And that meant dealing with the fact their passion had been a one-time thing.
Their time together wasn’t completely over, however. Not yet. It wouldn’t be until Simon caught Davenport and confirmed he’d indeed killed those two homeless men.
Even so, although Simon was driving her back to her house, it was only so she could pick up her clothing and necessities. And it wasn’t because he was planning to spend the night with her, either.
As they’d prepared to go, he’d said, “I can’t stay with you, Nina. And I’ll worry about you if you’re at home alone. Will you please stay in a hotel close to SIG? At least until we get a handle on Davenport?”
She wasn’t about to argue with him. Not given what he’d told her about the murder victims, and his best guess as to why Davenport had attacked them.
But what they knew still felt like only a few pieces in a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle. They needed more information. Answers. Understanding. The only way they were going to get them was if Simon found Davenport.
When Simon’s phone rang, he checked the caller ID screen then picked up. “Anything new, DeMarco?”
The detective’s voice came over the speakerphone. “Nothing good. Davenport’s still missing. The last time he was seen was by a neighbor at his house in Charleston over a week ago.”
“What?” Nina gasped.
“Nina and I both confirmed the neighbor had seen him at the beginning of this week. A friend of Nina’s, a cop in Charleston P.D.—”
“I talked to him. Officer Wade King,” DeMarco said. “He went back and talked to the neighbor again. She admitted she’d lied. Davenport paid her a hundred bucks to tell anyone who asked that he was still around.”
Simon swore under his breath, then thanked DeMarco and hung up. “This guy has gone off his rocker but he’s obviously in touch with reality enough to cover his tracks. I have reason to believe someone bribed a witness to lie to the cops about the first murder victim, Louis Cann. It’s consistent with Davenport bribing his neighbor. And both bribes are evidence of his consciousness of guilt.”
Anger tickled the back of her throat. Nina shifted in her seat, squaring her shoulders. “That your clinical opinion? Your official diagnosis? He’s ‘gone off his rocker’?”
He glanced at her with a heavy frown. “Christ, Nina, you know what I mean.”
Unfortunately, even with Simon’s stigmatizing language, she did. If Lester Davenport had indeed killed her cat and those homeless men, he’d gone far beyond grief. He could very well be a psychopath.
The thing was, the notion didn’t jive with what she knew about the man. Lester Davenport had always seemed to be miserable. Depressed. He’d never had the hallmarks of a psychopath—grandiosity and clever manipulation. Could he instead be experiencing a late onset of schizophrenia? But schizophrenics were rarely violent and usually didn’t have the organizational ability to go off the grid so thoroughly, navigate around security systems so accurately they could escape detection or even bribe witnesses to cover their tracks. Something was off, but what?
“After we get your clothes from your house and I drop you off at your hotel,” Simon said, “I’ll head back to SIG. You won’t be shadowing me, of course, but I’d still prefer you not go into work tomorrow. If need be, I can call your boss and explain, but—”
“That’s not necessary. I can call my boss myself. She’s not expecting me at work until Monday anyway.” She crossed her arms over her chest, and stared out the passenger window for the next fifteen minutes until they reached her neighborhood. She tried to imagine what she’d do stuck in a hotel room, her only choices to think about Davenport and the men he’d murdered, or the feel of Simon’s body inside hers as he’d temporarily made her forget that pain.
Simon steered the car into her driveway, parked, turned the engine off and yanked the key out of the ignition. He rolled his head on the back of the seat before looking at her.
This time she looked back, and held his gaze. “What happens after Davenport is caught? Will I shadow you again?”
She read his answer on his face. Not that Commander Stevens wouldn’t authorize such a thing, but that Simon wouldn’t want it.
“Yeah,” she nodded. “Probably not a good idea.” It was for the best. He’d given her what she wanted by giving her sex. She’d known it would be a one-time thing, but already she was feeling addicted to him. Not