Page 18 of Knight Watch

Nodding at his request, she watched him open the door and slide behind the wheel. So often she had seen her father in his place, but this was different. The heat rising in her belly at the sight of this lethal man in a powerful car shocked her.

Like a moth attracted to the flame, she moved closer and crouched by the open window. Kingsley rubbed his palms over the slick leather of the console. “How damaged was it when your father bought it?”

“A complete wreck. We had to start rebuilding it from scratch. We were both covered in so much grime and grease all the time, we had to leave our clothes on the threshold before going back inside the house.”

“He was the one who taught you how to fix and rebuild cars?”

Sydney nodded. “That was the thing we had in common. I don’t love being a mechanic and cars because my dad loved it, but because we did it together. He made me love it, like a puzzle. He found a sense of peace working on his cars. The GTO was his baby. Priceless in his eyes. I remember when I couldn’t find him in the house, I’d find him sitting there.”

Images of her dad sidetracked her for a moment before she noticed Kingsley looking around the car. “What are you doing?”

It took a moment for him to answer her. “You said your father hadn’t left any important papers in the house. Do you think he had information about your uncle, his brother, and that’s why Rutherford is so keen to find them? Maybe your dad suspected foul play with your mother’s accident. I see how well-kept his workplace is, the detail and care he put into restoring this car. There’s no way he wouldn’t have kept notes about his suspicions. And I suspect he knew you would never part with this car, so they have to be here somewhere.”

In it? Straightening, she shook herself and started to think. After all, they had dismantled the car and put it back together, so some of her father’s specifications, one in particular, now made sense.

Going to the passenger’s side, she opened the door. “Dad said he wanted to have a secret compartment in the car for fun. We laughed a lot about it. I thought it was silly, but he said he wanted to engrave our names in a place nobody would ever find so the car would always be ours.”

Sydney felt under the seat and moved it back. Feeling the carpeted floor, she touched a switch and pushed it back. A small opening lifted. It had been empty when they’d signed their names. Now, a black notebook lay inside.

With trembling fingers, Sydney lifted it. “It seems you’re right, Mister Knight.”

Opening it, she recognized her father’s handwriting. Before she could start reading, a loud bang resonated from the house.

Kingsley’s gun was in his hand in less than a second. “Get in the car. We’re not alone anymore.”