The two men looked for several minutes, then Steve pulled out a small flashlight and shined it under the edge of the old counter. Bryson heard Steve say, “Ah, come to papa!” as he reached under the edge of the counter and pulled out a small royal blue and black flash drive. “Let’s take this back to the office and look at it.” Steve held it up like a prize.
“Office?” Bryson shook his head. “Hell with that! I’ve got my laptop in my car – let’s look at it right now!”
“Who the hell is that?” Bryson asked as they watched the video for the tenth time. They stopped it every time, staring at the little man running toward the front of the truck.
“I don’t know who it is, but it sure as hell isn’t Tony.” Steve squinted at the screen, trying to make out the figure. “I think it’s time to drop the charges against him, wouldn’t you say?”
“Yep,” Bryson nodded. “Now we’ve got to figure out who that little guy is. But it definitely isn’t Tony.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
“Ready to go?” Tony asked Nikki as Clayton and Annabeth packed up the last of her things. She’d only been in the hospital for six days, but it seemed like a lot longer. Strange how things piled up so fast. She’d come into the hospital empty-handed, and it was taking three of them now to carry everything home.
“Yep, let’s go” she whispered. Her throat was still sore from the breathing tube; she’d only had it out for a couple of days.
“I’ve got a surprise for you.” He squatted down in front of her wheelchair to meet her eyes. “Steve, Bryson, and Detective Fox are coming to the house when we get home. We’ve got a lot to tell you, honey.”
Nikki wondered what it could be. She could recall going to the old restaurant and a little bit about what had happened, but not much more. Tony had asked her what she remembered, but it was all so fuzzy. What she did remember clear as a bell was the girl with the bullet hole in her forehead; she’d been having nightmares about that.
On their way out, Tony wheeled her into another room. Nikki looked at the bed and smiled – Laura. She turned to look at Nikki and Tony as they came up to her bed.
“How are you, little lady?” Tony asked her, taking her hand.
“They tell me I’m doing pretty well, but I feel like I got stepped on by an elephant,” Laura replied, her voice sagging with weakness. “How are you doing, Nikki? You look pretty good.”
“Thanks,” Nikki whispered hoarsely. “I don’t remember a lot about what happened. But if the little I know is true, I need to apologize to you.”
Laura smiled and pointed at Tony. “I still don’t believe in love, but if I had a man like that one I would’ve done the exact same thing. And it’s good you don’t remember much. It was pretty awful, but you were a trooper. I hear you’re also pretty much a hero, at least to this guy.”
“We’re going to talk about all of that when I get my baby home. And you,” he said, pointing at Laura and pretending to be stern, “you take care of yourself. We’ll be checking on you. If you need a place to stay when you get out, where somebody can help you, you’re welcome to come and stay with us.”
Laura gave him a tired smile. “Thanks, Tony. You know, I just might take you up on that.”
“Good. You’re always welcome. See you soon!” Tony called back as he wheeled Nikki out into the hall.
“Hero?” Nikki whispered.
“All in good time, sweetie, all in good time,” he answered her as Clayton and Annabeth held the elevator car and they all got in.
“What floor?” a lady already in the car asked.
Tony laughed. “Home!” The lady smiled and pushed the button for the first floor.
Nikki’s chest hurt. It felt like a hot poker had been thrust into it, but she fought the urge to swallow pain medication and decided to tough it out. She’d just managed to get comfortable in the den when the doorbell rang. Getting up took too much energy and she couldn’t.
Tony caught a glimpse of her struggling to rise and barked, “Oh, no! You sit right there! Don’t you dare try to get up!” He rocketed past through the den and to the front door.
There was a muddle of voices, and then Steve, Bryson, Detective Fox, Peyton, and José filed into the room. Steve, Peyton, and José hugged her; Bryson took her hand and asked how she was. Detective Fox merely nodded at her.
After everyone was seated, Tony said, “Well, let’s get started. Baby, you went through a lot. Are there any questions you need answered? I know things are kind of spotty for you.”
Nikki had a question that had worried her ever since she woke. “Are you going back to jail because you came to the hospital?” She started to tear up, afraid of the answer.
Tony reached over and took her hands. “Honey, I’m never going to jail again. Don’t you know?” He looked at Steve and told him, “She doesn’t know. No one told her.” Steve smiled, and Tony turned back to Nikki. “Baby, the flash drive you got from that girl had video footage on it of Dottie’s killer, and it’s not me, plain as the nose on your face. The charges against me have been dropped.” He took her face in his hands. “You did that. You risked your life to get me out of this. There’s nothing I could ever say or do to thank you. I owe you my life.” He took her hands in his again and kissed them.
Nikki didn’t know what to say, but she was thinking how everything she’d been through, all the pain and fear, had all been worth it – all of it. Then she thought of something else. “Hey, how did Laura know where I was?”
Tony reached into his pocket, pulled out his key ring, and dangled it in front of her face. It had a leather tag with a Walters Construction emblem on it. “You have one of these. Every person who has a Walters vehicle has one of these. Every one of our family members has one of these. All of Steve’s people have one of these.” From the look on her face, he could tell she still didn’t understand. “They all have microchips in them, GPS locator chips.”
“Oh! That’s brilliant!” she whispered hoarsely. She thought for a few seconds, then shook her head. “I don’t have any other questions.”
“Well, we have some questions for you,” Detective Fox said. “For starters, do you know the people you met with?”
“What do you mean?” Nikki asked; it seemed almost like Fox was accusing her of being in collusion with them. “No – I’d never met them before. Well, I’d met the girl a little while earlier in the day when she came into the shop.”
“She came into the shop? Steve asked. “What exactly happened?”
Nikki told them the whole story, how the girl had come in, the phone call, the location, the way the guy had shown up so quickly. She told them how the guy had shot the girl first, then her, and then there was gunfire from elsewhere; she now knew it had been Laura, trying to get to her before the man could shoot her again.
After she’d told the story, Bryson asked, “Did she tell you her name?”
“No. But he called her Autumn, and she called him Travis. And she said something about remembering Tony and that he was a very nice man.” She glanced at Tony, and he shrugged and looked completely baffled. “That’s all I know. What about the cars they were driving?”
Bryson shook his head. “We checked the plates, but no luck. They were stolen. Their fingerprints weren’t in the system; neither was their DNA. But there was something odd.” He turned to Tony. “His DNA was somewhat similar to yours. Had some of the same genetic markers.”
Tony looked shocked. “I don’t know anybody named Travis, much less have a relative by that name. Sure there’s no mistake?”
“Nope. Here’s his photo. Recognize him?” Fox handed Tony a photo. Tony shook his head.
Fox recapped the results of the investigation so far. “Okay, so we’ve got two dead people with no identification. We’ve got two people wounded. And we’ve got a video of a killer no one can recognize. We’re no closer to solving this than we were before.” He sighed. “But one thing is clear; these people were GoGreen. I think your vandalism and harassment
are over.”
“Good.” Tony breathed a sigh of relief. “Please let Detective Ford know that. He may have some leads that would help you identify them.”
While Tony was speaking, Clayton walked in. When he sat down on the other side of Tony, he looked down at the ottoman in front of them and saw the photos lying there. “Hey, why do you have a photo of Autumn Landers?” he asked. Then he looked sideways at the photo, and his eyes went wide. “Wait – is she dead?”
All heads jerked in his direction. “You know that girl?” Bryson asked.
“Yeah, of course I know her.” They all stared at him. “Dad, remember when I dated that girl named Audrey? In high school?”
“Yes,” Tony said slowly, trying to place her face, then suddenly he knew. “Hey, that’s her little sister, isn’t it?”
“Sure looks like her.”
“Same name, too,” Nikki said. “That’s got to be her.”
“Okay, I’ve got a lot of work to do,” Fox told them, jotting notes in his little notebook.
“And the guy said she was a terrible girlfriend, so they were involved,” Nikki told them. “Find people who knew her and you’ll find out who he was.” She thought for a second, then turned to Tony and added, “Wonder if he chose her because she knew something of you?”
“You mean maybe she’s dead because she knew somebody from my family?” Tony looked so sad that Nikki wanted to wrap her arms around him and hug him. “I hope that’s not the case. That would be horrible, but it’s a possibility.”
“So I guess if you can find his identity, you can find his residence. And if you find his residence, we’ll get a lot of questions answered. Problem is, the biggest one still isn’t answered,” Steve said. “Who was the man in the video?”
They talked back and forth, but no one had any good ideas. Out of the blue, Nikki looked at Bryson and asked, “Can I see the video?”
“Oh, that’s right, I forgot – you haven’t seen it! Sure. Let me get my laptop.” Bryson left the room and came back with his laptop case. In a minute, he had it out and ready. He put it on the ottoman and hit PLAY on the video utility, and the scene played out in front of Nikki.
She watched and when it was over, she played it again. Something about the video was bothering her, but she couldn’t quite decide what. She looked at Tony and asked, “Hey, can this thing be played on the television somehow?”
“Sure.” Tony reached into a drawer in the bookcase and took out an HDMI cable. He linked the laptop and the TV and set the appropriate input, then Bryson hit PLAY again.
Nikki watched carefully. When it ended, she asked Bryson to start it again. She saw the truck; someone got in, activity, then a car pulled up. It was shadowy and grainy, but she saw the man get out of the car and come toward the truck. Suddenly, she yelled as loud as her whispery voice would allow, “Stop! Stop the video!” Bryson hit the PAUSE function and Nikki leaned toward the screen.
It wasn’t the man; it was the car. And it wasn’t really the car; it was the dents in the car. Nikki stared at the image – where had she seen that car before?
“Oh, damn,” she finally whispered. “I know where I’ve seen that car.”
“You’ve seen it?” Tony asked. “Where?”
“Across the street.”
“From here? It’s one of our neighbors?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Nikki answered. “I saw it on Thanksgiving day. You sent me to the bedroom while you dealt with Dottie. I stood and looked out the window. That guy, he was sitting in that car across the street. I remember the dents. I thought he was waiting for somebody to come out of a house across the street.” In a blinding flash, she understood. “But he wasn’t waiting for anybody; he was watching Dottie. And he made it look like he was waiting for somebody in one of the houses, so you guys didn’t pay any attention to him,” she told Peyton, wanting him to know that the team wasn’t at fault.
“So the guy who killed Dottie was watching her,” Bryson said, deep in thought. “Hey, has anybody ever seen this Hector guy she said she was married to?”
Tony, Clayton, and Steve all shook their heads. “I’d lost count of her husbands,” Tony said, “and I’m not even sure they were actually married. Matter of fact, I don’t even know his last name, just Hector.”
“So we need to check marriage records, see if we can find one for her and a Hector. If she married him, when would it have been?” Fox asked.
“She came skulking around last, oh, September maybe? Asking me for money for a divorce from, uh, Clayton, what was that guy’s name?”
“You mean Wally? Wally Benton?” Clayton asked.
“Yeah, that was him,” Tony nodded. “She divorced him last fall, so this guy would’ve been after that.”
“Okay, that gives us somewhere to start.” Bryson watched Fox jot down the information. “Of course, if we find Hector and he’s obviously not the guy in the video, we’re back to square one. But at least we do know one very important thing.” Bryson grinned.
“Yeah.” A little smile crept onto Tony’s face. “We might not know who killed Dottie, but we know who didn’t, and that would be me.”
“Let me see everyone off. You sit right here; don’t move. If I come back in here and find you standing in the kitchen, I’m gonna be really pissed, hear me?” Tony admonished, and Nikki nodded back.
“Steve, I need to talk to you for a minute,” Nikki heard Tony say as they were all walking out the front door. She sank into the sofa and closed her eyes, not realizing until the room was quiet exactly how exhausted she was. This wasn’t sleepy tired; this was bone weary. It didn’t matter to her that she was stuck on the sofa. She was just happy to be home, in this house, with Tony. And he wasn’t going back to jail. He was staying with her forever. She smiled to herself.
“What are you smiling about?” Nikki opened her eyes to find Tony grinning at her from the doorway.
“I was thinking about how you’re not leaving me. You get to stay here.” The joy on her face made him sigh, and he joined her back on the sofa.
He put his arm around her and pulled her close, but she gasped in pain and he turned loose as he shrieked, “Oh, god, baby, I’m sorry!” He stroked her cheek. “You know, you should probably go to the bedroom and lie down. Come on, let’s get you settled in. It’s been an exhausting day for you.” He helped her stand, then put his arm around her waist and walked her down the hallway to the bedroom.
It took a whole two minutes for her to fall asleep while Tony caressed her hair and face. She slept without moving for several hours until it was almost dark outside, waking to a delicious aroma. Trying to sit up, she found she was stronger than she’d been when she lay down, and she managed to get up to a sitting position on the side of the bed and put on her slippers before Tony opened the mostly-closed door and sat down on the side of the bed beside her. “Hi! Feeling better, beautiful girl?”
“Yeah.” She was surprised to find her voice was stronger than it had been. “What’s that delicious smell?”
Tony sat down on the side of the bed. “The kids are all here. Brittany is cooking. Stringer and Ella Jane are being very good; we explained to them that you weren’t feeling very well. Stringer keeps telling Clayton he wants to see your bullet hole,” Tony chuckled.
“Cute!” Nikki laughed. About that time, Vic walked in and sat down on the other side of the bed, then reached for her hand. He lifted it to his lips and kissed it, and she drew his back to her and kissed it too.
“They all wanted to come over and see you. Bart and Freddie both have called about you; Mark and Victoria, too. And Caroline called the other day and wanted to know if you could have company, so I think they’re planning to come in early. Of course, that would be Caroline’s idea, not Bennie’s.” Tony and Vic helped her to her feet and they walked down the hall toward the kitchen, one on either side of her, their arms wound around her waist.
“There you are!” Annabeth cried out and ran to hug her. Katie was right behind
her, and it was hard to tell which of the girls was happier to see her.
“I’ll hug you in a minute; I can’t let this sauce burn!” Brittany called out, laughing. Tony passed Nikki off to Clayton, who kissed her on the cheek and helped her sit down on a bar stool at the island. Tony set a large glass of ice water in front of her, and she drank it in gulps; she hadn’t realized how thirsty she was, and it helped to almost completely dissolve the soreness still in her throat.
Annabeth’s face took on a serious look. “Sooooo, we wanted to talk to you about Christmas.”
“Oh my god!” Nikki screeched. “I completely forgot about Christmas!” She looked at Tony, her eyes filling with tears. “This is our first Christmas together, and there’s no tree, there aren’t any gifts, nothing! Oh, I’m so, so sorry!” She started to cry outright.
Tony looked horrified. “Baby, don’t worry about any of that! Nobody cares. All we care about is that you’re safe and getting well and we’re all together. None of that other stuff matters.” He turned her to him and wrapped his arms around her, and she buried her sobs in his chest.
“Mom, oh, god, no! That’s not what we were talking about at all!” Annabeth dropped what she was doing and ran to Nikki, taking her hand. “No, no, we were talking about the wedding!”
It was Nikki’s turn to look completely horrified. “Oh sweet lord, Tony, I promised you I’d marry you on Christmas Day, and it’s not going to happen! I’ve screwed up everything!” She started crying even harder.
“Shhhhhh, baby, listen to Annabeth.”
“Yeah, Mom, listen.” Annabeth knelt in front of Nikki, put her hands on Nikki’s knees, and looked up into her face. “I’ve taken care of everything. I’ve got flowers coming courtesy of Marla, and a cake, and something for you to wear. It’s all taken care of.” Annabeth stopped, then added, “If you still want to do it.”
Nikki squeezed Annabeth’s hand. “Of course I still want to do it.” She tried to stifle her sobs. “I want to marry this man more than anything in the world.”