One of the nightstands was empty except for a lamp and a small vase of flowers. The other also had a lamp, but instead of flowers, books were stacked on its marble surface, an eyeglass case resting next to the stack.
Nick headed for that side of the bed — Frederick’s side.
He looked at the pillow, an image coming unbidden into his mind — Frederick thrashing on the mattress as Nick held a pillow over his face,Frederick’s body slowly growing still, his eyes wide and unseeing when Nick removed the pillow.
He shook loose the image. The time would come to make Frederick pay — to make him really pay. This was not that time. The world needed to know who the Walkers were, what they had done.
Only then, after they’d lost the things that meant the most to them — respect they’d never earned, position they didn’t deserve, a free pass to steamroll over anyone who got in their way — would Nick kill Frederick Walker.
Only after Alexa had gotten satisfaction for what had been done to her.
He placed the photo of Frederick and Leland on the pillow, positioning it precisely so that Frederick would see it when he came to bed. Their smiling faces were visible in the flickering firelight.
He pretended he was watching them burn.
You want to play games, motherfucker? Let’s play.
He looked at his cell phone — he’d been in the house for less than twenty minutes — and headed for the hall. The plane was scheduled to leave for Gibraltar first thing in the morning.
He still had to pack.
9
Alexa stood at the window of the hotel suite and looked at the display on her ringing phone, hesitating over whether to answer it. It was just about to go to voice mail when she picked up.
“Hi, Mom.”
She couldn’t avoid her mother forever.
“Alexa, thank god. Your father and I have been worried sick.”
“I’m sorry,” Alexa said. She’d missed three calls from her mom and one from her dad while she and Nick had been in the air on the way to Gibraltar. She could have left her phone on — the plane had WiFi — but she’d felt like she was running away from home. Part of her had expected her parents to drag her back to the states like a rebellious teenager, andshe’d wanted to put as much distance as possible between them before telling them she’d left the country. “I’m actually not in Boston.”
“Where are you?” her mom asked.
Alexa hesitated, her gaze pulled to the sea beyond the city of Gibraltar. Her accident was never far from her mind, never far from her parents’ minds. They’d almost lost her once. They had more cause to worry than most, and Alexa was always aware of their need to be reassured that she was okay. “Spain.”
“Spain? Why on earth would you be in Spain?”
“It’s just a break from the cold,” Alexa said. “I’m here with Nick.”
The silence on the other end of the line said it all. She could almost hear the gears turning in her mother’s mind, the connections she was making between what must seem like erratic behavior on Alexa’s part and the man who’d entered her life almost exactly a year before.
“Lex… what’s going on? What are you doing?” Her mom’s voice was soft and infused with concern.
“I’m… nothing,” Alexa said, her eyes still on the water. The sea surrounding the rocky peninsula of Gibraltar was a bright, almost otherworldly hue. She’d marveled at the city from the sky, the way it seemed to rise out the ocean, its office buildings and hotel jutting toward the sky like they too were built out of rock. “I just needed a break.”
Another pause on the other end of the line. Alexa could picture her mother, phone pressed to her ear, her brow creased with worry.
“You understand why we’re concerned, don’t you, Lex?”
Alexa sighed. “I… yes. I do. I get it.”
“Then help me understand,” her mom said.
Alexa decided the truth was the best of all her options, none of which were great. “It’s about Leland Walker.”’
“Oh, Lex… please tell me you’re not poking this bear,” her mom said. “What could Spain possibly have to do with your accident?”