Page 67 of Chasing Dreams
“Anything else?”
“Well—” She pursed her lips thoughtfully, and wrinkles radiated from her narrow lips. “It seems like I do recall the police asking me if a couple of things found in the car belonged to me. Yes, that’s right, they did. Maybe a toy of some kind—I don’t remember—and a shoe they had bagged in plastic. I don’t have any children riding in my car, so I told them they weren’t mine.”
She picked up her cup and saucer. “Imagine someone with children stealing a car to go joyriding,” she scoffed. “What kind of an example are parents setting these days?”
Shaine’s attention had been riveted to the objects found in the car. “Did you know about that evidence?” she asked Ken as they headed toward the garage.
He shook his head. “I knew they had prints because the car was broken into. A window was out and the steering column had been busted in order to hot-wire it, so the crime lab did a routine investigation.”
Expectation welled in Shaine’s chest. Something belonging to Jack! The police had something she could identify as his. That would make the case official, wouldn’t it? They would believe her now.
Spontaneously she took Austin’s hand and squeezed it. He returned the touch, searching her face with questioning eyes. “You okay?”
She nodded.
Mrs. Lorenz let them into her garage. Austin walked around the white car.
“Mind if we sit inside?” Ken asked her.
She looked puzzled and somewhat put out, but she gestured to the car. “Go ahead.”
Ken gestured for Austin to sit in the driver’s seat. He got into the back, and Shaine seated herself on the passenger side.
Austin placed his hands on the steering wheel and closed his eyes. A nervous tremor ran through Shaine’s stomach. How could he act so calm when she knew he detested this? She decided to follow his example, determinedly relaxed, and placed her hands on the fabric seat on either side of her legs.
The clock on the dash ticked in the ensuing silence.
She must’ve been sitting like that a good five minutes when she heard Mrs. Lorenz’s shoes on the garage floor. Shaine opened her eyes and glanced over at Austin, surprised to find him looking at her.
“Anything?” he asked.
She shook her head in disappointment. “You?”
“Nothing I could pick up on. A few blurry images. I think they were hers,” he said, meaning the Lorenz woman waiting impatiently.
Shaine took her turn thanking the woman for her time. Austin and Ken talked, and they separated, getting into their vehicles.
Ken pulled onto the street and drove on ahead of them. Austin gave Shaine a glance and pulled her to him. “We’re getting a little closer all the time,” he said.
“I want this to be it,” she said, her fist clenched against his chest.
“We have a lot more to go on than we did a week ago.”
“And we have Ken,” she agreed.
“He’s a believer,” Austin said.
“So am I,” Shaine said. “So am I.”
* *
The detective Ken had contacted led the three of them to a lower-level office that had seen its heyday in the nineties. They seated themselves on duct-taped blue vinyl-cushioned chairs and waited for Detective Parker to check out the evidence and return.
Ken paged through the file and explained the routine fingerprinting.
Parker returned with a plastic tub containing three manila envelopes. He opened the first and slid a pink baby bottle out onto the blotter on his scarred wooden desk. “Look familiar?”
Ken and Austin looked to Shaine for a reply. She shook her head.
