Page 65 of Her Frozen Heart

Roth stood and shrugged into his coat. “I believe I may have parked behind you. Red jeep?”

“Yep, right across the street,” Nikki said. They left the diner together. Nikki cursed when the wind struck her face. Her skin had already been dry, and her cheeks were getting chapped. “It’s colder than it was when I got here.”

“I’m seriously considering a permanent move to the tropics,” Roth grumbled.

Nikki started to laugh, but her attention was on the jeep. “My damn tire is flat.”

“I’ll help you change it,” Roth said. “You have a spare?”

“Yeah, in the garage at my boyfriend’s place. It had a hole. I’ve been meaning to pick up another.”

“No worries.” Roth walked to his black Audi. “Hop in. I’ll drive you to the sheriff’s station.”

Nikki liked to take care of things herself, but the cold and exhaustion made Roth’s offer too inviting to pass up.

The inside of the Audi was as plush as the outside. The pristine leather gleamed, and Nikki couldn’t see a speck of dust on the dash. She buckled her seat belt and thanked Roth again.

His gray eyes were the last thing she saw before the needle sank into her skin.

TWENTY-TWO

Nikki’s amaretto sour smelled like burnt almonds with a dash of apricot oil. Except she’d never ordered an amaretto sour at the Oasis Café. She’d ordered iced tea and a sandwich, which was now fighting its way out of her stomach through her esophagus.

Vomit gurgled in her mouth. Nikki needed to turn over, but her body had been glued to the bed.

A bed? She didn’t remember driving home.

A warm, strong hand cupped her shoulder and rolled Nikki on her side just in time for the vomit to breach her lips.

“Just relax,” a man whispered near her ear. “I won’t let you asphyxiate, Agent. Not yet, anyway.”

Nikki’s mind stilled, the merry-go-round of blurry memories becoming crystal clear. Roth had offered to drive her back to the sheriff’s station since the jeep’s tire had gone flat. He’d said something about false truths and…

Nikki peeled her eyes open. She blinked, her blurred vision slowly coming into focus.

Alex Roth’s concerned face looked down at her. “Thank goodness. You were out longer than I anticipated.”

She stared at him, trying to piece her memory together. He’d injected her with something. How had she missed the menace in his gray eyes?

“Why do I smell bitter almond and apricot?” Her tongue felt coated with the taste.

Roth pointed to the plants lined up against the wall next to the rickety bed. “Oleander. Beautiful, strong-smelling, deadly. Animals won’t bother a place it’s been planted.”

The grave. Courtney had talked about the possibility of a poisonous plant as a reason animals hadn’t bothered with the area.

Nikki tried to sit up, but Roth shook his head. “I wouldn’t advise that. You’re going to be as wobbly as a newborn colt for a little while.”

“Where are we?”

“In my secret place,” he said. “My grandparents left it to me.”

Nikki tried to take stock of her surroundings. They were in a bedroom, with a boarded-up window covered in black plastic. The space was barely big enough for a twin bed, small nightstand and half closet. The doors had been taken off the closet, with several shelves mounted on the walls. Nikki couldn’t make out everything on the shelves, but she did see the restraints and a couple of very painful-looking sex toys.

“Don’t worry, I changed the sheets before you came over.”

She tried to control her breathing, but fear paralyzed her. No one knew she’d met with Roth. She didn’t have a clue where they were.

Roth followed her gaze to the closet and then chuckled. “Don’t worry, Agent. I don’t intend on using those on you, not after the rapport we’ve established. I’m not a complete louse. I just need you for the final act of my story before I’m gone.”

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