Polkacide (36 page)

As the two of them walked into the
freezer, I pressed the button on the phone to retrieve the text
message. It popped up onto the screen, and I read it.

Then read it again.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

"Lottie?" Peg was calling from the
freezer. "Can you hurry up and give us a hand?"

"Sure." That was what I
said. "Coming." But the truth was, I couldn't move a muscle. I was
nowhere near the freezer, but I was frozen.

Because I'd read Glynne's
text. And the few short words of it had affected me more than
entire volumes ever could. They were life-changing,
literally.

And life-threatening.

I couldn't stop staring at
them. They echoed in my mind like thunder, like hoofbeats, like
bombs.

Stush dudek is a nazi war
criminal.

That was what they said.

Chapter 54

"Lottie?" Peg's voice wafted
from the walk-in freezer. "Are you okay?"

"Yep. Be right there." My
eyes were glued to the screen of my phone, reading and re-reading
Glynne's text message. Meanwhile, my brain was struggling to
process the implications and figure out the hardest
part.

Which was what to do next.

Stush dudek is a nazi war
criminal.

My heart was hammering, and
my whole body was shaking. I couldn't believe how wrong we'd been.
How wrong Eddie Jr. had been, too. He'd thought his dad and Lou had
been working
with
Stush to take down Father Speedy, but they must have been
working
against
him. Stush had been the villain all along.

And how we'd played into his
hands. All those times we'd plotted strategy in the diner...and
he'd been right there, listening. Staying a step ahead of us.
Threatening Peg. Attacking me after he'd translated Adrianna's
phone call. What had she
really
said, I wondered?

And now he had us alone, in the diner,
at his mercy. Peg didn't even know the truth yet.

We'd come to save him, and
now we needed saving
from
him.

Stush dudek is a nazi war
criminal.

Peg called for me again, and
I knew I had to do something. I couldn't just stand there, gaping
at my phone, while Stush murdered my friend.

I took a deep breath, fighting to calm
myself. The situation was life-or-death now; I couldn't afford to
fall apart.

One thing was clear to me:
if I went in that freezer unarmed, I might never walk out again.
We'd told Stush we were tracking a killer. Even if it was
the
wrong
killer,
we were too close for comfort. Even if Stush didn't know I knew the
truth about him, he couldn't pass up the opportunity to get us out
of the way for good.

Swallowing hard, I looked around for a
weapon. Huge knives were slotted in a block on the counter, but
they were on the other side of the kitchen. I'd have to cross in
front of the freezer door, in full view of Stush.

The cast iron skillet was
closer, hanging from a hook above the griddle. It wasn't a gun, but
it could still do some damage.

"Hey, Lottie!" Peg sounded impatient.
"Are you going to make us do all the work?"

I heard the rustling and thumping of
heavy packages being moved. "Just a sec, hon."

Pocketing the phone, I moved
as quietly as I could toward the griddle. Two quick steps put me
under the skillet. I wrapped both hands around its cool, rough
handle and carefully lifted it up off the hook.

I was trembling harder than
ever, right through to the core, as I turned to the walk-in
freezer. Our lives depended on what I did next.

Stush was an old man, but that
wouldn't matter if he had a gun. And Peg was trapped in close
quarters with him, within easy reach.

I knew what I had to do. Make the most
of the element of surprise. Move fast and lash out hard.

I'd been taking a pounding lately, and
it was time to fight back.

My hands shook
uncontrollably on the handle of the skillet. I'd never been in a
situation like this before, and I was terrified.

I padded across the kitchen, as
quietly as I could, holding on tight to my weapon. I took deep
breaths, one after another, getting ready to make my
move.

Suddenly, I heard a loud thud inside
the freezer. Then a crumpling noise, like something collapsing to
the floor. Something or someone.

And Stush called out, sounding
alarmed. "Lottie, come quick! It's your stepmom!"

Looking around the corner of the
doorway, keeping the skillet out of sight, I saw him standing over
Peg's body. Sacks of frozen pierogies were piled on a plastic cart
beside her, and one of the sacks was laying on top of
her.

"Please hurry." Stush's voice was
panicky. "Help me get her out of here. One of the bags fell off the
cart and hit her on the head."

So Stush had beaten me to it. He'd
made his move before I did.

And now I had to wonder, as I stared
at the scene in the freezer, if Peg was dead because I hadn't moved
faster.

Chapter 55

"Don't just stand there!" Stush
flapped his hands and gaped at Peg's body. "You've got to help
me!"

It was a trap. If I went in there and
tried to get her out, he'd do something to me, too.

But I
did
have to go in. I couldn't just
shut the door and call the cops, because he could kill her if she
wasn't dead already.

"What's wrong with you?" Stush scowled
and stomped his foot. "She might have a concussion!"

My throat was so tight, I
could hardly swallow. My stomach was churning, my knees quivering.
I couldn't do it. What if he had a...

"Enough!" His voice was
altogether different when he snapped out the word. "Get in
here
now
, little
girl!" He reached behind him with one of his big, floppy hands. "Or
she
dies
!"

When his hand started
swinging back around, it was holding a gun.

And I knew. All I had was a
second.

Once he brought up that gun,
I wouldn't have a chance. Once he got it steadied in his grip, he
could shoot Peg and me in quick succession.
Bang. Bang.

Now or never. His hand kept
moving.

I didn't think I could do
it. I didn't want to die.

But then something came over
me. I thought of Dad, and how this monster had killed him. I
thought of what he'd done to Eddie Sr.

I even thought of Ghost, and how he'd
saved my life.

And suddenly, I was moving.

I don't know why I cried out, but I
did. This huge roar just came up out of me, from the bottom of my
soul, as I darted through the doorway.

I swung the skillet back as
I ran, getting ready to swing. Stush's hand floated up with the
gun, pointing in my direction.

It was going to be close.

I thought of Dad again as I swung. I
felt the skillet connect with the gun, metal on metal, and I
followed through as hard as I could.

There was a shot, and it was deafening
in the confines of the freezer. The gun went flying, broken free of
his grip...but I couldn't tell at first if I'd been hit.

And I didn't stop to find out. When
the skillet reached the end of its arc, I roared again and brought
it back for another swing. This time, I aimed it at his
head.

He flailed his arms but
couldn't block me. I caught the side of his skull with the flat of
the skillet. My hands stung from the impact.

And he went down.

Uncle Stush folded to the
floor like an inflatable man with the air let out of him. He hardly
made a sound when he landed, slumping down beside Peg.

Chapter 56

I stood for a moment, breathing hard
in the frigid air. Letting the reality of what had just happened
take hold.

Then, I flew back into
action.

I saw where the gun had landed, on a
shelf along the wall, and I grabbed it. I stuffed it in the waist
of my jeans at the small of my back, and then I went after
Peg.

Keeping an eye on Stush in case he
came around, I slid my hands under Peg's arms and lifted her
shoulders off the floor. Then, I dragged her from the freezer into
the kitchen.

And I slammed the door shut on Uncle
Stush.

It was possible Peg had a
concussion, so maybe I shouldn't have moved her...but I couldn't
just leave her in the walk-in. I couldn't feel safe until the two
of us were out and Stush was locked inside.

I called 911, told the
dispatcher what he needed to know, and then I knelt down beside
Peg. I'd been worried that the stray shot from Stush's gun might
have hit her...but I saw no bullet wounds.

There was blood on her forehead from
when he'd hit her, though. Had the blow done any major
damage?

It was impossible to tell at a glance.
Her chest rose and fell, so she was breathing. Otherwise, her
condition was a mystery.

Getting to my feet, I
grabbed a towel off the counter and soaked it with warm water at
the sink. Returning to Peg, I wiped streaks and smudges of blood
off her forehead.

Then I tried to wake her up. "Peg?" I
knew I shouldn't, but I couldn't stop myself. I had to know if she
was okay. "Can you hear me?"

No answer.

"Please, Peg." I brushed her frizzy
hair back and dabbed her cheeks with the clean end of the towel.
"Please wake up."

Tears rolled down my cheeks and
dripped onto her face. A sob escaped my lips.

Not once did it occur to me
how strange or ironic it was that I didn't want to lose
her.

"Can you hear me, Peg?
Please wake up." I dabbed at her cheeks some more and stroked the
side of her face. "I don't want to lose you, too." Still nothing,
no answer.

Then, suddenly, her eyes flickered
open.

And she spoke. "What
happened?"

A wave of relief washed over me.
"Everything's all right now. We caught the killer."

Peg pushed herself up on her elbows.
"What about Stush? Is he all right?"

"I've got him on ice." I
bobbed my head toward the freezer. "Stush
is
the killer."

Her eyes flew wide open. "You're
kidding!"

"Three words." I counted them on my
fingers. "Nazi. War. Criminal."

Peg cocked her head and
stared at the freezer door. "Seriously?"

I shrugged. "He
did
hit you over the head
with a sack of frozen pierogies."

Peg frowned. "It wasn't an
accident?"

I squinted like I wasn't
sure. "Well, I didn't
see
him hit you."

"How do you know he's the
killer, exactly?"

"There
was
one other thing, I guess." I
rubbed my chin thoughtfully.

"What's that?" said Peg.

"He pulled a gun and
threatened to kill you. I'm pretty sure he was going to shoot us
both."

Peg's eyes widened. "Wow.
Really?"

I nodded. "I'm just glad
Glynne figured out the hidden messages on Dad and Eddie Sr.'s
record. If she hadn't texted me in time about Stush being a Nazi,
we'd probably both be dead right now."

"No kidding?" Peg shook her head
slowly. "We need to give that girl a raise, don't we?"

"You can say that again." I
heard sirens in the distance, coming closer. "There's an ambulance
on the way. How are you feeling?"

"My head hurts." She scowled. "Please
don't tell me the police are coming, too."

"Yeah, but it's a
good
thing. We solved the
murders and caught the killer, and now you'll get to rub Otto's
nose in it."

She thought it over and smiled. "Maybe
you're right."

"I know I am." The sirens were getting
closer.

"You put him on ice, huh?"
With a grunt, she sat up. "Permanently?"

I shook my head. "Oh, Peg..." And then
everything seemed to catch up with me at once. Tears poured from my
eyes, and I couldn't stop sobbing.

"Come here, honey." She reached out
and folded me in her arms. "There there." She patted my back softly
as I cried into her shoulder. "It'll be all right. Shh. It's okay
now."

Then the sirens were in the
parking lot. The cops and EMTs would burst in at any second, but I
didn't care if they saw me like that. I just kept crying, I just
needed to cry.

I was just glad she was
there.

Chapter 57

Could I pass for a polka
chick?