AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Erica raised her head, her scathing gaze raking over Lacey like she was merely a bug beneath her shoes. “I’m telling you, our personal conversation had nothing to do with her death. Zoya and I had a minor disagreement, that’s all. But we smoothed it over, and she was happy to keep working here. That’s all you need to know.”
Nico had enough of this woman’s holier-than-thou attitude. She wasn’t above the police and if she wasn’t going to answer their questions, then he wasn’t above throwing the book at her. “Fine,” he snapped. “Please hand over your phone then, Mrs. Nellenbach.”
“You can’t have my phone,” she screeched. “I need it. This phone is my lifeline. To my club, to my parents, to my students. You don’t have the right to take my phone.” She held it to her chest and stood up, backing away from them.
“We have every right to seize your phone if we believe it is evidence in a murder.”
“Evidence in a murder?” Erica’s voice was like nails down a blackboard, loud and screeching. “I did not murder anybody. How dare you insinuate I did.” Erica’s face went an interesting shade of puce as she continued to back away.
Nico almost wanted her to make a scene. Let all the parents and kids see what sort of woman they were really dealing with. But perhaps they already knew. He smiled and took a step toward the woman. She could do this the easy way or the hard way. Nico was in such a bad mood now he hoped she chose the hard way.
Lacey shot him a worried glance, as she too got to her feet, ready to back Nico up if he needed it. Suddenly, Claire was by Erica’s side, her hand on her boss’s arm, saying something soothing. He heard snatches of phrases, like, “think how this will look,” and “you’re the life and soul of this gym, they need you,” and “they’ll give it back as soon as they can…” Soon, Erica’s face lost its puce color and returned to a more normal shade of pink. Nico had to hand it to Claire; she sure knew how to handle her boss. Yet another reason she’d make a great asset to the local constabulary. At last, Claire removed the phone from Erica’s fingers and handed it over. Erica turned on her heel and flounced out of the room, and Nico let her go. If there was anything on the phone, Julio would find it. Then he could have another conversation with the gymnastics club owner. But until then, he was happy to let her go.
Pederson and Saito had finished with their last interviewees on their list a few minutes earlier and had been watching Erica implode with silent amusement. After Erica left the room, they all came to sit together at the large table with a collective sigh.
“Can everyone get your notes typed up and compiled into the system?” Nico directed. “Then I’ll go through them all tonight and see if I can find any common threads.” There was a shitload of information here, and he’d probably be up half the night.
Which might be a good thing. If Lacey wasn’t going to share his bed, then he may as well not be in it. He glanced at Lacey, who was facing the other two detectives and didn’t look his way. Yep, it seemed like filling his head with work tonight might be a good plan.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
NICO TRUDGED OUT to the kitchen on bare feet to start the coffee machine, and Smudge slipped out of the door of the spare bedroom to welcome him. It was just past seven on Sunday morning and there was no sign of Lacey, which meant she must be taking a well-earned lie in. He wished he could do the same, but he’d woken early, and his mind wouldn’t stop whirling, so he’d decided to stop fighting it.
Last night, he’d stayed up till well after midnight reading the other detectives’ reports on the coach interviews and working other angles on the case. He’d brought his work home with him because the security was yet to be installed and there was no way he was leaving Lacey home alone until he knew more about their mysterious intruder. After a quick, fairly silent dinner together, Lacey had taken herself off to bed, leaving him to work unhindered. Also leaving him with a deeply dissatisfied feeling in his gut. She was polite and professional while they were at work together, but they were still no closer to solving this private issue that was slowly driving them apart. He needed to do something about it, before the rift became irreparable.
Lacey had the day off today. In his position as homicide detective he didn’t have any specific rostered days, unlike the enlisted cops. But with a high-profile case such as this one, he pretty much worked seven days a week. As the machine whirred and the smell of ground coffee beans filled the air, an idea came to Nico.
Would she go for it?
He fed Smudge, then let him out into the backyard for a quick run before calling him back inside. If his idea came to fruition, Smudge would be getting a much longer walk soon. Filling two mugs of coffee, he headed for the spare bedroom. He gently tapped on the slightly ajar door with one of the mugs.
“Are you are awake?” he called softly.
“Mmm” came the mumbled reply.
“Can I come in?” It hurt that he even had to ask permission to enter her room, but the rules had changed and he needed to respect that.
There was a slight hesitation before she said, “Okay.”
She was nestled deep down into the bedclothes with only the top of her head and her eyes regarding him sleepily. She looked so appealing cocooned in the blanket that he wanted to leap into bed and snuggle beside her. Like he would’ve done on any other day. Smudge’s bed was on the floor, and the dog pushed possessively past his legs and flopped down, watching him with big, brown eyes. Ignoring Smudge’s silent appraisal, Nico stepped over the dog and placed the mug of coffee on the bedside table. Then he carefully sat on the edge of the bed. Someone had to break this détente, and he wasn’t too proud to be the one to make the first move. Lacey’s head came off the pillow as she glanced first at him, then at her coffee.
With a resigned sigh, she struggled to sit up, plumping the pillow behind her back.
“Good morning,” he said lightly, having to stop the wordgorgeousbefore it fell from his tongue. Because she was always gorgeous at this time of the morning. Sleep tousled and warm; there was a softness to Lacey when she first awoke that was replaced with her everyday armor as soon as she got out of bed. He loved her vulnerability at this time of the day.
“Good morning,” she replied, reaching for her coffee and raising one eyebrow in curiosity.
He drew in a deep breath and just went for it. “What if we took a picnic and climbed The Nut today?”
The light of contemplation lit her eyes. “I’ve wanted to do that ever since I came to Boat Harbour,” she admitted.
Of course, he knew that; it was why he suggested it in the first place. A way to tempt her out of the house. Get them both away from their everyday routine and give them a different perspective. Perhaps they might be able to talk this over easier if they were outside, with the wind in their hair, and their lungs burning from some good old-fashioned physical exercise.
The very first picnic they’d ever gone on together had been to Stanley, a tiny coastal hamlet farther west up the coast. The Nut was a local tourist icon in Stanley. A large rock protuberance, the remains of a volcanic plug at the end of a headland jutting out to sea. You could climb to the top or there was a chairlift, but Nico knew Lacey would be up for the challenge of a hike to the summit.
On their first visit, Lacey had driven them up to Stanley to celebrate Dotti being back on the road after her breakdown. That time, Lacey had cooked a delicious lemon slice and dragged him away from work for a few hours while he’d been trying to solve Rania’s murder. She’d been trying to decide her next course of action back then. Whether to stay in Boat Harbour or continue her travels around the island. They’d gone home and made love for only the second time, and she’d made the decision to stay a while longer. He had a vague hope its charm might work the same way this time.
“I’ll make us a picnic, if you like. And we can take Smudge as well. He’d love a chance to run along the beach.” A little blackmail never hurt, he decided as he watched her over the rim of his mug.
