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Chapter 29
Streaks of pink lightened the eastern sky by the time Officer Houlihan closed her notebook. “That’s all for now, Ms. Stewart. But this is a complicated case, and Detective Gorowski will have more questions as we investigate all the different aspects.”
Julia nodded, completely wrung out. She hadn’t gotten much sleep last night because of the fire, and now it was four A.M. She felt as if she’d been awake for days.
She looked for Nico and found him hunched over a table with a detective. As if he felt her gaze on him, he turned and looked at her. Smiled, although it looked ragged.
He said something to the detective, who nodded, and Nico came over to wrap an arm around her shoulders. “You ready to go?”
“As soon as I put a sign on the door that we won’t be open tonight. And I have to call Delia and tell her. Ask her to call the servers and bussers.”
Nico took her hands in his. “Why don’t you ask Flynn to call Delia? Just give him Delia’s number, and he’ll tell her what needs to be done. You must be falling asleep on your feet.”
Julia drew a deep breath. This was her restaurant. Her baby. But Delia was perfectly capable of handling these issues. And maybe Julia needed to delegate more responsibility to her second-in-command. “Okay. Maybe Spence could ask her to come over later and put a sign on the door, too.”
“Good idea.” Nico grabbed an order pad from the hostess station and tore off a sheet. “Write down Delia’s phone number. Flynn’ll take care of the rest.”
She scribbled Delia’s number, then handed it to Nico. He spoke to Flynn for a few moments, then hurried back to her. “Let’s go. Out the front door. Flynn will lock it behind us. The techs are still working in the kitchen.”
They stepped out into the cool, pre-dawn air, and Nico wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Led her around the side of the building and into the parking lot. A police tech van was parked there, as well as two other cars.
Nico opened the car door for her and helped her in. Then he got into the driver’s seat and backed out. They drove toward the hotel where they’d stayed the previous night, neither of them speaking. Julia had been talking for hours, dissecting every last thing that had happened since the break-in at her house. Her tongue was thick and clumsy, and her head spun with horror at her brother’s revelations. Over it all was a heavy blanket of exhaustion. All she wanted was a bed.
And Nico. Curled up beside her. Holding her close all night.
Had he been as shocked as she’d been by the knowledge that Kent Dawson was her brother? As horrified about the cold-blooded way he’d plotted, then killed her parents?
He’d probably seen far worse in the military. But this was the first time she’d come face to face with complete evil, and she was shaken to her core. There was evil in her DNA. Only Nico could soothe the pain wrapped like steel bands around her heart.
When they reached the hotel, Nico once again wrapped his arm around her shoulders, as if knowing she was one step away from falling apart. They rode the elevator silently, and she leaned heavily against Nico as they walked the quiet hall to their room.
After they hung the ‘do not disturb’ sign and double-locked the door behind them, Nico took her hands. “How are you doing?” he asked quietly. “Finding out your brother killed your parents, and planned to kill you, as well, had to be devastating. Most people would be curled into a ball.”
She nodded slowly, feeling as if her head would fall off her neck if she moved too fast. “I’m… I’m numb. Haven’t processed it yet. The fact that my brother killed them. That he planned it all out. He sounded so proud of his cleverness.” She shook her head. “I’m thinking back to our life together. Remembering all the signs there was something twisted and wrong inside him.” She took a deep, shuddering breath. “Do you think my parents knew who he was? That he was so… twisted? And if they did, why didn’t they try to… to help him. Fix him.”
“We’ll never know. But it sounded as though your father tried to rein him in. Your dad refused to give him everything he wanted. Jeff would have hated him for that. Resented him.
“No parent wants to think their child is a monster.” He squeezed her hands. “I was listening to him. I’m no psychologist, but he sounded like a sociopath. Killing without remorse. Thinking his wants and needs were the only things of importance. Dismissing you and your parents as insignificant barriers to his ambitions. There’s no fixing sociopathy.”
Julia felt tears welling in her eyes. Her parents had died horribly, and way too young. Killed by their son. And she would have died, too, if she hadn’t defied her parents and snuck out of the house that night.
“I need to get ready for bed,” she said, stepping away from Nico and stumbling into the bathroom.
Losing track of time, Julia stood over the sink, tears dripping onto the porcelain. Finally, she swiped her eyes. Blew her nose. Straightened and reached for her kit bag. She needed to sleep. Needed to obliterate Jeff’s revelations and her all-consuming grief.
Five minutes later, she slid into bed and pulled the covers up to her chin. When Nico came out of the bathroom, she’d ask him to sleep in the bed with her. She didn’t want to be alone tonight.
But as she listened to the water running in the other room, weariness fluttered her eyes shut. She slid into a deep sleep.
* * *
She was lying in front of a furnace.
The furnace aligned with her legs. Her torso. Even her arms. It warmed her whole body.
Struggling to open her eyes, she saw an unfamiliar sight. An empty bed beside hers. Light spilled into the room through a small opening in the curtains.
The memories rushed back. She was in a hotel room. Because of the fire at her house. Her brother Jeff had killed her parents and tried to kill her.
