Read Heart of Ice for Free Online Page B

in?”
    “I did,” Flowers said.
    The tone in Flowers’s voice told Louis that Flowers shared his dislike for the state police. He wondered if it went beyond the usual jurisdictional pissing matches.
    Flowers’s eyes suddenly looked past Louis. “Speak of the devil,” he said.
    Louis felt a rush of cold air and turned. A tall man in a tan trench coat had just come in the restaurant. His eyes scanned the restaurant with a laser-like proficiency, and when he spotted Flowers he came to the table.
    Flowers rose and held out a hand. “Chief Flowers.”
    “Detective Norm Rafsky.”
    The name was an itch in Louis’s brain, but he couldn’t remember where he had heard it before.
    “This is Louis Kincaid,” Flowers said, nodding. “And his daughter, Lily.”
    “Kincaid . . . you’re the one who found the bones?” Rafsky asked Louis.
    “I did,” Lily said.
    “I’ll explain later,” Flowers said.
    Rafsky’s eyes dropped to the photographs on the table. He picked them up and gave them a glance before moving on to the folder with the crime scene photos.
    “This all you have?” he asked.
    “I have plenty more at the station,” Flowers said.
    Rafsky was trying to put the photographs back in the folder. Louis noticed that he had to brace the folder against his chest and that his right hand had a slight tremor.
    “I’ll need to see the lodge,” he said. “Can you get me a car?”
    “I can get you a golf cart,” Flowers said.
    Rafsky glanced at his watch. “What hotels are still open here?” he asked.
    “The Potawatomi Hotel over on Astor Street stays open year-round,” Flowers said.
    Rafsky gave a nod and left. Louis watched him through the window. He was standing in the street as if he was trying to figure out which way to go. The man’s name was still hanging on the edge of his memory.
    Norm Rafsky.
    Suddenly it all came back. Joe’s description of the state investigator with the ice-blue eyes. It took a few more seconds for Louis to retrieve the details of the story Joe had told him about her rookie year as a police officer in northern Michigan’s Leelanau Peninsula. She had pursued a monstrous serial killer and witnessed the assassinations of two fellow officers and the wounding of a state investigator.
    The investigator had been Norm Rafsky.
    “Louis?”
    He looked over at Lily.
    “Can we go look at the horses now?”
    “Sure we can. You finished?”
    Lily nodded and slid out of the booth. Louis looked down at Flowers.
    “I’m going to stay and get a burger,” Flowers said.
    “We’ll be here one more night if you need me,” Louis said. He started to reach for the check, but Flowers grabbed it.
    “Lunch is on me,” he said.
    Louis nodded. “Thanks.”
    Outside they paused on the sidewalk. Gray clouds had rolled in.
    “I think it might rain soon,” Louis said. “We better go find the stables.”
    Lily didn’t answer, didn’t even look up at him. She was just standing there, clutching the stuffed rabbit.
    Thirty minutes ago she was eating her pancakes and singing to Lucy. Now she looked—what? He had never been able to read kids, and he sure couldn’t read Lily right now.
    He dropped to one knee. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
    “Nothing.”
    She was looking back at the restaurant. He tipped her face toward his.
    “Tell me the truth.”
    “Why don’t you help Chief Flowers?” she asked.
    He let his hand drop and just stared at her.
    “I don’t think he knows how to do it,” she said.
    “Do what?”
    “Make sure the bones get home.”
    “Chief Flowers will take care of the bones.”
    “But he sent them to a lab.”
    Louis couldn’t think of a thing to say.
    “We found her, Louis,” Lily said. “It’s up to us to make sure she gets home okay.”
    Louis sat back on his haunches. He had to force himself not to look away from her because he was remembering that day seven months ago when she had asked him why he had never tried to find his real father. He told her then