Ice Cold: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel

sweat and her stomach clench at the prospect. It was the screaming. She thought of relentlessly sawing through bone while her patient shrieked and writhed. She thought of knives slippery with blood. And through it all, she would have to rely on Elaine and Grace to hold him down.
    You have to bring help soon, Doug. Because I don’t think I can do it. I can’t torture this man
.
    “Hurts so bad,” Arlo whispered. “Need more pills.”
    She knelt down beside him. “I’m afraid we’ve run out of Percocet, Arlo,” she said. “But I have Tylenol.”
    “Doesn’t help.”
    “There’s codeine coming. Elaine’s gone up the road to look for her purse. She says she has a bottle of it, enough to last you until help comes.”
    “When?”
    “Soon. Maybe even tonight.” She glanced at the window and saw that it was now afternoon. Doug had left yesterday morning. By now, he was surely down the mountain. “You know him. He’ll probably swoop back up here in style, with TV cameras and everything.”
    Arlo gave a tired laugh. “Yeah, that’s our Doug. Born under a lucky star. Always manages to skate through life with hardly a scratch, whereas I …” He sighed. “I swear, if I live through this, I’m never going to leave my house again.”
    The front door flew open and cold air swept in as Elaine came stomping back into the house. “Where’s Grace?” she said.
    “She went outside,” said Maura.
    Elaine spotted Grace’s backpack in the corner. She knelt down and unzipped the pack.
    “What are you doing, Elaine?”
    “I can’t find my purse.”
    “You said you left it up in the Jeep.”
    “That’s where I thought it was, but Doug said he never saw it. I’ve been looking all up and down the road, in case it got dropped somewhere in the snow.” She began digging through the backpack, scattering the contents on the floor. Out came Grace’s iPod, sunglasses, a sweatshirt, a cell phone. In frustration, she turned the backpack upside down, and loose change clattered onto the floor. “Where the hell is my purse?”
    “You really think Grace would take it?”
    “I can’t find it anywhere. It had to be her.”
    “Why would she?”
    “She’s a teenager. Can anyone explain teenagers?”
    “Are you sure you didn’t leave it somewhere in the house?”
    “I’m sure.” In frustration, Elaine threw down the empty backpack. “I know I had it with me in the Jeep when were driving up the road. But after the accident, we were all panicking. I was just focused on Arlo. The last time I remember seeing it, it was on the backseat, next to Grace.” She scanned the room, searching for any hiding place where the purse might be concealed. “She’s the only one who had the chance to take it. You ran down the hill to get the sled. Doug and I were trying to stop the bleeding. But no one was watching Grace.”
    “It could have fallen out of the Jeep.”
    “I told you, I looked all up and down the road.”
    “Maybe it got buried in the snow.”
    “It hasn’t snowed for two days, and everything’s crusted over in ice.” Elaine suddenly jerked straight as the front door opened. She was caught in an unmistakably guilty pose, kneeling beside the empty backpack, the contents strewn on the floor.
    “What are you doing?” said Grace. She slammed the door shut. “That’s
my
stuff.”
    “Where’s my purse, Grace?” said Elaine.
    “Why are you looking in my backpack?”
    “It has my pills. The bottle of codeine. Arlo needs it.”
    “And you thought you’d find it in my stuff?”
    “Just tell me where it is.”
    “How would I know?” Grace snatched up the backpack and began thrusting her belongings back into it. “How do you know
she
didn’t take it?” The girl didn’t have to name names; they all knew she was referring to Maura.
    “Grace, I’m just asking you a simple question.”
    “You didn’t even stop to think it could be anyone else. You just assumed it’s
me.”
    Elaine sighed. “I’m too tired to have this fight. Just tell me if you know where it is.”
    “Why should I tell you anything? You wouldn’t believe me anyway.” Grace zipped up the pack and threw it over her shoulder as she headed toward the door. “There are eleven other houses here. I don’t see why I have to stay in this one.”
    “Grace, we need to stick together,” said Maura. “I promised your father I’d look after you. Please stay here.”
    “Why should I? I came to tell you what I found, and the first thing I