He ventured farther down the aisle through the stacks of junk. He saw boxes and crates stacked on top of each other. A large shelf had been built above the boxes, bags of rock salt stacked on top of the shelf. He saw a red plastic container of gasoline. He walked over to the gas container, lifted it up, about half full. A little farther down a tarp covered something large.

That might be what he was looking for.

Cole pulled the tarp away which was nearly frozen solid, but it broke free, crinkling loudly in the silence. And under the tarp was what he suspected the keys went to. A snowmobile. An older one, but it looked like it might still run.

“Cole!”

Cole turned to the doorway of the garage, towards the sound of Jose’s panicked voice. “Cole, get out here right now!”

He threw the tarp back over the snowmobile, covering it completely, then at the last second he pushed some of the boxes down on top of it – he didn’t want Jose or Needles discovering it. Then he broke into a run towards the garage doorway and pulled his gun out of his coat pocket.

“So, you’re an archeologist, huh?” Trevor asked as he stood in front of the coffee maker. He added more sugar and cream to his coffee.

“Yep,” Stella answered. She was already getting very tired of whatever game Trevor was trying to play here. She glanced at Needles who was still curled up in the recliner, rubbing his crucifix; he stared down at the large area rug, seemingly transfixed by the colorful patterns. Stella looked back at Trevor. She decided to flip the questions around. “What about you?” she asked. “You look more like a grad student than a bank robber.”

Trevor smiled. “Things aren’t always what they appear to be.”

“Believe me, I know.”

“What does a grad student look like?” Trevor asked, and then he sipped his coffee. “You some kind of expert?”

“I’ve been to college before. Archeology, remember? You need to go to college for that.” She wasn’t going to let him weasel his way out of an explanation. If anything, it would keep him from asking her more questions. “What made you decide to rob banks?”

“Long story,” he told her.

Stella looked around. “Looks like we’ve got nothing but time right now.”

Cole ran out of the garage, his gun in his hand. He stopped and looked around for Jose. But Jose wasn’t around anywhere. Cole looked at the pickup truck – Jose wasn’t there.

A movement in the snow beyond the front of the truck caught Cole’s eye – it was Jose, he was running for the woods, almost to the woods now.

“Jose!” Cole yelled.

But Jose didn’t stop; he kept on running through the snow, his boots kicking up snow behind him.

Cole ran after Jose. “Jose, wait!” But Jose wasn’t stopping. Cole could see that Jose had his gun out, chasing something. Cole ran across the field towards the trees, his leg muscles began to burn from the slight incline of the field. He caught up to Jose twenty feet inside the woods, the trees already closer together here just this far into woods. Jose stood by a tree, his shoulder against it like he was using it as a shield, his gun was out and pointed at the ground, his eyes wild, darting around like he was trying to look everywhere at once. Mucus ran out of Jose’s nose down into his mustache – Cole was pretty sure Jose didn’t realize this.

Cole took a second to catch his breath. His chest heaved from his sprint across the field, his breath clouded up in front of his face. He looked around at the trees all around them, his pistol ready, his finger on the trigger. Some of the tree trunks were powdered with snow from drifts of snow piled up on them. The trees seemed to go on forever, blending together into a gray darkness deeper into the woods.

“What is it?” Cole breathed out.

Jose didn’t answer. He just looked around with his wild-man eyes. His gun hand trembled as he aimed his weapon into the trees.

“Jose?”

Jose finally looked at Cole.

“What is it?” Cole asked. “What did you see?”

“I saw Frank.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Trevor set his coffee cup down on the counter and looked at the cabin door. He looked back at Stella and David who stared at the cabin door. Even Needles tore his attention away from whatever daydream his damaged mind was stumbling around inside of and looked at the door.

“You hear that?” Trevor asked Stella.

Stella nodded. Beside her, David stared at the door with his large, dark eyes, his ballpoint pen poised in his hand over his notebook page that he’d been drawing on. Something out there scared David.

“Sounds like someone’s yelling out there,” Stella said in a low voice.

Trevor crossed the room in a blur of movement. He pulled his gun out of the waistband of his pants and cocked it. He opened the front door and rushed outside.

Stella turned to David. “Stay right here,” she told him. She was about to get up, but he clutched on to her hand, his eyes pleaded with her not to go. “I’m just going out on the front porch,” she told him. “That’s as far as I’m going to go.”

David let her hand go. She got up and hurried to the front door. She slipped out through the doorway, and then pulled the door almost all the way closed. David stared at the door for a few seconds, but then he looked at Needles.

Needles wasn’t looking at the door anymore – he was looking right at David. “I know what you are,” Needles whispered at David.

On the front porch Stella stepped to the edge of the steps that descended down into the snow. She watched Trevor jump from the porch down into the snow and run across the field towards the woods, his gun out, ready to shoot if he needed to.

In the woods Cole stood in front of Jose. “You saw Frank?”

“Yeah,” Jose answered with a shudder. “He was up here in the woods. Watching us.” Jose’s eyes darted away from Cole to the trees. “Just … watching us.”

Cole glanced at the trees. “You’re sure it was Frank?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” Jose snapped. “He had on that blue flannel shirt he was wearing before. No coat. No hat. It was him.”

Cole looked at Jose. “Did Frank say anything? Did he wave at you?”

“No. He just stood in the woods, and he was staring at me. No expression. Nothing.”

“Did he have his gun?”

“I don’t think so. I didn’t see it.” Jose wiped at his nose with the sleeve of his jacket. “I don’t know.”

Cole looked down at the snow all around them. Then he looked at Jose. “You’re absolutely sure you saw Frank.”

“I know what I saw.”

“There aren’t any tracks in the snow.”

Jose looked down at the snow. His eyes widened in surprise. He shook his head no in disbelief. “He was here. Standing right here in these trees. I’m sure of it.” Jose looked at Cole with wide eyes that were now confused and a little frightened. “I saw him. I swear I did.”

“Cole!”

Cole turned towards the sound of Trevor’s voice.

“What’s going on?” Trevor asked as he ran into the woods.

“Nothing,” Cole answered. “We’re coming back inside.” Cole looked at Jose. “Come on, Jose. Let’s get back inside.”

Trevor stood at the edge of the woods, his gun ready in his hand. He looked around. “What were you guys yelling about out here?”

Cole knew that Trevor wasn’t going to let this go. “Jose thought he saw Frank.”

Trevor stiffened. “Frank?”

“Yeah. He thought he saw him up here in the woods.”

“I saw him,” Jose muttered.

Trevor stepped deeper into the woods, joining Cole and Jose. He scanned the trees, the low-hanging branches, and then the blanket of snow on the ground all around them. “But I don’t see – ”

“I know,” Cole finished quickly. “There aren’t any tracks in the snow.”

“I saw him!” Jose snapped.

“Come on, Jose,” Cole said in a calm voice. “Another snowstorm is coming. We need to get back inside the cabin.”