AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Owen inhaled deeply. “You never saw her again?”
“No,” Tiberius answered quietly. Now Ahnah was among the missing women. Vanished on August 23.
“You think the Fire & Ice Killer discovered this information and targeted Ahnah? Why not Bex?” Owen asked.
“For one, Ahnah’s middle name is Oleander, and it’s a flower. I already knew that, but it’s on the full-name list sent to me. Bexley doesn’t have a flower in her name.”
“And for two?” Owen asked.
Ty had no idea. He was positioned behind a thick veil, unable to see the killer’s motives. “Asa still in the house?” Ty ignored Owen’s question, trying to make sense of this new information while being flooded with old, sour memories.
“Yeah. He’s flying to Raleigh to the ME’s office in an hour. I think Fiona is going with him. Maybe Violet.” Owen followed Ty inside. “They should be back by lunchtime or right after.”
Everyone was in the living room with laptops, coffee and sober expressions.
“PSA...” Ty blurted as he entered. “I was engaged when I was eighteen.” Might as well lay it out sooner rather than later.
Asa popped his head up; Fiona followed suit.
Violet cautiously closed her laptop. “This isn’t an episode of Dr. Phil, Tiberius. And some of us already know it.” Ty had revealed this tidbit to her when they were working the Blind Eye Killer case in Night Hollow. He’d overheard a conversation of hers and thought she’d needed to hear something personal from him. He’d been right. They’d bonded—as much as one could bond with Violet at that time. Even now, her personal life with John and his preschool-aged daughter, Stella, was guarded.
“She knows that?” Owen asked, his eyes wide as he gawked at Ty. “How does she get to know that and I’m just now finding out?”
Some subjects were too difficult to discuss, even with his best friend. Ty repeated what he’d already told Owen.
“Bexley Hemmingway?” Fiona asked. “That’s why you snatched the business card from me that night I gave it to Ruby Boyd back in Night Hollow.”
“And why you told me to vet her first,” Violet said.
“What does that have to do with the rando declaration?” Selah, their tech analyst, asked through Asa’s computer monitor. He kept her on video call most of the day.
“Ahnah is on the list of missing women, and Oleander is her middle name. Vanished a week ago. Lives here. The address is registered to Bexley Hemmingway.” He tugged at his collar again. “Vi, you might be right about the Fire & Ice Killer.” He turned to Asa. “I—uh—don’t want to recuse myself. But if you think I should...”
Asa tapped a pen on the table. “We don’t know that it’s the killer out of Virginia. But I don’t want to rule out the fact that whoever is doing this might be personal to you since a victim is personally connected. It’s interesting to note, but possibly coincidental.”
Yet doubtful, and the turmoil in Asa’s steely gray eyes said as much.
“I can go with Ty to interview the families of the missing women,” Violet said. “I need to work the victimology, and you don’t need me at the ME’s office. We can reinterview the victims’ families while we’re out if we have time.” Violet holstered her weapon, then slipped on a black blazer. She wasn’t one for wasting time.
“Asa?” Ty asked, waiting to see if he wanted him actively working the case. He almost hoped he’d tell him to pack it up and go home. If not, he would have to visit Bexley, and he wasn’t ready for that. Wasn’t sure he could. The easy way out was hopping a plane for home. Not to mention the possible hurricane brewing over the ocean that could decimate the whole coast.
“Go ahead. We’ll take it one day at a time.”
Sounded about right. Asa had let Fiona actively work a personal case, concerning the Nursery Rhyme Killer. Well, let was a loose term. Fiona was going to do what Fiona was going to do. Ty nodded, then followed Violet to the Suburban. They’d rented two of them. Most times local law would give them a cruiser, but in these small unincorporated island communities, there weren’t any to spare. “You familiar with the Outer Banks?” Ty asked.
“Is this your way of asking to drive?” Violet asked.
“Yes.”
“Just ask, you buffoon.” She tossed him the keys and climbed in the passenger side.
“You do a lot of name-calling since you and John got together. Is this some kind of aggression aimed at him you’re transferring onto me?” He cranked the ignition, then ran a hand through his wind-whipped hair. It was vicious coming off the surf.
Violet buckled her seat belt. “Is this your way of avoiding the Bexley Hemmingway conversation?”
“Maybe. Probably. Yeah.” He punched in Bexley’s address—a beach house six minutes away.
Violet remained silent, sipping coffee from a thermal cup as Ty listened to the GPS and drove to Bexley’s. The house was a small bungalow painted a salmon color with white trim. A long dock coming from the side of the house and rounding to the back stretched out to the sound, where a small private beach held two blue-and-white-striped chairs with umbrellas.
