Page 31 of Secret Weapon

“Hey, why don’t you sit down?Uh, not in here because it might be a crime scene, but maybe outside?”

Nico folded his arms.“I’m sorry, and you are…?”

“Emerson Black and Halina Chastain.We’re staying in this fine establishment.”

“And how do you know Ms.Marquette is in the hospital?”

“It’s a long story, but the short version is that we saw the medics load her into the ambulance.”

“She had an accident?”

“No, what happened to her was more deliberate, I’d say.”

“Then we should call the police.”

Nico pulled out a phone, but I held up a hand.

“Way ahead of you, pal.Deputy Mendez is already with Ottie Marquette.”

“And Deputy…uh, Colt is out on a boat,” Hallie added.“Heisanother deputy, right?”

“Yes, and Colt is out onmyboat,” Nico said.“I’ll contact him.Leona, are you all right?What happened to your room?”

“I don’t… I don’t know.When I got back from my class, there was all this mess, and…and… Is Ottie gonna be okay?Where’s Gidget?”

“What type of dog is Gidget?”I asked.The only mutt anyone had previously mentioned belonged to Shauna, but I could call Ana and get her to take a look around.

“Uh… Uh…”

“A small one,” Nico supplied.“Something white with brown ears?”

“I think it’s a papillon,” the guard said.“My sister-in-law has one.”

I raised an eyebrow, and Hallie shook her head.“It was a different dog.”

“Could we start at the beginning?”Nico waved a hand towards the main building.“We can talk in my office.Trent, don’t let anyone near this building.And radio Matthew—find out how somebody managed to get to Leona’s room in the first place.The grounds are supposed to be secure.”

“Yes, sir.”

Nico was clearly a man who expected to be obeyed because he strode off without waiting to check we were following.Oh, what the hell… My curiosity had been piqued.I texted Ana on the way and noticed Nico sending a message too, presumably to Deputy Colt.

“How did you know about Colt?”I asked Hallie.

“Brooke mentioned his name when she was talking about Luca.”

“Good spot.”

Nico had picked his office furniture from the Fortune 500 CEO catalogue—a dick extension of a desk, a quartet of uncomfortable chairs grouped around a table too low to be of any practical use, and glass shelves full of books.Did the books even open?Once upon a time, I’d nosed around the office of a big-shot movie exec, and all of his books had been fake, just leather spines and wooden blocks, which made sense because he was the dumbest son of a bitch I’d ever met.Inherited his money and his job from daddy and drove his Porsche off a bridge during a cocaine-fuelled bender not two months after our chat.His kid’s mom—our client—had to sue his estate for child support.

But when I peered closer at Nico’s books, some of the spines were cracked.Leo Tolstoy, Ayn Rand, Franz Kafka, Marcel Proust in the original French… Nico Belinsky wasn’t a fool.

He waved towards the seats around the coffee table, and when an assistant hurried in behind us, he asked for refreshments and a box of tissues.

“Who wants to start?”he asked.“Leona?”

“I don’t know what happened.When I left to teach my morning classes, Ottie was there, and then she wasn’t, and all our stuff…”

Those tissues couldn’t come fast enough.

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