AllFreeNovel
Share Us
SALLY-ANN KNOCKED on Nico’s office door and held up a mug of coffee and a pastry.“I bet you haven’t eaten anything yet, have you?”
It was midmorning already but his stomach roiled at the thought of food.How could he think about eating when Lacey had been missing for over fifteen hours and they were still no closer to finding her?He was about to shake his head and send her away, but caught a whiff of the coffee and it smelled so good, so familiar, he changed his mind.A caffeine hit would be welcome, help him to stay awake, so, he beckoned her in.
“Rough night?”she asked, plonking herself down in the chair in front of his desk.But it wasn’t so much of a question as a statement, and Nico could see by her rumpled hair and over-bright eyes, that she’d been awake all night too.They all had.Almost everyone had been recalled from Strahan to concentrate on finding Lacey, finding Serge.The station had been buzzing with people and energy all night as everyone did what they did best to help.Even Detective Saito had been recalled, only Tyrell and Gorman were left in Strahan to oversee the campsite search.
But no one, not one single other person, was going through what Nico was going through right now.They couldn’t begin to guess.Even Sally-Ann with her sympathetic gaze and motherly quality couldn’t hope to understand.His barely healed bullet wound had throbbed all night long, as if it were a physical reminder of what had been stolen from him.But he’d take ten bullets to the chest, if only it meant Lacey was found safe and sound.
All night long, the same thoughts had clattered around in his head.He’d lost her.She’d gone off and put herself in danger to save another person.And he couldn’t do a damn thing about it.And it was killing him.He wanted to rage at her, yell at her, ask her how she could do something so foolhardy.Brave but completely bullheaded, that was Lacey.And thoughtless.No, not thoughtless.Lacey would’ve considered all angles.Then gone and done it anyway.
Had she even considered their baby?What might happen to their unborn child?Of course she must’ve, but Nico was finding it almost impossible to understand why she’d patently disregarded that fact and gone to Serge regardless.Not only might he lose the one woman who meant more to him than anything—the glue that kept his world together, the person who owned his heart—but he might lose his unborn child as well.He hadn’t truly had time to come to terms with the fact he was going to be a father.But the thought of losing that tiny being still growing in her womb, of having the chance to make amends for the sins of his own father by being the best dad he could possibly be ripped away from him, hurt like nothing else.And the worst part was, he dared not tell anyone of that particular secret pain.No one knew Lacey was pregnant apart from their families.He’d considered telling Shadbolt, but couldn’t see any advantage in providing that news.They were throwing everything they had at finding her and knowing she was carrying a baby wouldn’t change that.
He was such a mess that he hadn’t really been much help to anyone, and had eventually retired to his office to be alone with his thoughts.But it was better than being at home, waiting and hoping and praying.At one stage he’d wanted to hop into a car and just drive, hoping to find something, anything, that’d lead him to her.Hoping his famous gut instinct would guide him straight to her.But he’d left his Jeep at home at the behest of Pederson, who said he shouldn’t drive because he was too worked up.So, he’d jumped in the cruiser with Pederson and Taylor, and let himself be chauffeured back to the station.Pederson had vetoed Nico’s demands that he be allowed to search Serge’s bolt-hole in Boat Harbour, telling him there were four officers already there, with a forensics team on the way.Pederson didn’t say the wordsconflict of interest, but he didn’t have to.Because once Nico had calmed down, he knew his presence in that house might nullify any evidence they uncovered if it went to trial.
Pederson had been right about one thing, however, Nico probably would’ve driven himself or someone else off the road in his distraught state of mind.But the ride had given him a chance to talk to Taylor, find out everything she knew first-hand, and that information had been priceless.Hearing that Lacey had handed herself over willingly in exchange for Taylor hadn’t made him any calmer, but she’d been able to tell him the layout of the house Serge had been renting, and exactly what it contained.She’d also revealed he had a gun, which was new information, but not completely unexpected.Serge was nothing if not efficient.
They’d delivered Taylor into the arms of her near-hysterical mother, and Nico finally had an inkling as to why Lacey had given herself to a killer.Taylor was the innocent party in all this, and she didn’t deserve anything Serge had done to her.That thought had made Nico even madder, raging silently at his father, who was clearly using Taylor as a pawn in his own sick plans.
“Eat something, Nico.”Sally-Ann’s soft voice broke through his veil of dark thoughts.
“I can’t,” he croaked through a throat that felt like it was being constricted by a vice.
“Yes, you can,” she coaxed.“You need to keep up your strength, for… Well, you know.”
Nico leaned back in his chair, ready to snarl at Sally-Ann that she didn’t know what she was talking about.But a tiny voice of reason told him she was right.When they finally got the break they needed—and they would get it, he couldn’t believe anything else—then he didn’t want to be unable to focus because of lack of energy.So, he took a small bite of the pastry.It was like ash in his mouth, but he forced himself to follow it with a big swig of coffee.
Taking a bite of her own pastry, she eyed him watchfully.“By the looks of you, I’m assuming you haven’t heard the latest news yet?”
Nico lifted his head, eyes sharp and suddenly focussed.“What news?”Had they had a breakthrough?Why hadn’t they told him?
“You know how they found Danika’s clothes along with some burned documents buried at that campsite yesterday?”Sally-Ann said, barely waiting for Nico’s nod of agreement before she continued.“Well, Saito sent those scorched papers to be forensically analyzed last night, asked them to do a rush job, and they got the results back this morning.It seems that just enough of those pieces of paper were left unburned for them to make out some details.”
He sat forward, pastry and coffee forgotten.“And,” he prompted, when Sally-Ann went suddenly quiet in the face of his burning intensity.
“One of the pieces of paper had an address on it, from a realtor.They think the killer was renting an apartment in Hobart.Under an alias, of course,” she added hurriedly.
“In Hobart?”Nico said the words out loud, but really he was evaluating the validity of such a lead.It was entirely feasible, McTernan had confirmed that Serge had gone to Hobart when he’d first arrived on the island two years ago.Serge would’ve needed a place to stay, after all.Could he have been renting a place in Hobart all along?His heart rate had doubled at Sally-Ann’s revelation, but something didn’t feel right.
“Yes.”Sally-Ann gave a satisfied nod.“Pederson and Saito are making plans to travel to Hobart right now to check it out.”Nico stared at her, assimilating this new detail.His heart gave a tiny leap of hope.Sally-Ann had been very careful not to say anything that might get his hopes up, but he knew there might be a small possibility they’d find Lacey there.It was feasible that Serge could’ve driven her down there overnight.
“So, Pederson wasn’t going to tell me about this amazing breakthrough?He was just going to head to Hobart and leave me hanging?”
“I… I don’t know.I assumed he was going to alert you eventually.”Sally-Ann put her hands on the table.
“When?After he got back from Hobart?After he’s made sure he’s the hero of the hour?”Nico said bitterly, leaning forward in his chair to glare at his friend.He stood, no longer able to contain his growing anger.“And everyone else is keeping this from me why?To protect me?Are you all afraid I’m going to break, dissolve into a puddle of uselessness?Well, I’m not.I’m as strong as a fucking ox and I’m going to keep going until I find her.I’ll search to the ends of the earth if I need to.I want to go to Hobart with them.”Nico knew he was losing it, could see himself from across the room, a raving, ranting lunatic, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself.“Some fucking friends you are.I don’t need to be wrapped in cotton wool, Sally-Ann, and I don’t need you to—”
She held up her hand right in his face, pushing back her chair.“Don’t you dare take this out on me.”Sally-Ann stood up, glaring at him from across the table.“We’re not keeping this from you.I came to you as soon as I heard.And I told you as yourfriend, not as a work colleague.Nico, you need to dial it back a little.I know you’re hurting, but we’re all one hundred percent invested in this.We all want to find Lacey.I want to find her nearly as much as you do.”
Not possible.Nico kept that to himself.But he had no right to shoot the messenger, and Sally-Ann was right; everyone wanted the best for Lacey.
Nico gritted his teeth and looked down at the table, suddenly having to fight the urge to cover his eyes and give into the tears of frustration that hovered behind his eyelids.
“I’m sorry,” he finally said, when he could finally trust his voice.“I know everyone is doing their best to find her.”Probably even Pederson, though Nico didn’t agree with his methods.“I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”
He retook his seat and motioned Sally-Ann to do the same.She laid a comforting hand over his.“You can yell at me as much as you like, as long as it’s constructive and helps us to find Lacey,” she replied.“I know this must be terribly hard, but I for one am not trying to protect you from any of this.I just want you to focus on the right things, so we can find her quickly.”
She was correct.He was letting his fury overcome his rational, left-brain thinking that usually stood him in such good stead.So instead of continuing to rage, he reigned in his temper and dissected this new information.Sally-Ann watched him for a few seconds before going back to her pastry.If Pederson was going to Hobart, then Nico needed to find a way to convince the other man to let him go too.But as he contemplated his half-eaten pastry, his gut began to roil every time he thought about Hobart.Why did it feel wrong?He needed to pay attention to this feeling, because it might be important.
“Something feels off about this,” he finally said.When he’d first heard the news of the find at the campsite, he’d had the same feeling, but hadn’t had time to analyze it.Now he focussed his full attention on the matter.
