This was the top floor of 2 Ellsworth Place, another concealed access point between the main house and the servants’ quarters around the corner.

Janet pointed to the door and said, “This is Nicole’s room. I doubt that she’s here.”

I pulled my gun as Janet knocked.

“Nicole. Are you here, darling?”

No sound came from within.

I reached around Janet Worley and tried the knob. The door was locked from the inside. I said, “Rich. Give it a try.”

I pulled Janet Worley aside and said, “Stay here in the hallway.”

Then Conklin kicked in the door.

Chapter 110

Chapter 110

NICOLE WAS WEARING black up to her chin.

She had wedged herself between her bed and the window, propped her elbows up on the mattress, and was holding a large kitchen knife in front of her with both hands.

She was pointing that knife at us.

Her heart-shaped face no longer looked angelic. Her features were locked in a crazy stare and her hair was damp with sweat. Her green eyes were blank as stagnant pools.

She looked absolutely feral.

Nicole was twenty-six, but her room had gotten stuck in a teen-theme time warp. The walls were painted with vertical stripes in three shades of green. The spread and curtains were the same colors in a polka-dot print.

There were pictures of Harry Chandler all around the room, including a life-size cutout on the wall and a black-and-white headshot on the dresser mirror inscribed To Nicole, XOXO, Harry.

Nicole said in a deep voice, almost a growl, “Don’t come any closer, you bitches. I’m not afraid to use this. And I’m not afraid to jump.”

The room had two exits: the door behind me and the window behind Nicole. From what I could see, Nicole didn’t have a direct view of the house and garden. But the oblique view took in the back of the Ellsworth house, the brick patio, and a wedge of the garden where heads had been buried.

My eyes went back to Nicole, who was still facing us down from behind her mattress. She seemed irrational. And I didn’t like the options she had given us.

My partner stepped forward.

He wasn’t holding a weapon and his left arm was strapped across his chest. If there’d ever been a time for the Conklin charm factor, this was it.

“Nobody wants to hurt you, Nicole. We don’t want any trouble. None at all.”

“I’m in charge here,” Nicole said. “I make all the decisions.”

“You’re only in charge of what you do,” Conklin said. “So I want you to move very slowly. Put the knife down.”

She laughed, a hysterical yip.

“So you can do what? Shoot me. I’ll put the knife down when you back out of my room.”

With that, Nicole lunged.

Conklin sidestepped and stood between me and Nicole. I didn’t have a shot. I didn’t have a shot.