Ice Cold: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel

inside the Plain of Angels compound. He reports that Jeremiah Goode isn’t there at this time.”
    “And you trust this contact?”
    “They do.”
    Cathy gave a snort. “Then here’s lesson number one, Detective. When it comes to The Gathering, trust no one.”
    “An arrest warrant’s been issued for him. In the meantime, Plain of Angels is under surveillance.”
    “He has contacts everywhere. Safe houses where he can stay hidden for years.”
    “You know this for a fact?”
    Cathy nodded. “He has both the followers and the money to stay untouchable. Enough money to bribe an army of Bobby Martineaus.”
    “We’re following that money trail, believe me. A big infusion of cash showed up in Deputy Martineau’s bank account about two weeks ago.”
    “From where?” said Jane.
    “It came from an account registered to the Dahlia Group. Whatever that is.”
    “It has to be Jeremiah’s,” said Cathy.
    “The trouble is, we can’t find any link between the Dahlia Group and The Gathering. The account is in a Rockville, Maryland, bank.”
    Cathy frowned. “The Gathering has no Maryland connection. Not that I’m aware of.”
    “Dahlia appears to be a shell company. A front for whatever its real business is. Someone’s gone to a lot of trouble to hide the money trail.”
    Jane stared at the grave site, where workers were placing heavy boards over the pit to protect it from further predation. And to protect the predators as well, against whatever poison had killed both the human victims and the animals that had feasted on their tainted flesh. “So this is why Martineau got paid off,” she said. “To keep quiet about what happened here.”
    “It would be a secret worth keeping,” said Pasternak. “Mass murder.”
    “Maybe this is why he was killed,” said Jane. “Maybe the boy had nothing to do with it.”
    “I’m afraid Julian Perkins is the only one who can answer that question.”
    “And there’s a posse of armed men ready to kill him.” Jane looked toward the mountains. Toward the sky, which was already darkening into another frigid night. “If they do, we may lose our only witness.”

B EAR HEARD IT FIRST .
    For most of the morning, the dog had been trotting far ahead of them, as though he already knew the way, although the boy had never before brought him up this mountain. They had traveled for hours without speaking, conserving their breath during the climb, Maura trailing last behind the boy. Every step was a struggle for her to keep up. So when Bear suddenly halted on a ledge above them and gave a bark, she thought it was directed at her. A canine version of
Come on, lady! What’s taking you so long?
    Until she heard the growl. Looking up, she saw he wasn’t focused on her, but was staring east, toward the valley from which they had just ascended. Rat halted and turned to face the same direction. For a moment they were silent. Pine branches creaked. Snow swirled, stirred up by invisible fingers of wind.
    Then they heard it: the distant baying of dogs.
    “We have to move faster,” said Rat.
    “I can’t go any faster.”
    “Yes you can.” He reached out to her. “I’ll help you.”
    She looked at his outstretched hand. Looked up into his face, filthy and haggard. He has kept me alive all these days, she thought. Now it’s time for me to return the favor.
    “You’ll move faster without me,” she said.
    “I won’t leave you behind.”
    “Yes you will. You’re going to run, and I’m going to sit here and wait for them.”
    “You don’t even know who
they
are.”
    “I’ll tell them what happened to the deputy. I’ll explain everything.”
    “Please don’t do this.
Don’t.”
She heard tears break through his voice. “Just come with me. We only have to get over the next mountain.”
    “And then what? Do we have to climb the next one, and the next?”
    “It’ll just take another day to get there.”
    “Get where?”
    “Home. My grandpa’s cabin.”
    The only safe place he has ever known, she thought. The only place where he’s been loved.
    He looked across the valley. There, on the snowy flank of the opposite hill, small dark shapes were moving. “I don’t know where else to go,” he said softly and wiped a filthy sleeve across his eyes. “We’ll be okay there. I know we will.”
    It was magical thinking, nothing more, but it was all he had left. Because nothing would ever be okay for him again.
    She looked up toward the peak. It was at least half a