Undeniably His(85)

“Kalin, we still have to talk.”

“I know. Go take a shower,” he growls.

Kalin runs a comb through his thick, tousled hair. I bite my lip and watch him before shutting the door to the shower room, and he smiles at me from the mirror. My eyes flick downward as I close the door. By the time his parents return, we both appear casual.

Peter opens the back door and slides in, his hand coaxing Lauren. “What did your lawyer say, Kalin?”

Kalin glances at him with a note of surprise. “About what?”

“About the truck. Didn’t you call him?”

Kalin grits his teeth at me. “Oh, yeah, I was just getting ready to call him. Annabelle and I were just catching up on some projects.”

“Liar,” I mouth while he’s facing me.

Kalin caresses my shoulder on the way to his phone call, and he has me defenseless. I am finding it harder and harder to bring up his past with Madison. I don’t want to throw a wedge between us, but I have to ask him.

Lauren and Peter sit on the couch across from me in the living room, and I tuck wet strands of hair behind my ears that are still drying from my shower.

“How was the hike?” I ask.

“What a hiking trail. So many beautiful birds,” Lauren says with excitement.

“We saw eagles hunting by the bay, and we spotted a nest of eastern bluebirds.” Peter smiles and leans back. “What a beautiful place.”

“What a beautiful sound. Do you get to wake up to these beautiful songbirds?” Lauren asks me.

“I wish. I usually wake up to the sound of a fire engine blaring in my ear, or an ambulance, or the ugly snort of a diesel truck,” I chuckle. “I live downtown with my roommate Lia. Our lives are nothing like you see here.”

“This must be quite a change,” Lauren adds.

“It is. It’s so beautiful, and so peaceful,” I emphasize.

“Have you seen the beautiful flowers?” Lauren asks with excitement. “The azaleas and rhododendrons are all over the place here. It’s so beautiful.”

“And the sweet smell,” I rave. “It really is beautiful. Everything is better. The air, the sounds, the sweet smell of the flowers, the view, the food. It makes me realize…”

“What dear?” Lauren asks.

“Oh, it’s just…people want this. They’ll do anything to have it.” I feel my face downturn and my eyes shift to the floor.

“Some earn it, and some steal it. Kalin earned it, and now others want to take it from him.” Peter grimaces.

Kalin returns from his phone call. He sucks in a breath and rubs his eyes.

“What is it?”

“Atkinson managed to get the search warrant expedited. He not only showed probable cause that a crime may have been committed, but that lives are still in danger based on submitted affidavits from the first time Lia was injured, to the police report regarding the wrecked SUV. The search warrant was issued forty minutes ago. The police entered the lot listed on the warrant at ProEast Energy.” Kalin turns his head to me. “They found a truck matching the description you gave. The front was disassembled. None of the pieces involved with the crash were found. But police took small plastic fragments from the garage floor in for analysis.”

Kalin takes a deep breath. “These could be the fragments from the front headlight protector they removed. It’s the part of the truck that would have hit the SUV. The inspectors are taking the fragments to the lab to compare with fragments left in the SUV.”

I press off the couch and sit up with excitement. Kalin gestures with his index finger to emphasize the point. “It’s just a small piece. But it may be all we need to match the SUV with the truck.”





Chapter Twenty Two


“Kalin, that’s wonderful!” I can’t stop the grin spreading across my face as I jump off the couch and hug him.

Kalin glances down at me and smiles. “The police think they were stripping the truck, one piece at a time, right under our noses.” Kalin turns toward his dad. “It was in the lot just like you said, Dad. Hidden in a garage and stripped. We still don’t know where the rest of the truck is, but we may not need it.”

“Hopefully the arrest warrants come next.” Peter says.

“If the fragments are a match, we have the bastards. All we need is evidence of the driver, and who ordered him to carry it out. From generous employment contracts, to expensive medical treatments, it’s pretty clear managers were paying Dale for something. If his DNA is anywhere on the truck, we have him too.”

“What if he just says he worked at the company, and so he drove the truck?” I ask.