Page 48 of Nora
“The power of many,” Nora murmured. Since graduating from St. Josue, each of them had worked as solo intelligence agents. But in the past year, they’d had the opportunity to work as a team. It had been a new experience for all of them, but Cyn was right—they worked well together. Not a big surprise, given their years of friendship, but a surprise nonetheless.
“What are your plans now?” Cyn asked.
“I’m going to review the footage from the cameras Franklin had installed downstairs. There hasn’t been another murder, but I want to see if I can start to get a feel for people’s patterns. After that, I’m going to review the social media sites you sent me.”
“And when will you sleep?”
Nora snorted. “Coming from you, that’s rich. I’ll sleep a little tonight, then try to catch up tomorrow night.” Nora couldn’t quite make out her friend’s reply, but she was pretty sure Cyn was cursing her uncle for sending Nora to investigate alone. Her friends were helping, but they couldn’t physically be with her, which is what Cyn would have preferred.
Letting the comment slide, they ended the call, and Nora climbed into bed with her computer. She was just getting comfortable when someone knocked on her door. She’d known Lucian would come and had left it unlocked. “Come in,” she called.
Lucian stepped into the room and paused. Nora gestured toward the chair at her desk. He eyed it, then shook his head and walked to the window. “I won’t stay long. I just wanted to know what Cyn had to say.”
As succinctly as possible, she relayed their conversation. As she did, Lucian kept his attention focused outside.
“Is there anything I can help with?” he asked once she’d finished.
“No,” she said. “I’m just going to spend some time analyzing the language of the posts to see if I can pick up any patterns. Cyn is looking for similar sites in Norway and Greece.”
“You think you might be able to figure out who will be his first target at those locations?”
“Hopefully it won’t come to that. Hopefully, it stops here. But if not, then yes,” she replied. Lucian remained at the window. “Is there something out there I should know about?” she asked.
He jerked his head around and met her gaze. Then his eyes dropped to her clothes before he looked away again. Her pajamas might be silk, but with the long sleeves of the button-down top, they were hardly sexy. Or maybe he was uncomfortable because she was in bed. She assumed he’d had sex in the years since Alessandra’s death. But there was something oddly cozy and intimate about their current positions. It didn’t bother her, but it looked as if it affected him.
“Well?” she asked.
“Well?” he repeated, confused. At least he turned around again.
“Is there something out there? You’ve been staring outside since you walked in. Or am I making you uncomfortable being in bed?”
It was a little bit of a gamble to ask the question so baldly, but she was genuinely curious. He’d never struck her as a prude—at least he hadn’t been twenty years ago—but something was bothering him, and it was the only thing she could think of.
He crossed his arms over his chest and asked a question rather than answer hers. “Are you really going to go on a hike tomorrow?” She nodded. “With all those people?”
Her brow furrowed. “I was planning on just going with Willa. But I made a mistake in mentioning it downstairs and so, yes, I guess I will be going on a hike with the lot of them. Or whoever can fit in my car.” She paused, remembering a conversation she’d had earlier in the week. “Maybe I should text Angelo and Gerhard as well. They were both telling me how much they like hiking.”
Lucian shook his head. “Angelo, Cencio, and Jean will go to Mass tomorrow. All three are deeply religious. Not sure about Gerhard, though.”
At Lucian’s words, Nora’s mind flashed to the medal taken from Michael Kelly. She needed to find out if something was taken from the other victims as well. If so, it might give her a lead. Or at the very least, if mementos were later found among the killer’s things, it would help with any prosecution.
She held back a sigh. One more thing for her to look into before trying to get some sleep.
She refocused her attention on Lucian. She was about to ask him if he wanted to join them on the hike, but when her eyes met his, the words wouldn’t come. The intensity of his expression held her immobile. She wanted to look away. And yet she didn’t. He didn’t move, not so much as an inch. But something shifted between them. The air, the energy, something. She inhaled, and the silk of her pajamas brushed against her bare skin and the softness of the pillows behind her beckoned her to lean back.
Lucian swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing with the movement.
What was happening? If she didn’t know better, she’d think an attraction had sprung up between them. But that wasn’t possible, was it? They’d known each other for years and while, yes, they’d had that time in Capri, that had been two decades ago. So much had happened since then that they were almost two different people now.
She wanted a family and a partner in her life. Lucian didn’t have a clue what he wanted in his. She wanted someone kind and gentle. Lucian didn’t seem to want anyone at all.
And yet, there was stillsomething.
“Lucian?” she asked, her voice sounding as confused as she felt. There was no reason for something that felt an awful lot like chemistry to bubble up between them. She wanted more from a man than he was willing to give, and they both knew she wouldn’t settle. But if that was the case, why was he looking at her as though he wanted to pull her to him and not let go? Why was she thinking she’d like it if he did?
Under his intense attention, her skin started to prickle. Grasping on to that discomfort, she tore her gaze from his only to realize that her heart was beating as if she’d just run up the three flights of stairs.
“Nora.”
