Chapter 12 #2
“Head home and change. I’ll use that time to speak with the two neighbors across the street, Darlene Barrett and Ginny Kusman.
Darlene was the prosecution’s key witness at trial.
She’s the one who found Tatlock at the scene.
” Kinsley motioned toward the porch steps, indicating she was ready to leave, and Toby fell into step beside her as they descended.
“While you’re at it, I need you to find a home address and workplace for Amelia Keery.
She was Iris’s best friend. I believe she was privy to Iris’s blackmail activities, even though she never mentioned any of it during the original investigation. We’ll speak with her this afternoon.”
Toby committed the name to memory. He was already mulling over what her omission might mean, whether it was loyalty to a dead friend or something more calculated, when they reached the flagstone path and exited through the opening in the stone wall.
Kinsley stepped off the curb to cross the street toward the neighboring houses where the two women she’d mentioned were apparently waiting for her, but something tugged at Toby’s conscience before she could get more than a few steps away.
It wasn’t directly related to the case, but he couldn’t let it go.
If he was going to establish trust with Aspen, he needed to start now, and that meant sharing information she might not want to hear.
“Detective Aspen?”
“Kinsley, or simply drop the title,” she reminded him as she turned to face him.
“There’s something you should probably know.” Toby cleared his throat, uncertain how to frame what he needed to say. When she arched an eyebrow at how long he was taking, he stopped deliberating and just said it. “Beck Serra was at the station today.”
At the mention of Serra’s name, Kinsley’s expression hardened.
The small dimple that appeared when she smiled was nowhere in sight.
Her entire posture had changed, her shoulders squaring and her chin lifting by a fraction, and it wasn’t a change for the better.
Whatever history existed between Kinsley Aspen and Beck Serra, it ran deep enough to alter her body language with nothing more than a name.
The gossip that had floated around the department suggested that Serra had purposely driven a wedge between Kinsley and her father for the sake of a compelling story.
Whether the damage to the Aspen family had been intentional or merely collateral didn’t seem to matter to Kinsley.
What was certain was that Serra had a particular interest in cases she worked on, and she clearly didn’t appreciate the attention.
“He was visiting Sergeant Mitchell.” Toby hesitated, uncomfortable with the personal nature of what he was reporting.
The rumors about Mitchell and Serra’s relationship weren’t his business, and he had no interest in trafficking in station gossip.
But the information Serra had overheard could directly affect the Bell investigation, so it was relevant whether he liked it or not.
“I was near the entrance to the lobby when my sergeant pulled me aside to tell me about this assignment. Serra was close enough to overhear our conversation.”
Kinsley remained silent, her blue eyes intensely focused on his face. She was waiting for him to finish, giving him the space to deliver the full picture without interruption, and the patience of that silence told him more about how she conducted herself than any briefing could have.
“The bottom line is that Serra now knows the Bell case is being reopened.” Toby chose his words carefully, keeping his tone neutral and factual.
He didn’t want to exaggerate the significance, but he didn’t want to minimize it, either.
“I couldn’t tell how much he heard, but it was enough for him to stop what he was doing and pay attention. I just thought you should know, Aspen.”
Aspen. The name felt more natural than Kinsley and more respectful than dropping titles entirely. He’d stick with that.
For a moment, Kinsley didn’t respond.
The only visible sign of her reaction was a slight tightening around her eyes, a controlled compression that suggested she was processing the information and running through its implications rather than simply reacting to it. When she spoke, her voice was even.
“I appreciate the heads-up.” She seemed to weigh whether to say more. In the end, she simply added, “I’ll see you soon.”
With that, she turned and crossed the street toward the neighbors’ houses.
She never looked back, and her stride was purposeful and direct, the walk of someone who had already moved on to the next problem, even if the previous one was still circling in the back of her mind.
Toby observed her for a moment before heading toward his cruiser parked along the curb.
He slid into the driver’s seat and immediately cranked the air conditioning to combat the suffocating heat that had built up inside the vehicle.
It took a moment for the engine to kick over and the cool air to begin circulating through the vents, and he sat with his hands on the wheel while the temperature dropped, replaying the conversation in his head.
He’d demonstrated loyalty by sharing information that affected both the case and Kinsley personally, and he’d done it without embellishment or agenda.
It was a small thing, perhaps, barely a footnote in the scope of a murder investigation.
But establishing trust was the foundation of any working partnership, and if he wanted to move beyond patrol work, he needed to prove he was the kind of officer a detective could rely on.
Someone who noticed things, reported them honestly, and didn’t play politics with information.
This assignment was his chance. Working a reopened homicide alongside someone with Kinsley Aspen’s reputation could open doors at the department that years of traffic stops and wellness checks never would. He didn’t intend to waste a single hour of it, either.
As he pulled away from the curb, Toby glanced through the passenger window at the weathered Bell Mansion with its wraparound porch and its overgrown yard and its thirty years of buried secrets.
The house was part of his career path now, a stepping stone toward the detective shield he’d been working toward since the academy.
He just needed to do his job well, support Aspen effectively, and learn everything he could from her methods.
And if Beck Serra tried to interfere with the investigation, Toby had already made it clear whose side he was on.