Extreme Danger (McClouds & Friends #5)(128)

The memory of that squat, malevolent-looking vid cam behind the pink bunny on the shelf haunted her. Her stomach cramped with fear.

She tried to push away nightmare images of Carrie and Nick, in the trunk of a car, speeding off to some horrible fate. Leaving her hanging, obsessively punching the buttons on her phone.

Oh, stop. Nick could look out for himself. He’d probably just left his phone in the car. She hoped he either came back soon or got in touch soon, because she had a date with Josh in less than an hour to drive down to Olympia to look for Carrie. Nick would be extremely unhappy with her if she went off on a road trip without telling him.

She tried to stretch out on the bed, watch cable TV, but she was too jittery, too restless. She kept bounding up again.

The door lock clicked. She sprang a foot into the air, and lunged towards Nick as he walked in, throwing her arms around him.

“Oh, thank God,” she said. “You weren’t answering your phone!”

He felt oddly stiff in her arms for a second, but then his arms circled her. His nose nuzzled the top of her head. “Sorry,” he said. His voice sounded exhausted. “Got sidetracked. Left the thing in the truck.”

“Don’t do that to me,” she scolded, squeezing him again.

He sat down heavily onto the bed. She sat down next to him, and twined her arm through his. “So?” she prompted. “What happened? Did you see Diana Evans?”

“Yes,” he said dully, rubbing his face. “Sort of. She was dead. Someone strangled her. Yesterday, from the looks of it.”

A chilling wave of cold pumped through Becca’s body. “Oh, my God,” she whispered. “That’s horrible. That poor woman.”

He shrugged. “Her own goddamn fault. Getting herself mixed up with that kind of people. She probably deserved it.”

“Maybe so,” Becca faltered. “But she was definitely regretting it.”

“She was a day late and a dollar short.”

She was taken aback by the stony, cold tone of his voice. Her stomach fluttered uneasily at the look on his face. Maybe she was reading too much into it, but his face reminded her of that awful expression he’d had when they were on the island.

And when Tam had tormented him with the ghosts of his past.

She lifted his hand to her lips and kissed it. Nick was a great deal more sensitive than he let on. Probably a lot more sensitive than he even knew himself. It was probably seeing Diana Evans’s body that had disturbed him so deeply. It would have done the same for her.

“Did you learn anything else?” she asked.

“The house was tossed,” he said. “It looked like a standard B&E gone bad. Someone looking for quick drug money, and she was unlucky enough to be home. An unfortunate urban statistic.”

“I see,” she murmured. “You didn’t, um, contact Mathes, then?”

He looked directly into her eyes. “Seeing the dead lady was the sum total of my investigative accomplishments for the day, sweetheart.”

She leaned forward, pulled his head down to hers and kissed him. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “That must have been hard.”

“I’m handling it,” he said. “Enough about me. Let’s talk about you. Tell me about your day, babe.”

Mr. Super Cool to the last. She rubbed his hand against her cheek. “Well, one good thing is that I finally got in touch with Josh.”

“That’s good news. Where was he?”

“Shacked up,” she said ruefully. “With this beautiful girl named Nadia. He wants to move in with her. I have my doubts, but whatever. He’ll have to figure it out the hard way. That’s why he didn’t call. He’s been rolling around in bed for the past thirty-six hours.”

“Lucky boy,” he said. “Anything from your sister?”

“Not yet,” she said glumly. “In fact, Joshie and I are driving down to Olympia this afternoon to look for her.”

“Are you now.” His voice was cool, strangely distant.

It made her feel flustered. “Um, you could come with us, if you like,” she said. “But I assumed…you would probably want to concentrate on whatever’s happening up here. Your investigation and all. Since I’ll be with my brother, of course. I won’t be all alone.”

“Is that what you assumed?” He stroked the palm of her hand with his forefinger, without meeting her eyes. “So you talked to your brother on the phone. What else did you do? Give me a blow by blow.”

“Well, I went to my apartment. Oh, yes, and I wanted to tell you about this—I guess they, uh…they’ve found me.”

“What?” His eyes fastened onto hers, suddenly intent. “What do you mean, found you?”

“I found a video camera,” she confessed. “On the shelf. Behind the stuffed animals.” She braced herself for an explosion.

It didn’t come. He just stared at her, his eyes thoughtful and shuttered. “No shit,” he said softly. “A vid cam. How about that.”

“I was really careful afterwards to make sure I wasn’t being followed,” she offered. “And when I was at the rental place, I think I lost anyone who might have been tailing me when I got the cab.”

“Good thinking,” he said. “You’re getting slick at this stuff, Becca.”