Page 64 of Nora
“They showed Jurgen going to Sophie’s room around midnight, but he came out an hour later and went back to his own room. And no, I have no idea what is up with that.”He could almost hear her smile as she wrote that. It was odd…if they really were lovers, and they appeared to be, why not stay at least most of the night? He had zero plans to leave Nora’s bed before he absolutely had to.
“How did he get out?”
“All the rooms have big egress windows, and all are on the ground floor. I took a look around the outside of the building, and it wouldn’t be hard to use those. The ground is too frozen for footprints right now. I guess that’s the good news about the storm. Once snow is on the ground, it will be harder to hide any tracks.”
He wasn’t looking forward to the big storm, but if it helped them capture a killer, he’d overlook the inconvenience. And the cold.
“I suppose it’s good that it’s coming before week three starts, then. Will we have any problems getting back here from Cos Cob?”
“It will be slow going, but so long as it doesn’t turn into an ice storm, we’ll be fine.”He had to trust her on this. It snowed in Italy, especially up north. But where he lived, it was never more than a dusting, if that.
“I’ve got Jean and Jurgen in my group this morning. I’ll talk to both,”he wrote.
The bubbles appeared, then disappeared, then reappeared again. She was hesitating, although he didn’t know why. Finally, a message came through.“I know you know how to get information from people subtly, but please be careful.”
Once again, there it was. He’d bet his best breeding dog that she’d started to type out a message telling him he didn’t need to help her. Something about her being the one assigned to this investigation and that he should just focus on the dogs. But instead, she’d leaned into the idea of his help, into him.
“I have a lot to look forward to these days. I don’t plan on doing anything that will jeopardize that,”he wrote back.
She sent an eye-roll emoji, but then followed it up with a message.“I certainly hope not. Because if you do, it will definitely make my nights less fun, too.”
Heat shot through him. He glanced up to see the ropes course coming into view. Taking a deep breath of the icy air, he willed his body to stand down. Cencio and Jurgen were already eyeing the structure, and Anne and Jonah were chatting. Jean was alone, his hand on his dog’s head, talking to his K9 companion. None of the skills they’d practice today were new, but the sequence of them was. Jean looked to be giving either himself or Adela, his dog, a pep talk.
“Hold that thought for tonight. I’m off to make the participants walk the plank.”And with that, he ended the conversation and slipped his phone back into his pocket.
“All right, everyone,” he called. When all five people had their eyes on him, he gestured to the extensive course. One that would have them traipsing narrow bridges, climbing ropes (with the dogs attached by harness to their handlers), and rappelling down trees. He smiled at the group. “Who’s first?”
* * *
“So Collin is out,” Cyn said. Nora was in a conference call with Six, Devil, and Cyn. She’d updated them on the events of the night before, and now they were discussing possible next steps.
“Given that he was with Lucian when I followed the killer, yes, Collin is out,” Nora said. Then instantly felt bad. “I didn’t mean that to come out the way it did, Cyn, sorry.”
Cyn made a “pfft” sound. “You had almost no sleep last night. You’re entitled to be testy.” She’d had even less sleep than Cyn imagined, but she wasn’t going to go into that.
“Still, it was uncalled for,” she said.
“What about Jurgen?” Devil asked. Nora repeated what she’d told Lucian about him visiting Sophie’s room but not staying.
“So if the killer is using a window to get out, it could still be Jurgen,” Devil said.
“Or Jean or Angelo,” Six added.
“I can call the abbot that Jurgen befriended. Might be interesting to hear his thoughts on the soldier,” Cyn suggested. “Angelo and Jean are both religious, but he’s the only one we know of with a specific connection to someone in the Church.”
Nora considered the offer for a moment. “Thanks, that’s a good idea. I think these murders are motivated by something that happened years ago. It would be interesting to hear if the abbot truly believes that Jurgen has moved on from the difficulties he faced with his strict upbringing.”
“Why don’t I put a call in to the home Angelo was placed in after his parents died?” Six offered. “Maybe something happened in those years that might give us new insight?”
“Actually, Devil, can you call the abbot?” Nora asked. “Cyn, you were working on the social media stuff for those running and hiking sites. Has anything come of it? If not, can you keep working on that?”
“I can’t believe I didn’t bring this up sooner,” Cyn said. “And to answer your question, yes, something has come of it and yes, I should keep working on it. I identified someone last night on a Norwegian day-trekking site that I believe is the killer. He has a different handle than the other sites, but it still references Bingo. He’s subtly leading the conversation to treks that are around or lead to churches. I suspect it’s his way of identifying someone religious. He’ll have a harder time finding a connection in Norway. The Catholic population isn’t big in the country, but he is trying.”
“Can you pose as a potential victim?” she asked.
“Already done,” Cyn replied. “I created an account that lists me as a retired priest taking a sabbatical for a year in Norway. He thinks I live in the next town over from where the training is taking place and that I’m spending my time reading ecumenical texts and hiking. I made vague references to timing so that it appears I will still be there when that session starts.”
“You all are the most brilliant friends a woman could have,” Nora said, not for the first time grateful for all of them. “Any luck on chasing down where the posts are coming from?”
