Page 9 of Her Frozen Heart

“It’s good to see you smile about your parents,” he said.

“It feels good.” Nikki wasn’t sure how to explain it, but the once-fragile scab barely covering the wound of her parents’ murders had actually started to heal. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d thought of them without wanting to cry.

“This could be blood.” Miller pointed to the corner of the truck bed not covered by the plywood. “Or half a dozen other things, but we’ll have to get it tested.”

Nikki stood on her tiptoes to get a better look. The red stains looked fairly fresh, and there were several smears along the interior wall of the truck bed. The rest of the truck bed was full of odds and end tools and junk, along with three partially full jugs of Drano and a box of thin, generic, black plastic trash bags.

“Those are dollar-store trash bags,” Nikki said.

“Drano speeds up decomposition,” Miller said. “If this turns out to be blood…”

“I agree it doesn’t look great, but I’ve also seen plenty of old trucks with similar stuff rolling around in the bed,” Nikki said. She pulled on the lid of a steel toolbox sitting up against the truck cab, but it didn’t budge. “I’d like to see what’s inside this thing.”

“Let’s ask Stanton to show it to us.”

“Assuming he doesn’t agree, I’m not sure we have enough probable cause to seize the truck,” Nikki said. “We don’t know for certain that it is blood, and black trash bags and Drano are common household items.” She went to the driver’s side door and looked through the dirty glass. The truck’s interior had seen better days, but the tan leather was in better shape than Nikki had expected. Fast-food wrappers littered the dash along with a layer of dirt.

“Looks like a bag of weed and a pipe on the floor.” Minnesota had decriminalized marijuana a few years ago, which meant police only fined a person carrying up to a certain amount. Nikki couldn’t tell if the baggie contained more than that, but smoking and driving was still very much illegal.

“Between that and the circumstantial stuff, I’m going to submit for an electronic warrant. You can head in and start talking to Stanton. I’ll see if I can get this thing rolling.” Miller headed back to his SUV where the mounted computer made submitting the warrant through e-Charging relatively simple. “I know it’s Christmas Eve, but”—he checked his watch—“hopefully at least one judge is planning on staying after three p.m. today.”

“It’s also Friday,” Nikki reminded him. “So, fingers crossed. Either way, I’ll take my time questioning him. Hopefully that will be enough time to get the warrant approved.”

Nikki bent her head against the wind gusting off the lake and speed-walked to the contact station’s door. Like most park structures in the state, the building was made of wood and resembled a log cabin, with a small office for the park ranger and two restrooms. The black flecks in the common areas’ white tile reminded Nikki of the doctor’s office when she was a kid. As a kid, she always counted the specks while waiting for the doctor to finally come into the exam room.

Reynolds met Nikki at the door. “Good to see you again, Agent Hunt, even though the circumstances suck as usual.” He glanced over his shoulder. “He’s stuck to the story he told us when we initially arrived. He’s currently unemployed after his auto shop went bankrupt. Wife’s a nurse, he’s got three kids under ten.”

“Word’s already out that it’s Kesha,” Nikki said quietly. “The reward was up to twenty-five thousand dollars yesterday, so we have to at least consider the possibility he’s somehow involved and that he came back to get her and claim the reward. Miller’s submitting for an e-warrant. How’s he been acting?”

“Like you’d expect considering what he found,” Reynolds answered.

Nikki went over to the other man, who had been twisting a knit cap and staring at the floor, his ash-blond hair standing on end. The smell of pot clung to his clothes. “Danny Stanton?”

Stanton jammed the cap into his coat pocket, stood up and looked at her. “Yes, ma’am. You’re the FBI lady?”

“Agent Nikki Hunt,” she answered, motioning for him to sit back down. “I know you’ve already spoken with Sheriff Miller and Deputy Reynolds, but thank you for waiting on me. I know this must be awful for you.” Nikki sat down in the chair across from Stanton, retrieving her notebook and pen from her bag. Reynolds leaned against the wall behind Stanton, his eyes on the door.

Stanton’s fair skin looked as white as the ice they’d just come in from. “Do you think she was alive when she went into the water?”

“From the looks of it, no,” Nikki answered.

“Good,” Stanton said. “I keep thinking about how scared she would have been. Drowning is terrifying.”

“It is,” Nikki said, fighting the sudden pressure on her chest. “I’m sorry but I’m probably going to ask you a lot of the same questions the sheriff asked.”

“Figured,” Stanton said. “If you don’t mind, can we get started? I’ve got three kids, and Christmas Eve is always a big deal. I know it sounds selfish—”

“Not at all,” Nikki assured him. “What time did you get to the lake this morning?”

“A little after ten.” Stanton rubbed his trembling hands together. “There were a couple of other guys fishing, but they left not long after I got on the ice.”

It had been a long time since Nikki had gone ice fishing with her father, but she remembered the ice had been hard to get through, even with an ice drill. “How did you come to pick that spot?”

Stanton dragged a hand through his hair. “Well, my ice drill is old, so I like to look for places that have already been cut through. Even if they’ve started to freeze again, the ice usually isn’t as thick. So, I was walking around and noticed the ice had been cut recently. It was the perfect, minimum-effort spot. I knew bass were deeper out anyway, and that’s what I like to eat.”

Nikki nodded. “According to the DNR employees, the ice is about seven inches right now. How thick was this spot?” She’d have to do a little research, but Nikki assumed it would take at least a few days for the ice-hole to re-freeze to that depth.

“Shoot,” Stanton said. “Maybe a couple of inches? Took maybe ten seconds to break through.”

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