Page 29 of Through the Fire
That relief instantly wilted as Kit realized that the guys didn’t share her suspicion after all. Instead, they just thought Elena was a fleeing victim. She figured she could work with that; at least it was a start. “Shouldn’t we talk to her, then, and get her story? If she knows who’s after her, we can follow up on that.”
The men shifted uncomfortably, exchanging glances.
“That hasn’t worked so well in the past,” Theo finally said in a stilted way. “We ended up intimidating the victims rather than encouraging them to trust us. We don’t want to do the same thing with Elena when she could be in danger. It’s better this way.”
“I’m not intimidating.” It was something that Kit often wished wasn’t true. “I could talk to her.”
She hadn’t even finished before Hugh was shaking his head. “Jules and Grace will see if she needs our help. Otherwise, we’ll leave her alone.” He gave Kit a pointed look.
All three of the guys’ faces were closed off, and Kit swallowed any further arguments. She wasn’t going to change their minds. That didn’t mean, however, that she couldn’t do some investigating. After all, her partners didn’t have any say in what she did on her own time.
The silence thickened until Kit waved in the direction of the dining room. “No sense in standing out here. Our food’s probably ready.”
Although they all made agreeable noises, it took a moment for them to move, since they were all waiting for the others to precede them. With a snort, Kit led the way into the dining room. This is what happens when a bunch of cops are together. She liked that they had similar habits, though. It reminded her of their commonalities and gave her hope that she’d fit in their team…someday.
They took their seats in stilted silence, but Kit didn’t care about the awkwardness. Her mind was working. Whatever her new partners thought about her, she was first and foremost a cop—and an effective one. If they weren’t going to share information about the case, or Elena, with her, then she was going to have to do her own investigating. Their distrust of her wasn’t going to stop her from doing her job.
“Here you go,” Jules said cheerily as she lowered a packed plate to the spot in front of Kit. “I didn’t know what you like, so I had Vicki make you a sampler. There’s a little bit of everything on there.”
“Thank you,” Kit said, staring at the mounds of food. It was enough to feed her for a week. “No oatmeal though. That’s good.”
Jules laughed as she slid plates in front of the other three. “I’d never do that to you.”
It was Kit’s turn to laugh. She liked Jules more every time they talked. If Theo’s distrust didn’t spoil it, she could see the two of them becoming friends.
“Did Elena find you?” Theo asked.
“Yes.” Jules tipped her head toward the kitchen door. “Megan’s giving her an interview right now. I hope it works out. Elena, bless her heart, could use a confidence boost.”
At Jules’s fond tone, Kit felt a flash of guilt. So far, she was the only one who wasn’t sold on Elena. If no one else—including some street-wise fellow cops—found anything suspicious about the new arrival, then the problem was probably Kit’s. She resolved to try to be as fair and open-minded as possible when she talked with Elena.
She pictured Elena’s wide, dark eyes and heard her wispy voice, and her gut tightened in warning. Despite everyone else’s reaction to Elena, Kit’s instincts were loud and clear: Elena was not to be trusted.
Don’t worry, she told the part of her that was yelling at her to be wary. I’ll do my best to be fair, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to be stupid about it.
* * *
Everyone’s food disappeared quickly. Kit managed to make a sizable dent in the mountain on her plate before passing the leftovers to Otto, who said that he’d take it home to feed to his chickens.
Just then, Elena slipped through the kitchen door, and Kit knew it was her cue to set her new plan into motion. “Excuse me for a minute,” she said, pushing back her chair. She could feel their suspicious gazes following her as she headed for the entry, but she reminded herself that she could talk to whomever she wanted. Elena was moving fast, and Kit had to almost run to catch up.
“Elena,” Kit called as she stepped into the entry, just as Elena was pushing open the door. Elena stopped in surprise, taking a step back so that the door swung closed again. Her tentative smile came a second too late, jarring Kit and making her stop abruptly. She tried to hide her discomfort. There was something a little off about Elena, and it wasn’t a good oddness, like Wes’s was. Kit pushed away the thought, reminding herself to wait until she had the facts to make any judgments about the woman.
“Kit, right? Did you have more questions for me?”
“No. Well, not official questions.” She put on her best friendly smile and hoped it didn’t make her look clown-like. Too many of her social graces had been warped by her years as a cop. In Wisconsin, all her friends—both male and female—had been coworkers, which was one of the reasons it had hit her so hard when most of them had turned their backs on her. “I was just thinking that, since we’re both brand new in town, we should hang out.” When Elena just blinked her huge eyes rapidly, Kit pressed on. “Would you be interested in getting coffee sometime? I don’t know about you, but I’m getting the feeling that it’s going to be a while before this small town accepts me.”
The silence stretched until it was uncomfortable, but Kit wasn’t about to give Elena an easy way out of the offer. Her patience paid off when Elena’s smile returned, brighter this time.
“Uh…sure!” Again, Elena’s enthusiasm came just a hair too late to seem sincere. “Jules and Grace have been very sweet, but it would be nice to have a friend outside the house.”
“Someone to listen when you need to complain about the roommates?” Kit asked, not having to fake her smile that time. She was one step closer to finding out why this woman was in her new town.
Elena laughed a little. “Exactly. I’m supposed to start working tomorrow, since Megan—the owner—said that their dishwasher suddenly quit to go work at a ski resort. Want to get together after my shift ends at two?”
“Perfect.” It really was promising. Maybe her crazy first day and a half was improving. “I’ll wait and take my lunch break then. Want to meet here? I think the only other place that serves coffee and isn’t boarded up is the gas station.”
“Here’s good. See you then.” With a shy wave, Elena slipped out the door.
