Their Frozen Graves: A completely addictive crime thriller and mystery novel

by Choudhary, Ruhi

  Mack, a family picture on a man’s desk means he’s responsible, but on a woman’s desk it means she’s too emotional.

  As Rivera flipped through the pages of their case file, her face was a blank canvas. Unflinching and sharp. “Do we think someone’s after prostitutes?” She looked up at Mackenzie and Nick.

  “Not specifically,” Nick said. “The ad is targeting vulnerable women looking for a change. It just happens to be the case that the victims we confirmed are all prostitutes.”

  “We still haven’t told Katy’s family about the switch,” Mackenzie piped up. “Charlotte Harris and Cole Becker have been calling regularly, asking us if we’re any closer to finding where Katy is. It’s not right. We have to tell them that Katy’s dead, Lieutenant.”

  “I understand, but we have another missing woman. Alison. I don’t want anything jeopardizing that. And we don’t know the extent of Kim’s involvement. It will take one leak to alert whoever has them.”

  Mackenzie looked at Nick, who shrugged helplessly. Both of them were uncomfortable about lying to the family of the victim, even a cheating scumbag like Cole. Every time Mackenzie lied, it ate away at her a little bit.

  Rivera sensed their discomfort. She took off her glasses and placed her elbows on the desk. “At this point in the investigation, we have a lot more questions than answers. We might be sure about the switch, but we haven’t proven it. In a case this sensitive, we have to be sure of everything. Our job is to bring justice to Katy and find Kim and Alison alive. Keep your eye on the ball. And I don’t want to remind you that this department is under investigation by the FBI. We can’t afford any more mistakes. We will tell them, but now’s not the time.”

  Mackenzie nodded reluctantly. They were all under heavy scrutiny. Every move was being watched and every decision would come under review. This was the problem with dishonesty—it affected everyone.

  “Good. The crime lab sent their reports today. Anything on that gift left for Steven?”

  “Yes.” Mackenzie opened the attachment on her phone. “Anthony said we got lucky; there was trace evidence found in the engraved markings. Ryegrass, brome, manure, chromium-vanadium steel, and horse hair.”

  “That’s a stable.” Rivera raised an eyebrow.

  “That’s what it seems like. The steel could be whatever was used to carve the pen with, according to Anthony.”

  “So the gift was in a stable at one point, or the tool used to engrave it was. That doesn’t really help narrow it down. No idea who bought the pen?”

  “It’s widely available online,” Nick shrugged.

  Rivera pressed her lips in a hard line. “Alright. Pursue the Derek Lee lead. He was present at Woodburn Park.”

  Back in her cubicle, Mackenzie skimmed over the pages in Kim’s files from the treatment center again. She had read them as soon as she had received them, spending hours digging into the explorations done of Kim’s mind. Since her admission at the tender age of nine, Kim’s moods were erratic, swinging from demure and calm to seething and destructive. But one thing was constant: her grudge.

  Do you miss your parents?

  No.

  Are you angry with them?

  Wouldn’t you be?

  How do you feel about your twin, Katy?

  The one who didn’t get sent away? What do you think?

  Over the years, her outbursts had decreased. In her final two years before she ran away, she hadn’t displayed violent tendencies. But her social skills had been severely hampered. She suffered from depression as well.

  The more Mackenzie tried to plow through Kim’s life, looking for answers, the more complicated the woman she’d met became.

  “Anything on your end?” Nick bounced a stress ball against the wall.

  She held a sneeze. “Not really. She was furious with her parents. Understandably so. And there’s no evidence linking her to anything criminal.”

  “Are you catching a cold?”

  “Allergies.” She took out a Kleenex and blew her nose. “What about you?”

  “Healthy as a horse.”

  “Nick…”

  The case was a giant and messy ball of interwoven thoughts inside her head. She tried catching any theories she conjured up, like they could be the key to solve the puzzle.

  “You know, you’d think Cole would notice that his wife wasn’t his wife,” Nick said.

  Mackenzie winced. “I’m sure he would have eventually, but she’d been with him for like, what? Ten days? And he’s hardly going to jump to the conclusion that she’s been replaced with a twin he never knew about. Plus, he’s having an affair. He’s clearly not very attentive to her.”

  Nick gave Mackenzie a searching look, but she remained unflappable. The phone on his desk rang. “Detective Blackwood.”

  A calm but rapid stream of information came down the line.

  “Are you sure? Okay, thank you for your cooperation.” He hung up with a sigh.

  “What’s up?” She wheeled into his cubicle.

  “Lee’s alibis check out. He was on a conference call when Kim was snatched, and after waiting for Katy to show up, he spent most of the day at the country club with friends.”

  “To be honest, I have my doubts about Derek. He may have had motive to kill Katy, but what about the others?”

  “Yup. Another dead end.” He checked his watch and frowned. “Right. Have to go for lunch with Shelly and her boyfriend.”

  “Really?”

  He pulled on his coat. “She wants us to get along. Build a rapport. I guess I do too.”

  “That’s fair. You’re the father of her child.”

  “It’s complicated.”

  “Are you getting jealous?”

  “Over Shelly?” He looked at her in disbelief.

  “No. Over Luna. She might get a stepdad.”

  Nick gave her a thin smile before leaving, but didn’t answer.

  Mackenzie stared at Kim’s file. Her life was a big question mark. But an even bigger question mark was the sick operation she and her sister had got involved in, either intentionally or not. The clock was ticking. Kim and Alison had been missing for weeks now—if they didn’t pick up a better trail soon, the case could go cold.

  Then what? We wait for the next ad to appear?

  Her phone vibrated with a message from Becky.

  DNA was a match. Jane Doe Two is Isabella Fabio.

  Mackenzie was relieved Bella hadn’t just been another wild goose chase. But this didn’t explain the tattoos on her knees, and her apparent allergies to the ink.

  She looked over the crime scene unit’s report on the Beckers’ house again. Shoe casting showed the perpetrator had size ten. Then something caught her eye.

  The soil sample from the shoe print had been analyzed.

  Mass spectrometry identified dark-brown gravelly loam soil, which was typical of Washington State. But there were high levels of vinegar in the soil obtained from the footprints.

  “Vinegar?” she whispered.

  Mackenzie checked the samples taken from around the shoe for comparison, and there were no traces of vinegar. She sat back in her chair, contemplating. Why would the bottom of shoes have traces of vinegar?

  It could mean nothing. But something was odd about it. Could this person maybe work at a restaurant? Still, how would vinegar end up on the bottom of their shoes?

  The memory struck her like a wrecking ball. Ben Harlan had azalea bushes growing around his cabin. Those shrubs thrived in acidic conditions, and as such it was common practice to add vinegar to the water when hosing them.

  Mackenzie grabbed her Glock and jacket. Her pulse raced. She was about to dash out when she saw Nick’s empty cubicle. She called him on her way out and left a voicemail.

  “I’m going to follow up on a lead. Ben Harlan’s cabin. I found some evidence in the forensics report that could link him to Kim’s abduction.”

  Forty

  Mackenzie parked at the edge of the woods closest to Ben Harlan’s
property. Her spine stiffened as she entered the woods. The ground was moist under her feet, soil sticking to the bottom of her shoes. The deeper she went, the more dizzying the woods got. Bright sunlight weaved uninhibited between the leafless branches zigzagging the blue sky. The lack of wind made the woods eerily still. But even as the sunny afternoon melted off the snow that had cloaked everything in sight, the bite in the air still lingered. Her breaths formed little clouds that dissipated quickly as she passed by some cabins and small sheds. She walked in a straight line with confident strides. The last time she was here, she had memorized the path. When she heard the faint bubbling of a creek, she turned right. A few minutes later, Ben’s cabin came into view.

  She halted. Her eyes and ears strained for activity. There was none. Still treading noiselessly, she inched closer, reaching the flowers in the front yard. She kneeled and padded the soil in the bed. Scooping a little in her palm, she took a sniff.

  Vinegar.

  Ben Harlan could have easily lied about finding the cell by the creek. They had searched the cabin, but not very thoroughly, considering his cooperation after attaining the phone.

  She pulled out her cell to call for backup. But there was no service.

  “Shit.”

  Stuffing her cell back in her pocket, she took out her gun. The door was unlocked. Strange. It squeaked against the hinge. Mackenzie waited, but there was no sound of any activity. She stepped inside with her gun pointing ahead.

  The space looked unassuming. Ben’s suitcase was still parked in the corner. No smell of food. Nothing sitting on the stove. The sink was filled with dirty dishes. Her neck moved in quick and jerky movements, like Ben could come out of nowhere.

  There were no hiding spots in sight. She eyed the twisting staircase dead ahead of her. Bracing herself, she took one step at a time, trying not to make any sound. Ben could still be in the cabin. Maybe in one of the bedrooms. There was a narrow corridor at the top of the stairs with two doors on either side.

  Mackenzie looked over her shoulder, making sure no one was at the bottom of the stairs. Maybe Ben was out. She twisted the knob on the first door to her right. As the sound punctured the silence, her heart came to a racing halt.

  Sweat pooled in her tailbone.

  There was a click. She turned on instinct. But before she registered anything, something slammed into the side of her skull. Blinding pain shot through her. Her gun slipped from her grip. Her legs buckled, and she came crashing down to the floor, clutching her throbbing head.

  Her vision swam as tears sprung to her eyes. She saw sports shoes and the hem of blue jeans. Then everything went black.

  Forty-One

  The cold wood against her cheek. The smell of damp air. Rope scratching against her wrists.

  “Detective Price?” a woman’s voice whispered.

  Mackenzie’s eyes fluttered open. Kim’s face hovered over her. Her thick eyebrows pulled together tautly, lips quivering.

  “Kim…”

  Her eyes widened briefly. “You know.”

  Mackenzie tried nodding, but her head was too heavy on her shoulders. She was curled in a ball. Her arms were tied behind her back with a rope, her feet bound together by tape. A single light bulb dangled above. There was a clothes rail above their heads, along it some stray hangers.

  Mackenzie pulled herself up and rested her back against the wall. Her lungs coughed up bits of dust. “Where are we?”

  “Ben’s cabin. We’re inside a closet,” Kim said. “How did you know I’m Kim?”

  “Your ears aren’t pierced.”

  Mackenzie felt something on her cheek. She stuck out her tongue and tasted the sticky liquid, already knowing what it was. Blood. She tried to reach for her pockets weakly.

  “He took your phone and your gun.”

  Dammit. Why did she come here alone? Why didn’t she bring Justin or Nick with her? She had planned to confirm if this lead was solid or not and then call for backup. She didn’t realize that there would be no service.

  “How long was I out for?”

  “Around ten minutes.”

  That’s not good. Her eyes flitted to Kim, who looked even scrawnier than before. Her cheeks had lost color and looked sunken. She was dressed in gray sweatpants and a white T-shirt. The clothes she was wearing the morning of her abduction, according to Cole’s statement. Her long neck had red marks. “Who is he?”

  Kim glanced at the door and swallowed hard. “My ex-boyfriend.”

  Mackenzie dragged her body closer to Kim. Her throat was dry like sandpaper. The light above made her squint, sending pain pulsing behind her eyes. “I… we have to get out.”

  “How? The closet automatically locks from the outside when it’s shut. He installed a special lock.”

  Kim’s feet were also bound by tape. They had to start somewhere. “I’ll try to tear that with my teeth, okay?”

  Kim nodded.

  Mackenzie leaned down, wrapped her teeth around the tape, and pulled. Her head throbbed, and her eyes felt droopy. Blinking was a chore. She wondered if she had brain damage and kept wiggling her toes to make sure she still could.

  She grunted, trying to tear the tape. Kim sobbed. It was what gave her the motivation to continue. Even injured, she was the police officer. It was her responsibility to take care of Kim.

  The tape ripped. Relief flooded through her. There was some progress.

  Kim wormed her legs out of confinement. “I’ll help you.”

  Mackenzie sighed and leaned against the wall, as Kim bent over to tear the tape from her ankles. Her eyes searched for a weapon she could use. The small closet was empty. Kim said the door would be locked from the outside. “Did Ben kill your sister?”

  Kim paused. “I don’t know.”

  Mackenzie felt like she was intoxicated. Unmoored and woozy. The only thing that tethered her to her reality was the pain in her head that was slowly seeping down the back of her neck.

  “Did you hurt Katy?”

  “No!” Kim bit through the tape binding Mackenzie’s ankles.

  “Then what happened?”

  “I met Ben four years ago when I was at a very low point. He… hit me. But I don’t know why I stayed.”

  “And then you ended it?”

  “Yes, I’d had enough and wanted to get my life together. I got out of the relationship, cut off toxic friends, and found a stable job. I decided to look for my sister. For the first time in my life, I was in a good place and proud of myself. I was ready to meet Katy and have a family.”

  “So you came to Lakemore looking for her?”

  “Yes.”

  “Not your parents?”

  Kim sighed. “I… I don’t blame them for putting me in that institution. But I haven’t forgiven them for not visiting me after they moved. I don’t think I ever can. They abandoned me.”

  Mackenzie nodded, understanding. The vivid memories of spending months waiting for Melody to visit her only for her to cancel last minute were still raw. She had only seen her mother once or twice a year after her move to New York.

  “How did you find her?”

  She gulped. “It took me weeks to track her down. I was living in Scottsdale, but went back to Oklahoma, found old neighbors, asked around. I… I thought maybe we could reconnect. It’s not like I have anyone else.”

  “Can you turn around? I want to see how he’s made the knot.”

  Kim twisted and revealed bony arms covered in maroon bruises. They made Mackenzie’s stomach contract. But she pushed it aside and readjusted her focus on how to get out. This is what the bottom line was in training. It was about compartmentalizing just as much as knowing the tricks. “Okay, I think I got this. Turn back.”

  Mackenzie had memorized the knot. She positioned her back against Kim’s, her hands fumbling to untie the rope. “Ben followed you to Lakemore?”

  “I realized it when I got here. He had been stalking me this entire time, demanding money, and it scared the hell out of me.”


  “And did Katy know about you?”

  “No. I met her on Monday of the week she went missing. She was shocked when she saw me, and hurt.” Her voice broke at the last words. “It took her a few days to come around; she confessed that she always felt like a part of her was missing. Twin telepathy, I suppose,” Kim scoffed dryly. “She wanted to call our parents and confront them, but I begged her not to. I was almost embarrassed, because of Ben. They’d given up a troubled child before, and she was back in their lives bringing trouble again. I didn’t want to be a disappointment. I wanted to show them, especially my mother, that I… that I wasn’t what they thought of me anymore.”

  Mackenzie began loosening the knot. “You said Ben wanted money? That’s why he was harassing you?”

  “He used to take away whatever money I made to spend on booze and hookers. He couldn’t keep a job. When I left him, I took the money I was owed. It was at least thirty grand. He wanted it back, but I spent it on rent and a car and paying back some friends. Katy offered to help me. She thought it was the least she could do for me after what our parents did. And I guess it was in her nature too, right? Always helping people. She decided to give me money so that I could pay Ben.”

  “Did she give it to you?”

  “She said she needed to arrange the money first and didn’t want her husband finding out.”

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t know. She didn’t say. But it was obvious she didn’t trust him. Cole was supposed to be away that weekend, for work. I’d been living at a motel. She suggested I spend the weekend at her place. I agreed, figuring it’d be safer. She told our parents that she was away for the weekend so there was no risk of me being discovered. I came to stay with her on Friday morning. That night she left to get the money, but she returned without it. She told me that someone had promised to pay her the next morning. She didn’t tell me who. The plan was that she’d hand me the money on Saturday and then I could get Ben off my back. Except Katy never returned when she left to collect the money. Then Cole was home early; his trip got cut short. He thought I was Katy and asked me if I had taken my prenatal vitamins and made an appointment with the OB/GYN. That’s when it hit me why Katy looked so sick and nauseous. And I… I played along. The next day, I ordered a wedding ring from eBay. Luckily, it was just a simple gold band so easy to find. I just… I was so scared and confused that Katy hadn’t returned. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know what to do! It happened so quickly.”