Life in Death (11 page)

“No, you didn’t. I heard you cuss.” She put her hand on her hips.

He looked her straight in the eye. “I didn’t cuss, I swear.”

Erik’s behavior scared her. Most of the kids she’d gone to school with who started out like this were still in prison.

Nick stuck his head in the room. “What’s the commotion?”

“Mom thinks she heard me cuss.” Erik laughed and Nick joined in.

Kari didn’t laugh. It wasn’t funny.

“When did our son become such a prolific liar?”

“Mom.” Erik rolled his eyes.

Nick shrugged. “Boys will be boys.”

One thing played over and over in her mind as she watched him act all innocent.

Sins of the father.

***

Nick and Erik brought Kari to one of the neighborhood bistros for dinner. She and Nick sipped red wine, while Erik stuffed shrimp cocktail into his mouth.

“Did Dad tell you?” Erik asked between bites.

“Tell me what?”

“Now’s not the time.” Nick stared hard at Erik, a deadly look in his eyes.

“Dad’s getting married.”

Kari’s gut clenched.

“Married?” She looked at Nick, who wouldn’t meet her gaze.

“Yep.” Erik dipped another shrimp into the cocktail sauce.

Nick took a gulp of wine.

“Is it true?”

“Yes.” Nick had suddenly become very interested in his fork.

Unbelievable.

“How long have you been engaged?”

“A year.”

Kari rose, leaned across the table, and slapped Nick’s face. Her hand stung. “Why didn’t you mention that earlier?”

Shrimp cocktail plopped out of Erik’s open mouth onto the plate in a heap.

“Erik, let’s go.” She felt sick and used.

“I’m sorry, Kari. I should have told you,” Nick said.

When they got to the car, Erik said, “O.M.G., Mom. You seriously need some anger management classes.”

Half an hour later, as Erik swam in the hotel pool, Kari sat on the edge and dangled her feet in the water. She gave Nick and Simone’s marriage six months. Once Simone really got to know him, she’d leave him, too. Unless he tired of her first and found a new woman.

Nick called several times, but she let every call go to voice mail. She vowed she wouldn’t speak to him tonight or anytime soon. But after the thirteenth pathetic message, she caved and answered his next call.

“What?” Kari bellowed into the phone.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for it to happen.” Nick took a breath. “I didn’t think I still felt that way about you and when I saw you, you looked so good.”

“That’s it? That’s the best you can come up with?”

“What do you want me to say?”

“You’ll reap what you sow, Nick.”

“I’m sorry for what I did. Please don’t tell Simone. I love her and want to marry her.”

“Wow. What happened to all those special feelings you just told me you had a few minutes ago? You’re a pig.”

“Call me whatever you want. Hate me, too. But don’t tell Simone. You’ll ruin my life.”

Should she tell Simone what he did?
She sighed. Nick wasn’t the only one to blame. It took two to… If she hadn’t been so stressed… In truth, she had needed the release. She’d enjoyed it, but hadn’t expected more from him than that. Things between them were still the same. She just didn’t know him and Simone were that serious. That’s what infuriated her.

“Okay, okay.”

He wasn’t worth the effort.

Tomorrow, she and Erik would be home, and she wouldn’t have to deal with Nick for a while.

***

Edvard had followed Kari to Denver. He’d sat back and watched her whole day unfold from her stop at her mother’s to the sexual escapade with her ex-husband. In a fit of jealousy, he vowed to kill Nick Marchant for touching her, until he saw her slap his face. He guessed the honeymoon between them was over. He chuckled. She had spunk. He loved that in a woman. The more he watched her, the more he thought she’d be a better match for him.

He would have her and no one would ruin his plans—not even Saura.

CHAPTER 18

Cobb and Nicolet entered the morgue and found Dr. Chiba on his computer. “Just a minute, gentlemen.” He typed a few more sentences, then rummaged through the piles of files on his desk until he found what he wanted. “Here we go. Dental records came back. Your female fire victim’s name is Veta Thompson, not Mina Steele. Here’s her paperwork.”

Cobb whistled. “That’s a good looking broad. Too bad she liked girls.”

“Cobb.” Nicolet glared at him. “Have some respect for the dead.”

Nicolet glanced at the file. “So why did she end up dead?”

Cobb shrugged. “The killer wanted us to think this was Mina. So Mina may still be alive.”

“Then where is she?”

“Don’t know. Maybe we should look at someone other than your girlfriend, Kari. Mina had contact with the foster kids, her co-worker, and had been fighting with her girlfriend. That’s three out of the four.”

“We need to find Mina.”

“Right.” Cobb started toward the door. “And see if there’s a connection between her and Jefferson Winton.”

***

Cobb and Nicolet got back to their desks in time to hear the police captain roar Cobb’s name. Cobb looked over at Nicolet. His partner shrugged his shoulders as Cobb went into the police captain’s office. “You called.”

“Shut the door.” The police captain looked grave. Cobb obeyed. “Where’s Nicolet?”

“At his desk. Why?”

“Good. Listen. Nicolet may be involved in these murders. ”

“What?”

“The foster parents—the Frosts—dropped the foster kids off here and took off. We called in Social Services and those kids told a terrible story of sexual abuse.”

“Where does Nicolet fit in?”

“One of the little girls saw his photo on the wall and recognized him as one of the “bad men” at the parties they went to."

“Bad men? What the hell does that mean?”

“He’s one of the ring leaders in this pedophile ring and he has a female accomplice.”

“Are you serious?

“As a heart attack. We need to take him into custody. You’re his partner. He won’t suspect you. Get back out there and take him down quietly. We don’t need to alert him that we’re on to him.”

“I can’t believe this shit.”

“You don’t have to believe it. Just do your goddamn job. Do you hear me, Cobb?”

“Yeah. Loud and clear.”

Cobb left the captain’s office. He looked for Nicolet, but he was nowhere to be found. Somehow he must have figured they were on to him.

CHAPTER 19

Erik said he’d meet Kari in front of the school at 5 p.m. It was 5:15 p.m. and no Erik.
Late again.

She entered the school and headed to his classroom, when her cell phone rang.

“Kari, is Nicolet with you?” The caller gasped out of breath.

The voice sounded familiar, but she couldn’t place it. “Who is this?”

“Cobb.”

Oh, great.

“Is Nicolet with you?”

What a crazy question.
“No, of course not.”

She passed a group of boys bouncing a basketball. A teacher came out of one of the rooms and shook her finger at them. “Stop bouncing that in here.”

“Where are you?” He sounded panicked.

“At my son’s school. Why?”

“Nicolet is extremely dangerous. You need to come to the precinct until we apprehend him.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Nicolet is involved with Patience Dolo’s murder and maybe the other murders, too.”

“What?”

Her legs threatened to give out on her. She needed to lean against the wall to regain stability. “What does that have to do with me?”

“I’ve never seen Nicolet take an interest in anyone until he met you. He’s on the run now and might come after you.”

“Why would he do that?”

“I don’t know how psychopath’s minds work. I wouldn’t take a chance though. And he has an accomplice. A woman.”

She could hardly fathom what she heard. The Nicolet she knew didn’t seem capable of such violence. Cobb could be the bad cop trying to lure her into danger.

“Why should I believe you? You’ve been against me this whole time.”

“I’m a cop. I follow the evidence and it pointed to you. Look, I can have my superior talk to you if that’s what you need.”

Crap.
He’s serious.

“Do you want me to send a car for you?”

“I have mine here. I’ll grab my son, and we’ll be there shortly.”
She rounded the hallway corner. Erik headed for a door at the other end of the hall. A man walked closely with him. “Erik.”

“Who the hell is Erik?” Cobb asked.

Erik and the man turned toward her voice. Nicolet smiled at her. For a second, she couldn’t breathe.

“Mom.” Erik made a move in her direction, but Nicolet grabbed his arm.

She ran down the hall and slowed when she got close to them. Nicolet had a sardonic smiled on his lips. He nodded his head at her, pulled Erik by the arm, and sprinted with him toward the door.

“Cobb,” she shouted into her phone. “Nicolet has my son!”

“Shit.”

“Nicolet just shoved him into a car. I’ll follow them.”

“Give me the address.”

“No time for that.” She hung up her phone, jumped into her car, and sped after them.

She glanced at the speedometer. They reached speeds upwards of 80 mph in a 35 mph zone. Nicolet drove through an intersection as the light changed to yellow. The light turned red by the time she reached it. She went through it anyway. She'd be damned if she’d let Nicolet get away with her son.

A car came out of nowhere and smacked her driver’s side door. Metal crunched and glass shattered. Her car did a 360 degree turn and slid as if it were on ice. The movement seemed so natural and fluid, like the vehicle meant to move that way. She would have careened through the windshield had it not been for her seatbelt. The air bag deployed, and her head bounced off it instead of the steering wheel. She checked herself for injury when the car came to a stop. None. She pushed the door handle open. The car groaned and creaked.

She’d lost them, and that fact made her feel sick. A maniac had her son, and she couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

“Are you okay?” A rather rotund female police officer asked.

“He has my son.”

“Who has your son?”

“Nicolet—Detective Nicolet.”

“Who? Ma’am, calm down. You were just in a car accident.”

“I know that.” Kari screamed. She wanted to strangle this woman. She needed help and tried again to explain. “I was chasing the man who has my son. Do you hear me?”

Everything started to get blurry.

She told her to get Detective Cobb down there. She thought of Erik before the darkness overtook her. She had to get him back.

***

Most of the debris was gone by the time Cobb arrived.

“Any word from him?” he asked Kari.

“No.”

“What kind of car was he in?”

“His car—the car he drives. I can’t think of the make and model right now. You should know. He’s your damn partner.”

“Okay, okay. Do you know where they were headed?”

“How the hell should I know? You know him better than I do.”

Her cell phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number.

“Erik?” she asked.

“No, not quite.” Nicolet breathed into the phone.

She signaled to Cobb, who arranged for the call to be traced. He motioned for her to keep him on the line.

“Why’d you take my son?” Her voice shook as she spoke.

“I had to get your attention.”

“You have it.”

“Sorry about your little accident. You sound like you’re all right though.”

“What do you want?”

“You. I want you. I want to start over somewhere just the two of us.”

“Fine, then let my son go. You don’t need him. You can have me.”

“Come to me, and I’ll let him go. No tricks, Kari, or you won’t ever see him again.”

“Please…. ”

“Meet me at St. Michael’s at 7 p.m.”

A loud click in her ear sounded just before the line went dead. She plopped down on the street curb and sobbed.

Cobb gave her a few minutes to compose herself.

“He knows the drill. We didn’t get the trace.” Cobb sat beside her. “What’d he say?”

“He wants me to meet him at St. Michael’s at 7 p.m.”