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“That’s everything I’ve figured out for myself, Nicole. What I don’t understand is what you were doing there last night.”
Nicole twists her fingers together. “They lied to me, Dad and the mayor. I overheard the mayor telling Dad he was going to kill you all. You were supposed to go into the building, and there was someone standing by with a weapon to blow you all up. I lost it when I heard that. Dad made me take pills and tried to lock me in my room. I threw the pills up, but I don’t think I got all of them.” She rubs a hand over her eyes. “Everything’s blurry after that. I hid in Dad’s car and I intended to warn you all that it was a trap.”
“You’re lucky you’re alive. You realize you could have been killed along with the rest of us?” I suppose the mayor or De Luca were watching the building, and they called off the plan when they saw Nicole.
“I wasn’t thinking straight. The next thing I remember, I was talking to Chiara on the phone. I tried to warn her. You have to believe me that I didn’t want any of you to die.” Nicole implores me with huge, scared eyes.
“Did you remember what happened to your father? We didn’t see him there. It seems he ran and left you behind. Your father is a weak and stupid man.”
Nicole nods sadly. “That’s what Mom says. I think she’s really going to leave him this time.” Her face crumples. “But he’s still my dad. Please don’t kill him. He was only doing what he thought was right. You shouldn’t have taken Chiara and you have to let her go!”
“Chiara wants to be with us.”
Nicole wipes the tears from her face and raises her chin. “If she does, it’s only because she’s confused or you’ve tricked her. Her mother was murdered by one of you.”
I sigh and shake my head. “Nicole, the mayor murdered his wife. He slit her throat in front of all of us, including Chiara.”
Her face transforms in horror. “That’s not true!”
“You can ask her yourself.”
“You’ll let her talk to me? Even though we’re both prisoners here?”
“Chiara doesn’t need permission from us. She’s in this house willingly, and she’s our lover willingly. Our woman.”
Nicole’s expression is equal parts confusion and disgust. It stays that way as I stand up.
“When you do talk to Chiara, please be tactful about how you bring up her mother. Mayoress Romano was murdered right in front of her, and Chiara’s never got justice. It’s likely that she never will.”
“When can I go home?” she calls after me.
I hesitate by the door and turn back to her. “I don’t know. When it’s safe.”
“Why wouldn’t I be safe?” she asks. “Are you going to hurt me?”
I shake my head. “Your father made you pose as a victim of the Black Orchid Killer. Your fake death was in all the papers and the killer will know that someone’s copied him. If I were him, that would make me angry and I might want to finish you off for real.”
Nicole’s face goes slack with horror as I head out of the room and close the door behind me.
Downstairs in the silent kitchen, I make myself coffee and call Thane.
“Yes?” he says in his flat monotone when he picks up.
“The photos of Nicole De Luca’s dead body. The ones you downloaded from the police server the morning Nicole’s body was found. Did you notice anything strange about them?”
“Why?”
“They’re fake.”
“They didn’t look fake.”
“Why don’t you check?”
“Why should I?”
My teeth clench. There’s not one trace of shame in his voice after what he and the Strife men did last night. “Because I’ve just been having a chat with the girl in the fucking pictures.”
I hear rapid typing, then a hiss of anger.
