The Nobody Girls (Kendra Dillon Cold Case Thriller Book 3), Rebecca Rane [best book club books of all time txt] 📗

“Uh, can it just be, uh, a nice little sequel to our not-so-nice marriage? Do we have to think about it too much?”

“No, I suppose not. Except how about this? We grab dinner Friday night.”

This was a hard left turn; this was not what she’d intended when she’d knocked on the door to get Swisshelm.

“I’m still a workaholic bent on fighting corporate oppressors.”

“And I’m still a corporate oppressor, I get it. But maybe we made things too hard that first time around.”

“We’re not even separated. We’re officially divorced and have been for over a year. This is backward.”

Scott put his hands on Kendra’s shoulders. “We don’t have to decide everything today. We have shockingly good chemistry, still, and I think having a broken home is tough on Swisshelm. Think of the cat?”

“It feels below the belt to use Swissy to play on my soft side.”

“You have a soft side? It must be new. See, we are different people.”

Kendra laughed and bent down to pick up Swisshelm. “I’m going back to my apartment, taking our cat, and getting to work.”

“And meeting me for dinner at O’Shay’s Friday. We can just see if this is something that was a blip on a divorce journey or a sign that divorce isn’t where we should be?”

“Fine.”

Scott leaned down and gently lifted Kendra’s chin. Their lips met.

There was nothing wrong with this part of their lives together, Kendra admitted to herself. He was handsome, could be attentive, and at his core, a good person. And her mother loved him. Great marriages were based on a lot less.

She left Scott’s house with Swissy and a bag that contained the cat’s current dietary needs. Which, of course, were ever-changing. She remembered when she and Scott first brought the little floof home. Swissy had been a stowaway. The floof had turned them into a little family.

That was before they were mired in hurt feelings, miscommunications, and eventually completely divergent life plans.

Kendra drove to her condo, Swisshelm’s head on her lap.

She’d agreed to dinner.

Just dinner.

But before that, she had work. She called Shoop.

“Can you work today? I have so much to sort.”

“Yep, I made major headway too.”

“I have Swissy, so I wondered if we can work here?”

“On the way.”

Shoop brought food. She really took good care of both of them, Kendra realized. And she knew that Kendra wouldn’t have a bite to eat in her place.

They opened their laptops and got to work. Kendra played the audio from her interview with Ewald.

“He seems nice.”

“Yeah, but he insists he didn’t kill them. I had a hard time believing him, but again, why would you admit to killing eight women? Unless he wants to be famous, there’s no reason at this point. And they have him dead to rights on the murder he’s in for. His fingerprints and a witness saw him; there was no way out,” Kendra said.

“Here’s what I found. I looked at his logged schedule with his trucking company. It was in the files provided by Agent Price from the original investigation. It fits seamlessly with what we know about the victims. His schedule lines up with the murders, which is a solid reason to believe they have the right guy,” Shoop reported, laying out all her research.

Shoop had dates, maps, and logs. They hit pretty closely to times of deaths and every known logistic for the murders from 1978 to 1982.

“It’s frustrating though, not having DNA or a confession, or even a solid witness.”

“Well, he’s in prison either way.”

“True, and we have his interview. It’s worth a full episode.”

“Right.”

They worked on their individual threads until they decided to break for dinner. Shoop microwaved the meals she’d brought over.

It was then that Kendra realized she hadn’t told Shoop about the maniac on the highway and the TAT Good Samaritan that had inspired an upcoming episode of The Cold Trail.

“Oh, and I had a thing happen.”

“You got laid,” Shoop said.

And Kendra blushed nine shades of red. She could feel it. She also couldn’t deny it.

“Are you back with Kyle? That is so awesome. I’m rooting for that guy.”

“No, and I did, but…well, it was with Scott.”

“I leave you alone for one day, and you reunite with Scott Goodrich?”

“No, it was just…well, it was good. And maybe we’ll do dinner. But that’s not what I wanted to tell you. That’s not the thing.”

Kendra relayed her incident on the highway.

“Jeez, did you call the cops?”

“No. I mean, I was fine. I don’t have a license plate or even a good description of the vehicle. And I’m okay. What I’m trying to tell you is, when I was dealing with the tire, I got a lead on an episode we need to do, maybe toward the end, maybe as an extra. I don’t know, but it’s about this huge organization of truckers that are on the lookout for human trafficking. It’s kind of amazing.”

“Check, adding it to the calendar. And don’t think we’re done talking about the 180 your love life just did.”

“Shh, we’re done for now. We’re knee-deep in this season of The Cold Trail, and we have miles to go on that before I can kick back and try for happily ever after with any of my exes.”

“Fine. This discussion will continue but at a later date. You can bet on it. So, we have the interview with Ewald episode. What else?”

“Did you monitor the news coverage of Cynthia Hawkins?”

“Yep, all standard, so far, so good. Connor also called and wanted to interview you. He’s got wind that you interviewed Ewald.”

“Ha, well, if Art makes me do a media tour, I’ll call Connor back. I owe him one. Back to the Hawkins family, anyone get to them, other than the canned statement?”

“Not yet. All the coverage I’ve watched has been on Ewald. They’ve given him a name, and they’re waiting in line to make a celebrity out of a monster.”

“Do I want to know what they’re calling him?”

“The 75 Ripper.”

“Ugh,