Read Frozen Heat (2012) for Free Online Page A

Heat had worked enough autopsies to grab hold of all the indicators and form the right questions. “Are you seeing any hypothermia?”
    “Negative.”
    “So we also can assume she was already dead when she became exposed to the frigid temps?”
    “I’d definitely make that bet,” said Dr. Parry. “One more thing. I should have enough digital flexibility to get some fingerprints for you soon. I know you need these yesterday, but I’m being patient so I don’t tear tissue by being hasty.”
    “How soon?”
    “Hasty girl.”
    “How soon?”
    “Within the hour, for sure.”
    “Hey, Lauren?”
    “Yeah?”
    “This is good news,” said Nikki. “Thanks for being a pest.”
    After she hung up, Rook came over to join her and said, “You do know that if we weren’t in your workplace, I’d give you a shoulder rub or a hug or both.”
    “Thank you for not.”
    “You’re my hero, seriously. I don’t even know how you are coping.”
    “Don’t,” she said. “Please, not here, not now.”
    “‘Nuff said.” He raised both hands in a surrender gesture. Rook knew her well enough to know that, in spite of all the passion that boiled inside, Nikki came factory-equipped with a firewall that kept it locked up. Her feelings ran deep and hot, which made it a life’s work for her to compartmentalize. Jameson Rook unexpectedly held some keys to those locks and wisely let the subject drop. He switched gears with a survey of the room, which buzzed with a level of activity he’d never seen before. “Looks like you’ve got the taskmaster thing down, Detective Heat. Or is it taskmistress? So hard to know these days.”
    “It’s a start” was all she allowed.
    “And what are you planning to do?”
    “Me? Keep riding herd. Beg, borrow, and steal a bunch of uniforms to get out and canvass with the Jane Doe photo, as soon as I have a clue where to show it. Maybe I’ll take a drive down to Thirtieth Street to surf the autopsy when she thaws.”
    “I think you and I have more important work to do.”
    Nikki gave him the wary squint he’d seen so often. “Why am I not liking this already?”
    “Cute,” he said. “Always your first reaction. Until what? Sweet vindication.” He left for the Murder Boards, and, after hesitating, she surrendered and followed. When Nikki got there, he faced the two boards, balancing his hands like scales. “Is it I, or does there seem to be a bit of an imbalance?”
    “First off, plus ten for grammar.”
    “All part of the writer’s toolbox,” said Rook.
    “And, secondly, yes, I focused my briefing on the new murder. The details of my mother’s case are too vast to post on one board.” She tapped her temple. “But trust me, it’s all in here.”
    “Which is why,” he said, matching her move by tapping the nearly blank board, “we need to concentrate our efforts here.”
    “Rook, I have been there. I have lived it for over a decade.”
    “Not with me, you haven’t.”
    “But I cannot lose traction on the new case.”
    “Come on, you yourself said solve one, solve the other.” He swept his arm to the bustling squad room. “You’ve already got one plate spinning beautifully. What’s to lose by sorting through the cold case with your experience and my fresh eyes?”
    “But that means going backward. More than ten years.”
    He smiled and nodded. “With apologies to Prince, we’re going to partner like it’s 1999.”
    “Prince may forgive you but rule me out.” Rook held his ground, affirming the logic of his idea by letting brash silence and flickering eyebrows do the work. At last, she said, “We don’t have time to go through the whole case.”
    “Well, how about we start by talking to the lead detective on it?”
    “He retired,” she said, the quickness of her reply designed to tell him she not only kept up on the details but that this would be no small undertaking. “Who knows where he is now?”
    “I don’t know about right this minute, but at noon