Tell Me (26 page)

Reptilian eyes held hers. Seeming to dare her.

For what? It wasn’t worth it. She backed out slowly and closed the car door. Her keys would have to stay put, as would the second set, her uncle’s, which were lying on the seat, and she hoped she wouldn’t have to explain them to anyone. She just didn’t have the nerve to risk the snake striking.

Heart thudding as the rain poured over her, she hit the speed-dial button for Reed’s cell phone. As the call connected, she searched the darkening forest for answers.

Who the hell was trying to scare her off the case?

And why?

“I
don’t know why you’re freaking out,” Nikki said as they headed back to her house in Reed’s boat of a Cadillac. Too old to be cool and too new to be “classic,” the car was a beast that Reed loved, and today, after her experience at the cabin, she was thankful he was at the wheel as they drove into the city.

“If whoever it was who planted the damned snake had wanted me dead, I would be. Anyone could have followed me out there and killed me, but they didn’t. They used a couple of snakes to scare me.”

Cold to the bone, she rode in the passenger seat of the Caddy. Reed’s jacket was slung over her shoulders as she sipped the coffee they’d picked up at a diner on the way into the city.

“Why would they go to all this trouble?”

“I don’t know, but I think someone’s trying to scare me off investigating what happened twenty years ago. It’s no secret that I’m digging around on the Blondell O’Henry case. Two articles have already come out in the paper, and another one is due the day after tomorrow. Maybe I’m making someone nervous, and they’re afraid I’ll uncover something they don’t want to see the light of day. A secret. A crime. I’m not sure, but it obviously has something to do with Blondell’s release and Amity’s death.”

“How did they know you were out here?”

“I don’t know.” God, she was tired of admitting that. “I didn’t tell anyone, not even you.”

“No one at the office?”

“No.” She frowned and looked out the window.

“So they must’ve followed you.”

She thought of her run-in with Metzger in the parking lot. Could he have watched her leave and what . . . followed her, parked somewhere nearby, grabbed a couple of snakes he just happened to have with him, and stick one in her car? She almost laughed at how ludicrous that was. Or how about Effie? Did she follow Nikki, and instead of surprising her at the coffee stand, just happen to show up at the cabin with, again, a couple of pit vipers?

“Someone planned this,” Nikki said, cradling her cup in her hands for warmth. The Cadillac’s heat was blasting, but she couldn’t seem to get rid of the chill that had seeped into her blood after being eye to eye with the copperhead.

Reed’s eyebrows were drawn together as he drove, the beams of headlights from cars and trucks moving in the opposite direction washing the interior of his car and illuminating his worried face. “How did whoever it was know you were going to be at the cabin?”

“Maybe they were already there, going to let the snakes loose or expecting someone else.”

“Who?” he asked.

He answered his own question. “No one. This message was for you, Nikki.”

She couldn’t deny the obvious. She was making someone very nervous, and in a sense that was a good thing. It meant she was getting close to something, she just didn’t know what.

Yet.

Fortunately, Reed had arrived at the cabin in record time, beating the animal control folks, who had captured the snake, and two other officers, who had helped him do a quick search of the house and grounds. She’d told him about the other copperhead she’d seen inside, one she was almost certain was smaller, and the feral cat, along with what she saw as a “dark figure” in her rearview mirror, but on first sweep, in the darkness, the officers had found nothing. No second snake. No cat. No human lurking in the shadows.

However, Reed had taken the warning seriously, not even allowing her to drive back to Savannah. Her SUV was being taken to the police garage, where it would be dusted for fingerprints and examined for any other evidence, including the set of keys she’d taken from Uncle Alex’s den. Those, she thought, could be hard to explain.

Then, of course, she would have to have the damage to the car assessed, and she hoped it was still functional, as she planned to drive north to meet with Lawrence Thompson as soon as possible.

She’d already texted Trina and begged out of their meeting tonight.

“Really sorry,” she’d texted after sending a quick message about what had happened. Of course, the text had prompted a call in which she’d explained in further detail about the snake, cabin, car, and rescue.

“This is getting dangerous,” Trina had said.

“Yeah.”

“You’ve put new meaning into ‘stirring up a viper’s nest.’ Well, just be careful, and I’ll take a rain check on the drink. You’re not getting out of it.”

Now, as they reached the outskirts of Savannah, the rain had stopped, the sky clearing, a slice of moon visible over the city skyline.

“Maybe this time was just a warning, but who knows if this yahoo won’t escalate? This is personal, Nikki,” Reed said. “Morrisette and I are investigating too. That’s no secret, but whoever this is came after you.”

Cradling her cup, she took a long sip and felt the coffee warm her from the inside out. “I know.”

They drove in silence for a few minutes. Then Reed said, “I took the camera you found on the fence into the lab.”

“And?” she prompted, not liking the tone of his voice.

“And you were right. Looks like someone’s been spying on your apartment.” He explained about the second lens in the tree and how they were trying to find out who had purchased it. He’d spent the day on the case. After interviewing Roland Camp and his most recent girlfriend, he and Morrisette had returned to the station. He’d been on his way to her house with a couple of electronic specialists from the department when he’d gotten her panicked call about the snake.

“That is so sick.” Nikki’s blood ran cold all over again at the thought of someone watching her in her private life. She saw herself doing the most mundane of chores, sitting cross-legged on her bed watching television, working at her desk, playing with her animals, and cooking. What about when she used the bathroom, took a shower, or was trying on sexy lingerie in front of the mirror? And all her phone calls, or just her stupid mutterings to her animals. Could he hear her, listen in? The skin on the back of her arms actually pimpled at the thought. She was beginning to feel completely and utterly violated. “What pervert is doing this?” she wondered aloud.

And if they had been taped, how long before images might be leaked to the Internet? Lost in thought, she chewed the rim of her coffee cup. She pictured herself singing off-key in the shower, flashing her breasts as she warbled into a bar of soap, and mentally groaned. “This could be bad,” she whispered, her stomach clenching.

“Trust me,” he said, sliding her a quietly determined glance, “we’re going to find this freak and shut him down.”

“Do that.”

Slowing, Reed guided his car through the city streets, and as they passed Forsyth Park, she looked at the tiered fountain, now lit strategically, sprays of water illuminated in the night. The oak trees stood guard, Spanish moss dancing ghostlike in the breeze.

No one was loitering in the park right now, but she couldn’t help but think of the man she’d seen observing her on her run, the dark figure.
Not necessarily a man, Nikki. You didn’t get a good enough look at the figure, did you? You just took off running.

“You know,” she admitted now, “I’ve had this strange feeling that I’m being followed.”

“What? When?” He cranked the Caddy’s wheel as he turned into the alley that ran past the side of her house.

“That’s just the thing. It happened
before
I even knew Niall was going to change his testimony.” As he parked the car, she explained about the stranger in the park, then mentioned the black BMW that had nearly run her over in the crosswalk.

“Why didn’t you tell me any of this?” He snapped his keys from the ignition.

“Because I didn’t want to worry you.”

“You were afraid that I wouldn’t let you in on the O’Henry case,” he accused. “That I might think it’s too dangerous and should be just the department’s investigation, without any help from my fiancée the reporter.”

“Well, yes . . . I did consider all that.”

“Nik.” His eyes were dark with worry. “This is just a case to me and a story to you. It’s not worth putting your life in any danger!”

“I told you, it started
before
I was assigned to report on Blondell O’Henry’s release,
before
I sent in an idea for a new book. It could have nothing to do with the case.”

“Fine. Great. But you have to admit that you going to the cabin where Amity was killed and finding a snake in your damned car is the direct result of your work on the O’Henry case.”

“Apparently I’m getting close, Reed. Worrying someone. Making them nervous. Flushing them out!”

“I think we should reconsider this whole deal we had. It’s too dangerous. I don’t know what I was thinking!” He slammed his door shut, then started toward the house.

“Reed—” She scrambled out of her side of the car. “Damn it all to hell!” Hurrying around the Caddy’s wide trunk, she caught up with him at the gate. “You can’t renege now.”

“I can damn well do anything I want.”

“Calm down. I’m okay.”

“No. You’re not. And it’s because of this case, so all bets are off.”

He was through the gate and cutting through the garden, letting himself in the back of the building’s large foyer. Nikki took off after him again, her boots tracking mud over the polished hardwood and up the main staircase, but she didn’t care. He couldn’t stop her now. “I never thought you’d back out of a deal,” she accused, chasing after him, leaving more prints left on the carpet that covered all three flights of the old wooden stairs.

“Then you thought wrong.”

“Reed. Wait. Just listen!” But he was already at the third floor, where the door was open and a lanky man in a brown jumpsuit and owlish glasses was crouched just inside. A few cobwebs clung to his shoulders and hair as he snapped a toolbox closed and greeted Reed familiarly.

“Hey, just finishing up.”

“Nikki, this is Monty Hemler. Monty, this is my fiancée, Nicole Gillette.” As they nodded to each other, Reed continued, “Hemler here is the department’s technical expert. He and his assistant have been searching the place.”

“Barry’s already gone,” Hemler said, explaining why he was alone. He pulled off a pair of tight-fitting gloves, then stuffed them into his pocket.

From the bathroom, there was a series of frantic barks. “Oh, had to lock up your pets,” Helmer said. “Sorry.”

“I think they’ll survive,” Reed said.

Hemler nodded. “Anyway, I was just on my way out. The place is clean. No unwanted bugs of any kind. No video, no audio. I checked the attic and even the basement, but I didn’t bother with the first- or second-floor units, just the hallways, as you said they were occupied.”

Nikki felt a wave of relief. “Good. Thank you.”

“No problem.” He flashed a smile, then picked up his toolbox and said to Reed, “As for the equipment you located outside, it was pretty low-end. I’m thinking amateur. Could be just some nerdy kid like I was who’s into electronics, only this one gets his jollies spying on people.”

“That innocent?” Reed was skeptical.

Hemler lifted a dusty shoulder. “Maybe.”

“Thanks,” Reed said, and shook Hemler’s hand.

“Anytime.”

He let himself out, and they heard his footsteps retreating down the stairs.

“See,” she said, some of her anxiety eased. “No reason to worry.”

He scanned the inside of the apartment. “Lots of reasons to worry,” he disagreed. “And I’m thinking that with you as my wife, it’s only going to get worse.”

“There’s still time to back out on the wedding, y’know,” she said, hitching up her chin. “But you can’t weasel out of the deal we had about the case. That’s set in stone.” She stalked to the bathroom and let a frantic Mikado out. Jennings, true to his lazy personality, strolled into the living area and, disdainful of the jumping dog, wound himself through her legs. She petted both animals, and Mikado calmed a bit, while Jennings, as if bored with the whole scene, wandered off toward the dining area. As she stroked the dog, something nagged at her, something she couldn’t quite call up. What the hell was it? Something she’d heard when she was dealing with the dog? That was it. When she was picking up Mikado from Ruby’s Ruff and Ready. Something about Ruby’s brothers being hot for Blondell . . .

“You’re okay with me backing out of the wedding but not the investigation?” His tone was light, but his jaw was steel. Her answer was important.

“I’m not okay with you backing out of either one,” Nikki said tautly as he tossed his wallet and keys onto the side table.

“We’re getting married, Nik. That’s a fact. But I almost lost you once to the Grave Robber, and that can’t happen again, not on my watch.” Looking at her, his expression softened. “Look, honey,” he said, closing the gap between them and grabbing her shoulders. “I’m mad at myself for agreeing to our partnership in the investigation. It’s not professional, and it’s not smart, and I let my need to please you cloud my judgment.”

Her heart cracked a little. “Okay, I get it. But let’s not let one snake throw this whole thing out the window.”

“It’s not the snake that worries me—or the two snakes, if there really was another one in the cabin. It’s the guy who put the damned thing into your car that’s the problem. You know, there’s a chance he’s the same nutcase who took one to the cabin years before, and look what happened then.”

“What you’re saying suggests that Blondell might not have been lying,” she pointed out.

“Suggests, yeah. Not proves.”

“But who?” she asked.

“Someone nearby who can handle reptiles. That’s got to narrow the field.”

“You’d think.” She slid out of his coat and handed it to him. “Thanks. For the coat and everything.” She placed a kiss on his cheek and added, “I’m in dire need of a hot shower.”

“Is that an offer?”