Manhunt (25 page)

Nikki took picture after picture, hoping Michael would love it as much as she did. Now the only problem was selling her house, which was rather notorious with all the media coverage. The realtor had received several calls, but after the first few dozen walkthroughs, she got much more selective about who she took on a tour. Turned out most of them were just filled with a morbid curiosity and wanted to check it out, look for blood stains on the wall, that kind of thing. She told Nikki one of them was swearing he saw ghosts. Nikki was afraid she was either going to have to lower the price enough to entice a buyer to overlook the fact that someone had been murdered there, or wait until one of the wackos decided to invest some money into it to make it into some bed and breakfast sure to be featured on Ghost Hunters. In the meantime, Christian gave her the down payment on the building, counting it as part of his business investment. Signing those papers finally made her feel in control of at least a tiny part of her life, and she thanked Christian and Sophie endlessly for their help and love.

Nikki bit her nails while Michael looked at the pictures. What would she do if he didn’t like it? She supposed that only mattered if Michael got acquitted, but still, she wanted him to like it.

His blinding smile gave her all the reassurance she needed. “It’s perfect,” he said.

Nikki hugged him tightly, then gave him a quick kiss, not caring who saw. “You’re perfect,” she replied.

“Says the goddess to the convict,” he quipped back and she rolled her eyes at him.

“Are you ready for tomorrow?” she asked.

“No,” he admitted. “No more than I’m ever going to be. Come here,” he said, pulling her into his lap. “I don’t want to talk about the trial.”

They spent the last few minutes engrossed in their fantasies about the bakery and apartment. She was happy Michael seemed to have the same ideas she did about remodeling, even going so far as suggesting she decide which of his furniture she wanted to keep. She still had at least 30 days until they closed, but she promised to take some measurements and check it out for him.

After her visit with Michael, Nikki went to her appointment with her therapist. She really wasn’t keen on it at first, but now she looked forward to the meetings. She hadn’t really unlocked any clear, new memories since they’d returned. She was starting to think Michael’s presence was the key to doing that. Still, she was able to bring the fuzzy memories from her dreams into sharper resolution with her therapist’s help. They had long talks about Nikki’s family, Michael and Christian, trying to focus on understanding what she did know, instead of allowing her to get increasingly frustrated over what she didn’t.

She found herself thinking a lot about how she had gotten involved with Sebastian in the first place. Her therapist told her to forgive herself for being weak, for making poor choices and to focus on her inner strength, to let the pain from the past go and instead channel it into something positive. It was a tough pill to swallow, Nikki realized. It was easier to wallow in self-deprecation and regret. Forgiving yourself and truly moving on... was hard.

Nikki took the long way back to Christian’s house, driving past the bakery one more time, smiling her first real, true smile outside of Michael’s presence that she could remember. When she walked in the door, she saw Sophie bent over a piece of paper, pencil in hand. Christian was looking over her shoulder, trying to see around her head. When that didn’t work, he tried grabbing the paper, but she just swatted his hand away like he was trying to steal the turkey leg before Thanksgiving dinner. Nikki laughed at their antics while she hung up her coat.

“Nikki! Here, what do you think?”

Sophie reached out to hand the paper to Nikki, but before she could take it, Christian snatched it out of her fingers and ran to the far side of the table, chuckling.

“You jerk!” Sophie yelled. “Nikki was supposed to be the first one to see that!”

She was all hellfire and brimstone lately with her hormones, and the fact that Christian found it funny only made it worse. He seemed to enjoy getting her riled up.

“Calm down, woman!” He held up the paper and looked at it, holding her at arm’s length with his free hand. “Wow, this is really good, baby.”

Sophie just huffed at him and stopped struggling, crossing her arms over her chest. “Well, are you gonna let Nikki see it now or what?”

Christian handed Nikki the paper. It was a sketch of a hanging sign on the side of a brick building, between the window and a door with a floral welcome wreath. Inside the window you could see a beautiful display of baked goods and goodies of all kinds. But it was the sign which brought tears to Nikki’s eyes.

“Sweet Beginnings Bakery,” Nikki read aloud from the intricately designed sign. It looked like it was supposed to be wrought iron, hanging from a shepherd’s hook of sorts, with a white tile in the middle with the logo. It looked like it was straight from a French cafe. “I love it,” she said reverently, caressing the sign with her fingertips.

“I thought about New Beginnings, because that’s what it is for you, and hopefully for Michael too, but this seemed more appropriate. You know, breakfast pastries, beginning of your day, that kind of thing. The sub-context could be your secret.”

“It’s perfect. I love it!” She hugged Sophie, careful to lean over her rounding belly.

“Great!” Sophie said, taking back the drawing. “I’ll look into getting it made right away!”

They all made dinner together, talking about inconsequential things while Nikki snuck Nana scraps under the table. Soft music played in the background from their satellite radio. They avoided the television and regular radio like the plague. Sophie had even discontinued her newspaper subscription. They just didn’t want to know what the perception was of the proceedings so far. It was at these times, when she could almost pretend things were normal, that Nikki was most at peace.

It was at night, after everyone went to bed and Nikki was alone with her thoughts and she had no one to pretend with, that she was tormented the most. Luckily, her two best friends had grown used to her making noise in their kitchen in the wee hours of the morning, trying out new recipes. They would just look around expectantly for whatever treat awaited them in the morning. Maybe that’s where Sophie got the idea for the name.

Chapter 22

Nikki was absolutely exhausted as they left for the courthouse the next morning. Michael was testifying, and it terrified her.

Michael’s eyes found her, and he smiled before turning his attention to Wes. Nikki could tell he was nervous.

“Michael, can you please state what the nature of your relationship was with Nicole Wright prior to the night in question?”

“She was my best friend and ex-girlfriend.”

“An ex-girlfriend you admittedly never got over, correct?”

Nikki thought it was smart of Wes to beat the district attorney to the punch that way.

“Correct. I love Nikki, I always have and always will.”

“How did you feel about her involvement with Sebastian Cross?”

“I didn’t like it. I didn’t think he was good enough for her. Plus, I was scared for her. He had a very volatile temper, and even before he’d become physically abusive with her, he was mentally abusive. He was manipulative and seemed to know just how to play her to get his way.”

“I see. Did you ever tell Nikki how you felt?”

“I did, but she would always defend him, say that he wasn’t like my father. I would back down because in my mind it was more important that she had someone to talk to, that she be able to tell me what was going on, than it was for me to voice my opinion. I didn’t tell her I was still in love with her, no.”

“Why not?”

“I wanted to finish my residency first. I wanted to feel worthy of her. She deserved more than I could offer her at the time.”

“I see. That had to have been hard for you, having to listen to the woman you love telling you about the abuse she was suffering at someone else’s hands, something you had firsthand knowledge of yourself.”

“Yes, it was,” Michael replied, and his eyes shot to Nikki briefly before returning to Wes.

“Where were you when you got the call from Aaron telling you that Nikki had been hurt?”

“I was just getting off work at Philadelphia General.”

“What time was that?”

“Two in the morning.”

“Standard sixteen-hour shift?”

“Yes.”

“All right. And what did you do when you heard the news?”

“I drove like a bat out of hell to get to her.”

“Understandable. But you didn’t go straight to the hospital, did you?”

Nikki could see Michael take a deep breath, as though he were steeling himself. “No, I didn’t.”

“Why not?”

“The closer I got to the hospital and the more I learned about the extent of her injuries, the more angry I became. When I finally reached Hershey, and I found out she still hadn’t regained consciousness, I was in a rage. I couldn’t focus on anything except making Sebastian pay for what he had done. I wanted to make him hurt the way she hurt, make sure he understood that I was going to protect her from him from then on.”

Michael’s voice was tight, controlled. Nikki grabbed Christian’s hand for support.

“So you headed towards Mr. Cross’s residence?”

“Yes, but he wasn’t there. He was,” Michael paused, swallowing before he finished. “He was still at Nikki’s.”

“I see. What did you do then?”

“I went inside to confront him.”

“And did you?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

Nikki could have sworn she saw anger in Michael’s eyes, his jaw set and tense as he looked at Wes, but it didn’t make sense. Wes had been at the jail, she was certain he would have prepped him for this ahead of time. The anger disappeared a second later, replaced by what Nikki thought looked like terror.

“I...I...I tried to save him. There was so much blood. I was so angry at him, so crazed to keep Nikki safe, but still, I tried to save him. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t.” Michael took his head in his hands and started rocking back and forth, his eyes tightly shut closed. No amount of cajoling could get Michael to stop rocking. He just kept chanting, “I couldn’t. I couldn’t.”

Nikki stood, prepared to force her way to the witness stand to hold him, but Christian made her sit back down. Finally, Wes asked the judge for a short recess to allow Michael time to compose himself, which was granted. The judge and jurors left the courtroom, leaving only Wes and the bailiff. Nikki was frozen in her seat, watching helplessly. Wes knelt down in front of Michael, whispering things Nikki couldn’t hear.

After a few minutes, Michael finally looked up and seemed to respond. He nodded a few times and accepted Wes’s handkerchief to wipe away his tears. Wes put a hand on his shoulder and didn’t let go until the doors opened to allow the others back in.

When the judge and jurors returned, Wes decided to fast forward the timeline to something Michael was more willing to talk about.

“All right, Michael, so let’s discuss your appearance at the hospital. You admit to taking Nikki from there when she was in less than sound mind. Can you explain that?”

“I needed to be with her. I knew they wouldn’t allow me to stay with her, and I couldn’t bear to be away from her another minute. She’d already suffered so much, I needed to protect her, keep her from suffering any more.”

“Do you think that was a wise decision?” Wes asked gently.

“I made a lot of decisions that night that were far from wise. I wasn’t exactly clear-headed or thinking things through logically. I was running on pure instinct. I mean, would you have felt any different if you were in my shoes?”

“No, I don’t think I would, Michael,” Wes answered. “No further questions, your honor.”

The D.A. stood up and walked up to Michael, her expression cold and empty, almost sneering.

“That was quite the performance, Michael. I’m impressed, I must admit. You played the part of the desperate, frantic lover protecting his damsel in distress well. But tell me, how long had it been since you had last seen Nikki before you kidnapped her at the hospital?”

“A little over six months, but we...”

She cut him off. “Six months? If you were so concerned about the fact that she was in an abusive relationship, why would you leave her to deal with it alone for so long?”