Blind Trust by Jody Klaire Read Free Book Online

or worry Renee anymore and pretty much
knowing that Nan was right, I walked to the kitchen and reached under the sink.
It took one quick turn to shift the stubborn stopcock.
    “Nothing that some hot chocolate won’t fix,” I mumbled. “And a
change in identity.”

 
    Chapter 6
     
    THE NEXT MORNING Renee and I left Blob to his haunting and walked
on the snowy mountain road down into the little town. Martha and Earl had spare
ski jackets in the cabin but Renee’s jacket was a fetching bright pink and the
only one that would fit me was a violent purple color.
    We trudged our way from the quiet lane the cabin was on and met
the main road of the town itself. We rounded the corner and Renee and I stopped
in unison. Both of us were awestruck at how much we’d missed in the darkness.
    The roadway, which was covered up in a fresh fall of snow, was
lined on either side by trees that looked like they were standing at attention.
Their bare lower trunks, slim and straight, were topped off with white-covered
hats that speared up into the white sky. In front of the trees were benches,
which looked like somebody had shoved fluffy cushions on them.
    The lights on either side looked like something out of a movie,
bubbles perched on top of green ridged posts that curved into a set of three
like a chandelier.
    I stepped onto the road, then off it, then back on, then off it
just to get another shudder of awe as I checked out the twinkling shops. Some
of the buildings had those flat fronts which matched the pioneer flavor that
Martha had captured in her café. Then there were shops that poked out along the
sidewalk, the bay windows bright and welcoming topped with white hats of their
own.
    It was the kind of place that should have had “resort for the
rich”embossed in great big letters on a sign someplace. I searched
around for something to tell me the name of this place but I couldn’t see
nothing. When I did spot a sign, covered by its own smattering of snow, Renee
dragged me past it. I guessed I still weren’t officially allowed to know where
I was. 
    “I thought it was tiny,” Renee murmured as we wandered past a log
cabin bar aptly named The Ice Cooler. It was easily as big as the main street
back in Oppidum. There were three hotels I could see, a cluster of shops all
selling ski equipment, and Martha and Earl’s café. They had a police and fire
and rescue station in one building opposite the café that looked much like the
flat-topped pioneer style.
    If it weren’t for the few buildings in that style, I wouldn’t have
known we weren’t in a little Swiss village ready to ski the Alps. I would have
sworn by the chocolate box buildings that we were there. The mountain mist and
the heavy, bluey-white light made me feel like I’d wandered into a painting. I
officially loved this place.
    I must have sighed out loud as Renee bumped my arm with her
shoulder. “You getting dreamy there. Let me guess, pecan pie?”
    “Nope,” I said. “Not this time . . . but now that you mention it—”
    “Sheriff first,” she said, shoving me forward. “Then you can feed
the beast.”
    Grumbling, I followed Renee down the bustling sidewalk. There was
a nervous energy humming through the air as I watched people raiding the
grocery store.
    “Polar vortex,” I heard someone muttering. “Like winter isn’t cold
enough up here.”
    “That sounds ominous,” Renee said as we got nearer to the station.
“And that looks ominous.”
    I followed Renee’s pointed finger to the small group gathered
outside the police station. The nervous energy was laced with panic and Renee
walked up to a man at the back and asked what had happened. He turned to look
at her like she had asked him if the mountains were tall.
    “Avalanche,” he said. “Didn’t you hear it?”
    “We were in it,” Renee answered.
    The guy’s eyes widened and he dragged us both through the crowd
and presented us before the very harassed-looking deputy.
    “Hal,” he