Page 65 of In the Bones
At the pantry, the door held open wide to hide her face, Stacy froze.
There was no name on the contact, just a series of hot pink hearts. “Wait a minute,” said Nicole. “Are youseeingsomeone? You are, aren’t you?” The words slid out through a grin. “Who’s hiding things now, huh?”
Nicole waited for her friend to laugh—OK, you’ve got me,I have a secret boyfriend—but when she came into full view, the mood in the house turned dark and cold.
The phone buzzed again. “Don’t,” Stacy said, stepping into the room, but it was too late. The device was in Nicole’s hand.
“It says he’s coming to your house.”
“Shit.” Stacy reached for her purse. “I have to go.”
“What’s going on?” Nicole couldn’t puzzle out the wild change in Stacy’s disposition. Her face was a mask of unalloyed, animal fear. “Who is this guy?” Nicole knew everything about Stacy’s life. How did she not know about this?
“Does it really matter?”
“Who, Stacy?”
Her eyes darted away. “His name is Terry. He’s—”
“Mikko’s contractor.” Nicole remembered his name. It was Stacy who’d referred the guy to Mikko for the renovation.Terry’s a magician, she’d said about his work. “How long has this been going on?”
“Not long,” Stacy said quietly. “Since last summer.”
“What? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Look, I’ll explain everything later. Just give me my phone.” Her purse swung from her outstretched arm. “I mean it, Nic. I have to go.”
In Nicole’s sweating hand, the phone dinged one last time, the message like a searing brand on her skin.
I think the police know the truth about Woody.
FIFTY-FOUR
Tim
“Have you got a minute for Mrs. Durham?” said the uniform sergeant who manned the lobby at the state police barracks. “She says she has some information on the Patten case.”
“Send her back,” Tim replied, hanging up the phone and pushing his chair away from the desk. This, he wanted to hear.
That face. He knew all about the attack, but the aftermath still came as a shock. He took Nicole, who’d declined his offer of coffee or tea, to an interview room. She was fidgety and flushed and kept casting glances over her shoulder. Tim couldn’t blame her.
As the camera recorded, she told him about her conversation with Stacy Peel and what she’d learned about Terry Martino.I think the police know the truth about Woody, Terry’s final message had read. Nicole had pressed Stacy for details, but she’d grabbed her phone and burst out of the house, tearing off in the direction of her own home.
“Why were Stacy and Terry Martino talking about my husband?” Nicole asked. “What do you think it means?”
Nicole’s question was an appeal for help, but Tim had no idea what Terry had been referring to. The text was vague, with too many possible meanings. On the heels of Tim’s conversation with Eva about what she’d seen at the resort, though, the intel on Stacy and Terry’s relationship was interesting.
The warrant Tim had been waiting for came through shortly after Nicole left, as did the call from Michael LaPine, Mikko’s finance guy, whom Tim greeted on the line. LaPine’s voice was a rusty hinge and he paused often to grease it with something bubbly that he drank from a straw. Tim could hear the fizz.
“I apologize for being unavailable yesterday. My secretary said you had some questions about Mikko Helle?”
“That’s right,” said Tim. “I don’t know if you’re aware of what’s been going on up here—”
“Oh, I’m aware. Mikko told me all about it. We talk often,” LaPine said. “I don’t know why he still retains my services, though. The guy rarely takes my advice.”
LaPine hesitated before going on, but given he was under legal order to provide the information, he acquiesced. In the last year alone, LaPine explained, the former professional hockey player had dropped close to two million on a riverfront home, the associated renovation, and the Rivermouth Arena. “I told him it wasn’t fiscally responsible,” he said. “But Mikko’s always been terrible with money. It wasn’t a problem while he was still playing, but now … it isn’t like there are endless checks rolling in. He’s done a few endorsement gigs,” he went on, “but two years post-career, there isn’t much interest anymore. He never went to college or worked a traditional job. Hockey was his whole life—until it wasn’t. It’s all he knows. Couple that with a lavish lifestyle, and it’s a recipe for trouble.”
“So you advised Mr. Helle not to spend that money?” said Tim.
