Page 50 of Nora
“Oh, Jean,” Nora said, placing a hand on his arm. “I am so very sorry to hear that. I know it’s no consolation, but I’m sure she’d be very proud of you.”
Unless, of course, Jean was their murderer. But Nora wouldn’t let a little thing like that get in the way of her empathy.
Jean offered her a sad smile. “Perhaps. I do like to think so. She was a remarkable woman. Not unlike you,” he added.
Lucian stopped his treadmill and stepped off. Grabbing a hand towel, he wiped his face and neck. “Nora?” She looked over, her hands hovering over another dumbbell. “My cousin just texted. She says she has something she wants to talk to us about.” He pointed to his smartwatch. Violetta hadn’t texted him, but he had to get Nora out of the gym. He shouldn’t be interfering with how she was conducting her investigation, but she was exhausted and needed to rest. If only for a little while.
She frowned.
“Everything okay?” Marie asked.
Nora flashed her a smile. “I’m sure it’s fine. My friends and I have an annual big birthday blowout each year, and it’s next weekend. I’m sure that’s what her text was about.”
Lucian didn’t know if that was true or something she’d just made up, but he inclined his head. “She was a bit mysterious, but you know Violetta. She likes her drama.”
“Be nice,” Nora said, grabbing a towel of her own. At least she was walking toward him, though. “Thanks for letting me join you all this afternoon. The hike this morning was lovely, but I’ve been needing to get some time in with the weights.”
The three participants all invited her to join them again. Pausing in the vestibule on their way out, they donned their winter gear, then stepped into the cold. When they were on the path back to the residence hall, she turned and looked up at him.
“Six didn’t text you.” It wasn’t a question, but he shook his head.
“You need to rest. How late were you up last night?”
She didn’t answer his question. “I have an investigation to run, Lucian. If I can figure this thing out, people stop dying. If I don’t, two more people will die. The cost of missing a little sleep is negligible.”
“How late?” he repeated.
They walked in silence for a minute, then finally she huffed in annoyance. “If you really must know—”
“I must.” She glared up at him. It was a new look for her. He kind of liked it.
“I had about two hours of sleep last night.”
He looked down at her and raised a brow.
Her eyes narrowed. “Fine, it was more like an hour. I had a lot to research and analyze.”
He bit back his own huff. That was the crux of the matter. Shedidhave a lot to do. And she had a lot on her shoulders. He understood her point about the lack of sleep being unimportant if it meant she could stop this killer. But if she didn’t take care of herself, then her chances of finding the killer dropped. Fatigue made people sloppy. He didn’t think Nora was there yet, but she was most definitely headed there.
“Why don’t we grab showers and then you can share with me what you found? It might help to have another perspective.” She had Cyn, Violetta, and Devil as well, and he half expected her to point this out and turn him down. Instead, she slowed her walk, then stopped altogether.
A pensive energy flowed off her, and he waited for her to tell him what was on her mind. Finally, she shoved her hands into her pockets and looked up at him. “I’m worried, Lucian. We’re whittling down the suspect list, but it’s still four, maybe five people. The clock starts ticking again tomorrow, and I’m no closer to stopping whoever is doing this.” She pulled her hands from her pockets and crossed her arms. Turning her head, she looked off toward the training ground, barely visible in the late-evening light. “There will be another murder, and I know I won’t be able to stop it. Maybe I’ll figure it out before the third one, but I don’t think I have enough to stop what will happen sometime next week.” She paused. Her cheeks were pink with the cold, and the tip of her nose was turning red. “When I’m on a mission, a real one,” she clarified, “there’s this sort of distance to it. It’s easy to forget that what I do can have life-and-death consequences. But this is different. Someone we know, someone we’ve had dinner with, laughed with, and had a glass of wine with, is killing people in cold blood. It’s uncomfortably intimate, and I can’t figure out how to stop him.”
She was still looking off into the distance, lost in her own thoughts. He didn’t take his eyes off her, though. Her frustration, fear, and even pain had arced between them with every word she’d spoken. He wanted to fix this for her. He wanted to tell her everything would be fine. But he couldn’t. This wasn’t something he could just fix, nor did he know that everything would, in fact, be fine. He did know one thing, though.
“I don’t mean to sound trite, but if another murder happens, it’s not your fault. You aren’t the one out there killing people. You have to remember that. Yes, I know you want to stop him. As do I. But no one is better positioned to stop the next killing than the killer himself. All we can do is follow the leads and do the best we can.”
She continued to stare into the encroaching darkness. Finally, she turned and met his gaze. “I know you’re right, but that doesn’t make it any easier,” she said softly.
His jaw tensed, but he managed a nod. “I know. It doesn’t. I don’t have a way to make this better for you, but Icanget you a glass of wine.” It was a ridiculous leap, but it made her smile.
“I now see the family resemblance. You’d make Six proud,” she said.
“I’m older. I think it’s the other way around. So what do you think?”
She eyed him for another beat, then let out a soft laugh. “Shower first, then wine. Meet in my room in twenty minutes? That will give us an hour before dinner.”
He wasn’t sure of the wisdom of drinking wine in her room with her. His mind tended to go places it shouldn’t whenever he was there. But he’d do it. For her.
