Traffic was light and there were less cars on the road than I was used to on my daily morning drives to work in Northfolk. The air in Granton felt different. Thicker and foggy, and probably less clean, but it felt like there was more oxygen to go around for everyone.
Roland and Mike were nodding off in the backseat as I pulled into the Holiday Inn parking lot in Granton. I’d driven straight through, ignoring the urge to pee, because Roland had teased that I would have to stop first.
“Here we are,” I grumbled, my pelvis achy as I put the car in park. Roland had called ahead and made the reservation. Personally, I didn’t understand why we needed to sleep before confronting Martin Nesbitt. Every second that passed was a second too long. A second that Lily could be in danger.
“What time is it?” Mike stuck his head between the seats, squinting up at the neon glow of the hotel sign. The parking lot was empty, save for two cars, and one of them had to belong to staff because it had a Holiday Inn logo splashed along the side panel.
“One o’clock in the morning,” I yawned. Mike was in his late twenties like me. He wasn’t as big of a douchebag as Roland, but they were friends, and like the other guys, he didn’t seem to trust me much since the shooting incident. In another life, maybe we could have been partners…friends…
Mike was wearing a tight black police top and jeans, his sandy blond hair poking out in sleepy little tufts on his head.
Roland groaned. “Bumpy ride. You should have let me drive,” he glowered at me in the rearview mirror. Before leaving Northfolk, we’d squabbled over the keys and I’d won.
When I was fifteen, I’d got in a car with one of my older friends who’d had a few drinks too many and had pulled out in front of a Dodge Caravan before looking left at a stop sign. My seatbelt had saved my life, and hers too, but ever since that wreck, I liked being the one behind the wheel. I liked having my fate in my own hands whenever possible.
“I know sarge told us to crash for the night, then go see the husband in the morning. But I was thinking, why not go there now? It’s only a couple miles away from here. Maybe we’ll catch him off guard,” I spoke softly, praying they’d both agree.
“Catching a man off guard, you say? Didn’t you learn your lesson on that last time?” Roland sneered.
I gritted my teeth, fuming. Before I could defend myself on the Clark shooting for the hundredth time, Mike said, “Ease up, Roland. Guys, we just need to follow sarge’s orders. He told us to go in the morning.”
Roland pulled on the door handle from the backseat, but it was locked. Less than an hour into the drive, he’d asked me to stop at a Liquor Barn. Tennessee doesn’t sell alcohol after eleven. I don’t want to miss my window, he’d explained. Honestly, I was surprised he hadn’t popped the top on a beer and drunk it in the backseat on the ride over.
A sudden urge to leave him locked in his hotel room and drive on to the Nesbitts’, surged through me. I flexed my jaw, watching him struggle with the door handle in my rearview mirror.
“Unlock my door, Sharp. Mike, help her with the controls up there.”
“I know how to unlock it,” I snapped. I clicked a button and Roland jumped out.
“Sorry. I know he’s an ass,” Mike said, smiling weakly. Then he slid across the seat and followed him.
Frustrated, I gathered my purse and keys, then popped the trunk to get my bag. Just as I was taking it out, the on-call cell phone whirred in my pocket. I’d almost forgotten I had it on me, I’d been so focused on getting here and confronting Nova’s husband.
It was a text message from an unknown number.
Officer James, it’s Chad Burch from forensics. I know it’s late. I didn’t want to wake you up, but can you call me first thing in the morning? I have some details to discuss with you about what I found out today, in regards to the Nesbitt case.
I carried my bag in the crook of my arm, my mind racing as I wondered what Chad knew so far. Eager to get checked in so I could call him back, I hurried through the glass double doors and entered the lobby. Roland and Mike were nowhere to be found.
A young girl with cherry red hair and glittery green mascara was working the desk. She blushed when she saw me, and I had no doubt that Roland had just been flirting with her.
“They left you your room key,” she said, giving me a timid smile as she slipped a plastic key card across the desk.
“Thank you. Let me know if they bother you,” I said, cheeks flaming.
My room was on the second floor. I wasn’t sure where Mike and Roland’s rooms were, but I hoped they were far away. Preferably on another floor completely. I tossed my bag on the queen-sized bed and turned on the lamp beside a small, wood-stained desk.
I sat down in a flimsy desk chair and kicked my shoes off while I waited for Chad to answer the phone. Please pick up, I silently chanted.
“Hey. I thought you might be asleep.”
Relieved, I said, “What’d ya find? Did ya tell my sergeant?”
“I did. But I know you’re the one who’s been working the case from the start, so he said it was okay to call you directly.” Chad cleared his throat and I thought I could hear him shuffling papers.
“Thank you, I appreciate that. I’m surprised you have something for me so fast.”
“Well, me too, but this wasn’t hard to figure out. The blood that we collected from the scene? You ready?”
My heart leapt into my throat. What if the blood belongs to Lily?
“The blood didn’t come from a human. It’s bovine. But there is some human blood embedded in the teeth.”
Bovine. The term was familiar, but my heart was throbbing in my ears and I couldn’t get my thoughts straight. “Wait. You mean cow’s blood? Holy shit. Why would there be cow’s blood in that cabin?”
“No clue. Could this be some sort of sacrificial killing? Was Nova into the occult, or anything like that?”
I stared at my overnight bag on the bed. “I have no idea what she was into. But there was a duffel bag full of rocks at the scene. Does that mean anything to you?”
The line was silent for several seconds. “No, it doesn’t. But I just remembered something else. We found a cross in her garbage can in the kitchen. Animal blood, weird stones, and a cross. What’s that make you think of?”
“Something satanic or ritualistic. But that seems a little far-fetched, don’t ya think?” I pondered.
“Remember all those satanic ritual abuse cases in the eighties? They spread like wildfire but turned out to be untrue,” Chad said.
“Yeah, I think I do…”
Chad coughed loudly, and I pulled my ear away from the phone. He came back on the line and said, “But, there’s still the fact that there were human teeth. I mean, no one would be able to differentiate between mammal blood and human blood, not with the naked eye. But the ABC and Rh blood groups for the samples were different, so I automatically knew it wasn’t human. But from a cow…wow, I’ve never seen that happen before. Are there farm animals in that barn next door?”
“No. There used to be, I think, but not for years.”
A sudden thought was taking shape in my mind. What if Martin Nesbitt wanted us to think his wife and child were dead? What if he kidnapped the daughter, then came back for the wife…maybe Lily’s still alive, I considered. Maybe the cow’s blood was a decoy…?
“Is that it, Chad?” I asked, shoving my feet back into my shoes and standing up.
“If you can get dental records for Nova and a DNA sample, either from a close relative or from a toothbrush, or something at her house, that would help immensely. Her fingerprints are already on file because she’s been in the system before.”
“Okay. Thanks, Chad.” I snapped the phone shut and grabbed my keys. I couldn’t wait. I needed to see Martin Nesbitt now.