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“You stay away from me, and you stay away from Lacey. And you stay away from Mum and Brice and Gaëlle too,” he ground out between gritted teeth. “No one in this family wants anything to do with you.”
His father merely laughed, the sound terrifyingly calculating. “We have some unfinished business, you and I. I’ll look forward to meeting you soon. I can’t wait to look into my son’s face and see what kind of man he’s grown up into.” With that, the phone line went dead.
Nico wanted to sprint out to the backyard. Find his father and confront him. But a part of him knew Serge was already gone. He threw the phone onto the couch and pulled Lacey into his arms, needing to hold her tight, a feeling of foreboding tight in his chest, even as she slid warm arms around his waist.
As he held her, a dark thought lurked. Was now really the right time to ask Lacey to marry him? With his father suddenly re-emerging from the murky depths in which he’d been hiding? The phone call had left a feeling of intense disquiet roiling in Nico’s guts, telling him that Lacey was in danger. From his own father. How was he going to protect her from that?
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
LACEY SAT BESIDE Linc in the break room. “Are you sure you should be back at work?” The words slipped out before she could stop them. She was still in carer mode after looking after Nico all week at home, and the habit was hard to kick. But she had to admit, it was damn good to be back at work. She touched the new duty belt buckled neatly around her waist. It fit perfectly, no more gunslinging for her. The belt had finally arrived the day she’d been on top of Barn Bluff, but today was the first day she’d been able to wear it.
“For the tenth time today, yes, I’m fine. The doctor has cleared me for duty. Stop clucking like a mother hen, Shorty.” Linc gave his trademark grin, hale and healthy and ready to take on the world again. Which was good; one less thing for her to worry about. Linc had no lasting effects from his blood clot and induced coma except for his memory loss of the actual attack, which the doctor had said was normal. His memories may return over time, but it may also remain a complete blank for the rest of his life.
“And talking about mother hens, the Lord knows I love my mother, but just between you and me, I can’t wait until she goes home tomorrow,” Linc added with an extra twinkle in his eye. “She’s driving me slowly insane with her over-caring. I’m a thirty-year-old man but she seems to think I’m five again. She even tried to spoon feed me the day after I was discharged from hospital.” Linc gave a horrified shudder and Lacey laughed out loud.
At least she hadn’t been quite that bad with Nico. Had she? Maybe Nico was secretly just as glad she was back to work today. Nico still had another two weeks home rest to endure before he was allowed back on desk duty. Then it’d be more weeks of physical rehab until he could move to active duty. Home rest was like a certain form of torture for Nico. He found it almost impossible to sit still, and a small part of Lacey was worried that she wasn’t there to force him to take it easy. But she had a job to do, and he was a grown man who needed to learn to regulate himself and his expectations of how much he was capable of.
“Your mum isn’t staying for Christmas then?” It was less than two weeks until Christmas now, and Lacey was surprised she wasn’t taking the opportunity to stay and spend it with him.
“Nah. Me and Tyrell have got time off and we’re heading back to the States for two weeks vacation. Spending time with the family, you know. They all want to know I’m actually okay. And Mum always runs Christmas Day like a sergeant major. I wouldn’t be allowed to miss it. The family flies in from all over the country. It’s a big thing. Lots of family drama.” Linc grimaced, but she could see the affection he had for his kinsfolk beneath the veneer of suffering through a family get-together.
Lacey nodded, but felt a stab of envy. How nice would it be to have a large family like that? Who squabbled and had their petty grievances, but with an undercurrent of love and closeness. At least Nico’s side of the family was fairly normal, if you didn’t count the father who’d faked his own death. They had plans to travel to Canberra for five days over the Christmas break to spend it with his mother, sister, and brother. Thankfully, Nico would be well enough to travel by then. His mother was desperate to see him after he’d been wounded. She’d been determined to fly down to Tasmania to see him in the hospital, but he’d diverted her, telling her he was fine, it was only a flesh wound—which it wasn’t—and that she could determine for herself how good he was when he arrived on her doorstep. Lacey was looking forward to officially meeting Nico’s family. She’d spoken to them over video link when he’d been there exhuming the body in his father’s coffin. Caterina had seemed lovely and welcoming over the video, as had Gaëlle. And Brice had seemed happy to see his younger brother finally settling down.
Her own family was another matter. She still hadn’t spoken to her parents, and it’d been over six months since she’d last seen them. Her older brother, Mathew, was in touch regularly and was going to pop over to Burnie for a few days in early January to catch up, much to her mother’s disapproval—she’d decided that Lacey was dead to her, and everyone around her should bend to her wishes and not talk to Lacey either. But Matt was stronger than her father and didn’t give in to Elora’s tantrums and let her run his life. Lacey was looking forward to her brother’s visit. Nico had never met her family, even though he’d accompanied her to Melbourne to confront them about the way they treated her regarding her PTSD. He’d stayed in the hotel, as she felt it was something she needed to do alone, but had been there to comfort her when she returned. So, this was Matt’s chance to finally meet the love of her life. It was a little scary, but also exciting. Nico meeting even one member of her family made it more serious somehow.
And while Sammy’s calls were infrequent, she still kept Lacey up-to-date with her parents’ lives. Sammy would probably always be the apple of their mother’s eye, and she and Lacey were two very different people, but Lacey hoped they could still keep their communication up, as she loved her sister, despite all their contrasting personalities.
Lacey let out a long sigh.
“You okay?” Linc asked, watching her with concern.
“Yeah. Just got a lot on my mind right now,” she replied.
Linc studied her for a few moments, then said, “I know I already said this, but I’m really proud of the way you handled yourself up there on the bluff. It sounds like you did an awesome job. So, you shouldn’t be worried about any of that.” In a roundabout way, Linc was also referring to the investigation into her shooting Sandra. It’d take weeks for an outcome from the commission, but everyone knew it was warranted; Lacey had no other choice. She already knew that Linc supported her decision to shoot, one hundred percent.
“Thank you.” She gave him her best smile, grateful for the way he acknowledged her abilities. Linc seldom handed out praise, so when he gave his approval, she knew she’d definitely earned it.
Lacey had driven Nico to visit Linc while he was recuperating at home last week to make sure he was on the mend and to fill him in on the events up on the bluff. Linc had a special interest in how that’d gone down. Nico told him Sandra had admitted to hitting him over the head to prevent him from picking up the charm. But it hadn’t been as much to stop him finding a clue, as it had been to retrieve a sentimental item. That locket had belonged to Tia, and Sandra had been devastated to lose it. But Nico praised Linc’s instincts in stopping to pick it up. Without that charm, and the link it formed to the other girls, they may not have broken the case so quickly. Now that Sandra was dead, they’d never know if Sandra was aware the other three girls all had the same charm. There were so many questions they’d never have an answer for. Such as why Sandra had waited four years to take her revenge. Nico was pretty sure Sandra’s murder spree had been triggered by the fact it would’ve been Tia’s twenty-first birthday, but they’d never know for sure. Lacey couldn’t feel sorrow at the woman’s demise, however, even though she knew Nico was frustrated by the lack of information.
Taj was helping them cobble together a little of Sandra’s story, but even he was shocked by her level of deception and ultimate depravity. Taj blamed himself for not seeing the depths to which his mother had spiraled to, and he’d probably live with that for the rest of his life, although Lacey had tried to explain that he wasn’t responsible for his mother’s faults. Lacey gave Taj a few tips from her own life experience, where for so long she’d felt like she’d completely failed to live up to her mother’s expectations. But in the end, she knew she’d never changeElora, just as Taj would never have been able to stop Sandra’s murderous intent. Sandra may have had an undiagnosed mental illness, for all they knew. But then, the grief of losing her child might’ve caused its own form of mental illness. Grief affected people in different ways, and perhaps it’d finally caught up with Sandra.
Thinking about Sandra, brought another ruthless woman to mind.
Tyrell had interviewed Erica Nellenbach in those few days when Nico was still in hospital and she’d been as unhelpful as ever. But under duress and after a firm direction from her lawyer, she’d finally revealed the messages between herself and Zoya six months ago had been regarding thecharges of verbal and emotional abuse of a young girl in Erica’s care two years prior. Much as Lacey had surmised, Zoya had uncovered the details of the abuse and then found out that Erica had paid the family to keep quiet. It seemed Zoya sensed a chink in Erica’s armor and had tried her own form of blackmail. But when Erica refused to pay what she was asking, Zoya had approached the family of the abused girl to ask them if they’d be willing to go to the police with the matter. Surprisingly, the family had declined, saying it was better to leave that episode in the past. Zoya knew without the family’s backing, it’d be no use taking the case to law enforcement. So the two women settled on a much smaller amount, which was more about Erica keeping her reputation intact than keeping Zoya quiet.
Ever since that time, their work relationship had been frosty, and Erica knew Zoya had started looking for other employment. She said she’d be glad to see the back of the girl. Erica never revealed how much she paid the family of the abused girl, or Zoya, but Lacey surmised it was a large sum, probably in the hundreds of thousands. God that woman was a piece of work.
When Tyrell had pressed her on the matter, Erica also revealed one other small tidbit of information. While she said her memory was sketchy, she agreed she’d been aware Tia was being bullied by the other three girls in her team at the time. She believed it was something to do with Tia being a little overweight. Fat shaming by today’s standards. Lacey was both livid and terribly sad when she found out. Physical appearance had nothing to do with aptitude—supposedly, Tia was the best gymnast in the group, and maybe the girls’ bullying stemmed from jealousy as much as anything else—nor did it have anything to do with personality or kindness. Something the other three seemed to be sorely lacking. It was probably the reason Tia had become anorexic, trying to comply to a social norm that’d never fit her.
Erica told them that even after the team split and took up individual practices, the girls would sometimes still poke fun at her right up until Tia left the gymnasium at the age of seventeen; a few weeks before she killed herself. This news made Lacey even sadder. Why had the abuse been allowed to go on for so long unchecked? Sandra Brown had blamed the girls for tormenting Tia, but Lacey felt that Sandra probably also felt a lot of guilt at forcing her daughter to continue with the club—probably as a misguided way of facing her fears—instead of letting her make up her own mind. Sandra said she’d taken Tia to see a counsellor, but in the end that wasn’t enough, and Lacey silently grieved for the young woman who’d endured so much.
Lacey had also attended Zoya’s funeral a few days ago. Her mother was grateful the police had caught her killer, but could hardly believe it was a woman who’d murdered her daughter. Let alone another mother, who should know what such a loss like this would mean to her. Anastasia was lost in her own world of heartbreak and was ill-equipped to understand any of Sandra’s motivations, much less condone them. She was angry; her life had been shattered, and Lacey couldn’t blame her. Lacey cried at the funeral, as did Dawn, and she thought Tyrell might’ve had a few unshed tears in his eyes, like many of the other officers who attended as a show of respect and honor.
Sukey’s funeral was next week, and that’d probably be just as bad. It was a part of policing Lacey found hard to deal with, maybe because she empathized with the victims and their families a little too much.
“How’s Nico doing?” Linc asked, distracting her from her maudlin thoughts.
“He’s healing well,” she replied. It was true, the doctor was more than happy with Nico’s progress. “The stitches came out yesterday,” she added on a sigh. Now he’d probably decide he was ready to come back to work and want to overdo it. And that was only the tip of the iceberg where Nico was concerned, because his mental health was on more shaky ground than his physical health.
