Drifting

Chapter 10

"Yes," Jesse muttered under his breath as they rounded a corner into a savage wind. "Yes. Yes! I know where we are now!"

"Thank God," Lara huffed, stumbling along through the snow as Jesse plunged down the street with renewed energy. The wind whipped ice against their faces as they dodged half-submerged mail boxes, light poles, and parking meters. Turning a corner, Jesse led her along a waist-high brick wall topped with mounds of snow and stopped in front of a three-storey apartment complex. He rubbed snow from the stone pillar by the gate and checked the number. "This is it!" They waded through the drifted snow up to the three-step stoop and went to the door.

It was locked, but Jesse pressed the button to buzz Christine's apartment. "Christine!" he yelled into the speaker. "Christine, it's Jesse, are you there?"

They waited in tense silence for a half-moment before Jesse tried again. "Christine. Christine, come on."

"I don't think she's going to answer," Lara said, pulling her hat tighter down over her ears. "We need someone to buzz us in."

Jesse removed his hand from his glove and held it out to her.

"No," she refused, shaking her head. "I don't... I'm afraid it's going to stop working. Or work too well or something. Let's just try someone else before we go breaking down the door."

"Lara, come on, we're finally—"

"Please." Her eyes, ringed with ice-coated lashes, implored him.

"Okay." He jammed his finger against another buzzer, pressing a few times before a woman's voice said, "Hello?"

"Hey, Mrs. Salazar, it's Jesse Finn, Christine's brother," Jesse leaned down, bringing his lips closer to battle the howling winds.

"Who?" came the tinny, electronic voice from the tiny speaker.

"Jesse Finn! Christine's brother! I need you to let me in!"

Something garbled came out of the speaker. Lara thought she heard a child's sobs echoing through the blizzard, and whipped her head around. The street was deserted.

"Mrs. Salazar, she's not answering, and we're worried, please let us in!"

More garbled response. Lara could just make out the words "Christine should" and "in."

Jesse shot her a look and wiggled his hand like, we could have bypassed this pain in the ass, you know.

Lara heaved a sigh and leaned past him, mashing Mrs. Salazar's buzzer over and over again until she buzzed them in. Yanking the door open, they trooped inside the small beige-carpeted entry way. The first floor hallway opened before them, and at the right was a staircase to the second level. A door opened, and out came a woman in a stained gray sweat suit with a squalling toddler attached to her hip. Her black ponytail bobbed furiously. "What the hell's the matter with you?" she barked, hoisting the child higher. "My kid's sick, numbnuts, and obviously Christine doesn't want you up there."

"Look, we think something bad happened to her," Lara explained quickly as Jesse trooped up the stairs without waiting for an answer. "We're trying to figure out if she's okay, that's all."

"In this weather? Dios mio." The woman clucked her tongue and patted the child's back. The little one buried her face into her mother's shoulder, using her sweatshirt as a snot rag. Lara grimaced. "Look, she probably didn't answer because she doesn't want you up there, claro?"