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"Is there a back door?"

"Yeah. But the cabin has windows all around it. I don't expect him to be watching out all the windows, but he might expect someone to realize where he is and be on the lookout."

"How did you know about the cabin?"

"Pierre said Helen told him that Denny had taken her to it several times.”

“So this is just speculation.”

“Yes, but you know how it is. Any tip needs to be investigated.”

"What if Denny threatens Helen in any way?" It was important to know how they handled a situation when working with a “partner” with whom Andy had never been on a mission.

"I won't hesitate to kill him."

"Or I'll have to shoot him."

She didn't respond. He figured she didn't like that she was handicapped now. Though he suspected that if push came to shove, she would fire her weapon even with an injured hand. He just worried her aim would be off.

“I have a body cam I can turn on when we get close to apprehending him. Do you believe he'll be violent toward her at the cabin?" Andy asked.

"Yeah. That's why she left him in the first place. She had a protective order restricting him from coming near her, but that didn't stop him. Did the police do anything about it?" She gave Andy a disgruntled look.

"Hey, if I had been there, I could have persuaded him to stop. I would have taken him out into the wilderness and told him I'm friends with a polar bear I raised as a cub, then shown him one mean polar bear, scared him to pieces, and then returned him home. Or left him out there to find his way back alone."

Monica chuckled. He smiled then but took a spill in the deep snow and cried out.

Fearing the worst—thatAndy had hurt his ankle to the point that he couldn’t make it any further—Monica whipped around and wrenched her back. Poor Andy was on his knees in the snow. She tried to hurry back to him but felt she was treading through the snow in slow motion.

“Sorry,” he said.

“Don’t be. If I’d had a sprained ankle, I would have insisted you carry me.”

He laughed. “You wouldn’t have had to.” He dug his sturdy branch into the ground while she lifted him as much as she could in a bear hug. She was still hugging him when he got to his feet, their breaths fogging up their goggles, hearts wildly beating, their eyes colliding and lingering.

“Are you okay with continuing?” She didn’t want to let him go. He was warm and huggable.

“Yeah, thanks.”

Enjoying the moment of hugging him, warming herself and him, but reluctantly released him, and immediately missed his warmth. “Good, because despite what I said earlier, I’m glad for your help with this. And my boss will be grateful to you too. At least between us, despite our injuries, we should be able to manage Denny.”

She started forward again so that she could tramp down enough snow to make an easier path for Andy, so he wouldn’t fall again, but every step was harder; her legs were wearied, and her back and hand ached.

"So, what's the deal with your brakes?" Andy asked.

"Like I know?” She didn’t mean to snap at him. But she was perturbed that her brakes had stopped working. “Whenever I stopped at stop signs or signals in White Bear, they were fine. Once I hit the country road, I didn't need to stop or slow down, at least not using the brakes. I couldn't believe it when they wouldn't work.”

“You should have anti-lock brakes, and they shouldn’t have locked up on you.”

“No, they didn’t. It was like they were mush, and then I slid on the top layer of ice coating the snow. Of course, I tried to avoid hitting you and your car. Thankfully, you finally jumped out of the way."

"Then you knocked my vehicle on top of me."

"That wasn't planned, either. When you hurt your ankle, was it when you jumped out of the way of the collision or from your car landing on you?"

"My legs were the only parts of my body still located near where the car landed. My impact with the snow created a deep imprint, which I was grateful for as it helped cushion my fall and prevent serious injuries. I couldn't say for sure if it were the impact of the car or my jumping from the road and subsequently landing down the embankment that injured my ankle."

"Sorry."