Page 31 of Unforgotten

“What happened?” she asked the boys.

“All four tires are flat.”

She raised her eyebrows. “All four?” She’d never heard of such a thing.

“Yeah,” the dark-haired boy answered. “Someone did a good job on them too. That truck isn’t going anywhere.”

That didn’t make sense. “I wonder what happened,” she said as she began packing up all her stuff.

“My dad thinks someone slashed them.”

“Oh no.” Grabbing her purse and the heavy duffle bag, she hurried outside.

There was a crowd around Ryan’s navy Blazer. The kids hadn’t exaggerated. The vehicle wasn’t going anywhere except on a tow truck. Since Ryan wasn’t in the middle of everything, she scanned the area, looking for his pristine white polo.

She found him standing a little off to the side, his expression serious while he talked on his cell phone. When he met her gaze, he motioned her over.

Even though she knew she had no real reason to feel guilty, she did. If Ryan hadn’t come with her, his tires would probably still be intact. She had no idea how much it would cost to get a tow truck and pay for new tires, but it would surely be expensive.

She reached his side just as he finished the call. “Yeah. Thanks. No, I understand. Yes. I’ll let you know. Thanks, Chief.” After Ryan disconnected, he stashed his phone inhis back pocket. “Sorry, Candace, but we obviously have a problem.”

“What happened? The kids acted like someone did it on purpose.”

“That’s because they did.” A muscle in his jaw clenched, as if he was trying to hold back his temper.

A chill ran down her spine. “Oh no.”

Glaring at his vehicle, he said, “These tires are fairly new. They probably had about another twenty thousand miles before they started showing wear and tear. All four tires going flat means that someone took a knife to them.”

“Who would do that?”

“I don’t know—not definitively,” he replied.

There was something new in his voice. Something that told her that he was more bothered by what happened than the inconvenience of it. “Do you think it was teenagers or something?” she asked.

“I’m not ruling anything out, but it doesn’t feel right. Slashing a tire deep enough to cause it to go flat takes a lot of strength. Four would be a workout.”

“Unless you had four people.”

“Yeah, but even then my gut tells me that something else is going on. I mean, it’s pretty easy to mess up someone’s day by ruining one tire. To kill four of them on purpose? It’s excessive.”

He had a good point. “What’s going to happen now?”

“I called the station to let them know. They’re going to send out a truck and take it to a nearby shop after inspecting the tires.” He sighed. “That’s probably going to take a while. At least ninety minutes.”

She thought more like two hours. “Wow. I’m really sorry.”

“I am too. It puts a damper on the rest of your evening.”

“These visits were my evening. I’m fine.”

“They were mine too. I guess it’s good we’re both so boring.” Concern filled his expression. “Why don’t you go wait inside. I’m going to have everyone else go on home.”

Because it seemed like he wanted a little space, she headed toward the gymnasium’s door but didn’t go inside. Now that the sun was low on the horizon, it was pleasant outside. It smelled better too. The gym smelled like every other gym she’d ever been in—like old sneakers and sweat. She stood by the building’s front wall as the spectators dispersed. The man who’d told them about the flat tires talked to Ryan for a few minutes before he rounded up his boys and drove out of the parking lot.

Over the next half hour, everyone but the center’s director and janitor left. The director had invited them to wait inside, but they’d refused. There was a bench outside, and a mom from one of the high school’s booster clubs had already given them a couple of water bottles and a plate of homemade cookies.

After Ryan paced, talked on his phone for a while, and inspected the tires again, he sat down on the bench by her side.

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