Page 56 of A Hidden Past

The two of them ceased the banter as they drove toward Autumn Downs. It was a lot harder to joke around when the risk was in the future. Now that they were driving straight toward the potential end of their careers, laughter seemed a lot less appropriate.

But Lila deserved justice, and this was their best chance at finding it.

They reached the neighborhood to find a lot of people out and about, walking through the carefully manicured parks and chatting across their driveways with neighbors. All eyes turned toward the police cruiser as it headed toward the Kensington House.

That was fine with Lena. The more people watching this, the better. If word got out that Julian was under investigation, it could turn public opinion in favor of bringing him to justice, and maybe they could convince the department to back them even if they didn’t get a confession.

“Oh, hell,” Harris said.

“What?”

Harris pointed to the sidewalk three houses down from the Kensingtons and Lena saw the one person she didn’t want here walking purposefully ahead. “Son of a bitch.”

She pulled the car in front of him, coming up on the curb three yards in front. Nathan Harlow flinched and stared wide-eyed at her as she rolled down the window.

“No.”

He blinked. “What?”

“Don’t play stupid. It’s not cute on you.”

He grinned. “You’re not the first woman who’s told me that.”

“Listen to the first woman. Turn around and go home.”

“I’m not going home.”

“Then go anywhere else. We’re handling the Kensington.”

Nate frowned. “You weren’t at the office earlier. I went to talk to you there, and you weren’t there. I was going to tell you that I read Lila Kensington’s diary. It has evidence in there of Julian’s illegal activities. She talked about arguing with her dad the week before her murder and telling him that she knew he’d killed a man.”

Lena blinked. “How did you get her diary?”

“The same way I’m about to get it now. They won’t be home for a while. I know it’s wrong to break into someone’s house, and if I have to go to jail for it, I will. But he took it, and unless he got rid of it, it’s still in his house.”

“He almost certainly got rid of it,” Lena said, “but this is good. Listen to me. You already told me about this diary.”

“What? No I did—”

“Oh for God’s… Listen, Nate. You already told me about this diary. We know all about Julian’s illegal activities with his business partners. Now, when we tell Julian, we’ll tell him it’s because you showed us the diary.”

“They won’t believe it if I’m not there.”

“Go repeat that in a mirror somewhere and ask yourself if it sounds as stupid to you as it does to me. But find that mirror in a different neighborhood.”

Nate looked past her at the Kensington house. “But if I can get—”

"Stop." Lena looked around at the neighbors, straining to hear. A few of them were close enough that they might pick up a stray word or two. She turned her eyes back to Nate. "Do not follow us. We will handle it. You can only make it worse. Trust me.”

Nate looked at her for a long moment. Then he sighed and nodded. “All right.”

“All right.”

She backed out and finished driving to the Kensingtons.

Julian and Clara showed up five minutes after Lena parked. Julian flinched when he saw them, and looked like he was thinking about driving away for a moment. Then he sighed and got out of the car.

“Officers, this is a bad time. I’m here to meet with people about my upcoming campaign.”

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