When she’d first heard that homicide was being called in, that little Joey was believed to have been smothered, that Natalie was their number one suspect, she hadn’t believed it. She’d seen Natalie with Joey. Seen how careful she was with him since his health was so precarious.
But there had been only one other person in that house that afternoon and it was Tricia. According to her sister, she’d been upstairs asleep and had only come down when she’d heard Natalie screaming. It was no wonder the woman had been arrested. Who else could have killed Joey?
That was why Mo had come here to end this nightmare. For weeks she’d rationalized what she had planned, no matter how crazy it seemed most days. Now, she looked the deputy in the eye and told the truth based on what she knew at this moment. “She’ll kill again. Unless she’s stopped.”
“You just know that, right?” he asked, his gaze intent on her. “You have no idea if that is true or not or even if she is the killer.” She didn’t bother to answer. “Okay, let’s say you’re right. How exactly do you plan to stop her?”
“That is the question, isn’t it?”
“It seems pretty simple. You’re no longer a cop—”
“I’m only suspended,” she said in her defense, but wondered how long before they found out what she was up to and fired her.
“My point is,” he continued, “you have no authority to take her in, and I understand there are no charges pending against her at this point—only suspicions. So why do this? As a homicide detective you know what will happen if you kill her in cold blood.”
“You and I wouldn’t have been having this discussion only a few months ago. Since then, things have gotten...complicated.”
“You’re a vigilante cop upset with the system. Doesn’t seem all that complicated. Why take it on yourself? I understand that since Natalie was released, other law enforcement departments are reviewing deaths where the woman might have been involved. If she’s guilty, it will be just a matter of time before she’s under arrest again and a jury will decide,” he said.
Mo let out a snort. “What you say may be true, but there isn’t time to prove you wrong.” She flipped her hair back and met his gaze, narrowing those tropical-sea-blue eyes on him. “When Natalie gets out of that hospital she’ll run. She’ll be looking for her next job. Her next victim. Someone has to stop her.”
“If she’s guilty.” He was studying her. She felt the burn of his gaze on her skin. “Admit it. You’re having your doubts, especially after what she said to you. I saw your reaction. Tell me and I’ll get out of here.”
She snorted at that. “You’re wrong. Nothing Natalie could ever say would convince me that she isn’t a killer. So I guess you and I have nothing more to say to each other.” She turned her back on the cowboy deputy.
“You change your mind, you let me know.”
BRICK STUDIED THE woman a few moments longer. She had her slim back to him now, her head held high, radiating self-confidence and righteousness. He remembered what the deputy outside Natalie’s hospital room door had said about the blonde. At the hospital, he hadn’t had the time to get a really good look at her. She was definitely attractive from her thick blond hair that fell over one sea-blue eye before dropping in an asymmetrical cut to her shoulders to her slim, clearly physically fit body. He hadn’t known what to expect on actually meeting her, but it was clear to him that she was sharp. She didn’t come across as some crackpot on a mission.
Yet while her original intention seemed perfectly clear to him, something had changed when Natalie Berkshire had spoken to her. That intrigued him. Mo hadn’t made any bones about her belief that Natalie was guilty. What could the nanny have said to her that would keep her from doing something that she said she was still committed to finishing?
He thought of the pillow on the floor, convinced that his walking into the room wasn’t what had stopped her. But he also couldn’t imagine what Natalie could have said.
He’d seen the conviction still in Mo’s eyes. She wouldn’t stop until she found the woman and ended this—one way or another. And like Natalie, soon this woman, too, would be free to do just that.
And that was what had him worried as he left and drove toward the hospital. Mo Mortensen’s certainty that Natalie would kill again had him rattled. He was even more anxious to see Natalie Berkshire after talking to the cop. He needed to decide for himself if she was a monster or a victim.
Also, he wanted know exactly what Natalie had said to her, because he no longer believed the woman was catatonic. He could even understand why she was faking it. She was running scared. It was why she’d bailed out of Billings—only to get caught by someone he suspected had been seeking his own kind of justice. Natalie had to know the person would come after her again—or someone like him—not to mention the law now looking for her.
The woman had to know that her house of cards was about to come crashing down on her at any moment—whether she was guilty or not. Wasn’t there still the chance, though, that she wasn’t?
As he walked down the hall toward Natalie’s room, he noticed the deputy leaning back in his chair outside her door, legs outstretched. The deputy appeared to be asleep. As he got closer, he saw that the man’s hat
