Page 38 of Rival for Rent
I meant it, though I didn’t lie down right away. Even after Kai went up with Bella, I stayed downstairs. The house was dark, no light from under his bedroom door. I walked the perimeter, checking windows, sitting silently near the front and back, watching the shadows.
Nothing moved. But I still couldn’t relax. And when I finally drifted off, it was into a restless sleep full of dark dreams and accusing eyes, a gnawing sense of failure gripping me like a vice.
The next morning, we were back in the same windowless interview room with Detective Myers, going over everything that had happened the night before.
“You left the car in the parking lot?” Myers asked.
Kai’s tone turned defensive. “I didn’t know what else to do.”
“We didn’t want to touch it until you had a chance to look it over,” I added.
“That’s all well and good,” Myers said, “but it would have been helpful if you’d called us last night, instead of letting it sit where anyone could get to it.”
Before either of us could respond, Officer Branscombe walked in carrying a cardboard carrier full of Starbucks coffees. “Whew. Coffee machine’s still broken, so I had to make a run. Brought extra cream and sugar—wasn’t sure how you guys take yours.”
She smiled brightly, setting the carrier on the table, but her warmth made my guard go up. Myers played the hard-ass, and she was the soft touch. Good cop, bad cop—even if we weren’t suspects, I’d seen the dynamic enough to know it by heart.
“Bunch of high school kids in line in front of me,” she said as she handed out the coffees. “Not sure why they weren’t in school. You should’ve seen what some of the girls were wearing. Crop tops, bra straps showing, ass cheeks hanging out of their shorts. Not that the boys were better. Looked like they rolled right out of bed. I guess I’m officially old, because seriously, how do their parents let them out of the house dressed like that?”
Branscombe shot a glance at Myers as she slid into her seat. “Bet you’re grateful your daughter doesn’t dress like that. Or your son. Speaking of which, how are your—”
“My son is fine,” Myers said, flat and sharp. “Now can we get back to business, please?”
Branscombe rolled her eyes at me and Kai, like she wanted us to know that she knew that he was being a dick—and that she wassomuch nicer by comparison. But all she said was, “Sure thing, boss.”
It was a good act. Old-school, but effective. Let Myers play the cold and procedural one and make us more grateful for Branscombe’s youth and approachability. They’d probably split up later to give us some time alone with Branscombe, see if they could shake anything new loose. But for now, we had to get through this interview.
“As I was telling Mr. Jacinto and Mr. Clark,” Myers continued, “we’ll send a team out to check out the car. We’ll let you know when we’re done, so you can hire a towing service.”
He looked between us. “Anything else you want to tell us about last night?”
I thought about the note on the rock and glanced at Kai. But he shook his head.
“No, I think that’s everything,” he said.
“And you still don’t have any idea who might be behind this?” Myers pressed. “None of your friends or associates acting oddly? No one reaching out to reconnect out of the blue? This kind of person usually wants to see the results of their efforts.”
Kai shrugged helplessly. “No one that I can think of.”
He shot me a glance, one I couldn’t interpret. Was he asking for backup? Or pointing out, not so subtly, that I was the only one who’d shown up unexpectedly in his life recently?
I didn’t respond. Just gave Myers the blankest face I could manage.
Myers sighed and nodded. “Well, like I said, we’ll do what we can. Please keep us informed if you think of anything else.”
Branscombe walked us to the front of the station, and I mentally congratulated myself for my prediction.
“I don’t know if Myers mentioned this,” she said as we moved towards the doors, “but I checked the CCTV footage at the theater. The cameras weren’t pointed directly at you when the attack occurred. You can see the commotion at the edge of two different cameras, but that’s about it. And unfortunately, they don’t catch anyone sprinting for the exits or acting suspiciously.” She grimaced. “I’ll be honest—the footage is grainy enough that it’d be hard to make out anyone’s face, even if you had been standing front and center.”
“Thanks,” I said. “We appreciate you checking anyway.”
“Yeah,” Kai echoed. “Thanks.”
She looked at us hopefully. Waiting for one of us to suddenly spill our guts, probably. But it didn’t happen, and with a little sigh and a wave, she walked away.
Kai was quiet as we stepped outside, but after a moment, he turned to me and said, “I don’t think I said it last night, but thank you. I know I wasn’t exactly polite when you left yesterday. I wouldn’t have blamed you if you didn’t want to deal with me again.”
“It’s fine,” I said. “I don’t mind.”
