Page 48 of Defenseless
“The postcard wasa limited-edition print that the distillery only made available in their sponsorship tent at the Kentucky Derby this year,” Leo said, talking over his shoulder to no one and everyone.
“Any video in the tent?” Collin asked.
“Outside only. But we know Jacobs did walk in,” Leo answered. “Don’t know what he did when he was in there, but we know he was there and had access.”
Sabina half listened as she and her sister continued to search through Uncle Mike’s belongings. Kara had returned from the storage unit with everything that resembled a file, notebook, computer, or anything else that Uncle Mike might have made a note on. There were twenty-two boxes total, and so far, they’d managed to get through six. It was slow going, but Chad, Ethan, Teague, and Tucker would join them later that morning. After they’d had a second go at Jason Kline.
“Is there anything from the lab?” Sabina asked her team, not taking her eyes off the datebook she was looking through.
“They just emailed,” Ava responded. “There’s a partial print on the postcard that could match Jacobs’s, but there’s not enough to conclusively demonstrate it’s his.”
Kara closed the file she’d been going through and looked at her watch. “Twenty minutes until Tess has her appointment,” she said. The lawyer was probably already making her way into the Lexington Police station for her eleven o’clock appointment with the current chief of police.
The three women had spoken for an hour that morning. Kara and Sabina accepted that they’d be called to give an official statement about the night their mother was killed. Tess had assured them, though, that she’d be able to push it off for several days, maybe even a week or two. As far as the police were concerned, the case was closed. Their statements would complete the file but weren’t needed.
“Do you think we’ll find anything in the evidence?” Kara asked, her voice reflecting the doubt Sabina shared. With George Jacobs in charge of the investigation, she had no faith any evidence that might have implicated Kevin would still be in the evidence locker. In fact, she doubted it had even made it in in the first place.
“Like everything else, maybe there will be something, but it won’t be a smoking gun,” she answered. Kara sighed and reached into the box beside her, pulling out a spiral-bound notebook.
“So Chad…?” Kara asked.
Sabina glanced up as she set the datebook aside and grabbed a notebook. This one looked promising. The date on the first page was only eight months before Uncle Mike died. “Yeah, Chad,” she said, still not entirely sure where they stood. She’d woken up that morning, tucked up against him, her back to his front. Her fingers had been entwined with his, and she’d been hugging his arm against her chest. But he hadn’t said a word before sliding from bed. He’d placed a very gentle kiss on her bare shoulder—she’d stripped out of her sweatshirt during the night, leaving her in just a tank top—but that had been it.
“I hurt him, Kara,” she said. Then, keeping her voice low so her team wouldn’t overhear, she told her about the incident at the diner. When she finished, she started flipping through the pages. “He knows I didn’t do it on purpose, but I don’t know that he’s totally forgiven me. I think he’s trying, though,” she finished.
Kara tilted her head even as she continued perusing the notebook. “And how do you feel about it all? Suddenly having everything out in the open between you?”
Sabina flipped through a few more pages, most of which contained random scribblings about bills or appointments. “Honestly?”
Kara shot her look. “No, please. Lie to me.” Sabina stuck out her tongue, making Kara smile and shake her head. “As if you could anyway,” Kara pointed out.
Sabina bobbed her head. “True. But to answer your question, I’m not sure. I mean, I’m relieved it’s no longer all a big secret.”
“But?”
Sabina exhaled on a huff. “But I’m mad it took me so long to get to this point. I didn’t just hurt him with what I said last night. Every time I pushed him away over the past two years, I hurt him. I hurtme. And now that it’s out and we’re attacking the problem the way I would normally attack any other problem—except, apparently,my own—it feels like I wasted a whole lot of time. I feel stupid. And maybe a little ashamed that I was so mired in my way of thinking that I never saw the gift he was offering me.”
Kara studied her then asked, “Are you going to let that get in the way of moving forward?”
With zero hesitation, Sabina shook her head. “I feel stupid about how long it took me to get here. But after the diner, when it became a real possibility that he’d no longer be in my life? Well, I’d rather get over feeling stupid and give this thing between us everything I have than shy away again. I learned my lesson. If it doesn’t work out, it won’t be because I didn’t try.”
Kara smiled. “Mom would be proud of you.”
Sabina couldn’t help it, she laughed. Her team turned to look, but quickly went back to their tasks. “You think Mom would be happy that I’m pursuing a man? One that I’ve lusted after for years?”
“She’d be thrilled, and you know it,” Kara said, putting the notebook she’d been reviewing to the side before pulling out a legal notepad. “She’d be happy that you found someone you wanted as a partner and that you weren’t going to shy away from letting him know. At least not anymore. You know how she felt about that kind of stuff—”
“Life’s too short to live with regrets,” Sabina finished.
“Exactly,” Kara said with a nod.
“Do you have any? Regrets?” Sabina asked, eyeing a stack of hard disks held together by a rubber band.
“I don’t think anyone can get through life with no regrets,” she answered. “All we can do is the best we can do.”
“You sound just like your uncle,” a voice came from behind Sabina. She and her sister whipped their heads around. It took less than three seconds before they leaped up and rushed over to the woman, squealing in a way that Sabina was quite sure no one in the room had heard since their teenage years.
“Gina!” they exclaimed, wrapping their arms around Gina O’Rourke. Their honorary aunt. The woman who’d come to their aid more than a few times in the past eighteen years.
