Page 19 of Their Frozen Bones

He assisted Emily laying damp sheets across the bodies of the victims. Frozen bodies tended to dry out as they thawed and needed to be maintained at a constant temperature. As they covered the last of the three bodies, he looked at Emily. “That’s all for today. I’m going to check on the weather report so we can find out when we can get back out to the crash site. The moment I get the chance I’m going to fly around the area searching for any cabins on either side of the avalanches. It makes sense to me that whoever rescued Julie took her to one of the cabins. Searching for them from the ground will be difficult at the moment as everything looks the same. From the air we at least have a chance of seeing a spiral of smoke.”

“Will you be involving Carter in the search?” Emily had been despondent since her sister had gone missing. “I know Jenna has her mind on the homicides. Since that first day when we all went out searching for Julie, no one apart from Blackhawk has set foot in the forest.” She pressed the release on the door and it whooshed open. “Have they given up searching for her?”

Shaking his head, Wolfe followed her through the door. He removed his PPE and tossed the gown into the receptacle and his mask and gloves into the garbage. “The mayor has experienced people working out in the field, Em. Search and rescue and a team of snowmobile riders who know the area. Blackhawk and his friends have been trying to discover trails that are passable and searching for any cabins in the local area. The problem is it’s so darn cold no one can stay out for extended periods of time. Until I can get the chopper up to start searching for her myself, my job is to be here for the victims of crime. When the blizzard blows itself out, Carter, I, Styles, and the search-and-rescue helicopter will be out looking for her.” He stood hands onhips and stared at her. “Do you honestly believe that I would be here when I could be out searching for my daughter? I know for a fact that Jenna wanted to keep on looking no matter what the cost. Having Julie missing is tearing her apart just like the rest of us.” He waved a hand absently toward the window where the snow was a constant flow of white. “Right now, there’s nothing we can do. I’m sure someone rescued her from the crash site. All the evidence points in that direction. We must assume she is safe and in a cabin with one of the locals who can’t contact us for one reason or another. You know as well as I do that people live off the grid for a reason. They don’t communicate with the outside world and live off the land. The simple fact that this person collected all the medical supplies on the aircraft and boxes of canned goods tells me that he made more than one trip. I figure he must be in a one-mile radius of the crash site and right now is hemmed in by the avalanches. We don’t know if his communication was knocked out by the storm. Maybe he didn’t have time to get the word out.”

“I hope you’re right.” Emily stripped off her PPE and stared at him. “Do you want me to go next door and assist Norrell?”

Wolfe took in Emily’s distraught expression and slipped one arm around her shoulder. As an independent young woman, she rarely came to him for a hug anymore, but he needed to let her know he was there for her. “Why don’t you give Rio a call and ask him to meet you down at Aunt Betty’s for lunch? They usually take a break around this time.”

“Did you know that Rio has been promoted to chief deputy?” Emily raised one eyebrow. “I figure it’s gone to his head. When I called him yesterday, all we talked about was his future. When I said I’d be staying here to finish my internship at the hospital and then be working with you, his attitude toward me was as if I’d asked him to sell his house and give me his life savings.” She leaned into him. “His ambition is to be sheriff one day, whichwill mean moving to another town. Jenna is never going to retire and I doubt she’ll ever lose an election in Black Rock Falls.” She stepped away and leaned against the wall looking sheepish.

Raising both eyebrows, Wolfe met her gaze. “If Jenna did retire, Kane would take her place. Rio wouldn’t win an election against him.” He frowned. “He works so well with the team, I figured he was happy here. What else did he say?”

“That I should consider applying for an internship in another town.” She rolled her eyes. “He mentioned a few backwoods towns where they were looking for a new sheriff, and with his credentials, he’d have a good chance of the mayor giving him an interim position. Once he was there, his reelection would be in the bag. I told him I wouldn’t leave Black Rock Falls. My hopes and dreams are here working alongside you.” She let out a long sigh. “He said he has his family to think about, and in a year or so, if the chance comes up to take over from a retiring sheriff, they’ll move to that town. He plans to get himself known to the townsfolk so he’ll be elected.”

Concerned, Wolfe straightened. “You won’t be through your internship by then and his siblings are adults. He doesn’t need to provide for them.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Has the spark gone out of your relationship because, as sure as heck, I wouldn’t be planning on walking out on Norrell for a darn promotion.”

“I don’t think he’s being cruel.” Emily frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. “He’s a young man who is looking toward a future, I guess.”

Staring at her, he didn’t see a woman falling to pieces because the man she loved was planning to abandon her. “Do you love him?”

“After seeing how Norrell looks at you, and how she is when you’re around, I figure Rio is more of a close friend. I’ve kept him at a distance for a long time and he is fine with that. I mean, wedon’t kiss other than a peck on the cheek. He doesn’t cheat on me, but I don’t think we’ll ever have what you and Norrell have or Jenna and Dave. We’ll be friends. I’m not sure that’s enough. I was more concerned about losing a friend than a potential husband. I have the horrible feeling we’ve just become habits, as in we’re there for each other when we want to go to a dance or out for a meal, but the hot romance thing is missing.”

Wolfe took her arm and led her to his office. “I’ll tell Webber to watch the shop. We’ll head down to Aunt Betty’s. Do you want to run this past Norrell or Jenna?”

“Jenna is my closest friend, and although Norrell is wonderful, she is not my mom. I need an outside opinion, but I won’t mention Rio might leave some day because maybe he won’t.” She waited for him to pick up his phone. “I’m wondering if he’s saying this to break up in a nice way. I could understand that. It’s a long wait until I get my ME license, even though we could marry when I start my internship, I’m not sure I really want to marry him now.”

Finding the conversation difficult because, in truth, no one was good enough for his girls, he tried to be as honest as possible. “When it comes to getting married, you don’t marry someone out of obligation or because they’ve become a comfortable habit.” He gave her a long look. “You marry them because your heart would break without them and because every second away from them is an eternity.”

“Does everyone feel that way?” Emily blinked a few times and swallowed hard. “I’m starting to think he’s just a friend.” She ran her hands down her arms. “Oh, Dad. What am I going to do?”

Wolfe called Jenna. “Mind if I steal you for half an hour? Aunt Betty’s in fifteen minutes? No, not about the case. It’s personal. Yeah, Dave can come.” He disconnected and looked at her. “Grab your things. They’re on their way.”

TWENTY-FOUR

At the sound of the snowmobile, Carolyn got to her feet and stood hands on hips, chin raised, and stared at the front door. She had a few things to say to him for leaving her alone all night and then having water and cold beans for breakfast. She heard a key turn in the lock and a blast of freezing air rushed across the room along with a flurry of snowflakes. “Where the heck have you been all darn night?” She smoothed her hair and brought it over one shoulder.

“We need some rules.” The man of her dreams removed his coat and shook out the snow before hanging it on a hall tree beside the door. He sat down on the small bench seat below and dragged off his boots. “First, don’t ever raise your voice to me again or swear in my presence. It’s not ladylike.” His dark gaze hardened as he straightened and walked toward her. “I expected a more welcoming response from you when I arrived. I figured you might have been concerned about my welfare out in the snow all night, but no, all you care about is yourself.”

Carolyn ran her hands through her hair, arranged it over one shoulder, and then curled the ends around her index finger. The move usually made men forget their names. She smiled and wet her lips. “I don’t follow rules. If I did, I wouldn’t have come outhere with you, would I? Doesn’t every girl’s mother tell her not to get into a car with a stranger, and yet here I am, in a cabin in the woods with somebody I hardly know.” Her thoughts went to how they’d met as it had only been a week and he’d swept her off her feet. He was everything she wanted in a man and, with money to burn, he was perfect. She walked toward him. “I missed you. Are you okay? Where did you stay last night?”

“Don’t touch me.” A sneer crossed his mouth as he held up both hands like a traffic cop and glared at her. “Look at this place. Is this how you live? Stop touching your hair and get this place cleaned up.” He picked up a bag he’d dropped on the floor when he came in and tossed it onto the kitchen counter. “I’ll get the stove going. You can cook, right?”

Annoyed, Carolyn glared at him. Was he joking? “I don’t cook or clean. We have people to do that where I come from.” She looked around the dust-laden cabin. “Look at me. Do I look like a cleaning woman?” She tossed her hair and rearranged it again, smoothing it on her shoulder.

“You look like a spoiled brat.” He shook his head slowly. “I bet if I go into the bedroom, you will have cleaned a space in the dust on the mirror to look at yourself.”

Shocked by his ice-cold expression, she took a step back when he came around the kitchen counter. He stood a few inches from her, glaring down at her. It was as if he’d changed into a different person overnight. She lifted her chin, refusing to cower before him. “Don’t be a dumbass. You know I like to make myself look good for you. That’s why I’m here, isn’t it, so you can show me off to your friends like a darn trophy?” She snorted. “Don’t concern yourself on my behalf. I’m used to it.”

The open-hand slap came from nowhere. Carolyn rocked back and sat down hard on the floor. No one had ever hit her before. She lunged forward and grabbed him by the leg and sank in her teeth. When he howled and grabbed her hair, shebit harder. He had handfuls of her hair. The extensions were coming off in his hands as he dragged her from him. Pain shot through her scalp as he twisted his fists, she needed to let go but had tasted blood. When she spat the blood from her mouth, he lifted her up by her hair. Screaming, she went for his face, but he moved so fast, twisting her around and grabbing both her hands. Forcing her to her knees, he pressed one knee in her back. The weight of him pushed the air from her lungs. Agony tore through tendons stretched well over their limit as he wrenched her arms high up behind her. “Stop it, you’re hurting me.”

“Oh, I haven’t started hurting you yet.” Viciously, he dragged her to her feet and marched her into the kitchen. He went into his bag and took out gaffer tape and wrapped it around her wrists. “Get into the bedroom. Now.” He shoved her hard in the back.

Sobbing with terror, Carolyn stumbled forward. Was he planning on raping her? She stared at him over one shoulder. She could twist guys around her little finger. She just needed to give him what he wanted. “Look, I’m sorry, all right? I’ll clean the cabin if that’s what you want. There’s no need to get violent.”

“Shut up. That’s just become another rule. You don’t speak unless I ask you a question. I can’t stand the sound of your baby voice any longer. You sound like a two-year-old.” He stared around the room and growled deep in his chest. “Move and I’ll make you sorry.”

Trembling, Carolyn stood in the corner. She caught sight of her reflection in the mirror over the nightstand and gaped at her swollen red eyes. Her hair was standing up all over and mascara tracked lines down her cheeks. She turned as he heaved the mattress back onto the bed, tossed on the linen, and then stared at her as if deciding what to do next. Without warning, he grabbed her and pushed her into the tiny bathroom and secured her hands to the towel rail. She stared at him. “I said I was sorryand I’d clean the house. Stop acting like a blockhead and untie me… unless this is your kinky side? If it is, I can deal with it.”

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