Necessary Detour (19 page)

After the two polished off a barbeque chicken pizza in front of an old Katherine Hepburn movie in their suite, Nikki saw her chance.

“She was such a forerunner in the women’s movement,” Quinn said, turning off the TV. “Not caring what other people thought of her.”

“I agree.” Nikki took a deep breath and tackled the second subject of the night. “Quinn, Honey, you are taking the news about Dad’s predicament well.” She took a run at the next sentence. “...and because of that, I want to tell you something else.”

Quinn looked up from texting her boyfriend.

Inch into it. “It’s actually kind of ironic.” Nikki took another run. “Your dad’s situation prompted me to tell you this before I let any more time lapse.”

Quinn laughed and looked at her mother, now sitting forward on her chair, head tilted. “What? You’re pregnant?” Quinn joked.

Nikki paused and stared at her daughter meaningfully.

“Did you hear me?” Quinn chuckled. “I made a joke.’

The pause gave Quinn time to think.

“What?!” Quinn’s smile was replaced with a look of disbelief, then horror. “You’re kidding, right?”

Nikki shook her head.

“Oh, my God, Mom. Are you pregnant?”

“I am.”

“Mom! You’re too old!”

“Apparently not.” She braced herself for the part that would follow. “I know the idea seems strange to you. To me too, sweetie. But I’m having a baby.” She patted her belly. She had to let Quinn know that bursting her bubble wouldn’t be nice if that was the direction she was headed. “And, after a lot of thinking, I’m happy.”

“You’re having a baby?” Quinn stared at her mother’s belly with a sour look on her face.

“At first I was embarrassed and in shock, but now I’m excited. I’m having a baby in five months.” She let the news sink in.

Quinn walked to the window of the living room and looked out at Seattle’s downtown. “That’s what this retirement is all about?”

“Not completely. I was going to retire anyhow in the next year. You knew that.”

“I thought your retirement might have been for me.”

Nikki crossed the room and hugged her, cradling Quinn’s head on her shoulder. “I love you, Quinny Girl, and if you’d asked me to retire, I would have. Part of this is to be close to you here in Seattle, I’ll admit. While you go to school. I do want to be available for you. So, yes, it is for you too. And remember I took those months off after rehab?” Nikki needed her to know that she’d tried to be a good mother, in her own way. “You are the light of my life, Quinn, and always will be my darling girl.” She pulled away to look at her daughter’s sweet face. “But you are seventeen, and I don’t honestly think you want me in your face all the time, do you?”

“No.” Quinn smirked.

“So maybe it’s a good thing I’m able to give you some space now. Soon I’ll have someone who needs to be diapered thirty-seven times a day.”

Quinn pulled back. “Does Dad know?”

“No, sweetie.” She’d assumed it was Burn’s. “As if that isn’t strange enough news, I have more.” Nikki pulled Quinn to sit on the hotel room couch with her. “The baby is not Dad’s. It happened during a brief love affair with someone else, after Dad and I divorced.” Surprise flooded over her daughter’s face, but Nikki persevered. She’d rehearsed this speech on the drive. “I never cheated on Dad while we were married. Never. After we’d been divorced a month, I wanted a little attention and accepted a date with a man who turned out to be not my type. I made a mistake.”

Nikki didn’t want Quinn to know the details but enough to understand. “…see, I’d felt unloved by Dad in that way for a long time and I needed something. I’m ashamed to say that, but it’s the truth. It’s human nature to need love and I’m no different, Quinny.”

“Oh, Momsy, it’s okay,” she sighed and hung her head in thought. “I want you to feel loved.” Long pause. Quinn met her mother’s eyes, her expression soft. “A baby. It’s hard to imagine.” Quinn almost smiled. “I’ll help you raise her.”

****

Two days later, Nikki was back at the lake, with Quinn’s permission to be pregnant. She shuffled down the stairs, put the kettle on, made herself toast and looked across the bay to see if anyone was wandering around at Dickerson’s. On her brief respite, she’d almost forgotten about the Bayers. Almost. When she arrived home, the night before, it had been late. Aside from the FBI’s disguised delivery truck at the road, there’d been no activity.

Leaves were turning gold and crimson now and fall had moved in to Louisa Lake. Wandering out to the dock with her tea, Nikki let the cool wind blow her hair around and thought of the media blitz about Burn and the model. The woman insisted the boy was theirs. Although she wanted to believe their lives were separate now, she couldn’t help but be annoyed with Burn. At least her pregnancy happened after the divorce. Having told Quinn about the baby, Nikki’s shoulders had become lighter.

Nikki zipped her jacket closed and remembered Pete rescuing her from the lake days before. Their kiss in the shower seemed months away now. They hadn’t gotten far into it. She was grateful for that even though it would probably be years before she was intimate with anyone again. Who’d want a pregnant woman? Or a new mother? She sighed and looked over to Dickerson’s. No truck.

The log house looked different. It looked uninhabited. The curtains were wide open, but it was more than that. It looked like no one had been there for days.

She’d been gone thirty-six hours, more than enough time for the Bayers to move out. The thought made her feel strange, like something unfinished would never be resolved. The Dickerson’s front door key was hidden in a kitchen drawer.

Leaving Elvis in the house barking, she walked down the dirt road with the silver key on a Louisa Lake Marina keychain. Her step was quick, her purpose clear. She was going to knock and if there was no answer she would let herself in to see if, in fact, the Bayers had left.

After several knocks, she laid her ear on the heavy wooden door. Nothing. The key stuck slightly and she had to jiggle it to make it work. “Hello,” she called, before stepping into the house. “Anyone home? It’s Nikki.”

Breakfast sat on the kitchen table in a state of incompletion. Three bowls of cereal and a box of cheerios in the center of the table made it look like the breakfasters had been suddenly interrupted. Two bowls held floating cheerios, and the larger bowl was empty.

Tony’s video games were scattered on the table of the main room, his sweatshirt slung across the chair’s back, and a game of monopoly remained in a stage of play on the table. If they hadn’t gone for good, where were they? The Bayers never left the property.

Nikki’s heart pumped faster. She stepped carefully into the closest bedroom where Pete’s baseball cap hung on the bedpost, along with his rain jacket. The open closet was empty, but the strangest thing about the room was the electronic equipment on every surface, including the bed. Something beeped softly. One of the monitors displayed several views of the outside of the house—the back door, the bay, the side door, the road leading in to the property, the gate. There were computers, screens, wires, cameras and enough surveillance equipment to raise the hairs on the back of her neck.

How could someone sleep on this bed, with all that equipment? He and Connie probably slept in the other room. This one showed no sign of a woman’s presence.

Walking by the bathroom, she saw towels on the floor and a state of messiness that the rest of the house lacked. She flipped on the light and stepped back, horrified. There was blood everywhere—the counters, the sink, the floor. Towels blotched in red lay on the floor. A large pool of blood dripped off the counter to the linoleum. The shower curtain was closed and Nikki stood frozen to her spot at the door.

Nikki gagged and clutched her belly.

Oh, God. She had to get out of the house, run home, and phone Harold. Her heart pounded in her chest. Someone official would have to open that curtain.

Could Pete be Shakespeare? Oh God.

She backed up slowly, like she was in a slow motion dream.

There was no trail of blood outside the bathroom door. Nikki spun around, noting the fastest way out of the house and turned to make a run for it. But just then, a small scraping noise came from the second bedroom.

Her mind raced with possibilities. If Connie and Tony were in there still alive, hiding, she needed to open that door. Forcing herself to grab the knob, she turned it slowly and pushed.

The curtains were drawn, the room dark. Bracing herself, Nikki flipped on the overhead light. This was the larger bedroom with a king-sized bed and two night tables on either side.

At first glance, it looked normal. No blood. No half-dead body scraping its way across the floor. But, something inside the room had made a noise. Nikki held her breath and went to the closet, ready for the worst. Slowly, she slid back the paneled doors. The closet was empty except for two pillows on the top shelf and a small open suitcase on the floor. There were no bodies or body parts lying in blood pools on the linoleum floor.

The scratching noise sounded again and she spun around to see a hamster in a cage on the dresser. She heaved a sigh of relief.

Elsewhere, Tony’s books were piled on the closest nightstand and a romance novel sat on the far table. It looked like Connie and Tony shared this room. Moisturizer cream was open on the dresser beside the hamster cage and Tony’s Spiderman slippers under the bed’s edge. The unmade bed revealed two very distinct bodies, one short and one shorter. Connie didn’t sleep with Pete.

Then she remembered the blood. Someone was critically injured. Or dead.

There was nothing but dust under the bed and, satisfied for now, Nikki exited the bedroom and quickly headed for the kitchen door. The sound of a car made her jump. Through the window she saw the blue truck coming down the road to the house. When it stopped and slid in to its parking spot beside the deck, Pete opened the driver door. She panicked. He was back from whatever he just did. The possibility that Pete killed Connie and Tony and had just disposed of the bodies was her first thought. She wasn’t sure he wouldn’t try to kill her too. She had to get out of there.

Oh God. Oh God.

Adrenaline kicked in and she bolted for the back of the house. A car door slammed outside as she slipped out the back door, silently.

With her heart hammering in her chest, she considered the possibilities if Pete saw her. He’d probably run faster than a pregnant woman. She had to have a smart plan if she wanted to escape this man.

As soon as she knew he was inside the log house she’d get herself across the bridge then run through the cover of the trees to Birch House. He’d probably see her on one of those monitors but hopefully she’d be in her car by then, on her way to the FBI at the road.

Creeping around to the house’s corner, Nikki waited to hear footsteps on the deck. Nothing. She held her breath.

“Come on, Tony.” Pete said.

Tony was alive?

The house door opened. She’d forgotten to lock it. Pete would know someone had been inside.

Footsteps ran across the deck.

“Back to the truck, get inside, quick, and lock it.” Pete’s voice was short. “And get down until I come get you.”

This was the voice Pete used when he thought his family was in danger. He’d guessed someone was in the house. She had to go now. Fast.

Tony would be on the floor of the truck, waiting. Where was Connie? In the shower, dead? Nikki dashed to the far side of Pete’s truck. A terrified little boy was in there. She couldn’t run without him. She silently cracked open the door.

“Tony?” she whispered. “It’s Nikki. Come with me. We’ll make a run for it.”

“Nikki?”

Connie’s voice! Nikki opened the door wider and peeked inside. “Connie?”

“Get in, there’s an intruder in our house,” Connie hissed. They were crammed on the backseat floor, down as far as they could go.

“No, that was me. I was checking on you guys and saw all the blood.”

“What?”

“Whose blood was that?”

“That was you in our house?” Connie got up, one hand still on Tony’s back.

“Yea. Whose blood was in the bathroom?”

Tony lifted up a bandaged hand as he and Connie sat up.

The sounds of putting two and two together were deafening.

“Tony cut himself and we had to go to town for stitches.” Connie looked behind her, just as Pete flew around the side of the house.

He stopped short when he saw the open driver door and drew his gun, aiming at Nikki’s head.

“Don’t shoot me. I was in your house, snooping.”

“It was only Nikki.” Connie shouted, climbing out of the truck.

“Put your hands in the air, Nikki,” he yelled. His husky voice worked better when he yelled.

In a matter of half a minute, she’d been reduced from valuable witness at a murder trial, to a snoopy neighbor and her priority had switched from escaping a killer, to not being labeled as crazy. “It’s just me, Pete.”

Pete lowered the gun and motioned Connie and Tony inside. “Why did you break into our house?” He stood only a few feet from her, his eyes distrustful.

“Well.” She was trying to buy time, sorting out what to tell him. “As a matter of fact, I was hoping you would ask me why I was in the house.” What could she say? She smelled blood? The truth was usually a good idea. She’d tell a portion of that. “I’ve been away and I thought you might have moved out so I came over. When no one answered the door, I thought the house was empty. If you’d been home, you’d have answered, especially because Connie and Tony never leave the house…” She paused and stared at him, like they were the weird ones.

Pete didn’t flinch and Nikki continued. “I let myself in with my own key. The Dickersons like me to check on their place when they’re not here.” She hoped that would suffice but saw from Pete’s expression it wasn’t nearly good enough. His gaze bore into her and she lifted her chin higher. “When I saw blood in the bathroom, I didn’t know what to think. It looked like a crime scene.”