Page 13 of Just Right

The woman turned down a side street. He veered after her, trying to contain the confusion in his mind, trying his best to keep sight of this very special person who might just be one of those he thought he would never see again.

She climbed into her car, and he glanced down at his phone again, feeling a weird sense of confidence that overrode his earlier anxiety.

Even if he lost her now, he knew he could find her again, because he had done his homework. He reached into his pocket, feeling the blue wristband he had there, ready for the moment ahead.

He smiled, feeling suddenly less nervous and a cold sureness inside.

Their stars were going to align.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Nick Simmel lived in a small apartment block in a residential suburb of Milwaukee, a mile to the south of where Leanne's body had been found. Sitting in the front seat of the police car that she and Connor had been loaned, Cami looked eagerly ahead as the road they wanted came into view.

There was the apartment block. Park Villas. Nick Simmel lived at number six.

The villas were located in a garden setting, spaced out around grounds that included a basketball court and a swimming pool.

"I don't have a recorded workplace for him," Connor said, getting out of the car. "I see something's just come through from Ethan."

His eyebrows raised as he read it. "It's not a workplace. It's a record. I see that Nick Simmel has had a restraining order filed against him in the past by a previous girlfriend. That could be significant."

Cami's eyes narrowed. The man was a stalker, for sure. Now, they needed to find out how far he’d taken things.

Connor strode up the garden path to villa number six and rapped hard on the door. Cami waited, feeling anxious now that they were about to come face to face with a suspected killer. She had to stop herself from shifting nervously from foot to foot.

It didn't seem like Nick Simmel was here. Perhaps there was a place of work where he'd gone, and it wasn't yet on the police database. Or perhaps he was hiding inside.

Was there anything she could use to help out that way? Cami looked around, her eyes scouring the area for any smart devices, any cameras, any sign of anything that she might be able to commandeer to take a peek inside, or else to flush Nick out.

She didn't see anything. But as she looked at the pool in the apartment block’s grounds, Cami noticed there was a man inside it, swimming laps with a fit, rhythmic stroke.

He had dark hair. That, she could see, slick and wet as it was. The man they were looking for had dark hair.

"Connor," she muttered. "Do you think he might be over there?"

Water had been an integral part of both these crimes, and now the man she thought was Nick Simmel was swimming in the pool.Was this possibly indicative of an obsession?Cami wondered.

Connor swung around and took a closer look at the pool. "Let's go and see," he said.

He strode away from the door, through the grounds, and eased open the gate in the swimming pool fence.

The man was at the far end of the pool, just busy completing a lap. He paused mid-stroke when he saw them and grasped the side of the pool.

"Nick Simmel?" Connor called out.

Now that they were closer, Cami was sure it was their man. She recognized the slightly hooded eyes and the shape of his chin that she’d seen in the group photo. Now, he'd paused his swim. He was watching them, and he looked tense and wary.

"Nick Simmel, FBI here. We need to ask you some questions," Connor insisted. He paced over to the edge of the pool and began moving around to where Nick was now frozen in place, gripping the side.

But as Connor walked, Cami saw, to her surprise, that Nick was moving too. He kicked off from the edge of the pool and swam into the center. There, he stood, shoulder deep in the water, glancing nervously at Connor.

"Nick, we need to ask you questions," Connor said.

Nick shook his head. "I'm not prepared to answer."

What?Cami's eyebrows rose in disbelief. This man was hiding out in plain sight in the middle of a pool, refusing to answer questions. And out of reach of the police.

She'd never heard of such a thing. Was this really how people behaved when they were faced with the FBI and clearly had something to hide?

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