Page 68 of Her Frozen Heart

Nikki stared at him, her still cloudy brain trying to keep up with his subject changes. “A couple of times. My mentor worked with him. Why?”

“I’m a fan,” Roth said. “When I first started, I didn’t understand my urges or that there were others like me.Mindhunterby Douglas opened my life to a new world. I’d found my people.”

It had done the same for Nikki. The book inspired her to major in behavioral psychology instead of criminal justice, which she’d minored in. Her psychology training had opened the door for her at the FBI, just as it had done with Douglas. When Nikki had learned her mentor had worked with the legendary profiler, she’d literally shouted with joy.

“After your death, I will become enemynumero uno,” Roth said. “I hope Douglas is the one who ultimately tells my story. Talk about a cherry on top.”

Narcissism. She could work with that. Narcissists could talk about themselves for hours. “Why did you become a neuroscientist?”

“I wanted to understand my own brain better, and I knew about the research in New Mexico. I thought it a perfect way to sharpen my skills.” Roth checked his watch. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a short conference call with my assistant at the institute. He’ll be handling things during my leave of absence.”

“I thought you said you were dying?” Nikki asked.

“They don’t need to know that,” he said. “I don’t want their looks of pity. Now, I’m not going to restrain you, Nicole. The window doesn’t open, it’s almost twenty degrees below zero with the wind chill, and we’re a long way from any neighbors. I trust you’re smart enough not to go on a suicide mission. I will bring you a humane end. Mother Nature won’t.”

He left the room, locking the door behind him. Nikki heard three clicks, including the sliding sound made by a deadbolt. She scanned the room again, her vision finally clear enough to search for hidden cameras. She didn’t see any, but she assumed Roth would be keeping an eye on her. The door appeared not to lock from the inside.

Slowly, she swung her legs off the bed. He’d taken off her boots, and she could feel the cold floor through her socks. Fake wooden paneling had been peeled from part of the wall, revealing insulation. Nikki gingerly stood, making sure her legs could hold her weight, and shuffled to the wall. Rory had shown her the difference between fiberglass and foam insulation when she’d helped him in the garage a few weeks ago. Nikki was confident this was a batt of fiberglass insulation that had been rolled out to fit into the damaged piece of wall. Fiberglass insulation irritated the skin and eyes if it made contact. If she could find something to protect her own skin and eyes, she could ambush Roth and make a run for it.

Into the dangerous cold and wind, without shoes. Nikki went to the closet and tried not to pay attention to the various bondage devices and other torture mechanisms. She crouched down and inspected the shoes lined neatly across the floor. Some were men’s, some were women’s, with a variety of sizes.

Roth’s victims’ shoes. He’d probably kept them as trophies. Nikki hated to disrespect the dead, but she had to get out of here. She grabbed the tennis shoes that looked closer to her size and slipped them on. Her heart pounded against her chest. How was she going to do this? Roth could see the whole room when he opened the door. His laugh drifted through the cheap paneling. She couldn’t count on his being gone very long.

Think, Nicole.

Her gaze fell on the insulation again. She shuffled back to the exposed section and took her socks off. Nikki slipped them on her hands to protect her skin and then peeled off a long, thick layer of insulation. She took the shoestring out of one of the Nikes and used it to secure the insulation to the bottom of the shoe, and then did the same with the other foot. She put the socks back on and then the shoes. Footsteps came from somewhere in the next room. Nikki crawled back into bed. She grabbed the blanket at the edge of the bed and pulled it over her, shifting her weight so that her knees touched her chest, her feet together. When Roth got close enough, she’d yank back the blanket and kick him in the face.

Her heart pounded as she waited for him to return. She heard the sound of the deadbolt being pulled back, followed by the two other locks. Nikki pulled the blanket to her chin and hoped she looked cold enough to fool him.

TWENTY-THREE

“Now, where were we?” Roth asked, closing the door behind him. “I apologize for the chilly room. This was my grandparents’ old trailer. I only come here when I’m… well, you know.”

“Your Roma grandparents?”

“Yes,” Roth said. “They were fortune tellers. Well, my grandmother. Grandpa just put on a show. But my grandmother predicted some oddly accurate things.”

“I know,” Nikki said. The memory she’d been fighting since she realized who Roth was might be the only thing that would buy her enough time to escape. “I saw her a couple of months before my parents’ murder. During some town festival. The gypsies… sorry, Roma, had a couple of tents, selling crafts and stuff. My best friend and I thought it would be funny to have our fortunes told.”

“I know. I watched through the gap in the door. I recognized you from school, the popular girl who’d been nice to me. I always wondered what Ya-Ya told you.”

“Ya-Ya? That’s what you called her?” Nikki tried not to wonder how many other times he’d spied on her back then.

“It’s Greek for ‘grandmother,’” Roth said. “That’s where my family originally migrated to before eventually coming here. The Romani word ispuri mai, but I couldn’t say it when I was little. What did she tell you?”

Nikki’s muscles tensed as she spoke. She hadn’t told this to anyone, including Rory. “Your grandmother said death was coming to my house. And that it would follow me all of my life.”

“Did you believe her?”

“No, but she scared us. When my parents were killed, I tried to find her, but I didn’t know where she lived. Not that she could have done anything, but I wanted to know what she saw.”

Roth looked genuinely sad. “I wish I’d known you needed her. I would have made sure she spoke to you.”

Was he serious? Even now, Roth sounded like a distinguished professor rather than someone who could rape a man so violently he’d ripped his skin. He’d fooled her completely.

Roth walked toward the bed. Beneath the blanket, Nikki flexed her toes, making sure her feet hadn’t gone numb again. Her heart beat so loud against her chest it hurt. She felt breathless from trying to be still and act normal. Roth started to sit down on the edge of the bed as he’d done before. Nikki yanked the dirty quilt back and kicked him in the face as hard as she could. Roth shouted in surprise, his arms moving to his face. She kicked him in the side and jumped to her feet. Nikki grabbed the door handle. Roth’s hand closed around her ankle.

“You bitch. I trusted you.”

---