Page 41 of Nothing Watching

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Fischer’s news was unprecedented, and Juliette was left momentarily breathless. The twists and turns in this case were relentless. It kept wrenching itself free from all their carefully researched parameters. She had to fight to keep focused on hearing the bombshell.

She asked the most important question first.

“Is the victim hurt? How bad?”

“She’s got damage to her windpipe. She had an emergency tracheotomy on the scene and was rushed to the hospital,” Fischer said. “She’s undergoing surgery right now.”

And the next question, the other important one. “Is she American?”

“No. She is Polish. Zofia Nowak is her name. She has her passport with her, and has never been to America. We checked immediately. She is very similar in appearance to the others, though.”

That news hit Juliette like a punch in the gut, shattering more of their preconceived ideas about this case, and this killer.

“Any witnesses?”

“There is a man here who saw something. In fact, he tried to intervene. We are keeping him on the scene.”

“Please send coordinates. We’re an hour’s drive away and we’ll be there as soon as possible.”

Now, the decision to drive out of town was seeming like a terrible one. They were an hour behind, and this killer had changed things up and was breaking all the rules.

Already, seeing Juliette’s expression and hearing the questions she was asking, both Wyatt and Sierra were looking startled.

“Let’s go,” Juliette said. She turned and hustled out of the municipal offices. The suspect Carter—whom they’d not even seen, but at this stage, nothing could surprise her—had been ruled out through sheer logistics.

His alibi for the night of Hannah’s death seemed sound, but they could confirm it later, and one thing was clear: he hadn’t been in Berlin ten minutes ago, trying to murder another woman in broad daylight.

Once out, she broke into a run, sprinting through the cloudy morning to the car and jumping in. Only when they were already speeding toward the main road did she have time to explain the details to the others.

“The killer has just targeted another victim. Attempted murder,” Juliette said, her voice tight with urgency. “This time, she’s Polish. Zofia Nowak is her name.”

There were simultaneous gasps from the other two.

“In daylight?” Wyatt said, sounding shocked.

“And she’s not American?” Sierra sounded as confused as Juliette felt. “I thought he was targeting Americans.”

“We all did. But now it seems that was coincidence.” Grimly, Juliette gripped the wheel, steering as fast as she could through the traffic.

“Is this woman okay?” Wyatt asked.

“She’s undergoing surgery for damage to her windpipe.” Juliette pulled out abruptly, seeing a gap, veering past a slower-moving truck. She knew in most of the US that action would have caused a bevy of annoyed horn blasting, but in Germany, people were definitely politer on the road. She didn’t receive any blaring criticism for her actions. Quickly, if a little too late, she turned on the car’s flashing light.

“And did anyone see what happened?” Sierra queried.

“I believe there is a witness, but I don’t know how much he saw. We need to get to the scene as soon as possible.”

Juliette knew this could change everything. With this attempted murder of a non–US citizen, they could be pulled off the case. The authorities, already now distrustful of their competency as the body count piled up, might decide now was a good time to remove the task force and hand the case back to the German police. Nobody wanted that, and it wouldn’t be good for anyone, but if political pressure from the chief of police and his connections was strong enough then there would be no choice.

“At any rate, with the timing of this crime and Hannah’s murder, it’s clear it wasn’t Heinrich Carter,” she said.

“No. Especially given the fact that this victim is not American.”

“I guess we didn’t need to speak to him then,” Wyatt said. “Not usual protocol, but it seems like this case is turning everything on its head.”

“I know. It is.”

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