Nikki rolled her eyes. “I’m a cop. No one wants to speak to me.”
“She said you threatened her.”
“That’s a lie! I did not threaten her. She didn’t want people to know who I was or why I was there, but she left the building with me voluntarily. Ask anyone at the coffee shop—I didn’t have a gun to her head! We had cappuccinos, we talked. When she decided to stop talking, I left her alone. I tried to call her later. I had a few more questions. The call went to voice mail.”
The lieutenant sighed. “Nikki, she was nine years old when her father died—”
“And she knows something, or she saw something,” Nikki insisted. “I’d bet the farm on it. That’s why she went off the deep end—I opened the door to her past, and she didn’t want to look at what’s on the other side,” she said. “I need to know what she knows.”
“You’re not getting anywhere near her,” Mascherino said. “None of us are getting anywhere near her. The Duffys have circled the wagons.”
“Right,” Nikki muttered. “Barbie Duffy had all the motherly love of a reptile when Jennifer was a kid. Now, all of a sudden, she’s fucking Mother Earth.”
The lieutenant’s face pinched at her language. “Stay away from Jennifer Duffy.”
Nikki heaved a sigh. Now she had to wonder at the sudden show of family solidarity. Maybe she was off the mark. Maybe what Jennifer knew had to do with the family, and Jeremy Nilsen and his father were superfluous to the story.
Grider and Big Duff both had warned her away from the family. Barbie Duffy hadn’t wanted the investigation into her husband’s murder reopened at all.
“This is the strangest murder investigation I’ve ever been a part of,” she said.
“I guess Cold Case isn’t so boring after all.”
“Not so far.”
Her head was buzzing from the possibilities—or from Kovac’s coffee, she wasn’t sure which. What she did know was that unless she could find Jeremy Nilsen, she was now left with one key to the whole thing: Evi Burke.
33
“How’s my princess?” Eric asked as he came in the house, sweeping Mia off the floor and twirling her around, to her delight. “Were you a good girl while Daddy was at work?”
“I was very good, Daddy!”
Evi watched them with a sickening mix of love and fear. She loved them so much it terrified her. She was still trembling from last night. It all worked out for you . . .
“And how’s my queen?” Eric asked as their daughter scampered away in her pink tutu, twirling her glitter wand. He turned to Evi with a smile that faltered.
“Are you all right?” he asked, slipping his arms around her. “You’re as pale as a ghost.”
“I’m feeling a little off this morning,” she said, forcing a weak smile. “It’s nothing.”
“I hope it’s a little something,” he whispered in her ear, hugging her gently.
Evi closed her eyes against a sudden rush of tears. They had been trying to get pregnant again for a while now—not such an easy feat at her age. They had both been thrilled at the idea of a second child. Now she saw that wonderful dream in her mind falling under a dark cloud. She tried to tell herself she was being ridiculous, but the fear was stronger than logic.
“Todd’s wife had a little boy yesterday,” he said. “Maybe it’s contagious.”
He kissed her forehead and stepped back. “I’ll make you some oatmeal and tea for breakfast. That always settles your stomach. Come sit and tell me how your day was yesterday.”
“Nothing special,” she said, following him.
She spied Detective Liska’s business card on the dining room table, swept it up, and tucked it into the pocket of her sweater. Given her job, it wouldn’t have been unusual to find a cop’s business card lying around, but the word Homicide jumped out. She dealt primarily with Sex Crimes detectives in her work with the girls at Chrysalis.
That truth struck her oddly today. Ted Duffy had been a Sex Crimes detective. Her life was running in some kind of weird circle as it turned back to that time.
It all worked out for you . . .
“Pete Heller’s wife said there were a lot of cop cars in the neighborhood last night,” Eric said as he gathered ingredients and pots at the stove. “Did you hear if there was something going on?”
“No,” Evi said, taking a seat on a counter stool. “Oh, well, they’re looking everywhere for a man who might be connected to that horrible murder of that professor and his wife.”
“They didn’t come around knocking on doors, did they?” he asked, looking troubled. “Good thing I’m home for a couple of days. I don’t want you and Mia home alone if the cops think that guy might be in our neighborhood. I’ll call Brad Dunn later. He’ll have the scoop.”