Chapter 12: Questions Without Answers
Nikki missed him terribly, not only that, but she kept thinking of his face as she had walked away from that moment in the lab. He had looked hurt, ravaged. Her anger was taking its toll on him, as well.
Nikki thought herself a monster. How could she treat the father of her baby and the man she loved so horribly? She shuddered at the thought of the cold anger that had seeped its way into her conscience.
How wrong it was, indeed. That temper was taking its toll on her now. She felt pain, and hurt. As much as she didn't want to admit it to herself, she had hurt him as every bit as much as he had hurt her.
That little angry part of her screamed with glee at the raw pain on Don Flack's face, while the rest of her pained her deeply. Would he ever forgive her? How could she be so cruel? What could she do now?
She thought about going to him, apologizing for her outrageous behaviour. But, a little piece of her told her that he would never forgive her. As well as he shouldn't. She didn't deserve forgiveness for what she did.
A pain she had never known before seeped into her, causing tears to come to her eyes. How he must think her a monster. She drank the tea, but it did nothing to ease the unbearable loss inside of her.
She unconsciously put a hand to her abdomen, stroking softly. At least she still had a part of him. What she really wanted was all of him. She had come to New York to tell Don about her pregnancy, and that she loved him. Hoping that he would be pleased to see her, and want her. She had completely screwed up any chance of winning him over.
Ah, the messes she got herself into. The question remained, how exactly did she get herself out of this one? And, would he be able to forgive her for her foolish behaviour?
Don would let her have some time. She deserved it, after all. And time, he would definitely give her time. She needed to work through things. He had been so foolish to basically accuse her of lying.
He definitely wouldn't blame her if she never talked to him again. He knew that if he were her, he probably wouldn't. How could he be so cruel? She was pregnant with his child for goodness sakes. But, he kept reminding himself, he didn't know that.
He knew it gave him no excuse for thinking that she might be lying to him. Why would he even think that? How could he even think that? Maybe she truly was better off without him.
But, he wouldn't leave his child without a father. That was the one thing he was sure of. Even if she never forgave him, his child would need a father. He would not just let go. He vowed it.
He looked at the computer screen. He kept reviewing every missing report on a woman. But, he found nothing. How was that even possible? The woman was pregnant, how could someone not file a missing persons report? Especially the father of the baby.
He knew that if Nikki went missing while pregnant, he would search every corner of the Earth until he found her. He never truly realized his feelings until now. He knew he loved Nikki, he just didn't know how much. He couldn't just let her go. He refused to.
He could never give her up. Nor let her walk away. He would tell her of his true feelings. Don smiled to himself. Nikki would know that no matter how much she gave him the cold shoulder, he would always care about her.
Don searched through more reports, but no one had reported that specific woman missing. She definitely didn't look homeless, and she didn't look poor. Someone had to be missing her.
A boyfriend should notice it. He would say that a fiancé would notice but she didn't have a ring on, which led him to believe that either she had just broken up with a boyfriend, or she was single.
She was only two months pregnant after all, would she have known if she was pregnant? Maybe, that all depends on the woman. Maybe she didn't know. Since no one had reported her missing, either someone hasn't noticed that she's gone, or she had separated herself from whatever family she had.
He pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger while trying to figure it all out. How was it possible for a woman, a pregnant one at that, to just go missing and no one notice?
Nikki was thinking the exact same thing as she walked back into the lab. Things were just not adding up. A woman stabbed, in an alleyway, pregnant. With no evidence to suggest that she had fought her attacker.
There was no skin under her fingernails, no dirt whatsoever. There were no defense wounds. How did someone stab another person and the victim not fight. Obviously she had ran from somewhere. But, once they followed the blood drops out into the street and lost them.
What the hell happened to this woman? Why didn't she fight? Maybe she knew her attacker, and wasn't expecting to be stabbed, so she didn't fight it. But, where had she come from then? There should be blood drops somewhere outside the alley. But there wasn't.
She wished someone would tell her what happened. They had looked at every piece of evidence. They had found nothing to suggest that there had been an attacker ever in that alleyway.
The blood drops were gravitational. They were spaced quite a bit apart, which would suggest running. So, she had ran from her attacker. That much was clear. Blood loss was what had killed her since the wound had punctured the spleen.
How do you kill someone and not leave a piece of yourself behind? Nikki stood glaring down at the pictures on her desk. Something was missing, something she couldn't quite put a finger on just yet.
That really put a damper on things. It was like trying to find a straw-coloured needle in a haystack. Damn nearly impossible. But, not so impossible that there is zero chance of finding it. All you need is to prick your finger. Now, how would she do that?