didn’t see anyone here.”

  “Those are yours?” Jack pointed at a pair of red panties poking out from the sheets.

  Gavin’s lips pulled back, revealing his clenched teeth. “Yes.” He squared his shoulders.

  “We’ll talk about this later,” Leah snarled. “Where’s Ryan?”

  “He’s in his room, I guess. But you—”

  “LEAH!” Harvey screamed from downstairs, his voice filled with terror.

  Jack and Leah rushed out into the hallway. Harvey came running up the stairs and stopped short in the middle of the hall. His face was pale, and he was shaking.

  “What’s wrong?” Jack asked.

  Harvey bent over and threw up. He gagged, then threw up again.

  Ollie ran up the stairs. “Ryan’s dead!”

  The door across the hall from Gavin’s room burst open, and Wally the weatherman walked out.

  31

  Missing Footage

  Alice drummed her fingers as she waited for the remote computer to respond to her commands. The flash of light from her engagement ring caught her eye. I love you, Jack Stratton.

  “I found another one,” Mrs. Stevens called out from the bedroom.

  Alice let out a long sigh and walked into the bedroom—their makeshift video reviewing room. Mrs. Stevens had frozen the video on a shot of a man wearing the host’s jacket. His face was turned away, but the gold logo on his lapel was visible.

  “That makes four times I’ve found background footage of Ollie wearing Gavin’s jacket directly before or after a stunt,” Mrs. Stevens said. “Now that I know what to look for, I can tell when it’s not Gavin, even from behind. He’s got a distinctive stiff posture, whereas Ollie is a sloucher.”

  “Clearly, this was a regular thing,” Alice said.

  “I was so wrong about that man…” Mrs. Stevens shook her head, setting her red hair bouncing. “At this point I seriously doubt whether Gavin ever did any of his own stunts.”

  Alice checked the time stamp at the bottom of the screen. “This video was taken on the day of the accident?” she mused. “Do you notice the time?”

  “Only an hour or so beforehand.”

  “Let’s go frame by frame,” Alice said.

  “Okay.” While Mrs. Stevens advanced the video with taps on the right arrow key, the man turned, and his face slowly came into view, like an old-fashioned flip book.

  “Oh, my word,” Mrs. Stevens said, “it’s not Ollie at all.”

  What in the world…?

  “No, it’s not.” Alice stared into the face of the man wearing the host’s jacket. “It’s Charlie Parker.”

  32

  Clogged Toilet

  Jack grabbed Wally by the wrist, yanked him into the hallway, and slammed him against the wall. Wally shrieked as Jack grabbed his other arm and pulled both of his hands behind his back. Using one foot, Jack swept Wally’s legs out from under him and swung him face-down onto the carpet.

  “Help!” Wally yelled weakly through the side of his mouth.

  “Shut up.” Jack ripped his belt off and tied Wally’s hands together behind his back. “Ollie, are you certain Ryan’s dead?”

  Ollie nodded glumly.

  “You checked his pulse?”

  “He’s stone cold and bright blue. He’s dead, mate, in the downstairs bathroom.”

  Leah bolted down the hall toward the stairs. Jack yelled at her to wait, but she didn’t respond. With a sigh, Jack patted Wally down, removed a wallet from his back pocket, and pulled the man to his feet.

  Gavin stepped into the hallway, pulling on his shirt. “What the hell is going on?”

  Jack ignored him. He pushed Wally toward the stairs. “Move.”

  Wally trudged down the stairs with Jack holding his bound hands. Ollie and Gavin followed behind.

  The contestants had been gathered in the great room, and all four of them stood up and started asking questions at once.

  “Everyone needs to stay here,” Jack said in his most authoritative police crowd-control voice, making eye contact with every one of them. “Gavin, you too. I’ll come back and explain everything, but for now, you are all to remain in this room. Is that clear?”

  There was a good deal of muttering, but nobody tried to follow as Jack and Ollie led Wally down the hallway toward the bathroom and out of earshot of the great room.

  “Hold on to him,” Jack ordered, pushing Wally toward Ollie. “He tried to kill Leah and me.”

  Ollie took hold of Wally’s wrists.

  “I didn’t kill anyone. I’m—” Wally started.

  Ollie shoved him against the wall and hissed, “Don’t move, don’t speak, or I’ll kill you.”

  Jack found Leah standing silently in the bathroom doorway. Tears ran down her anguished face, and her hand was clasped over her mouth.

  Jack squeezed her shoulder, then stepped inside to see all the doors of the toilet stalls closed except one, where Ryan’s body was lying on the floor, his head against the base of the toilet. His face was blue, his eyes open and bulging, his hair wet. A puddle of water spread out beneath his head and pooled on the tiles. A hinge of the toilet seat was broken and hung at an angle. The sheet-metal toilet-paper dispenser had been torn off the wall and was lying at his feet.

  Shouting sounded from the hallway, and Jack ran back to the door.

  “You tried to kill Abe, too!” Leah was flying at Wally, her small fists flailing. She tried to pound him, but Jack pulled Leah back by her waistband.

  “What’s wrong with you people?” Wally shouted.

  “Shut up.” Jack glared at Wally, and the weatherman snapped his mouth closed. “Ollie, guard Wally while I go take care of Ryan. Leah, go get a camera. We need to treat the bathroom like a crime scene and get photos of everything.”

  Ollie crossed his arms. “Who put you in charge?”

  “I just did,” Leah said. “Jack isn’t actually a gofer. He’s private security. If he tells you to do something, do it or you’re fired. Am I clear?”

  Ollie nodded while Leah hurried down the hall.

  “How did you find the body?” Jack asked. “Walk me through it.”

  “I got all the contestants into the great room.” Ollie chewed the inside of his cheek. “I had to take a leak. At first, I thought Ryan was puking. His knees were on the floor and his head was in the bowl, but…” Ollie’s face went pale. For all his bravado, Jack wondered if he’d ever seen a dead body before. “But Ryan’s head was in the bowl. Like, jammed in. I pulled him out, but it was clear he was dead.”

  “When was the last time you saw him before that?”

  “Around one o’clock, maybe two?” Ollie shrugged. “We were all drinking, and Ryan got pretty sloshed. Gavin split, then Ryan did, too.”

  Leah jogged back down the hallway and handed Jack the camera.

  “Thanks. Keep everyone together in the great room,” Jack instructed. “Don’t let anyone go anywhere. Then make sure Bree is locked in with Abe.”

  Leah nodded.

  “What about me?” Wally whined.

  “You’re going to turn around and face the wall. If Ollie says you even flinched, I’m coming back out here, and there will be consequences,” Jack growled.

  “You can’t hurt me. You’re a cop.”

  Jack stepped closer. “No, as Leah said, I’m private security. So keep your mouth shut until I’m ready to talk to you, or you’ll find out exactly what I can do to the guy who tried to blow me up.”

  33

  Confused Accused

  Jack videotaped the entire bathroom, then took some still pictures before covering Ryan’s body with a sheet and otherwise leaving the scene as intact as possible. Trapped on a mo
untain with a blizzard raging, it was all he could do.

  When he reentered the great room, everyone immediately started lobbing questions at him, but he ignored them, marching straight to Wally, who sat in front of Ollie with his hands still tied behind his back. Jack grabbed him by the wrists and pulled him to his feet. “Let’s go. Leah, come with me.”

  “Hold on a second, mate.” Ollie stepped in front of Jack.

  “Zip it, Ollie,” Leah snapped. “Everyone wait here.”

  Ollie muttered something under his breath, but backed down and stepped aside.

  “This is crazy.” Wally began to turn around, but Jack tightened his grip.

  “Get moving.” He pushed Wally down the hallway to an empty room. “In.” Jack kicked the door open all the way to a narrow dorm room furnished with just a cot and a chair. “Sit.”

  “Aren’t you going to untie me?” Wally said.

  “No.” Jack spun him around, put a firm hand on his shoulder, and pressed him into the chair.

  Wally sat awkwardly and looked up at Leah. “Leah, you can’t really think I would hurt anyone, let alone kill them. You have me tied up like a criminal.”

  Jack didn’t let Leah answer. “You killed Ryan, you tried to kill Leah and me, and you sabotaged Abe’s climbing gear. I’d say that makes you a criminal.”

  “What are you talking about? This is absurd! Ryan was drinking a lot. They all were. Maybe he puked and passed out in the toilet bowl.”

  “No one drowns in a toilet by accident,” Jack said. “Or breaks the toilet seat in the process. What were you even doing here in the lodge? Aren’t you supposed to be manning the weather station?”

  “I was trying to get off the mountain before the blizzard. I set up all the equipment to record everything, but I’m not risking my life for data. I went to the gondola, but the fuse was blown and there weren’t any replacements. I was hoping you guys had one, so I came here. Ryan offered to let me stay the night. It was snowing so badly, I figured I’d ride out the storm here.”

  “You wrote the threatening letter about Kaniehtiio,” Jack said.

  Wally’s eyes darted between Jack and Leah. “What letter?”

  “You lying son—” Leah lunged forward, but Jack stopped her right before she got hold of Wally’s hair.

  “Okay, okay.” Sweat beaded on Wally’s forehead. “I left a scary letter on your door. Big deal. I wanted you guys to get off the mountain before you did any more damage to it, that’s true. But I didn’t kill anyone, for goodness sake!”

  “You left another letter the other day.” Leah yanked the note out of her pocket. “You left this note in my bedroom.”

  Wally looked at the note with the words “TOO LATE” written in blood. He shook his head. “I didn’t write that. I swear!”

  Jack leaned in and scowled.

  “No way, I didn’t write that one,” Wally said, craning his neck to look more closely. “Is that blood? Naw, I wrote a couple of letters and spray-painted a boulder.” His head tipped to the side. “It was biodegradable paint.”

  “What about the message on the mirror and the guy-wire you put across the snowmobile path?”

  “Look, I wrote a couple of notes and sent one to the insurance company, hoping they’d shut you down before you trampled all over this fragile ecosystem again. But that’s it!” Wally’s voice trembled. “I tried to scare you off, not kill you off! I’m not a violent person. You’ve got to believe me! I didn’t do any of this!”

  “Did you have a PLB in the weather station?” Jack asked.

  Wally shrugged. “Yeah.”

  “He’s lying.” Leah jabbed her finger in Wally’s face. “If he had a PLB he would have used it.”

  “Why?” Wally stammered. “I didn’t know the gondola wasn’t working or about the hurt climber. When I found that out I said I’d get it, but we decided to wait until morning.”

  “Who’s we?” Jack asked.

  “Ryan.”

  “Where did you keep it?”

  “There’s a cabinet of emergency stuff up there. Flares and junk. It’s in there.”

  “You know darn well that there is no more weather station. You blew it up!” Leah snapped.

  “What?” Wally looked stunned. “What do you mean, blew up? You’re kidding me… right?”

  “No,” Jack said. “And nearly killed us. We barely escaped.”

  Wally started to tear up. “No. No… That station is my life…”

  Jack had come face-to-face with a lot of lying suspects in his time on the police force, some of whom were pretty good actors. But his gut told him that Wally was telling the truth. He had no idea about what happened at the tower.

  Jack turned to Leah. “We have to see if that PLB survived the explosion.”

  Wally groaned and stared up at the ceiling. “All my work… I have to go. I need—”

  “You’re not going anywhere until we figure this out.” Jack pulled Wally out of the chair. “Leah, go get me some more rope.”

  34

  A Violent World

  Kiku lifted her cell phone to her delicate ear. She was standing at the window of her hotel room. The wind screamed outside, and the icy snow pelted the glass. “Hello, Detective Clark. I trust that everything went well after your friends arrived at the bar?”

  “It did. Thank you again.”

  “I was pleased to be of some assistance. Were you able to speak with your other friend about the matter we discussed?”

  “I’m sorry, but I struck out. The FBI still has the case sealed. The only thing I learned is that the Bureau opened a separate file on Alice’s mother before the accident. My contact either couldn’t or wouldn’t tell me why.”

  Kiku forced a smile into her voice. The elderly detective was Jack’s friend, and she didn’t want him to feel bad about delivering such distressing news. “Thank you for the information, Detective. You have been very helpful.”

  “Give Jack my best.”

  “Certainly.”

  Kiku hung up the phone and opened her laptop. She’d been over the police report a dozen times, and one detail stood out to her. The security guard at A.R. Construction, Paul Miller, was a class-A dreg of society with a long criminal record. He’d served time for arson, petty theft, larceny, and rape. Such a man should never have been hired for security, given the background checks required for such a position.

  She intended to find out more.

  A monstrous creak sounded from outside, and she turned to the window. A metal roofing structure swayed, bent, and buckled over the gas pumps it was meant to protect. In a flash, it was reduced to ruin by the high winds and heavy snow.

  Kiku wasn’t superstitious, but the ill omen reminded her that the world was an unpredictable and harsh place. Most people didn’t realize how violent it could be; she did. And so did Jack Stratton.

  35

  A Beast Outside

  Everyone except Bree and Abe had gathered solemnly in the lodge’s main room. Leah stood on the second step of the staircase, using it like a speaker’s platform, and Jack stood next to her. Everyone’s attention kept shifting over to Wally, who sat with his hands bound in front of him, tied to a chair that had been lashed to a column.

  “Listen up,” Leah boomed. As quickly as she could, over the shocked murmurs and gasps of her increasingly alarmed audience, she explained the threatening messages, the reopening of the investigation into Charlie’s death, Jack’s real role, their suspicions about Abe’s gear being sabotaged, Eric’s disappearance, the bomb at the weather station, and Ryan’s death—all the information she’d been withholding, finally out in the open.

  Maybe we can get somewhere now. Jack watched each face for tics and tells.

  “Unbelievable!” Vicky exclaimed. “You’re telling us no one knows we’re trapped up here with a murdering psycho?” Everyone stared daggers at Wally. They seemed to have forgotten about Eric for the time being, having someone closer at hand to blame.

  “That’s correct,�
� Leah said.

  “Hey, here’s the real problem,” Ollie cut in. “Apart from the murdering psycho, of course. How are we supposed to get off this mountain, even after the storm breaks? We’ve got no gondola and no way of communicating with anyone down below. We’re stranded up here!”

  “Jack is going to search for the weather station PLB and—”

  “He’s not going to find it!” Gavin snapped. “The weather station has been blown to smithereens.”

  Jack stepped forward. “We don’t actually know how badly the station was damaged. And if we don’t find it, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. In the meantime, until the blizzard passes, I’m limiting all of you to three rooms in the lodge—here, the women’s bathroom, and the kitchen. The women’s bathroom is now unisex. Everywhere else is off-limits. Have I made myself clear?”

  Everyone seemed too shocked and numb to make any objections. Jack sought out Chiri, who sat with Frida, both looking very thoughtful. “Chiri. I need to ask you something privately.” He held open the door to the kitchen and beckoned him in. Chiri exchanged a puzzled look with Frida and followed Jack into the kitchen.

  Jack crossed his arms and got directly to the point. “There’s a monster blizzard outside, but I have to try to make it to the weather station and see if I can find that PLB. It’s the only chance for Abe. If anyone has seen snow like this, I figure it’s you. Will you come with me?”

  Chiri was not smiling. “It won’t be easy. It might not even be possible.”

  “I know.”

  Chiri stared at the door of the kitchen and his eyes narrowed like he was peering through the wall, giving no clue what he was thinking, for what felt like a lifetime. Finally, he looked up at Jack and smiled. “When do we leave?”