Ellery skirted the pond, hoping to reach the safety of the trees beyond, but a shrill whistle up ahead froze him in his tracks.
He was running out of options fast. He circled the building, and then, reluctantly, slipped inside. For a moment he stood there, panting, letting his eyes adjust to the pitchy darkness. It was tempting to close the door, but since he had no way to lock it, it wouldn’t do much good. Whereas if he left the door open, his pursuers might figure he had chosen not to go inside.
Unless they were following his own line of reasoning.
If you could call his panicked thoughts reason.
Ellery felt the cold, dank breath of pond water. Moonlight spilled through the overhead vent only to be swallowed by the black, still pond a few inches from the wooden walkway. There was virtually no illumination beyond that single ray of light.
Hand outstretched, he stepped cautiously along the wooden planks, leaning against the wall, until something invisible in the dark scuttled over his face. He swallowed a yell and then listened intently.
Were those footsteps? He held motionless. Tried not to breathe.
Yes. Footsteps moving along the side of the building.
Were they armed? Would they come inside and shoot him? No. No, surely not. Why would they? But why were they chasing him? Why didn’t they flee?
Why hadn’t he phoned Jack when he had the chance?
Why hadn’t he phoned Jack from the safety of his car?
Because he hadn’t wanted to look foolish.
He pressed his ear to the rough wooden plank.
Were those whispers? Yes. A whispered discussion.
He couldn’t make out the words, but the tone indicated disagreement.
The whispering stopped, and the silence that followed was truly terrifying.
What now? Was there someplace he could—
The open door to the icehouse slammed shut with such force, a few slats fell off the roof and splashed into the pond nearby.
Ellery stood rooted in place as footsteps pounded down the wooden walkway and faded into the night.
Silence descended. An absolute and utter silence but for the dismal gurgling of the pond in the center of the building.
Ellery turned on his phone’s flashlight and moved the beam slowly around the building. He could see that the horseshoe-shaped walkway where he stood was missing several planks. He could see the black pool of dank water slurping at the soggy ground a few feet from the walkway. He held the light up and saw bird nests, monster spiderwebs, and a rusted block and tackle.
Carefully, he made his way back to the double doors and pushed against them. The doors bowed but stayed shut.
He had seen no lock, so he pushed again.
Again, the doors held.
Somehow they were blocked or had been wedged shut, and he was effectively locked in.
Ten fraught minutes passed as Ellery tried to find another way out. There wasn’t one, and a couple of slips on the slimy planks convinced him fumbling around in the dark was a good way to break his neck. He considered the ladder leading to the top level, but it was missing too many rungs.
However little he liked it, the only way out was through the double doors. Okay. Given that the entire building looked ready to collapse any moment, the doors couldn’t be that much of a challenge. Right?
Wrong.
Ellery spent several more minutes tugging and kicking uselessly at splintering slats, but the structure was sturdier than it appeared. Finally, in frustration, he tried body-slamming the opening between the two doors. Yowch. He was forced to accept that his shoulder would break before that door gave an inch.
Now what?
Ellery shivered. Despite the warm July night, it was cold in the icehouse. Not as cold as it would have been stacked with blocks of ice, but colder than was comfortable. Part of the chill, though, was simply nerves.
Nerves over what had been. Nerves over what was to come. Because there really was only one move left to him.
He checked his phone screen, relieved to see a signal—until he noticed the red battery sign.
10%.
His fingers shook as he typed the numbers.
Two very long rings before Jack answered.
“Let me guess. Car trouble?” Jack sounded resigned.
“Wellllll, no,” Ellery admitted.
“No?”
“Kind of a long story, but—”
“Give me the CliffsNotes,” Jack was terse. God. Did he imagine Ellery was coming up with lame excuses to contact him?
“I’m locked in the old icehouse behind the Barby property.”
The resounding silence on Jack’s end stretched.
Ellery felt a flash of alarm. Had the call dropped? “Jack? Are you there?”
Jack said slowly, doubtfully, “Did you say you’re—”
“I did, yeah.” He hated that his voice wobbled a little.
He heard what sounded like a sharp inhale. “Are you hurt? Have you been injured?”
“No. No, I’m okay. Just cold. I can explain everything, if you could just—”
“Can you?”
Ouch. That was Chief Carson talking. An unamused Chief Carson. Not that there was much amusement value in the situation.
“I can try. Listen, my phone is dying. Could you please send someone to unlock th-this door?” His teeth were starting to chatter with that mixture of cold and nerves.
“Let me think about it.”
“Hey,” Ellery protested. “This isn’t funny.”
“You got that right.” It sounded like Jack was moving around, his terse voice rising and falling as he did whatever it was he was doing. Hopefully he was getting dressed. Although, come to think of it, maybe it would be better if he sent someone like Officer Martin to the rescue.
“Please, Jack.”
Jack said gruffly, “I’m coming. Stay put.” He disconnected.
Stay put? Like he had any choice?
It seemed like he waited a lifetime in that frigid black silence, but it was probably no more than forty-five minutes before Ellery heard the snap-crunch of boots on stone. The doors wobbled beneath some assault, there was a sound of a board falling away, and the double doors opened with a rusty screech of protest. Moonlight poured in.
Jack’s figure stood silhouetted in the wide doorway.
“Ellery?”
“Right here.” Ellery practically leaped off the walkway and through the door.
“You okay?”
“Y-y-yes.”
“Here.” Jack was still terse as he pushed a slick folded square of silver into Ellery’s hands.
The silver square turned out to be a thermal blanket, which Ellery shook the folds out of and wrapped around himself like a shawl. “I r-r-ran into your b-b-burglars.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“You do?”
“I had a quick look around. It looks like they emptied the wine cellar, among other things.”
It took a couple of moments for that to fully register. Ellery stared at Jack’s moonlit profile.
“How long have you been here?”
Jack said coolly, “About fifteen minutes.”
“Fifteen… You’ve been here fifteen minutes?”
“That’s right.” Ellery was trying to tell himself it wasn’t actually the way it sounded, when Jack erased all doubt and added, “I didn’t think it would hurt you to spend a little longer on ice.”
Ellery gaped at him. “You— Are you kidding me? You deliberately left me in there?”