Page 85 of Forgotten Promise

Carefully, she took one strip of negatives out, holding it so the light shone through. The first picture showed a wide street with a park on the far side and a scattering of pedestrians on the sidewalk. To the left were brick buildings, with arches above the top-floor windows. The photographer was slightly above street level, looking down on the road and the sidewalk.

The second shot was the same scene but a slightly different angle, more of the brick buildings and street visible. The left side of the photo was black, as if something in the foreground, close to the photographer, had blocked the camera.

The third photo was from the same spot, but now there were a few vintage-looking cars and a couple motorcycles on the street. Oddly, the cars were driving down the middle of the street rather than in a lane. The black on the left side of the photo was now gray and had a curve at the top. She studied it for a moment, deciding it looked like someone’s shoulder, that person standing in front of the photographer.

The fourth and final photo on the strip was clearly a minute later, chronologically. The person was farther away, their silhouette clearly visible but dark, as if they stood in shadow, while the rest of the picture was bright with sunlight. The cars were closer in this shot. Definitely vintage, and one of the cars, the convertible, was long, with what looked like three rows of seats. She could just make out four heads, the people in the back rows. One of the heads was oddly square on top. She peered closer. It was a hat. One of those pillbox hats—

“Holy shit!” Kailani jerked up. “Is this…”

“Someone taking pictures from the grassy knoll?” Preston grinned. “I think so.”

Kailani carefully put the negative back into the folder, resisting the urge to check the other strips and find out if there really had been another shooter. She put the photo envelope into the drawer and looked at Preston.

“I’ll get my pen and paper.” Kailani added “JFK” to the “photo negatives” listing. For a few minutes, the horror from the Broken Arrow list, and excitement of the photo discovery, bolstered her energy, but as they slogged through things like old war bonds, articles of incorporation, and the deed to some massive piece of land, exhaustion and the stifling heat of the vault covered her like a wool blanket, making her too drowsy to concentrate.

She’d had to scribble out countless things because her sluggish brain couldn’t spell.

After the third time she asked Preston to repeat something he’d said, he stopped and looked at her. He frowned. “When was the last time you slept, Kailani?”

“Um…when did I get the keyholder call?”

Preston’s eyes widened. “You mean to tell me you’ve been awake since you got the call to institute the keyholder protocol?”

She gave him a tired grin. “No, I’ve slept, but not well or a lot. It’s not like you and Selene were just down the road waiting for me to fetch you. You couldn’t even make it easy by living on the same coast.”

Preston chuckled. “I guess we didn’t.”

“We had a layover in Denver because of bad weather, and I managed to grab a few hours’ sleep there.” After some marathon sex she couldn’t bear to think about. “Other than that, I dozed on the jet a few times, but…you know how it is sleeping on a plane. It’s never a very sound sleep, is it?”

“No, it’s not. I can finish this on my own, Kailani. Why don’t you head into the hotel? I bet the owner would give you a room to sleep in,” he joked.

Kailani shook her head. Even if they were finished with their task, she wouldn’t be able to go to sleep. The minute she put her head down, she knew all she’d be able to do was think about Benjamin and John.

“I…I can’t… I need to find…I have to…”

Preston reached out and took her arm, drawing her into the waihona. He pushed on the seat of one of the chairs, then said, “Seems sturdy enough. Sit down for a minute.”

She started to refuse because even as uncomfortable as the chair looked, standing up was the only thing keeping her awake at the moment.

That and the stress.

And the painful tightness in her chest.

Unfortunately, her body took the decision away from her, dropping down heavily on the uncomfortable chair.

Taking stock of what was in the waihona had been keeping the panic at bay, but now…as she looked at this seemingly endless task, she wanted out of here. Suddenly overcome with the desire to see Benjamin and John, to talk to them.

“Can I ask you something, Kailani? And if it’s too personal, you can tell me to go take a flying leap,” Preston said, smiling.

“What is it?”

“Carly and Lance mentioned that your trinity was still in the binding month, and things weren’t going well.”

Kailani’s shoulders sagged. “That’s an understatement.”

“But now it’s dissolved…”

Kailani swallowed hard to dislodge the lump in her throat. “Yeah.”

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