Polar (Book 1): Polar Night (26 page)

Chapter 68

Lauren walked slowly through
Aleksei’s living quarters, buttoning her coat against the burst of cold that had engulfed the bungalow as soon as the other officers had opened the kitchen door to the outside. She ignored the chaos of the root cellar and the kitchen, as she knew the others had that situation well in hand. She wanted to get back to the reason she was here in this Arctic nightmare in the first place. Katie Bailey.

She searched the master bedroom and found nothing out of the ordinary, except for the fact that Aleksei had covered the king-sized bed with black. Black comforter, black pillows, and a black blanket. Very cheery place, Lauren thought. The closet looked as if it had been recently emptied, which fit with Danny’s insistence that Nechayev had left the premises for good.

Lauren walked down the corridor, passing a bathroom with no knob on the inside of the door, and wondered if Katie and the rest of the women had been locked into that bathroom with no way to even try to open the door from their end. As she had always struggled with claustrophobia, Lauren shuddered at the prospect.

She shuddered more when she came to what had to be a guest bedroom, and immediately realized that this bedroom door was also missing an inside knob. Lauren had no doubt that this room was where Aleksei had kept his prisoners. Unlike Aleksei’s own bed, this one was unmade, and the sheets and blankets were bunched haphazardly across the bed. Lauren winced as she noticed drops of blood staining the sheets and pillow cases. Was that Katie’s blood?

Looking down at the floor next to the bed, Lauren came to a dead stop. A pile of clothing lay on the floor, khaki pants, brown socks, and a blue polo shirt with an insignia on the chest. A lacy bra and a pair of panties had been tossed on top of a pair of taupe boat shoes. Lauren crouched down to get a closer look at the lettering on the shirt. “George’s Place.”

Lauren immediately recognized the name of Katie’s grandfather’s restaurant and she knew she was looking at Katie’s work clothes. The clothes she had been wearing when she was abducted. Lauren noticed blood stains covering the collar of Katie’s shirt. Had Aleksei sliced her throat? That would be Lauren’s guess.

She stood back up and pulled an evidence bag out of the bag she had been carrying over her shoulder since she had landed in Fairbanks. She snapped on a pair of gloves and picked up Katie’s clothing and shoes, making a mental note to herself to make sure she got a team in place to analyze the bedclothes and the rest of the room.

Satisfied she had seen everything that could possibly be of interest in Aleksei’s bungalow, Lauren carried the bag of Katie’s clothing out of the room and returned to the kitchen.

Chapter 69

“There you are,” Jack Meyer
said as Lauren joined the rest of the officers. “I was about to send a search team out. We thought you were still back in the asylum.”

Lauren shook her head. “No, I’ve been searching the bungalow.”

“What do you have there?” Jack asked, gesturing towards the evidence bag in Lauren’s hand.

“Katie Bailey’s clothes. I’m sure it’s the uniform she was wearing when she was abducted. The shirt has the name of her grandfather’s restaurant on it.”

Jack’s heart sank. “Aww shit. What a god damn ugly business this is.”

Danny thought back to the Katie he had seen with Aleksei. What was Aleksei calling her? Katerina?

“When I saw her body, Aleksei had dressed her in one of his costumes,” he said.

“What do you mean, costumes?” Lauren asked.

Terry answered for Danny. “When we searched this place last week, we found a closet full of old-fashioned costumes for women. Long dresses, old shoes, that sort of thing.”

“Right,” Danny said. “And that’s what he put her in. It was a long velvet dress.”

Danny didn’t mention that Katie had torn the dress to a much shorter length, and a much more revealing v-neck.

“So he dressed up her dead body in a costume?” Lauren said. “What the hell did he do with it then? There’s not a body here. There’s nothing.”

“He took the body with him,” Danny said.

Lauren shook her head, incredulous. “Holy shit, what kind of freak is this guy?”

“Well it doesn’t matter,” Jack said. “We’ll find him soon enough. He couldn’t have gotten far on his own, let alone carting around a corpse.”

Lauren rubbed her eyes and forced herself to concentrate on her case. “We’re going to need a forensics team up here. We need to go over this place with a fine-toothed comb.”

“Already in the works,” Jack said. “I’m hoping they’ll get here soon with our transport.” He stared at Maria, who was listless and non-responsive on the floor, bundled in as many blankets as the team could find. “We need to get Ms. Treibel to a hospital ASAP.”

To everyone’s relief, they heard footsteps marching towards the kitchen, and two National Guardsmen carrying blankets and a stretcher entered the room.

“We’ve got a jeep for two injured patients,” one said. “There’s a hospital plane waiting back at the air field.

Danny scowled. “I don’t need special transport.”

“Shut up and let us take care of you,” Tessa said, silencing him with both her words and her expression.

Jack pointed to Maria. “Take this lady first, she’s critical.”

As the Guardsmen bundled Maria onto the stretcher, Lauren turned to Jack.

“I’m going to stay behind and wait for the team,” she said.

“Figured you would. Keep me up to date, please.”

“Of course.”

The Guardsmen returned, and Tessa forced Danny onto the stretcher. They carried him out of the bungalow and back through the asylum, with Jack, Tessa, Terry, and Doug following behind.

Chapter 70

Danny swung his legs over
the side of the Fairbanks hospital emergency room bed, and tapped his feet on the tile floor. For the hundredth time, he glanced at the clock across the room from his bed. He wondered if he’d ever get out of this hospital.

“Knock, knock,” Amanda said as she entered the room.

“Well look who it is,” Danny said. “I understand I have you to thank for saving my life.”

“If you mean I let your co-workers know about your psychotic mission, yes.”

“See, I wasn’t totally nuts. I let you know what I was doing.”

“You were still totally nuts. In fact I think that may be the understatement of the year.”

Danny smiled. “The way Tessa’s acting, I don’t know if she’ll ever let me out of her sight again.”

“I don’t know if I will either.” Amanda shook her head. “I’m not even going to ask you what you were thinking.”

“Good. Tessa’s asked that enough for ten people.”

Amanda chuckled. “I have a feeling she won’t be the only one asking,” she said. “Anyway, I’m your ride home.”

“Thank God. It’s about time.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone as impatient as you are.”

“Impatient? I’ve been here for hours. And there’s nothing wrong with me anyway.”

“Oh, right. Nothing but mild hypothermia, dehydration, a bruised esophagus, shock…”

“I’m fine now,” Danny said. He started to get up from his bed. “So let’s get the hell out of here.”

“Not so fast. The nurse is still processing your discharge.”

Danny slumped back down onto the bed. “Oh, Christ.”

“I talked to Tessa,” Amanda said. “It sounds like Maria’s going to be okay.”

Danny breathed a sigh of relief. “Well thank God for that.”

“She was totally dehydrated and had severe hypothermia so there was concern about organ damage, but the doctors said they got her in time. Or I should say you got her in time.”

“We all did. No one would have known to come for either of us if it wasn’t for you.”

“What happened to that teenager from Seattle?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“I heard she was dead, but they haven’t found her body.”

“They won’t. Aleksei took her with him.”

“What?”

Danny stared straight at Amanda, imploring her to understand without making him say too much. “He made her like him. A vampire.”

Amanda’s face drained of all color. “Oh my God. How do you know?”

“Because he introduced me to her.”

“Oh my God,” Amanda repeated, clutching the cross around her neck. “That poor girl.”

“Trust me. That poor girl is long gone.”

“What about her family? What will you tell them?”

“What can I tell them? What can I tell anyone? All I can say is Aleksei told me he killed her and I saw her dead body. Honestly, that’s not even a lie. And even if they’re never going to find a body, I hope that will give the family some peace of mind eventually. I can’t leave them to just wonder where she is or what happened to her for the rest of their lives.”

Before Amanda could respond, Captain Jack Meyer entered the room behind her.

“Fitzpatrick,” he said, “you’re even crazier than I thought.”

Danny couldn’t help but chuckle. “Guilty as charged.”

“I’d love to chew your ass out but how can I when you not only found Maria Treibel, you solved God knows how many cold cases as well? Maybe I’ll force you to go on leave more often.”

“Have the search teams found any bodies?”

Meyer shook his head. “Nah. There’s not much point in even searching now, to be honest. Everything is too frozen. We’ll have to wait until spring to really search in earnest. But, both you and Maria say Nechayev talked about killing a bunch of other women. Obviously you were right about Anna Alexander, too.”

Danny nodded. “Aleksei admitted that one to me.”

“Yeah. He is one crazy son of a bitch, that one. Tessa’s got an APB out, but we haven’t turned up a thing yet. It’s like this bastard just disappeared into thin air. Or into the snow, at least. It doesn’t make a damn bit of sense. Especially if he had that poor kid’s body with him. There aren’t any tire tracks leaving the house, his truck is still in the garage… If he left there on foot maybe we’ll find him in the spring, too. Nobody could have gotten far in that weather on foot.”

Danny and Amanda caught each other’s gaze, but remained silent. Danny knew Aleksei was going to be an Alaskan mystery that would never be solved. Years from now, children would tell ghost stories around campfires about the murderer who disappeared into the Arctic snow.

“There’s one thing I really don’t get,” Jack said.

“What’s that?”

“Why the hell did he let you live? I get the feeling he assumed Maria was dead already anyway, or at least close enough to it that she wouldn’t be found in time. But why take the chance with you?”

“I think in his own perverse way, he liked me,” Danny said.

“Odd way of showing it.”

“I said it was perverse. And honestly Captain, I think it was just arrogance on his part. The whole thing was a game to him, and he was toying with me. And he was so sure of his ability to escape our grasp that he didn’t see it as a risk.”

Jack shook his head. “Like I said, crazy son of a bitch.”

“You mentioned Maria,” Danny said. “She’s well enough to talk?”

“Barely. She’s weak as a kitten, but she could answer a few questions.”

“I’d like to see her before I leave.”

“I’m sure you can. She’s up in the ICU but I’ve no doubt they’ll let you in as soon as they know who you are.”

The room suddenly became crowded, as a nurse entered carrying Danny’s chart and a packet of papers. She set the packet on the bed beside Danny.

“You’re clear to go, Detective,” she said. “These are your discharge instructions. I just need to go over them with you and then you’re all set.”

Danny barely listened as the nurse read over the obligatory instructions and quickly leapt to his feet as soon as she finished.

“Do you mind waiting while I go see Maria?” he asked Amanda.

“Not at all.”

“Thanks. I’ll meet you in the lobby then.”

Danny reached out to shake Jack’s hand. “Captain. Thanks for coming by. And for finding me up in that hellhole.”

“You’ve got Tessa to thank for that,” Jack said. “And this lady too, from what I understand.”

“That’s right,” Danny said, smiling at Amanda.

“Lauren Cooper’s gonna be calling you. She wants to get a statement from you about Katie.”

“Did she and the team find anything else up there?”

“Not that I’ve heard. But the FBI’s getting involved now since this goes across state lines. I imagine they’ll have people up in Coldfoot for quite a while.” Jack grinned. “Lucky sons of bitches.”

Danny chuckled. “I’m sure the agents fought over who got that assignment.”

Jack patted Danny on the shoulder. “Take care of yourself, Fitzpatrick. And I don’t want to see you back at work before the end of the week. This time, I hope you’ll listen.”

“I will, trust me. All I want to do is go home and sleep.”