Page 69 of Her Frozen Heart

His fair skin was already irritated from the insulation, his eyes watering. Blood trickled from his nose. Before he could grab her other ankle, Nikki lifted her foot and brought it down on his hand, grinding the fiberglass insulation into his skin. Roth shouted and loosened his grip enough for her to pull her ankle free.

Nikki sloughed off the insulation from her shoes and ran down the short hallway, slamming into an old recliner. She barely noticed, desperately searching for the trailer’s front door. Roth had gotten to his feet in the bedroom. He shouted at her. Nikki reached the front door and fought with the lock.

Roth stormed down the hall. She finally wrenched the door open and sprinted outside.

It was dark, the full moon illuminating the snow-covered trees. Bitter cold air chapped her face and stung her lungs, but Nikki didn’t stop running.

She ran down the narrow, plowed driveway with no idea how long it was or where she was headed. The moon’s position might help her figure out which direction she needed to go, but Nikki couldn’t stop to think. She had to keep running until her legs gave out or…

Headlights suddenly shined from behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Roth bearing down in his Audi. The ill-fitting shoes slowed her pace, but Nikki tried to dive out of the car’s way. Pain exploded in her hip as the vehicle made contact. Her body flew through the air and landed in an ice-covered snowbank.

Nikki tried to stand, but the pain in her leg was excruciating. Her head hurt from the impact, and fresh vomit boiled in her stomach. She managed to roll over on her back. She wanted to see Roth’s face when he attacked.

She stared at the clear night sky. Was it clear in Florida too? A sob started deep in her stomach at the thought of her daughter. Lacey would be raised by Tyler’s parents. Nikki had barely survived losing her own at sixteen, and Lacey was so young. How could her baby get through life without her?

Roth still hadn’t come. Nikki couldn’t just lie here and wait, but her leg was definitely broken. She twisted her neck to get a better look and nearly screamed. Her tibia stuck out of her leg, blood pooling on the snow.

At least the bitter cold would buy her time from bleeding out. Her tears had frozen on her cheeks. Every time she tried to sit up, vertigo dragged her back down.

Nikki worked to roll back over and used her good leg to try to crawl, but her body seemed rooted to the spot. Roth was probably watching and enjoying the show. If he did have cancer, Nikki prayed his end was excruciating.

An engine rumbled. Nikki heard shouts. And then a gunshot. Half delirious from pain, Nikki wondered if Roth had decided to shoot her and be done with it.

“Her bag’s in his damn car!” a familiar voice shouted. “She’s here somewhere.”

Nikki almost cried at the sound of Rory’s voice. How had he found her? How far from the driveway had she been thrown? What if she lay here in the snow and froze to death while they were searching? Between the wind and cold, it wouldn’t take long for snow to cover her entire body.

“Nikki!” Rory’s voice carried through the air.

“Here,” she tried to say. The words caught in her dry throat. Nikki gulped snow down like water and tried again.

This time, she screamed.

EPILOGUE

Nikki must have frozen to death. Her fingers and toes were stiff. Yet the air around her felt warm against her face. Someone had slathered her chapped cheeks with petroleum jelly or something as equally messy. Her right arm seemed much heavier than the other.

Nikki groaned. “Get this off me.” She tried to lift the splinted arm, but a woman shushed her.

“You dislocated your shoulder, honey. It needs to stay immobile.” A gentle hand smoothed her hair back.

For one glorious moment, Nikki thought her mother had come to her bedside like she’d done when Nikki was little. Her mom would sit next to her when she had a fever or felt bad, stroking her hair and telling silly stories. Then she’d bring Nikki 7 Up and chocolate-chip cookies.

Nikki willed her eyes to open. “Ruth?”

“Rory’s just gone to the bathroom,” Ruth said. “He’ll be right back.” She put a fresh straw in the pink, plastic cup sitting on the small table next to the bed. “Water. Drink.”

Nikki slowly sipped the water while Ruth fussed with the stiff hospital blanket, tucking it around Nikki’s chin with shaking hands. “It’s good to hear your voice, honey.”

“How did I get here?”

Ruth turned around. “Mark, why don’t you tell her?”

Nikki heard the sound of a chair moving against the tile floor, and Mark lumbered into her still-fuzzy vision. “You know, Walsh, this is twice I’ve saved your ass.” His tone was light, but he looked pale and tired. Only Mark would still call her by her maiden name Walsh, just as he’d done when they were kids.

“What?”

“I’ll try to keep it short,” Mark said. “That doctor—Roth—interviewed John Banks this afternoon. I guess he’s interviewed him for his research before, but today the guy asked John a lot of weird questions about you and mentioned you were working together. They talked about how long John had gotten away with killing your mom and dad, and how you were so strong now.” Mark adjusted his baseball cap, bouncing on the balls of his feet the way he always did when he told a story. “Roth said something about you being the greatest catch. He gave John a really bad vibe. Word got around last night that an FBI agent was missing, and he put it together. He knew the FBI and police wouldn’t take him seriously, so he called me.”

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