Page 19 of Nora
“It was young Andrew you wanted to spend time with, then?”
Nora bit back a sigh. “Not that it’s any of your business, but if I wanted to spend time with Andrew, I wouldn’t need a trip to the gym as an excuse. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an errand I need to run.” Nora peeled off from the group and headed around the building. She glanced back as she reached the corner. Sure enough, Lucian was standing, arms crossed, snow drifting and swirling around him, watching her.
Her eyes caught his. A sharp stab ofsomethinglanced through her. Anger radiated from him as he stared. A deep, resentful sort of anger. She had no idea why it was directed at her. They hadn’t been getting along these past three days, but his irritation with her had been more of a general sort. What she saw now was altogether different.
Pulling her eyes from his, she continued to the parking lot. Climbing into her Land Cruiser, she turned it on and flicked the heat to high as she removed her jacket. Once the car was warmer than a refrigerator, she backed out and drove away. She had a bar—or two—to check out, and Lucian was a big boy; he could deal with his own issues.
Waving to Andrew as she exited through the gate, she turned left and headed to the first place he and the running crew had mentioned. It was the closest to the grounds, but Nora didn’t think it would be the participants’ first choice of places to hang out. It was a fairly down-market joint and not in the appealing dive bar kind of way. Andrew had said it resembled an old pizza parlor with tile floors, laminate tables, and cheap metal chairs. Located in a nearby strip mall, he and his friends only went there when they wanted a quick, cheap beer.
Not exactly the kind of place to meet a potential murder victim.
Of course, she was assuming that the murderer was actually meeting his or her victims before singling them out. It was entirely possible the killer was targeting them randomly.
As she pulled into the parking lot of the mall, Nora considered the option that the killings were all random. At first glance, it made more sense than anything planned. In each of the three locations, none of the three victims had any ties to one another. And many hadn’t ever set foot in any of the bars the participants frequented during the session. The disparate nature of the victimsseemedrandom. But in the randomness…well, Nora had to wonder if there was a pattern she just wasn’t seeing. The crimes were almosttoorandom to be arbitrary.
The more she mulled it over, the stronger she felt that there was some tie among the victims. Or between the victims and the killer. There was a reason the killer selected each of them. She just hadn’t found that reason yet.
She finally spotted the bar and agreed instantly with Andrew’s description. It looked like every other storefront in the 1970s-built strip mall. It had a glass front with a swinging door, and the windows were tinted with a laminate film. In the upper right corner, a neon “Open” sign blinked.
Not bothering to go in, she pulled around the back of the mall to see if there was a spot that screamed “potential murder site.” She was approaching the area behind the bar when her phone rang. Glancing at the screen, she frowned.
“Franklin,” she said after connecting the call.
“You’re already out.”
“I am. I’m scoping out the local bars the participants might visit.”
“A body was found late this morning. I’ll send you the coordinates.”
At the stark statement, Nora’s mind blanked for a split second. Then, like a dam breaking, questions started pouring through her mind. When? How? Who had left the building? But first things first.
“Since you’re calling me, I assume it’s one of ours?” she asked.
“A man was stabbed in the right side of his torso, then left to die.”
Yes, definitely one of theirs. “When?”
“The body was discovered thirty minutes ago. You’ll have to talk to the ME to find out time of death. Detective Ben Miller is expecting you.”
“What’s my story?”
“That you’re a government employee investigating a string of murders. It isn’t far from the truth. You are on contract with NATO, and youareinvestigating the crimes.”
Nora nearly rolled her eyes. Franklin was reaching, but she could go with it. “Roger that,” she said.
“Keep me informed,” he ordered. Then, not bothering to say goodbye, he hung up.
Pulling to a stop beside a chain-link fence separating the back of the mall from an adjacent field, Nora transferred the coordinates he’d sent to her GPS. When the map popped up with a recommended route, she pulled away and followed the alley to the main road.
Taking the road north for about three miles, she then made a left and began winding west. If she had her bearings right, she’d pass through one of the small towns, and then a few miles past that would be the monastery on the south side of the road.
Her gaze skated to the clock. The participants had a little over an hour for lunch, giving her forty-five minutes at the scene before she’d need to leave. She had a duty to be on-site during all the training sessions, but she also didn’t want to risk Lucian’s notice. He already suspected something. If she started showing up late—or not at all—there was no telling what he’d do.
As she made her way west, snow hit her windshield with tiny little pings. It wasn’t falling fast enough to stick, though, and navigating the unfamiliar roads was easily done. Ten minutes after leaving the mall, she pulled into a parking lot filled with police and emergency vehicles.
After slipping on her jacket, gloves, and hat, she exited the car and headed toward a young officer standing at the head of a trail. Pulling her driver’s license from her pocket, she held it out as she approached.
“I’m here to meet Detective Ben Miller,” she said as the woman reached to take her ID. The officer scrutinized the document, then handed it back before using the communication device on her shoulder to call it in. A few seconds later, she stepped to the side.
