Snow by Ronald Malfi Read Free Book Online

crooked a finger at Eddie. “Come here.”
    Without a word, Eddie shuffled over to where Todd stood before the open car door, Fred Wilkinson right on his heels. The stranger kept his head down as he closed the distance and only looked up when he’d stopped walking, just two feet from Todd. His eyes simmered like cooling embers.
    “Is this really your car?” Todd said.
    “I told you that it was.” None of that deliberate elusiveness he’d displayed only a moment ago back in the Jeep. His voice had come out in an approximation of a growl, his head lowered just enough that he peered straight at Todd from beneath the Neanderthal crenellation of his brow.
    “This car’s been here for more than an hour, Eddie. More than two hours, if I had to guess by the amount of snow it’s buried under.”
    “It snowed hard,” Eddie said, his tone unchanged.
    “Not that hard.” Todd clicked the flashlight back on and directed the beam to the steering column. “Where’s the keys?”
    Eddie blinked.
    “Where’s the keys, Eddie?”
    “Ain’t they in the ignition?”
    “No.”
    Eddie went through the motions of patting down his pockets. Never once did he remove his eyes from Todd. When he slipped his hands back into the pockets of his flannel coat, he rolled his shoulders almost imperceptibly and said, “Guess I lost ’em.”
    “How come I don’t see any footprints around the car? Not a single set, Eddie. Not yours, not your daughter’s.”
    “Because of the snow, ” Eddie said. “I told you about how hard it was coming down, didn’t I?”
    “Yeah,” Todd said, his voice nearly sticking to his throat. Back by the Jeep, Kate and Nan were standing in the glow of the remaining headlamp, huddling together to keep warm.
    “What are you getting on about, anyway, buddy?” Eddie said. “I got a missing daughter out here somewhere and you’re quizzing me about where I last saw my goddamn car keys.”
    He doesn’t mean it, Todd thought then. He’s only saying that because that’s what he thinks he should say. I’m looking in his eyes right now and I can tell he doesn’t give a shit about any missing daughter, if there even is one to begin with.
    “I don’t think this is your car,” Todd said flatly. “And I don’t believe your story, Eddie. Something’s wrong here.”
    “I feel it, too,” Fred piped up from over Eddie’s shoulder.
    “Now I don’t know what game you’re trying to play, but you better find someone else to play it.”
    Eddie blinked his eyes and took a hesitant step backward. He looked over at Fred and then at Kate and Nan before swinging his eyes back around to Todd. There was something different in them now, Todd noticed. Something muddy. Hidden.
    “What’s wrong with you people?” And now Eddie’s voice did come out in a growl. “I need help out here and my daughter needs help, and you’re going to gang up on me, accuse me of…of…well, fuck, I don’t know what you’re accusing me of…”
    “What’s the license plate number?” Fred said.
    Both Eddie and Todd looked at him at the same time. Eddie managed a weak, “What?”
    “The license plate,” Fred said. “If it’s your car, tell us the license plate number.”
    Atta boy, Fred, Todd thought. That’s thinking, my man.
    Eddie sucked his lower lip between his teeth and made a mssk-mssk sound. Again, his steel-colored eyes narrowed. Todd could almost hear the gears working in his head.
    “PLO-744,” Eddie said after several empty seconds. “Louisiana plates.”
    Fred trudged around to the front of the snow-covered vehicle, taking his time stepping up and over the jagged mounds of freezing snow, then paused at the front of the car. With his boot he swiped a trench through the snow down below the front grille, in the approximate place where the license plate should be. Todd only watched him for a moment, uncomfortable keeping his eyes off Eddie for too long. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he heard Fred