Page 101 of The Girls in the Snow

Nikki paused. Nothing Liam had said made sense, but Nikki was beginning to question her own instincts. Was it worth her asking the question?

Forty-Five

Lacey was fast asleep by the time Nikki called later that night, and she told Tyler to let her sleep. Nikki just needed to see her little face and hear that she was safe. Tyler had heard about Bailey’s abduction on the news and wanted to hear all about his rescue, but Nikki had been too tired to tell him anything but the bare minimum.

They’d dropped Bailey off at the hospital after leaving the cabin. Amy was recovering, and Amy’s mother had gathered her sleeping grandson in her arms and breathed him in. Nikki had watched as her wrinkled hand cradled the back of his head as she promised him that Mommy would be okay, and that Grandma and Grandpa would take good care of him until Mommy was ready to come home.

She found herself driving to Rory’s house and she sat in the jeep for a while with the lights off, wondering what the hell she was doing.

Nikki was sure that Rory couldn’t be involved, but she wouldn’t be able to rest until she’d talked to him. Liam had questioned her too many times, and she needed to prove to him that he was wrong about Rory.

Sleet pelted Nikki’s face as she knocked hard on the door. Rory had probably been in bed for hours. She knew construction workers got up early, though tomorrow was Saturday. Wasn’t it? Nikki realized she had no idea what day it was.

Go home, for God’s sake, a voice told her.

The door opened, and a shirtless Rory stared down at her. His hair was even more wild than usual, standing on end. His thin flannel pajama pants left little to the imagination.

“Nicole, it’s two a.m.,” he said, his eyes half closed.

“I know,” she replied. Sleet dripped off her face. “I have to ask you something.”

“It couldn’t wait? Or did you just really want to see me?”

Her face burned. “It couldn’t wait.”

He smiled and opened the door.

Nikki’s heart pounded as he shut the door, his back muscles flexing. And even then, she couldn’t help but wonder about his cologne. God, she was tired.

“What did you want to ask me?”

She’d come to ask if he was capable of killing two teenaged girls and an innocent young woman because she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Liam’s theory. But now she was at his house in the middle of the night, and facing him, she couldn’t even bring herself to say it.

“Nicole?” Concern laced Rory’s husky voice, and Nikki wasn’t sure what she should do.

“Rory, I need to ask you about Madison Banks,” she said.

“That’s pretty much the last thing I expected you to ask.” He gently touched her shoulders. “What about her?”

She was sure he could hear her heart pounding. “Did you ever meet her?”

His big hands slipped around her back and pulled her to his bare chest, his chin resting on the top of her head. “No, I don’t think so. Why are you asking?”

Nikki exhaled, her head dropping to his shoulder. Nikki flushed as she told him about John taking Bailey and Liam’s theory. Now that she was here in Rory’s arms, the entire thing sounded ridiculous. “I don’t think you did anything, but I had to admit to myself that if the situation were any different, I would have at least questioned you.”

“What situation?”

Her entire body burned with embarrassment. “This situation.”

Rory brushed the hair out of her face.

“Everything’s just unraveling. So many things happened right under my nose and I still didn’t see it. Not just in the past but with this case, too. I can’t trust my own judgment anymore.”

“Even now?”

She wrapped her arms around Rory’s slim waist and buried her face into the warm nook of his collarbone. His arms tightened around her, evidence of the effect she had on him flush against her stomach. “I honestly have no idea.”

Rory’s lips brushed the top of her head and then moved to the shell of her ear. “Well, I trust your judgment.”