Page 19 of Whispers Left Behind (Kinsley Aspen #1)

Chapter Nineteen

Kinsley Aspen October Wednesday — 7:48 am

“Fall lasted all but two weeks,” Kinsley complained as she unzipped her jacket. The fact that she had to pull it off the hanger before leaving the house this morning hadn’t brightened her morning in the least. “It dropped below freezing last night, Earl.”

“We should be back in the fifties in a couple of days, Kin.” Earl handed Kinsley one of the gray buckets so she could walk through the metal detector. “You can go back to your sweater coats for another week or two.”

“Not long enough.” Kinsley removed her holster clip. “Has Alex shown up yet? He was stopping at Carol’s to pick up coffee and donuts.”

Carol’s Cafe was two storefronts down from The Bucket. Since Kinsley came into town from the South and used the back parking lot, Alex was usually the one designated to pick up breakfast.

“Not yet. Your father is here, though. One of his clients was arrested a couple hours ago on a DUI.”

Kinsley dropped her keys into the bucket. Earl had always looked after her, and she appreciated the warning. Considering that her dad would be on another floor of the station, she only had to worry about the length of time it took her to walk to the elevator.

“Coming through!” Sam sidestepped two officers in deep discussion. He had a travel mug in one hand and a small paper bag in the other. “Aspen, you sure you don’t want to be my partner? We got ourselves a stiff up north at Terrapin Lake.”

“Take a pair of boots, Haugen!” Earl called out, but Sam was already through the door. “Mark my words, Kin. That man will be covered hip-deep in mud when he gets back to the station.”

“Someone discovered a body up at Terrapin Lake?”

Kinsley wasn’t sure how she managed to say those words aloud when she could barely hear her own voice. Her pulse hammered in her ears, and she had to grip her keys in the palm of her hand to keep them from falling onto the tiled floor.

“Yeah,” Earl stated as he observed Sam exit the station. “I haven’t been up there since I was a boy. Way before the county instituted a no-fishing policy.”

Kinsley reacted before she thought through her decision. She quickly dashed toward the entrance, opening the door and calling out to Sam before he reached his unmarked cruiser parked out front.

“Haugen!” Kinsley waited for Sam to turn around. “Where’s Mitchell?”

“In some meeting with Thompson about her promotion. Come Monday, I’ll be saddled with a new partner.” Sam shrugged as he put the small paper bag in between his teeth while he pulled out the keys to the car. Once he had the driver’s side door open, he grabbed the bag and tossed it in the seat. “You sure you don’t want to take one for the team? Lanen has more patience than me, anyway.”

“I’ll go with you, but only for the morning,” Kinsley warned as she held the door open wider for another officer to pass through. “Let me collect my firearm.”

Fear threatened to choke her, but she managed to paste a smile on her face by the time she returned to collect her belongings. Earl had set the gray bucket aside to allow others through the metal detector.

“Do me a favor?” Kinsley asked as she clipped the holster to her belt. She slipped her keys into the pocket of her jacket. “Let Alex know that I’m helping out Sam for the morning. I’ll be back before noon.”

“You got it, Kin.”

Kinsley made her way outside. By the time she settled in the passenger seat, Sam already had the contents of the small brown bag balanced on his leg. It was an egg sandwich, and it took every ounce of willpower she had not to dry heave at the wretched odor.

“Like old times, huh?”

Sam checked his side mirror before merging with traffic. He navigated them through downtown, but it wasn’t long until they were on a back road leading to the one place she had no desire to return.

“Old times?” Kin asked as she reached out to adjust the vent. She was cold, though she wasn’t sure any amount of heat would chase the chill away. “We were never partners, Sam.”

“We rode together for weeks.” Sam lifted the egg sandwich and took a bite. Kinsley turned away to observe the passing scenery. “Remember? You had just made detective, Alex had court, and Mitchell was on vacation.”

“It was one week, and three of those days were spent typing up paperwork that you promised Mitchell would be done by the time she got back from Florida,” Kinsley replied wryly, not against having something else to think about during their ride up to Terrapin Lake. She readjusted the vent to keep the rancid smell from blowing in her face. “Any details on the vic?”

“No,” Sam replied around a mouthful of food. Kinsley slowly released a breath. “Some fisherman found a body. What’s going on with your case? Thompson was pretty pissed at the thought of Gantz being back in the picture.”

“Someone broke into Gantz’s residence to make us think he had returned to town. There were no prints on the glass, and the kitchen sink and front door had been wiped down.”

“Got to give an asshole credit when he thinks outside the box, huh?”

While Sam continued to eat his sandwich, Kinsley fixed her gaze on the road and attempted to relax her muscles. She was stiff to the point of pain. Images of Gantz’s bloated remains floating to the surface of the dingy lake flashed through her mind.

“Is it the husband? It’s usually the spouse,” Sam said after he polished off his breakfast. “I heard Lanen on the phone the other day. A three-million-dollar life insurance policy? Hell, I’m pretty sure Nori would off me in a second for that much cash.”

“Nori loves you,” Kinsley replied, doing her best to keep any hint of desperation from her tone. Her darkest fears were about to materialize, and all she could picture was Lily’s heartbreaking reaction when her father was arrested as an accessory to murder. “I think you’re safe, Sam. Plus, the husband has an alibi.”

“Hired hit?”

Kinsley was prevented from responding when her cell phone began to ring from her coat pocket. She answered on the third ring.

“Hey, Kin. Sorry I wasn’t able to get back to you yesterday,” Owen said over what sounded like a room full of people. “I only have a minute, but I wanted you to know there was nothing to enhance on that footage. No reporters were lurking in the shadows or anything like that.”

Kinsley should have been relieved upon such disclosure, but she couldn’t bring herself to celebrate such news. What awaited her at the lake was worse than Beck Serra monitoring her every move. She had noticed Sam’s inquisitive gaze switching from the road to her and then back again. Owen’s voice was relatively deep, therefore a bit louder than she would have preferred given her close proximity to Sam.

“Thanks, Owen. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

Kinsley didn’t give Owen a chance to reply. She disconnected the call and tucked her cell phone back into her pocket.

“You having trouble with reporters? I can give Lewis Mullin a call at the local station. If it’s a national channel, I can’t help you.”

Kinsley checked the time on the radio, and they still had quite the drive ahead of them. She should have followed behind in her own vehicle.

“You remember Beck Serra?”

“Isn’t that the freelance reporter who talked your father into a sit-down interview with Gantz?”

“One and the same.” Kinsley pointed the vent toward her now that the rancid odor was receding from the interior. “Serra was at The Bucket the other night, and he showed up at the hospital yesterday. Our victim’s brother is in ICU.”

“The guy probably came back to town when he thought Gantz had returned,” Sam said with a dismissive shrug. He picked up his travel mug and took a gulp of coffee, which was something Kinsley hadn’t had a chance to drink this morning. An empty stomach was probably a good thing to have at the moment. “Unless this Serra guy is hounding you. Is he? I can have—”

“Nothing I can’t handle, Sam. Besides, Serra mentioned something about heading back to Bismarck.” Kinsley cleared her throat. “I’m sure he has already left town.”

Fortunately, the rest of the drive was occupied with Sam’s endless complaints about breaking in a new partner. He brought up two names who were possible contenders for the open position, and Kinsley didn’t envy him a green detective.

Both individuals were from patrol.

She struggled with her conflicting emotions, because she would have given almost anything to have Sam’s concerns over those plaguing her for the past year. As they arrived on the scene, two patrol cars were parked behind a Range Rover and an F-150. From the fishing decals on the bumper of the truck, it was clear which vehicle belonged to the fisherman currently speaking to two officers.

Kinsley didn’t reach for her seatbelt right away. She would wait until Sam exited the vehicle first so he wouldn’t notice the tremor in her hands. Hell, it was more than a tremor. She was shaking almost as badly as she had been the night when she and Noah had rolled Gantz’s vehicle into the lake.

A sudden, loud horn blasted through the air.

Sam didn’t notice Kinsley’s distressed reaction, which was severe enough that the seatbelt cut into her neck. He was already out of the car and yelling good-naturedly back at Wally, who had parked right behind them. He must have left the station within seconds of Sam and Kinsley pulling away from the curb.

“I saw you got your ass whipped last weekend in Fantasy Football,” Sam called out before shutting the driver’s side door. His voice still carried through the closed window as Kinsley managed to unfasten her seatbelt. “Bet you were wishing you had joined Vice’s league. Did you hear about…”

Kinsley slowly opened her door and stepped out while Sam and Wally were busy discussing football players who could potentially give them the most points this weekend. She forced herself to lift a hand in greeting before quickly making her way over to one of the officers who had been approaching through some thick grass. She didn’t recall the vegetation being so dense last year.

Earl had been mistaken about needing boots. Under normal circumstances, his advice would have been warranted, but the ground was almost frozen after the last few nights of the temperature dipping below freezing.

“Detective, you’ll want to be careful,” the officer called out as he all but held up a hand to stop her progress. “As a matter of fact, I don’t think you’ll be needed at all today.”

“What do you mean?” Kinsley asked as she continued to step forward anyway. “It’s my understanding that the fisherman found a body.”

Kinsley was close enough to read the man’s nametag. Officer Drewett had to be new to patrol. She couldn’t recall meeting him before. Plus, he seemed more concerned with turning her back than showing her the victim. She did her best to tamp down any sliver of hope that they weren’t dealing with a homicide. Had someone attempted to go swimming in the lake? Had his or her death been a drowning accident?

“Follow close behind me,” Officer Drewett replied as he turned around and retraced his steps. It was the first time she noticed the long stick in his hand. “Are you Aspen?”

“I am,” Kinsley replied as she ignored a cold gust of wind coming off the surface of the water. She was chilled to the bone for very different reasons, and not one of them had to do with the bleak sky overhead. “I won’t be taking lead on this case, though. Detective Haugen is right behind me. What is with the stick?”

“Prairie rattlesnakes. I’m Toby Drewett, by the way.”

“You aren’t from around here, are you?” Kinsley was doing her best to keep the conversation flowing so Drewett didn’t notice that she was barely keeping it together. “Prairie rattlesnakes are in hibernation right now.”

“You’re the fourth person to tell me that today.”

Officer Drewett finally came to a stop and stepped to the side. Kinsley’s gaze landed on a male subject, and her relief was so immense that she ended up kneeling close to the ground.

The body was dry, dressed, and displayed no sign of decomposition.

“Notice the man’s ankle? Officer Faullant wouldn’t allow me to check the body, but I’m confident you’ll find a snake bite underneath that pant leg.”

Kinsley held out her hand for the stick, which Drewett promptly relinquished before positioning himself a couple of feet away from the tall brownish-green grass. There were at least twenty feet of flat area around the edge of the lake, mostly from the wildlife traipsing through to quench their thirst. She couldn’t bring herself to glance at the water.

“The fisherman who called it in was coming out here to cast some line. He was recently laid off, but he didn’t want his wife knowing until he had another job lined up,” Officer Drewett explained as he continued to keep a close eye for any movement in the grass. “We’ll probably let him off with a warning after all he’s been through this morning. After finding a dead body, I’m going to assume the guy will stick to fishing in legal waters.”

Kinsley could only hope that was the case. She didn’t immediately use the stick to lift the victim’s pant leg. Instead, she relied on her training and took time to observe the scene in front of her. Such a feat was easier to accomplish now that her entire life wasn’t unraveling at the seams.

The victim had dressed warmly for his excursion, as if he had been expecting to be outside for a long period of time. A pair of binoculars was resting against his shoulder. The black strap around his neck had prevented the equipment from sliding completely to the cold ground. The way the victim’s mouth was open with his swollen tongue partially visible suggested Officer Drewett might very well have made an accurate assumption about the man’s death.

“Did anyone walk the perimeter?”

Kinsley used the stick to carefully shift the pant leg high enough over the hiking boot to get a good visual of the man’s shin. The discoloration around two puncture marks was glaringly obvious.

“No, ma’am. Officer Faullant didn’t want—”

“…the scene contaminated,” Kinsley finished wryly as she wrangled in her irritation with Faullant. There was a difference between making excuses not to do one’s job and performing one’s duties properly. Grateful that Alex wasn’t on site to witness what she was about to do next, she reached into the pocket of her jacket and pulled out a tissue. Using the stick to shift the victim’s body slightly, she managed to pull out his wallet. She then searched the other pockets, locating a small notebook. “Here. Take the wallet.”

Had the senior officer been a little more observant like Drewett, only the medical examiner would have been called out to the site. The longer she remained near the water, the stronger the urge overwhelmed her to scream in anguish. Calvin Gantz was in the murky depths of the lake, and she swore she could still hear his evil laughter traveling across the surface.

“Good call, officer.” Kinsley handed off the stick before forcing herself to stand. Her muscles were a bit stiff and somewhat sore. She used the tissue to open the notebook. Once her mind was able to comprehend what was written inside, she wadded up the tissue and stuffed it back into her pocket. “You can take this, too. The vic was birdwatching, and he probably wasn’t looking at the ground when traipsing through those woods over there. Prairie snakes should be in hibernation this time of year, but the victim obviously managed to get close to a den of some sort.”

Kinsley noted the small smile on Drewett’s face at making the right assumption, but his satisfaction was about to be short-lived. With homicide not needed anymore, notifying next of kin would fall onto his shoulders.

“What have we got, Kin?”

“No foul play involved with this one,” Kinsley shared with Wally as he came to a stop beside her. “He’s all yours. Sam and I are going to drive back to the station.”

“We are?”

“We are,” Kinsley said as she turned around. She couldn’t face the water a second longer. The crushing relief she experienced over the lake not needing to be dredged was something she had never experienced before, and it was all she could do to keep her knees from folding underneath her. She caught Wally staring intently at her. “No caffeine yet. Unlike my receiver and tight end last weekend, who were both amped up. I’m feeling it this season, Wally.”

“Hasn’t anyone told you it isn’t wise to poke a sleeping bear?” Sam muttered as he began to retrace his steps. “Come on, Aspen. We’ll drive through somewhere and pick you up a gallon of caramel creamer. I don’t know how you can drink that stuff.”

Kinsley slapped Wally on the shoulder as she fell into step behind Sam. She had known the mere mention of Fantasy Football would have Wally forgoing any concern he might have had for her demeanor. She probably should have responded to Sam’s comment about her preference for coffee creamer, but it was all she could do to walk in a straight line.

Everything she had painstakingly built throughout her life had almost come crashing down around her. She had thought long and hard over the possibility that Gantz’s vehicle and body would one day be discovered. A lake out in the middle of the country hadn’t been the wisest of choices to dispose of evidence, but it had been the only choice back then given the time constraints that night.

With Sam in front of her and her back to Wally and Officer Drewett, she allowed herself a moment of vulnerability. She brought her hands up to her face, resting her palms on her cheeks. There was no difference in skin temperature as she struggled to steady her rapid heartbeat. The tightness in her chest remained as she was struck with the unforgiving reality that her entire existence hinged on mere luck.

Terrapin Lake was home to her worst secret.

One ripple was all it would take to drown her under the weight of her own guilt.