Read Online Frozen Stiff by Mary Logue - Free Book Online

enough shape to talk. But she knew she was jumping ahead of herself.
    She had originally assumed that if anyone had locked Mr. Walker out of his house, it most probably would have been his wife, soon to be ex-wife. Having Danielle come flouncing in and give Sherri the best motive in the world for trying to get him out of the way before the divorce went through certainly enhanced that speculation.
    But after Danielle had left for the cafeteria to get herself a cup of coffee, Sherri had talked a bit about what had happened between her and Dan. Not trying to persuade Claire of anything; more, it seemed, to try to figure it out in her own mind.
    “Dan just seems to always need something new to focus on. Like the cabin, once it was done, it didn’t interest him much anymore. Putting in the sauna this fall helped. His latest project. I think for a while I was his project, but then I was old hat. He needed someone new. It’s just the way he is. I’m not even sure he can help it.”
    Claire thought of Rich, who always seemed so content doing what he had always done—raise pheasants—but doing it well,improving on it if he could. In the same way, he had never given up on her, staying steady and strong as she sometimes struggled with her life. “Sounds like a hard way to live.”
    Sherri had nodded. “It is. I hated it. But, surprisingly, I think it is hard on Dan, too.”
    “How so?” Claire had said.
    “Well, he’s not getting any younger and he can’t go at everything as strongly as he used to be able to. I think he feels that sometimes and he gets down about it, feels he has to prove himself.”
    Now watching Sherri attentively leaning over her husband, trying to urge him back into the world of the living, Claire questioned her original take on the woman. Plus, as Amy had pointed out, why would she have told them about the dead bolt being locked if she was the one who had done it. Otherwise, they might have assumed it was an accident.
    “I think he saw me,” Sherri said, “He was trying to say something. Did you see that?”
    The woman had such a hopeful look in her eyes that Claire hated to do anything but agree. “Yes, that’s what it looked like.”
    “I’m just going to stay here with him. If that’s okay,” Sherri said, reaching out to touch her husband’s cheek.
    “I can’t leave you alone with him,” Claire forced herself to say.
    Sherri turned, her eyes widened, her mouth stretching tight as she seemed to realize the implications of Claire’s words.

CHAPTER 8
    New Year’s Day: 6 pm
    C lyde sat in a lounge chair next to his daughter’s bed, sipped the lukewarm coffee and pretended it was full of flavor. Bonnie was sleeping. She was still recovering from her blood loss and seemed very weak. She drifted in and out of being. Sometimes she would jolt awake and ask for the baby. At the moment, her eyes were closed but he wondered if she was really sleeping or just avoiding being awake.
    He couldn’t help remembering what had happened two mornings ago. After his wife left for work, he had hollered down the stairs to wake Bonnie. He was surprised that she wasn’t dressed and sitting at the table, eating some sugary cereal. She was usually up bright and early for school.
    When Clyde still didn’t hear her moving about in her room, he went down to make sure she was awake. He knocked on her door, and that’s when he heard the groans. “Bonnie?”
    She yelled through the door, “Dad, help me.”
    When he pushed the door open, he couldn’t make out what he was seeing. Bonnie looked like she was struggling with something in the bed. She was groaning and crying and pulled at something that was between her legs.
    At first he had thought there was a small animal in bed with her, a squirrel that had maybe come in the dryer vent. As he walked closer, he saw the small creature was still attached to his daughter by the umbilical cord. A huge pool of blood had soaked into the mattress.
    “Dad,” she sobbed,