Kiss Lonely Goodbye (31 page)

A series of booming knocks on the door made them all jump. Detectives Holmes and O'Connor came in without waiting for an answer. Holmes glanced at Nicole, Marcus, and, finally, Russell.

“You've got some explaining to do, Mr. Summers,” Holmes said.

“Nicole is trying to protect Marcus, and he wants to bail out his pal!”

Nicole's father came in from the conference room. “What is going on in here?”

Uncle Lionel scowled over his shoulder. “Oh, crap! The police again.”

“Uncle Stanton, Nicole has lost her mind. She's trying to save her lover boy by pointing the police at me,” Russell said as he spread out his arms. “Well, it won't work.”

“Here's a search warrant that includes your car. A spray of luminol shows traces of blood.” Holmes slapped the warrant into one of Russell's outstretched hands.

“I want my lawyer. Now!” Russell shouted.

“Sure. We follow the rules, pal.” O'Connor snapped a handcuff on Russell's other hand and pushed him out the door. Holmes gave them all a curt nod and followed.

“Somebody better tell me what the hell just happened,” Stanton thundered. “Nicole?”

“Shaun Jackson beat up Aliyah in a rage, but he didn't kill her. Russell finished her off. Marcus was right all along,” Nicole said, and looked at him.

Marcus shook his head. “Not really. Shaun isn't the man I thought he was.”

“I'm so sorry, babe.” Nicole looped her arm through one of his.

“You're telling me Russell killed that girl?” Stanton's mouth went slack with horror. “Oh, God. This is going to be a PR nightmare.”

“How the hell are we going to spin a murder?” Uncle Lionel clapped a palm to his forehead.

“Maybe we should think about what pushed Russell to be so callous,” Nicole said in a steely voice. “This family has some soul-searching to do, if you ask me.”

“Nicole figured this whole thing out. Incredible deductive reasoning, Nikki.”

“You mean inductive reasoning, Stan,” Uncle Lionel corrected. He snapped his fingers. “Our brilliant young CEO tracks down the breach in security and solves a murder. She didn't stop even when the answers led to her own family. Could it work?”

“We don't have a choice, Lionel,” Stanton said with a deep sigh. “You've got another big hurdle, Nikki. But we're behind you.” He and her uncle strode out, talking over strategy.

“So much for soul-searching,” Nicole quipped. She turned to Marcus. “I don't see how a security company can survive this series of disasters.”

“We'll have to reinvent ourselves if necessary. Actually, your Uncle Lionel's approach isn't bad at all.” Marcus put his arms around her waist.

“What?” Nicole gaped at him.

“Listen, you did one helluva detecting job. Big corporations pay reformed thieves and computer crackers to help them design security procedures. Summers Security could do the same.” Marcus grinned at her horrified expression.

“Oh, no, you're starting to think like them.” Nicole rested her forehead against his chest.

“Some of that upper-class cunning was bound to rub off on me. You body slammed poor Russell the way a real player from the 'hood might have.”

Nicole gazed up at him with a soft smile. “Some ghetto smarts was bound to rub off on me.”

“Not a bad combination.” He lovingly brushed a tendril of hair from her cheek.

“Not a bad combination at all.” Nicole kissed him long and hard.