Page 22 of The Smart Killer
The question triggered a memory, and for a brief second, a smile flickered on his face. “It sounds cliched. But in a bar. She had this way about her, like a magnet, drawing you in. I used to tell my mother I didn’t believe in love at first sight, that it was all bogus.” He paused. “But I was wrong. Hannah proved me wrong.”
Noah nodded. “You proposed to her. When was the wedding meant to be?”
“Four months from now. Winter. She wanted it in the summer, but…”
“Why not?”
“She was waiting for her divorce to finalize.”
Noah looked at him. “Kyle.”
“That’s right.”
“Do you know if he ever threatened her or you since she’d been back?”
“Me? No. If she had been, she never told me.”
Noah tapped the table with his fingers. “If asked. Would you be willing to take a polygraph?” Noah knew he was pushing his luck after what Ray had dangled out there, but the faster they could clear him, in as many ways as possible, the more it would save them in the long run.
Adam closed his eyes and slowly nodded. “Yes.”
“Hang tight,” Noah said before exiting the room.
7
Bone-tired after a grueling night shift and a long stretch of work through the day, Noah finally relented to the exhaustion gnawing at his bones. While they waited on the results of the video canvassing and verifying Adam’s alibi, the promise of a good night’s sleep beckoned him like a siren’s call.
Still, he couldn’t let go of what Jason had told him.
As he wearily drove past Big G’s, the local bowling alley, a flicker of curiosity lit up his fatigued eyes. The recently renovated bowling alley was sandwiched between a pizza joint and a two-star hotel just off the main stretch.
Bringing the Bronco to a stop and letting the engine idle, he scanned the area and locked onto a group of teenagers outside the bowling alley. They were a typical bunch, a mix of young boys and girls, probably ranging from sixteen to nineteen years old. Their clothes bore the marks of teenage rebellion, with torn baggy jeans, hoodies, and sneakers. Some of them had piercings and colorful hair, reflecting their youthful defiance.
Noah cracked his window just a hair.
They laughed loudly and exchanged banter, blissfully unaware of his watchful gaze across the road.
He had to wonder if their parents knew they were there. Single-parent families were more common than ever, and with responsibilities and bills and the ever-present wolf at the door, it would have been easier to just let teens do their own thing.
It was a juggling game that even he struggled with. If it wasn’t for his aunt Gretchen, Luke’s wife, or his neighbor Ed Baxter, he would have had difficulty keeping them out of trouble.
That only became more evident since the death of his ex, Lena.
At seventeen, his daughter Mia had already been a handful, falling in with the wrong crowd. Still, even she had learned fast the error of her ways.
Ethan, who was about to turn sixteen, not so much.
While Mia had openly gone against his house rules, Ethan was a bit of a wild card. He’d gone quiet since the death of Lena and retreated into himself. Only in the past few months had he seen a change. He’d begun wearing darker clothing, listening to heavier music, and smoking. He’d never caught him, but the smell was unmistakable. Instead of coming down heavy on him, he tackled it in a way that he would have wanted, checking in on him daily and telling him if there was anything he needed to talk about, he was there. Lately, the once-long conversations he had with his son were now no more than a few minutes. He’d ask, “How are you doing today, Ethan?”
He’d shrug.
“How was school?”
“All right. I guess.”
Afterward, he would take himself off to his room, disappear into the gaming world, and gaze at his phone. Gretchen had told him not to worry. Just like Mia, he would grow out of it. It was a phase, she said.
He hoped so.
