Page 44 of Little Child Gone (Nikki Hunt #10)

TWENTY-NINE

Nikki burst through the snow, trying not to let her imagination run wild. The river ran east as well, but it was frozen solid. Jared had no escape route.

She nearly missed the embankment, half sliding down the sharp decline. Jared had reached a dock, still struggling with Penny. He pointed his phone light toward the water. She couldn’t see the hole, but she could see the ice auger lying on the dock.

“Stop.” Nikki shouted as she moved forward, her SIG pointed straight at Jared. He was at least two hundred yards away, visibility was bad, but Penny was too close to the water for Nikki to risk.

“Just let Penny go, Jared,” Nikki said. “Let her come to me. You can run and take your chances.”

“Christy did this to me.” Jared had the little girl pinned in his arms. “You don’t understand how crazy she is, Agent Hunt. I’ve put up with her verbal and physical abuse for so long, but I won’t do it anymore. And I won’t let Penny grow up that way.”

Nikki moved toward the dock, pointing the bright light on the SIG into his face. He looked sweaty and exhausted, sleet collecting in his eyebrows. “I know about Bianca. And Rebecca and Jason. Their aunt says hello.”

Jared’s pleading expression disappeared. He transformed into another person, a menacing scowl on his face. “Who?”

“Taylor found her. He’s with Christy right now. She’s still alive, by the way.”

“She shot herself?—”

“Shut up,” Nikki said. “I know everything. I know you hurt yourself and framed her. We found Bianca’s and Jason’s remains in the closet.”

A muscle in his jaw worked, the cords in his neck taut with rage.

“You want to know how we identified them? It wasn’t Elena.

It was Bianca. She hid birth certificates in a closet in the main house.

You missed them when you took all of their things from the Hendrickson home that weekend.

She beat you, Jared. You tried so hard to erase her from existence, but she won. ”

“Please, Daddy,” Penny begged. “You’re hurting me.”

“Let her go and run,” Nikki suggested. “It will take a while for Pine County to mobilize and chase you.”

“You’re just going to let me go?”

The last time she’d done this, early in her career, she’d let a serial killer go free.

Had Liam contacted the state troopers? Had she bought enough time for them to get set up?

She glanced at the black sky, searching for the telltale flash of the drone the state troopers would likely use to spot Jared.

“If it means saving Penny, yes.” Nikki kept her light trained on his face. Sweat ran down his face despite the cold. She wasn’t sure how much farther he’d have to walk to get out of the woods, but from the looks of him, he’d be lucky to make it out without succumbing to hypothermia.

“Why Christy?” Nikki asked, hoping to buy the state troopers more time.

He smirked. “She was perfect for me.”

“What does that mean?” Nikki asked.

“A lot of baggage and guilt. I could smell her vulnerability a mile away. It was easy. All it took was the promise of my supporting them and her not having to work.”

“Being a stay-at-home mom is a lot of work.”

“Not if she did it right.” He scowled. “Keep the house clean. Keep the kids clean. Follow the rules. That’s it.”

“Plus soundproofing in the bedroom?” She thought of what Kelsey Richard, Christy’s attorney, had told her. “That’s how you’ve gotten away with it for so long, right? You didn’t beat the kids or give them a reason to distrust you.”

“Takes a special kind of person.” Jared grinned. “I’m that person.”

“Special isn’t the right word.”

“Daddy, let me down, now.” Penny’s sharp little voice shook. Her foot connected with Jared’s crotch. It probably wasn’t intentional, but he flinched enough for her to wriggle out of his arms. She crashed to the dock and curled into a ball, crying.

Sweat froze on Nikki’s forehead. She was pretty certain the hole Jared had cut in the ice was in front of the dock, and Penny was dangerously close to it. Jared could kick her into the water before Nikki could reach her.

“Penny, I’ll take you to your mom and Taylor,” Nikki said.

Penny stopped crying, sucking in gulps of air. Her entire body shook from cold. “Taylor?”

“He came home, sweetheart,” Nikki said. “He’s waiting for you.”

“Taylor’s okay?” Jared looked genuinely relieved. “Where did he go?”

“He’s a smart kid,” Nikki said. “Thinks like an investigator.”

“What are you talking about?” Jared demanded.

“He found Rebecca’s school photo. And the others,” Nikki said.

“The ones you kept from there. He noticed your reflection in one of them. The night before going back to school after the break, Amelia told him she thought there was a camera in her wall. He found the page Elena had set up for Bianca and her children.”

She wished Taylor were here to see the shock on Jared’s face. He likely hadn’t thought a teenager would be his demise.

Jared’s chest heaved. “How did you find me? No one knows about this place.”

“Elena did. This is where Bianca first stayed when she escaped you. The cabin’s still in Bianca’s name.”

“No.” Jared shivered in the freezing cold. “She told me it was in my name. Even showed me the document.”

“Like I said, Bianca beat you.” Nikki struggled to hide her smile, knowing it would set Jared off. “But you can still win this one. Go now, get a head start. Let Penny go back to her mother.”

“Good idea.” Liam’s voice came from behind Nikki. “I’ve got a scope and made harder shots than this, Jared.”

Nikki almost smiled. A few years ago, Liam had made an incredible shot to save Nikki from one of the worst killers she’d encountered. “He hit the guy on the other side of the St. Croix. He won’t miss you this close.”

Penny glanced up at her father, who watched as though he were in a trance. Nikki kept talking before Penny could realize the danger her father was in. “Penny, don’t you want to see Taylor?”

Penny inched forward. Nikki held her breath, waiting for Jared to reach for Penny and the gunfire that would follow if he did. But Jared let Penny crawl to Nikki. She stowed her weapon and pulled off her coat, wrapping it around the freezing child.

“Now you’re going to arrest me,” Jared said.

Liam crept out of the trees, his rifle still pointed at Jared. Nikki glanced at her partner, who nodded. State troopers were ready.

“A deal’s a deal.” She hefted Penny in her arms. “But you better go now.”

Jared watched as she backed up to Liam, holding Penny against her. Stunned, he watched as they moved toward the trees, giving him a clear path to run.

Given his exhausted state, he’d be lucky to reach the other side of the forest.

“Is Taylor really okay?” Penny asked.

“Go on,” Liam said. “I’ve got eyes on him.”

Nikki squeezed the little girl and turned to walk back to the cabin through the dark woods. “Sure is. I talked to him myself.”

“No!” Jared’s terrified voice cut through the air, followed by a splash. Nikki spun in the snow, nearly falling. Caden stood at the edge of the dock, staring motionless down into the dark, frozen river.