Page 58 of Whispers Left Behind

“I ran into Alex when he was leaving the station. He mentioned you were still up here,” Izzy said as she came to astop beside the two desks. Much like Wally, the woman was a contradiction. She had a rough exterior, yet she always carried a fragrance of lavender everywhere she went. “I thought you should know that I swung by the Baird crash site since I was out that way earlier today. I know you weren’t convinced about it being an accident, but the lack of skid marks matches up with the brakes going out on his truck.”

Kinsley forced a smile as she tried to mentally switch gears. It was difficult, but the interruption gave her time to put things in perspective. If Serra had been the one to get the missing persons case reopened, it would soon be closed. In the eyes of the law, it wasn’t illegal to up and move one’s life to another city or state. The man’s passport and most of his clothes were gone, and any officer would take that to mean Gantz left town voluntarily.

“Thanks, Izzy.” Kinsley pushed back from her desk. “I appreciate you double-checking the site.”

“One more thing,” Izzy said as she handed off a folder. “I also took another look at the location where Rachel Hanson crashed headfirst into a tree. About a half mile from that location, I found some skid marks. I can’t guarantee that they are from the night in question or if they had anything to do with her being forced off the road, but I took pictures of them just in case. They belong to tires from a pickup truck. Pretty standard ones, too.”

“A pickup truck?”

“Don’t get too excited,” Izzy warned as she held up a hand. “Like I said, the tires are standard, and the skid marks were a half mile back from the crash site. They might not have anything to do with the Hanson investigation. Anyway, I’m joining Alex and Wally across the street. You ready to call it a night?”

“You go ahead,” Kinsley said without hesitation. She needed a minute to get the ground back under her feet after the phone call with her mother. “There are still a few things I need to take care of, but I'll be over soon.”

Izzy rapped her knuckles on the desk before taking her leave. She veered around the glass partition and proceeded down the hallway. Kinsley stood from her chair, needing some caffeine or sugar. She opted for sugar and opened her top drawer to fish out some quarters for the vending machine.

As she shut the drawer with her thigh, she was caught off guard to find Shane striding down the hall from the opposite direction of the elevator. She recalled his unease with tight spaces, but she had never given it much thought before. He had served five years in the Marines, and he rarely discussed that time of his life.

Shane's strides faltered when he spotted her at her workstation. Their gazes locked, and he briefly nodded at her in acknowledgment before continuing to his desk. Regardless that he attempted to ease the tension between them, it still settled in the air.

Between Izzy’s brief visit and Shane’s presence, maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing for Kinsley to take a moment and mull over her options when it came to Beck Serra. She didn’t want to call attention to herself by placing a call to the officer investigating the man’s disappearance. She wasn’t sure what she had done to cause Serra to take such an interest in her life, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it this evening.

What she could do was make amends with Shane…or at least attempt to do so. She slowly closed the distance between them and leaned against Haugen's desk. Shane had been in the process of removing his jacket. He silently took a seat and used his black boot to turn himself so that he was facing her.

There was no judgment in his blue eyes…eyes that were bluer than hers. If anything, she perceived deep confusion, but it wasn’t like she could ever satisfy that need. She would never place him in the position to be the one to put her in cuffs.

Kinsley glanced down at the quarters, struggling to find the right words. That pesky layer of hair fell into her face, and she tucked the wayward strands behind her ear for something to do to bide her some more time.

“Kin,” Shane said softly. “You don’t have to say anything. We covered it all last year. There are no hard feelings, alright?”

“Between the trial, my father, and…well, I should have handled everything better. I didn’t, and I’m truly sorry.”

“Is this the 'it's me, not you' speech?” Shane gave her a lopsided grin, the corners of his eyes crinkling with warmth. “Like I said, you don’t need to go there.”

Despite how different they were in their personal lives, she had truly thought they could have a future. Her actions last October had changed the course of her life, and with it, his. He had respected her decision to end their relationship, and never once had he pushed her for more of an explanation than she had been willing to give.

“I need you to know that I don’t regret our time together.”

“No regrets here, either.” Shane jostled his knee as he veered their conversation to safer ground. “You’re going to need to give me more tips about Haugen, though. I don’t understand how a man can eat an entire meal, two milkshakes, and a slice of apple pie and still be hungry thirty minutes later. It makes absolutely no sense.”

“And Sam is probably over at The Bucket right now complaining to Alex that you’re too straight and narrow.” Kinsley rattled the quarters in her hand as she pushed herself away from Haugen’s desk. “Oh, and the black unmarked cruiser with the dent is ours. No more signing it out. I had the navy blue car detailed this afternoon. That’s your ‘welcome to the department’ gift.”

“If I have my way, we’ll only ever use my personal vehicle. That way, I know it's maintained and won't smell like dog shit."

Shane’s words caused Kinsley to slow her departure until she came to a stop near the glass partition. Something about his statement triggered a memory from last week. Slowly, she turned to face Shane, who was in the process of turning on his computer.

“Shane, I have a question for you. If you ordered a new set of brakes, how long would it take you to install them?”

A playful grin tugged at the corner of Shane’s mouth.

“Come on, Kinsley, you know me better than that.”

Gage had practically grown up on his grandfather’s farm. He would have the same mentality, so what reason could have possibly forced him to put off such an important task?

“And if someone else ordered brake pads but couldn’t find the time to give them to you?”

“I’d make time to pick them up.”

Unless Douglas hadn’t wanted Gage to have them. Was that the reason that he had wanted to speak with his mother? Had he been able to discern that Douglas was involved with Rachel’s death?

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