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ELEVEN

EMERALD FALLS

Ellie drifted in and out of consciousness, trapped in the cold darkness. She tried desperately to rouse and tell Cord and Derrick about the little girls. But her voice wouldn’t work. In the back of her mind, death called her name. She gave in to the pain, letting it drag her into a deep sleep so she could finally be at peace.

Finally Cord’s gruff voice drifted through her cloud of despair. As the girls’ faces flashed behind her eyes, she dove back into the warmth of Cord’s arms to escape the nightmare.

On some level she realized he must have wrapped her in blankets because the next time she stirred, the feeling was slowly returning to her limbs. A tingly sensation shot through her feet, toes and fingers. Her arms and calves throbbed.

She heard Cord’s gruff voice and Derrick’s deep tone again. Distant but there. They’d found the girls. Thank God.

They would be in good hands now.

Still, the horror of seeing those children in the ice would haunt her forever. Who would do such a thing? And why? Where were the girls’ parents? How long had the twins been in the ice?

“Ambulance is here,” Cord murmured against her ear.

“Go with her to the hospital, McClain.” Derrick’s voice. “I’ll wait here with the ME and ERT then have the girls transported to the morgue.”

“Should I organize a team to search the woods for the killer?” Cord asked.

“I’d hold off until the storm dies down. ERT will search for forensics, but the killer is probably long gone by now.”

“Copy that.”

Two other voices, a male and female next. The medics. Then she was being lifted into the ambulance.

“You’re going to be okay, El,” Cord murmured. “Benji and I will be right behind you.”

She felt him squeeze her hand, then heard the sound of the engine fire up and pull away.

The next few hours dragged by as Ellie was admitted to the hospital and forced to undergo tests. She fell into a deep exhausted sleep and couldn’t seem to wake herself. At times she heard voices.

Her father’s. Her mother’s. Vera was crying, fussing at her. “I keep telling you this job is going to kill you. You have to do something else.”

Then there was Cord soothing her and rubbing her hand. And Derrick talking to Cord about the bodies they’d found. They’d been transported to the morgue.

That sent her spiraling back into the nightmares. Horrible dreams of plunging into that frozen pond. The sound of the ice cracking. The sting of the frigid water slapping at her as she fought to escape.

Sometimes she saw the girls underwater with her, hair swirling around their gaunt faces like snakes. Other times she thought she heard them screaming and she woke up gasping for a breath. Then she was crawling across the snow, body aching as she collapsed on top of them.

The snow turned from white to pink and red, blood seeping from the girls’ heads and soaking into her own wet clothes, their small arms reaching out for her to save them from the horror that had taken their lives.

Tears leaked from her eyes, and she closed them to block out the images. Covered her ears to drown out their screams. She wanted to erase what had happened to them. Save the girls. Save them all.

But she was too late again.