Move to Strike by Perri O'Shaughnessy

Author:Perri O'Shaughnessy
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Region (Calif. and Nev.), Detective and mystery stories, Lake (Calif. and Nev.), Mystery & Detective, Women lawyers, Lake, Legal, Fiction, Nina (Fictitious character), Suspense, Women Sleuths, Tahoe, Reilly
ISBN: 9780440225829
Publisher: Random House, Inc.
Published: 2001-06-05T19:54:20.641989+00:00

CHAPTER 16

NINA WENT OVER to Nikki’s at nine A.M.

The weather had turned. As she drove along the lake, black clouds scudded over the mountains, making for the basin. A couple of canoes battled their way into shore. The tops of the trees tossed and swayed, blurring to gray in the mist. As she turned toward Nikki’s house a powerful wind buffeted the heavy Bronco. She kept her hands firmly on the wheel, correcting its sway.

Her client answered the door, dressed in a black T–shirt that hung down to her knees. As usual, the curtains were drawn tight over the front windows, blocking out all natural light in the living room. The place was so shabby and cold that Nina wondered if she had done the right thing requesting the home supervision. Anyone would be depressed being locked up here.

In a corner a Macintosh computer monitor showed some windows, and Nikki coughed violently, as if the blast of fresh air through the opened door had shocked a system grown accustomed only to the musty indoors.

Before closing the door, she looked up and down the street.

“There’s nobody,” Nina said.

“Of course there isn’t,” she said, pulling the door shut and locking it behind her. She led Nina through the living room and into the kitchen.

Dark paneled cupboards inside and trees outside blocked most of the light that might have had a chance to squeeze through the window above the sink. The main illumination was provided by a dim bulb shaded by a fake Tiffany glass shade. They sat down at a small breakfast nook in a dark corner of the room. Nina said, “Where’s your mom today?”

“Aunt Beth called. She’s not handling things very well. Daria went over to calm her down.” Nikki felt around in the pocket of a loose sweatshirt she wore open over her long T.

Nina had hoped to see Daria but was coming to the conclusion that she would just have to chase her down, because she was never around.

“It’s here somewhere,” Nikki said.

“It better be,” said Nina without thinking.

She got a glare in return. Nikki slapped a velvet bag onto the table and folded her arms. “That’s it. Uncle Bill’s big bad treasure. I took it from his house the night he was murdered and buried it in the woods. Then I couldn’t get back out to dig them up, so I asked Bob for help. Bob got the bag and slipped it to me last night.”

“What’s inside?”

“Open it.”

Nina opened the drawstrings and dumped the contents of the bag out onto a piece of newspaper.

“See what I mean?” Nikki said. “Freakin’ rocks!”

It did indeed appear to be so. In a small pile of plain dirt about a dozen small chunks of rock had scattered. Nina picked one up. Black rock. Disappointment didn’t begin to describe her reaction. “But what is this?”

“I’ll tell you what I hoped. I hoped it was like silver or gold ore. You know how in the old days, people mined for gold and silver up in Nevada? And we owned this land .

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