Chapter Fifteen
Jake Hayes’s House in Marietta
Jake should have spent his day off doing something fun. Maybe something relaxing. The weather was nice enough. He should have gone fishing.
Instead, he was holed up in his house, every story, police report, and witness account of his father’s death spread out on his kitchen table.
Even going over all this with an adult man’s eye, a detective’s training, he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. He couldn’t fathom why it wouldn’t have been exactly what it looked like to police at the time.
A careless man getting himself killed.
Maybe it was strange that Sam was looking into that through the lens of whatever bullshit Glenda Harrington had going on, but could he really believe…
Jake shook his head. Pathetic. He was getting drawn into this when it was the kind of small-town coincidence he knew better than to get worked up about.
He didn’t like to believe it of himself, but it was also possible he was even digging because of the Sam of it all, and that made him feel a little bit too close to pathetic. Especially after last week when she’d warned him off when it came to pulling Bennet over.
He’d been well within his rights as an officer of the law. Bennet had been the one speeding. He shouldn’t feel the least bit chastened.
But damn if he didn’t feel something messed up, and delving into his late father’s accidental death was even more messed up. So he needed to … knock this shit off.
And he would.
Once he went over a few more things.
When his phone rang later that night, Jake didn’t hesitate over the unknown number on his screen. It could always be a work call, even on his day off, so he answered. “Hayes.”
“Jake?”
Jake didn’t recognize the woman’s voice and that certainly left him wary. “This is Detective Jake Hayes.”
“Hi, Jake. It’s Tinley. Your cousin?” She said it like a question, because while he remembered he had a cousin named Tinley, he couldn’t begin to guess the last time he’d actually spoken with her. “Mike’s daughter,” she added, as if he needed the detail of her being his father’s brother’s daughter.
Dread spread through him. Plain and simple. He knew, immediately, nothing good came from a cousin he barely kept in touch with on his dad’s side calling him—particularly with his meeting with Sam last week still fresh in his mind.
“Hi, Tinley. How are you?”
“I’m all right, but I felt like I should give you a heads up. Someone from the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Department called me yesterday. They’re trying to identify some remains they found recently.”
Jake found himself, shockingly, mute. It could only mean one thing—and one thing that wasn’t particularly surprising. But the timing…
Maybe, if not for that meeting with Sam, it wouldn’t make the dread feel heavier and darker in his gut. Maybe if anyone aside from Sam was poking around in this, he wouldn’t have thought twice.
But Sam always seemed to be at the forefront of any storm.
“I gave them your contact information, but I just wanted to … I didn’t want you to be blindsided. Dad assumes…”
“They’re my father’s remains.”
“Maybe. Based on what they told me, and what Dad said about … what happened. It’s been a long time, but I didn’t know…”
“Thanks for calling me, Tinley. I appreciate the warning.”
“Of course. I don’t know that it means anything, but…”
“Probably not. Strange it happened after so long.” Fucking bizarre. “But I don’t want you or Uncle Mike to worry about it. I’ll handle it.”
“Oh. Well, of course. You’re a police officer yourself. I forgot about that.” She sounded almost relieved. “Dad’s kind of worked up, but if he knows you’re handling it, I think it’ll ease his mind some. Maybe you could call him?”
Jake also couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen his uncle. Uncle Mike wasn’t a bad guy. Jake could remember, a few times since Dad had died, Mike trying to make an effort. An invitation to this family get-together or that family outing.
Jake had never taken him up on it. He’d been … a pissy teen and had leaned into his mother’s family rather than try to keep ties with his dead dad’s.
“Yeah, once I have a better handle on what’s going on, I’ll call Mike.” He gathered a few more details from her—who’d called, what they’d said.
He wasn’t waiting around for some Gallatin County cop to show up with bad news. He was going to sniff it out himself.
And figure out why his dead father was suddenly a ghost in his life.