Page 40 of Lake House Killer

“Connie Pickman. She lives directly to the victim’s right, street facing,” Hale says. “She left a statement with the sheriff who showed up at the scene. Said she didn’t see or hear anyone else. No suspicious vehicles either. Although she did mention that a couple of her neighbors had a tragedy unfold at Sugar Pine Lake.”

Fallon sighs hard. “We are well aware. I’m sorry we didn’t get to her first.”

“Who else knew you were going to speak with the woman?” Hale asks sharply and suddenly it feels like a reprimand, as it probably should at this point.

Fallon and I exchange a glance.

“Everyone,” I say.

“Sophomoric blunder.” Hale doesn’t hesitate to call it like it is. “Don’t let it happen again.”

“We won’t.” Fallon leans in a little as she inspects the victim’s hand. “She’s got a little blood on her fingertips.”

“Her head is full of it,” Hale points out.

“True,” Fallon says. “But she doesn’t have that much on her fingers. I’m wondering if it’s the killer’s blood.”

“I already plan on scaping her nails and sending it to forensics,” Miller is quick to say.

I nod to Hale. “We’ll go door-to-door and see if any security cameras caught anything.”

“She was good friends with Lydia,” Fallon tells him. “Owen Marcus let us know that they walked together in the mornings. And we mentioned to both Jewel Berrett and Adrienne Sinclair that we would be speaking to Nora.”

“Do you think she was silenced?” Hale asks, and I’m not sure if it’s a rhetorical question at this point.

“I know she was.” I glance down at the woman and my heart breaks for her.

“Agents,” Hale calls us to attention once more. “If we don’t find Lydia Cole soon, we might be staring at her corpse next. I still think she’s alive. But she won’t be for long.”

“Why take Lydia?” I mutter mostly to myself.

“Get her out of the way,” Fallon says. “If Damien is sleeping with Adrienne, that eliminates an obstacle.”

“Geez.” Miller tosses up a hand. “Don’t people know that divorce is still an option?”

“Too expensive,” Hale says it as if he knows firsthand. “But we’re not ruling out the nutty neighbor.”

Fallon shoots me a look because Nikki isn’t ruling him out at all.

“How long has this woman been dead?” she asks Miller.

“Four—five hours, max.”

I glance at my watch. “It’s almost eleven. Depending on when Nikki showed up for Owen, she could be his alibi.”

We thank Miller for his time, let Hale know we’ll be in touch as soon as we glean anything new, and take off.

“I’m calling Nikki,” Fallon says as we jump into my truck, but Nikki doesn’t pick up. Fallon sends her a series of texts but no answer. “What do you want to do?”

“Go home. That’s what I always do when Nikki is dancing with her demons.”

Although we both know she’s doing a heck of a lot more than dancing.

We pick up Buddy from Riley’s and head back to Whispering Woods.

Nora Archer is dead and she took all of Lydia Cole’s secrets with her.

25

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