Ice Cold: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel

burn her skin.
    “I’m gonna throw my back out,” said Arlo.
    “You have a choice,” said Elaine. “It’s that or freeze to death. Will you get down here?”
    Arlo took his time pulling on gloves and a wool cap. Laboriously he wound a scarf around his neck. Only then, fully garbed against the cold, did he wade down into the ditch.
    “Okay, all together,” said Doug. “Push!”
    Maura threw her weight against the Suburban, and her boots slid backward in the snow. She could hear Arlo grunting beside her, could feel the vehicle begin to rock forward.
    “Steer, Gracie!” yelled Doug. “Turn left!”
    The front end of the Suburban began to inch upward, toward the road. They kept pushing, Maura straining so hard now that her arms were trembling and her hamstrings ached. She closed her eyes, her breath locked in her throat, every ounce of effort focused on moving three tons of steel. She felt her heels slide. Suddenly the Suburban was sliding, too, rolling back against them.
    “Watch out!” yelled Arlo.
    Maura stumbled sideways just as the vehicle rolled backward and toppled onto its side in the ditch.
    “Jesus!” yelled Arlo. “We could’ve been crushed!”
    “Daddy! Daddy, I’m stuck in the seat belt!”
    Doug scrambled up onto the vehicle. “Hold on, honey. I’ll get you out.” He pulled open the door and reached inside to haul out Grace. She dropped, gasping, into the snow.
    “Oh man, we are so fucked,” said Arlo.
    They all climbed out of the ditch and stood on the road, staring at the Suburban. It was now lying on its side, half buried in the snow.
    Arlo gave a laugh tinged with hysteria. “One thing’s for sure. We’re going to miss lunch.”
    “Let’s think about this,” said Doug.
    “What’s to think about? There’s no way we’ll get that tank out.” Arlo tugged his scarf tighter. “And it’s freezing out here.”
    “How much farther is the lodge?” asked Maura.
    “According to Lola, it’s another twenty-five miles,” said Doug.
    “It’s been almost thirty miles since we left the gas station.”
    “Yeah. We’re about smack dab in the middle.”
    “Wow,” said Arlo. “We couldn’t have planned it better.”
    “Arlo,” said Elaine, “shut up.”
    “But the thirty miles we just drove is mostly downhill from here,” said Doug. “That makes it easier.”
    Arlo stared at him. “We’re gonna walk thirty miles in a snowstorm?”
    “No. You’re going to stay here with the women. You can allclimb back in the truck and stay warm. I’ll pull my cross-country skis off the roof and ski out for help.”
    “It’s too late,” said Maura.
    “I can do it.”
    “It’s already noon. You have only a few hours of daylight, and you can’t ski in the dark. You could fall right off the mountain.”
    “She’s right,” said Elaine. “You’d need a whole day, maybe two, to make it that far. And the snow’s so deep, it’ll slow you down.”
    “I got us into this. I’m going to get us out.”
    “Don’t be an idiot. Stay with us, Doug.”
    But he was already wading back into the ditch to pull his skis off the roof rack.
    “Man, I’ll never say anything bad about meat sticks again,” muttered Arlo. “I should’ve bought a few. At least it’d be protein.”
    “You can’t go, Doug,” said Elaine. “Not this late in the day.”
    “I’ll stop when it gets dark. Build a snow cave or something.”
    “Do you know how to build a snow cave?”
    “How hard can it be?”
    “You’re going to freeze to death out there.”
    “Daddy, don’t.” Grace stumbled down into the ditch and grabbed his arm, pulling him away from the skis.
“Please.”
    Doug looked up at the adults standing in the road, and his voice rose to a shout of frustration. “I’m trying to
fix
things, okay? Don’t you see that? I’m trying to get us out of here, and you’re not making it any easier for me!”
    His outburst startled them and they all fell silent, shivering in the cold. The seriousness of their predicament was starting to sink in.
We could die out here
.
    “Someone’s going to come by, right?” said Elaine, glancing at her companions for reassurance. “I mean, this is a public road, so there’ll be a snowplow or something. We can’t be the only ones driving on it.”
    “Have you seen anyone?” said Arlo.
    “It’s not that far off the beaten track.”
    “Look at the snow. It’s already a foot and a half deep and getting deeper. If they were going to plow it, they