The Cold Nowhere Read Free

on?’
    The girl glanced at the dining room windows, as if she expected to see the face of her stalker framed behind the glass. She was like a deer, alert and swift. ‘I was at a party on the big ore boat in Canal Park. Some bigwig rented it out.’
    ‘Do you know who?’
    ‘No. It was a bunch of car dealers.’
    Stride frowned. It took clout and money to get a private party on the
Frederick
. ‘Why were you there?’
    ‘They needed girls.’ She chewed a fingernail and looked guilty. ‘It was me and a few others. We were the entertainment.’
    ‘What kind of entertainment?’
    She shrugged. ‘You know.’
    ‘How old are you, Cat?’ he asked.
    Her pretty lower lip bulged. ‘Eighteen.’
    Her eyes looked like a kid’s eyes again, trying to get away with a lie. ‘I’m not going to arrest you for anything,’ he said. ‘I want to help you, but I need you to trust me, and I need you to tell me the truth.’
    He knew he was asking a lot. For girls like Cat, trust was a foreign thing.
    ‘Okay, I’m sixteen,’ she said. ‘I tell them I’m older. Nobody asks questions. I’m pretty, that’s all they care about. The sex stuff …it’s just a way to get money, you know? The guy tonight, I didn’t even do it with him. I – I hit him. Hard.’
    ‘Did you hurt him?’ Stride asked.
    ‘He was bleeding, but he was okay.’
    ‘Why did you hit him? Did he assault you?’
    ‘He wanted me to do things I don’t do. Not anymore. I mean, I’ll sleep with guys, fine. What’s the big deal, it’s only sex. But not other stuff. I won’t do that again.’
    ‘Stuff?’
    The girl explained. Stride hid his disgust.
    ‘The man you hit, is he the one who tried to kill you?’ he asked.
    ‘No, after I hit him, I left. I just wanted to get out of there. This man was waiting for me outside the ship and he chased me back inside. The only way I could get away from him was to jump in the harbor.’
    Stride leaned forward. ‘You
jumped
from the deck of the boat?’
    ‘Yeah. It was so cold. My dress tore off. I swam to the Canal Park side, and I ran. I figured he’d try to come after me, so I just kept running.’
    ‘It’s more than three miles. You made it all this way? In the snow?’
    ‘I stole a blanket out of a car on the street,’ she said. ‘That helped.’
    Stride liked the spark of life he saw in this girl, regardless of the things she’d done. Cat was young and small, but she had courage. Serena would have said he had a weakness for women who needed rescue. ‘This man who came after you, do you know who he is?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘What did he look like?’
    ‘I never saw his face.’
    ‘Why do you think he’s trying to kill you?’
    ‘It’s not the first time. He’s been after me for a while.’
    ‘He has? Are you sure?’
    ‘Yeah, it started about three weeks ago. I was back home for a while. I’m in and out of there, you know? I slipped out my window one night, and when I came out of the woods, somebody ran after me. That was the first time. I was lucky, because a bus came by, so I hopped on. I could see him down the block behind me.’
    ‘But you didn’t recognize him.’
    ‘No, it was too dark. I’ve been bouncing around since then. I stayed with my aunt for a few days. She rents a place at the Seaway, but you know what it’s like there. They’ll rat you out for a Snickers bar. I thought someone was watching me again, so I bolted. Then last week, I was hanging out at the shelter on First Street. I took a walk in the middle of night. I do that sometimes. It was Sunday, nobody was around, but a car took off after me. He almost ran me down as I crossed near Sammy’s.’
    ‘Did you see what kind of car it was?’
    ‘No, all I saw was the lights. The engine sounded like a sports car. Anyway, I’ve been running since then. I thought maybe I’d lost him, because I didn’t see anybody all week. Until tonight.’
    Stride thought about what Cat was saying and what he saw in her face. She was