But that was a problem for another day.
Kenzie said she would pick him up. She also, at Zachary’s request, agreed to bring with her another copy of the medical examiner’s report, though she seemed reluctant to do so.
Why did she care so much about him investigating the case? Was it really because she thought everything had been handled the right way and that he would be burning his bridges if he contradicted the medical examiner or any of the officers who had been involved in the investigation? Or was there something else going on?
Zachary shook the questions off. Kenzie didn’t have any connection with the case. The only thing that connected her to the case was the fact that she was an administrator in the medical examiner’s office.
He waited in the doorway of the apartment building. Lawson was no longer on shift, but his replacement seemed to have no problem with Zachary remaining there while he watched for Kenzie’s car to pull up. It was a relief when he finally saw the familiar red sports car pull into the loading zone.
“Thanks so much for helping me out,” he told her, as he settled into the passenger seat.
“Yeah. We’ll have to discuss the parameters, though. I talked with Mario Bowman, and he said you could stay with him for a night or two. You’re not staying at my apartment.”
Zachary was both disappointed and relieved. At least he would have a place to sleep. A warm place. He didn’t have to rely on a homeless shelter. “Okay. Thanks. I really appreciate it. I’m just in a tough place now… everything is a little crazy.”
“I can sympathize, but I can’t let myself be pulled into your problems. We are not a couple, and you are not staying with me, not even on the couch.”
Zachary nodded. “Understood.” He massaged his hands in the air from the heater, trying to thaw out. He was cold to his core, just like the night of the accident. He was looking forward to spending the next few hours in central heating, no matter where it was.
Kenzie’s eyes were on his purple-tipped fingers. She looked back at the road. “You hungry?”
“Starving.”
“What are you in the mood for?”
“Whatever you feel like. I can’t pay, but I’ll pay you back when I get access to my bank account and credit cards.”
“No need. I’ll treat tonight. Pizza? Italian? There’s that buffet place on Hillcrest that has a bit of everything.”
“Yeah, let’s go for the buffet,” Zachary agreed. “Then we can each have whatever suits us.” And he’d have no worries about getting enough to eat, making up for a day of nothing but a cup of coffee and a chocolate glazed donut given to him out of pity.
Kenzie nodded her consent.
The ride to the restaurant was mostly silent. Even though Kenzie had agreed to help him out, it was obvious that she was still upset about the tracker on her car. He couldn’t blame her; he knew it was not something that he should have done.
They walked into the restaurant, were seated, and went through the buffet. Zachary loaded up his plate and Kenzie very carefully picked and chose small amounts of a few favorite foods. Zachary was a little embarrassed at how his plate compared to hers. It probably wasn’t her first meal of the day, though.
After they had sat down at the table, Kenzie slid the familiar medical examiner’s report across to him.
“I’m not sure why you need that,” she said. “I thought you were closing the case.”
“I was. I am. I have to rewrite the final report. All of my materials are gone in the fire.”
“You should have saved it in the cloud.”
“Where someone else could access it? I never save case files to the cloud.”
“Then how are you going to recover all the stuff you lost in the fire?”
“I don’t know.” Zachary sighed. “I’ll have to reconstruct what I can. Request new copies.” He groaned as he thought of all his photography equipment and negatives. He had been saying for years that he needed to store stuff off-site. That he needed to find a way to back up his data somewhere safe. He never had. The backups he had made of his computer were in the apartment, just like the computer. A lot of good that did.
Kenzie put a forkful of salad in her mouth and chewed it slowly. “What are your other active cases about?” she asked.
Zachary shrugged. “Adultery. Insurance fraud. Accident reconstruction. Stuff like that.”
“The Declan Bond case is the only one about a death.”
“Yes.”
“Then doesn’t it have to be the one that they’re trying to stop you from investigating? Who’s going to set your apartment on fire over adultery? The only one that makes any sense is the Bond case.”
“Only it doesn’t,” Zachary disagreed. He took a minute to nibble the meat from a buffalo wing before expanding. “I know the principals involved in the case. If it was the mother, which is what I think, it doesn’t make any sense that she would try to get me to shut down the investigation. She already got away with it, and no one from the police department is going to reopen the investigation. She wouldn’t kill me because I state in my report that she’s the only one who had motive and opportunity. Her mother and husband are just going to brush it off. It isn’t going to get to her employers or
