Page 31 of Nora
“I’d take Gerhard out of that group,” Nora said, then explained his bum shoulder. Keeping a man as tall as Michael Kelly in a chokehold would take a fair amount of strength. Something someone with a bad shoulder likely wouldn’t be able to do.
“And my cousin,” Six said. “If you remove those two, you’re down to six suspects.”
“James, the trainer. Craig from the US—although he was on a run this morning, so I don’t think it’s him. Jean from France. Jurgen from Germany. Collin from the UK. And Angelo from Italy,” Nora recited. Her suspect pool had dropped from twelve to six. Not bad for a day’s work.
“I’ll take James and Craig,” Cyn said.
“And I’ll take Collin and Angelo,” Six chimed in.
“Leaving me with Jean and Jurgen,” Devil finished.
“Wait, what?” Nora asked.
Cyn chuckled. “You didn’t think we would let you do this alone.” It wasn’t a question.
“You can focus on their recent movements and get to know them. We’ll do the deep background stuff,” Six said.
“You’re on vacation, Six!” Nora exclaimed.
Ignoring her, Devil interjected, “You’ll also need to focus on the most recent killing. I know you have the preliminary findings, but more tests and reports will come in. I have no doubt you’ll be hearing from Detective Miller again.”
“And I know Lucian is supposed to stay on the list, but let’s just tell Franklin he’s on it to keep him off your back,” Six said. “Luc might be going through some hard times, but he’s solid. If you need someone, he’ll have your back.”
“Or you’ll kill him,” Cyn said.
Six chuckled. “There is that.”
“I don’t need him to watch my back,” Nora insisted. A weird panicky feeling was sinking its claws into her. She tried to push it back. She didn’t want to involve anyone else. She just wanted to stop a killer without damaging the reputation of the NATO program.
“Remember what we promised each other back in January?” Cyn said.
“No one goes alone,” Six said.
“Not while we’re here in the US,” Devil added.
Nora bit back a groan. Her friends were right. While on assignment, they were alone all the time. But after Cyn had a run-in with a knife and a terrorist while on her own, the club had made a promise to one another. If they didn’thave to bealone, they wouldn’t be alone. She couldn’t remember exactly, but she might have even been the one to insist on that agreement.
Which put her in an awkward position. She was already planning to take a walk a little later. She wanted to check out how—or if—someone could have gotten from the training grounds to the murder site. And she’d planned to go alone. Unbidden, her eyes went to her closed door. On the other side, across the hall, and through another door was Lucian.
“He can’t be with me all the time,” Nora pointed out. “But if I need someone, I’ll ask.” Maybe. But that was as far as she’d go to appease her friends.
“Nora,” Cyn warned.
“He’s a trainer, Cyn,” Nora said, cutting her off. “He can’t just leave like I can.” Not entirely true, but she’d go with it. She was required to be on-site during all the same sessions he was teaching. But, like her, nothing prevented him from leaving when a session wasn’t taking place.
“Promise us, Nora,” Six insisted.
“I promise that if I need someone and he’s available, I will ask.”
“Not exactly the promise I was looking for,” muttered Six.
Nora chose to remain silent.
“I’ll start on this tonight,” Cyn said. “I also want to look into Michael Kelly. You said you didn’t think the killer would have just happened along that trail at the time Michael Kelly was running through?”
“I did,” Nora confirmed. “I think the killer must have known beforehand that he, or someone like him, would be there.”
“And the most likely way that could have happened is through chat boards focused on running or something like that,” Cyn said. That was what Nora had hinted at with Detective Miller. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing having her friends help out.
