Page 26 of Her Frozen Heart

She started to put her phone back in her pocket when Miller’s text came through.

No remains in lake. Found burial ground. Come ASAP.

SEVEN

SUMMER, 1989

Emmanuel peered through the tall weeds, watching his older sister Diana slowly peel off her short shorts and skimpy tank top. He didn’t understand why he suddenly felt butterflies in his stomach when he realized she wasn’t wearing a bra. She sat down on the towel she’d brought to the secret cove the two of them had found a couple of years ago, before she stopped doing fun things like spending their days trolling the lake for big northerns or searching the woods for old arrowheads. Last summer, Diana had understood his need to run untethered all day, without the watchful and prying eyes of the babysitter.

A tall, older boy suddenly burst through the bushes on the other side of the small beach. Emmanuel had seen the boy around the little town they lived near, working at the gas station—that’s how he’d met Diana. His name was David, but everyone called him Davey.

His sister had recently started spending less and less time with Emmanuel and more time with Davey, even though their mother forbade it when she found out.

Diana raced into her boyfriend’s arms, wrapping her legs around his waist. David’s hands grabbed at her butt, and his erection was evident through his running shorts.

Emmanuel had only just started dealing with those uncontrollable things. He’d woken up to a mess in his sheets more than once. He’d tried to hide it but sharing a room with a younger sibling made that impossible. Stupid baby brother had told Mom, who’d taken Emmanuel into the bathroom and make him take a shower so hot he looked like a lobster.

While he showered, she sat on the toilet and explained that he had to control his urges, especially around girls. What he’d done was unclean and embarrassing, and God saw everything.

Then she’d made him pray with her, asking for forgiveness for the impure thoughts that had invaded his dreams.

The next time, when he asked why his special part got hard and sometimes hurt before it made a mess, his mother hit him upside the head so hard Emmanuel saw stars. Diana had tried to come to his defense, telling her mother that if Emmanuel understood his body, he might be able to control it.

Their mother had locked his sister in her room for the night. “That girl is trouble,” she had told Emmanuel. “She doesn’t care that God is always watching.”

Now, he watched his sister toss her golden hair over her shoulder as the older boy playfully dropped her onto the big blanket. His sister’s face was flushed with excitement, her eyes on the older boy as he quickly undressed and crawled on top of her. Diana gasped and huffed, her fingernails digging into his back. The boy moved back and forth, grunting like Emmanuel heard his father do.

The two teenagers writhed on the towel awkwardly, making gross noises. It was over in minutes, and his sister and the boy ran into the creek, naked and laughing. Emmanuel watched as they splashed each other for a while and then ran back to the towel. They lay naked beneath the shady trees, talking about what was going to happen next. Their plan would work, his sister told the boy.

“Then it will just be the two of us, right?”

“I bet I can get a job in the city,” the boy said. “There are places called hostels where we can stay until we make enough money to get a little apartment. We don’t need our parents.”

“Especially my mother,” Diana said, resting her head on the guy’s scrawny chest. “She’s just mean and miserable. I’m not going to waste my life like she did.”

“What about your siblings?” Davey asked.

“Emmanuel can take care of our little brother.” Diana started chewing her fingernails like she did when she was nervous. “She’s mean to him too, but he’ll get bigger. He’ll be able to fight back. If I stay, she’ll end up beating me to death or murdering me in my sleep, especially if she finds out about you.” She sat up abruptly and looked down at Davey. “Let’s do it tonight.”

“Run away?” Davey looked shocked.

“Why not? I’m sick of putting it off. We can take the late bus to Minneapolis. Your dad and mine will be passed out drunk before nine, and my mother has her precious bingo in Stillwater tonight. She won’t be home until after eleven.” Diana brushed his hair off his face and then leaned down to kiss him. “Please, baby. I can’t spend another night in that house.”

Emmanuel’s hand drifted to the Bowie knife he carried everywhere, just in case he might need it.

He knew what he had to do.

EIGHT

Nikki parked next to Rory’s white pickup and slipped on her winter hiking boots and heavy coat, making sure she had her phone and an extra set of gloves in her canvas bag. She checked her phone, unsurprised that Dion Johnson hadn’t returned her call. Waiting to talk to a potential suspect went against everything Nikki had been taught, but given what the K9 had found this morning, she felt justified. It was looking more and more like Kesha had been taken by an experienced serial killer. Her stomach knotted at the thought of these new victims. How long had someone like that been operating in Washington County, right under their noses?

“Fancy meeting you here.”

Rory’s voice made Nikki jump. “Holy God, you scared me.”

“Sorry.” He grinned sheepishly. “Miller said he gave you directions to the clearing, but it’s kind of a tough slog, so I decided to come back and walk with you.”

Nikki locked the jeep and kissed his cheek. “My knight in shining muck boots. How are you doing?” She couldn’t discuss case information with Rory, but over the summer he’d been part of the cold case murder of his high school sweetheart, whose remains had been located on a development site Rory had bid for and won. He’d gone to some therapy sessions and seemed to be doing better, but today couldn’t have been easy for him.

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