“Could he be fishing?” Adam peered through the darkness, trailing his gaze slowly along the bank, then darting back when he spotted the silhouette.
“Whoever he is, I doubt he’s fishing,” Nikki murmured. “I never heard a boat. He must have walked down from the bridge.”
He was too far away and it was too dark out even with the full moon to tell who he was or what he might be up to. For all they knew, the man could have a perfectly innocent reason for sitting in the shadows staring out at the lake. But he wasn’t that far from where Dr. Nance’s body had been recovered. That and his stealthy behavior triggered Adam’s wariness.
“Do you think he heard about Dr. Nance?” Nikki asked. “Maybe he came out here to see where it happened.”
“Like one of the creeps who shows up at crime and accident scenes out of morbid curiosity?”
“It would explain why he’s just sitting there,” she mused.
Adam turned on his flashlight and shone it down toward the water.
The beam wasn’t bright enough to penetrate all the way down to the bank, but it got the person’s attention. Instead of running away, he turned on a spotlight and directed the beam up to the very window where they stood.
“DAMN.” ADAM TURNED OFF his flashlight and motioned for Nikki to move back from the window.
She eased into the shadows as her breath quickened. “What do you think he’s doing?”
“No idea.” Adam kept to the side of the window as he glanced out. “But that’s a powerful light to lug around for some random weirdo looking for a death scene.”
His face looked suddenly threatening in the moonlight and his whole body seemed to tense. Nikki had worked closely with law enforcement her entire career. She was in her element around most cops, but there was something about Adam Thayer that continued to unnerve her. It wasn’t just the fact that she couldn’t place him or even the way he looked at her. The man obviously had secrets. What had really happened to him in Dallas and why was Tom Brannon so suspicious of that shooting? Was he that protective of his sister or had he picked up the same uneasy vibe that now trickled down Nikki’s backbone, forming an icy knot at the base of her spine?
She said nervously, “People use spotlights all the time on the lake. Sometimes logs float just beneath the surface. Not to mention all the other hidden debris in the water that can bend a prop or puncture a fiberglass hull.”
“As you pointed out, he’s not in a boat.” Adam left the window and crossed the room to check the hallway.
Nikki turned to track him. “What are you doing? Did you hear something?”
“No. Just making sure.” He glanced both ways down the corridor before turning back into the room.
Nikki watched him in the moonlight. That sense of fate kept tugging, making her self-conscious of his nearness and too hypersensitive to the doubts that Tom Brannon had voiced about him earlier.
“Maybe he’s waiting for a drug deal to go down,” she said in a hushed voice. “There’s a big meth and fentanyl problem in this county.” The spotlight went off and the room once again fell into darkness. Adam eased back up to the window. Nikki moved to the other side. “Can you still see him?”
“No. He may have taken off when he realized he wasn’t alone.”
She peered out into the darkness. “You don’t think he’d come up here, do you? He obviously saw your light.”
“I doubt it, but I’ll go down and check things out. You stay here and keep watch.”
She shot him a worried look. “Do you think that’s wise? If a drug deal is in progress, there’ll be others out there or on their way. Those people don’t mess around. I’ve seen their handiwork.”
“I’ll be fine. Keep your eyes peeled, but stay out of sight. Let me know if you spot anything out of the ordinary.”
“What’s out of the ordinary?” Nikki muttered.
“Any suspicious movement.”
“I’m assuming you don’t want me to shout a warning out the window,” she said.
“Good point.”
They exchanged phones, entered their numbers and then swapped back. Adam took another look out the window before he disappeared into the hallway. Nikki remained on guard, her attention riveted along the bank as she listened to the creaking floorboards in the corridor and the soft thud of retreating footsteps on the stairs.
A few moments later, Adam exited the building and made his way through the weeds to the top of the embankment. He started down without a backward glance and was soon lost to her view. She picked him up again when he got to the bottom and headed along the bank. He moved quickly, using shadows and trees for cover. Nikki swept the area, but detected no other movement. The night seemed very still all of a sudden. Even the breeze had died away.
He left the trail and headed into the woods. Nikki watched and waited, her muscles taut with tension. What an evening this had turned out to be. She’d barely had time to process Dr. Nance’s death, much less to grieve. Maybe it was better this way. Time enough later to plunge down that dark rabbit hole. She knew from past experience it would be no easy feat to crawl back out. She preferred to drift a little longer in shock and disbelief.
After a bit, her phone pinged and she glanced at the screen.
All clear. Don’t see anyone around.
She texted back: Are you coming back up?
Headed that way now.
She pocketed the phone and watched until she knew the coast was clear before she left her position at the window. Locating the loose floorboard, she knelt and used the blade of her grandfather’s Swiss Army knife to pry up the edge so that she could slip the board from the groove. Then she shone her flashlight down into the space. Cobwebs shimmered. Brushing aside the sticky threads, she reached into
