Page 43 of Whispers Left Behind
Kinsley stood before slipping her arms through the sleeves of her sweater coat. Louise was attempting to reassure Douglas that the accident wasn’t his fault, while he kept repeating that he should have made time to give the equipment to Gage. Kinsley took her time to place the chair back in its designated spot before requesting an update on Gage.
“Is there any update on your son’s condition?”
Douglas put his arm around Louise as her eyes filled with tears. She broke down, and he pulled her gently against his chest.
“The doctors believe that he will gradually come to by this evening. We’ll know then if there was any permanent damage to his brain,” Douglas revealed in anguish as he rubbed Louise’s back in comfort. “Detective Aspen, we didn’t mean to hurt theinvestigation with our omissions. We just wanted you to focus on catching the son of a bitch who is hurting this family.”
“If the two of you believe Sebastian Hanson killed Rachel for her life insurance policy, what reason would he have for going after Gage?” Kinsley asked, not bothering to keep the skepticism from her voice. “Gage wasn’t even listed as a co-beneficiary on the policy.”
Louise had composed herself enough to answer Kinsley’s question.
“When Gage called me on Friday to let me know what time he would be arriving at the house, he mentioned that he wanted to talk to me about something,” Louise disclosed while Douglas retrieved more tissues for her. “I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but what if Gage figured out who murdered Rachel? What if my son was nothing more than a loose end to the Hansons?”
Chapter Nineteen
Kinsley Aspen
October
Wednesday — 7:48 am
“Fall lasted all buttwo weeks,” Kinsley complained as she unzipped her jacket. The fact that she had to pull it off the hanger before leaving the house this morning hadn’t brightened her morning in the least. “It dropped below freezing last night, Earl.”
“We should be back in the fifties in a couple of days, Kin.” Earl handed Kinsley one of the gray buckets so she could walkthrough the metal detector. “You can go back to your sweater coats for another week or two.”
“Not long enough.” Kinsley removed her holster clip. “Has Alex shown up yet? He was stopping at Carol’s to pick up coffee and donuts.”
Carol’s Cafe was two storefronts down from The Bucket. Since Kinsley came into town from the South and used the back parking lot, Alex was usually the one designated to pick up breakfast.
“Not yet. Your father is here, though. One of his clients was arrested a couple hours ago on a DUI.”
Kinsley dropped her keys into the bucket. Earl had always looked after her, and she appreciated the warning. Considering that her dad would be on another floor of the station, she only had to worry about the length of time it took her to walk to the elevator.
“Coming through!” Sam sidestepped two officers in deep discussion. He had a travel mug in one hand and a small paper bag in the other. “Aspen, you sure you don’t want to be my partner? We got ourselves a stiff up north at Terrapin Lake.”
“Take a pair of boots, Haugen!” Earl called out, but Sam was already through the door. “Mark my words, Kin. That man will be covered hip-deep in mud when he gets back to the station.”
“Someone discovered a body up at Terrapin Lake?”
Kinsley wasn’t sure how she managed to say those words aloud when she could barely hear her own voice. Her pulse hammered in her ears, and she had to grip her keys in the palm of her hand to keep them from falling onto the tiled floor.
“Yeah,” Earl stated as he observed Sam exit the station. “I haven’t been up there since I was a boy. Way before the county instituted a no-fishing policy.”
Kinsley reacted before she thought through her decision. She quickly dashed toward the entrance, opening the door andcalling out to Sam before he reached his unmarked cruiser parked out front.
“Haugen!” Kinsley waited for Sam to turn around. “Where’s Mitchell?”
“In some meeting with Thompson about her promotion. Come Monday, I’ll be saddled with a new partner.” Sam shrugged as he put the small paper bag in between his teeth while he pulled out the keys to the car. Once he had the driver’s side door open, he grabbed the bag and tossed it in the seat. “You sure you don’t want to take one for the team? Lanen has more patience than me, anyway.”
“I’ll go with you, but only for the morning,” Kinsley warned as she held the door open wider for another officer to pass through. “Let me collect my firearm.”
Fear threatened to choke her, but she managed to paste a smile on her face by the time she returned to collect her belongings. Earl had set the gray bucket aside to allow others through the metal detector.
“Do me a favor?” Kinsley asked as she clipped the holster to her belt. She slipped her keys into the pocket of her jacket. “Let Alex know that I’m helping out Sam for the morning. I’ll be back before noon.”
“You got it, Kin.”
Kinsley made her way outside. By the time she settled in the passenger seat, Sam already had the contents of the small brown bag balanced on his leg. It was an egg sandwich, and it took every ounce of willpower she had not to dry heave at the wretched odor.
