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“So you’re a bounty hunter.” Grim fought the urge to dragNic closer. “Whatever they’re paying you, I’ll pay you more to walk away andtell them you couldn’t find her.” He had some money saved up, but it wasnothing compared to Josh’s trust fund. He had a sudden thought. “Or to fake herdeath. Tell them she’s dead and give them evidence that will satisfy them.”
“Grim,” Nic began, and at least the blank doll look was outof her eyes. “She’s not going to do that.”
Kim shrugged. “It might be an excellent idea, but we wouldhave to be careful. And I’m not a bounty hunter. This isn’t the type of case Inormally take. My husband, Beck, and I work with a group in Colorado thattracks missing persons. Usually children or women in danger, though we’ll workwith law enforcement if we feel we can help and there’s a risk to the public.”
“She’s not dangerous.” He had to convince this woman to letNicole go.
“I know that.” Kim’s voice went soft, and she leaned towardNic. “I took this case for reasons your in-laws don’t understand. My firstinstinct was to reject the job, but my son asked me to reconsider. He’s workingtoward a law degree, and he spends a lot of time studying criminal cases. Hefound some major red flags with yours.”
“Josh,” Grim called out. “Josh, we can kill your uncleslater. Come and listen to Kim now. She’s explaining how she got involved andwhat she thinks about the case.”
“Didn’t you take a Hippocratic oath?” Chase asked, soundinggrumpier than ever, but at least they’d stopped fighting.
“I’m a vet,” Grim shot back. “I vowed to not harm yourchihuahua. I can totally harm you.”
“Grim,” Nicole said between clenched teeth.
The fact that she was letting him know she wouldn’t put upwith his antisocial behavior gave him hope. “Sorry, baby. But I’m pissed atthem. You should know I had zero to do with any of this. I was willing to waituntil you were ready to talk.”
“She’s planning on leaving in a couple of weeks,” Josh said,sounding a little like his uncle. “We couldn’t be sure that she would trust usenough to tell us. She could have walked away, and we would never have seen heragain. She would be all alone in the world, and I wasn’t about to let thathappen.”
Josh stared at Kimberly Kent, who rolled her blue eyes andshifted to the end of the sofa, leaving a place for Josh to slide in besideNicole.
“Alpha men,” she muttered under her breath. “Like I wassaying, my son found some major red flags when he studied the files about themurder of Micah Holloway.”
“That’s Nicole’s husband?” Josh asked, finally seeming toget his anger under control.
“Nora.” Nic was back to sounding monotone. “Nora Hollowaywas married to Micah. Sometimes I don’t feel like I’m Nora anymore.”
Josh turned her way. “Baby, you’re whoever you tell me youare. You want me to call you Nicole? I love that name. Nora is a wonderfulname. I don’t care what I call you as long as I get to call you mine.”
Nicole took a long breath and turned Kim’s way. “I didn’tkill my husband.”
“I know that.” There was a surety in Kim’s tone that madeGrim more comfortable with her. “Though given your hospital records, I wouldn’tblame you. Guys, you should know that her husband physically abused her.”
The thought made Grim’s stomach churn.
Nicole nodded. “It was nothing at first. He would be rough,grab me too hard. The first time he slapped me I tried to leave. But he criedand apologized, and I started a cycle then. After a while I didn’t love him,but I couldn’t leave. I couldn’t imagine how I would survive.”
“You didn’t have any money of your own.” Harlow didn’t makeit a question. “He controlled it so he could control you.”
“I saved some up,” Nicole replied. “I was trying to leavewhen it happened. He would give me cash to buy groceries and I would clipcoupons and use sales to save money. The one place he would let me go was thegym, so I had a locker there. I stashed my money and some other helpful itemsat the gym.”
“You had a gun, didn’t you?” Kim asked.
Grim’s heart clenched at the thought of Nicole needing afucking gun.
“Yes. I saved up and bought a gun from the scariest man I’veever met. I don’t ever want to do that again. But he promised me it wasn’t…What was the word he used? He said it wasn’t a burner,” Nicole explained.
Now Grim’s stomach churned. “You bought a ghost gun?”
“A burner is a gun that’s known to have been used in acrime,” Kim explained in a calm voice. “What he was telling you is the gun youwere buying was untraceable, likely made in the Philippines. They’re smuggledinto the US. I’m surprised you were able to find one.”
“I couldn’t buy one from a reputable dealer.” Nicole’s handsformed a ball on her lap, as though she had to keep herself from reaching out.“I would have to have it registered, and then Micah might have found out. Thereare some people online who help women leave their abusive husbands. One of themput me in touch with the dealer.”
Ben stood, his hands on his hips, and he looked like a maddad. “Young lady, that gun wasn’t properly manufactured. It could have killedyou as easily as your husband.”
Josh put a hand on hers, and she didn’t pull away. “I’m gladyou were taking steps to protect yourself.”
