“Nope, and only a few people weren’t home, so I lucked out.”
“Did you find any witnesses to verify Nikki’s alibi?” I called from the kitchen.
“Yep, a couple on the first floor who saw her enter the apartment building at two o’clock in the morning.”
“Two o’clock? That can’t be right. Nikki was home around midnight.”
“They were certain about the time, Abby.”
I handed him the glass of water. “Then they mistook her for someone else.”
“They identified her from a photo.”
“That’s impossible . . . unless Nikki was wrong about the time she got home.”
“Or lied.”
She couldn’t have lied. Not about that, too.
I rubbed my forehead, trying to come up with a logical explanation. “Maybe Nikki came home at midnight, then went back outside later to . . . I don’t know . . . maybe get something out of her car—like her cell phone.”
“Go back outside in the middle of a cold January night two hours after she supposedly got home? Come on, Sunshine, you know that doesn’t make sense.”
I couldn’t think of an explanation that did make sense. It made me wonder if Nikki was hiding anything else. “Have you told Dave about the witnesses?”
“Right before I got here. He was trying to reach Nikki to set up a meeting tomorrow.”
“She’ll have her phone turned off until her shift ends. Hospital policy.” I glanced at the clock. “She’ll be home in a couple of hours. I can’t wait to hear her explanation.”
“I’d be glad to stay and wait, but I need to make arrangements with my bar staff tonight so I can take time off to investigate. I’m going to meet with Dave at eleven o’clock tomorrow morning to lay out a plan.”
“I understand.”
Marco put his arms around me and rested his chin on top of my head. “I know this is tough on you, baby, but you need some shut-eye. Talk to Nikki in the morning.”
“I won’t even be able to close my eyes until I get some answers, Marco. I don’t know whether I’m more worried about Nikki or angry with her. She’s always seemed like a sister to me, but now she’s this person I don’t understand.”
Marco didn’t say anything, just held me.
“Did I ever tell you how I met Nikki?”
“Didn’t she fall off her Rollerblades in front of your house?”
“The summer before third grade. We’d just moved into our house, and I hadn’t met any of the kids on the block yet. One afternoon, I was sulking on the porch, bemoaning my lack of a social life, when this skinny, gawky blond girl skated past, secretly checking me out. On her fourth pass, she hit a crack in the sidewalk, took a bad spill, and tore up her knees. My mom and I got her bandaged up, I helped her limp home, and we’ve been best friends ever since.” I sighed sadly. “I wish I could slap a bandage on this and make it go away.”
“Anything I can do to make you feel better?”
Without a moment’s hesitation I said, “Let me help you investigate.”
Marco sighed. “Abby, we’ve already discussed this. Remember Dave telling you he didn’t want you to get involved?”
“With the
canvassing
, Marco. He didn’t say anything about a suspect search.”
“You’re splitting hairs.”
I pushed away from him. “If you know me at all, then you understand I have to be a part of the hunt for the killer.”
“Don’t put me into another impossible situation, Abby. I won’t go behind Dave’s back. That could cost me my private investigator’s license as well as any future cases from him, not to mention the strain it would put on us. I just got you back, Sunshine. Let’s not tempt fate, okay?”
What could I say to that? It wasn’t right to ask Marco to do something unethical. I didn’t want to be unreasonable, but at the same time, it wasn’t my nature to give up. “What if you were to take on an intern? Would he object to that?”
“A PI intern?”
I wrapped my arms around his ribs. “Your very own private intern. I’m sure there are still a few things you could teach me.” I pressed my lips against his, giving him a long, intense kiss that nearly made me forget what we’d been talking about.
Then Marco nuzzled my earlobe and murmured, “You’re not trying to bribe me with a kiss, are you?”
“Would I stoop to bribery? Besides, it wouldn’t work on you . . . would it?”
“No.” Marco wound his fingers through my hair, his kisses growing more passionate. I could feel his heart thudding against mine as our bodies locked together. “Abby,” he murmured after a few moments, his lips hot on my throat, “if we keep this up, I won’t get back to the bar to do my work before closing time.”
“Would that be such a bad thing?”
“This doesn’t mean I’m agreeing to the internship.”
“Consider it my audition then.”
“An audition?” Marco’s mouth curved up at one corner in a roguish smile. “I like the sound of that.” He dipped his head down for another steamy kiss that left both of us breathless; then he turned off the lamp beside the sofa and led me toward my bedroom.
It appeared Marco’s work would wait after all.
CHAPTER NINE
W
hen Nikki walked in the door after midnight, Simon jumped off the sofa and ran to greet her. I played it cool, lounging on the sofa in my pj’s, flipping through a floral magazine.
“How did it go at work?” I called, as she hung up her coat in the front closet.
“Not bad. Everyone was very kind and supportive. I can’t tell you what a relief that was.”
I heard Nikki open the refrigerator; then she called, “I’m surprised you’re still up. Want some Chubby Hubby ice cream?”
“No, thanks. I’m about to hit the sack.” I followed her to the kitchen, watching as she scooped two mounds of chocolate ice cream into her bowl.
She glanced at me. “Sure you don’t want some?”
“Positive.”
She put the carton in the freezer, rinsed out the scoop, then carried her bowl of ice cream to the living room to turn on the TV as though it were just another normal night. Trying to maintain my cool, I perched on the arm of the sofa. “I was thinking about lunch today. I felt bad that I had to cut you off so I could get back to work.”
“You didn’t cut me off.”
“Don’t you remember? You didn’t finish telling me what happened on your date.”
“Yes, I did.”
“Oh, wait, that’s right. You said Jonas took you home around midnight.”
Nikki took a big mouthful of ice cream, then started flipping through the TV channels.
Trying not to be too obvious, I said, “You must have been exhausted after putting up with his bragging all evening. I’ll bet you came home and went straight to bed.”
She found a home-decorating show on HGTV and put down the remote. I couldn’t tell whether she was avoiding the question or felt there was no need to answer.
“So, did you?” I asked, trying to sound casually interested.
“Did I go straight to bed? What kind of question is that?” she asked, digging her spoon into the mound of creamy delight.
A weird one. But I couldn’t think of a way to get the information without sounding like I was interrogating her, so I sat there swinging my feet, feeling stupid.
She gave me a quick glance. “What’s wrong? I thought you were going to bed.”
“Okay, look, I’ll just be blunt. Did you go back out again after you got home that night?”
“Why are you quizzing me? I already told you what happened.” She flipped to the DIY Network. “Besides, what makes you think I went out again?”
“Because Marco found witnesses in our building who saw you come in at two o’clock in the morning.”
Nikki went completely still. “Is that why Dave wants to see me tomorrow?”
“I’d bet on it.”
She shut off the TV, put her bowl aside, then stared at the blank screen until her eyes filled with tears. Her hands came up to cover her face as she sobbed, “Yes, I went back out.”
“For God’s sake, Nikki, why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want you to know.”
“You didn’t want Dave to know either? Your attorney? The man who’s looking out for your well-being? Are you crazy?”
She shook her head, sobbing harder. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
She
couldn’t believe it? I was totally floored. Nikki had withheld
more
information. What else hadn’t she revealed? With a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, I asked, “What were you doing until two o’clock in the morning?”
She looked at me, aghast. “You say that like you think I murdered Jonas. Is that what you think, Abby?” She jumped up and ran to her room, crying, “You are unbelievable.”
With more calmness than I thought I had in me, I collected her bowl and spoon and took them to the kitchen. Nikki had lied three times and was still dodging my questions. Did I even want to know more?
I found her on her bed, facedown on her comforter, weeping her heart out, with a startled Simon pressed up against the headboard, ready to run.
“I don’t think you killed Jonas, Nikki, but would you give me some kind of explanation for where you were?”
Sniffling back tears, she sat up and reached for a tissue from the box on her nightstand. “Jonas dropped me off at midnight, Abby. I
swear
it. Then I got in my car and drove around.”
“For two hours?”
“Yes!” Then she looked at the tissue in her hand. “No.”
My stomach tightened. “What else did you do?”
She blew her nose, got up to throw the tissue away, and came back, sinking onto the bed with a big sigh. “Went over to Scott’s house.”
“You went to your ex-boyfriend’s house? The guy who dumped you? Why?”
“To see if we could work things out and maybe get back together.” She glanced sheepishly at me.“I know that was a stupid thing to do, but after spending the evening with Jonas, I started appreciating what a really great guy Scott was.”
“So great that he dumped you.”
“It wasn’t exactly like that. He
broke up
with me because I was acting like an idiot. I thought he was seeing someone else, and I kept bugging him about it. He finally said that if I couldn’t trust him, then we shouldn’t be together. So I stormed out and that was the end of it.”
“You couldn’t have confided in me?”
“You couldn’t have told me about going to Key West with Marco?” she shot back.
“This is a little more serious than a weekend getaway.”
Her chin began to quiver. “You have no idea how humiliating this has been, Abby.”
“Don’t even talk about humiliation until you’ve been kicked out of law school and very publicly dropped by your fiancé. Besides, nothing could be worse than letting people think you killed Jonas. At least you have an alibi witness now. Scott can verify that you were at his house.”
She reached for another tissue. “Scott didn’t see me.”
“What?”
“After I got there I chickened out, so I sat in my car trying to talk myself into it. Then, when I finally gathered up enough courage to go to the door, I caught a glimpse of him through the blinds”—her chin quivered faster—“with another woman. I was too embarrassed to tell anyone.” She flopped over onto the bed, sobbing.
I was so angry with her for not confiding in me, I wanted to walk out and close the door on her
and
our friendship. Then I reminded myself that Nikki had been there for me in many crises. I couldn’t desert her because she’d hurt my feelings. And, in fact, I
had
kept my trip with Marco from her, which I knew hurt her feelings.
Taking a steadying breath, I said, “I’m sorry, Nikki. That must have hurt to see Scott with another woman.”
“That wasn’t the worst part. I waited in my car for over an hour, hoping the woman would leave so I could beg Scott to take me back. How pathetic is that?”
So pathetic I didn’t know where to begin. When had my best friend turned into such a wuss? “Did the woman finally leave?”
She shrugged. “I gave up and went home.”
“Didn’t it occur to you the detectives would eventually discover that you went back out? Nikki, do you have any idea how much trouble you’re in? You can’t keep this kind of information a secret. That’s suicide. You need to explain everything to Dave tomorrow so he can figure out how to repair the damage—
if
he can repair it.”
She gazed at me tearfully. “You believe I didn’t kill Jonas, don’t you?”
“No doubt about it. I just wish you’d been straight with me. What am I supposed to think when I keep finding out that you’re holding back? It makes me feel like you don’t trust me.”
“God, Abby, I’m so sorry. You know I’d trust you with my life.”
“Then you’ve got to be up-front with Dave and me from now on, no matter what, okay? Will you promise?”
She sighed wearily. “I’d better tell you the rest then.”
There was more? Could her situation possibly get any worse?
“I went into the model home with Jonas.”
Oh, yeah, that was worse. “Why?”
“He cut his hand on the wooden railing over the footbridge, so we went inside to wash off the blood. I helped him remove a big splinter and clean out the wound; then he took me home. I swear on the Bible that’s
all
that happened.”
“Nikki, if you were inside the model home, your DNA and fingerprints will be there.”
“All I touched was a bathroom faucet.”
“That’s enough to leave fingerprints!” I wanted to throw up. With what the cops already had, that was more than enough evidence to make her look as guilty as hell. “What time is your meeting with Dave tomorrow?”
“Ten thirty.” She gazed at me through red-rimmed eyes. “Are you worried?”
“Yes.”
“Me too.” She curled up on her bed in a fetal position, reminding me of the little girl who’d fallen in front of my house. “How I wish I’d never met Jonas Treat,” she whispered.
How
I
wished I’d never seen the ad for Cloud Nine. I lay down beside her and put my arm around her. “It’ll be okay, Nikki. You’ve got Dave, Marco, and me on your side. And tomorrow, Marco and I are going to start looking for the real killer in earnest.”