She was quiet as she followed Nate to the car. In the bright daylight, it was harder to deny what had just happened between them. Fortunately, Nate didn’t seem to want to talk about it either.
As they made their way to the highway, he flipped on a local radio station. A recap of the local football game filled the car. It was Homecoming weekend.
“Rosie was Homecoming Queen the first three years of high school,” Olivia said for no reason in particular. “She would’ve won the fourth year if she hadn’t been murdered the night before.”
“That’s a fairly morbid thought,” Nate said with a glance in her direction. “Are you holding up okay? It’s been a pretty intense weekend.”
“I’m fine.” Olivia had answered without thinking, but it was actually true. She had been able to keep her emotions buried throughout the day. In fact, Nate had been the one to lose his cool with Tim. “I feel like today just gave us more questions than answers.”
“But at least we have some new questions,” he countered. Nate was better at the detective thing than Olivia. She wasn’t used to digging and digging without getting anywhere. “I’d say both Tim and Dylan are valid suspects. It was clear that both of them were lying.”
Olivia nodded slowly. “Is it bad that I still don’t believe that Dylan could’ve had anything to do with the murder? He really did love Rosie.”
“Did you know that they were planning to get married?” Nate accelerated off the ramp and they were suddenly back on the highway, headed home.
“No. Rosie didn’t tell me that.” Olivia was bothered by that fact. She and Rosie had been close, even for sisters. It made her wonder what other secrets Rosie had kept from her. “I learned a lot about my sister the last couple of days.”
“Everyone keeps secrets, Liv.” Nate tapped his hands on the steering wheel. “It doesn’t mean she wasn’t the girl you remember.”
Olivia was ready to change the subject. “What secrets are you keeping from me, Nater?”
“I think you know all my secrets now,” he said with a wry smile. “Should we talk about what happened back there?”
“No.” Olivia surprised herself with the answer. Earlier, she had been the one to try to make Nate talk about it. Now that she was trapped in a car with him for the next few hours, it no longer seemed like a good idea. “It happened. Time to move on.”
“Move on?” He had a strange catch in his voice. “Does that mean you regret it?”
Olivia answered quickly, “No. Of course not. It was… nice.”
“Nice?” He gave her an insulted look.
“Really nice. But also unexpected. And confusing.” Olivia didn’t know any other way to describe it. “I had too much to drink.”
Nate gave her a long look. His expression was unreadable. All he said was, “Okay.”
They sat in silence for about twenty miles. Eventually, Olivia couldn’t take it any longer. “Okay?” she asked, sounding indignant. “That’s all you’re going to say?”
“What do you want me to say, Liv?” This time Nate kept his eyes on the road. “If you’re confused and need to think about it, or if you’re not ready to have a serious conversation about it, I’m not going to pressure you. I’m not going to beg you to feel the same way about me that I feel about you.”
“What are you even talking about?” Olivia stared at him with wide eyes. “How do you feel about me? You are the one always insisting that our relationship is 100% platonic.”
“Well,” he exhaled exasperatedly. “I was bound to be wrong about something eventually.”
Olivia didn’t know what to do with that. “What do you want from me, Nate?”
“Whatever you are willing to give me.” His phone rang and he hurried to answer it. “Tucker.”
From his half of the conversation, Olivia could tell that he was talking to his partner about the Karen Collin’s murder case. Over the years, she’d gotten good at ignoring his work calls. But this one was important. What happened to Karen might be directly related to what happened to Rosie.
“You’ve been busy, Monroe. Good work,” Nate said.
Now that he was distracted, Olivia stole a look at him. His eyes were narrowed and his jaw was clenched. She recognized it as intense concentration. Nate was one of the best detectives in Chicago. Being away from the case for just a couple of days had been torture for him. Olivia knew that he had been sneaking calls back to his partner whenever she wasn’t around. As focused as he was on his job, he was also good at being an attentive friend.
“No, it can wait until tomorrow. I’ll meet you at the station bright and early and we can head over there together.”
Vince Monroe asked his partner something that made Nate flinch.
“One of these days you are going to actually say something funny. Until then, excuse me if I don’t laugh.”
A muffled chuckle echoed from the phone.
“Yeah, I’ll tell her. Now go do some work.”
Nate hung up the phone and tossed it into the center compartment. “Vince says hi.”
“I like Vince,” she said with a smile. She had only met him once, a few weeks earlier at a bar. The guys had been a few drinks deep and when Nate left to use the bathroom, Vince started peppering her with questions about their relationship. She knew that he didn’t buy the platonic friendship line.
Turns out, he had been right.
“Was he giving you a hard time?” she asked.
“Nothing worse than usual.” Nate was being briefer than usual with his replies. He was either still distracted by the case, or he was thinking about their earlier conversation. Either way, no amount of pestering by Olivia was going to help.
They sat in a relatively comfortable silence for the last thirty minutes of the drive. When Nate turned off the car in front of her apartment, Olivia was surprised.
“Are you coming in?” she asked.
“Nothing has changed, Liv. The killer is still on the loose and we still don’t know if there is a connection to you.” Nate started walking toward the trunk to get their bags. “I’m not leaving you alone at night until I solve the case.”
“What’s your solve rate?” she asked skeptically.
“Careful, Thompson. I might start to think that you don’t want me to sleep over.” It was a typical Nate joke, but he didn’t sound like he was kidding this time.
Olivia felt like an ungrateful friend. Nate had put his life on hold the last few days to keep an eye on her. Now she was pushing back simply because it might be a little uncomfortable for her.
“I’m sorry. I really do appreciate how great you’ve been.” Olivia hoped he could tell that she really meant it.
Nate said, “It’s about time you said that to me. I am great.”
“And humble.” Olivia was glad that they were joking around. The world felt right again. “You know you don’t have to carry my bag, right?”
“Yes, I do. I have to prove that I’m manly and whatnot.” Nate threw a bag over each shoulder. “How else will I woo you?”
Olivia unlocked the door to her building. “If you really wanted to woo me, you would do some manual labor around the place.”
“I’m not painting your ceilings,” he said instantly. “If you want manual labor out of this guy, you’re gonna have to sleep with him.”
“Never mind. I’ll just call the maintenance guy.” Olivia had only been away from her apartment for a day, but it felt much longer. She was glad to be home.
She wasn’t in the mood to cook dinner, so they ordered in Chinese food and ate it on the couch while watching a baseball game. Olivia and Nate were both too tired for much conversation.
Later, as Olivia was sliding into her bed, she realized that Rosie hadn’t engaged in any of her usual pranks. No flickering lights and strange tapping noises. She found herself worrying that maybe Rosie’s ghost had finally moved on.
“You’re crazy, Liv,” she said to herself. Even as she forced her eyes closed, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to sleep.
After an hour of tossing and turning, she threw away the covers and padded down the hall.
Nate had opted to sleep on the couch, giving her the space she had claimed she needed. The problem was, deep down she didn’t want there to be any space between them. If she really admitted it to herself, she wanted nothing more than to be in his arms right then.
That’s how she found herself standing a few feet from the edge of the couch, staring down at Nate’s sleeping form. Almost as if he sensed her watching him, his eyes opened and immediately found her in the dark.
Neither of them said anything. The look that passed between them said everything either of them needed to say.
Olivia slipped down the straps of her lacy nightgown and let it drop from her shoulders until it pooled at her feed. She had bared herself to him, but she didn’t feel exposed. She felt free.
Nate shoved aside the thin blanket covering him, an invitation for Olivia to take its place. She was glad to oblige.
As she crawled over him, his hand reached up and caught her cheek. In a deep, rumbling voice, he said, “Please tell me I’m not dreaming.”
“This isn’t a dream,” she said softly. “For the first time in my life, I’m finally wide awake.”
Her hair fell in waves around them as she leaned down and kissed Nate. As his hands moved over her skin, she knew that they had officially crossed the platonic friendship line and were now treading on unexplored ground. Nate carefully rolled over until he was hovering above her, his eyes a piercing blue even in the dark.
“I love you, Olivia,” he said without any hesitation.
That was when Olivia knew that as scary as this new place might be, there was no one she would rather go there with than him.
FIFTEEN YEARS EARLIER - THURSDAY
“Stop playing with your food!’ Olivia reached over and slapped Brian’s hand. He retaliated by throwing a pea at her head.
Rosie shoved her food around her plate without eating any of it. She was having a hard time acting normal around her family. Fortunately, they were all too distracted to notice.
“We’re going over to the Parkers tomorrow night,” Jill said, ignoring the bickering. “Rosie, we need you to watch the kids.”
“I’m not a kid, Mom,” Olivia said, rolling her eyes.
Rosie’s head snapped up. “I can’t. I have plans. Can’t you have Uncle Leo come over?”
“No deal.” Jill barely looked at her daughter. “You’ve been spending all of your time with your friends lately. I want you home tomorrow night.”
“But Mom-”
“Listen to your mother,” Ed said wearily.
As much as Rosie wanted to argue with them, she didn’t want to start a fight. This was going to be her last family meal before leaving town and she didn’t want to spoil it. Besides, it wasn’t like this would be the first time she snuck out will babysitting her siblings. Rosie took a second to look at each member of her family.
Ed, her loving father, looked tired and aged. Jill, only a year younger than Ed, still looked young enough to be Rosie’s sister. But there were wrinkles forming around her eyes that Rosie didn’t remember seeing before. Brian, always the fireball of the family, couldn’t stop smiling as he formed a mountain with his mashed potatoes.
Rosie saved Olivia for last. Her sister was her favorite person in the world and she was dreading leaving her. When Olivia caught her staring, she smiled uncertainly. “What?”
“Do you want to do something tonight? Just the two of us.” Rosie wasn’t ready to say goodbye to her yet. “Maybe we could go to a movie?”
“Okay.” Olivia looked surprised. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” Rosie smiled. She wanted to give her sister one last happy memory before she had to leave.
They went to a silly comedy that Rosie barely watched. Afterward, they stopped at the Dairy Shack for ice cream. Rosie knew that this was her last night as a young girl. In one night, she would be forever changed.
There was no coming back from murder.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Nate walked into the station whistling and carrying two coffees. He placed one on the desk of his partner.
“You stopped and bought me coffee?” Vince looked up at him flabbergasted. “Who are you and what have you done with Tucker?”
“Just a small token of thanks for all the legwork you did this weekend.” Nate dropped into his chair and leaned back, kicking his feet up.
“Who is she?” Vince asked.
Nate understood the implication, but said, “I have no idea what you mean.”
“You clearly got laid over the weekend. It had to be Olivia. Only she could put that ridiculous smile on your face.” Vince waggled an eyebrow at him.
Nate hadn’t realized it would be so obvious, but Vince was wrong about one thing. He wasn’t smiling because of the sex, though that had been amazing. Nate was smiling because of something that happened hours later.
He had laid awake most of the night while Olivia slept on his chest. It had felt so good to have her in his arms that he hadn’t wanted to drift to sleep. It turned out that she wasn’t sleeping as deeply as he thought because just before dawn, she lifted her head and looked at him with wide eyes.
“I love you, too.” She said it so suddenly, like it had just occurred to her. “I’m sorry. I should’ve said it earlier.”
“Now was the perfect time,” he said, unable to hold back a smile. He hadn’t realized until then how badly he had wanted to hear her say those words.
Olivia loved him.
Sure, they had said those words to each other before last night. But they had always been innocent words, things that friends say to each other every now and then. The words had always lacked the intimacy of a couple in love.
Not anymore.
“Olivia says hi,” Nate said, both to change the subject and to drive Vince insane. He could feel his smile growing.
“I knew it.” Vince’s eyes sparkled in delight. “You finally did the deed.”
It was time to be serious. They still had a murder to solve. Nate dropped his feet to the floor. “Toss me the Collins file.”
“Oh, so you are still a detective?” Vince tossed the thick folder onto his desk. “You’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”
“Take it from the top,” Nate said, flipping past the autopsy report. He had already read those pages a dozen times. He might be back at work, but he wasn’t interested in reading about stomach contents this early in the morning.
“After talking to every possible friend and family member I could find, I’ve determined that Karen was a recluse. I’m not sure she ever did anything besides go to class and sit in the library for hours.” Vince crumpled a piece of paper into a tight ball. He took aim at the nearest trashcan and fired, sinking the shot.
“Just because she was a good student doesn’t mean she was a hermit.” Nate found himself smiling again, thinking of Olivia.
She had also spent a lot of time in the library in college. He used to find her there on Saturday nights, a stack of books in front of her. After a few minutes of nagging, she would eventually relent and agree to follow him to a party. She never really wanted to go, but she wanted to make him happy.
“It’s possible she had a wild side,” he added. “Any boyfriends or one-night stands in the mix?”
Vince shook his head. “Not a single one. Like I said, recluse.”
“What about the roommate?” Nate flipped through a few pages. “Natalie. Did she remember anything useful?”
Nate had been the one to inform the girl of her roommate’s death just a few hours after the body was discovered. She had broken down crying, as was to be expected, and he hadn’t gotten much information out of her. Vince had followed up on Saturday.
“For two girls that lived together, they weren’t very involved in each other’s lives. Natalie is a party girl and a C student. She probably hasn’t even seen the inside of a library.” Vince reached for another sheet of paper, crumpling
it in his hand. “She did say that she saw Karen with a guy a couple of weeks ago in some coffee shop pretty far away from campus.”
“A guy?” Now Nate was interested. It was common knowledge that when a female was murdered, the best suspect was a boyfriend or lover. “Who was he?”
“Natalie didn’t know. She had never seen him before that, but she said he looked a few years older.” Vince nailed another trashcan shot. “None of the other girls I talked to mentioned any guy.”
“But the other girls only shared classes and a dorm building with her. I doubt they would’ve known about a guy if the roommate only found out about him by accident.” Nate flipped through the handwritten pages of notes that Vince had placed in the file. “If he was an older guy, we should check out Karen’s professors.”
Vince scoffed. “Do you really think that didn’t occur to me? The administrative office was closed all weekend, but they should open in a couple of hours. I already planned to give them a call.”
“Don’t bother. I need to head to the campus later anyway so I’ll swing by and talk to them in person.” Nate didn’t mention that the reason he was stopping by campus was to see Olivia. He was hoping to take her to lunch in between her classes. “Don’t we have a potential witness to meet with this morning?”
“Christopher Little. He called his local station yesterday saying that he was in the park a few hours before Karen’s body was found. Said he found something there, a book. Thought it might be related to the murder.” Vince nearly smiled. “Think our murderer is a librarian?”
Nate almost smiled, too, but it wasn’t that crazy of a suggestion. Karen had practically lived in the library after all. “You have his address?”
“Right here.” Vince waived around a piece of paper clutched between two fingers. “Is it time for us to be partners again?”
“I knew you missed me.” Nate finished the last of his coffee and threw it at the trashcan. Without looking, he knew it was a perfect shot. “Let’s go, partner.”
The Randolph University campus was buzzing with life when they arrived. It was a few minutes before the first classes of the day and most students still looked half-asleep.
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