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“I think that’s him.The man I just saw,” Lacey confirmed, even as her palms began to sweat.The sketch was light on detail, but she could interpret the pieces that were missing and fill them in to come up with the man across the road.
“Yeah, well, it’s also a pretty good likeness of my father,” Nico added through gritted teeth.
“Holy Fuck.”Lacey could barely believe it.Could barely form the words.But they needed to be said.“Are you suggesting this serial killer and your father are one and the same?”
“Yes,” Nico sucked air in over his lips.“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“Oh.Shit!”Comprehension suddenly hit.Not only had she been about to walk over and put herself within reach of Nico’s long-lost father, she’d also nearly allowed herself to be lured into range of the serial killer they were hunting.One and the same man.As the ramifications of what she’d nearly done sank in, her legs began to feel like jelly, and Nico’s arm came around her for support.
“What have I done?”she asked in a whisper.
CHAPTER TEN
WHAT HAD SHE done indeed?Nico was still reeling from everything that’d just happened.Almost losing Lacey to a speeding car had turned his mind blank for a few moments.Long enough to blind him to the fact that she’d also just spotted the very person they were hunting.And nearly been abducted by him.
His father.
The killer.
Nico still couldn’t reconcile the two things in his head.It was as if both possibilities couldn’t coexist in his mind at the same time.It was inconceivable that his father was a murderer.And yet…
“Oh, God, Nico, I’m so sorry.This is terrible.”Lacey’s jade-green eyes filled with empathy and she took his hand.She, of all people, would understand how this would be turning his guts inside out.
But there was no time for empathy now.They were still standing at the side of the cruise ship greeting area, like two sitting ducks.He suddenly felt extremely vulnerable.His hip ached, almost as if trying to remind him of a time when he had felt helpless.
“We need to get back to our accommodation,” he said, letting his cop brain take over, because his emotions were so conflicted right now he could barely make a decision.“We’re not safe out here in the open.”His father could be anywhere, watching them right this second, and the back of Nico’s neck tingled.
Tugging Lacey by the hand, he crossed the road and then lengthened his stride.It was a ten-minute walk back to their hut, and they did it in silence, both of them super vigilant, watching for any movement or sign that someone was following them.Nico had a dreadful feeling that their hut was no longer safe either; Serge probably already knew where they were staying.Perhaps he’d been following them from the second they’d arrived in town yesterday.The thought made him feel physically sick.But he said none of this to Lacey, not wanting to scare her any more than she already was.
Their little A-frame cottage came into view, but Nico no longer saw it as cute and bucolic.Now he saw how easily the place could be breached; how hard it would be to defend if the need arose.The windows were low to the ground and didn’t even have security screens, and while the doors were solid wood, the locks were simple latches that any thief with half a brain could pick with their eyes closed.The thick circle of trees surrounding the structure made a great place to hide and watch without ever being seen.
Setting his jaw, he marched up the stairs and in through the front door, shutting and locking it carefully as soon as Lacey was safely inside.
“Stay here,” he said in a low voice, moving quietly through the small, three-room hut to make sure it was empty.After he’d checked all the windows were still untouched, he bent down and retrieved both his and Lacey’s guns from the lockbox under the bed.
“We wear these from now on,” he said, handing her the pistol and watching as she tucked it into the waistband of her shorts without comment.
“Right.Good.”Lacey let out a sigh of relief and sat heavily in one of the two flowery armchairs, pulling out her phone.“We have to call this in,” she said without looking up.
“Wait.”His hand on hers stilled her fingers right before she hit the dial button.
“Wait?Why?”
“You know Shadbolt will take me off the case the second he finds out, don’t you?”He could see the cogs of her mind whirring behind her eyes, still dark with fear and shock.He didn’t think that she’d processed their predicament as thoroughly as he had yet, and he watched as understanding arrived on her face.
“Oh, shit,” she said quietly.
“Yeah, shit,” he repeated.“This is a huge conflict of interest.Even Shadbolt won’t be able to turn a blind eye to this one.”
“But you need to work on this case.We need to work on this together,” she said, rising part way to her feet.“You understand your da—this perp better than anyone.You’re lead on this case, they can’t remove you.”Indignation made her pretty mouth pucker into a tight line.
“They can, and they will.”He took the armchair next to hers and tugged on her hand until she sat down with him.“Can we just take a few minutes to talk this through first before we call it in?”He needed to get his head on straight, to banish this terrible fuzzy numbness that’d overtaken his head, his soul.
“Sure.”Her thumb traced soothing circles over his knuckles.“Take as long as you need.I agree, we should figure out where we stand before we let the team know.”He loved her for sayingwe.Even though this washisfather, and this washisproblem, it never even occurred to her that they weren’t in this together.A grim silence settled over them as they sat, hand in hand and considered their options.All sorts of dire scenarios formed in his mind.So many unanswered questions he didn’t know where to start.
It wasn’t thoughts about how he was going to capture Serge that clamored the loudest for recognition, however.It was the much deeper emotions that rose to the surface like lava bubbling, hot and fiery.“How am I going to tell my mother?”His voice hitched on the wordmother, and his heart broke just a little at how his passionate, determined mother would shatter under this news.She might even blame herself.Wondering if there was some manner in which she should’ve foreseen this in her twelve years of marriage to the man.Unaccountably, his hands began to shake.“This is going to kill her.”
“No, it won’t,” Lacey replied softly.“She’s a strong woman, she’ll deal with it the same way she dealt with his disappearance the first time.”Her hand tightened around his to stop the shaking.“You and your family will get through this together.You have to, you have no other choice, especially if we’re to stop him.”He lifted his gaze from where it rested on their hands linked together and sought her eyes.“I know this is terribly personal, Nico, and it’s hard to separate this intimate disaster from the unbiased cop you are normally.But you need to focus.”Her answer surprised him.He’d been expecting more compassion, more understanding; this was by far the hardest thing he’d ever had to deal with as an adult.Lacey wasn’t prepared to let him wallow in his own self-pity, but she also didn’t appreciate the depth of his guilt and shame, not just for his family.
