“Fellas, before you do much more talking, I think you’ll want to take a look at this.”
Trent, Cassidy, and Subera leaned over the autopsy table. Deep in the chest cavity, something glinted dully in the bright lights.
After snapping a series of photos, Doc reached into the cavity with a forceps and grasped the object. A silver chain, muted by blood, unfurled as he pulled. A silver locket emerged on the end of the chain. Doc held up the find.
Subera leaned forward, trying to get a better look. “What the hell is that doing inside her?”
Trent’s stomach hardened like a cold, tight fist. He thought of the photo of Rees and Nikki with the teddy bears. In that photo, Nikki had worn a locket. Risa had said she’d given it to her little sister as a gift. “Open it.”
Doc grasped the locket gingerly with latex-gloved fingers and pressed the release. The tiny door flipped open.
Folded inside was a photo of Rees as a girl posing in front of a beaten-up trailer. Trent had seen the picture before, and Risa had explained that it was taken the day she’d moved into her dad’s house. She’d given the locket to Nikki, and told her little sister she would always be with her.
A promise that didn’t come true.
But as sad as that memory was, the condition of the photo was more upsetting. It was slit down the middle, just as the photo of Nikki they’d found in Dryden’s cell had been.
Trent stepped away from the body, pulse hammering in his ears, drowning out the beat of Harlan’s jazz. He’d finish with Cassidy later. He’d go over the autopsy protocols later. Now he had to get to Rees.
This locket was a threat… and a promise. And Dryden wasn’t one to patiently wait to deliver on either.
Trent only prayed he wasn’t too late.
Nikki
“I told you he would keep her close.”
Nikki peered out the dirty windshield at the county sheriff’s car parked in front of the Sauk Trail Inn. Eddie had insisted she call almost every hotel and motel in Lake Loyal and the surrounding area to find out where Trent Burnell was staying. She hadn’t even known her sister’s ex was in Wisconsin, but Eddie was sure. He was also sure Risa would be staying with Trent, even though Nikki told him they weren’t together anymore. And to top it off, Eddie had predicted a police car would be waiting at the hotel.
Eddie seemed to know everything. But more and more, Nikki wondered if she really knew him.
Nikki looked down at her hands, ashamed she would feel that way about her husband. The man she loved. The man who loved her.
She was so mixed up.
The sound of Eddie opening his door made her jump.
“The cop, Eddie. He’ll see you.”
“The cop’s inside. With Risa.”
“You shouldn’t go in there. He’ll—”
“I’m not worried about the cop.”
“But why risk it?”
“I have to see your sister.”
Nikki couldn’t help but remember what she’d overheard at Farrentina’s house. She’d been thinking of Trent’s comment ever since. That Eddie really loved Risa. That Nikki was a stand-in. That Risa was the special one. Again. “Why do you need to see her? Why can’t you just stay here with me?”
“I have to tell her she was wrong.”
“About the article?”
A muscle twitched along Eddie’s jaw. “About you.”
“Did Risa say something about me? In your meetings?”
“She couldn’t stop talking about you.”
“What did she say?”
“I think you know.”
Tears pressed to break free. Nikki knew too well. Risa would say Nikki wasn’t trying hard enough. That she wasn’t living up to her potential. That she needed to be different… quit her job, go back to school, be more like Risa herself. Never mind that Nikki was never smart enough to do any of those things. “What are you going to say?”
“That I love you, for starters.”
Nikki felt a flush warm her body. Now she really was going to cry. “Oh, Eddie…”
“It’s true, babe. I chose you. I can have any woman I want, and I chose you.”
“You’re going to tell her that?”
“Yes. And I’m going to tell her exactly why.”
“But the cop, the guy at the desk…”
“They won’t be a problem. Because you’re going to help me.”
Nikki wrapped her arms around herself and shook her head. “I can’t. I—“
“I thought I could count on you, Nikki.”
“You can.”
“It doesn’t seem like it.”
“You can, Eddie. I promise. It’s just…” The thought of what Eddie might do flitted through her mind. No. She couldn’t think that way. Eddie said he just wanted to talk to Risa. And he was being sweet now. Normal. The Eddie she knew.
“This is starting to make me angry, Nikki. I’m doing this for you, and you can’t even be there for me?”
“I’ll do anything you want. I just… I don’t want to see Risa.”
“You don’t have to. I want to take care of Risa alone. So you’ll help.”
It wasn’t a question. And even though Nikki didn’t understand what help he would need, she was too afraid to ask. “Okay.”
“Just do what I tell you. Even you won’t be able to fuck things up.” Eddie drove the car around the motel and stopped in front of a construction fence. He got out and started walking back to the entrance.
Nikki scampered to keep up. Just before they entered the lobby, he stopped.
“Wait.” He unbuttoned her blouse, leaving it gaping almost to her waist.
Nikki wanted to gather the fabric together, cover herself. But she didn’t want to make Eddie mad.
“Now go in and talk to the guy at the desk. Distract him. Get him to turn his back to the door so he doesn’t see me sneak past.”
Nikki focused on the paunchy older man behind the counter. “What do I say?”
“Flirt. Sell it. And if he wants to fuck you, let him.”
“What?” Nikki turned back to Eddie, but he was already walking away.
She wanted to think he didn’t mean that, that he couldn’t mean that, but she knew better. The thought seemed to excite him, just as it had on that dead-end road. And when he stopped just out of sight of the door and gave her a pointed stare, she knew she would go through with it. She didn’t have the strength to refuse.
Nikki opened the glass door and walked to the counter.
The man glanced up from his computer. His gaze rested for a second on her swollen lip, then slipped down to the open blouse. “Uh, hello.”
Nikki scrambled for something to say. “I need a room.”
“We don’t rent ‘em by the hour here, honey.”
For a second, Nikki was taken aback. “You think I’m a hooker?”
“You’re not?” The man’s eyes didn’t lift from her cleavage.
Nikki paused. She had to think.
Think.
“Listen, I really need a room. I’m tired. But I’m also lonely.”
The man looked her up and down. “Thought you said you weren’t a hooker.”
“I’m not.”
“You ain’t some kind of cop, are you?”
“Cop?” Nikki shook her head. She didn’t know when Eddie was going to make his appearance, but this was not going well. Not at all. “I’m not a cop.”
“Prove it.”
Nikki wanted to turn and run, get out of here, get lost. Instead, she spread her blouse open, exposing herself to him. As he stared, she could feel a flush of shame heat her skin.
“Is there a back office or something where we could go?” Nikki asked. “I saw a cop car out there, and…”