CHAPTER FOURTEEN

For Nate, being at Hank’s with Olivia was like getting a second chance to do things right. He had imagined this moment many times freshman year, staring into Olivia’s eyes across a table in the dark restaurant. Then he had forced himself to move on, certain that she would never return his feelings. For a while, it had worked. They had been committed to their friend status. But last year, something changed for Nate. He couldn’t push those feelings away any longer.

“I’d say this date is going better than the last one,” Olivia said when they were done eating.

She looked younger to Nate and he wasn’t sure if it was because of the carefree smile on her face or his memory tainting her true image with the one from 13 years ago. Either way, he felt the same tingle he had felt back then when he looked at her.

“I’ll reserve judgment until I see if you come home with me at the end of the day,” he said, taking her hand. They had been at Hank’s for over an hour and Nate really needed to get back to work, but he couldn’t make himself ask for the check.

“I can’t believe this place hasn’t changed at all in 13 years. You would think they’d at least have new menus.” She slowly thread each of her fingers between his. “Hank’s burger is still the best in town though. I think this was exactly what I needed today. Thank you.”

“I’m always looking for an excuse to be alone with you, so thank you.” Nate brought her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. He wanted to hold onto the moment just a little longer. “We haven’t set a date for the wedding. You still thinking of a quick, simple affair?”

Olivia said, “It sounds like you have something in mind. Care to share?”

“What if we got married at the house? It’s not too far from the city, there’s a beautiful lake right out back. Just close friends and the couple of remaining family members we have left. It wouldn’t take much to plan, so we could do it soon. You could make your bouquet from the flowers in Mom’s garden.” Nate had been thinking about it for a couple of days, but he only now had found the courage to say something. He didn’t want Olivia to think she had to do it for him.

“Nate.” Olivia looked at him in wonder, shaking her head slightly. “That sounds absolutely perfect.”

“There’s more to me than just my pretty looks,” he joked, relieved. The more he had thought about having the wedding at the house, the more attached he’d become to the idea. He really wanted Olivia to have something nicer than a quick wedding at City Hall.

“Those pretty looks sure are something to behold, though.” Olivia smiled. “I guess this means I need to find a dress. Yikes.”

Nate waved a dismissive hand. “You’ll look amazing in anything. More importantly, we should probably start planning the honeymoon.”

“I’ll leave that to you,” she said, putting a hand on her stomach. “Just nothing too crazy. We don’t want to shake Baby Tucker loose too early.”

“It’s our honeymoon, Liv. I make no guarantees.” He leered at her in a way that he knew she equally hated and loved before turning serious. “My phone has been vibrating like crazy for the last ten minutes. I’m sure it’s Vince.”

“We need to go.” Olivia’s carefree expression faded in an instant. “I think we’re getting close to figuring out who Emily was helping.”

Nate turned to ask the waitress for the check and noticed that it had started to rain. He had been so lost in the moment with Olivia that he hadn’t looked outside in well over an hour. “Do you remember that storm sophomore year that knocked out the power?”

“How can I forget?” Olivia laughed. “Classes were cancelled and we all went to the quad and played kickball in the rain.”

“That seems like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it?” he said wistfully.

“That’s because it was a lifetime ago.” Olivia tried to take the check from the waitress, but Nate snatched it first.

“You didn’t let me pay 13 years ago. You have to let me get this one.” Nate considered himself an old-fashioned guy. He opened car doors and picked up the check. With Olivia, it was tricky. She was an independent woman that was used to taking care of herself. They were constantly arguing over the check, so Nate was surprised when she backed down easily.

“Fine. It’s all yours.” She pulled her hand back, her perfect lips curling slowly. “Since this is a date.”

Nate loved when she smiled at him like that. “We finally got it right.”

“Only took 13 years.”

It took almost an hour to get back to the station. An accident on Lake Shore Drive had slowed traffic to a crawl. By the time Nate reached the exit, Olivia wasn’t looking too good.

“Nate, I need you to take me home,” she said, putting a hand over her stomach. “I don’t know if it’s baby related or something I ate, but I’m not feeling well.”

“You look pale.” Nate stopped at a red light and put his hand against her cheek. “You feel a little warm.”

“I just need to lie down,” she said as she leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “It feels like a late round of morning sickness.”

Nate was more than a little worried as he drove her home. So far, she’d been handling the waves of sickness like a champ, but this was the first one she’d had in the middle of the day. “Maybe we should take you to the doctor,” he suggested.

“If we run to the doctor every time this baby makes me sick, I might as well just move into the hospital.” She rolled her head to the side to look at him. “I’ll be fine, Nate. I just need to rest.”

“I knew this investigation was too stressful. I never should have taken you to Mercy.” Nate parked the car and hurried to open her door. She looked even paler than before. “I don’t like seeing you this way, Liv.”

“Likely story, Nater. You are kind of the one that did this to me.” She was trying to joke, but her smile was faint and strained. “Just get me inside. I promise I’m going to be fine.”

He didn’t believe her, but Nate appreciated her attempt to make him feel better. Even though she had been joking, he did feel guilty about how she was feeling. Nate hated that there was nothing he could do to help her.

Olivia went straight to the bathroom and threw up everything she had just eaten at lunch. When she was done, she simply brushed her teeth and then curled up in a ball on the couch. Nate watched her the whole time without saying anything.

“Nate, darling, all the staring is unsettling. Can you please start acting normal again?” she said with a sigh.

“I’m sorry.” He went into the kitchen and filled a glass with water. When he returned, Olivia was almost asleep. “I’ll put the water on the coffee table. You should try to drink something so you don’t get dehydrated.”

“Yes dear,” she said without opening her eyes.

He left the room and returned with a blanket, covering her carefully. It was in the small, quiet moments like this that Nate was most amazed by how his life had turned out. In between the murder and evil that consumed his working hours, he got to be with this amazing woman that filled his life with so much light and joy. Even when she was so sick that she couldn’t keep down her lunch, she took it all in stride and even went out of her way to make sure that he wasn’t worrying about her. Even when she had just gotten down emptying her stomach, she still looked more beautiful than any woman Nate had ever seen.

“You’re still staring,” she said without opening her eyes.

“You’re still giving me reason to stare,” Nate replied, gently brushing her hair away from her face. The incessant buzzing in his pocket pulled him back to reality. As much as he would like to curl up with Olivia, he had a job to do. “Get some rest, love.”

“Trying,” she muttered.

Nate stepped into the least-used room in her apartment– a long-forgotten dining room. The table in the center of the room was covered in thick research books and stacks of paper. Ever the clean-freak, each pile had been carefully stacked and lined up in a neat row. The two of them both used the room as an office of sorts, because of the bay windows that provided excellent natural lighting and the large dining table that was perfect for long stretches of work.

“What ya’ got, Monroe?” Nate asked when Vince answered his phone. He absently flipped through Olivia’s books as he listened to his partner run through a long list of possible connections between Emily and Olivia. By the time he reached the end of the list, Nate felt overwhelmingly frustrated. He was no closer to solving the case than he had been before all the new evidence had been revealed.

“I don’t know man,” Vince was saying. “It feels like this should be any easy one for us now, but I’m not seeing it.”

“I know what you mean,” Nate grumbled under his breath.

Beneath one of Olivia’s books, he found a note that had been hastily scribbled by her months ago. She often wrote him those notes, small tokens of affection and love that he cherished more than she would ever know. Usually, he found them in a suit pocket on his way to work but other times they would be lying on the pillow next to him when he woke up or waiting for him next to his toothbrush. The one he was holding now had been written when he was recovering from one of his many injuries. She had left it next to his painkillers in the bathroom and he had laughed at the silly words– First take these drugs, then come find me for some hugs. And if you’re lucky, more than hugs.

Olivia might not engage in a lot of big gestures, like extravagant weddings, but she always made sure Nate knew exactly how she felt about him.

“What’s that?” Olivia asked, surprising him from the doorway. Some color had already returned to her cheeks.

“You’re supposed to be resting,” Nate scolded.

“I’m feeling better.” She stepped into the room. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“It’s one of the notes you left me while I was recovering in the hospital.” He held it up for her to see. “I think you still owe me the hugs, and more.”

She froze mid-smile. “The hospital…”

“Yes. You should know the place. We’ve both spent more than our fair share of time there.” Nate put the note back on the table. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Mark’s board in his hospital room had a couple cards pinned to it. They weren’t the kind of cards a woman would give to a man she was seeing. It looked like they might have come from family members or a close friend.”

“Or someone close enough to Mark that they would seek vengeance,” Nate added. He shook his head in amazement. “You are brilliant.”

“I’m not just a pretty face,” she agreed. “We need to check out that board.”

Nate frowned. “Not we. You were just curled up in a ball, Liv. You need to take it easy and get some rest. For you and the baby.”

“I knew you would end up using his baby against me,” she said hotly. “I told you that I’m feeling better.”

“For how long? What if we get in the car and you immediately feel sick again?” Nate squeezed her arm. “I’m not trying to be an ass, Liv, but I’ve got to go do my job and I can’t risk making you sick in the process.”

“Are you really going to leave me here alone?” she challenged, knowing perfectly well that Nate wasn’t going to be comfortable with that either.

“I don’t have a choice.” He pulled her into the living room. “I’m going to call Vince and have him come by. Until he gets here, you will sit on that couch and you won’t answer the door for anyone. Vince will call you when he is outside. Only then will you get up from that couch and open the door. Do you understand?”

Olivia was both glaring at him and laughing at him. “Nate, you are being a little ridiculous. I’m not a child.”

“Are you saying you’ve never opened that door and let in a serial killer?” Nate said.

“We all make mistakes,” Olivia replied, her glare growing stronger. “We’ve talked about you not ordering me around, Nate.”

“I know and normally, I would totally understand if you were pissed at me. But right now, I don’t care.” Nate removed his gun from its holster. “All I care about is keeping you safe until I can catch this psycho. You remember how to use this?”

“I’m not taking your gun.” Olivia took a step back. “If you are chasing a killer, you are going to need that.”

“I’m just going to the hospital. I won’t be shooting anyone there.” Nate looked her in the eye. “I need to know that you remember when I showed you how to use this.”

Olivia stared right back. “I remember. Just like how I remembered the last time I fired a gun.”

“Good. If anyone but Vince or myself comes through that door, you shoot first and ask questions later.” He set the gun on the coffee table because he knew there was no way that Olivia would take it from him. 

“You know that you could just send Vince to the hospital and you could stay here with me,” Olivia said. Nate thought she sounded a little nervous.

“I just spoke with him and he’s headed to interview one of Emily’s old roommates not far from here. It will be fast if I go myself. Vince will come here as soon as he’s done.” Nate didn’t like the tinge of fear in Olivia’s eyes. “It’s going to be fine, Liv. Just get some rest and I’ll be back before you even miss me.”

She cracked a smile. “I already miss you and you’re still here.”

“You’re such a girl,” Nate said, pulling her close for a hug. “Just promise me you won’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.”

“I make no promises.” Olivia pushed him away gently. “Go.”

“Don’t leave the apartment. Don’t answer the door until Vince calls.” Nate backed slowly toward the door, fighting the strong pull that was tugging him in the opposite direction. “Keep your phone right next to you in case I need to call.”

“You could’ve been back by now,” Olivia said. “I’ll be fine. Go.”

Nate paused one more time at the door. “Call me if anything happens, even if you just have a strange feeling.”

“I’m feeling pretty annoyed at you right now,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Do you still want me to call?”

“Fine, I’m leaving.” After a long last look, he closed the door behind him. Nate checked to make sure it was locked three times before heading outside.

Despite the confidence he had displayed in front of Olivia, Nate was overwhelmingly anxious as he hurried to the hospital. That anxiety didn’t abate even after he spoke with Vince and his partner assured him that he would be at Olivia’s place in less than ten minutes. The only thing that kept Nate from turning the car around was the strong sense he had that the case was on the verge of being unlocked and Mark’s hospital room might hold the key.

Nate made his way quickly through the hospital, nodding acknowledgement at a few familiar faces without stopping to talk. Eventually, he stopped making eye contact at all for fear that an overly-friendly nurse might want to engage in lengthy chatting.

Mark’s room looked the same as when Nate had been there with Olivia and he was relieved to see that the cards were still pinned to the board. Ignoring the comatose murderer in the bed, Nate stood in front of the board and carefully read each card. He was not surprised that they had all come from Emily Allen. Say what you wanted about her, but Emily was a loyal girlfriend.

As nice as it was to have Jenna’s story about her sister and Mark confirmed, Nate had been hoping to find something more in that hospital room. He let out a long sigh and the exhaled breath fluttered a card that was hanging precariously by one pinned corner. A bright color flashed underneath. Nate removed the card and stared at the picture he found underneath. Emily and Mark smiled back at him, along with another man. Nate had no reason to recognize that man, except that he had just seen him at a gas station in Mercy, talking to Olivia. Tanner Gilliad.

It wasn’t a smoking gun or otherwise damning piece of evidence, but Nate knew that it was important. He and Vince had been so busy looking at connections between Emily and Olivia, but they had missed this very important one. Other than Emily, Mark’s brother was the one person most likely to want revenge for what had happened.

He immediately reached for his phone and called Olivia. After six rings, it was clear that she wasn’t going to answer. It was too late.