Page 91 of Night Moves
If this guy didn’t recognize this name, he must really be phoning it in, as Erik had said. “That’s The Clipper’s last victim.”
“Oh, yeah! Our deal is off. Keep this to yourself. I’ll be forwarding this report on to that pushy FBI agent who took the blouse.”
Drake couldn’t stop Archibald from taking action, so he ended the call and phoned Natalie. He had to tell her that Tracey Gentry might’ve been at Laura’s murder. Maybe she’d suspected Kirk of having an affair and followed him. Then she’d seen him kill Laura and had taken off. If she was still alive, it would explain why she’d run from Kirk and gone to ground.
Or maybe—and unthinkable to Drake—the woman was helping her husband murder other innocent women or even more shocking, she was the killer.
23
“You’re alive.” Willow flung her arms around Tracey Gentry’s waist.
Natalie ignored her ringing phone to study the woman standing before her. She wore a knit gray mini-dress that clung to all of her curves and accentuated her voluptuous body, but it was her face that commanded Natalie’s attention. Her lips were puffy and large, looking like she had way too much filler injected in them. Her beauty was long gone, and she looked almost clown-like. Willow didn’t seem to notice, but then she’d seen her mother looking like this before.
Tracey smiled down on her daughter and stroked her hair. “Of course I’m alive, sweetie.”
“Dad said he thought a bad man took you.”
“Dad was wrong.”
Willow peered up at her mother. “Where is he?”
“I don’t know, but I’m sure he’ll be here in the morning.” She brushed Willow’s hair back, her shimmering violet-blue nails catching the light.
Natalie wondered what that particular color was called and if it was in Kirk’s trays of polish.
Tracey kissed Willow’s head. “Right now, you need to go back to bed so you’re not tired when he comes home.”
Willow eyed her mother. “You’ll be here when I wake up?”
“Absolutely.”
“Pinkie promise.” Willow held out her little finger.
Tracey locked fingers. “Promise. Now scoot.”
Willow spun and raced toward Natalie, stopping to give her a hug too. “She came back. She really came back.”
“Yes, she did.” Natalie looked at Tracey. The woman’s eyes were narrowed into tiny slits, and she was scowling. Maybe she thought Natalie had gotten too close to her children. “Now do as your mom said. Off you go.”
Willow flashed Natalie the first radiant smile she’d seen since Natalie took her from her father.
Natalie waited for Willow to jet into the room before she turned back to Tracey. “How did you find us?”
“Kirk told me the kids were with you, and I had him do his IT magic on the internet to locate your address.”
“Kirk?” Natalie had to work hard not to let her jaw drop. “You talked to him?”
“He tracked me down, and brought me up to speed on what you’ve been doing.” Tracey put her hands on very curvaceous hips. “You had no right to take my children.”
“You’d rather I’d left them with Kirk?” Natalie did let her jaw fall this time. “He’s a serial killer.”
“The last place I would want them would be with him. He’s far too controlling.” Tracey puckered her lips together. “I can finally be free of him and resume my career out in the open this time.”
Career?“I thought you were a stay-at-home mother.”
“That’s what everyone thought. Even Kirk.” Venom spewed out with the words. “He had no earthly idea. It was so simple to dupe him, especially while he was on active duty. He was deployed so often that I could pretty much do anything I wanted. But then he decided to separate from the military.”
She sighed, and her large lips fluttered with the expulsion of air. “I had to hide everything from him.”
