Hawk wrapped his arm around Nikki's shoulder. “Let's get inside. The temperature is dropping, and the wind is getting rough.”
Nikki allowed Hawk to walk her inside the police station. Her little town was now a dangerous, dark alley with deadly claws lurking in its shadows.
6
“Well?” Lidia asked Hawk impatiently.
Hawk sat down at the kitchen table. For a few seconds, he listened to the screaming winds throwing sleet against the cabin. “I was on the phone a long time,” he finally said.
Nikki brought Hawk a fresh cup of hot coffee. “Was your friend able to help?”
Hawk looked across the table at Lidia and Tori and then up at Nikki. “Yes, she and her husband lived in Atlanta. They were there when you lived there, Nikki. Her name was Jane...Bates,” Hawk told Nikki.
“Bates?” Nikki asked in a whisper. “Really?”
Lidia stood up, walked over to Nikki, and pushed her bangs away from her eyes. “Honey?” she asked.
Nikki glanced up into Lidia's face. “A possible member of my family could have been murdered,” Nikki said in a strained voice.
“The last name is probably a mistake,” Tori insisted.
Hawk shook his head. “My friend searched every cold case file with the name ‘Jane’ attached to it. The name alone wasn't much help.”
“The lipstick letters,” Nikki said.
Hawk nodded. “The lettering found scrawled on the bedroom floor was the ticket.”
“What is the name of the deceased woman's husband?” Nikki asked.
“Oliver Bates. He went missing last year while hiking in Chile. His body was never found,” Hawk explained.
“Last year was when the old man—I mean, Oliver Bates—came into contact with the Code Sword program,” Nikki told everyone. Refusing to sit like a crippled child, she forced strength back into her legs and stood up. “Hawk, what is the last known address of Oliver Bates?”
“191 Greenview Drive, Atlanta, Georgia,” Hawk said and waited for her response.
Nikki nodded. “And what was the address where the murder took place?” she asked.
“Same address,” Hawk informed Nikki. “191 Greenview Drive is the address of an old plantation-style home. The place is now being used as an art museum.”
“Did Oliver Bates sell the house before he faked his death?” Nikki asked. Walking to the kitchen counter, she picked up a cup of hot chocolate and took a sip. Lidia and Tori watched Nikki transform into a sharp, alert, confident detective, yet Lidia also noticed a deep, strange fear hidden in Nikki's beautiful eyes.
“Yep,” Hawk replied and sat back down. Picking up his coffee cup, he took a sip. “The man also cashed out his stocks and other investments. All in all, he walked away with enough money to live the rest of his life in luxury.”
Nikki bit down on her lower lip. Oliver Bates isn't planning to remain in America, she told herself. Looking at Hawk, she studied his eyes. “The last name and location could be a coincidence,” she said.
“It could be. The name Bates isn’t that uncommon, after all.”
“Right,” Nikki agreed. Studying the cup of hot chocolate in her hands, she closed her eyes and listened to the howling winds. A powerful cold front from Canada was pushing into Vermont with icy fingers. The ten-day weather outlook had been changed. Instead of cool autumn temperatures with clear skies, the weather was now calling for icy temperatures filled with sleet and freezing rain that would eventually change into snow. Hearing the sleet hitting the kitchen window, Nikki shivered. “I don't know what's happening,” she whispered, “but I'm going to find out.”
Hawk watched Nikki leave the kitchen. Lidia and Tori shook their heads at Hawk when he began to follow her. “Let Nikki be alone,” Lidia told Hawk in a kind voice. Sitting down, she picked up her cup of coffee and took a sip. “This Oliver person, he's connected to Nikki somehow?”
Tori cast her worried eyes at Hawk. “Please, the truth,” she pleaded.
Hawk looked at his coffee. “It's possible,” he explained in a careful voice. “The last name, the location, the man showing up at the chocolate shop... It’s an awful lot of coincidence.”
Lidia looked at Tori and then back at Hawk. “How bad is this situation, Hawk?”
“Oliver Bates is forcing Nikki to locate the person who murdered his wife. He claims if Nikki accomplishes her task, he will tell her who murdered Mrs. Grove and even send her enough evidence to seal the case.” Hawk scratched his chin. “But my gut is telling me that maybe the person who murdered Mrs. Grove just might be the same person who killed Oliver Bates’ wife.”
“How is that possible?” Tori asked, confused.
Hawk picked up his coffee cup. “I've been kicking the ball around some, and I think that the killer knows Oliver Bates is onto him...or her. The killer could also know that Oliver Bates might try and contact Nikki for help. So what does he—or she—do? Attack Nikki and try to have her arrested for murder.”
“If Nikki is out of the picture, then she can't track down the killer,” Tori said.
Hawk nodded. “Young lady, someday you could make a good detective.”
Lidia rested her chin on her right palm. “How is Nikki connected to Oliver Bates, though? Yes, the last name and location are striking, but there has to be more, Hawk.”
“Yep,” Hawk agreed, “and that's where I'm running into a wall. Guys, I don't know all of Nikki's past. But it's clear Nikki doesn't know Oliver Bates or his wife. Or so it seems. Right now, we need Nikki to piece some of the puzzle together for us. Until she can, all we can do is sit tight.”
“How long will it be before the crime lab sends you the report on the chocolate?” Lidia asked Hawk. “The report should be very helpful.”
“Tomorrow,” Hawk answered Lidia. “After Nikki and I came back to the station, Pop grabbed the chocolate and headed downstate to the crime lab himself. He'll be back tomorrow with the results.”
“I'm worried about this Oliver Bates taking a candy bar from the store,” Lidia told Hawk. “He might try and frame Nikki for another murder.”
“I've thought about that,” Hawk replied, equally worried.
Tori looked past Hawk toward the kitchen window. She thought about Nikki's eyes. “Nikki is so sad.”
“All she wants is peace,” Lidia said. “That woman seems to be a magnet for trouble, though.”
Hawk looked down at his cup of coffee. “I know,” he sighed. “I just pray this is her last case. I was kinda hoping we would have a nice, quiet winter filled with warm fires and long walks in the snow. After my wife and I divorced, I swore I wouldn't get serious about another woman. But Nikki, she sure is different. She knocked my socks off!” Hawk laughed and blushed. “I don't know what the woman sees in an old jerk like me. I...it's nice to care about someone and have them care about you.”
Lidia reached over and patted Hawk's hand. “Nikki does care about you, Hawk. We all do.”
“And you and Nikki are so good together,” Tori told Hawk. “I'm happy she has someone like you to care about her.”
Hawk closed his eyes and rubbed his nose. “If I really cared about Nikki, I would take her and leave this town.”
“No!” Lidia begged.
“There's nothing wrong with our town,” Tori insisted. “Some of the people are rotten apples, but not everyone. Nikki loves her new life in Vermont, Hawk. I doubt she would run away.”
“I know. That's the problem. Even if I wanted to run away with Nikki, she would refuse. Nikki is a fighter. Me...I feel like I'm getting older and older before my time. I came to this town to investigate unpaid traffic tickets, not murder. I left New York to get away from that life.”
Lidia patted Hawk's hand again. “The Lord has His reasons. Let me get you a refill on coffee.”
“Thanks.”
An hour later, Nikki walked back into the kitchen. She saw Hawk, Lidia and Tori sitting at the table, talking and eating a slice of coconut cake apiece. “Jane Bates was m
y great aunt,” she said in a calm voice. “I've been online, studying my genealogy. Oliver Bates was my dad's adopted brother. No one in my family ever told me about him.”
“Okay, we have a connection,” Hawk clapped his hands together.
Nikki put the empty coffee cup in her hand down into the kitchen sink. “Hawk, we have a connection but more riddles than I can handle tonight. I'm fighting a lot of confusion and fatigue. I guess...what I'm really wondering is how Jane Bates managed to write the name of this town on her bedroom floor with lipstick...and why did I choose this town to call home?”
“It's getting late. Maybe we should all try and get some sleep,” Lidia suggested.
Nikki leaned against the kitchen sink. “This weather is going to be difficult,” she said and looked at the back door.
“Nikki, dear, did you hear what I said?” Lidia asked worriedly. “Maybe we should all try and get some rest.”
“Huh? Oh, uh, sure,” Nikki said. Feeling lost in a thick fog, she shook her head and forced a smile to her lips. “I'm sorry...I guess I'm a little scatterbrained tonight.”
Hawk studied Nikki's face. He was worried. “We're all going to stand watch in three-hour shifts tonight,” he explained. “I'm taking the first shift. Tori, you'll take the second shift. Nikki, you can grab the third, and Lidia will finish the fourth.”
“Why?” Lidia asked. “Do you believe someone might try and break into the cabin?”
Hawk bit down on his lower lip. “It's dark and freezing outside. This is the kind of night killers love to work in. We need to all be alert.”
Nikki closed her eyes and imagined outside. In the icy darkness, she saw two hideous eyes staring at her cabin. Nikki...Nikki Bates...I’m coming for you...coming for you...coming for you... Nikki flung her eyes open. “I think I'll go soak in a hot bath for a while and then get some sleep. Tori, wake me for my shift, honey, okay? ’Night, everyone.”
Nikki hurried out of the kitchen and into her bedroom. Closing the bedroom door behind her she clasped her nervous hands together. “I was brought to this town for a reason…” she whispered and then ran into her bathroom and slammed the door tightly shut.
7
Nikki was shocked when she woke up and saw morning light coming through her bedroom window. Alarmed, she grabbed a pink, fluffy robe, threw it on, and ran out into the living room. Finding the living room empty, she rushed into the kitchen. Hawk was sitting at the table, eating a sandwich and drinking coffee. “Why didn't anyone wake me?” she asked.
Hawk yawned. “Blame Tori. She didn't wake anyone. She pulled your shift and Lidia's shift. I put her to bed about twenty minutes ago. Breakfast?”
Nikki looked out the kitchen window. The winds were screaming viciously. She shivered. “I'll have some coffee. Forgive my appearance.”
Hawk found Nikki's messy hair and sleepy face beautiful. “You look like a princess.”
Nikki examined her messy hair with her hands. “No makeup, messy hair...I look awful.”
Hawk stood up, walked over to Nikki, and kissed her before she could run away. “You look beautiful,” he insisted. “Now sit down. I'll pour you a cup of coffee.”
Nikki smiled and sat down. She looked at Hawk's sandwich and smiled again. “A bachelor's breakfast, huh?”
“Turkey, cheese, tomato, all sprinkled with cayenne pepper,” he told Nikki, pouring her a cup of coffee. “Cayenne is good for the heart and wakes up the taste buds.”
“I see,” Nikki said and wondered how anyone could put cayenne pepper on a sandwich so early in the morning.
Hawk set Nikki's cup of coffee on the kitchen table and sat down. “Ice is sticking to the trees and the roads. Power is out in certain areas. I'm surprised we still have power here. As you can hear, the wind outside has settled in pretty good. It's going to be a rough day, Nikki. I called Pop. He's stuck downstate. Our best bet is to chance getting back to the station and sitting still for a while.”
Nikki picked up her coffee cup and took a careful sip. “One step at a time, Hawk. Has Chief Daily received the results from the crime lab?”
Hawk nodded. “He didn't let the crime lab close until he got the results.”
“And?”
“Years back,” Hawk told Nikki in a cop tone, “the military experimented with chemicals that would induce an immediate coma. The idea was to spray the substance on the battlefield, paralyze the enemy, and save lives...or so the reports on the darn stuff states. But this chemical, C5T-91, did more than put someone into a coma. It lowered the heart rate to the point the heart could no longer function.”
“Research grants were canceled, and the chemical was transported to a high-security warehouse and stored, right?” Nikki asked.
“That's the official story.”
“The storage location of this chemical is right here in Vermont, right?”
“A few miles away from the Center for Disease Control,” Hawk confirmed.
“So how did our killer get this chemical?” Nikki asked herself rather than Hawk.
“Nikki, Oliver Bates may be playing a game of some sort with you,” Hawk answered in a worried voice. “No one can just waltz right into a secure warehouse and walk out with a deadly chemical.”
“But someone—the killer—obviously did,” Nikki said, and then a theory struck her. “Hawk, what if Oliver Bates killed Mrs. Grove in an attempt to blackmail me? He did say he would send me evidence.”
“Evidence that could be altered to match a need,” Hawk confirmed.
Nikki took a sip of her coffee. “It's possible. We need to find out who Oliver Bates worked for.”
“I'll find out today,” Hawk promised Nikki. Looking into her face, he noticed a peculiar expression. It was as if Nikki were lost inside her own mind. “Are you okay?”
Nikki put down her coffee cup. She began to speak but then paused. Closing her eyes, she struggled to clear her mind. “Hawk, ever since yesterday, I feel like I'm lost in this thick fog. I feel like I'm trapped inside myself, searching for the answer to a very dark secret. I can't explain what I'm feeling...”
“Try,” Hawk gently urged her.
Nikki kept her eyes closed. Listening to the howling winds outside, she fought to place her confused thoughts into words that would somehow make sense. “Hawk, why did I choose Maple Hills as my new home? Or maybe I should ask: How did I choose Maple Hills as my new home?”
“What do you mean?”
Nikki slowly opened her eyes, against her will, as if they were being pulled open by a cruel prison guard. “When I decided to leave Atlanta, I didn't choose Vermont as my new home. I chose a little town in North Carolina that was snuggled up against the Smoky Mountains. Yet somehow, I ended up in Maple Hills. How?”
Hawk shook his head. “You tell me.”
“I can't,” Nikki said in a frustrated voice. She walked away from the kitchen counter and began pacing around the kitchen. “Up until yesterday, I never even questioned how I arrived in Maple Hills. My conscious mind just assumed that I had somehow made the decision to relocate here, but after my meeting with Oliver Bates at my store...I don't know, Hawk. It's like a crack formed in my subconscious mind, and these ugly, dark secrets are leaking out like invisible ink...and I'm trying to see what the ink is writing on my mind. Does any of this make sense?”
Hawk watched Nikki as she stopped walking and looked out the kitchen window into the dark, stormy morning. “No,” he answered honestly. “Nikki, you're the one who has to make sense of what is going on inside your mind. When you do, we'll solve this case.”
Nikki thumped the kitchen counter with her fist. “Hawk, why did I come to Maple Hills? Who brought me here?”
“What?” Hawk asked.
She turned and faced him. “Huh?”
“What did you say?” Hawk asked.
“Why did I come to Maple Hills?”
“No,” Hawk said carefully, “after that.”
“I...” Nikki began to speak and then stopped. Her eyes gre
w wide. “Who brought me to Maple Hills?” she whispered as a horrible, deep chill grabbed her heart. Closing her eyes, she saw a shiny object swinging before her eyes. “Who brought me to Maple Hills?” she whispered again.
The telephone hanging on the wall next to the refrigerator rang. Startled, Nikki threw her eyes open. Hawk was staring at her but didn't say a word. “I better answer the call,” she said.
“Okay.”
Nikki picked up the phone. “Hello?”
“Horrible weather we're having, isn't it, Ms. Bates?” Oliver Bates greeted Nikki in a low voice.
“Could be worse,” Nikki said and pointed at the phone. “It's him,” she mouthed to Hawk.
Hawk got to his feet, hurried over to Nikki and pushed his ear close to the phone. “Tell Detective Daily to sit back down,” Oliver told Nikki in a stern voice.
Hawk looked at Nikki and then threw his eyes around the kitchen. Without saying a word, he moved away from the phone and sat back down. “Okay, he sat back down,” Nikki told Oliver as anger erupted in her heart. “You broke into my cabin, didn't you?” she demanded.
“I'm a very cautious man,” Oliver explained to Nikki, “but to answer your question, no, I did not trespass and violate your privacy. I have many resources at my disposal, Ms. Bates. Satellites, floating far above our heads, allow one to have eyes in numerous places.”
Some distance away, in a pleasant, comfortable rental house, Oliver sat at a wooden kitchen table looking at the screen of a large laptop. And there on the screen was Nikki Bates standing in her kitchen, wearing her pink robe. Picking up a brown mug, he patiently took a sip of hot honey water with just a dash of lemon. As he took a sip of it, he watched Nikki glance over her shoulder toward Hawk and then focus on the kitchen wall. “Talk,” she finally said.
Oliver set down the mug. He felt cunning and brilliant—dangerous and daring. Dressed in a gray suit that always made him feel empowered, Oliver calmly clasped his hands together and stared at Nikki on the screen. The woman was obviously very sharp, yet she was no match for his mind. “Detective Hawk made a few interesting phone calls last night, did he not?”
Maple Hills Mystery Box Set Page 19
