Risa gave her an understanding nod. Farrentina had bought all of Dryden’s rationalizations. Just as Nikki had.
“How did you feel when Dryden married Nikki instead of you?” Risa asked.
Farrentina took a long sip of vodka.
Then another.
“Ed and I have a special bond. Something much stronger than a white dress and a piece of paper from the state.”
Risa raised her eyebrows. “And what might that special bond be?”
“Chemistry.”
A smile twisted Farrentina’s mouth, but under the bravado, Risa could sense vulnerability. It was almost enough to make her feel sorry for the woman. Almost.
“Judging from all the letters we saw in his cell, he shares chemistry with a lot of women.”
“I’m special to him,” Farrentina half whispered. “I am.”
Risa averted her gaze. She didn’t want to know the woman had a heart under that facade. A heart that could be wounded. She wanted her to be belligerent, powerful, and every bit as evil as Dryden. Not a poor injured bird like Nikki.
“What’s wrong with you, honey?” Farrentina said, her voice louder this time. “Jealous?”
“Why would I be jealous?”
“Ed said you had a thing for him.”
If wanting to study him and now stop him qualified as a thing, Risa supposed that was accurate.
“Dryden has a thing for Risa, too,” Trent said. “Isn’t that why he asked you to dye your hair?”
Farrentina’s eyes darted to Risa and then back to Trent.
“He wanted you to look like her. Whenever you visited him, whenever he looked at a photo of you in your red lingerie, he pretended you were her.”
“Ed loves me.”
Trent leaned toward her. “No, you are a stand-in. A stand-in for Risa.”
“It’s true, Farrentina. Stay away from him. He’s dangerous.”
Farrentina threw back the rest of her vodka. “You’re full of shit. He despises you and your pathetic sister. He laughs at you. And if the damn police weren’t crawling all over my property, he wouldn’t waste his time. All he would need is me. All he would ever need is me.”
Risa closed her eyes. She didn’t know what twisted road had led Farrentina to Dryden, but she could bet it was a sad one, littered with abuse and neglect.
The same road Risa had left Nikki to travel alone so many years ago.
“Get out. The two of you. I have nothing more to say.”
Trent nodded to Risa, and they both stood and made their way back to the grand foyer and out into the summer night.
Trent broke the silence. “What are you thinking?”
Risa was thinking many things, so many things. But one was more pressing than the rest. One might lead them to Dryden and Nikki. “I’m wondering if Farrentina is right. If the police weren’t crawling all over…”
Trent nodded. “Maybe Dryden would pay Farrentina a visit.”
Nikki
Nikki never thought she would get emotional when she heard her sister’s voice, but even through the pocket door joining the living room with the walk-through pantry, Risa’s calm tones made her throat feel thick, and an empty ache seated itself in her chest.
Nikki hadn’t wanted to come here, to this museum of a house. She’d thought they were going to die when Eddie sneaked her in through a tunnel running from a carriage house filled with fancy cars to the creepy basement wine cellar, right under the nose of police. But the worst part had been meeting the woman Eddie had assured her she would like.
Nikki hated Farrentina Hamilton, and she was pretty sure the witch hated her back. Farrentina treated her like a little girl, and she acted like Eddie belonged to her. Insulting. Demeaning. Constantly pointing out that he loved her best.
And then Risa had arrived and had done the same thing. She and Trent. Saying Eddie really loved Risa. That both Farrentina in her red silk robe and Nikki in her sister’s red silk blouse were stand-ins for Risa. That Risa was the real thing.
And Eddie had listened.
And Eddie had smiled.
Nikki wanted to ask him if it was true. Maybe she would once she got up the nerve. But right now she was scared he’d agree with Risa or Farrentina or both.
So Nikki didn’t ask.
“Okay, they’re gone,” Farrentina said, walking back into the room and throwing open the pocket door.
“That was fun,” Eddie said.
Farrentina’s penciled eyebrows shot up. “Fun?”
“It’s not every day I get to be in the same room with three women fighting over me.”
“She’s a lying bitch,” Farrentina said.
Nikki wanted to agree, but she didn’t have the nerve to push it.
“And Burnell. Thinks he’s so smart. He doesn’t know shit.”
Eddie chuckled. “About some things, he might.”
Farrentina jerked her head back, as if she just smelled something bad. “What does he know? Not that you have a thing for the shrink.”
“Now don’t be selfish.”
“Selfish? Me? I’m not selfish at all.” Farrentina untied her robe and started rubbing up against Nikki’s husband. “I’ll prove it to you.”
“Stop,” Nikki said.
Eddie pushed the slut away. “Not here.”
Nikki shot Farrentina a fake smile. Eddie hadn’t told the bitch no exactly, but at least it was something.
“Then where?”
“I have a place.”
“The one you told me about?” Nikki asked, liking that she knew what Eddie was talking about, and Farrentina didn’t seem to have a clue.
“Yes. It’ll give us the privacy we need to sort this all out.”
Trent
Trent paced the length of his hotel room and tried to ignore the hiss of the shower behind the closed bathroom door. He’d reported his progress to Subera as soon as he and Rees had returned. They’d decided asking Farrentina’s police guard to fall back to give Dryden a chance to reach her was worth pursuing. But when they checked in with the deputies, they found Farrentina was gone, and none of them had a clue how she’d gotten out unseen until they found the tunnel running under the tennis court, connecting the house to the old carriage house.
If she caught up with Dryden, they might be looking at two victims on their hands, and who knew how many more to come.
Trent shoved the thought of Nikki as victim out of his mind and forced himself to sit at the scarred desk and thumb through copies of the reports on Nikki’s car and Risa’s house that had been delivered to the hotel room. Tomorrow he would confront Cassidy, follow up on the three guards Farrentina had paid off, and finally catch up with Warden Hanson.
And even with a killer on the loose, an unknown person who had helped that killer, and a mind-boggling amount of work to do, he still couldn’t manage to keep his thoughts off the sounds coming from behind that bathroom door.
He should have known better than to insist Rees stay in his hotel room tonight. But every time he’d convinced himself to call the front desk and get her another room, thoughts of Dryden’s past “artwork” invaded his mind, and he couldn’t bear the idea of her even one door away.
The hiss of the shower stopped. A rustle filtered through the paper-thin door, undoubtedly the curtain sliding open. The soft flap of a bath towel followed.
Picturing terry cloth moving over bare skin, Trent almost groaned out loud. Having her in his room all night—close enough to hear her breathing, smell her scent, see her hair fanned out over the pillow as she slept—was going to be sheer torture. But if he wanted to protect her, if he wanted any semblance of peace of mind, he had no other choice.
He grabbed a pillow and an extra blanket from the closet shelf and threw them into one of the armchairs. Not the choicest sleeping arrangement, but it would have to do. Sleeping in the same bed with Rees was not an option.
He had just placed his Glock 9mm and his cell phone on the table within easy reach of the armchair when anot
her sound rose from behind the door. A soft mew followed by silence.
The sound of crying.
Before he could stop himself, he was standing at the bathroom door, hand raised to knock.
Another soft mew drifted through the barrier.
Trent stilled his fist in midair. What did he think he was going to do? Ride into the bathroom like a white knight? Gather her in his arms? Kiss her tears away?
He’d already established he was no hero. He couldn’t take her hurt away. He wasn’t the man to comfort her. He had only to remember what happened this morning in this very hotel room to know that. The flavor of her lips. The heat of her naked skin pressed to his. The wounded look in her eyes when he finally regained his senses and brought himself under control.
He let his fist fall to his side. The only way he knew to comfort her was to take her in his arms. And once her body molded to his, he didn’t know if he could stop himself again.
Even if he could, he would only end up hurting her more.
Trent leaned his forehead against the door frame and listened, soaking up her pain, her frustration. Letting it swirl around inside him and mix with his own.
Slowly the silence lengthened and her sobs grew farther apart. He forced himself to push away from the door and move to the other side of the room. A few long minutes later, the bathroom door opened and Risa padded into the room.
She peered at him with red-rimmed eyes. Her flannel nightshirt fell halfway down her slim thighs, its boxy cut making her look all the more fragile. Strands of dark hair stuck to her cheeks.
His fingers itched to smooth her hair back, but he forced his hands to remain riveted to his sides. “Are you all right?”
She opened her eyes wide, as if to keep drops from spilling down her cheeks.
He bit his tongue. What a damn fool thing to say. Of course she wasn’t all right. And she wouldn’t be all right. Not until he found Dryden. Not until he brought Nikki back to her, safe and sound. Not until he cleared out of her life and let her heal. “I’m sorry, Rees.”
She swallowed hard and wrapped her arms around herself as if she was cold. “Me, too. About everything. Us. Dryden. Nikki. Farrentina.”
“Farrentina?”
Risa’s chin trembled, but she didn’t allow a single tear to fall. “She’s so much like Nikki. So needy. So damaged. I can’t help but wonder if Farrentina had a big sister who abandoned her. A sister who could have made a difference but didn’t.”
He ached to take Rees in his arms, to soothe her guilt. Guilt Rees dredged up every time Nikki made a bad decision, every time she engaged in risky behavior. “You were only a kid, Rees.”
“I was twelve years old.”
“Exactly. And you were living in an intolerable situation. Moving in with your father was self-preservation. You can’t beat yourself up for that.”
“I knew what it was like in that trailer, what her life would be like if I left. But I got out anyway. I left her behind.” She shook her head, a shiver claiming her body. “Nikki had no one.”
“You can’t blame yourself.”
“She blames me.”
“I know.”
“She was so hungry for love. She was an easy mark.”
“There’s no way a twelve-year-old child should be expected to fill the roles of mother and father. You know that as well as I do.”
“I could have taken her in once I was settled, sent her to a good high school. She wouldn’t have had to rely on her dad.”
Trent had never met Nikki’s father, but he’d seen the damage the man had done to Nikki. At eighteen and just out of high school, Nikki seemed to be convinced the only value she had to men was sex. All Dryden had had to do was show a little interest in her as a person, whisper a few romantic words, and Nikki would soak it up like a drought-plagued farm field.
She didn’t stand a chance.
“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Risa.”
“How can I not be?”
“If this had happened to someone besides yourself, what advice would you give?”
She looked down at her folded arms. “Nice trick, but it didn’t just happen to me. I caused it. I just wish I could make it right.”
“You’ve always wanted to make everything right.”
“Something wrong with that?”
“Sometimes you can’t fix things. Sometimes things can never be right again.”
Risa peered at him, eyes moist. But she didn’t cry. And somewhere, beneath the tears, beneath the pain, he saw the glimmer of light in her eyes. A light that had gone out in his own eyes long ago. “I can’t believe that, Trent. I can never let myself believe that.”
He closed his eyes and pressed his lids with his fingertips. Of course she couldn’t. Not Rees. That was what made her who she was.
Opening his eyes, he studied her. So vulnerable, so frail, yet underneath, strong as steel. Another shiver racked her body.
Trent couldn’t stand to see her like this. He couldn’t be with her, couldn’t love her, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t offer comfort.
He crossed to the bed and pulled back the blanket and sheet. Guiding her down to the mattress, he tucked her feet under the covers and rested her head back on the pillow. Taking a fortifying breath, he crawled into bed beside her, pulling the blankets up over them both.
“Better?”
“Thanks, Trent. I just…”
“You don’t have to explain.”
She needed him. And if that meant holding her until she slipped into blessed unconsciousness, until she forgot her pain and worry and fear for a few short hours, he would do it.
Rolling to her side, she snuggled back against him, fitting into the curl of his body like the missing piece of a puzzle.
Pain sharp and hot pierced his chest and ripped its way downward to his groin. Pain he couldn’t stem. Pain he deserved.
He closed his eyes and listened to the ragged rhythm of her breathing slowly even out. In and out. In and out. He imagined the peace of sleep softening the worry in her face, soothing the regrets torturing her mind.
If only she’d let past feelings between them lie. Let them stay in the ground and decompose until the passing of time took all the pain, all the agony from them. Until nothing was left but dust.
But she hadn’t.
And moreover, he hadn’t.
And now once again the brilliant light of who she was and how she made him feel pierced the darkness of reality. Beckoned him. Tempted him. Tortured him.
He wanted to feel that light. To capture it. But if he reached out to take what she offered, his obsession with his job and the darkness that followed him home would eventually defile and destroy that very thing that made her who she was.
And he could never allow that to happen.
Nikki
Eddie hadn’t been kidding when he’d said this place was private. They’d driven for a long time, following winding country roads, before they’d reached an old farm gate. Eddie broke the lock, and they’d driven through forest, this time on a dirt road. Finally the trees gave way to a river, and the tiniest cabin Nikki had ever seen.
“This is your place?” Farrentina asked, climbing out of the car. “What a dump.”
“I said it was private. Not fancy.”
“It has a fucking outhouse.”
“I think it’s cute,” Nikki said, even though she actually agreed with Farrentina’s assessment. She waited for Eddie to give her a smile, a look—something—but it never came.
“Is it not good enough for you, Farrentina?” Eddie asked.
“Of course, it’s not good enough.” She draped herself on him again. “But I don’t care where I am, as long as I’m with you.”
“Really?”
“I’ve never meant anything more in my life.”
“I’m the best thing that ever happened to you, you know.”
“I know,” Farrentina said in that breathless voice.
Nikki felt sick.
The
cabin was raised from the ground on blocks, and they had to walk up steps to reach the door. The inside was shabbier than the outside and smelled like mildew and dirty socks. A kitchen occupied one corner, about as big as the one in the trailer where Nikki grew up. A small table, two chairs and an old couch took up most of the rest of the space. A rack of fishing poles lined one wall, stuffed fish and shadow box displays of colorful lures covered the other three.
Farrentina studied the place, an unattractive frown on her face. “So what are we going to do?”
“Go fishing.”
“You’re kidding.”
Eddie plucked one of the fishing poles off the rack. “Hunting, fishing, it’s all the same, isn’t it? All a contest between man and beast.”
Nikki studied the floor. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but she didn’t like it. Not the idea of sharing her husband with Farrentina. Not the tone of Eddie’s voice now.
He let the line swing free. A colorful lure weighted the end. Yellow and orange with three hooks protruding from the bottom. “So Farrentina, you think I should choose you.”
“No question,” Farrentina said.
“And Nikki?”
“You’re my husband. I love you.” Her voice came out too quiet, too thin, and she wished she could take it back and yell out her love for him. Why was he doing this? After all they had, why was he interested in Farrentina at all?
“Like fish fighting over a lure.” He swung the pole in front of them, the lure’s sharp hooks barely missing Nikki’s face.
“Eddie, I don’t like this.”
As soon as he turned his angry stare on her, Nikki knew she had made a mistake. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t want to play, Nikki?”
“I didn’t mean it.”
“Maybe I should just choose Farrentina right now.”
“Please, Eddie. I’m sorry. I was just…”
He swung the fishing line close again, the lure hitting her arm. For a second, one of the barbs stuck in her skin, then he pulled back on the line, and it fell away.
“I’ll bite, Ed.” Farrentina caught the line. She snagged one of the hooks on her robe.
Eddie gave Nikki one more pointed look, then smiled at Farrentina and started reeling. As the line grew taught, Farrentina untied the robe’s belt and let Eddie pull it off her. She stood in front of him completely nude.
Lethal (Small Town Secrets Book 1) Page 10