Page 57 of Built of Illusions

Then she set the table for the ten of them. The table was big enough to hold several more and Aisling’s workmanship made her smile every time she saw the table. As did the group. Soon, they sat around, eating pasta, veggies, and homemade bread. And talking about a serial killer.

Would this be what it would be like to live here? Laughter interwoven into serious conversation. Teasing and listening. Like the perfect family she’d always imagined. Not a typical family with parents and kids, but a family nonetheless.

Her heart yearned to be part of it. Part of this group with Nico at her side.

Nico leaned in and whispered. “You okay?”

She smiled. “I am. Just thinking.”

“Nothing that’s going to scare me?”

That made her laugh. Would he be scared that she was thinking forever thoughts? “I don’t think so.”

Sam’s frustrated voice drew her attention. “We have to find where this bastard is hiding out. He can’t be completely off the grid.”

There was silence for a moment and then Josie decided to let the thought that was niggling in the back of her brain out. It had been stopping her from creating. It had been whispering to her that she was too cowardly. That no one would support her plan. But the thought was wrong. She was surrounded by support for the first time in her life.

She took a deep breath and felt Nico tense beside her. “What if we lure him here?”

That drew everyone’s attention to her and Nico squeezed her hand. “No.”

She squeezed back. “You’ve said it over and over again. Midnight Lake is filled with smart and determined people. We have a ton of security measures in place. If we can make him think it’s his idea to arrive here, we could catch him. Save the next woman.”

The entire group started talking at once, talking through the situation and looking at it from all angles. Josie paid them no attention as she watched Nico struggle with it.

“I don’t want him anywhere near you.”

She squeezed his hand again. “I don’t either. But I trust you more than I’ve trusted anyone in my whole life. And I trust everyone else here as well. If we come up with a plan and a bunch of backup plans, we could catch him. There’s no way he’s as smart as this collective group.”

His eyes remained locked on her, but she could see him analyzing the idea. She waited him out as the others talked. When he drew in a slow, deliberate breath, she knew he was considering the idea seriously.

As he opened his mouth to speak, his phone buzzed with a text. He peeked down at it and grimaced. “Roman.”

Her nerves spun. This wasn’t one of the scheduled contacts he had with his partner, which meant something had happened.

When he swore, the room quieted and everyone looked at him and waited.

He texted back to Roman and waited for another text before looking up. “That was Roman and we’ve got two pieces of news. First, Zenaida Marie Jiminez has been found alive and unharmed. She was on an impromptu trip with a friend and is now in a safe house.”

That was good, but Nico’s face told her the second piece of news wasn’t.

His words confirmed it. “The media has now listed me as a primary agent on the case and that I’m not currently in Sacramento or available for comment.”

He frowned as he looked at her. “Which probably means Adrian Nelson now has a pretty good idea where we are and that we don’t need to implement Josie’s plan because he’s probably already on his way.”

Chapter 19

A Dying Art

Nico paced the lodge’s main floor, unable to contain himself to one room. He needed to get inside Adrian Nelson’s head and figure out what the man would do.

He needed more insights than were available in the paperwork. He’d put in a request, okay several requests, to speak to Zenaida Jiminez, but so far he hadn’t been able to convince her to speak with him. In fact, the woman refused to say anything to anyone.

It would be so much easier if he could fly out to Seattle to speak with her in person, but there was no way he was leaving Josie again.

How could he convince Zenaida to speak with him?

He nearly bumped into Josie as he walked into the main room. She grabbed his hand and pulled him to sit on one of the couches and smiled at him. “You’re making everyone dizzy. What do you need?”

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