The Girls in the Snow (Nikki Hunt #1) - Stacy Green Page 0,47
me you’ll find out who did this to Maddie and her friend.”
“I’m doing everything I can.” Nikki closed her eyes as a wave of vertigo struck.
Headlights bore down on them, accompanied by the low rumble of an engine. The truck screeched to a halt.
“What’s going on?”
Nikki’s eyes snapped open at Rory’s voice. She took a deep breath and focused on his face. Sunglasses held back his wavy hair, and he glared at Bobby.
“Bobby just came to make a statement regarding the case.” Nikki’s vision had cleared, but her legs were still weak, and her stomach suddenly ached with hunger. “I haven’t eaten since this morning. It just caught up with me.”
Bobby looked nervously at Rory. “Well, if you’re okay and don’t have any more questions for me—”
“I don’t,” Nikki said. “You’re free to go.”
He looked like he couldn’t leave quickly enough. “Have a good night.”
Bobby gave Rory a wide berth and hurried toward the lot’s exit. He lit up a cigarette and glanced back at them before he turned the corner and disappeared.
“You okay?” Rory asked.
“Fine.” She drew a ragged breath. “You’re late.”
“Sorry,” he said. “I got hung up at a job.”
“It happens.” Nikki tried to ignore the jittery feeling racing through her since Rory had arrived.
“You okay to drive?” The kindness in his voice made her throat tighten.
“Fine. But I thought you wanted to talk.”
He shook his head. “Yeah, but it’s getting late, and I’m sure you have family to get home to.”
Nikki zipped her coat back up. “I’m staying at the Comfort Inn and Suites for a few days. But I’m freezing, so can we take this somewhere else? Preferably some place that serves food.”
“There’s a bar across the river. Good pizza and wings. Total dive, but it won’t be busy.”
“Meaning you won’t be seen with me,” she said. “Makes sense.”
“I don’t care about being seen with you. I just don’t want you to deal with any more bullshit tonight, especially since those protesters are still around.”
“I appreciate that. I’ll follow you there.”
Sixteen
Rory hadn’t been exaggerating about the bar being a dive. Nikki had spent plenty of time in them during her wilder days, and the dark interior and dated red leather booth gave her a strange sense of comfort. Nikki ordered a club soda and mozzarella sticks. Not exactly brain food, but at least she’d have something in her stomach. Her skin felt clammy beneath her warm clothes. She’d already put her hair into a ponytail but sitting across from Rory and his unreadable eyes felt like standing beneath a spotlight. She wriggled out of the sweater and fanned the collar of her thin shirt.
Rory’s gaze swept over her. “Where’s the scar from?”
She’d forgotten the V-neck didn’t cover the pencil-thin scar below her collarbone. Three years ago, Nikki had foolishly gone alone to interview a potential witness of a second abduction, but the man was already dead by the time she arrived, and she’d been left with a scar of her time confronting the killer.
“It’s nothing,” she replied.
“How do you do it?” Rory sipped his beer.
“Do what?”
“This job. Your life is on the line every day. Not to mention the things you’ve probably seen.”
“After you find your parents murdered, you start to become desensitized,” Nikki said, and she realized the words came out harsher than she’d intended.
Rory looked down at the table, a lock of hair falling into his eyes. “Guess I set myself up for that.”
Nikki’s mozzarella sticks arrived, and she ate in silence for a few minutes. Why did she feel like the bad guy right now? Rory was lucky she’d even agreed to talk to him.
“You know that kid you were talking to was out protesting today.”
“He told me.”
“And you still spoke to him?”
Nikki dropped a half-eaten mozzarella stick onto her plate, irritated at the edge in his voice. “I was interviewing him. Why do I need to justify that?”
“You don’t.” His green eyes bore into hers, and a fresh wave of warmth spread through her body. She took another sip of club soda. Why did her brain get so muddled every time she tried to ask him a simple question? “You said you got tied up at a job. And then you show up while Bobby’s hanging around.”
He’d started to take another drink, but Rory slowly lowered the bottle. “What are you asking, exactly?”
“I’m just curious about your timing. Maybe you saw him show up to talk to me. And then you wait until the right moment.”