Read On Thin Ice for Free Online Page B

pain that was starting there. He lifted up the receiver and punched in Bryan’s cell phone number.
    “Bryan? This is Alec.”
    “Hey, bro. What’s happening?”
    “Paul’s dead.”
    “Tell me you’re kidding. Please say you’re making this up.” Was there a hint of fear in Bryan’s voice? “How do you know?” Bryan asked.
    “Mom and Dad called me this morning and told me.”
    “Oh man.”
    “The brakes on his car failed.”
    A silence. “So, just like the others.”
    “Yes. Just like the others.”
    Alec held the receiver to his ear and looked at the e-mail messages still lying side by side on his desk. “I’m calling because I want you to be careful.”
    A bit of a chuckle from his brother. “Don’t worry, bro, I’m pretty safe here. I’m not likely to go driving a car anytime soon. I never got my driver’s license after getting out. I don’t trust myself at the wheel.”
    “Just watch your back.”
    “Lorena does the driving for the two of us.”
    “That’s good. Have you gotten any strange e-mails lately?”
    “E-mails? None that I can really think of. You want me to go back and look in my trash folder?”
    “I would, yes. And let me know. Mom and Dad would want you to be careful.”
    “Don’t worry. If I feel in peril, I’ll just rob a bank. That’ll land me in jail. I’ll be safe in there.”
    “Don’t joke, Bry. This is serious.”
    Bryan promised he would be careful.
    Afterward Alec felt heartened by the call. Bryan sounded good. Maybe things would get better. Maybe church was good for him. Maybe Lorena was good for him.
    Yet always, always, there was that sliver of fear when he hung up from talking to his brother that things were not as good as Bryan made them out to be. He knew he needed to go out and see him. It had been a while. He needed to make sure his brother was okay.
     
    She had always blamed her sins for her aloneness in this world. A Christian girl getting pregnant when she was eighteen was bad. She knew better. She’d been raised by a good church-going grandmother yet she had slept with her boyfriend. Just once. And had gotten pregnant. No wonder God was judging her.
    When she first feared that she might be pregnant, Alec was the first person she told. They sat quietly on the park bench when she told him. The town was all decorated for Christmas. In the distance there were carolers.
    She’d been surprised at his reaction. Instead of being upset or even afraid, he’d been pleased. He’d smiled. His dark eyes sparkled. Then he laughed. He had clasped his hands around her waist and danced them around the snow in the park.
    Megan looked out of her kitchen window to distract herself from those thoughts. A woman was making her way toward Megan’s cabin now, over the mounds ofsnow and rocks and roots in the back behind the cabin. The lights of a cabin glowed behind her like squares of bright yellow against the black sky.
    When Megan opened the cabin door, the woman said, “I thought I would come and introduce myself.”
    This was the woman she’d seen that morning with her husband in town.
    “Hello,” Megan said. “It’s good to finally meet you.”
    The woman wore a red plaid coat and a striped knitted hat with pom-poms. The whole outfit was rather endearing. She held the length of her brown hair with one hand to keep it from swirling around her face in the wind. She had broad cheeks and a generous smile.
    “I’m Vicky.” The white streak in her hair didn’t make her look older, it made her look charming.
    “Nice to meet you. I’m Megan.”
    “I arrived the other day. I’ll be here a week,” Vicky said.
    “I think I saw you this morning in town with your husband.”
    Vicky laughed out loud, a boisterous sound, and leaned her head back. It was almost, but not quite a cackle. “My husband? We just met. That’s Brad. He’s in the cabin beside mine. Even though he’s a bit older than me, we seemed to really hit it off. I’ve always liked older