Page 86 of Faith

“Of course,” he said taking the card.

“Does it mean something that the brakes went out?”

Tanaka shrugged. “Could just be that the rental company didn’t keep up the maintenance, but that seems odd for them, especially for the luxury cars like that one. We’ll investigate, which will mean sending the car to have it inspected, especially the brakes. We will figure out what went wrong.”

“Thanks.” He made his way back to the car and it struck him. She had driven along that road in the morning, the twists where cars were dangerously close to the edge. If the brakes had gone out that morning, she might have gone over the edge. He could have lost her.

He stopped at the back of his car, waiting again for other vehicles to drive by. Once he got in, he looked over at Nicola. She was sleeping. At least that was something. He started up the engine and pulled out when the road was clear.

One thing was certain, he would find out what happened and whoever was at fault would pay.

* * *

The next morning,Nicola was sitting at the bar in the kitchen when the doorbell rang. She frowned.

“Are we expecting anyone?” she asked loud enough for Jensen to hear in his office.

He stepped out and headed in the direction of the front door. “Not that I know of.”

She heard the murmur of male voices, then Jensen reappeared with a man walking behind him.

“Nicola, this is Detective Rome Carino.”

She studied the man. He was as tall as Jensen, but where Jensen was lean like a swimmer, Carino was built like a linebacker.

“Good morning. Would you like some coffee?”

“No, thanks. I wanted to talk to you about your accident yesterday.”

“Why don’t we go into the living room?” Jensen suggested.

“That sounds good,” Carino said.

Jensen took her hand and led her into the living area, like she was an invalid. He had been treating her that way since she came home the day before, and it was starting to piss her off. Still, she said nothing because she couldn’t forget the look on his face when she first saw him at the accident scene the day before. His haunted expression had told her he was more shaken up about her accident than she was.

After they settled on one couch, Carino sat on the opposite one.

“Before we begin, I thought you might explain why a homicide detective is here to talk to us,” Jensen said.

“What?” she asked, and Jensen showed her Carino’s business card.

“It’s what we found and because I got a call from Conner Dillon.”

“The man who handled our security at the house?” she asked.

“Yeah, we have a history and similar interests. Anyway, when the word came down about the car, we thought we should handle this one differently.”

“What the bloody hell are you talking about?”

“The brake lines had been cut.”

It took her a second to absorb that information.

“The brake lines?” Jensen asked. “You’re saying someone did it on purpose.”

“Yes, and whoever it was did it well. Are you the main driver of the car, Ms. McCann?”

She nodded. “Since we rented it when we arrived.”

---