Uncertain Truths

Ch 13 - Forward

A quick phone call later, she had permission to come in to retrieve Gerald's things. It was surprisingly heavy, she noted. She raced back home, nervous about what she'd find inside.

Dumping it out in the middle of her living room carpet, she started sorting. She wouldn't toss any of it. That task would still fall to Diane. But most of it seemed practical, not sentimental. The sentimental ones would have wiped Diane out again, so they could wait. Things like tickets to a movie or concert they'd gone to, or photos of them on different holidays.

An old binder sat halfway down in the box. Someone had inked "Three Tines" on the front in thick calligraphic strokes. It started out with a few pages of notes and clippings about a church and its history. There was a red sticky tab on the page after those. It was a letter outlining what they saw as a need for change, a vision to become a part of the larger whole, to remove this as a division in the church. Odd, she thought. Not the kind of thing she thought Gerald would be interested in at all.

She flipped around to random pages in the binder. Was this something real or just speculative work, like for a novel? It all seemed straightforward and genuine. Again, why would Gerald care so much about a church? She'd have to ask Diane.

She set the book aside, marking it an anomaly. He was probably acting as a delivery boy or something, meaning to get the book to someone.

Next were piles of loose used notepaper and a small calendar. The notes were about meetings Gerald had coming up, or just finished.

"That's more like it," she said, pulling the papers out. Her stomach growled, but she could get food later. She took the papers to the desk in her room, the one sitting under her murder board, and spread them all out.

The obvious path - find the current whereabouts of the other founders, the status of this church, and if Gerald had anything to do with them lately. She could do that. She was gifted, she laughed. She didn't need to worry Diane with any of this. Not yet.

Kae's hand and the papers in it began to shake. Was she actually thinking of going after a murderer? This was real life. Her family had all bugged out, gone to safer pastures.

Her breath came in short gasps. She was back at day zero. How long had it been since her last panic attack? Her chest tightened. Her hands tingled.

"Focus on breathing." Aiden's voice spoke from the back of her mind. "It's adrenaline. Regulate it. Make it work for you, not against you."

She closed her eyes and focused on her breath as it came and went, counting to three a few times, then five, then seven, pacing her breathing to match.

As her chest loosened, she sighed in relief. It worked. Wow, she was out of practice, she realized. So, was she serious? Track down a killer? She should find what she needed to answer Diane's questions, then back off if things seemed to get dangerous. Trust her instincts. Wasn't that what she'd had in mind in the first place?

She pinned the three papers to her board, under Gerald's column. She relabelled Ice Woman to Lavender and Mystery Blonde to Mira. She should add one for Becca, separately. Right now she was a Gerald sub-item. She reread the notes she'd made yesterday. The binder talked about a church. A religion they started. He wouldn't have been part of that, would he?

It would be nice to have someone to talk this over with. But that's life, she sighed. People usually got lost when she started spinning ideas anyway. Something she had to work on. Communication was not her strong suit. But she could make a call. René would be perfect for this. Private detectives did this stuff all the time, right? And he owed her.

She pulled out her cellphone and hit Rene's speed dial number.

"How about a square trade? I need a research assistant," René offered. "Any chance you have a job right now?"

She couldn't think of a good reason to agree. "You know, you fired me last month."

"Let go, not fired. There's a difference. Business was slow... you know how it is," he hedged.

That wasn't how Kae remembered that day, but she needed this favor. "I'll do it as a consultant. Looks better on the resume," she agreed. "What do you need?"

He laid out a short list of facts he needed researched, saying he'd fax over a more detailed one later, and she told him she needed an idea of how to proceed with an under-the-radar investigation. "Ah, yes. Sorry for your loss," he started.

She sighed.

"You might want to find something from his past to talk about. That lets you go back as far as high school. Try that. I need it by Wednesday," René said.

"Three days? That fast?"

"Well, this case is something of a rogue train. Have to derail it fast," he insisted. "Don't let me down, kiddo. Bonus cash on a quick turnaround."

Her adrenaline was moving at high speed, making his offer hard to turn down. "All right. I'll do it."

"I knew you would." René hung up, but Kae heard the smile in his voice. Pretty smug, as always. Cocky, even. Whatever. Now she had a job and a hint. She could work with this.

Gerald's past. Well, she'd already gone through the work stuff. The personal stuff – that was hard. Emotional. With Diane gone, she'd make some progress there, but still she needed a reason. A cover story.

In the meantime, she had a job to do. She drove to the city and went to work on the fact list for René. She had half of it done when her stomach growled, forcing her to stop and look at a clock. Eight p.m.? She'd grab a snack and keep going. She still hadn't come up with anything new regarding the Gerald dilemma.

That was a problem for tomorrow. Chores were waiting so she went around cleaning up the stables and feeding the horses that were in the paddocks. Kate's due date was coming up fast. So far the new puppy stayed with the other dogs. Should start her training, though.

Suddenly Kae felt too busy. There was too much going on. Tomorrow would be like today, only longer. At least her family was safe, she had a job, and actual police detectives were working on the cause of Gerald's death. Hopefully they didn't reconsider her and her family as potential suspects.