Page 62 of Night Moves
“Good night, Willow. Sleep tight.” Natalie turned on the nightlight and swallowed her desire to hug the child while following Drake out of the room.
On the landing, she closed the door firmly so Willow couldn’t listen in and she jogged down the steps, Drake’s footfalls sounding solidly behind her. At the bottom, she took a few deep breaths before they went out to join the others in the workshop again.
Drake stopped to look at her. “You okay?”
“The rules of my job prohibit me from giving children the hugs I think they need.”
“Willow does seem like she could use one. I even thought about it, but figured it would be odd for her.” Drake looked at the living area. “Tell you what. I’ve really come to appreciate my parents more. No more taking them for granted.”
“You hit the parent lottery with them. They’re great.” She shook her head. “I just can’t believe I spent so much time with Kirk and had no idea what a terrible person he is.”
Drake ground his teeth. “Did he ever do anything to make you uncomfortable?”
“No. But as you can imagine from what I told you, his personality makes a person uncomfortable—that whole self-centered behavior thing. And as I said, I suspected him of killing his wife. He professed his love and need to find her, but the way he talked about her was creepy. He always changed the subject. Very evasive. I’m surprised the detective didn’t pick up on it. Or maybe he did but ignored it because Kirk is a police officer too.”
Drake nodded. “Let’s get back to work finding Gentry.”
On the way out to the workshop, he stopped near his parents, who sat on the couch. Peggy was nestled up to Russ, and he had his arm circled around her. “Could I ask you to keep an ear out for the kids so we can go back to the workshop?”
“No need to even ask.” His mother smiled. “Of course we will. I’ve already become quite fond of them.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Drake said. “I can always count on you. You too, Dad. I’m lucky to have you guys as my parents.”
“What’s wrong?” Peggy jumped to her feet and put a hand on Drake’s cheek. “This is the second time tonight you’ve said something about our parenting.”
“Nothing’s wrong.” He smiled. “Seeing the Gentry kids, I’ve realized I’ve taken you guys for granted all these years.”
His mother waved her hand. “No need to even think about that. We do what we do because we love you and the Lord. And trust me, I’m praying like crazy that things will work out for these kids., and God will give us the answer we need.”
Drake hugged his mom. “Love you, Mom.”
“Love you too, son.” She squeezed his arm. “Now go find that terrible man and make him pay. Not only for what he’s doing to these women, but to these precious children too.”
“Will do.” He gestured for Natalie to head for the door and shared a fist bump with his dad on the way past.
A bolt of jealousy pierced Natalie. She knew she shouldn’t be jealous—that it was a sin. That God had given her the life she was living for a reason. But for the first time in many, many years, she didn’t want to be alone anymore. She wanted people she could count on in her corner. Honest, caring, loving, God-fearing people like the Byrds.
She grabbed the sweatshirt Russ had bought for her and slipped into it as they strode to the workshop. In the daylight, she’d seen the beauty of Drake’s property. Soaring spruce trees mixed with maples. Ferns, hostas, and other plants she couldn’t identify scattered beneath the trees along with pine cones and a thick bed of needles. Now they were cloaked in darkness, and the area seemed threatening. Seemed like a bear could be hiding in the shadows. Worse yet—Kirk.
She moved closer to Drake, and their hands brushed. She went to jerk hers away, but he latched onto it with his warm fingers until they reached the door.
The guys were seated at the table, and they looked up when Drake opened the door.
“I think we start at the beginning,” Aiden said, having just come back from watching the road. “Until Erik completes his background search on Tracey and we find an actionable item, I say we look into his victims to see if there’s any leads missed there. And I suggest we start with Gina. See if we can find any motive for someone to kill her.”
“I disagree,” Drake said as he stepped past Natalie to enter the room. “I think it’s a good idea to look into the victims, but we’d have better luck talking with the family and friends of Laura Zimmer. She was murdered a few months ago, so the trail isn’t nearly as cold.”
“I have to agree with Drake.” Erik rubbed his eyes, and the dark circles under them attested to his shortened nap due to playing with Logan.
Clay, looking far more alert at the end of the table, nodded. “We go with Laura.”
Aiden tapped a thick stack of papers in front of him. “According to Erik’s report, she lived with a roommate.”
“Roommate is Faye Babcock, and she still rents the same apartment where Laura was killed.” Erik mimicked a shudder. “Wouldn’t catch me living in a place where someone was murdered.”
“Me, either.” Natalie took a seat. “Especially if it was a rental and not a place I owned.”
Drake grabbed one of the reports on the table and flipped a page. “Babcock’s a nurse. Works the night shift and gets off at nine. I’ll go talk to her then.”
