Chapter Eleven
Liam had arranged to meet Nina at the end of her shift to have dinner. He was going to suggest checking out a bar with live music and dancing. If anyone deserved to cut loose a little, it was her.
But he wasn’t prepared for how agitated she appeared when she rushed up to him. “What’s wrong?” he asked, taking in her flushed cheeks and distressed expression.
“The black-helmeted man came right up to me this morning at the terrain park,” she said. “It was early and there weren’t many people around. He blocked my way and refused to move.”
He touched her shoulder, as much to reassure himself as to offer her comfort. “Are you okay? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
“He didn’t touch me. And he didn’t say anything. He just stared.” She shuddered. “I’m sure it was Nicholson. He had an air of such…malice.”
“What did you do?” Liam asked.
“I called for help on my radio. Renee and Connor said they’d be right over. But the man left before they arrived.” She shook her head. “I should have done something to keep him there. Instead, I just let him go.”
“He could have been armed,” Liam said. “There was nothing you could do.”
“Connor radioed for the lift techs and patrollers to be on the lookout for the guy, but it’s like he disappeared.”
“Do you think it could have been Derek?” he asked.
If the question surprised her, she gave no indication. “I don’t think so. I would have recognized him.”
“Would you? In a different context like that?”
“I’m sure it was Nicholson.”
“Then at least we know he’s still here,” Liam said. “We’ll talk to Doug tomorrow about doing a bigger search for him.”
“I’m not waiting until tomorrow,” she said. “I’m going to start searching for him tonight.”
Liam’s first instinct was to protest. But he waited to hear her out. “What are you going to do?”
“Raz has a friend who works in the resort offices. She offered to search the database of pass holders and condo and hotel rentals for Nicholson’s name.”
“Why didn’t we think of that before? Why didn’t Doug or Marlena think of it?”
“It may not work. There’s no guarantee he’s using his real name.”
“Fake IDs are expensive, and he just got out of prison,” Liam said. “And there’s no law against him coming here, as long as he stays away from you. Which he hasn’t.”
“I have to go back to my place, change and drop off Sky,” she said. “I promised I’d meet Raz at six.”
“I’d like to come, too,” he said.
“I was counting on it. You can come to the house with me, and Angel can keep Sky company while we’re gone.”
And later maybe he’d keep her company.
At her condo, he walked the dogs while Nina showered and changed.
He studied the neighboring houses, searching for anyone who fit Nicholson’s description.
Liam reasoned he would want to be as close to Nina as possible.
And staying in her neighborhood would make it easier for her stalker to keep track of her comings and goings.
But none of the people he saw resembled Aaron Nicholson. When he returned to Nina’s house, she was dressed and had a flat cardboard box set out on the coffee table. “What’s that?” he asked.
“In exchange for searching the database, Raz’s friend wants to see my silver medal.” She lifted the top from the box to reveal a bright silver medal on a nest of velvet within. She lifted the medal and handed it to him. “You’ve seen it before,” she reminded him.
Yes, he had seen the medal, but he had forgotten how beautiful it was.
On the surface of the cookie-sized medal, five concentric rings surrounded a concave center section engraved with the image of the Olympic rings.
Beautiful designs reminiscent of Asian art were engraved on each of the outer rings.
A little more than two inches in diameter, and less than an eighth inch thick, the medal still felt substantial.
The whole thing was suspended from a wide red ribbon.
He returned the medal to Nina, who replaced it in the box. “That should impress her,” he said.
“It still impresses me,” she said. She tucked the box into a leather tote, then reached for her coat. “Come on. I don’t want to keep them waiting.”
Raz was waiting for them outside the resort offices—the same building were Doug and Marlena worked. Liam studied the six-story building. Most of the windows were dark, and the lobby when they entered was silent.
“My friend’s name is Stevie,” Raz said as she led them to the elevators. “She’s really excited about meeting you.”
The front door opened, and they turned to see who had arrived. Renee ran up to join them. “What are you doing here?” Raz asked.
“I just thought I’d come along. Say hello to Stevie.”
Raz frowned. “Okay.”
The elevator opened and the four of them walked into the car. “Did you really bring your medal?” Renee asked.
“I did,” Nina said.
The elevator opened on the third floor and they trooped out. Raz led them past rows of silent computers, headsets draped over the backs of chairs or resting on desks. “Stevie is way in the back,” she said. She raised her voice. “Hey, Stevie, it’s just me.”
A tall, broad-shouldered woman with short blond hair and an appealing heart-shaped face waved at them from over a cubicle wall.
“I could hear you clomping your way back here as soon as you stepped off the elevator,” she said.
“Nobody else walks like you, Raz.” Her gaze flickered to Renee.
“Hello, Renee. Raz, I didn’t know you were bringing a party with you. ”
Liam stepped forward and offered his hand. “I’m Liam. Nina’s friend. Just think of me as the bodyguard.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh, for the medal, right?”
“Something like that.”
“Can I see it?” Stevie asked.
Nina opened her purse and pulled out the box and handed it to Stevie. Stevie weighed the box in her hand. “Not as heavy as I thought it would be.”
“Open it already,” Renee said.
Stevie lifted the lid. “Ohhhh.” She looked to Nina. “Can I touch it?”
“Go ahead,” Nina said. “You can try it on if you like.”
Stevie lifted the medal from the box. Light sparked off the gleaming surface. “Is it really made of silver?” she asked.
“It is,” Nina said. “The bronze medal is mostly nickel, and the gold medal is silver with a thin coating of gold. But this one is a hundred percent silver.”
Stevie held the medal in the palm of her hand and admired it, then carefully placed it back in the box. “If I owned something like that I’d want to wear every day,” she said. “I’d want everyone to know what I’d done.”
“I’d worry about losing it,” Raz said. “Because you know I would.”
“You probably would,” Stevie agreed. She handed the box back to Nina.
“You two are welcome to look, too.” Nina passed the box to Raz. Renee moved in close to watch as Raz opened the box. Nina turned to Stevie. “About that search.”
“No problem.” Stevie sat in a rolling chair and spun around to face a monitor. “What’s the name of the guy you’re looking for?”
“Aaron Nicholson.” Nina moved over to stand behind Stevie’s chair.
“Spell that for me,” Stevie said.
Nina did so, and watched the cursor blink on the screen, followed shortly by “Not Found.”
“So maybe he’s not using his real name,” Stevie said. “Let’s try Nichels. Or Nichols. Or maybe he’s going by Nick Aaron.”
She conducted each of these searches. Nichols turned up an Adam Nichols, and Nina’s heart beat faster.
“Says here he rented a condo for six people,” Stevie said.
“They purchased lift tickets, too—four adults and two children. Two of the adults are seniors. Looks like a family group.” She glanced up at Nina.
“Unless your guy has a boatload of money to throw around and is going to all kinds of trouble to disguise what he’s up to, I’m thinking this isn’t him. ”
“I think you’re right,” Nina said.
“Any other names you want to try?” Stevie asked.
“Try the last name Rose,” Liam said.
Stevie shaped her mouth into an O. “That would be devious.” She typed in the name, then sagged against the back of the chair. “Nada. I’m sorry.”
“Thank you for trying,” Nina said.
“The lifties are already on alert, trying to spot this guy,” Raz said. “If they do, at least then we’ll know what name he’s using, since it will be right on the lift ticket. That could help us find out where he’s staying.”
“Thanks again.” Nina took the medal in its box from Renee and returned it to her bag. “We’d better go, before someone wonders why we’re all up here.”
“I was so sure this was going to work,” Raz said as they headed toward the elevator.
“It was a good idea,” Nina said. “But it makes sense Nicholson would use an alias. He obviously knows how to hide.”
“He’s getting bolder, coming up to you in broad daylight the way he did this morning,” Renee said. “Maybe that means he’ll make a mistake and we’ll catch him.”
Or maybe it means he’s going to escalate to violence, Liam thought, but he kept the idea to himself.
Outside again, Raz and Renee headed off in one direction, Nina and Liam toward her car, parked in the garage across from the office tower. He put his arm around her shoulders. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out.”
“I knew it was a long shot,” she said. She fished her keys from her bag. “It was worth a shot. And hey, I got to take my medal out of the safe and adm—”
A shout and a flash of blinding light silenced her. Liam threw himself on her and pushed her to the ground, then lay atop her, waiting for the worst. The light faded, leaving his vision grayed at the edges, and running footsteps retreated through the garage.
“I think they’re gone,” Nina said, her voice strained.
He rolled off of her. “I didn’t mean to crush you,” he said.
“It’s okay.” She sat, then struggled to her feet.
He rose also. “What happened?” he asked.
“I think it was a camera flash,” she said. “A really bright one.”
“You mean, like, paparazzi?” he asked.
She frowned. “I don’t know why they’d be interested in me. And they don’t usually take just one photo if they can get away with it.” She checked her bag. “My medal is still here, so it wasn’t a thief.”
“Do you think it was Nicholson?”