Glare Ice by Mary Logue Page A

his sex drive when he felt it. He often let it build up inside him just to feel the steam of it swirl around.
    But still, he needed other women. He could not hold it back forever. That was not his responsibility.
    He watched her come back into the bedroom. When she pulled back the covers, he saw her face. The shine of holy fear. She was worshiping him again.
    He would not go to her tonight. She would want him, but he would hold back. It would bring him more power. He would have her again soon enough. And then he would have her forever. She was his.
    When Claire walked in the door at four in the morning, she heard the gentle drone of the TV and found Rich slumped over in the recliner. His face was tilted to the side, and his mouth was slightly open, letting a soft whistle escape as he breathed. He didn’t look all that comfortable.
    She hoped he hadn’t been there all night. She felt enormous relief to see him in her house.
    How comforting to come home to a sleeping man.
    She was beyond tired, hungry, cold, thirsty, and sad. She wasn’t sure how she would face the day that would begin all too soon. This case needed to be attended to immediately. Her mind began to whir at what she would have to check into in a few hours when she went to work: Stephanie, autopsy, the checks for Mrs. Tabor, the car, Buck Owens’s parents.
    Claire stood in the middle of the room and put her hands to her temple. Let it go. You need to sleep. It will all happen soon. She shook herself and then looked again at her sleeping lover.
    After turning off the TV, she walked quietly over to where he sat in the chair and knelt in front of him. She reached out her arms and laid them on either side of his waist, and then she bent over and put her head in his lap. He was warm from sleep. She felt him stir, and then she felt his hands smooth back her hair.

6
    D AMP , thick clouds hung low over the lake, obscuring the bluffline across the water. From the window in her bedroom, Claire looked out. Clouds had settled into the crooks of the coulees on the far side of the lake, resembling lost sheep. The inside of Claire’s head felt like how the sky looked—muffled and woolly—but at least she was up and moving around.
    She had slept until nine and eaten a large breakfast, knowing she would need the calories to get through the day. Rich, bless him, had already gotten Meg off to school without waking her. He had made her breakfast and told her not to worry about the dishes. If he was trying to make himself indispensable, she thought, he was doing a darn good job of it.
    As she came down the stairs from her room, she saw he had his down jacket on and was ready to go out the door.
    “Arctic out. It’s not even above zero yet,” he told her.
    She groaned at the thought of the cold day ahead. The brutal cold made everything harder to do.
    “What are you up to today?” she asked.
    “Going over my books.”
    “Counting your pennies?”
    “That’s about it. Nothing as exciting as what you will be doing—looking at another man’s naked body.”
    “Don’t forget, I’m also having pie with an older gentleman.”
    “And I thought a cop’s life was tough. I’m going to have to meet this Dr. Lord sometime.”
    They kissed an easy kiss, and she waved him out the door.
    She called in to the department before she left the house to tell them she was on her way, and Julie warned her that the sheriff wanted to see her as soon as she got in. This came as no surprise. Claire had called him last night from the scene when she realized that the car going through the ice was not an accident, that they might be dealing with a murder. He had listened, and when she told him that the car was out of the water and they were ready to load the body into the ambulance, he said he’d be right down. He wanted to see the scene himself.
    Claire stopped by Stephanie Klaus’s house before she drove on to work, but there was no sign of anyone. No car, no dog. She had knocked on the