Page 66 of Her Frozen Heart

Nikki forced her dry mouth and cracked lips to move. “Where are you going?”

“Most people would say hell, but I’m holding out hope for a miracle.”

Hell was too good for him. “I don’t understand.” Nikki’s head was pounding. “What the hell did you give me?”

“Ketamine,” he said. “I normally don’t result to such barbaric tactics, but this is the first time I’ve kidnapped a cop, so I brought in reinforcements. For what it’s worth, I’m truly sorry it’s come to this. But I fear that without you, my story will be covered up much like Monday’s.”

Nikki struggled to keep her vision clear. Her body still felt weak and heavy, like she’d been drinking in the hot tub and stepped out before realizing she was too tipsy to walk straight. “No cover-up…” she mumbled.

“Sure there is,” Roth said. “Detective Dover and Forest Lake are already doing it. Your boss expected it to happen, which is why he brought me in. That’s when I knew how all of this was supposed to play out. It’s our destiny.”

“No,” Nikki said. “Hernandez brought you in because of the media. We didn’t need you to solve the case.”

Roth threw his head back and laughed, the sound sending chills down Nikki’s spine. “Of course you did, Agent. You never would have realized it was me if I hadn’t taken you.”

“It can’t be you,” she said. “I trusted you.” How could she have missed him? Her instincts were better than that. Yet Roth had blindsided her. He’d looked through the crime scene photos without any sort of reaction, something most serial killers would be unable to do.

Roth smiled. “I have that effect on people. But don’t feel badly, Agent Hunt. I’ve been doing this a very long time.”

“The girl in theGarfieldtowel,” Nikki croaked. “Who was she?”

“Garfield?” Roth clapped his hands. “Your forensic people could still see that pattern? Very impressive. Isn’t technology wonderful?”

Nikki moved her hands and feet. Roth hadn’t restrained her. Not that she had an ounce of strength right now. Her limbs still felt like jelly, and her memories from earlier in the day were a big, tangled mess of neurons.

“Do you know why I chose ketamine?” he asked. “Its effect is similar to GHB, you know.” Roth smiled pleasantly, but she could see the meanness in his gray eyes. In the diner, Roth had told her that he’d only spoken with Oliver at the prison, but he’d clearly made nice with someone else responsible for destroying Nikki’s life.

“You’re a bastard.”

He laughed. “I’m much more than that, but talking with your parents’ killer today inspired me.”

On the night her parents were murdered, Nikki had been drugged with GHB by the same man who’d killed her parents. Mark Todd had saved Nikki from being raped, but his heroic actions set off a chain of events that resulted in her parents’ murders and Mark’s wrongful imprisonment.

“You said you spoke to Frost today.”

“I did, but I spoke to others as well.”

Hate rolled through Nikki. She needed to get to her gun and…

Her gun was locked in the jeep, and Roth would have taken her purse and phone. He was probably smart enough to ditch the phone too.

“Don’t you want answers?” Roth asked.

“I want you in prison for life.”

Roth grinned. “That’s the spirit, Agent. You’re one of the best. The criminals you’ve caught were some of the most dangerous of our generation. That’s why it had to be you. No one’s going to sweep my legacy under the rug if my final victim is Nikki Hunt.”

“Sure I am. You’ll pack up here and move somewhere else and start over.”

“I wish that were true, but an enemy I believed I had beaten has returned with a vengeance. I don’t have much time left.”

“Cancer? That’s what you’re going with?”

He shrugged. “I’ve already endured chemo and radiation once. Doctors assure me this time they won’t do any more than give me a few more weeks of misery.”

“Then why aren’t you on a beach somewhere?”

“I intend to live out my final days on the beach, actually. I’m not spending them in a filthy cell. My story will be told because of your sacrifice. Think of the contribution you’ll be making to your peers.”

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