Page 28 of Shadow of Fear
Dev liked where this was going. “Perhaps taken by our suspect and giving us his name.”
“Or not.” Colin narrowed his eyes. “There’s another way to look at it. Whoever trashed this place was obviously looking for something smaller than these binders. If not, they wouldn’t have emptied all the little drawers and cabinets.”
What if Colin was right? He could be, but it was too early to tell. “Maybe trashing the whole apartment was to make us think they weren’t looking for the binders and throwing us off their scent.”
Colin tapped the laptop in front of him. “Then if they wanted their file, wouldn’t they have taken this too?”
Dev hadn’t thought of that, but Colin had a valid point. “You could be right. But we’ll still take these binders.”
“And we should have Kinsley go through the place to see if anything is missing.”
Her. Here? No way.Dev’s heartbeat picked up. “Good plan, but I don’t want her coming here.”
“I don’t either, but she might have to. The whole team should be able to ensure her safety.”
“That will be Plan B. First, I’ll take detailed pictures of every inch of this place, and she can review them from the safety of our cabin.” Dev reached into his pocket for his phone.
“And while you’ve got that out, maybe you should give Kinsley a call and tell her about this. Ask her what she might think someone would want to steal here.”
“No!” Unease settled in Dev’s heart. “It isn’t the kind of information I’ll give her over the phone. It’ll be bad enough telling her in person.”
Colin studied him, his eyes assessing in the exact older brother way as when Dev had done something wrong as a kid. “You’ve got it bad, man. Real bad.”
Dev ignored him and finished taking pictures.
Colin stood. “We should call the police.”
The right thing to do, but that didn’t mean Dev would do it. Though, in his deputy days, he would’ve crucified someone who’d discovered a break-in and didn’t report it right away. “You know the person closest to the victim is frequently the person who perpetrated the crime.”
“And your point is?”
“The responding officer will point their attention at us, wasting valuable time. Besides, Kinsley might not want this reported at all, and as the leaseholder, it’s her decision.”
“You’re right. But if she agrees, it would be good if the police took this seriously and didn’t simply file a report and forget about it. The more people looking into it the better.”
His brother had a point. “I can call the detective from the parking lot shooting and explain why we think this is related to our shooter.”
Colin gave a vigorous nod. “That could help get them onboard.”
“Then let’s grab these binders and head back to the cabin so Kinsley can decide what she wants to do.” He picked up the nearest stack to make his way through the mess to the door.
His thoughts went back to Colin’s comment. Dev knew exactly what he’d been talking about when he said Dev had it bad. His feelings for Kinsley. Plain and simple. If his emotions were that obvious to his brother, was Dev coming across equally as obvious to her?
If so, he needed to concentrate on the drive home to find a way to mask them. No way he wanted to add to her unease. Not ever, but especially not when he broke the difficult news that her personal world and sanctuary had been violated by an unknown foe who could still be gunning for her.
Kinsley tried to concentrate on unpacking the box of memories and sharing and laughing with Jada and Sandy over each item. But she couldn’t. She kept glancing at the clock on the fireplace mantle. Dev and Colin were taking much longer to get back than planned. He’d texted to say they were on their way, but gave no reason for the delay. Of course her mind went to all kinds of difficulties they might’ve run into.
Things like the shooter appearing and firing at them. Or maybe they’d gone in pursuit of the shooter. Or had something else life-threatening occurred?
She just couldn’t seem to let go of her worry for him.
Sandy took her hand. “When Dev was a deputy and Colin in the FBI, I worried for their safety all the time. But you know what? My worry did no good. It just made things more difficult for me. I should’ve simply trusted God to watch over my sons.”
She was picking up on Kinsley’s worry. She supposed she hadn’t hidden it very well, but she didn’t want to acknowledge it out loud, so she didn’t say anything at all.
Sandy squeezed her hand. “Let’s go ahead and pray for them now. Then let it go and enjoy looking at all of these memories. Well, maybe except for that hideous lamp.” She laughed.
Kinsley glanced at the lamp with beige ceramic ribs and orange and black ceramic feathers circling the middle. It had an equally unattractive, large drum shade in a worn and fraying burlap-looking fabric. She had to agree that the lamp was gaudy by today’s design standards, but she remembered flicking the light off at night and telling stories with Jada in the dark, each with a flashlight in their hands. She couldn’t imagine going back to the cabin right now with the lights out.
