Nick of Time (A Bug Man Novel)
NICK
OF
TIME
OTHER BOOKS BY TIM DOWNS
Wonders Never Cease
Ends of the Earth
Less than Dead
First the Dead
Head Game
PlagueMaker
Chop Shop
Shoofly Pie
TIM DOWNS
NICK
OF
TIME
A BUG MAN NOVEL
© 2011 by Tim Downs
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means— electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Published in association with the literary agency of Alive Communications, Inc., 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920.
www.AliveCommunications.com
.
Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected].
Publisher’s Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.
Page design by Mark L. Mabry
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Downs, Tim.
Nick of time / Tim Downs.
p. cm. -- (A bug man novel ; 4)
ISBN 978-1-59554-310-3 (trade paper : alk. paper)
1. Polchak, Nick (Fictitious character)--Fiction. 2. Forensic entomology--Fiction. 3. Entomologists--Fiction. I. Title. II. Series: Downs, Tim. Bug Man novel ; bk. 4.
PS3604.O954N53 2011
813’.6--dc22
2011004446
Printed in the United States of America
11 12 13 14 15 16 RRD 6 5 4 3 2 1
For my beautiful Joy
The love of my life,
the desire of my heart,
and the object of
my pursuit
Contents
FRONT ROYAL, VIRGINIA
I
’m not sure I can do this,” Nick said.
“I believe in you,” Alena reassured him. “I know you’ve got it in you.”
“It’s just not right. There are things no man should be asked to do.”
“Now listen,” Alena said. “I’ve seen you pick maggots off a two-week-old corpse without even turning up your nose.”
“Good idea,” Nick said. “Think about happy times.”
“What I’m saying is: If you can do that, you can manage this.”
Nick looked at the sign again: Weddings ’n’ Such: E
VERYTHING
Y
OU
N
EED TO
M
AKE
Y
OUR
S
PECIAL
D
AY
U
NFORGETTABLE
. He turned to Alena: “Is it hot in here or is it just me?”
“Nick—we haven’t even gone in yet.”
The door opened to the sound of electronic chimes playing Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March.” Nick took a quick look around the room; he saw leather scrapbooks of sample wedding announcements, satiny ring pillows with lace embroidery, gleaming bridesmaids’ and groomsmen’s gifts, and flowery silk nosegays. Nick had never felt so out of his element; he felt like an ant that had wandered into the wrong colony, secreting some noxious alarm pheromone as he went, so that at any moment hundreds of angry workers might swarm all over him and shear off his limbs with their mandibles.
Alena took his hand. “Nick. Breathe.”
They sat in a pair of matching upholstered chairs that faced a large desk. On the desk was a silver dome-shaped bell; Alena leaned forward and gave it a tap. A moment later a woman emerged from a back room and stepped into the doorway with a blinding smile.
“Well, hello! Welcome to Weddings ’n’ Such! I’ll be right with you two—just let me grab my calendar!”
Nick cringed. The wedding planner looked middle-aged, probably in her midforties, with unnaturally blond hair and big bright eyes and a smile that seemed too big for her face. Nick thought the woman looked like she was waiting for the punch line of a joke—as if she might break out in laughter at any moment.