Chapter 20
The found ledger and its contents had become no clearer by morning.
The faded handwriting, cryptic notes, and scattered names that had seemed so important the night before remained just as frustratingly out of reach.
Kara rubbed tired eyes, abandoning yet another page of notes, and finally pushed back from the kitchen table.
Kara had so much to think about that she hadn’t realized how quickly the day had passed. By the time she looked up, the sun had already set, and her stomach was beginning to grumble.
With a sigh, she grabbed her keys from the counter and headed for the door, locking it behind her as she stepped into the cool evening air.
She leaned against it for a moment, exhaling slowly as she surveyed the surrounding area for a possible threat.
The house had seemed too quiet; it began to put her on edge. The note lived in her jacket pocket now, folded up neatly.
Kara tried to shake it off, but something told her that this wasn’t just some scare tactic. Someone wanted her out of town. Kara brought the threat with her as proof that she wasn’t imagining things.
The fear that was beginning to crawl under her skin had a reason, a tangible source, something real she could point to instead of what her mind kept conjuring.
Colin would believe her. The problem lay with her; every time she thought about handing it over, about saying the words out loud, that’s when the doubt crept in.
What if this was nothing, or worse, what if she dragged him into something dangerous?
The glare of headlights suddenly flooded her rearview mirror, snapping her attention back to the road. Then came the unmistakable flash of red and blue.
“Of course,” she muttered, already easing her foot off the gas while silently urging her heartbeat to slow.
The siren didn’t come on immediately, but she slowed anyway, signaling automatically as the patrol car eased out behind her. Red and blue lights washed faintly over the road in slow, deliberate pulses.
Kara eased the car onto the shoulder, the engine ticked softly as it cooled, and for a moment the world seemed to hold its breath. The vibration of the road faded, leaving behind an uneasy silence that settled heavily around her.
A sharp knock against the driver's side window made her jump.
Chief Daryl Givens stood beside the car, his broad frame illuminated only in fragments by the pulsing red-and-blue lights behind him.
His expression was impossible to read beneath the brim of his hat.
A flashlight rested in one hand, angled deliberately so that the beam washed across her face while leaving most of his own features hidden in shadow.
Slowly, she pressed the button and lowered the window. Cool night air slipped into the car as she looked up at him, forcing herself to appear calmer than she felt.
“Evening,” he said, as his eyes moved past her shoulder first—into the back seat. Then slowly to the passenger seat. “Mind telling me where you’re headed?” he asked.
“The diner.”
“Mind if I take a look inside the vehicle?”
It wasn’t really a question.
Kara held his gaze for half a beat, juggling with the idea of exercising her rights or just letting it happen. She nodded, realizing this would not be in her best interest.
“Go ahead, ”she said, unlocking the doors.
The moment he opened the passenger side, Kara felt the hair on her arms stand up. She stayed still, watching him as he moved deliberately—checking the glove compartment first. Then the center console.
“What’s this?” he asked, tapping her laptop bag.
“It’s empty.”
He didn’t open it, just held it a moment longer, feeling the contents before setting it back down. Kara exhaled quietly through her nose, careful not to show anything, when he stepped back to shut the car door.
Givens leaned slightly into the passenger window again.
“You staying out of trouble, Miss Nicholls?” he asked. The way he said her name made something cold slide under her skin.
“I don’t know what you mean,” she said.
A faint smile escaped his lips. “Just checking in,” he replied. “The town gets…sensitive when outsiders start poking around things they don’t understand.”
“Thanks for the heads up,” she said evenly.
He studied her, then tipped his hat once, like he’d decided something.
“Alright then,” he said, walking back to his cruiser. “Drive safe.”
Kara didn’t move until he pulled away. It was a relief when she realized he was headed in the opposite direction.
The memory came back without warning.
Kara remembered the way Daryl had cornered her, the stale smell of alcohol on his breath and the weight of his hand closing around her wrist.
“Let me go.”
He hadn't.
She had tried to pull away, but he'd only tightened his grip, his expression turning darker when she fought him.
“I like it when you fight,” he'd muttered, his hand running down her side to the hem of the dress.
Fear had flooded through her. She remembered shoving against his chest, twisting hard enough to break free before stumbling toward the door.
Then someone shouted his name from the hallway.
His grip loosened.
Kara hadn't waited to find out what would happen next. She'd run. Even now, remembering it made her stomach twist.
Kara pulled herself together, letting the mask of composure fall back into place before driving to the restaurant.
The bistro was mostly empty. The dinner crowd had yet to arrive, and the air was quiet except for the soft clatter of dishes behind the counter. Colin slid into the booth across from her, wiping his hands on a towel, his brow furrowed with that look he wore when he already knew something was off.
“Kara?”
Her voice broke just slightly on the first word. “I just got pulled over.”
“Are you okay?”
“I think so,” she said, forcing air into her lungs. “He knew—something. I don’t know.”
“Who did?”
“Daryl.”
“Why would he pull you over ?”
“He must know I’m onto them; he even searched my car”.
“What aren't you telling me?”
She hesitated before pulling the folded piece of paper from her bag and sliding it across the table.
He stared, then picked it up and opened it slowly. His eyes scanned the words once, twice. “Jesus, Kara,” he muttered, leaning back in the booth.
“I’ve been carrying it around for two days.”
“Two Days!?”
Kara stayed silent.
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t want to make it real,” she said. “And I knew this was exactly how you and anyone else would react.”
Colin stood suddenly and paced a few steps from the table, running a hand through his hair. He looked like he wanted to yell, but instead, he exhaled hard and turned back to her.
“Do you have any idea how serious this is? This isn’t some stupid prank. This is someone telling you to back off—or else!”
“I know, and I’m not backing off. They can–”
“Who is 'They'?” he demanded.
“Well, I really don't —”
Colin frowned.
“Deputy—sorry, Chief Givens now. I think he’s dirty. I think he knows who killed Kevin…and King. I went to the police station after Reece told me about missing files when I called to check up on Elias. I went to see if I could find out more about what happened.”
“Fuck, Kara. Since when do you casually call up crime bosses? He’s with the Russian mob!”
‘He’s kind of a friend’, she thought to say, but opted out.
He sat back down, eyes searching hers. “You’re not invincible, Kara. Just because you’ve survived a lot of shit doesn’t mean you have to keep walking into more of it.”
“I’m not walking into it. I’m already in it.”
The apprehension in his expression softened. He looked at her for a long beat, and she watched as his anger simmered down into something else. “I care about you,” he said finally. “You don’t have to fight this alone.”
“I just need to know the truth.”
Colin’s hands found hers, brushing his fingers lightly over hers. “We’ll figure it out. But not if something happens to you first.”
“This isn’t it,” she said, her voice quieter now. “There’s more...”
Colin’s expression shifted. “What do you mean, more?”
She glanced around the diner, instinctively lowering her voice even further.
“I found something,” she said. “At the house.”
“Found what?”
“Some sort of book,” she hesitated, searching for the right way to explain it. “It didn’t look like anything important at first. Just old. Like it had been hidden there for years.”
Colin leaned in slightly. “What was in it?”
“Dates. Initials? It looked like a record of something. Maybe payments? I don’t know. But it was consistent. Most were monthly. The last entry was last year. Right up until George went into hospice.”
Colin leaned back slightly, processing, one hand dragging over his mouth.
“And you’re only just telling me this now?”
“I didn’t know what I was looking at. I still don’t”.
“The initials. Do you recognize any of them?”
“No. The only thing I could make sense of was a letter repeated every month. Could’ve been a ‘G.’ Could’ve been a ‘C.’
“And you found this where?”
“In the back room at the house. It was hidden very carefully. I only found it by accident.”
Colin nodded once, more to himself than to her. “Okay,” he said, quieter now, thinking. His fingers tapped once against the table before stilling. “Where is it now?”
“At the house.”
That made his head snap back up.
“Kara—”
“I didn’t think to bring it,” she said. “I’m not even sure it means anything. I can go back quickly”.
“You don’t go back there alone,” his voice low and firm.
She opened her mouth to argue—
He cut her off. “No. Not this time. If someone left you a threat, and there’s a hidden book tied to this that’s just sitting in that house that someone might come looking for, then you don’t step foot back in there without me.”
Kara held his stare for a moment before nodding.
She left the rental behind his restaurant and climbed into his car. They didn’t talk much on the drive over. Colin kept one hand on the wheel, the other resting near the gearshift, his focus fixed straight ahead. The closer they got, the tighter her chest felt.
Colin cut the engine. “Wait,” he said before she could reach for the door.
“Stay behind me.” She followed closely.
Colin reached for the handle slowly, testing it. It turned. Unlocked.
“Is this how you left it?”
“I locked it,” she said, quieter now. A chill slid down her spine.
He just pushed the door open, carefully, and stepped in first. “Kara,” he said under his breath. “Stay right there.”
She didn’t listen and stepped in behind him.
The disturbance wasn't obvious, just small things. A chair slightly out of place. The faintest scuff along the floor that hadn't been there before. Kara's stomach turned. “I cleaned this,” she said. “It wasn’t like this.”
She moved past him, heading toward the back room, but instead of going to the cabinet, she stopped short and crouched near a loose floorboard by the wall.
“You hid it?”
“I didn’t trust just leaving it out,” she said, already prying the edge up just enough to slip her fingers underneath. She pulled it free.
Colin exhaled slowly. “Okay… that’s something.”
Kara stood, brushing her hands off, handing off the strange book. “Let’s not stay here.”
He didn’t argue.
By the time they got to Colin’s place, the air felt different. She sat at the table while Colin grabbed two glasses of water, setting one in front of her before taking the seat across.
“Alright,” he said, nodding toward the book. “Let’s see it.”
Kara opened it carefully, flipping to the pages she’d seen earlier.
Colin leaned in, scanning silently at first. He was still looking at the page—but not flipping anymore. Just… staring. Like he was thinking. Something about that made her pause.
“Colin?” she said.
He blinked, as if he’d just come back to the room. “Yeah. Sorry.”
“Have you ever seen anything like this before?” she asked, trying to keep her tone even.
“Not exactly.”
Kara’s fingers curled slightly against the edge of the table. It was probably nothing.
An uneasy feeling crept into her chest.
What if he already knew what this was?
Could she trust Colin?
The question surfaced before she could stop it, ugly and unwelcome. They hadn't seen each other in years. People changed. Time changed them. Secrets changed them even more. Was he a part of this?
The thought left a bitter taste in her mouth. She hated herself for even entertaining it. Colin had been one of the few people she'd trusted growing up—steady when everything else around her had been falling apart. He'd never given her a reason to doubt him.
She exhaled slowly and shook her head, forcing the suspicion away before it could take root.
No.
This was Colin.
If there was one person in Pine Ridge she still believed wanted the truth as much as she did, it was him. Kara forced herself to look back down at the page.
“You don’t think this connects to the station in the town ?” she asked.
“Could,” he said. “What the hell is this?”
“I thought maybe payments,” Kara said. “It’s too consistent not to be.”
He traced a line down the page with his finger. “Same kind of pattern. Like a payroll,” he confirmed.
Kara nodded. “And it goes back a while.”
Colin sat back slightly, frowning. “Drugs?” he said. “Could be distribution payments.”
“Or money laundering,” Kara added. “Moving cash through different hands.”
He shook his head slowly. “George?” he said. “Doesn’t fit.”
“That’s what I thought,” Kara said. “But it lines up with when he was still active. Before hospice.”
George had always seemed like an absent father—more interested in the bottom of a bottle than the lives of his daughters. Organized wasn't a word anyone would have used to describe him. So how had he managed to keep something like this?