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She needed to call in backup, but her phone was in her handbag hanging on the hook inside. Shit. Shit, shit. Suddenly, a figure materialized at the edge of the road. Lacey knew immediately it was Nico by the shape of his shoulders; the bulk of his leather riding jacket gave him away. There was no sign of anyone else. The man must’ve got away.Oh, thank God.Her shoulders dropped, and she loosed Smudge’s collar. The dog took off at top speed, belting down the road until he came to Nico, almost knocking him over in his enthusiasm, then dancing around his master like a demented sprite.
Nico stalked up the hill, stopping right in front of her. He raked his gaze over her, and it was only then she realized she’d run out here ready to chase down a fleeing felon only wearing socks. “Are you sure you’re okay?” He took her by the shoulders and stared into her eyes. His fingers were warm and reassuring, and her heart rate began to return to normal.
“Yes, I’m fine,” she told him, fighting the ridiculous urge to sink into his chest, and let him hold her. Shewasfine. The intruder was gone—if he had actually been an intruder—and she and Nico were unhurt. So why did she feel so freaked out?
“Good.” He let out a relieved gust of air. “You scared me. For a second, I thought you were about to chase that guy into the bush with no shoes on and Smudge as your only protection,” he said as he let go of her.
Thinking about it, that was exactly what she’d been about to do. But now he said it like that, it sounded slightly foolish. “And what if I was?” she demanded. “I’m a Tasmanian police constable. I’m perfectly capable of looking after myself. And more than able to bring down a criminal if it’s required.” They’d had this argument before. Nico was always so damn protective of her. It made her hackles rise, and she felt the urge to stamp her foot like a petulant child. No longer wanting Nico’s strong arms around her, she wanted to smack some sense into him instead.
Nico sighed, but clearly decided he wasn’t getting anywhere with her tonight on this particular subject, and so changed tactics. “Let’s get inside. I’ll put the motorcycle away later.” He leaned over and switched off his machine, snagged the keys from the ignition, and picked up his helmet from the ground where he’d dumped it.
“Should we call this in?” she asked, preceding him up the front steps. She’d left the front door wide open and all the lights blazing. Smudge bounded through the door, happy that his job had been done. He’d warned her of the intruder and he would’ve given chase if he’d been allowed. With Nico home, he knew they were all safe and he could get back to his happy doggy life.
“Probably no point.” Nico shrugged out of his backpack and jacket and then turned to make sure the front door was securely locked and bolted. “Whoever that was is long gone. Is there any sign of a break-in? Are you even a hundred percent sure they were inside our house?” He was peering into all the open doors as he went down the hallway, but his question had her second-guessing herself. Now that she thought about it, both the front and back doors had been securely locked when she arrived home. Which was one of the reasons she hadn’t realized someone had actually been inside the house.
“Yes. That door was definitely closed when I left this morning,” she replied, pointing to the dining room. “And Smudge was acting really weird, right from the time I pulled into the driveway.” She nodded to herself. “I’m sure he was in here,” she declared.
“Is anything missing? Has anything been touched?” Nico was peering into the bedroom, all efficiency and in detective mode once more.
“Nothing obvious,” she admitted. “But we should do a check, anyway.”
Nico merely grunted and went to hang his jacket and backpack up and secure his weapon. Lacey went into their bedroom and did a slow 360-degree turn in the middle of the room. Everything seemed to be in order. Then something over on the chest of drawers next to the window caught her eye. Before she’d moved in with Nico, his room had been that of a typical bachelor, simple and a little on the sparse side. She’d added plenty of feminine touches over the past six months, including three framed photos of her and Nico, sitting in pride of place on top of their set of drawers. But one thing that she wasn’t quite so good at, was dusting. They were both busy people and dusting was low on her priority list. Without touching it, Lacey leaned over to inspect the three photo frames. One of them had been moved. And whoever had moved it hadn’t quite put it back in the exact same position, because she could see the mark in the dust where it’d sat before. All of her knickknacks—her grandmother’s china figurine, some pretty shells she’d collected from the beach, and a stack of books waiting to be read—remained untouched. A shiver went down her spine. Someone had been in here, snooping around, touching her things. But what were they looking for?
She called Nico into the room and showed him what she’d found. To his credit, he studied the photo frame carefully, and then nodded in agreement. At least he believed her now.
They both took turns checking out every room in the house, Smudge following behind curiously. Nico discovered where the intruder had made his entry. One of the windows into the living room had been jimmied open. The window frames were all made of wood, original from when the cottage was first built. Nico had them restored and repainted, but had decided not to update them to a more modern and more secure metal version, because they would ruin the character of his cottage. It would’ve been fairly easy for someone to slip a knife under the window ledge and pry the latch loose. Actually, the intruder had done a great job, barely damaging the window, and then shutting it again, to make it less obvious how he entered. Now, there was no doubt someone had broken into their house. Careful not to touch anything, Nico took photos, and then called it in, requesting forensics to come out in the morning and dust for prints. Lacey thought the chance of finding any clues was highly unlikely; this guy seemed like a pro.
He sat heavily at the kitchen table and ran a hand through his hair. She was about to sit too when her stomach rumbled loudly. “How about a mushroom omelette for dinner?” she asked, already pulling the geese eggs out of the fridge.
“Sounds wonderful.” Nico gave her a tired smile, and some of the tension left her shoulders. She’d been jumpy and on edge after the intruder in the house, then irritated and exasperated when Nico had pulled his overprotective stunt, all of which had probably led to her snapping at him. But now she could see through his smile to the fatigue underneath. Fatigue and something else. Suffering. Suffering she knew she was responsible for. Nico was already under pressure from this double homicide, and she wasn’t making it any easier on him. She’d like to go up and run her thumb over the frown lines on his forehead, ease away the stress. But the undercurrent of unresolved issues stopped her. Issues that were blocking their ability to communicate. Blocking their normally open and effortless camaraderie.
“Is this related to the murders?” she asked the easy question instead.
“No idea,” Nico admitted. “Could be just a random dude.”
“Last time someone came snooping around our house, it wasn’t random,” she reminded him. Last time Nico’s good friend Gabriel had attacked her. And if it hadn’t been for the geese, he may well have killed her. She should’ve twigged when she heard the restless geese tonight when she first came home. “And this doesn’t feel random. It feels premeditated. And targeted.”
“I agree,” he replied. “Who knows, maybe forensics will get a fingerprint tomorrow.”
They both knew there was little chance of that. If this guy was as much of a pro as she suspected, he would’ve worn gloves, and possibly a hat and balaclava as well, minimizing any hair or skin particles being left behind.
Lacey kept her thoughts to herself as she bustled around the kitchen preparing their omelettes. Nico got up to feed Smudge, then retook his seat and watched her thoughtfully, but she could tell his mind was elsewhere. Probably on new ways to make the cottage more secure. Thick metal security screens on the windows would spoil the classic colonial look, but Nico would probably go for it anyway, just to make sure she was safe.
Suddenly, his face cleared, and he sat up straighter. “I almost forgot with all this trouble, but we just got an ID on the second body.”
“That’s great.” Lacey gave him an encouraging smile over her shoulder.
“Yeah, dental records came back with a hit late this evening. The lab must’ve been working overtime on this one.” Lacey could imagine. This case was garnering huge media coverage across the whole country. Everyone wanted answers as quickly as possible, and no one wanted the finger pointed at them as being the source of a delay. “She was a woman calledSukey Lui. Seems like she still lived with her parents in town. I sent a unit out to inform the family.” Nico grimaced at this, and Lacey’s elation at finally getting an ID deflated in the face of another family’s grief. “I’ll leave the interview until first thing tomorrow morning. Let them digest the news first. They emigrated from China twenty years ago, when she was only one, and I don’t think their English is all that good, which might be a stumbling block,” Nico stated matter-of-factly. A translator who spoke Mandarin might be hard to get on such short notice, but Lacey hoped they spoke enough English to be able to conduct a conversation, because they needed all the info they could get as quickly as possible.
“It’s interesting no one reported her missing. Especially if she was living with the parents. The body has to be at least two weeks old,” she said. Thinking about the second girl they’d fished out of the river, Lacey decided that her Chinese heritage was an interesting contrast to the first girl who was of Russian descent. What did these two girls have in common? Lacey placed a plate piled high with sweet-smelling eggs and mushrooms in front of Nico and sprinkled some grated cheese over the top.
“Thanks,” he replied, flashing her a grin that almost let her see through to the real Nico. The one who didn’t have all his walls up, ready for her to say something else hurtful or have to defend himself yet again. “I’m sure there’s some sort of explanation. Hopefully, we can get the full story and find the link between her and Zoya once we talk to the parents.” His last few words were mumbled through a mouthful of food.
Lacey prepared her own eggs, then sat down opposite Nico, tucking into her food with gusto. All thoughts of strange intruders and double murders banished to the background as she satisfied her hunger for the next few moments, not at all worried that both she and Nico could eat in the face of everything they’d just discussed. Death and grief had become, if not commonplace, at least something that no longer affected her viscerally.
“There’s also been another interesting breakthrough,” Nico finally said after half of his plate of food had disappeared.
“Mmm?” She raised her eyes to look at him with curiosity but didn't stop eating. This almost felt normal. Like they were sitting here as they always did, discussing a case over dinner before they headed to their bedroom to make love. But that was off the cards, she reminded herself, at least for tonight.
