Max glanced around. She didn’t see Nick, or hear his voice. Or anyone else. She walked over to Nick’s Bronco and noted it was unlocked. On the front seat, just like the other day, were his case files.
Before she could talk herself out of it, she opened the passenger door and flipped open the top file, which was a preliminary lab report from the grave site. She skimmed the information—some of it Nick had already told her. But there was new information—confirmation that the victim was female, between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one. Testing of the dirt showed that the body had decomposed at the site and had been buried approximately four feet below the surface.
She turned the page and saw a lab photo of the bones, plus the earring Nick had mentioned, as well as part of a broken bracelet with a silver butterfly attached. Max pulled out her phone and took a picture of the charm. It looked familiar, but she didn’t know why.
The trailer door opened and Max closed the file, but stayed next to the Bronco. Nick was going to be suspicious, but why give him more reason to be?
He caught her eye, his expression unreadable. He shook Brian’s hand, then walked over to her. “Why are you in my car?”
“Waiting for you.”
He frowned and looked at the files on his seat. “Max—”
“I just looked at the lab report. I swear.”
He sighed. “I have your boards in the back, if you want to take them. I was going to drop them off later tonight, but I have plans I can’t break.”
“Thanks.”
He retrieved the three trifolds from the back of the Bronco and put them in the small trunk of her Jag. “Nice car.”
“My grandma’s.”
He smiled. “I think I’d like her.”
Max tried hard not to laugh. Nick raised his eyebrows and took a step closer. For a moment, Max thought he was going to kiss her. Instead, he grabbed her camera from around her neck, pulled her close, and turned the camera around so he could scroll through her pictures.
She wanted to slap him, she wanted to kiss him, but mostly she was relieved that she’d already pocketed her cell phone that she’d used to snap the picture of the broken bracelet.
“For your article?” he said.
“Yes. Not that it’s your business.”
He stood, only the camera’s width between them. “Oh? Didn’t you promise you wouldn’t write an article without talking to me first?”
“I haven’t written the article yet.”
“Are you?”
“Can’t you trust me on this?”
He stared at her. “I don’t know.”
“At least you’re honest.”
Why that bothered her, she didn’t know. Did she want him to lie and say he trusted her when he didn’t? And with good reason, too. She was a reporter, he was a cop. They might have the same goal, but their means were vastly different. Maybe irreconcilably different.
“Stay away from the case.”
“Which one?”
“All of them.”
“You know I can’t.”
“I don’t want to put you in jail.”
She heated up. “Are you really threatening me?”
“No, I just need you to understand this is highly sensitive, and your involvement is pissing off a lot of people.”
She stepped away from him, and he let her.
“I don’t care who I piss off. I’m not going to screw up your case.”
“That’s not what I meant. But, dammit, there’s a killer out there, and if he thinks you’re a threat to him, he’ll go after you.”
“What do you want me to do? Hide in my hotel room until you, big, bad, brave cop Nick Santini solves the crime?”
“Why are you so damn defensive?”
“Because I’m not stupid. I’m not going to confront a killer.”
“I’ve been reading about you, Max. You’re not stupid, but you’re far too reckless.”
“This is getting us nowhere,” she said. She didn’t like the way he was looking at her, as if he was trying to protect her. How much information had Kevin gathered about her? What had Nick read? Why did he look like he wanted to lock her in Rapunzel’s tower? She didn’t like it, but at the same time she felt that lustful pit in her gut, her inner girl craving him.
Traitor.
She said, “I’m going.”
He watched her leave. Max breathed easier when she was out of sight.
*
Max settled into her room and called Dru Parker at the hospital. The young woman sounded better, and told Max that the doctors would probably release her on Sunday. Max gave her the name and number of an attorney in the area. Dru had made some really stupid decisions, but she didn’t deserve to spend years in prison for them.
Max hung up and retrieved the picture on her cell phone of the broken bracelet and butterfly charm. She’d seen this before. Recently. It probably didn’t mean anything, except that few women she knew wore actual charm bracelets. The chain that the butterfly was attached to had the larger links that could hold multiple charms. Her grandmother had always thought they were tacky, but Max thought they were sweet, a lifelong memento of a favorite vacation, sport, or pet.
She reclined on her lounge chair and considered going down to the hot tub and ponder the bracelet. She closed her eyes and mentally went through her week from the minute she landed at the San Francisco airport. She pictured the women she’d met, who she’d spoken to. Jodi, Dru, Mrs. Hoffman, Dru’s roommates, Kimberly Ames—
Max jumped up. “Faith Voss.”
Faith wore a charm bracelet when she took notes for the headmaster. Max had noticed it because the multitude of charms clinked and she’d thought how much that would annoy her on a daily basis.
It may not mean anything. Just because Faith Voss had a charm bracelet didn’t mean that she had anything to do with the missing body from campus. It was just … odd.