Page 30 of In the Bones
“Happy birthday, Sis,” Maureen had replied, wrapping her in a hug.
Nicole said, “Woody knew and didn’t give it away?” to which Mac shrugged.
“Maybe he’s turning a corner.”
If only, thought Nicole. Before things got better with Woody, they were likely to get a lot worse.
Fresh drink in hand, Nicole scanned the room once more. Every face was familiar, all of them belonging to people she’d known for years. The exception was the one by the double doors, open now to the resort’s main hall.
“Eva,” Nicole said when, breathless, she reached the doors. “What are you doing here?”
Eva Ki looked completely different from the polished young woman Nicole had met at the house. Dressed in jeans and awhite sweatshirt, her dark hair piled wildly atop her head, she could have passed for one of Blair or Alana’s friends.
“I was going to the bar,” she said, looking flustered. “Is that for you? The party?”
Nicole lifted her drink. “It’s my birthday.”
“Happy birthday.” Not a trace of enthusiasm in Eva’s voice.
Nicole said, “I thought you were staying in Clayton, at the hotel by the water.”
“I was,” she said coolly. “I’m not anymore.”
Nicole swiveled her head to look back at the party. She and Mikko’s girlfriend stood in full view of the guests, under the floodlight-bright chandeliers in the hall. Nicole could see Shana and Tim near the window, talking to Blair. Listening, no doubt, as Blair conveyed her excitement about her plan to attend college with Nash. The detectives were occupied, neither one looking her way. And yet.
“Want to talk for a minute?”
Reluctantly, Eva gave a nod and Nicole guided her away from the door, out of view of the room. They stopped beneath a large framed photo of Boldt Castle, the black-and-white image capturing its restoration decades prior. With part of the roof missing and no glass in the windows, the landmark looked like a haunted mansion.
“Are you doing OK?” Nicole asked. “Yesterday was pretty crazy.”
Eva shrugged. She’d wrapped her arms around herself, the sleeves of her white sweatshirt binding her like a straitjacket. “Those bones … it’s just so awful. As if the woman in the ceiling wasn’t bad enough. The detective who interviewed me.” Eva nodded toward the door. “Why is she here?”
It took Nicole a second to realize that Eva was referring to Shana. “Friend of the family,” she said simply, not wanting to explain that her sister was the sheriff, Maureen’s friends all state cops. “Shana interviewed you?”
Eva nodded. “You?”
“I got a different detective,” she said, “but yeah, they questioned me too.”
“I didn’t really know what to say. I told them about thesounds I’d heard,” said Eva, “and that I felt like I was being watched, but I don’t know anything about the … the bones. Do you think—”
She snapped her lips closed. Nash had stepped out into the hall. Blair’s boyfriend made a point of wishing Nicole a happy birthday, calling her Mrs. D, which she liked because it made her feel young and something close to cool. But the way he swayed as he walked by reminded her that she’d seen Nash near the bar, nuzzling Blair’s ear, with a hand resting far too low on her back. Even with the sheriff of the whole damn county in the room, the kid had gotten into the booze, and Nicole could do without a lecture from Nash’s mother.
When he’d disappeared down the side hall toward the bathrooms, Nicole looked expectantly at Eva.
“At first I wondered if that woman had something to do with this,” Eva went on.
Nicole said, “Me too, but it sounds like the victim died months ago, so unless this isn’t the intruder’s first time at the house …” She didn’t mention that the woman, Jenny, had escaped, or that there was an effort underway to capture her. Eva looked upset enough as it was.
“Months ago,” Eva repeated. “And the bones have been in the house that whole time?”
“Looks that way.”
“Mikko bought the house in September.”
“Yeah. If I had to guess, the detectives are trying to figure out who had access to it late last year.” Nicole considered holding back her feelings about Mikko Helle, but if the man was as much trouble as she suspected he might be, his girlfriend deserved to know. “That includes Mikko,” she said. “They’ll dig into his life. That’s how these things go.” What would they find, Nicole wondered, when they did?
Underneath her hoodie, Eva’s chest rose and fell. “When it started,” she said, “Mikko didn’t even notice. Honestly, for a minute I thought it was him. We were over there swimming one day, in the river, and when I went to shower there was this ring of soap scum around the tub. I hadn’t used it yet, and Mikko doesn’t take baths. I thought maybe it was one of theworkers, like he had to rinse out a bucket or something? But the next day, I was there alone for a bit while Mikko dealt with something at town hall, and I saw footprints. A trail of little puddles leading from the bathroom door to the closet.”
