Page 49 of Keeping Kara

She stared at him for a beat, then gave him a small smile. “It means the world that you want to protect me, but I’m okay, Arrow.”

“You had a tough night.”

“I did,” she agreed. “And now it’s a new day. I’m with you, and if he’s calling with bad news, you’re here to talk me off the ledge like you did last night. But I can’t be kept in the dark, that would scare me more than just hearing what he has to say straight out. Maybe we can both talk to him? Put him on speaker?”

Chaos was torn. He was proud of her, and it felt damn good that she felt he was her safe space. At least, that’s what it felt like to him. But he still didn’t like the thought of not knowing what the detective was calling about. He didn’t want Kara blindsided. But she was an adult, and it was her life, her decision. Her body Nolan had abused.

Nodding, he clicked the mute button once more, then told Blackwood, “You’re on speaker.”

“Kara?”

“I’m here,” she said softly.

“You okay with Mr. Porter being there and listening?”

“Absolutely.”

“All right. After you were rescued, there was a car found on fire not too far from the cabin where you were being held. A complete inferno. It took quite a bit of time for the fire department to put it out and even longer for everything to cool down long enough for what looks like human remains to be removed to try to preserve as much evidence as possible. Along with what looks like completely burned pieces of bone, there were a few buttons and part of a zipper. It looks as if the car ran off the road and into the yard of a house. The vehicle hit the propane tank and it exploded upon impact. No one was home at the time of the accident, thank goodness.”

Kara was lying unnaturally still against him, and it seemed as if she was holding her breath. The detective went on.

“We were lucky and able to get most of the VIN numbers off the car, and it was registered to Nolan Colins. The assumption is that he was most likely the source of the remains, we found in the vehicle, but until DNA testing can be done, we won’t know for sure.”

All the breath in Kara’s body whooshed out in a rush.

“Where were the remains found?” Chaos asked.

“In the driver’s seat.”

“Any IDs?”

“If there were, they were burned in the fire. We’d already started trying to track Colins, and there hasn’t been any movement on his credit cards or bank accounts. We haven’t checked all the rental agencies in the state, as we’re pretty busy trying to recover from the floods and are still actively rescuing stranded citizens, but we haven’t found any record of him leaving the area either. I’m pretty sure karma did her thing and doled out justice in this case, but again, we aren’t going to assume anything. It’ll take a while for DNA tests to come back…if they’re able to find any bones or teeth that still have viable DNA. As I said, the body was completely burned. Almost cremated. But we’ll continue to electronically monitor Colins’ accounts, and if there’s even one ping, we’ll be on it.”

Kara looked up at Chaos with big eyes, and the hope in her expression was almost painful.

Chaos wanted to be relieved. Wanted to believe Nolan Colins was well and truly gone, died in some horrific crash…but his sixth sense was telling him something wasn’t right. To not take the detective’s words at face value.

“I appreciate you calling,” she said, her voice only shaking a little.

“I’m not saying it’s him, but I’m not saying it’s not either,” Blackwood said. “You should still be cautious. But after a bit of time, if there’s still no sign of him, I’m thinking you’re free to live your life without looking over your shoulder every second.”

“Thank you,” Kara whispered.

“You’ll keep in touch if you hear anything? Anything at all?” Chaos asked.

“Of course.”

“I’ll send you the number of my new phone,” Kara told him.

“I’d appreciate that. And if anything seems off, or if you get the slightest inkling that something’s wrong, or you’re being followed, don’t brush it off.”

“But you just said⁠—”

“I know what I said, Ms. Guthrie. But better safe than sorry.”

“Right.”

“I’ll be in touch.”