Read Glare Ice for Free Online Page B

deputy must have been first on the scene. She was walking around with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and he wondered if she had gone into the water. She wasn’t afraid to go out on the line, you had to give her that.
    Clay liked her. She took charge, which some people had a hard time doing. He had worked with her on a car accident, and she had kept things running very smoothly. His wife had wanted to know all about the new woman deputy when he came home after the accident. He had ended up describing her as “intense, but calm.”
    “Anyone out there?” he asked as he walked up to Watkins.
    “Yeah, but I think he’s a goner.” She looked at her watch. “I’ve been here five minutes already. God knows how long he was under before I got here. We’ll just have to wait and see when the fire chief can get him out.”
    Clay stood and looked out at the back of the car sticking out of the water. Suddenly he felt like ice water had been poured down his body. “Whose car is that?” he shouted.
    “I don’t know,” Watkins said.
    “I think I know.”
    She looked at him, waiting.
    “It’s my nephew’s. His name is Buck Owens.” Clay hated the words coming out of his mouth.
    “I’m so sorry.” Claire took a step toward him, but then stopped and pulled her blanket tighter around herself.
    Clay looked out at the car sticking out of the ice. “I don’t get it. He would never do something so dumb as driving out on the ice. What am I going to tell my sister? That was her only kid. She loved him like he was a saint. He wasn’t that bright, but he was a hell of a nice kid.”
    Dr. Lord drove up in his rust-fringed old Volvo station wagon. He had a tweed cap pulled over his bald head and a down vest worn over a flannel shirt. Stepping out of his car, he appeared to be moving rather slowly. Maybe his arthritis was acting up again. He didn’t mention it often, but Claire knew it affected his hands sometimes while he was working.
    She was surprised how glad she was to see him. As if he were a dear old friend at a party full of people she didn’t know, she ran up to him and said, “Thanks for coming down at this time of night.”
    “Indeed,” he said, smiling. Then he stared at Claire, wrapped in the white flannel blanket that the ambulance crew had given her to dry off with. “This the new style?” he asked.
    “I went for a swim.”
    He shook his head, looking her up and down. “I’d advise against it this late in the year.”
    “Advice taken, but it’s a little late,” Claire said as she brought Dr. Lord over to where the body was laid out by the firemen. “I’m glad you could come out. I wanted you to see the body before it was moved again.”
    “We oldsters don’t sleep that well. A little break in the middle of the night is not unusual. What happened?”
    Claire walked him up to the covered body of Buck Owens as they talked. She explained what she knew. “Car went part of the way under the ice. His head was tied to the headrest, so he was under water. He was probably dead before I even arrived on the scene. But only minutes. They did try to resuscitate him, but it did no good.”
    Claire reached down and pulled the sheet back. Dr. Lord slowly lowered himself down on his knees beside the wet and sprawling body and put on a pair of latex gloves. Deftly he checked over the body, looking into the eyes, the mouth, the ears, taking the temperature by putting a thermometer far into Buck’s mouth, even though he told her it wouldn’t be very accurate.
    “I’m sure the water brought his temperature down fast. I know it did mine.”
    “This kind of ice water can lower the temperature quickly. I have some charts back at the office that will tell me how quickly.”
    “He’s carrying a little extra weight. Would have kept him warm a little longer.”
    “Yes. He looks like a strong young guy,” Dr. Lord commented.
    Claire filled him in on what she knew of the man. “Buck Owens. Twenty-five years