Chapter 9 Last Hope #3
“Yes and yes,” April snapped, feeling the heat rise to her face.
Though she could feel Luke’s curious gaze on them, she didn’t dare look his way for fear of what he might’ve overheard.
“Can we focus on the car, please?” Something in one of the sketches captured her attention.
She squinted at it. It was small and dark — something tiny wedged behind the right headlight cover.
Either that, or it was a trick of the light in the auto bay, or maybe something stuck in her eye.
Gil let out a rumbly chuckle. “I knew there was something going on between you and that ol’ councilman.” He sounded supremely proud of himself for ferreting out their brewing romance.
Like Kaya, he had a one-track mind when it came to being nosy.
She ignored his gloating, trying to keep them on topic.
“Like nearly everything else we’re looking at, these headlight covers aren’t original stock.
” They weren’t the usual textured, opaque plastic.
They were translucent and shiny, much easier to see through than the older ones would’ve been.
“Neither are the fog light covers.” He shrugged. “Though it doesn’t help us, it’s not unusual for an older vehicle, especially one as well-maintained as this one.”
She pointed at the right headlight cover, while holding the corresponding sketch beside it for comparison.
“Would you take this headlight cover off for me?” She was eager to see what was wedged behind it.
It might be nothing more than a random speck of dirt or debris, but there was only one way to find out.
“Your wish is my command, Doc.” He got to work removing it. “Any particular reason?”
“I’m just being thorough.” Like a corpse, an inanimate object like a car could “talk” and give up endless secrets to someone who knew what they were looking for.
“Your thoroughness tops the sheriff’s crew. I’ll give you that.” He used a small flathead screwdriver to pry the cover loose from its housing. Luke reached over them with one hand to lend his elbow grease to the task. Both men wore latex gloves to protect any evidence they might uncover.
As the light cover popped loose, something small fell onto the concrete floor at their feet.
“I’ve got it.” Luke produced a clear specimen bag and scooped the tiny object into it. Sealing it behind plastic, he held it up to April’s headlamp and grunted in amazement. “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”
“It’s a tooth!” April felt like weeping. She could think of only one reason why a rotten, brittle, half-shattered human tooth would be wedged behind the headlight cover of Verity Haywood’s car.
“You did it,” Gil said simply. There was a tenor of suppressed excitement in his voice that hadn’t been there before.
She blinked to hold back her tears and failed. “I only followed up on what’s in the sketch. It shouldn’t take long to determine whether it’s a match to Tiana’s DNA sample.” After all these years, Tiana Dakota was finally going to get the justice she deserved.
April was both looking forward to and dreading giving Bear and Kaya the news.
“Man!” Gil let out a gusty sigh. “You know what this means, don’t you?” He gestured in disgust at the exposed headlight socket.
April nodded, fishing out a tissue to dab at her tears.
“The victim was already on the ground. The damage to the bike recorded in the case files suggests Tiana left it where it landed and crawled back up the embankment to the road. She wouldn’t have been able to walk with a crushed leg, but she might’ve pushed through the pain in the hope of flagging down help. ”
Instead, she’d gotten herself run over a second time by a jealous rival, who’d subsequently replaced Tiana in Dr. Benjamin Haywood’s life.
Unfortunately, a tooth behind a headlight cover still didn’t give the Dakotas a body to lay to rest. It would be up to the police to get a full confession out of Verity to finish solving the mystery.
Luke let out a disbelieving whistle. “A second hit will make it difficult for the defense to claim it was anything other than a premeditated attack.”
April agreed. “As would hiding the body, lying about it all these years, and marrying the deceased’s boyfriend.” It was sickening.
For chain-of-custody purposes, Luke booked the tooth in as evidence. Then he personally transported it to the lab at the morgue, where it didn’t take April long to test it against Tiana Dakota’s DNA markers. As suspected, the tooth was a match.
She caught Gil’s eye, not feeling at all like celebrating. She was mentally exhausted. He didn’t look much better.
Luke cleared his throat. “I’ll bring Verity Haywood in for questioning.
If she refuses, we’ll issue a subpoena. One way or the other, she’s going to answer for this.
” He walked to the door. “Fair warning.” He paused with his hand on the knob.
“I’m also gonna issue a press release. It’s time. The town deserves answers.”
“They do.” April hoped it would allow the citizens of Heart Lake and the adjoining Comanche reservation to move past one of the darkest shadows that had ever fallen across their close-knit community.
She muffled a yawn as she took her headlamp and moved to the sink to scrub her hands. Afterward, Gil walked her to her car.
She stood beside the driver’s door and faced him somberly. “I’m glad you picked up the phone and called me. As hard as it was to come home, I needed to be here for this.”
His rugged features lit up. “Two things. We wouldn’t have cracked this case without your help. Also, you called Heart Lake your home, and I don’t think it’s just the exhaustion talking.”
She smiled sadly at him. “Heart Lake is as close as I’ve ever had to a home.”
He scowled at her. “Home isn’t as perfect as Heaven will be, but it’s where you belong, April.”
“Gil,” she sighed. Her heart was a tangle of emotions that she had no hope of sorting out this evening.
“Heart Lake is your home,” he repeated firmly. “A lot of people care about you here.”
“Thank you.” She was either melting from the inside out or close to wilting from weariness.
He lingered beside her car. “Don’t you dare leave town without saying anything to me and Bliss.”
“I won’t,” she promised.
“She still wants to have you over for dinner.” His expression grew sly. “I was thinking we might make it a double date?”
She blushed hotly, which made him laugh. They parted ways without firming up anything on the calendar.
Her heel dragging had only prolonged the inevitable. It was time to return to the hotel to update Bear and Kaya about the case.
She slid behind the wheel and pulled her seatbelt over her. Before starting the motor, she rang Kaya to see if she’d finished running her errands.
April knew that “errands” was Kaya’s code phrase for sneaking in another date with her boyfriend.
Kaya answered the phone with a happy tumble of words that April could make little sense of. “Can you repeat that?”
“Ben and I.” Kaya gave a damp laugh. “He dropped a hint today about a promise ring. Naturally, I’m…well, you know...”
“Over the moon?” April’s heart beat a celebratory dance for her. “You’re allowed to be happy, Kaya.” It was wonderful to hear that Kaya and Ben were working things out. Their relationship had gotten a bumpy lift-off, but they were cruising at a much smoother altitude now.
“Thanks!” Kaya sounded so overjoyed that April hated the necessity of steering the conversation back to work. However, the events of the morning were too important to keep to herself.
“I was calling to ask where you are, because I’ve got news to share.”
“Leaving the Haywood Dental Clinic,” Kaya babbled. “Mrs. Haywood stared the usual daggers at me, but Ben and I took a walk on the wild side and did some more necking in his office. Sorry about the TMI. We’re still new at this.”
April hastily processed what her assistant was saying. “Are you telling me you and your handsome dentist are new at kissing?”
“Yes, the first time was a few days ago.” Giddy laughter pealed out of her. “I know how preposterous that may sound to a woman like yourself who nearly melted the paint off the walls of the morgue with my uncle…”
April joined in her laughter. “You’re a mess!” She hadn’t kissed many frogs or princes in her life. Kaya probably had her beat by a country mile in that department.
“A mess who’s as in love with Ben as you are with Uncle Uri,” Kaya retorted dreamily. “We should have a double wedding.”
If April hadn’t been sitting down, her knees might have given out. “Who said anything about getting married?”
“I did,” Kaya returned in a duh voice. “Try to keep up, Doc.”
“Kaya! That’s not something to joke about.”
“Oh, come on,” Kaya sputtered. “If you think for one second my uncle would kiss a woman the way he kissed you without having very honorable intentions, then you don’t know him at all.”
But marriage? April’s fingers convulsed around the phone. “As happy as I am for you and Ben, Bear and I haven’t gotten around to discussing things like rings.” Not even close.
“Don’t worry.” Kaya hooted with laughter. “You will because he’s the one for you. I just know it!”
The one. April couldn’t have agreed more. Bear had always been the one for her. The one she’d been willing to do without instead of settling for someone else. The one she was now being given a second chance to love.
“Are you heading back to the hotel soon?” She started the motor and switched their call over to speakerphone.
“Yep, I’m on my way.” Kaya sounded a tad sheepish. “I know you guys were expecting me at the impound lot, and I really hated missing such an important appointment.”
“However, necking with Ben took precedence,” April teased.
“Pretty much,” Kaya chuckled. “What did I miss?”
“That,” April taunted, “is for me to know and you to find out when we reach the hotel. I’m heading that way now. If you’re a really stellar lab assistant, you’ll make sure your uncle is there when I arrive.”
“Bo and I are on it!” Kaya ended their call.