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I nodded, a little unnerved by that. Nikole liked silence, too. I knew she wouldn’t have said that just to make me feel better. She couldn’t have known my preference and Nikole was always straightforward with people.
I leaned back in my seat and turned on the radio to the country music station. Nikole shifted back towards the window and hummed along to the Luke Combs song.
She had a soothing voice. Like a fine whiskey on a cold winter’s night. “Can you sing?”
She shook her head. “Not in front of anyone. Only in the shower.”
“That can be arranged.” The words left my mouth before I could hold them back.
She whipped her head toward me and grinned. “Challenge accepted.”
I imagined her singing naked in the shower as the water streamed down her body, and I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I cleared my throat. “Um, we should be coming up to the place. Do you mind taking photos of the home while I drive up to it?”
“Sure.” She pulled her phone out of her purse. “Which one is it?”
There were only farm fields around us. Barns and farmhouses were scattered here and there. But I knew from the street view of the address I checked earlier that Ed Chapman lived in a trailer park.
When his name came up as one of the people who checked out some books at the library, I found it suspicious that he’d come into the city to get them, when there were libraries closer to him than the New York City Public Library. I wanted to know if he was the tourist type, or worked in the city and would find himself there.
“We’re coming up to the trailer park at the next turn. His is number 89, painted black and gray.”
She nodded and held the camera ready in her lap. As the wheels hit the gravel entrance into the park, I slowed the truck down. Looking at the beat-up trucks on the grass, I realized too late that I probably shouldn’t have brought the Escalade if I was trying to be inconspicuous.
“We should have taken my car,” she said as she looked around, and I smiled.
“That one.” She pointed to a trailer up ahead. It was black and gray, the same as I’d seen on the google street images of the place. There were several large trash bins off to one side. Nikole snapped pictures beside me as I slowly drove past the address and pulled over a couple of homes down the road.
A German Shepard stood sentry at Chapman’s front door, which was simply a screen door. It must have been freezing inside, with hardly any protection from the cold. The dog didn’t seem to mind; his tail wagged as he stared at our truck.
“I’m going to get out and have a closer look. See if there’s anyone inside.”
She nodded.
I placed my hand on her shoulder and stared into her eyes. “You are going to stay right here, inside, with the doors locked. Okay?”
She nodded again.
“You have to say it, Nikole.”
She rolled her eyes. “Okay. I’m going to stay right here unless I see you’re in trouble.”
I sighed. “There are no exceptions. You stay in the truck.”
She pressed her lips together.
I wasn’t going to get her to say it. “If there’s any trouble, you can call the police. There’s not much else you could do for me.”
She stuck out her hand. “Fine.”
I shook it, then checked my holster and put in my earpiece. I asked Jager to be on standby should there be something he could look up for me quickly as I explored the property.
Stepping out of my truck, I looked around for anyone walking up the street or sitting in their front yard. The weather was nearing the freezing mark, so there wasn’t anyone outside. I noticed a curtain move in the home directly across from where I parked and I waited a few minutes, but no one came outside. I wondered momentarily if Nikole would be safer next to me, but I wasn’t sure what I would find on Chapman’s property, so a locked vehicle was the safest spot.
The soft crunch of gravel under my shoes was the loudest noise in the neighborhood. I knew to be wary of the silence.
Despite the cold weather, there were weeds and tall shrubs surrounding Ed Chapman’s trailer. There were also spare car parts in the front yard and firewood stacked against the house. The windows were all covered with what appeared to be dark flannel sheets, making it nearly impossible to decipher any movement or a shadow inside.
My stomach tightened, and my vision blurred for a second. I remembered the last time I’d felt this way. A bomb had gone off in front of me and sent a man flying twenty yards ahead.
