Chapter 12

12

Kinsley stared at the copious memories spread across the double bed she was sharing with Jada. Her face hurt from smiling and laughing over all the fun stories they'd shared for the past few hours since she'd returned from her apartment, and she could tell her friend was having a good time, too. The time was supposed to help her forget about the shooter, but underneath the fun, she still couldn't let go of the fear that some man was trying to end her life. Of the sight of her apartment. The mess. The turmoil. The stress. The call to Sierra on the way back here somehow making it all real.

All things fighting to evaporate the joy she'd planned to experience with her best friend this week.

Maybe it would be different if they had a solid suspect. Something—anything—to go on. Evidence other than the photograph and a tiny piece of chain. Maybe Sierra would find something when she arrived at the apartment in the morning. Or Nick could enlarge the photo without distorting it to reveal a lead. They'd both been known to pull a rabbit out of a hat, and that's what Kinsley needed right now. One giant bunny.

Somehow, she wasn't convinced that Huff was behind the shooting and break-in, but that could be because she hadn't had any contact with him for years, and his truly ugly behavior directed toward her at the trial had faded some. She loved her job, reviewing plans, site pictures, questioning workers and supervisors, and coming to conclusions on how the items under investigation should be handled.

She didn't like finding wrongdoing. That was the job, but only because she was charged with defending the innocent. Defending people who would interact with defective products where shortcuts had been taken to save money, often resulting in injury, and she felt a real responsibility to these people.

Something she couldn't simply let go of just because she wanted to have a fun week of remembering her childhood. Her childhood had passed. She would never get back the full excitement and joy spending time with this family—this wonderful family—had brought. Wishing they were her true family. Wishing she could live with them full-time. They'd embraced her. Made her as much a family member as possible. And she needed to just accept her role and not constantly worry they would tell her to get lost if she did the wrong thing.

She knew they weren't those kind of people, but that niggling worry had lived inside her throughout her childhood. That two families would reject her and she would be alone. Totally alone.

Jada yawned. "We should probably put all of this stuff away and get some sleep."

Kinsley slipped to the edge of the bed and started to pick up movie ticket stubs, friendship bracelets, letters and postcards, songbooks from camp, journals, pictures, and all the other memories a child and teenager might save into the box.

"I can't believe you kept this much stuff." Jada came alongside her and helped. "Maybe tomorrow we can go to my mom's storage locker and raid the items that I never got rid of."

"Did you ever intentionally keep anything? Or was it just a matter of your mom saving what you left behind when you moved out?"

"No, there's a bunch of stuff I kept in a shoebox for sure. But it was just a shoebox, not a moving-size box like this one." Jada tapped it and laughed. "But then you were always much more touchy-feely than me."

"Yeah, I still am. Which is really funny for my career. It's more of a matter-of-fact, black-and-white kind of thing." Kinsley sat back. "I guess the touchy-feely comes from me wanting to make sure no one is hurt by substandard products."

"I guess we're both crusaders in our own way. Remember back when we were kids and we were so into rescuing every little animal, insect, or amphibian that was in danger?" Jada smiled. "Mom was so patient with us when we brought all the creepy crawly things home."

"One of the many things I love about her is her acceptance and respect for other people and their differences." Kinsley sighed. "I'd like to think I've become the person I am today because of her."

"Dad did that, too." Jada's expression sobered. "I wish you could've met him. Sad that we lost him too young. He could've had a similar influence on us for many more years."

Tears pricked Kinsley's eyes, and she clutched Jada's hands. "I'm still sorry you lost him so young, but I'm glad we became friends and you were able to talk about him with me and come to grips with your loss."

"I'll forever be grateful for that. I don't know what I would've done if we hadn't met."

The kiss came to mind. What had Kinsley done? Behave like a traitor, that's what. She'd met Jada when she was still vulnerable from the loss of their father, and somehow Kinsley connected with her and helped her to talk about her dad in a way that she wasn't able to do with anyone else. They forged a strong bond that no one could break.

No one except Kinsley and Dev if they got together.

Kinsley released Jada's hands and touched her lips—remembered the connection she had with this man. Something she'd never experienced before. Oh gosh, she would love another kiss. Just one. Many. So what? It didn't matter what she wanted. She wouldn't let it happen, and she had to tell Dev that in no uncertain terms. The only way she could consider kissing him again was if Jada blessed their union.

Jada shook her head. "Now listen to us. We've gone from having fun to being weepy." She started picking up items from the bed again and depositing them in the box. "Do you want to put the lamp away or should we leave it for a nightlight?"

"I vote nightlight," Kinsley said without question. "That way if I wake up in the night, I'll have a good memory instead of remembering the bad things that are going on."

Jada plugged the lamp in on the nightstand near the right side of the bed. Her friend had a good memory. Whenever the two of them had shared a bed, Kinsley always had to sleep on the right side. She didn't know why, but if she tried the left, she couldn't sleep.

Jada put the last of the items into the box. "I don't know about you, but I'm going to crash right now."

Kinsley still felt antsy and didn't want to keep Jada awake. "I'll grab a glass of water first." She got up. "Do you want anything?"

"Thanks, but I'd probably be asleep by the time you brought it to me." Jada set the box on the floor, then crawled under the worn handmade patchwork quilt. She rubbed her eyes and plumped up the pillow.

Kinsley went to her friend and tucked the covers up around her neck, then gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Sleep tight, friend. Thank you for always being there for me."

"You do the same thing for me." She closed her eyes. "Don't stay up too late. We have a big day tomorrow."

Yeah, starting with Sierra at the Veritas Center going to my apartment to search for clues on the man who's stalking me.

Of course Kinsley wouldn't say that to Jada just when her friend was dropping off to sleep, so she silently padded to the door and eased out into the family room. She was expecting darkness, but the lights were on.

Dev sat at the dining table when she expected everyone had gone to bed. Her binders and computer were open in front of him. He looked up and caught sight of her, a lopsided smile spreading across his face and reminding her of the teenage boy she'd wished would've smiled at her like that.

Her heart flip-flopped. Somersaulting, over and over. She swallowed to stop the flow of feelings she shouldn't be having. Feelings that could only hurt her best friend. She curled her fingers into tight fists until she had control, then crossed the room to him.

Guilt ate away at her for the hours of enjoyment with Jada while he searched for her shooter. "You're still looking at my files?"

He leaned back and rubbed his eyes. "I couldn't sleep and thought maybe if I reviewed your investigations some red flags would pop up."

"And did they?"

He tapped a legal pad with three items noted and numbered. One of them was underlined with a dark black stroke. "Other than Luongo and Huff, I found a couple things I think we should look at. They date back to when you first started your career."

She tried to make out the details, but wasn't close enough and was hesitant to move nearby in case her tiredness let her ignore the precarious control she had on her feelings for him.

He slid the notepad across the table to her. "The one I underlined is an investigation you worked for the Veritas Center."

She grabbed the pad and perched on a nearby chair. Her heart sank. He'd chosen the Porter Mooney investigation.

He watched her as if she were a wayward criminal. "You didn't tell me you worked another murder investigation."

Oh, no! He thought she'd kept this from him on purpose. Or at least his tone and look said that. As if he didn't trust her.

Was it something she'd said or done, or had being left at the altar leave him with trust issues? Maybe he hadn't gotten over the betrayal. If he was unable to trust, it didn't bode well for a future relationship with a woman. She was sorry for his pain, if indeed he had trust issues, but it didn't impact her future. Due to her love for Jada, that woman would never be her.

Didn't mean she still didn't want a future with him. She just couldn't have it and had to find ways to cope.

She gripped the pad tightly to remind herself of that and looked up.

He was studying her carefully. "Tell me about it."

She didn't want to recall the events, not at all, but he deserved her honest response after all the help he was providing to keep her safe. "This happened a little over a year ago. While I was investigating Mooney, an anonymous source told the police he'd killed his business partner."

Dev continued to look at her. "What was his motive?"

"He never admitted to the murder, so of course he didn't say, but the police believed the partner was going to turn him in for cutting corners, so Mooney ended his life. They also speculated that Mooney buried him in concrete on a home addition he was building. He served as the general contractor and could have pulled it off."

"Did they search the site?"

She nodded. "PPB called in Veritas to do X-rays. They agreed, but they wanted to enhance the concrete findings while also using a lower radiation density than conventional human X-ray devices. That's when they brought me in to use my contacts to source a portable machine that fit their criteria."

Dev clamped a hand on the back of his neck. "But it wasn't quite that simple, right? You didn't just provide equipment, but you also assisted in the concrete search."

"Yeah, and found nothing." She rubbed at a sudden chill on her arms. "That was one of the most disappointing days of my career. His partner had gone missing, and he was the only suspect in his disappearance. The victim had three children under the age of seven. I felt so bad for those children not having closure, so I kept working the investigation."

He raised his eyebrows. "Doing what?"

"I tried to think about where and how he would hide the body. Had he chosen to dismember his partner? If so, I needed to find a location where he could've disposed of individual body parts. As I mentioned, he was a general contractor, and his home project wasn't the only active construction site he managed. There were ten others, so I began to investigate each one of them."

His whole body went still, and he peered at her. "Which led you to find something."

She nodded. "Not that it ended up doing us any good. He was never convicted. But there was a large pond—a commercial site where he was building an office complex closest to his home. I thought if he didn't bury his partner in concrete perhaps he disposed of him in the pond."

Vivid visions of the day of the search flooded her brain. The crisp fall air. Dark clouds hanging overhead mimicking the emotions of all the participants. The divers in the water searching and searching for anything that could help.

"So you had the pond searched?"

She snapped herself free of the memories. "Yes, but by that time, nearly four weeks had passed since the partner went missing. Still, the divers found fabric fibers from a section of rug snagged on a rock."

"Wow, after four weeks. It's impressive something like that survived so long in the water. Or wasn't it related to Mooney?"

"It was connected to him, all right. He'd removed a rug from his entryway, leaving a lighter spot on the wood floor. When they'd searched his house, Sierra recognized the inconsistency and lifted fibers found in the area. Turned out to be an expensive Persian rug, and the fibers from the pond were a match."

"That was a stroke of luck when fibers usually don't survive that long."

Kinsley nodded. "I was impressed but I honestly tuned Sierra out when she shared details of how evidence was preserved in the water that long. You'll have to ask her if you want details, but the match was conclusive."

Dev's eyes narrowed. "So it looks like Mooney might've killed his partner, wrapped him in the rug, and dumped him in the pond. But you didn't find a body."

"No, and that's the frustrating part." She gripped her fingers tighter to keep from letting her emotions show. "We had strong circumstantial evidence suggesting exactly what you described, but there wasn't a body. We figured after I started investigating all of his construction sites, that he freaked out, recovered the body, and moved it elsewhere. But the partner has never been found, and you know how hard it is to try a case without a victim."

Dev exhaled sharply. "So Mooney's still a free man."

"He is, but I have to tell you, I periodically review the evidence to see if there's anything that I missed. If I ever find something, I'll go to the detective, who also can't seem to let go of this investigation. Hopefully he could get the case reopened."

"Have you been talking to this detective recently?"

She leaned back in her chair. "Not about the investigation, but I did run into him outside the police bureau one day. We just exchanged small talk for a few minutes."

"But someone connected to Mooney might've seen you." He drummed his fingers on the tabletop. "And might've told him, freaking him out that you were working to open the investigation again."

Could that have happened? Was it really possible? Nah. "Odds are pretty slim Mooney or one of his friends was there that day, and I think it's a real longshot."

He held her gaze. "That's what we're dealing with here, honey. Longshots. And we have to check them all out."

Honey? He'd never called her honey before.

Where was that coming from?

Did it matter where it came from? She liked it. Liked it a lot. So what? Her focus had to be on finding the shooter not falling completely in love with this wonderful man sitting across the table from her.

Ignore the honey and keep to the discussion. "He knew who I was of course, but he never threatened me. Still, you could have a point. If he saw me talking to the detective, he could be worried I've found something, and he might do something rash to stop me."

"Did he seem like the kind of guy who would react this way?"

"I don't think so. When we were closing in on him before, he remained calm. Eerily calm. Freaky calm even. Cold, ice-blue, unfeeling, unfocused eyes staring right through me. I wanted him to pay for killing his partner, but if I never see him again, it would be okay with me."

Dev's body went still, his focus locked on her. "And yet you didn't give up."

"How could I? We were in the right, and if he murdered his partner, which everything points to him doing, he needs to pay for it."

"Didn't mean you were the one who had to make him pay." Dev continued to keep his focus pinned on her. "I get that's who you are. Wanting justice served. I don't like that it can result in someone wanting to hurt you, but I respect you for standing up for justice."

She blushed under his compliment but didn't want his focus to remain on her. "You did the same thing as a deputy. And I know if you were faced with an injustice now, you would do the same thing, too."

"Well, I'm not a deputy anymore, so we'll need to get Russ to look into Mooney to see if he's had any recent charges or convictions."

"I haven't heard anything about that happening, but you never know."

They fell silent, but not a comfortable silence. He was likely thinking the same thing as she was. Mooney killed once, why wouldn't he be willing to kill again?

She averted her gaze, but her gut said his eyes were still on her. She looked back at him. "Go ahead and say what you're thinking. "

"We should talk about the kiss."

Oh, right. Not what she thought he was going to say, but now that he brought it up, she only had one response. "It was a mistake. We don't want to hurt Jada, and if we start something, that's what will happen."

"But we can at least admit that we have feelings for each other." He leaned closer, his gaze heating up. "At least I have feelings for you. Which was obvious by the fact that I kissed you in the first place. I could be wrong, but since you didn't stop me and participated quite enthusiastically…" He grinned at her, a sweet smile that sent her heart racing. "You have feelings for me too."

"I do," she admitted as she couldn't lie to him. "But I'm not going to do anything about it."

Dev leaned even further across the table, reaching out with his hands as if he hoped she would meet him halfway. Should she or would it be another mistake like the kiss?

A loud pounding sounded on the front door. Kinsley jumped and turned to see who might be arriving.

"Stay here." Dev lurched to his feet, drew his sidearm, and bolted for the front door. He didn't open it but pressed his ear against the aged wood. "Micha, is that you?"

Kinsley didn't like Dev leaving her behind. She needed to be closer to him. She got up, her legs shaking as she traveled to the door to stand behind him.

"Hey, yeah, man." Micha's voice came through the solid wood. "There's something you need to see, and you need to see it right now."

Dev faced Kinsley, his jaw set and unyielding. "Stay here. Wait for my return. No matter what, do not go outside."

She couldn't find her words so she nodded.

Instead of leaving, he grabbed her up in a hug and held her against his solid body. A hug she craved, but not under these circumstances. He leaned back and kissed her forehead. His lips soft and gentle. His eyes filled with emotion. "I can't lose you. Promise you'll stay here unless I tell you to leave."

For a flash of a second she forgot about the danger outside and reached up to touch her forehead still tingling from his kiss. A tiny little kiss that probably didn't mean anything to him, maybe even sisterly like he might do with Jada, but Kinsley almost couldn't think straight.

"I promise," she managed to eke out.

He didn't depart immediately, but flashed her a tight smile. His gaze drifted back and forth between her and the door as if waffling on what to do. Suddenly, he turned the knob and stepped outside.

He was gone. Good and truly gone. Walls and doors between them. Panic slithered over her, threatening to take her down.

No. That won't help. Not at all.

She lifted her head in prayer.

Please, whatever danger Micha discovered, don't let the threat hurt any one of us, much less end anyone's life.

Dev stepped into the darkness on the porch. He'd hoped the fire had receded, but the heavy smoke told him otherwise. Even on a moonlit night, the porch kept the floorboards in shadows of darkness, but the cloudy haze tonight helped further conceal Micha's location. His main job was to prevent an attack. Normally that would mean lights on as a deterrent, but he'd left the lights off to keep from drawing attention to himself.

In this instance, if their shooter arrived on site, Micha would still want to catch him and lights off could encourage him to step onto the porch so Micha could detain him. In either case, Micha wouldn't make himself an available target, so even if the lights were on, he would stay out of sight as he was now, snugged against the siding in a deep shadow.

"Can you hear it?" He took a step forward.

Dev hadn't been as focused on the sound as on the visual aspect of his search, but now he tilted his head and listened. A distant hum reverberated through the sky above.

He didn't need to step off the porch and look up to know what he was listening to. "A drone. You get eyes on it yet?"

Micha shook his head. "Didn't want to alert the operator to my position and make him fly off."

"He's flying pretty low," Dev said.

"Could be the smoke is causing him to get closer for clear pictures."

"Makes sense."

"What's your plan?" Micha asked.

Dev had lived in the cabin long enough to know the property well. He could slip off the porch and into the trees where he could get a look above while remaining undercover. "Stay here. I'll take a look."

He didn't wait for agreement, but eased his way along the building to the far end and stepped off, hugging the cabin's rough cedar siding until he reached the back where he duckwalked between aromatic shrubs to the massive evergreens. Planted long before the cabin was built, the trees towered toward the sky, and their lower branches were thick and wide.

He slipped between them, the rough branches brushing against his arms and snagging his shirt. He emerged on the far side of the long stand of trees planted as a windbreak from the lake. A good thing as the wind was brisk tonight, and not taking the time to put on a jacket, it chilled his body.

He looked up. A small drone hovered above as expected. Someone was watching them. Carefully. Undetected, if Dev hadn't thought to put someone on guard duty out front. They would be blissfully unaware inside the cabin. Likely sleeping. A perfect time to determine the adversary he was facing and plan an attack.

Who was operating the drone?

He didn't know, but he could guess.

From this distance the device looked like a garden variety drone that could be purchased inexpensively online or in local stores. So not likely a surveillance professional.

Certainly could be their shooter, but how had he found them? They hadn't been followed to this location, but as they'd theorized earlier, if the shooter was hanging out after the police arrived at the downtown shooting, he could've overheard Dev's name and then figured out where he lived.

That was a very big unanswered question, but the second question was, where had the drone operator stationed himself? Some drones could fly a distance of a couple of miles from their controller. So the operator could easily be well away from the property. He certainly hadn't breached the fenced perimeter. Which was only three-sided as they couldn't fence the lake and still leave it accessible for Dev's water rescue and safety training.

Could he be down by the lake? Or in a boat on the lake? Or on the road? Maybe across the road, hunkered down on the neighbor's wooded property.

There were so many options. Too many options. But he couldn't afford to waste time waffling between them. He had to decide which location to pursue before the drone disappeared. If he wanted to find and detain the operator, he would have to choose the most likely spot. Now!

He eased back into the trees and started for Micha. A quick discussion with his teammate might help clarify his decision.

He rounded the corner and stepped onto the porch. Micha spun, his hand clamped on his sidearm, then relaxing when he realized it was only Dev.

"Learn anything? Micha asked.

"Looks like a small inexpensive drone. Nothing professional. Hovering over us. Likely trying to determine if we're asleep inside, and if the property could potentially be breached."

"Hah!" Micha shook his head. "Good luck in doing that. We'd be on him like an ant on a picnic watermelon."

Dev tried to crack a smile at the visual Micha suggested but failed. The impending sense of trouble left no room for comedy. "I'm debating whether the operator is down by or on the lake. Or could be out on the road somewhere. Or on the neighbor's land across the road."

"My guess?" Micha took a step closer. "I'd say on the road or across the road. If he was spotted and had to make a getaway, taking off in a boat could be challenging. The neighbor has logging roads on his property, and the operator could have a vehicle parked on one of them for a quick getaway."

"Okay, then I have a plan. First I wake Colin and then make sure Kinsley knows to stay inside with him, you on the porch."

Micha tilted his head. "And what about you? What's next?"

"Me?" Dev turned to stare at the fenced side of the property that abutted the road. "I'm headed to the neighbor's property to bring this guy in once and for all."