Plain Jane (13 page)

“Taboo because it is too painful to talk about. Go find someone else to help you.” Rebecca tried to rise, but Nicole laid a hand over the brunette’s wrist.

The detective sounded so kind, so very persuasive. “Please, just talk to me.”

“Look, I’ve never…” Rebecca was up and out of her seat. “I’ve never had one of those…”

There was no way Kent was going to make it to the table in time. Nicole had to pull this one out of the fire on her own. “Deeper, Nic. Dive in.”

Kent was close enough to see that the detective meant business. Her shoulders were down and back. Her spine straight. Her voice full and uncompromising. “Nobody gets that angry unless they
have
, in fact, had one.”

Oh, there goes the game, Kent thought as he watched Rebecca’s face change three shades of red. He was pretty damn sure his face was undergoing such a transformation as well. Nicole constantly bitched about
his
lack of social tact? She was stumbling head over heel down the manners ladder and had nothing to show for it.

Rebecca was walking away.

Desperate, he appealed to the detective. Challenged her. “You want inside my head, Nicole? You want to understand me? What I do? Why it makes me the way I am?” Kent saw her eyes flicker over to him as he continued. “You need to be raw. As raw as she. You need to become who she needs right now.”

The meter maid was almost out of earshot when Nicole spoke up again. “I
know
, because I was that angry when my new GYN asked me.”

Rebecca stopped, but didn’t turn around. Kent held his breath. Nicole’s ploy was dangerous. If you were going to lie that boldly, you had to sell it. “Feed her what she wants to hear, Nic. Keep it up.”

Nicole’s voice sounded shaky. “It’s easy to pretend it never happened, but it still eats at you.”

Rebecca turned toward the detective as Kent coached, “You’ve hooked her, now reel her back in, Nic.”

“That’s why I’m writing this book. To help…” As the brunette took a step toward her, Nicole’s voice cracked. “To help myself.”

To his amazement, Rebecca made her way back to the table. You could not accuse a guy of having something as minor as jock itch and expect to talk him back to the table. You were more than likely to get punched for the effort. But there was the meter maid making a beeline toward Nicole.

Chicks.

The detective continued, “I did what I did because I didn’t have any other choice.”

Kent breathed a sigh of relief as Rebecca sat down.

“There’s always got to be another choice.” The brunette didn’t sound so sure of herself, though.

Now Rebecca was acting vulnerable, but felt safe. As others streamed out of the food court, Kent sat down again, confident Nicole had the meter maid back in the game.

And she did not disappoint him. “I was losing my job. The father was gone and—”

“Still. There was adoption.”

Even from his limited vantage point, he could see Nicole look up and hold Rebecca’s gaze. “The father checked himself into a
psych
ward.”

“Perfect! Cull enough from your personal history to make the story believable,” Kent encouraged.

Rebecca sounded shocked. “Checked
himself
in?”

“Yeah, right after he trashed my career, he decided he needed a ‘break’ from reality.”

A frown covered Rebecca’s face. “I was a teenager. I didn’t even know you could get pregnant your first time.”

Relishing yet another victory, Kent leaned back. “Damn, I’m good.”

Rebecca continued, “My mom went ballistic when she found out. Almost like I had betrayed
her
.”

“That’s usually a dad’s reaction.”

“Guess Mom was pulling double-duty. I didn’t really know my dad.”

Nicole patted the brunette’s hand. “I’m so sorry.”

“Okay, time to wrap up touchy-feely hour,” Kent said.

But the detective ignored his prompting and held Rebecca’s hand. “Was she equally upset when you decided to termin—”

Kent didn’t even have to tell Nicole she should not use that term. The detective self-corrected. “When you decided to do
it
?”

“Okay, sharing time is really over.”

The brunette sounded ready to cry. “Actually she couldn’t wait for me to have one.” She wiped a stray tear from her cheek and tried to sound brave. “She said she wished she’d had that option when she was younger.”

“Ouch. That’s something a mother should never say.”

“Yeah.”

Kent shifted uncomfortably in his seat. There was a reason beyond her ability to form a female connection that he sent Nicole in to get the info from Rebecca. He couldn’t handle this much emotional honesty. He’d be breaking out in hives if he were sitting across from the meter maid.

“Okay, this is about all the soul-baring I can stomach. Let’s move on to chapter two of
Stalking for Dummies
.”

Nicole again ignored his prompting. “So, did you tell the father before you had the procedure?”

“He was already onto his next cheerleader. You?”
Kent sighed. Chicks. They just did not understand the concept of hit-and-run conversations.

Nicole shook her head as she answered, “With the meds he was on? I’m not sure if he would have even understood.”

Kent chimed in, “Okay, now you’re just having fun at my expense.”

Luckily Rebecca looked down at her watch. “Oh wow, I’ve got to get moving. Those meters on Third and Watt are about to roll over.”

The two women rose to their feet. Nicole fished around in her pocket, what in the
hell
was she doing?

CHAPTER 48

Nicole found her business card holder and opened it without thinking. She just felt so sorry for Rebecca. To open such a large wound, just to send the poor woman back out to work? She wanted to let the brunette know she was not alone. But when Nicole looked down, she realized the card would blow her cover. With a click, she closed it.

“Sorry. I’m out.” Nicole grabbed a napkin and jotted her number down, then handed it to Rebecca. “Call me anytime if you want to talk.”

She gave a slight grin. “I will. Nice to meet you.”

“It was my pleasure.”

Nicole watched Rebecca walk off.

“
Finally
,” Kent huffed in her ear.

But as she watched the brunette retreat, Nicole was suddenly unsure of their plan. How could she let Rebecca go, not knowing that a psychopath was on her trail?

It was one thing to keep the truth from Rebecca when it was just an intellectual exercise. But now that Nicole had spoken with her? Touched her hand and her heart?

Now it was not so easy at all.

She pulled her phone’s microphone close to her mouth so her words could only be heard by Kent. “We can’t just let her walk off ignorant.”

“Oh, yes we can.”

Despite his words, Nicole found herself walking after Rebecca. “She needs to know the danger she’s in.”

“If she does, she’ll act differently. Tip him off.”

Nicole broke into a trot. “Rebecca!”

Kent either didn’t realize or didn’t care that his anger came through loud and clear. “Damn it! For her and every other brunette in this city, she can’t know, Nic.”

“Rebecca!”

The brunette finally turned around. “Yes?”

A little out of breath, Nicole caught up with her. “Rebecca…”

“Don’t!” Kent yelled in her ear.

Caught between betraying a new trust and protecting the city’s women, Nicole found herself speechless.

“Um, some other slightly disturbing revelation you’d like to make about yourself?” Rebecca asked.

“No. Just…”

The profiler rumbled in her ear. “
Don’t you dare
.”

As much as she hated to admit it, Kent was right. The only solution was to keep the secret, then watch Rebecca, protect her. Make sure she did not end up like Joann, Claudia, Maria. Tonight they were going to catch a killer. And for that to occur, the brunette needed to remain naïve.

She patted Rebecca’s shoulder. “Just be careful out there today, okay?”
“This isn’t LA. Meter maid attacks are down one hundred percent from last year. Making the grand total zero.”

“Still…”

“I’ve taken self-defense classes, and the pepper spray is never far. I’ll be fine, promise.” Rebecca offered her hand.

Nicole hesitated before taking it. She was gambling on this woman’s life. How could she shake her hand? But if the ruse was going to work, she had to play along.

With a forced smile, Nicole shook the woman’s hand. Then Rebecca disappeared amongst the sea of patrons returning to their day. Only the brunette had a dagger precariously dangling over her head.

How in the hell did Kent do this every day?

CHAPTER 49

Kent stepped next to Nicole. “There’s hope for you yet.”

“Why?”

There was real pain in the detective’s eyes, but he couldn’t speak to that right now. All he could do was redirect her attention. “Using a fictional event like an abortion to leverage the real pain you felt over our breakup? It was postgraduate stalking behavior.”

He headed to the parking lot, but realized that Nicole wasn’t following. Obviously she was experiencing post-lying depression. “You did the right thing.”

“We are going to watch her like a—”

“No
we
.
I’ll
be watching her around the clock.”

“You really expect me to lie to Ruben and Glick about informing her of the danger, then let you go off on your own…
again
?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” Kent knew Nicole was scared, livid, and worried, but he didn’t have time to babysit her mood. “Sorry, babe. Stalking is a solo sport.”

“That sounds a lot like last night. Joann. The Joann now in the morgue.”

Kent’s jaw tensed. His teeth ground against one another. Nicole shot below the belt. “I
won’t
lose her.”

Angry, he strode off.

“I’ve still got your comic book.”

Nicole had grown balls in two years, but she didn’t have the testosterone to back them up. “It’ll be fine.”

“I’m not afraid to spill coffee on it.”

“But you won’t.”

“Why not?”

Kent turned to face her.

How he hated emotional truths, but one, maybe just one would come in handy right now. “Because
you
haven’t changed in two years, either. You’re still the same old selfless Nicole you’ve always been.”

CHAPTER 50

Nicole watched Kent walk off. Just like he always did. And she without a decent retort. Just like always. How could the bastard know her so damn well in certain ways and so completely misread her in others?

Sure, she could catch up for the fourteenth hundred time and argue for fourteen hundred hours, but what would that accomplish? She had tried righteous anger, guilt, even extortion, and each, in turn, had failed. Nicole had run out of both ammunition and energy.

How did you reason with a man, a profiler who just did
not
give a shit? Didn’t care about authority, consequences, or even feelings? Before she could ponder such things, a practical concern rose.

Wait a minute. How was Kent going to stay on Rebecca’s tail without any transportation? Once outside, she realized she needn’t have worried. There Kent was, with
her
keys, driving off in
her
car.

“Of course,” Nicole said to no one in particular. Why did this situation feel so very familiar? Why did she let Kent bend her will every single time? Why did she yield each and every time?

Not up for an internal debate of that magnitude, Nicole turned to the man she always did in these situations. Picking up her phone, she hit speed dial number one. Torres.

Was she imagining things or did she hear his phone’s distinct
Gipsy Kings
ring? Cautiously, she walked around the corner to find her partner leaning against a railing.

“I figured you might need a ride.”

Nicole knew she should feel relieved, but instead she felt irritated. It was bad enough to be abandoned by Kent, but to have Torres witness it and rub it in?

“How much did you hear?”

“Enough.”

Her cheeks flushed red. Ruben knew she had agreed to lie for Kent as well. This day could not get much worse. “So you are going to tell Rebecca that she may be a target?”

“No,” Torres said as he walked toward his car.

Not certain if she heard him right, she asked, “Why not?”

“Because Kent, for all his glory, is wrong this time.” Her face must have registered her shock because her partner hurried on. “I know, impossible to imagine, but
true
.”

“Because?”

Torres unlocked the passenger’s door as he explained, “One of the women from Kent’s DMV search, a Nancy Halfer, fits the victim profile, has had an abortion, and complained of a Peeping Tom last week.”

“But that could have been—”

“We checked. Kent was busy getting frisked at the Krispy Kreme at the time she reported the lurker.”

As pissed off at Kent as Nicole might be, a part of her still rose to the profiler’s defense. Kent might be an asshole, but an asshole who was seldom wrong when it came to the criminal mind.

“That’s it? A scared brunette that Kent rejected as a victim is your best lead?”

Her partner handed her a folder. “And these.”

Ruben urged her into the car as he went around to the driver’s side. Nicole sat down but did not shut the door as she flipped through the large stack of security camera photos.

They all showed a young man, mainly from the back or other equally useless angles.

“And who’s this?”

Torres shut his door. Suddenly the car seemed too small. She knew she should shut her door but kept it open. Nicole needed to feel that she could leave if she wanted to.

Ruben laid several pictures out on the dash. “I combed through every frame of footage from the store that the previous victims had frequented.”

Nicole was in no mood for a presentation. “And this was the best you could come up with?”

“He obviously knew where the cameras were.”

“Or it’s not the same guy,” she asserted.

Her partner’s tone sharpened. “True, until I cross-checked the photos against the list Kent kicked out of the DMV’s computer.” Tapping each photo in turn, Ruben continued, “These were taken this week…at the pharmacy, farmers market, and gym that Nancy, my choice as Plain Jane’s next victim, attends.”