Ice Read Free Page A

almost more than he could handle.
    “That woman looked at me.” Niki Vann indicated the driver of the black Mercedes as the woman got out of the small SUV and pointed a remote at it. The lights blinked, signaling that the vehicle was locked, and the woman hurried through the rain into the little grocery store.
    “She did?” Darwin asked, his attention zeroing in on the woman like a laser. No one was supposed to notice them. That was the plan, and he didn’t like people messing with his plans. Feral hostility glowed in his sunken eyes as he glared at the door through which she’d passed.
    “Yeah. Bitch,” Niki growled, for no reason other than that the other woman was driving a Mercedes. Then an idea began to squirm in her brain. “I bet she’s got a lot of money in her purse. Look at whatshe’s driving. I bet she’s got more than that rinky-dink little grocery, and she’s by herself.”
    Darwin drummed his fingers faster, faster. “What’re you thinking?” he asked, as if he didn’t know, grinning at her. Niki was even better than he was at seeing an opportunity and not hesitating to act on it. Because of her, their supply of meth was fairly steady. She was always looking for a way to get more money.
    She shoved the Blazer door open again, and got out. “Be back in a minute,” she said before closing the door, then she darted through the rain, her thin body almost dwarfed by the huge green jacket she wore.
    Inside the store, Lolly Helton grabbed a cart and headed down the first aisle. She didn’t need much, just some cans of soup and a couple of sandwich items, maybe a couple of magazines to read, and she wanted to be home before dark so she was in a hurry. Because she was in a hurry, of course, she was stopped almost immediately.
    “Lolly!” said a woman wearing a bright red apron that covered her from neck to knees, looking around from where she was neatening the stacks of produce that had been disordered by customers picking through them for a perfect head of cabbage, or apples that were either firm or soft according to their individual tastes. “I heard you were back. You’re looking well.”
    “Thank you,” said Lolly, good manners making her pause. “You, too. How have you been?” Mr. and Mrs.Richard had owned the little grocery store for as long as she could remember, and she’d always liked Mrs. Richard, who loved to joke and gossip and never had anything negative to say about anyone. The door opened behind her and a gust of cold air swept in. She didn’t look around, but moved her cart to the side so the newcomer could pass by.
    “Well. Busy, this time of year, with all the holiday cooking.” She wiped her hands on the apron, her gaze moving beyond Lolly to whoever had entered the store behind her. She gave a brief nod of acknowledgment, then turned her attention back to Lolly. “Where are you staying tonight?”
    “At home,” said Lolly, a little startled. Where else would she be?
    “Goodness, child, haven’t you been listening to the radio? They’re predicting ice for tonight.”
    An ice storm! As if she could see the approaching storm, Lolly turned and looked out the window, her gaze sliding past the woman who had entered behind her. It wasn’t anyone she knew—didn’t look like anyone she’d
want
to know—so she didn’t make eye contact. “I haven’t had the radio on,” she admitted. She seldom listened to the radio anyway, preferring her own CD collection for music.
    “You can’t stay way out there by yourself. If you don’t have anyone you could stay with, Joseph and I have an extra bedroom—two of them, in fact, now that the boys are married and gone.”
    Lolly’s mind raced. She didn’t have any old schoolfriends she could stay with for the duration of the storm, mainly because she hadn’t really been friends with anyone. Her school years hadn’t been good ones. She was much better at making friends now, but that meant all of them were back in Portland.