CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Kol
ILOOKED OVER THE MAP AS I DID MY BEST TO TUNE OUT Pete. He was droning on about some case he’d worked before. A story where he played the hero and everyone else was the fool. But I couldn’t help wondering if he had that backward.
The standard-issue map had nothing on the creations Orion made. His were works of art, drawn exactly to the specifications we needed. Not this one. Just a run-of-the-mill map.
Still, I did my best to mentally cross off possibilities.
I’d personally overseen an additional search of Travis’s old property.
With no next of kin, it would revert to the state, and who knew what they would do with it.
Regardless, there’d been no signs of inhabitance there.
No copycat serial killer in the making, using it to stow this latest victim.
And there’d been no jump scare revealing that Travis was still alive and back in his favorite hunting ground.
So we were back at square one, surveying the campsite where Heidi had been taken. And I hated that with a fucking passion.
But there was only so much we could do. The camera feeds hadn’t turned up much. Two were down for maintenance—some issue with the solar power that kept them running. And all the vehicles on the road from the others had checked out.
Only two had been towing trailers large enough to house an ATV, and we’d been able to clear both parties. But someone didn’t just disappear into the ether. Whoever it was had gone somewhere.
My phone rang, cutting into my thoughts. Roger flashed across the screen. I swiped it off the table but not before Pete saw.
He was like a dog salivating before dinner, on instant alert.
“Archer,” I answered.
“Need you to go to the Boot.” Roger’s voice was calm—too calm. But I could hear him moving. A door opening, the beep of vehicle locks.
Everything in me stilled. The kind of lack of movement that was deadly. But it didn’t stop the panic from raging within me. “What?” I clipped.
“Someone left something on Nova’s car. A note. And a bloody necklace.”
The words were like a series of electric shocks. I had no awareness of moving, but I was suddenly running. I could hear Pete behind me, demanding to know where I was going.
I didn’t give a damn. I could only think about Nova. The woman who’d already endured so much was now being hunted again.
It took two tries for me to start my damn truck, my foot slipping from the brake as I pushed the start button. But I finally got there.
As I flipped on my lights, I didn’t miss Pete pulling out right behind me. Asshole. The last thing I wanted was for him to be around Nova, trying to get a high from her pain—an eerie echo of Travis.
I made the twenty-minute drive in twelve, rolling through stop signs and running red lights.
I knew Nova parked in the back lot, but I also knew that it would likely be littered with emergency response vehicles.
There were already some on the street. Just like there were countless lookie-loos hanging around.
That fact only made me curse as I pulled into a spot half a block down from the Boot. Then I was running again. There was a closed sign on the bar door, and as I passed, I tried to force myself to slow to a jog and hide exactly what I was feeling.
I rounded the building to see half a dozen sheriff’s vehicles and a crime scene van. My gaze tracked over the lot, searching for only one person. It took me mere seconds, but they felt like an eternity.
Nova stood staring at nothing, her arms curled around herself. There were people around her: Wylder, Cora, Fee, a couple of deputies. But no one touched her. No one even got close.
She looked so damn alone.
I kept up my jog, cutting through the people milling around. Wylder’s gaze cut to me as I approached, but he didn’t say a word. I moved into Nova’s space, crouching slightly to make sure I was in her line of sight.
She didn’t react. It was as if she didn’t recognize that I was there at all.
“Phoenix,” I whispered, so softly only she would be able to hear.
Nothing.
I skimmed my knuckles against the back of her hand, careful to shield the movement with my body. Nova jolted slightly, blinking a few times.
“There she is,” I whispered.
She blinked again. “Hey, Boss.”
“Hey.” I didn’t ask if she was okay. It would be the most moronic of questions. She was about as far from okay as you could get. “Anything hurt?”
Those pink-lupine lips pursed, but she shook her head.
“That’s good,” I said quietly. “What do you need?”
It killed me not to hold her. Not to pull her into my goddamned arms and try to shield her from all of this. But I couldn’t.
Nova’s slender throat worked as she tried to swallow. “I need you to find out who the hell is doing this,” she croaked.
Footsteps pounded behind me. “What the fuck happened?” Pete snarled. “You leave me in the dust with no explanation. You’d better believe I’m gonna tell Sherri about that shit. Tell me what the hell is going on.”
I whirled on Pete, letting the fury blaze through me, knowing he could see all of it. “Get the fuck back. You wanna know what’s going on? You talk to a goddamned deputy. But right now, you show a little respect. Decorum. Not that you’ve done that a day in your life.”
His jaw went slack, but he quickly snapped it shut, rage burning through his brown eyes.
Still, he stalked away and over to the obvious crime scene.
I could see the woman I’d met at the campsite, Livie, working the scene.
She marked a couple of spots around Nova’s car and was currently dusting the hood and window for fingerprints.
My back molars ground together, a spark of pain shooting through my jaw. I forced myself to turn back around.
Wylder’s impassive stare greeted me. “Well, that’s one way to deal with it.”
Fiona started clapping. “I think it was just the right way. Pete’s always been a d-bag.”
Cora’s gaze flicked to Nova, worry creasing her brow. “Do you want to go inside?”
Nova shook her head, sending those long tendrils of hair swirling around her. “No. I want to stay here.”
I wanted to take her home. I wanted her safe. I could get Wylder to do that, but sending her with my brother felt like ripping off a limb.
A throat cleared, and I glanced over to see Roger.
“Can I get a minute, Kol?”
My gaze returned to Nova, searching.
“Go,” she said softly. “I’ve been through way worse than this.”
That fact killed something in me. Still, I listened and stepped aside with Roger.
He didn’t start speaking until we were out of earshot of everyone—not just Nova, but his people, too. “At first glance, the necklace looks like the one Heidi Ingram wore every day.”
I let a slew of curses fly at that. “Keep going.”
“Note, written in boxy black lettering, said, ‘It’s not over.’”
All the blood drained from my head as I struggled for composure. There were only two options now. Copycat or Travis wasn’t as dead as we all thought. Both made bile churn in my gut. But something else flagged in my memory. “It’s not the first note.”
Roger’s spine snapped straight. “What are you talking about?”
“Someone left news articles and a note on Nova’s car when she was mountain biking with Mav. She thought it was the reporter in town, but Mav wasn’t so sure, so he bagged it.”
“Gonna need that for processing,” Roger gritted out, his annoyance clear.
“I’ll get it to you.”
“What did the note say?”
“‘Never forget.’”
It was Roger’s turn to curse. “This isn’t fuckin’ good.”
“No, it’s not.” My gaze moved over the crowd in the parking lot: the people working, the onlookers. I tried to take stock of any faces that shouldn’t be there, but there were too many. “Ask Livie to take some shots of the crowd. Just in case.”
“You’re thinking copycat,” Roger surmised.
I scrubbed a hand over my stubble. “I’d take that over Travis still being alive. Wouldn’t you?”
Something streaked across Roger’s expression. Pain? Guilt? I wasn’t sure. But having your best friend turn out to be a serial killer had to mess with your head. Probably in a similar way to finding out your father was one.
“Something else,” Roger said, his voice tight.
“What?”
“You gotta watch your back with Pete and play that more careful. He was over there cursing your name and all but plotting his revenge.” Roger’s gaze locked with mine. “Said you’re too close to the vic and he could get you fired for it.”
Fire and ice battled in my veins, but I locked everything down—something I was so damn good at.
I pulled on a mask of nothingness and shoved away everything I was feeling.
I knew I’d been reckless, letting my protectiveness of Nova show, letting myself get too close to her.
But I would get fired before I let him anywhere near her.