Page 33 of Face Her Fear

“I’m so sorry,” Sandrine whispered. “I didn’t want it to end like this.”

Taryn pulled her into a side hug. “It’s not your fault.”

Alice got up, pulling her blanket tight around her. “Can you believe this shit?” she said.

Nicola and Brian argued in the breakout room for another half hour—their voices muffled and indistinct—before getting into their makeshift beds, each under their own blanket. Alice had placed her cover and pillow next to Josie’s. Once everyone was wrapped in their own bedding on the floor, she leaned toward Josie and whispered, “Can you really sleep? We don’t know who any of these people are at all! One of them could be a killer!”

In spite of the overwhelming fatigue weighing down every inch of her body, Josie knew her insomnia would be in full force under the current circumstances. “Want to take shifts?” she asked Alice.

“Yes, thank you. I’ll go first. I’m used to working night shifts.”

Josie wanted to tell her that they didn’t need to take shifts, but realized she had to try to sleep. Even if all she did was rest her achy body, it would be something. So she thanked Alice and closed her eyes. She was too exhausted to care about how hard and uncomfortable the floor felt beneath her. Moments later, she found herself skimming the edges of sleep. Her mind worked through the events of the day, and she realized Alice was right. She knew nothing about the people on the retreat. One of them was dead and two of them had been lying all week.

What were the others hiding?

TWENTY

Deputy Ehrbar had given Noah directions to a parking lot and the home of the retreat property’s caretaker. The residence would not come up in GPS, Ehrbar warned—not that Noah’s GPS would work in the mountains—and the lot had no address. It was just a spot, around a bend, a quarter mile past a sharp curve in the road along Route 154. Luckily, the home of Cooper Riggs was only “a coupla three” miles past the lot.

In the middle of nowhere, Noah thought.

It was almost dark by the time Noah found the parking lot. Maneuvering the rural route in over a foot of snow, with more coming down rapidly, took every bit of concentration he had, especially when he realized a creek ran alongside the road. If he lost control of his vehicle, he wasn’t just risking getting stuck in the snow miles from anyone who might help, he was likely to meet his death in a freezing watery grave.

Noah was relieved when the parking lot came into view. It wasn’t big. Half of it was filled with vehicles, their roofs carrying over a foot of snow each. He pulled into it, slotting his tires into tracks that had been made by another vehicle. Snow had nearly filled them back in, but they were still lightly visible. Leaving his vehicle in park, Noah hopped out and looked around. He counted seven vehicles, all parked side by side, snow up to their undercarriages. Josie’s was in the middle. He walked slowly along the row, the wind batting at him.

At the end of the row, there was a spot that looked as if it had been vacated either before or shortly after the snow had started. Noah could just make out the rectangle of ground that had fewer inches of snow in it than the rest of the lot. Beyond that was an opening in the trees, just wide enough for a car. What looked like footprints came from there, barely visible now that they were filled with new snowfall. Someone had made it off the mountain and driven away. Several hours ago, given the rate of snowfall and the fact that both the footprints and tire tracks were almost covered now.

But who? The caretaker? If he’d gotten off the mountain, why hadn’t he called to get help for the others? Where was he?

Noah pulled his phone from his coat pocket to call Ehrbar, but the call wouldn’t go through. Nothing was coming or going. He had no network connection. Sighing, he put it away and walked up the path, following the partially covered prints until he came to a John Deere Gator. It was covered in snow. Even if he had keys to it, there was no way it was traversing over a foot of snow.

Night was closing in. Soon he wouldn’t even be able to see, and he didn’t trust the battery on his phone to power his flashlight app long enough to get back to his vehicle. He wondered how long the path was and whether he could walk it or not if he got his actual flashlight out of his car. Based on what Ehrbar had told him, he didn’t think so. Maybe on a warm day with no snow. But not now. He needed help to be able to get to Josie and bring her back. Freezing to death halfway up the mountain wasn’t going to do either of them any good.

He trudged back to his vehicle, snow stinging his face. Turning the heat to full blast, he considered his options. Ehrbar hadn’t known if the caretaker was home or not. He had tried calling his landline but got no answer. Noah wondered if the missing car had belonged to Cooper Riggs. But if Riggs had made it off the mountain and gone home, why didn’t he answer his phone? Or had he not made it home at all? Had someone else from the retreat found their way to the bottom and left everyone else stuck there in a blizzard?

There was only one way to find out.

TWENTY-ONE

True to her word, Alice woke Josie from a fitful sleep four hours later for them to change shifts. Josie sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and looking around the room. It was lit only by the orange glow of the fire from within the wood-burning stove. Someone had kept it going during the night. While Alice turned onto her side and quickly began to snore, Josie leaned against the wall, drawing her knees to her chest and watching the others, just lumps beneath their blankets. Awake and alone with her thoughts, her brain instantly went to Noah. She had hoped he would somehow make it up the mountain to them before they went to sleep even though, given the snowfall outside, it was clearly not feasible. She wondered if Gretchen or the Chief had gotten in touch with him and told him they’d had a homicide. She thought about poor Meg, her frozen body alone in the dark on the side of a mountain.

Guilt felt like a vise around her chest. Mett’s voice floated up from somewhere in her brain.You did the best you could under the circumstances.

What do I do now?she asked him.

She swore she could hear his laughter.You already know what to do, he said.You don’t need me.

The band around her chest tightened. Tears threatened.But I miss you so much.

A rustling drew her attention. Across the room, Brian rolled over and threw his cover aside. Although they’d laid on the floor next to one another, Nicola was now several feet away from Brian. He didn’t look at her and she didn’t stir. He heaved himself to his feet and walked over to the stove. When he opened the door, Josie felt a light wave of heat wash over her. Inside, the last log was almost gone. She watched as Brian took another from the bottom of the bucket beside the stove and placed it inside. Flames flared as the wood caught fire. Brian felt around the bottom of the bucket and came up empty. He got onto his hands and knees and searched around the stove.

Josie whispered, “The rest of the wood is in the kitchen.”

Startled, Brian jumped back and landed on his rear end. His eyes searched the semi-darkness until he found Josie. She stood up and padded over. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. I couldn’t sleep.”

She extended a hand and helped him to his feet. She pointed to the bucket and he picked it up, following her into the kitchen. She tried the light switch and a bulb flickered on overhead.

“Guess the generator is still working,” Brian said.

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