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A shiver raced over Gabe’s skin. He wanted to ask who, but April was looking straight ahead, focused on nothing. Except her past.
“He was rich and, according to her, sexy as sin. I never met him, and I don’t know his name.”
Gabe had to breathe through his disappointment.
“If you’d known, you’d have had a place to start when she disappeared,” Molly said.
April nodded. “Exactly. She met him about seven months before Katrina. Within a month, he’d rented her a house.” Her smile turned bitter. “I wasn’t allowed to visit. She wasn’t even allowed to tell me the address. She slipped once and told me the basic neighborhood and I thought she’d have a heart attack. Begged me to forget she’d ever told me that much. He was older and very controlling. She didn’t even tell him about me at all. I tried to talk sense into her, but she’d cut me off. She said I didn’t understand, because I was still single.”
Molly winced. “Ouch.”
“I know. Finally, she threatened to stop seeing me at all. She’d quit her jobs and was his ‘personal assistant.’ She’d get his dry cleaning mostly, from what I could tell. I think he wanted her isolated and available. And secret. I figured he was married.”
“That makes sense,” Molly murmured. “Did he buy her things?”
“Oh yeah. Diamond necklaces, fancy clothes, designer shoes and handbags.” She frowned. “And a dog.”
“Madame Fluffy,” Molly said.
April looked startled. “Yes, that was the dog’s name. How did you know that?”
“We talked to one of her old neighbors.” Molly hesitated. “Did you know that Nadia was pregnant?”
April nodded slowly. “She was devastated and absolutely terrified to tell the guy. He’d made no promises. She was his side piece.” She sighed. “Nadia wanted the baby desperately, though. She was raised in foster care and had always wanted a husband and a child.”
“Someone to love her unconditionally,” Gabe said quietly.
“Exactly. I didn’t understand then. I just knew that I’d lost my best friend. I was angry.” April sighed again. “And hurt. And not mature enough to handle my emotions. I lashed out. Told her that she should demand he marry her or she’d walk away. That if she let him convince her to have an abortion, I’d never speak to her again. I don’t know if she did or not. Our last conversation was the morning before the storm. I never saw her again.”
“Oh, April,” Molly whispered. “I’m sorry.”
April blinked, sending tears down her cheeks. “Thank you. I’ve never forgiven myself for that fight.”
“Twenty-twenty hindsight,” Molly said with a sad smile of her own. “We all do things we regret. But I know it’s hard to get past traumatic events like that. No matter how old you are.”
April smiled through her tears. “That’s what my husband says.”
“Smart man.” Molly found a pack of tissues in her handbag and passed them to April. “Where were you when you had the fight?”
April dabbed at her eyes. “In a coffee shop in Bywater, near the river. Neither of us had a car and it was close to the bus stop. I begged her to come with me, told her that my father was telling me to come home, to get out of the city. That the hurricane was going to be bad.” She shrugged. “Biloxi got it bad, too, but at least I wasn’t alone. I was with my folks.”
“Nadia wouldn’t come with you?” Gabe said, already knowing the answer.
“Nope,” April said sadly. “She said her man would come and get her and take her someplace really nice to ride out the storm. She was going to tell him about the baby, though. And demand he do the right thing.” She exhaled. “Do you think he killed her?”
Gabe thought of Xavier’s story, how a man had strangled her. “Maybe. That’s what we’re hoping to find out.”
“Your dad got close?”
Gabe nodded. “I think he did. He’d been investigating off and on—on his own time—for years. Some years he had more time to give. Some years he didn’t. My mom had cancer and that was a hard time for all of us. Dad worked and took care of her. I’d get him to let me take over sometimes so that he could sleep, but he was stubborn. I don’t think he had much opportunity to investigate in those years.”
“I’m sorry,” April said softly. “What else do you know about Nadia?”
“Not much,” Molly admitted. “We just found out Nadia’s identity today. Did she have an ob-gyn?”
“Yes. I mean, I think so. I gave her the name of one.”
Gabe straightened, his heart starting to pound. “Do you remember it?”
