Page 18 of Frozen Secrets

No. It wasn’t true. That evidence… It’d just been misplaced. Except, why hadn’t her father made note of it? Why were there two difference evidence lists? One written in his handwriting, and one in the official case file? Why hadn’t anyone working the case questioned the disappearance of case-altering information? Blood drained from her face and neck as denial screamed up her throat. She twisted her ankles, just out of her attacker’s peripheral vision, and another splintering shock hit. The ropes came loose. “You’re lying.”

The killer wasn’t smiling anymore. “Am I?”

Two words—nothing more than a whisper—rocked through her. The scream that tore from Winnie’s chest rattled dust from the rafters as she charged to her feet and tackled the killer off the dock.

Straight over the edge.

Chapter Sixteen

A scream spiked his heart rate.

Adrial couldn’t tell the direction from which it’d come, and he pulled up short of skirting around the south end of the lake. Wind bit into the skin along his face and neck and drove into both wounds, freezing him from the inside out. His layers had soaked through with sweat. No matter how much he knew about avoiding hypothermia, he hadn’t been able to detach himself from the need to find Winnie over prioritizing his physical health.

She’d screamed. In pain. In fear. In rage.

And he wasn’t there to help.

He hadn’t seen evidence of the killer or Winnie in the minutes since he’d left the safety of his SUV with his handgun tucked into his back waistband, but the wind and snow cutting across the frozen lake liked to erase traces of human or animal life. Hollow Lake had already taken so much. He couldn’t let it take Winnie, too.

Adrial bit through a groan as he hauled his injured leg after him. The damn thing had lost a good amount of function, though he’d been able to contain the flow of blood. Hell, Winnie could be anywhere out here. In any condition. He just hoped he got there in time. A combination of that impenetrable mist and powdered snow whitewashed everything mere feet in front of him, only revealing one of the docks when he was practically standing on the damn thing. His boots skidded to one side, the howl of the mountain winds drowning out anything else. But he swore he could still hear her screaming. “Winnie!”

The outline of a faded structure took shape through the snow the longer he stared across the lake from the end of the dock. The boathouse? He’d forgotten all about it, let himself forget the hours he and Winnie had spent holed up inside while the rest of the world forgot to look for them. Instinct had him retracing his steps down the dock and carving a strained path toward the building. From the look of the siding and broken windows, it didn’t look as though it should have been condemned, but it technically fell under private property. He and Winnie hadn’t cared about the risk of being caught or buried beneath the failing structure when they’d needed a place to detach from the expectations and pressures they lived with as kids, but he assumed the town of Black Hollow hadn’t been able to legally touch it. No matter how much of a risk it posed to lake visitors.

He noted the roof tilting to one side the closer he came around the last bend in the shore. The boathouse would sure make a damn good shelter as the weather picked up. There was no way they’d survive out here much longer. Adrial had lost too much blood, and Winnie would’ve gotten to the SUV if she’d been able. “I’m coming, Red. I’ll find you.”

Palming the pistol he’d taken from the SUV, he let the cold metal burn his hand. To keep him in the moment. Otherwise his mind would take him back to that dark, numb place he fell into after Katie’s death. And he couldn’t afford to lose himself right now. Not as long as Winnie was in danger. He pumped both legs as hard as he could, the snow deepening by the minute. He could feel his body giving out, but he wouldn’t stop. Winnie needed him, and he needed to be the man she deserved right now. The one who got her out of here alive, who chose her when so many others had failed. Her father, her ex-husband. Even him. And while the thought of grouping himself in with the very men who’d been responsible for protecting and loving her grated him down to the bone, Adrial couldn’t deny the truth.

No one had chosen her.

Not because of any shortcomings on her part, but because every man in her life hadn’t been strong enough to support her. Including him. He’d convinced himself leaving Black Hollow had been for the best—to protect her—but all he’d done was step into a long line of people who hadn’t been there when she’d needed them. And because of that, he’d caught the loss of her confidence, her tenacity and her faith in the intrinsic merit of human nature in the mere days since she’d come home. The woman had turned herself into a one-person army, relying on herself and no one else to get her through the tough times, but that battle wasn’t sustainable. It was already wearing her down. Winnie had suffered through so much loss, but she was somehow still standing. Still fighting. She might’ve rushed into investigating this case as some kind of a nod to her father’s career and his legacy, but she wouldn’t give up. She’d fight until the end. He had to believe that.

“Winnie!” Adrial almost lost his footing as deep snow gave way to aged wood slivered with ice. The boathouse had been built over a privately owned dock that cut straight down the center of the structure with enough room to store two boats at a time, but it stood in obvious disuse. The peeling double doors at the back of the crumbling building hung off their hinges, but he still had to pry his way inside. The entire structure groaned under the impact as one door hit the wall behind it. Glass rattled in its frame as he stepped inside.

It took a few seconds for his brain to sort between the blinding reflection of the snow and the darkness within. Gripping the pistol, Adrial frantically cut down the center dock as he tried to pick up any sign of Winnie.

Until he found her.

Face down on the ice. Unconscious. His heart threatened to stop mid-beat. He couldn’t get to her without adding his weight to the already cracked ice. Any step on his part could take her under, and from the pale blue color beneath her skin, she was already in desperate need of help. “Winnie.”

No response.

“Winnie.” He had to risk it. Had to get to her. It was the only way they were getting out of here together. Searching the splintered walls for something—anything—to drag her closer to his position standing over her on the dock, Adrial cut to the rowboat for a paddle. He tucked his sidearm into his waistband and tipped the edge of the strung boat toward him.

The boat slammed into his chest.

He hit the floor, the impact jarring his head back. White lightning streaked behind his eyelids as the pain in his shoulder reminded him he’d already been stabbed—twice—today and was on the verge of succumbing to exposure.

“Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.” The killer rounded one end of the rowboat, twisting a solid wooden paddle like a baton. “And not in a good way. I was kind of hoping you were already dead, but I’m now realizing this will be much more exciting.”

Adrial turned onto his uninjured side. It took more energy for him to get to his feet than it should have, but considering his condition, he’d reward himself with an entire bag of gummy clusters when he got Winnie out of this. “And I’m now realizing, you really like to hear yourself talk.”

The woman beneath the mask stilled in that unnatural way that told him he’d said the wrong thing. What did he care? She’d stabbed him and taken Winnie. He didn’t give a damn about whether he’d hurt her feelings.

“Tell you what.” He tucked his good hand behind him, wrapped his fingers around the grip of his gun, pulled it free and took aim. Every second the killer kept him from Winnie was another second he might lose her all over again. And he couldn’t live with that kind of loss again. He’d barely survived losing his wife. If it hadn’t been for Baxter pulling him out of that dark place and giving him a new purpose with the agency, Adrial would be buried six feet under with Katie and their baby. Losing Winnie now would destroy him for good. “I’ll let you walk out of here without getting shot if you turn yourself in now.”

“Oh, but you’re not a police officer anymore, are you, Detective?” She took a step forward, halting her impressive twirl with the boat paddle. Even in inexperienced hands, that thing could do damage, and Adrial had no doubt “You don’t have the authority to demand anything of me, and you can’t just shoot me. At least, not without cause.”

Detective. She’d called him that before. He slipped his index finger over the trigger. “It’s because I don’t like you, which is good enough for me.”