AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Rachel reached into her pocket, fingers closing around cool metal. The bullet casing—a small thing, really, but heavy with implication. She extended her hand, the item encased in a crime scene baggie, offering it to him. An olive branch; a piece of the puzzle they both needed solved.
"Found this," she said, the words clipped.
Dawes' eyes flicked down to the casing, then back to her face. He took it, his touch a whisper against her skin. "I'll get it tested."
"Thank you," she murmured. Trust was currency here, and she'd just made a deposit. But would it be enough?
"Who ID'd Anna?" she asked, her voice flat, eyes locked onto his.
Dawes shifted, the lines in his face deepening. "Wasn't easy with the damage," he said, stalling, his gaze drifting toward the horizon where day bled into night.
"Who, Sheriff?"
"Kai." The name came out reluctantly, squeezed from his lips like it pained him to admit it. Which meant he knew there was something more to the fact that his son had identified the dead woman. Was Anna a prostitute like Rachel guessed?
"Where can I find him?" She watched his Adam’s apple bob—a tell.
Dawes hesitated. "Rachel, he's off duty. This isn't—" He stopped, jaw working side to side.
"Time is a luxury we don't have." Her words cut through the air, sharp and cold.
"Kai won’t take kindly to being pressed now." Dawes' tone was a warning wrapped in concern. "Let it wait till morning."
"Can't." Her reply was immediate, instinctual. "He's at a bar? Right? The same as usual?"
"Rachel…" He began, but she was already turning away, thoughts racing.
"Wait till he's got a clear head," Dawes called after her.
She didn't respond, just kept walking. The gravel crunched beneath her boots, a steady rhythm against the drumming of questions in her head. Kai. Anna. Connection? Each step was a countdown, each breath closer to an answer, or confrontation.
Sheriff Dawes receded behind her, a figure growing smaller in the twilight of both the day and their conversation.
The car door shut with a soft click, sealing the silence of the desert night around them. Inside, the heat of the day lingered, trapped within the metal cocoon.
"Kai's at a bar," she said, sliding into the passenger seat. Her voice was level.
Ethan's eyebrows lifted, fingers drumming against the steering wheel. "You sure we should do this now?"
"Positive." She locked eyes with him, her resolve clear.
He nodded once, sharply, and started the engine. The hum of it filled the space, mingling with the distant howl of a coyote.
As they drove, Rachel watched the landscape blur past. Dust devils danced along the horizon, stirred up by invisible currents. Her thoughts swirled like those tiny tempests. Kai. Kendra. Anna and Remi. A bullet casing that might point an accusing finger.
"Expecting trouble?" Ethan’s voice cut through her reverie.
"Kai doesn't play nice." She kept her gaze fixed on the rearview mirror, watching the station disappear. "Especially not when cornered."
"Great." His sarcasm was dry as the desert air. "I got a taste of that back on the road."
She nodded, tilting the brim of her hat and frowning through the windshield as Ethan drove. She turned her phone so she could see the GPS line leading to Kai's favorite watering hole.
"Dawes say why Kai knew Anna's name?"
"No. Just said he did, and it took some doing to get that much."
Ethan frowned. "Not a good look. He called you in."
