“I never got a good look. It was too dark and he had a hoodie pulled over his face.”
Nikki’s mind flashed back to the silhouette she’d glimpsed in her backyard during the storm. She’d managed to convince herself she’d seen nothing more than a tree. The lightning had played tricks on her vision. No one had been watching her house. But now—
“What’s wrong?” Adam asked. “You look like you just saw a ghost.”
She glanced up. “Not a ghost. I thought I saw someone in my backyard last night. He may or may not have been wearing a hoodie.”
Adam’s voice sharpened. “When was this?”
“During the storm, so it must have been after midnight. The thunder woke me up. I got up for a drink of water and went out to the back porch to watch the weather. The lightning was pretty keen at that point. It lit up the backyard. That’s when I saw someone standing just inside my gate.”
“What did he look like? Can you describe him?”
“Not really. I only caught a glance. I thought it was just my imagination. I’m still not certain I saw anything other than a tree or a bush.”
“The guy at the cabin was big,” Adam said. “Tall and muscular but quick on his feet.”
Her gaze flicked to his cuts and bruises. “Did he do that to you?”
“Did he kick my ass, you mean? Yeah. Right after he tried to shoot me.”
“Through all that, you never saw his face?”
His gaze turned wry. “I was a little busy fighting for my life.”
Nikki took a moment to visualize the fight. “Do you think he could be the same person we saw on the lake two nights ago?”
“I wouldn’t discount it.”
“I wonder what he was doing at Dr. Nance’s cabin.”
“Maybe the same thing he was doing on the lake—looking for something,” Adam said. “Right now we need to figure out who he is and what he wants, because I think the same guy tried to run me down on my way here.”
“Just now, you mean?” Nikki’s pulse quickened. This was all getting to be too real. Hard to rationalize one incident after another as coincidental. Assuming Adam Thayer was telling the truth, and she had no reason to doubt him. What if someone really had been in her backyard last night? What if Dr. Nance’s death hadn’t been an accident after all?
But why would someone come after her? Or Adam Thayer, for that matter? What dark thing was going on in Belle Pointe?
His gaze deepened as if he’d read her mind. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine. But this is all pretty unnerving,” she said. “Someone shot at you and tried to run you down. Could this be related to the incident in Dallas?”
“The incident?”
Her gaze lifted to the scar across his scalp. “The shooting. Could someone have followed you here?”
“I doubt it. Why would someone who tailed me to Belle Pointe end up in your backyard? No, I think this is all somehow tied to Dr. Nance’s drowning.”
Nikki drew a breath and nodded. “I’m afraid it’s beginning to look that way. I don’t suppose you can identify the driver?”
He took a sip of the cooling coffee and winced. “It happened too fast, and looking back, I think the windows must have been tinted. Whoever this guy is, he knows how to keep his face concealed. I can describe the vehicle, though. It was an old panel truck covered in primer. There wasn’t a plate. For a moment, I thought the driver was going to jump the curb and plow right into me. He swerved back into traffic at the last minute.”
“Did anyone else see it happen?”
“There were other cars on the road, but I was the only pedestrian at that intersection. I’ll check to see if any of the businesses in the immediate vicinity have security cams. That might be our best bet in tracking him down.”
Nikki said slowly, “I saw that truck go by my house last night. Or one very much like it.”
He glanced up. “Before or after you spotted someone in your backyard?”
“After. I heard a vehicle start up down the street and I got up to look out the window. I remember thinking how odd it was to see a delivery truck at that time of night, much less in the middle of a storm.”
“I have to say, this is getting stranger and stranger,” Adam muttered.
Yeah, no kidding.
“You don’t remember seeing a vehicle like that around town?” he asked.
“Delivery trucks, sure, but not an old one covered in primer.” Nikki paused, her gaze once more roaming over the other customers. Most of them were absorbed in their coffee and phones. No one seemed to take notice of the couple seated by the window engaged in an intense conversation. But she kept her voice down anyway. “What were you doing at Dr. Nance’s cabin last night?”
“I took my grandmother’s boat over to have a look around. The police were there earlier, but I wanted to check things out for myself.”
“Because you thought you could find something they missed?”
“I did find something.” Now it was Adam who glanced around. He seemed to take note of the customers and then studied the street. Nikki followed his gaze, almost expecting to see the panel truck parked at the curb or a tall, muscular man in a hoodie watching the shop. She detected nothing out of the ordinary, but her apprehension heightened as she turned back to Adam.
“What did you find?”
His gaze on her seemed even more intense. Relentlessly dark and unfathomable. “Remember earlier when I asked about the significance of the number forty-seven? You implied it meant something to Dr. Nance.”
“Yes. It was the year he was born. 1947.”
“That’s it?”
“As far as I know. Why?”
He explained about the tilting-at-windmills phrase Dr. Nance had used during their last phone conversation, the copy of Don Quixote he’d found on the table next to the recliner and the rolled note that had been tucked
