94. I’ve Got the Big, Fancy Gun

       Nicole clicked her tongue a few times. “MoMo, c’mere.” The short, grey cat wandered over to her, taking a seat in front of her as she sat on the floor with Alice in her lap. She looked down at the baby, pointing to Geronimo. “You see kitty?” She clicked her tongue again, getting him to walk a few steps closer and examine the small human that was pulling on his ears. 

       Alice let out a happy squeal and wiggled around, so Nicole lifted her up and leaned her forward so she could crawl around. “Calamity, Ali wants to play,” the redhead called to the orange one laying on the back of the couch. She lifted her head to look at her before slowly standing with a stretch and hopping off, walking over to them. 

       Nicole smiled, leaning forward and grabbing Alice before she crawled too far away. She flipped to her back and tossed her up a few times before bringing her down and pushing a few kisses to her cheeks. She beamed up at her. “Hi, there!” 

       The baby squealed again, grabbing Nicole’s cheeks and giving her a kiss with a seven-toothed smile. Nicole gave her one more kiss with a hum before laying her on the floor next to her on her stomach, flipping to her own and looking towards her with wide eyes. “What is that?” She whispered, pointing towards Calamity, who was sitting in front of them and blinking as she looked between them. The feline walked towards her owner, laying down in front of them and resting her head on her paws in a way that made her reachable to the baby. “Is that a kitty, Ali?” 

       Alice army-crawled a few inches closer to CJ, resting her chin on the floor right in front of her face and gently petting her head with both hands. “Titty.” 

       Nicole let out a loud gasp, looking towards her with a huge smile. “Yes! That’s a kitty!” She let out a laugh and adjusted the giant white bow on her head that Waverly had forced on her that morning, along with the rest of her outfit. 

       Alice read her reaction and pet CJ again as Geronimo laid down beside her, squeezing her ears. “Titty,” she repeated, a little more sure this time. 

       “Yess!” Nicole giggled like a schoolgirl as she scooped her up into her arms when she rolled back over, holding her straight up above her head. “Dude, you’re so smart!”

       Waverly watched on from the doorframe of the kitchen, her face breaking in half with a smile as she watched the four play on the floor with one another for a few more minutes. If she was ever having a bad day, all she needed to do was throw Alice in Nicole’s arms and feel the anger leave her body as she watched them interact. Sure, she and Alice had a beautiful connection, but there was just something different about Alice and Nicole’s relationship, and it had started when she was still in the womb. Wynonna had told her multiple times that Alice had been kicking or flipped a weird way and all she would have to do is go over to the redhead and have her talk to her stomach for a little while and the baby would figure it out. 

       Waverly had no idea why, but they were almost made for one another and she was sure that their relationship would hold throughout that little girl’s whole life.

       After listening to Nicole go on about how smart Alice was about five more times, she decided to make her presence known to figure out what she was talking about. 

       “My favorite girls,” she smiled as she pushed off the door frame and walked into the room, lying down on the opposite side of the baby that the Sheriff was.

       “Babe, watch ,” Nicole grinned. She tapped Geronimo’s head. “Ali, what’s that?”

       “Titty!” 

       Waverly let out a laugh, rolling to her back and grabbing the little one, laying her on her chest and wrapping her arms around her. “Auntie Cole’s already teachin’ you bad words, huh?”

       Nicole rolled towards them, furrowing her brows tightly. “I’m not! She’s just . . . trying her best.” 

       The brunette looked towards her with a pout, cupping the side of her face and pressing a kiss to her cheek. “I know, Love.” She looked back down at Alice, chuckling as she snuggled into her neck. “Hey, you.” She lifted her up. “It’s not bedtime yet.”

       “Damn right it’s my bedtime.”

       All three of them looked towards the stairs and Alice let out a screech when she saw her mother, wiggling off of Waverly’s chest and quickly crawling towards her. Wynonna bent down and snatched her up, continuing onto the kitchen with a sigh. 

       Nicole moved over to rest her head on Waverly’s chest, smiling with a hum when she pushed her hand through her hair. “D’you get that resume done?” 

       “Mhm,” she sighed. 

       “Good. I’m glad,” Nicole smiled.

       Waverly looked down at her with a matching smile. “. . . Just wait until Nonna hears Ali sa-” 

       “ HAUGHT , WHY DID MY KID JUST CALL ME A TITTY ?!” 

       “Titty,” the brunette finished with a sigh.

       Nicole rolled her eyes with a snort, pushing off the ground and walking into the kitchen. “She didn’t call you a titty , Wynonna.” She pointed to Geronimo on the floor behind her. “She called MoMo a kitty .” 

       Wynonna glared at her. “Alice, what is that?” She asked with a raised brow, pointing to the cat. 

       “Titty!”

       Her head snapped back towards Nicole. “SEE!” Alice let out a grunt, smacking her hands over her mouth.

       “Yea, Nonna, that means shut the fuck up in baby,” Waverly said as she walked into the room, heading over to the fridge and pulling out a juice box. She stabbed the straw through the top, leaning back against the counter and throwing her a look. 

       “Oh, great. Another language you’re fluent in. That’s just what we needed.” 

       “Hey!” She huffed in offense. “Nic can speak French, are you gonna make fun of her for it?” 

       Wynonna looked towards her. “Can you?” 

       “ Oui ,” she smirked with a wiggle of her brows. “And I love to give your sister the ol’ Triple F.” 

       “Do I wanna know what that means?” The older brunette asked slowly. 

       Nicole placed her hand on her chest as she cleared her throat dramatically, mocking the French accent so horribly that it sounded more like Donald Trump, “ Ze French Finger Fuck .” 

       Wynonna let out a gag, and Waverly groaned, “ Nicole .” 

       “There is absolutely nothing about that that makes it French,” Wynonna grumbled. 

       “If I’m speakin’ French while fuckin’ her it does,” Nicole smirked proudly as she pulled the juice box from Waverly’s hand and took a drink. “Oh, and for what it’s worth, your baby sis can speak some damn good French, too.”

       Waverly’s face flushed dark and she began wacking her wife with her arms repeatedly as she dashed away from her while Wynonna blinked at them confusedly. “ Obviously Waves speaks French, what does that eve-” Her brain caught the innuendo and her face scrunched up. “OH, GROSS !” 

       “Quit being nasty ,” the brunette whined. 

       Nicole caught her arms and turned her around, crossing them over her chest to hold them down as she pulled her back into her front. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled as she pressed kisses to her cheek. “I saw an opportunity and I took it.” 

       Waverly rolled her eyes as Nicole let her go when she heard her phone ringing in her pocket. “You two are the same human sometimes,” she grumbled, flicking her eyes between her sister and Nicole as she pulled it out, checking the caller ID. Waverly smiled, putting her hand behind her back as she leaned against the wall behind them. “It’s Mrs. Goddard.” She pressed the phone to her ear. “Hello?” Nicole watched Waverly’s brow furrow a little and heard the sound of a man’s voice over the line instead of the social studies teacher’s. “Oh, hey, Mark.” Nicole kept her eyes on her face when she realized that the slight worry on her face didn’t leave, but only grew into more. “Yea, I’m with Nicole, she’s right-” 

       Waverly’s eyes snapped up to meet the Sheriff’s as her face paled, and Nicole knew that only meant one thing. 

       She quickly moved past Waverly and caught Wynonna’s eye. “Earp, go get dressed. Now .” She jumped around her before running back to their room to pull her uniform on with Waverly on her tail. 

       The brunette put the phone on speaker, tossing it onto the dresser as she grabbed some pants out of the closet. “ Jesus Christ . Ok, go ahead, Mark.” 

       “God, I had some work I needed to get done, so Whitney took our dog for a walk after dinner by herself. I didn’t even notice she wasn’t home until an hour later when I walked out and found the dog scratching at the front door with the leash dangling behind him. I went out and looked around, but-” His voice broke. “But she was gone.” 

       “Are you sure that she is missing?” Nicole asked as she quickly buttoned her shirt over her bulletproof vest and tucked it into her pants as she reached over and grabbed her utility belt. “And not that she just fell somewhere or something like that?” 

       “I’m driving around looking now, but I still don’t see her. And there’s no way it’s a coincidence , Sheriff. It’s the first!” 

       He was right. It was the first of June. That’s half the reason Nicole and the rest of the house were taking it easy today while the rest of the police force was on high alert. They knew that there was most likely going to be another body tomorrow, and Nicole wanted to be there with Waverly when she received the call. It was inevitable. They had no other leads and any that they had, he had done away with. He changed his appearance, he ditched his car. They were basically at square one again.

       But it seemed that the Slasher had made the wrong move this time around.

       And maybe. Just maybe they could figure it out with the information they had before it was too late. 

       Nicole shoved her gun in the holster, grabbing the phone off the dresser as she and Waverly quickly made their way out of the room. Wynonna met them at the bottom of the steps after changing and giving the baby to Gus, and they all rushed outside. Nicole clenched her jaw a little as she looked down at the phone. “I- . . . You’re right. It’s probably not a coincidence. Get home and stay there just so nothing else happens. We’re on our way.” 

       “Alright, Sheriff. Thank you.” 

       The three climbed into the cruiser as the line went dead and they were off towards the Goddard house, lights and sirens blaring as Wynonna called Dolls to fill him in on what was going on. 

       Nicole took no time at all to get there. They jumped out of the car, Wynonna hanging back as she spoke with the Marshal some more because, oh, how he had some questions. Waverly knocked on the door and Mark answered, his face filled with worry. “Come in.” 

       “What time did she leave?” The Sheriff questioned, not wasting any time for hard feelings. She knew their time was limited already, but she wanted to know just how far ahead of them the Slasher was. 

       Mr. Goddard ran a hand through his salt and pepper hair as he glanced at the clock, seeing that it was 20 til 8. “Maybe 6:20ish? I really don’t know.” 

       Nicole jotted it down. “And you said you noticed the dog about an hour later, yea?” 

       “Yea. But I don’t know how long he had been out there,” he mumbled. 

       “Right,” she nodded. “That means whatever happened has a decent headstart on us.” 

       “Why didn’t she take her phone with her?” Waverly questioned, pointing down at Mrs. Goddard’s phone that was still in his hand. 

       “She’s- I don’t know. She walks the dog without it to disconnect or whatever. She’s been doing it every night for the past year or so now. The only kind of device she has with her is her smartwatch fitness thing so she can track her steps.” Waverly’s eyes snapped open and she practically ripped the phone out of his hand. “What?” 

       The brunette quickly tapped through the phone. “Some of those track your location without needing a device connected near them, so unless he saw it and took it off . . .” Nicole looked down at the screen with wide eyes, snapping her head up to meet her’s. “We know where they’re at.” 

       Nicole immediately turned towards the front door, dashing out of it. “Send me the address and let me know if anything changes!” She called as she ran towards her cruiser. 

       “ Nicole !” Waverly warned. 

       “Waves, we’ve got it handled ! Dolls is on his way. I promise you, we’re fine.” She opened her car door. “Get his statement and write it down. I’ll tell you when I know something!” 

       Waverly’s mouth stayed open for a second as she watched her climb in the car and peel away, but she let out a shaky curse as she looked back down at the phone and zoomed in on the present location. Her brow furrowed as she quickly texted it to the redhead, though. 

       It was a house smack dab in the middle of a populated subdivision on the other side of Purgatory. 

       “ I swear to God , wait for me!” Dolls screamed into the phone. 

       Nicole parked her cruiser a few blocks away, and she and Wynonna quickly climbed out of the car. “Xavier, we don’t have time to wait for you!” Wynonna shouted back. “He could be cutting my baby sister’s teacher into pieces right now!” 

       “God damnit , Wynonna! Listen to me!” 

       “ No , Dolls,” she said with a quick shake of her head, looking up at Nicole as she checked the clip in her Glock. “Look, I usually let you play captain, but . . . I- We can’t . Not with these risks. I’m sorry.” 

       “ EARP !” He shouted. “Don’t you dare hang up on m-”

       His voice was cut when she ended the call anyway, shoving her phone away in her pocket and pulling Peacemaker out as she looked towards the fuming redhead. “Let’s go.” 

       Nicole nodded and they started for the house up the road. “My best guess is that he will be in the basement- or at least she will, but we don’t know.”“I’ll search that then, yea? Since I’ve got the big, fancy gun?” 

       “Yea, but- Look at me.” Wynonna did so, furrowing her brow. “Don’t you dare down him when you see him. You can shoot him to hurt him, but don’t you fucking send him down there until I get my hands on him first. Do you understand me?” 

       The brunette nodded as they approached the house. “Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it.” 

       The house was two stories with a connected garage, and the garage door was shut. Why they hadn’t decided to consider that maybe the Slasher’s second location wasn’t an abandoned building somewhere, they didn’t know. But it seemed that this type of house set-up was perfect for his doings. He could pull into the garage with the body, take it inside to do the killing, and then throw it right back in the truck and take off without anyone being any wiser to what was really going on.

       Nicole let out a breath as she silently tested the doorknob on the front door, looking towards Wynonna with a raise of her brows when it twisted open. Wynonna gave her a nod, so she slowly pushed it open and moved inside. 

       The redhead flicked her eyes around the dimly lit living room, quickly taking into note how neat everything was. There was no clutter or mess anywhere. The bookshelf on the wall directly in front of them was organized perfectly by color. And as they walked quietly further into the house and took a look around, they realized that all of the rooms looked that way. It was almost as if the house wasn’t lived in, but she knew it was. Considering the age of the Revenant that was causing all of this, though, she almost couldn’t believe that a “teenager” lived here.

       Keyword-

       Almost .

       The Slasher was so precise with every single thing that he did. Everything . That led Nicole to believe that his killings were not the only thing in his life that he kept neat and tidy, and the state of the house only proved it. 

       The Sheriff turned her head, pointing for Wynonna to head down the main hallway in the house as she started for the stairs to go up a story.

       Nicole crept up them, beginning to check every room upstairs. It was almost eerie how quiet the house was. Considering that she knew Mrs. Goddard had to have at least been here at some time and was most likely still here somewhere , she expected there to be at least some type of noises. 

       But there was none. 

       And that’s why when she heard the sound of Peacemaker shoot off in the basement, it almost sent her to the floor with how much it startled her. 

       “ HAUGHT !” 

       Nicole spun around, taking the stairs two at a time and hearing Peacemaker shoot three more times. She rounded the corner and headed towards the door standing open halfway down the hall. 

       But nothing could have prepared her for the blood-curling scream from her best friend.