Page 76 of Little Child Gone

“He was breathing when he went into the water,” Miller said through clenched teeth.

“Don’t worry, there wasn’t anything left up here, if you know what I mean.” Atwood pointed to his own head. “Swollen to the size of a melon. He was barely breathing, too.”

Nikki almost vomited in disgust.

Miller kept talking. “I’m not asking the DA for shit,” he said. “Because you planned this.”

“My client did no such thing.”

“He basically just told us.” Miller pointed to the camera in the corner. “Want me to play the part about parking out of sight from any cameras back to you, Stephanie?”

“No.” Stephanie stood up and looked down her nose at Rodney Atwood. “I’m sorry, I’m no longer able to represent you.” She looked at Nikki and mouthed “you’re welcome.”

Fuming, Nikki followed her out of the room and grabbed Stephanie’s skinny arm. “Jared said you were the one who tipped him off,” Nikki lied, confident she was right. “Somehow, you found Bianca’s driver’s license or other form of identity and let Jared know where she and her children were so that he could kill them.”

Stephanie opened her mouth to retort but Nikki held up her hand. “Don’t speak. And don’t worry. I’m not going to charge you. I don’t have anything but his word, and Jared is dead. I just wanted to make sure you spend every day of your life knowing that I know exactly who you are. I’ll know it every time I see your face in court. So will the sheriff and Agent Wilson. You’re no longer invincible, Stephanie.”

Nikki left the woman standing in the hallway, shell-shocked. She wished arresting Stephanie was an option, but they didn’t have the physical evidence, only Brandon Kelly’s word against hers that she knew about Ms. Smith being in the will. Stephanie would chew them up and spit them out in court. At least she’d been taken down a peg. She knew her bad deeds were on Nikki’s radar.

Her phone vibrated with a text message. Her heart skipped a beat as she realized it was from Chen. Her finger trembled as she unlocked her phone to read the message, praying that Eli and his family had a happy ending.

Eli safe, suspect in custody.

EPILOGUE

THREE WEEKS LATER

Nikki knocked on the door of Matt Kline’s Stillwater home. He’d moved into the old Hendrickson house with Luke to start the renovations. Matt suggested Christy and her kids take his old place while they looked for a new home in the area.

Elena opened the door wearing an apron covered with flowers. Penny squeezed between Elena and the doorframe.

“Hi, Agent Hunt. We’re making cookies for Mom.”

Elena ushered Nikki into the house. Christy was sitting in the living room, her feet propped up in the reclining chair.

“How are you feeling?” Nikki asked.

“Tired, but better,” she said. “The kids are at school. They’ll be sad they missed you.”

“I know,” Nikki said. “I’ve got to testify on another case this afternoon or I would have come later.” She glanced in the kitchen where Elena had retreated with Penny to finish her cookies. “How’s it going with her?”

“It’s the strangest thing,” Christy said. “I just feel like I’ve known her forever. I’m so lucky it worked out this way, selfish as it sounds.”

“It’s not selfish,” Nikki said. “You two have a bond most can’t imagine. You are seeing the therapist together, right? Obviously, you all need individual as well, but I think family therapy will help because there’s a lot to sort out.”

“Penny saw Caden push Jared in.” Christy’s whisper sent a shock wave through Nikki. “Or she thinks he might have, because he was running to the dock and then Jared fell. I told her that Agent Wilson saw it differently but…”

“He said Jared slipped in the official report.” Nikki hadn’t spoken with Liam about it since he filed the report. She told Garcia her back had been turned, but Agent Wilson had his weapon aimed at Jared in case he tried to stop them from going into the woods. If Garcia suspected anything, he wasn’t questioning it. “It was dark and Penny was traumatized. Her eyes played tricks on her.”

She could tell Christy didn’t believe her. “Thank you, Agent Hunt. And thank Agent Wilson.”

“Just doing our jobs,” Nikki answered.

“Caden said he heard you talking to Jared, that you were willing to let him go and possibly get in trouble for doing so, in order to save Penny.”

If Caden had been watching, that meant he’d been waiting for the right moment. Nikki couldn’t believe how at peace she was with Jared’s demise. Years of seeing victimized women and children had robbed any empathy she had for someone like him.

Penny ran into the room with a chocolate chip cookie on a napkin. “It’s hot and gooey.” She giggled.

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