Read The Cold Kiss for Free Online

think he’s dead.”
    I felt the cold air catch in the back of my throat, and I turned toward the car. The snow had covered the windshield and I couldn’t see inside.
    “He’s not dead.”
    “He’s not breathing.”
    “He’s sick, that’s all.”
    “I don’t think so. I think he’s dead.”
    “Sara, come on.”
    “Go check.”
    I didn’t move right away, and Sara stared at me, silent, then she put her head against her knees and started rocking back and forth against the building.
    I got up and walked to the passenger side and opened the door. The overhead light came on, yellow and bright, and turned all the windows to black mirrors. I slid the passenger seat forward then angled down to look inside.
    Syl was in the same position he’d been in when I went into the office, but the deep, wheezing rasp was gone. Sara was right, it didn’t look like he was breathing.
    I watched him for any signs of movement, then I leaned in and pressed my fingers against his neck. I didn’t feel a pulse, but I wasn’t sure I was doing it right, either. I’d only seen it done in movies.
    “Is he dead?”
    “I don’t think he’s breathing.”
    Sara pushed herself up and came closer. She stopped at the edge of the walkway and said, “I knew it. I knew he was dead.” Her voice shook. “God, Nate, what are we going to do?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Are you sure he’s dead?”
    I held my fingers against his neck for a while longer then said, “I can’t find a pulse, but I’m not sure.”
    “Check his wrist, that’s easier.”
    Syl’s right arm was tucked against his side, and I lifted it up and pressed my fingers against his wrist. When I did, I felt something wet on his skin. I pulled my hand away and held my fingers up to the overhead light.
    Sara was watching over my shoulder, and when she saw my hand she said, “Is that blood?”
    I didn’t say anything. Instead, I reached down and opened Syl’s jacket. The right side of his shirt was wet and coated red, and I could see a tattered white bandage showing above his beltline.
    “Is that blood?”
    I pictured the diner and the blood on the bathroom floor, how it’d looked black under that pale white light.
    “Answer me, Nate.”
    “Yeah,” I said. “It’s blood.”
    “From what?” I could hear the panic building in her voice. “What happened to him?”
    “I don’t know,” I said. “But there’s a lot of it.”
    Sara said something else, but it got lost in the wind, and I let it go.
    I looked around and found an old McDonald’s bag on the floor behind my seat. I picked it up and took out a few crumpled napkins and used them to lift the edge of Syl’s shirt. The bandage was taped to his side and soaked through. I used one of the napkins to lift one corner, and when I did, the skin underneath tore and the wound seeped thick and black.
    The smell was horrible.
    I looked away for a moment, then lifted the bandage farther. The wound was small and round and the flesh surrounding it was bruised purple. I leaned closer, and once again the smell made me pull away.
    The burger I’d eaten earlier climbed to the back of my throat, and I had to swallow hard to keep it there. For a second, I thought it wasn’t going to stay down and I backed out of the car, fast, and spit into the snow.
    “Jesus.”
    When I looked up, Sara was gone.
    I turned and saw her moving through the snow toward the office. I ran after her, and when I got close I reached for her arm.
    “Wait.”
    She pulled away. There were tears on her face.
    “I’m going to call the cops,” she said. “We have to tell them.”
    “We can’t. The phones are out.”
    She didn’t look like she understood, so I went over everything Butch told me. When I finished, I took the matches and the emergency candles from my pocket and handed them to her.
    “There’s heat in the rooms,” I said. “But that’s it.”
    Sara stared at the candles before taking them. “Did he know how long the phones would