“Right.” And somehow that seems to define who he is. Who I thought he was at least. The guy who brings painkillers to a reunion even though he doesn’t believe in them. Whether he does it because he cares for others weaker than himself or simply out of a compulsive need to be prepared for anything, I’m not sure.

I prize a couple out and swallow them down dry.

He starts opening cupboards.

“What are you looking for?”

“A flashlight. Candles. Whatever.”

“I already looked.”

“I’ll try the restaurant.” Curtis hurries out.

Brent is taking forever to fill those pans. At last he returns, badly out of breath, with the pans stacked one on top of the other and heaped with snow.

“You were out there for ages,” I say.

He sets them on the electric hob. “I wanted to get it from where nobody had stepped.”

I scoop a handful to press on my knee and turn the rings up as high as they will go. “Is your head okay?”

He rubs it. “Bit achy still but I’m managing.”

Curtis comes in with an armful of tealight candles in small glass holders and a lighter, which he dumps on the counter.

“Cool,” I say.

“Find a flashlight?” Curtis asks Brent.

“No,” Brent says.

Curtis turns to Heather. “Did Dale bring a flashlight?”

“I don’t know.” Heather doesn’t seem to know anything just now.

“Where is Dale anyway?” I say.

“Did he come back from checking outside?” Curtis asks.

“I was out there just now and I didn’t see him,” Brent says.

“I haven’t seen him either,” Heather says. She’s in a total panic now. Her eyes dart from corner to corner.

Curtis turns to Brent. “You check their dorm and in the building, and I’ll give him a shout outside. Be careful.”

They’re back a few minutes later. Dale isn’t in his dorm.

“I’ve shouted my head off out there but he’s not answering,” Curtis says. “This is getting ridiculous. We’re running out of time.”

“Was he wearing his transceiver?” I ask.

“No,” Curtis says. “That’s what bothers me. He left it by the door with his harness and his board. We better go and look for him. Milla, you stay here.”

“I’ll get my boots on.” Brent hurries off.

Curtis nods to the lighter and candles. “Keep them on you in case the power goes off,” he tells me. He glances at Heather, who is slumped against the wall, and tugs me into the corridor. In my ear he whispers: “Watch your back.”

“What?” I whisper, startled.

“Heather’s only little, but you never know with women.”

I watch him disappear down the corridor, thinking of the day Heather and Saskia buried me alive.

CHAPTER 34

TEN YEARS AGO