Page 12 of Crime Lab Cold Case (Pacific Northwest Forensics #2)

As she pulled in front of Nicole’s house, she saw immediately that no fancy developer had touched this place.

Nicole had definitely made some improvements to the original, though.

A neat, wooden fence ringed the property.

Tidy flower boxes adorned the windows, and fall blooms added a touch of color to the freshly painted clapboard front.

Beige pavers with flecks of gold created a path to the front door beneath the towering pines.

Even the trees had been trimmed into manageable accents to the house without overpowering it.

Nicole opened the door before Natalie had a chance to knock. “Welcome. I’m glad you found me out here.”

“What a lovely spot.” Natalie held up the bottle of wine. “Hope you like red.”

“Perfect.” Nicole studied the label. “It’ll go with the Indian food I ordered. I hope you like Indian. I didn’t get anything too spicy.”

“The spicier the better.”

Crooking her finger, Nicole said, “Follow me to the kitchen. You can pour while I plate the food. The delivery guy just left.”

Natalie squeezed into the tiny kitchen behind Nicole.

Her host apparently hadn’t had the time, inclination or money to spruce up the inside of her place as much as the outside.

The old-fashioned kitchen sported the original linoleum in a faded gold, with the dated appliances lined up against both walls.

At least the food smelled good. The pungent aroma of curry hung in the air, with an undercurrent of warm, sweet cardamom, which gave the kitchen a homey feel.

Nicole reached into a cupboard and took out two wineglasses. “Fill ’em up.”

As Nicole dumped the food from the cartons into glass serving dishes, Natalie filled each small wineglass almost to the halfway point. She had to drive back to her hotel, and she and her rental car were still getting acquainted.

“Should I put the raita in a dish?” Nicole held up a small Styrofoam cup of the yogurt accompaniment to their spicy food.

“Nah. Let’s live dangerously and spoon it out from the take-out container. In fact, we could’ve done that with all the food and saved you some dishes.”

Nicole shook her head. “It’s bad enough that I can’t cook. I can at least present someone else’s food in a pleasing way.”

They carried the dishes to the table, where Nicole had set two places with World Market-type colorful plates and placemats. They sat across from each other and toasted.

As they clinked glasses, Nicole said, “To a speedy and satisfactory audit.”

“I will definitely drink to that—and to one that doesn’t ruffle anyone’s feathers.”

“About that—” Nicole gave her a glance from the corner of her eye “—you just took me by surprise today when you suggested you wanted a look at the evidence-receiving room on your own. It’s my little fiefdom, and I’m protective over it.

Of course, I understand why you need to survey it, just like you will for any other area of the lab. ”

“And I understand your balking at the idea. I’d be the same if someone wanted to look over my files.”

Nicole raised her glass again. “So here’s to understanding all around.”

As they ate and chatted about the lab, Natalie’s gaze wandered over Nicole’s shoulder to take in the pictures on the sideboard.

She zeroed in on one with Nicole in a wedding dress, standing next to a smiling man in a tux.

She had to hand it to Nicole. Natalie didn’t have any of her ex on display, wedding or otherwise.

Nicole twisted her head around. “Ah, my wedding picture.”

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to be nosy.” Natalie ripped off a corner from the naan on her plate. “I’m divorced, too, but I boxed up my wedding photos.”

Nicole swirled her wine before taking a sip. “I’m not divorced. I’m a widow.”

Natalie put down her fork and reached across the table to squeeze Nicole’s hand. “I’m so sorry. What happened?”

“Suicide.”

Natalie squeezed harder. “That’s awful, Nicole.”

Nicole sniffed and dabbed her nose with a napkin. “He was a cop. Had a lot of those typical cop problems.”

Feeling as if she’d been intrusive enough for one night, Natalie went back to her food and waited for Nicole to continue…if she wanted.

She didn’t.

“Anyway, do you like the food? I love Indian, and we have just two restaurants in town. This is the better one. The other is more for quick takeout.”

“It’s delicious. Great choice.”

After that bombshell, conversation lagged between the two of them. Questions swarmed in Natalie’s head, but Nicole had shut down any more discussion about her deceased husband.

She helped Nicole in the kitchen and when they finished, Nicole offered her coffee and homemade cookies.

“It’s funny. I don’t like to cook, but I do like to bake, and I think I’m pretty good at it.”

“I’m sure you are, but honestly, I can’t eat another bite of food. Maybe you should bring the cookies to the lab tomorrow and put them out in the lunchroom.”

“I’ve done that before.” Nicole placed two plastic containers in a bag and pushed it toward Natalie. “If you’re not going to have a cookie, take some of this leftover food. You can bring it for lunch tomorrow…unless you and Michael are going to make your lunch dates a habit.”

Natalie glanced sharply at Nicole, but she’d ducked into the fridge to put away more food.

Is that what the lab thought? She and Michael were on lunch dates while the rest of them worried about what she’d find in the audit that might implicate them in wrongdoing?

She picked up the bag. “That is a good idea. Then I can use more of my per diem for dinner instead of spending it on work lunches.”

Nicole held up the bottle of wine. “You’re going to leave this with me to finish off, aren’t you?”

“Better you than me. I gotta drive home.” Natalie made a move toward the door. “Thanks again, Nicole. Dinner was great, but I hope everyone is not taking Michael seriously and inviting the orphan home for dinner.”

“They probably will.” Nicole winked. “We all want to stay on your good side.”

“This doesn’t hurt.” Natalie raised the plastic bag of food and swung it in the air with her fingertips.

Nicole walked her out to her car, and Natalie lifted her face to the mist that had rolled in and clung to the needles of the pines. “Smells good out here.”

“It’s lovely. That’s why I won’t move.”

“Don’t blame you.” Why should Nicole move? Had this been her husband’s house? Had he ended his life here?

Natalie climbed into the car and placed the bag of food on the passenger side. “Thanks again.”

She reversed out of Nicole’s driveway and bumped along the access road back to the highway.

Her fingers scrabbled around the steering wheel and column to find the high beams. She didn’t want to hit any unsuspecting animals crossing the road.

She worried less about people and cars, as not too many populated the highway or forest at this time of night—not typically.

When she hit the first curve in the road, she had to pump the brakes. She should be used to hopping into rental cars and adapting given the amount of traveling she did for the Bureau, but every car seemed different.

A red light blinked on the dashboard, and she dropped her gaze to read it.

Some weird-shaped icon blinked back at her.

How the hell was she supposed to read that?

Couldn’t be the gas. The rental company had given her a car with a full tank, and she’d hardly driven anywhere since she arrived in Marysville.

The road dipped and the car picked up speed.

At least it was still running. She tapped the brakes, and the car seemed to whoosh forward.

At the bottom of the incline, the road snaked to the right.

Heading into the turn faster than she wanted, Natalie eased on the brakes.

The sponginess of the pressure made her press harder. The car shuddered but didn’t slow down.

She gripped the steering wheel and turned it slightly to navigate the turn, while pressing the brake pedal. She made the turn okay, but the brakes were not responding to her pressure.

Another incline and the car went faster. She didn’t want to stomp on the brakes and put the car into a tailspin. She tried tapping, but all she got for her efforts was a clunking sound from the engine.

As she came out of the descent, another curve awaited her. This time she applied full pressure to the brakes, but her foot almost when through the floorboard. As she fumbled for the button for the emergency brake, an animal darted into the road, its gleaming eyes pinned to the oncoming car.

With the brake pedal on the floor and one of her knuckles jabbing the emergency brake, she jerked the wheel to avoid the animal, and the car lurched once and then started zooming down a hill, straight for a tree.