Page 54 of Built of Illusions

Josie let out a shaky breath. “This seems out of character. Why does he want me to know he’s aware of where I am? All the other items were anonymous and easy to miss. This isn’t either of those things.”

Nico’s voice came from the phone. “Josie’s right. This is an escalation. If no other women are getting packages, it’s become personal. How would he have found out about our connection? Why does he want us to know?”

“Unless he’s simply trying to get me to wonder or worry. I wonder if the other women received other packages by mail a few weeks before he…” She couldn’t say the words aloud.

A few faces turned to her and Nico’s laugh echoed in the room. “Are you sure you won’t trade in your paintbrushes for a badge? That’s a brilliant observation. We’ll start checking that.”

Which meant she might not be a special target. She really didn’t want to be a special target.

Flynn squeezed her shoulder. “It could be his ritual to send an item at a certain time frame for each woman. The bastard has put a lot of convoluted plans into this little show for us. It’s time one of those twists took him down.”

A certain time frame meaning less than six weeks before he killed her.

On the phone, Nico said, “Boss is calling. Gotta go.”

The rest of the group focused on the toy bridge and Josie had to get out of there. She needed her sketchpads.

Flynn and Tessa followed her out and over to the lodge but didn’t question her. Once they were locked in the lodge, she turned to them. “I’m going upstairs to sketch for a bit.”

They both nodded and she fled up to Nico’s room. Their room.

She needed to be alone for a bit. Well, she’d rather have Nico with her, but she didn’t need to worry anyone else. Everyone was tiptoeing around things like a certain time frame and avoiding the fact that she was a target. If she left them to do their thing, they might catch Nelson more quickly.

Josie curled up in a chair by a window overlooking the lake. The clouds were thick and heavy. More snow would be falling soon.

She wished her fingers itched to paint the scenery. It would be wonderful to get lost in the beauty of Vermont in late winter. Even on a dull day with no sunshine, there was drama in every view.

But the only thing she could do was sketch. The other women and him.

Always him.

Chapter 18

For All The World To See

Nico hated being cut off from the investigation, but flying was by far the quickest way to get from Sacramento to Vermont.

At least he could access calls and texts through Wi-Fi, but it wasn’t the same. Neither was being trapped in a seat so he couldn’t speak freely. He wanted to talk to Josie. Wanted to hold her.

He had hours before that could happen so he tried to focus on building a profile of Adrian Nelson based on what they knew and suspected. He was also reviewing all the data for anything they might have missed.

What he missed was Josie. He’d been an idiot to fly back to California. Roman could have handled the physical part and he could have focused on the research. But he’d wanted to take down Adrian Nelson, wanted to be the one who locked him in a cell. Wanted to be the one to protect Josie.

But none of that mattered. He should have stayed with Josie, stayed in Vermont. At Midnight Lake.

He’d thought Sam’s vision of Midnight Security was a good one from the start. Nico had invested his money along with both his sweat and idea equity for the place. Maybe it was time to turn to it full time once Nelson was in jail.

It had always been more of a someday idea, but maybe someday was now. Was he ready to leave the FBI? It had been a dream career for so long.

As a kid, he’d always wanted to be like his parents. Good people who helped. Through her job, his mom kept companies on track and helped young entrepreneurs like Tansy. His dad was a cop through and through. They’d also been foster parents as long as he could remember.

When Joe and Tansy’s parents had been killed by a strung-out driver with bad brakes, the siblings had moved to live with Nico’s family. They’d already had Sam in the house and it hadn’t been long before the three boys had become a unit. They’d all been in the same grade and had played sports together.

They’d all decided to join the FBI together, a direct result of the deaths of June and Robert Cheveyo. From there, they’d found their own paths and enjoyed their careers.

Then Sam had bailed from the FBI after working for years chasing down the bastards who kidnapped and hurt kids. Even though he wouldn’t admit it, Joe was burning out as one of the lead hostage negotiators in the country.

Nico knew he was on that burnout path as well. His self-awareness was too strong for him to hide that fact from himself, no matter how hard he’d been trying.

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