Chapter 16
Frode was staring at the guy. Ice filled his veins, and he couldn't move. He was sure it was the man. The murderer.
Their eyes met, and Frode stood frozen between the dairy section and the freezer section. His feet refused to move.
The man looked away and focused on the contents in the freezer.
Frode was almost out of groceries because the last few times he'd shopped; he'd only picked up what he needed right then and there.
He hated shopping, but no matter how often he tried talking himself into grabbing a shopping cart and filling it to the brink, so he wouldn't have to go in every other day or so, he never did.
When he'd driven into town, he'd been about to drive to the store he usually frequented, but then he'd remembered Saylor finding him there, and on a whim, he'd gone to the store by the southern exit, near the roundabout.
He hadn't spared the killer a thought.
Someone bumped into him, and he yanked his gaze away from the man rummaging around the frozen veggies and looked down at a girl who looked to be about three. "Sorry." He didn't know why he apologized.
"Frode?"
He looked up and met Ashley Rankin's gaze. "Ashley."
Hjalmar had had the biggest crush on her in school. He'd believed she'd left town.
"You remember me." She smiled, but she looked exhausted. Frode looked down at the girl again. She had the same hair color as Ashley.
"Of course, I do. Is this lovely girl yours?" He smiled at the kid. Part of him had believed if Ashley ever had kids, they'd be his nieces or nephews.
"Yes, sorry if she..." She breathed in deeply, and for a second Frode feared she'd cry. The Ashley he remembered used to laugh. A lot. The sound of it traveling the corridors. This current version looked like she was heading for a breakdown.
He looked up toward the freezers and met the rug guy's gaze. Fuck. "We collided." He smiled at the girl, but she wasn't looking at him, and something niggled at the back of his mind. Maybe she was shy, but maybe...He crouched a little and met the girl's gaze only to have her look away.
"She's eh..." Ashley grimaced. "Non-verbal."
Frode forced a smile. "No worries." Ashley's expression shattered, and Frode winced. Was it the wrong thing to say? "She's young."
Ashley nodded.
"Sign language?"
Ashley widened her eyes. "Eh...no. We haven't...We still hope..."
Silence stretched, and Frode wanted to escape, but Ashley was staring at him as if he was a lifebuoy. He wasn't. "Are you back in town? I believed you'd moved to..." He had no idea where she'd moved.
He looked toward the freezer again, no rug guy. Was he watching them? He glanced over his shoulder toward the dairy section but couldn't see him.
"Been back for about a month. I moved back with Ava to be closer to my parents." A shuddering breath. "I...eh...figured I'll need all the help I can get raising her."
Frode curled his fingers around the handle of his shopping basket--because, of course, when faced with entering the grocery store, he'd chickened out on the cart and the long-term food plans.
Was he supposed to ask why she needed help raising her daughter or was it one of those things he should ignore?
Ashley looked at him expectantly, and he started to panic. "Where's her father?"
Something closed off in Ashley's expression. Fuck. The wrong thing to ask.
"I'm sorry. It's none of my--"
"We've separated. I have sole custody."
He nodded.
"Not the life I believed I'd have." Then it was as if she realized what she'd said. "I didn't mean...I love her and wouldn't give her up for anything."
"No, of course."
She breathed in deeply again and looked around--Frode did too because somewhere in the store was a man he believed had killed four women. Fuck, Ashley wasn't safe here. So far, none of the women had been mothers, but it didn't mean he wouldn't kill someone who had a child.
"Hey, you want to go grab lunch?" What time was it? Was it appropriate to ask for lunch? Nope. He hadn't spoken to Ashley in over a decade.
"Lunch?" She looked confused.
"I'm sorry. I...I think we should get out of here." Shit, he was messing this up.
She looked around, growing more alert. "Okay. Why?" Her gaze dropped to his hands. "I heard you're a psychic now."
She'd heard? How the fuck had she heard that?
"Yes."
"And we need to get out of here?"
"I'm not a precog, but yeah, let me take you to lunch. My treat."
She nodded. "Okay." She grabbed Ava. "Do we simply leave or go to the checkout?"
"Checkout. Do you have a lot you need to pick up?" He'd survive for a couple of days with what he'd managed to gather.
"Milk, and--" She took a deep breath. "Ava only eats fish fingers.
" She looked away. "Last month, she only ate chicken nuggets.
I'm a horrible mother." She was blinking fast, and Frode was back to fearing a breakdown.
They had never spoken like this. He might have greeted her on the street or waved at her from a distance, but he hadn't spoken to her for a long, long time, and they'd never been close.
She was Hjalmar's friend. Someone Hjalmar had wished would be more than a friend.
Plus, Frode was not a good shoulder to cry on.
He didn't understand why she'd want to. He sucked at comforting people.
He walked toward the milk fridge and she followed.
"You're not. You have a neurodivergent kid."
She stared at him with wide eyes. "You think?"
Fuck, had he said too much? "Eh...I believed it was what you were telling me. Late talker, avoiding eye contact, only eats a few foods. I'm no expert, and I'm not saying those things are the same for all neurodivergent, but--"
"I didn't mean to make you defend your thesis." She gave him a wobbly smile.
"I'm sorry if I was insensitive."
She shook her head. "My parents only think she needs more rules. They say I'm too soft and give in too easily, but I can't watch my kid starve because she refuses to eat anything other than fish fingers."
And yet she'd moved here to have them help her raise Ava. He shrugged. "At least it's fish. Rich in omega-3, right?"
She smiled and grabbed some milk. Frode looked around them. No killer, but he might be lingering on the other side of a shelf. He might be watching them. Did he know Frode was living next door to one of his victims? Did he know Frode had seen him through the rug?
A shiver took hold of him. They needed to get out of here.
"Frozen foods?" He headed toward the freezers before Ashley could reply. Urgency clawed at him, but he didn't know why. It wasn't as if the killer would do anything in here. He wouldn't roll out a rug between the freezers and slit Ashley's throat.
He stopped in the middle of the aisle. "Have you bought any rugs since moving here?"
"Eh..." Ashley looked surprised. "Yeah."
"Secondhand?"
"No. IKEA."
He blew out a breath. "Do me a favor, don't buy any rugs until Hjalmar, Nesterova, or I tell you it's okay to do so, okay?"
A wary look took over her face. "You're scaring me a little."
"I'm sorry. It's...I can't talk about it because it's an ongoing investigation, and I'm not a cop. I only consult for the police, so I'm not privy to all the details, but please don't buy any rugs, don't answer any ads about rugs."
She nodded and curled her arm tighter around Ava. "Are we in danger?"
"I don't think so, but I'd like to get you out of here, and...Can we go to Overtime for lunch?"
Another nod. "Sure, if it helps."
Frode ushered her toward the checkout once she'd stocked up on fish fingers.
He stayed by her side until she'd strapped Ava into the car seat.
He didn't know why he didn't want to let her out of his sight.
She didn't fit the profile; she hadn't bought a rug, but she'd been in the same space as the killer.
She looked at him over the roof of her car. "Right, see you at Overtime in a few."
He nodded. "Yes." He more or less ran to his car and sent texts to both Nikolai and Hjalmar, telling them to meet him at Overtime now if they were able to. He was aware the chance of catching them both free was slim, but he wanted them there.
* * * *
Nikolai's phone buzzed in his hand as he was jogging down the stairs of the precinct.
He still hadn't gotten a report from Saylor and was about to go to bother him.
Isaac had refused to come, saying Saylor was working as fast as he could, but Nikolai wasn't sure it was true.
He respected the work Saylor did, but he also believed he disliked Nikolai being close to Frode.
He glanced at the screen and stopped mid-descent when he read Frode's name. Fumbling with the screen lock, he read the text. Overtime. He checked the time. A bit early for lunch, but he got moving.
It didn't take him many minutes to get there, and when he spotted Hjalmar's car turning into an empty parking lot ahead, he walked faster.
"Did Frode text you?"
Hjalmar jumped, not having seen him. "Yeah. You too?"
Nikolai nodded. "Any idea what's going on?"
Hjalmar pressed his lips into a thin line. "No. If he wants something, he invites me to dinner at home, not a restaurant. He doesn't like restaurants."
So something was wrong. They walked side by side toward the sport bar, Nikolai stepped in behind Hjalmar when a woman with a stroller came toward them. "What do you think happened?"
"If it was bad, we'd be called to the hospital and not be summoned by a text."
Nikolai nodded.
They crossed the street when the bar came into view, and Nikolai sped up his steps more. Hjalmar was first through the door, but stilled a few steps in. At the same table they'd occupied the last time was Frode, Ashley Rankin, and a child.
"What the fuck?"
Hjalmar shrugged but got moving again. Frode's head snapped up, and he looked first at Hjalmar then at Nikolai. He stood and came toward them.
"What's going on?" Hjalmar grabbed Frode's shoulders.
"I..." He shook his head, then he shrugged off Hjalmar's hands and held his arms out as if expecting Nikolai to hug him. When he took a step forward, Frode wrapped his arms around his neck, and Nikolai pulled him close, inhaling subtly. Frode had never hugged him.
"He was in the store." He spoke close to Nikolai's ear. "Am I allowed to tell Hjalmar? I don't know why I panicked, but I grabbed Ashley and dragged her here."
Nikolai met Hjalmar's gaze, and without letting go of Frode, he spoke at a volume Hjalmar would hear but hopefully not the people around them. "What do you mean, he was in the store?"
Hjalmar's eyes widened and looked between Frode and Ashley.
Frode let go of him, and Nikolai wanted to protest, but he suspected hugs were a rarity when it came to Frode, so he'd cherish it despite knowing he'd done it to be able to talk to him without anyone else hearing him.
"I went to grab some groceries, but when I was about to turn off to my usual store, I remembered Saylor ambushing me there, and I wasn't in the mood, so I kept driving."
Nikolai shouldn't grin, but he did. Frode avoiding Saylor was music to his ears. Hjalmar, on the other hand, looked disappointed. "I believed you liked Saylor."
Frode frowned. "I liked Saylor when he was a face that popped up when I read things. He's nice to look at."
Hjalmar rolled his eyes. "He's nice to talk to too."
"He's a groupie."
Nikolai didn't mean to, but he burst out laughing.
Frode waved a hand. "Anyway. I went to the grocery store by the southern exit, near the roundabout."
All laughter left Nikolai.
"I grabbed a few things, but when I reached the freezers, he was there."
"Who?" Hjalmar looked confused.
"The rug killer."
Hjalmar cursed, but Frode ignored him and met Nikolai's gaze.
"He looked directly at me, but then Ava, Ashley's daughter, bumped into me, and while I spoke to her, he walked away.
I freaked a little and talked her into coming here with me because...
well, he saw her. And I know he doesn't pick single mothers, and he most likely doesn't stalk them in the grocery store, but... yeah."
Hjalmar looked between Frode and Ashley, who was watching them with a suspicious expression. Hjalmar clapped his shoulder. "Good call." Then he walked over to the table and sat across from Ashley.
"Are you playing matchmaker?"
"What?" Frode frowned at him.
"Calling Hjalmar here, telling him she's single and might be in danger." Nikolai didn't mind, but he was surprised.
"I wasn't thinking, to be honest."
If Nikolai had a reliable brother, maybe he'd reach out to him when he was shaken too. "Okay."
"I'm overreacting, right?"
"About Ashley, most likely. As you said, she doesn't fit his pattern, but we don't know what he knows about you. He was in your neighbor's house, and now you ran into each other in the grocery store."
"But it's not my usual grocery store, and he couldn't have known I'd go there. I didn't know I'd go there."
"You're right." He was. There was no link, but Nikolai didn't want him out of his sight. "Will you come with me back to the station?"
"Why?"
"I need to inform Isaac and Medlin. Then we need to go to the grocery store and see if they're willing to let us look at their video feed. We might need a warrant if they're not cooperative. We should be able to get his name from his card details."
"I promised I'd buy Ashley lunch."
Nikolai wanted to rush out of there, but he guessed they could stay for a bit.
* * * *