Page 20 of Frozen Secrets

She’d come back to Black Hollow to set her father’s affairs in order. She’d taken on following this investigation to the end to honor his career and had somehow convinced Adrial to come along for the ride. They were partners. Not a couple. And even if she was ready to start seeing someone so quickly after the divorce—which she wasn’t—the last person she’d turn to was the man who’d broken her heart in the first place. “He still loves his wife.”

And why were they talking about this, anyway? Adrial hadn’t shown any kind of interest… Her stomach sucked up higher into her rib cage. The kiss. Not the performance that’d played out in front of Henry and Darby on Main Street, but the one that’d come after. When it’d just been the two of them on the edge of Hollow Lake. He’d…kissed her. Like, really kissed her, and holy hell, she could still feel it down to her toes. Changed her from the inside out as he’d devoured her. As though he’d relied on the very air in her lungs to keep living. That hadn’t been a performance.

Baxter’s scoff jerked through his upper body. “Of course, he still loves her. Katie played a huge role in his life. They built a home together in Chicago, planned to have a family. She’s always going to be part of him and so is what happened to her. You don’t just pretend those things haven’t made you who you are, but losing someone—especially to violence—doesn’t make it impossible to find peace with someone else. And you… You give him peace.”

She did? Winnie couldn’t imagine what in the world could make Adrial’s best friend think she’d brought a moment’s peace into their lives since coming back to town, but she didn’t have the capacity to ruminate on it right now. She looked at Baxter, really looked at him, for the first time since she’d woken up. He was obviously attractive in an I-want-to-piss-off-my-parents kind of way with that bad-boy smirk and the mystery in his eyes. But there was also a heaviness to the set of his shoulders. Like he hadn’t slept well in years. “You make it sound as though you have experience with that.”

Intense blue eyes slid to her as Baxter settled deeper into the uncomfortable-looking pleather chair. “What I was saying before you so rudely commented on my cheat day snack was that I know you’re feeling guilty about what happened. You shouldn’t. Whoever stabbed Adrial and tried to kill you, it’s on them. There wasn’t anything you could’ve done to prevent what happened. You followed the evidence. You found a new lead for the first time in twenty years. Not bad for a hard day’s work in my book.”

Forensic investigator and mind reader. Winnie chose to ignore the insinuation that Adrial felt more for her than annoyance and obligation and potentially a bit of guilt for how they’d left things ten years ago.

But the door to her hospital room opened, and there he was.

Bruised, battered and a little unsteady on his own two feet, Adrial locked burning attention on her. Something released inside her chest.

A nurse tried to angle around Adrial’s position in the doorway. “Sir, you shouldn’t be up and moving yet. Your stitches are fresh—”

“I’m fine.” Two words had never sounded so world-bending in her life. The entire room seem to shift around him instead of Adrial moving through the room. The added limp was noticeable, but he had enough strength not to need crutches. That was a good sign, wasn’t it? Muscles rippled in his free forearm as he approached the bed. The other arm was secured in a sling, and every cell in her body honed on his approach.

Her exhale shuddered up her throat, her insides coiled so tightly she feared she might burst into a thousand butterflies if she wasn’t careful.

“What’d I tell you? Stubborn-ass.” Baxter sucked on the straw of a gas station soda cup she hadn’t noticed until right then, his attention still fully engaged with the women of the talk show. He hit a button the remote and hauled his muscular form out of the chair, taking his popcorn and soda with him. “That’s my cue. Good luck, Winnie. I hope you don’t die. Really.”

That pulled her attention off Adrial. “O-kay. Thanks for sitting with me.” She meant it. Her insurance and emergency contact information was still tied to Dan. The hospital would’ve let him know she’d been admitted in the name of financial responsibility, but no one had come. Baxter had. Maybe as a favor to the man who looked as though he hadn’t taken a breath in the past minute, but she appreciated the gesture, anyway. The kindness. Besides, did she really want the people from her old life here, her ex included? They’d shown her exactly how important she was to them during the divorce, and yet she still seemed to expect them to choose her? To be here for her?

“Anytime, killer.” The forensic investigator nodded at Adrial, pausing for a split second. An entire nonverbal conversation seemed to pass between them before Adrial returned the nod, and Baxter took his leave.

“How are you feeling?” Adrial’s voice sounded as though it’d been dragged over gravel. Too rough and sharp, but the perfect combination to get through the emotions taking up too much space in her chest.

Winnie blinked, at a loss. “You’re asking about me?”

“You’re the one in the hospital bed.” Her partner maneuvered around the bed. The trip would’ve been made so much easier with at least one crutch, but the man made being stabbed look like an inconvenience with the way he held himself.

He wasn’t serious, right? She watched as he took his seat, lowering himself down with far more grace than she’d ever owned in her life. “You’re the one who was nearly gutted like a farm animal.”

“Touché.” His laugh slipped between all those sharp internal pieces of glass she wanted to avoid looking too closely at, rounding the edges off, making them easier to take up space. But the smile that’d come with it drained from his face. “Winnie, there’s something I need to tell you. About what happened. The killer… I saw her face. She looks just like you.”

Chapter Eighteen

He couldn’t get the image out of his mind.

The similarities he’d noted in those few chaotic seconds before he’d shoved their attacker through the window. The same bottom lip—a little fuller than the top—the spread of freckles, though not as many as Winnie, the shape of her face. Maybe a little longer through the cheekbones, but familiar. Their hair color was different, the killer’s more blond than red, and Winnie’s frame was a little fuller through the hips, but he couldn’t deny the resemblance. Which didn’t make a damn bit of sense. Winnie was an only child. Her extended family had been close to her parents once upon a time, but as far as he knew, there’d been little contact over the years. And Winnie knew her cousins. She would’ve recognized the killer if they were related.

“I don’t know what you mean.” Winnie tried to sit up in the bed, but it was obvious her strength hadn’t returned. The attack had taken far more of a toll on her than he’d realized when he’d found her in that boathouse, and her body was still at risk of dropping back into hypothermic levels if she couldn’t keep her body temperature regulated.

“Her eyes are a different color. Her hair, too, but there are a lot of similarities between the two of you.” And that understanding would have its own impact on Winnie. On the fact that someone she may know had admitted to killing her father, had tried to kill them out there on that lake.

“That’s not… That’s not possible.” Winnie shook her head, and from the pinch between her eyebrows, he could read the signs of the start of one of her migraines.

“I know it’s hard to hear, but we may be looking at someone you know.” Adrial shifted forward, the stitches in both his shoulder and his thigh pulling tight. He eased off. It was a good reminder that he wasn’t at one hundred percent, but he needed to be that for Winnie. He needed to. “Can you think of anyone in your family that would have a connection to the Lila Mercer case or any reason someone might want your dad dead?”

“No. Nothing like that. My dad’s family is all back east. I haven’t talked to them in years, and my mom’s parents passed away a couple years ago. There’s no one left.” Her throat bobbed on a strong swallow as those hazel eyes seemed to get stuck on the blankets draped over her legs. An edge of detachment slid into place, but Adrial couldn’t let her do it. Not now.

He’d already suffered through his own violent loss when Katie died. He couldn’t take watching Winnie pull away from him. Not again. Not after everything they’d been through together. Not after he’d just gotten her back. It was selfish—but practical. He couldn’t let her disappear when she was the only person aside from him who knew anything about their attacker.

Sliding onto the side of the bed, Adrial slipped his hand into one of hers, and she looked up at him. Her eyes widened as she realized he’d moved without her noticing, but her pupils were clear. “What is it? What happened after you ran for the SUV?”

He started small circles on the back of her hand with his thumb. There were few times and even fewer people she let anyone see her like this. Vulnerable, coming apart at the seams, and she needed someone who would do whatever it took to hold her together. He hadn’t realized it until the panic had set in when he couldn’t wake her on the lake that he wanted to be that person. He wanted to be her person again. Not because he felt like he owed her his help on the investigation, or to make up for how he’d ended their engagement, or because no one else would be there when she needed it. He wanted her. Just Winnie. Her smile, her dry sense of humor, that wicked glint in her eyes right before she said something biting.