“Wow, we have enough money? Are you sure you’re Art Cabrera? Have you been replaced by aliens?”
“Possibly.”
“I’m fine. Thank you for the suggestion.”
“I’m heading home. You may be able to work until the wee hours, but if I’m another minute late Eva, will leave me for Jimmy Smits.”
“Noted.”
Art left. But Kendra didn’t. The day’s images replayed in her mind.
Maybe this was the next season of The Cold Trail? She knew she needed to find out more. She felt a connection, a pull, to discover whatever led up to the woman’s violent end.
“Hey!”
Kendra jumped in her chair again. She really needed to get out of her head!
“You’re not answering texts? Or my calls?”
Detective Kyle Carver was handsome, doubly so when he was mad. And he was mad.
“Oh—oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. Normally Shoop keeps me on track, but I got involved in this—”
Kyle put his hand up to stop Kendra’s rambling. She knew she was rambling and that she’d blown it, again, with Kyle Carver.
Kyle stepped into her office. His hands were on his hips, his jaw was clenched. He was trying to remain calm. That was a bad feeling, knowing you were the source of a normally sweet person’s Herculean efforts to remain calm.
“We were supposed to meet, get some groceries, any bells ringing here?”
“It’s just—listen, there was this body found, and I was the only one with the tip, and we were out there for a long time.”
“I get it. But how was I supposed to know you weren’t the dead body?”
Kendra winced at the comment. “You’re being dramatic.”
“Really? Since I’ve known you, you’ve been shot at, what? Two, three times? And held prisoner by a crazy person! Forgive me if I freak a little when you don’t answer your phone.”
“It’s fine. I’m fine.”
“But you’re not sorry, and you won’t change.” The anger drained from Kyle’s face as he exhaled. Kendra preferred the anger. This stance seemed worse.
“I…I am sorry. I should have let you know I was okay.”
“Yeah.”
“But let me tell you about this case. It’s got me in knots already.”
“Kendra, I spent the day today chasing down the scum of the earth, who happened to be trafficking his daughter. And then you didn’t answer for hours. I don’t know if I have more right now, for more of it.”
“My work is important to me,” Kendra said. But she did feel bad. Terrible, actually. She should have called. And this wasn’t the first time or the second.
“Listen, Dillon, I really think we could have something here…”
This time it was Kendra’s turn to interrupt. She walked from her desk and reached out to put her hands in his. She looked up; the man was tall.
“Yes, I think so too. I’m sorry, but I was busy, and I promise to answer my phone.”
“I’m tired, and I think we need a break. I need a break. I don’t need you to stay out of trouble. That’s who you are. Hell, it’s who I am. But I do need you to lean on me when you get into it. And obviously, that’s not happening.”
“I wasn’t in trouble; I didn’t need you!”
Well, that came out wrong.
Kyle looked at Kendra, removed his hands from hers, and lowered his head.
“And you don’t, I get it. I’m done. I can’t deal with this level of stress at work and with you constantly. I can’t even tell you to stay safe. I think that’s a waste of breath.”
“You’re dumping me?” Kendra felt the sting of the words. Talking to her was a waste of breath.
“I’m stepping back. I wish you the best and all that, but I need to leave the front row seats of the Kendra Dillon show.”
Kyle turned and walked out. Just like that.
Kendra swallowed hard. Kyle Carver was a good man. He was more than that. Heroic, patient, smart. And good. That was at the front of the list and the end of the list about the man.
Kendra had run him off. She hadn’t meant to.
But there it was. She felt her eyes well up. She didn’t mean to cry today either, but the tears were there. She wiped them away.
She walked back to her desk.
Kendra opened a browser and typed: Unsolved missing persons cases, the 1980s.
Chapter 5
“I go away for a weekend, and your life falls apart. That’s what I’m seeing.”
Adeline Shoop was back and extremely frustrated with Kendra.
“I managed to feed myself and Swisshelm. I think that’s a win-win.”
“That is something, but your scalp is flaking.”
Kendra’s sunburned part was sloughing off. Lovely, she thought as she reached up and touched it. “I appear to be trying to regenerate human skin,” Kendra said and rubbed the spot. It was healing and so itchy.
“I mean seriously, piles of mail and our email filing system? Totally ignored.”
Their jobs required organization, cataloging information, and a system. Shoop was in charge of that system, and Kendra, admittedly, had ignored it as she researched over the weekend.
“I was preoccupied with this body at the High Timbers site. And also, uh, Kyle dumped me.”
“What?”
“Yeah, because apparently, I’m a lousy girlfriend, like I was a lousy wife.”
“Oh, honey!”
Shoop came over and enveloped Kendra in a hug. Kendra hugged back. Shoop wasn’t just the glue that held the office together. She was Kendra’s best friend.
“I’m okay, it’s okay. That feeding myself thing I just bragged out, it was mostly ice cream. Okay, all ice cream, all meals.”
“I’d call that medicinal ice cream.”
“Yeah, that.”
“So is the Kyle Carver chapter closed, or is there hope?”
“It didn’t seem like there was hope. I blew it because I’m not willing to change. He wants me to, I don’t know, get a job that doesn’t require me to be up close and personal with crime.”
“Well, why doesn’t he take his own advice?”
“Right?”
“Though you could do a better job of, you know, answering your phone and stuff.”
“You too?”
“I called three times!”
“You
