Page 57 of Nora
“If they have a good relationship with the Church, do you think they’d kill people associated with it?”
“Hard to know,” Nora responded. “Like you said, they appear devout. But serial killers tend to be excellent liars, so who knows what’s really going on in their minds.”
“What about the other two suspects?” Sabina asked. Nora had sent her the files Franklin provided so she knew all the players.
“Jurgen and Collin,” she said. “I don’t know much about Jurgen. He tended to hang out with Jonah—the player of the group—and Collin—the resident misogynist. But that seems to have changed a little this session. He’s been spending time with Sophie. They aren’t being overt about it, but I’ve seen them sneaking into each other’s rooms. They are a bit of an odd couple. Jurgen is pretty easygoing, but Sophie isn’t the most pleasant of people. Although to be fair, I haven’t spent as much time with the women because we ruled them out early on. Maybe she’s a nicer person if I got to know her.”
“Or maybe Jurgen clicks with her in ways we can’t and won’t understand,” Sabina said. That was true, too. What and who people were attracted to was very specific to an individual.
“That is possible, too,” Nora agreed.
A beat passed, then Sabina asked, “What now?”
Nora huffed a laugh. “Honestly, I don’t know. Working for the Directorate and investigating murder is so different. I know how to talk to people and how to gather and analyze intel. I’m just not sure what to do with it after that. Or if there is something else I should be doing.”
“Talk to Chad. Or Joe, for that matter. They’ve both investigated murders.”
“Joe’s been working a bit with Cyn, but he’s been caught up in all sorts of police chief stuff—trainings and that sort of thing. I’ll see him this weekend, though, so will ask. I hadn’t thought to ask Chad.”
“He finished an assignment yesterday. I saw him in the office today debriefing Stella and Hunter. Call him tomorrow if you’re still stumped.”
It wasn’t a bad idea. Prior to joining the security firm he and Sabina worked at, Chad Warwick had been an FBI agent. “I may do that,” she said. They chatted for a few minutes about inconsequential things, then ended the call. Nora eyed the electronic file Sabina had sent. Before opening it, she decided to check on the whereabouts of Jurgen, Sophie, Angelo, and Jean.
Clicking on the app that allowed her to see the camera feeds on the first floor, she saw Sophie and Jurgen still playing pool. Without anyone else around, they weren’t shy with their affection, and she had to admit, they looked kind of sweet together. Angelo and Jean were nowhere to be seen, and she rewound the footage to locate them. Not long after she’d left, they finished their game of pinochle and headed to bed. There’d been no other movement in the hall since.
Picking up her phone again, she texted the club a quick update on Sabina’s findings. She also asked them to focus on Church connections as they dug into Collin, Jurgen, Angelo, and Jean’s lives. Each sent a reply confirming the new direction. She started to put her phone down, then, on impulse, texted Lucian.
“How are things going?”
“Why, are you okay?”
She stared at the message.“I’m fine. In my room. Was just wondering how your watch is going?”
Several seconds passed before she saw the little bubbles pop up.“I’m much too old to do this more than one night a week,”he wrote, making her smile.
“You’re notthatold.”
“Maybe not chronologically. But four folks are out dancing, Willa is playing darts with Cencio and it’s a heated game. Jonah walked a woman to her car and hasn’t come back. No need to guess what’s probably happening in the back seat. Yet another thing I’m too old for. The back seat location, not the sex,”he clarified after a beat.
She laughed but didn’t touch that comment.“And Collin?”
“Chatting up the waitress. It won’t do him any good, though. She flirts because it leads to tips, not because he’s anything special. He won’t be able to fathom that reality.”No, he wouldn’t. Collin didn’t have that much self-awareness.
“Any chance he has any issues or connections to the church? The Catholic Church?”As soon as she hit Send she regretted the text. Who knew who might be looking over his shoulder?
“I don’t know. Want me to find out?”
With a shake of her head, she wrote back.“No, the club will look into it. I was just wondering if you’d heard anything casually.”
When he didn’t respond right away, she let her attention drift back to her computer. Sophie and Jurgen were headed to bed. Though to separate rooms. A few minutes later, they met back in the hallway with their dogs and headed out the side door. A last bathroom run for Dieter and Abel before retiring for the night.
“I have some files to review. Have a good rest of your evening and I’ll see you in the morning,”she wrote. It was an awkward way to end the conversation. But since Lucian hadn’t responded to her prior message, she figured she’d just end the string.
“I’ll text you when I get back. If you’re still awake I’ll stop by, and you can tell me about your church question.”
She wasn’t sure about the wisdom of meeting in her room again. Something happened when they were in this space together, and she hadn’t processed quite what it was—or what, if anything, it meant—yet. Lucian recognized it as well. What he thought of it, she hadn’t a clue. Nor did she even know what “it” was. Attraction, yes. But it had felt more primal than that. Despite their rocky start, she found that she liked being with him. Maybe a little too much. And while Lucianwasn’tEmil—not even close—his life was still in Italy, while hers was in the US. Even if she’d been inclined to explore the attraction with Lucian—which she wasn’t sure she was—whatever it was between them was doomed from the start. It wasn’t quite that dramatic. But there was no getting around the fact that they lived thousands of miles apart.
Still, he was helping her, and it was nice to have a sounding board. She could ignore the interest unfurling inside her and focus on work.“Sounds good,”she wrote.“I’ll probably be up for another couple of hours.”
