Emily Kenyon 01 - A Cold Dark Place

last one. “As far as you know.”
    That hurt a little and Jenna didn’t try to hide it. “Don’t be like that. Look, both my parents say the same thing. We need to turn ourselves in. We didn’t do anything wrong”
    Nick wasn’t buying any of that. He slumped back down on the sofa. The mine building was rancid, creaky, and drafty. His family was gone, his house was gone. His life was over.
    “Nobody’s calling you a killer,” he said.
    Jenna pushed her long dark hair over her shoulder. He had a point. Words were so stupid, so hurtful, and at that time, so useless. They could hurt, but not calm.
    “In her message,” she said, finally, “my mom asked my dad if he knew anything about Angel’s Nest.”
    Nick exhaled and his eyes followed Jenna as she moved closer and sat next to him. He turned his gaze to the grimy floor and searched for words.
    “My dad warned me about that,” he said while patting his irritated scalp. “He said to me … before he died … Nick let himself to go back to that upstairs bedroom, back into the depths of the worst memory he’d ever hold.
    “Get out … son … go. Not safe. Angel here. Hide. You’re in danger Won’t stop until you’re dead.”
    “Angel?” Jenna asked. “He called you angel?”
    “He never called me that. He called me NickNack, but not Angel. I thought it was some weird comment, you know, like seeing an angel before you die.”
    Jenna couldn’t make the connection. “What do you think he was saying?”
    “I don’t know, but I thought he was warning me about an angel now.”
    “Or Angel’s Nest?”
    Nick nodded, it seemed to make sense. “My dad said that was the name of the adoption agency in Seattle. It was what he and Cary McConnell argued about. We’re going there”
    “We can’t.” Jenna could feel fear rising in her.
    “I need to know,” he said. “You can stay. You can go back to your mom” When he said the word “mom,” his voice cracked slightly, almost imperceptibly. “I’m going.”
    Jenna knew then that it was too late for her. She’d lost any choices she could make when she decided to help Nick. She cared about him. She trusted him. She thought that he could even be right about her own mother. Maybe she couldn’t understand. Maybe she wouldn’t really believe them.
    “I know where Shali keeps an extra set of car keys,” Jenna said.

Chapter Twenty-three
    Saturday, 6:26 A.M., Cherrystone, Washington
    Early Saturday morning two cars were headed out of Cherrystone. One, a bland Honda Accord driven by the detective in search of her daughter and a killer, and the other, a VW bug with a flapping ragtop driven by the suspected killer and the same daughter. Neither of the drivers or the sole passenger knew the other was on its way to the same destination, for the identical purpose. Getting out of town hadn’t been an easy prospect for either. One had to steal a car; the other had to squirm a little.
    Emily Kenyon didn’t exactly argue with Sheriff Brian Kiplinger to leave the investigation, but he wasn’t thrilled about it. “I know you have personal problems, Emily,” he had said, “but we’re up to our necks in alligators here and we need you to wrestle a few.”
    It was a lame metaphor, but Emily knew what he meant. Her investigation had been stymied by her daughter’s inadvertent involvement, the FBI had offered to step in, and the Spokane police had drawn their line in the sand, too.
    “I get that” Her dark eyes flashed. “But, look, I think that some of the answers to what happened at the Martin place will be found in Seattle.”
    Kip crossed his burly arms and narrowed his gaze. “And maybe your daughter, too?”
    Emily bristled at the mention and wished she’d just called in sick. “Jenna is not a runaway. She’s not a victim here. I know she’s just trying to help a friend. I believe that. Why is that so hard for you to accept?”
    “Emily, I’m your boss” Kip shifted his frame in the chrome-accented chair that was the only luxury in his office. He rocked backward and steadied the chair by putting his foot on the leg of his desk. “You’re talking to me like I’m your ex. I don’t know what happened. I’m glad you think Jenna is all right. But I just talked to a woman who buried her sister, brother-in-law, and nephew out at Green View two days ago and she’s none too happy that we haven’t picked up Nick guilty or not”
    The dialogue played in her head as she climbed the mountain pass