Page 55 of Target Acquired
“There’s got to be more than this for you to say Mom was murdered.”
He nodded, a slow, grudging nod. “She wasn’t even supposed to be in the car that night.”
Kenzie gasped. “What?”
“We fought. I was going to the dinner and told her to stay home, that I didn’t have the energy to pretend all was well in front of everyone.” He cleared his throat. “At the last minute, she got ready, said she wasn’t going to let me avoid talking anymore, and if I didn’t let her ride with me, she’d just take her own car and meet me there. I let her ride,” he finished on a whisper. After a few seconds of silence, he shook his head. “I’d already told Harold I’d be coming alone and he and I could talk business. He wasn’t too happy when I showed up with Hannah.” Hannah, Kenzie’s mother.
“Wait a minute. Harold Woodruff?”
Cole blinked. Harold Woodruff, the man Ben had beat out for the position of chief of police way back when.
“Yes.”
“I didn’t think you guys were speaking to each other.”
“We’re not now. Back then we worked together and had no choice. And we both decided the family feud started by our fathers was stupid. We decided to end it long before that night.”
Kenzie and Logan exchanged glances. “Family feud?” Logan asked. “What feud?”
Ben waved a hand as though that wasn’t important. “It’s a long story.” He glanced at Cole. “You probably know more about it than I do.”
Cole raised a brow and shoved his hands in his front pockets. “Why would I know anything about your family feud?”
“Because your grandparents, Eliza and William Garrison, were at the middle of it. Somehow. I’ve never gotten all the details straight and my mother isn’t much for revisiting the past. Figured you’d have heard some of the stories.”
He had, but he hadn’t paid much attention. “I just know that my grandmother, Eliza Crane at the time, was admitted to Lake City State Hospital for trying to kill herself after an argument with her father. She was best friends with your mother, Betsy, right?”
“Yes.”
“And somehow Betsy and Dr. King worked to get my grandmother out of the institution, but it caused a big ruckus with a lot of people. That’s about all I know. Why don’t you fill me in?”
“Eh, ask your father. That’s all history. I need to focus on this for now and reiterate that I didn’t run that stop sign because I’d had too much to drink, regardless of what the test said. I ran it because my brakes failed.”
“But the report doesn’t mention failed brakes,” Kenzie said, while Cole wanted to return to the conversation about his grandparents and how they were involved in Kenzie’s family’s feud. But he set that aside, not wanting to interrupt her.
“It says that you ran the stop sign and hit the other driver, who was in a stolen car. The other guy left the scene and you were ruled at fault.”
Her father’s gaze sharpened and Cole raised a brow. “You read the report?” Ben asked.
Kenzie scoffed. “Of course I did. To the point that I have it memorized.”
Ben scowled and stared at the crime scene wall he’d created. “It’s like it happened yesterday, but the details are fuzzy at the same time. But I distinctly remember the brakes failing. I also remember seeing the other driver running from the scene and never being found. And the pain of realizing your mother was dead.” His fingers worked themselves into a fist over and over. Open, close. Open, close. “I worked so hard to recover from that accident. I’d lost my wife . . .” His voice cracked and he stopped to draw in a ragged breath. “And I wasn’t losing my job. The day I was ready to return to work, the mayor and two officers came to my house telling me I was going to be arrested for stealing evidence if I attempted to return, but if I took an early retirement, out of respect for me and my years of service—and recent trauma—they’d bury it.”
Kenzie gasped. “Bury it?”
Logan stepped forward. “What was the evidence, Dad? I can’t see you folding like that.”
Kenzie ran a hand down her cheek and pressed her palms to her eyes before dropping her hands to her lap. “They had pictures of him meeting with Shady Talbot.”
Ben’s face paled. “How’d you know?”
“I came across the pictures in the evidence room. They were in Mom’s case box.”
He blinked up at her. “They’re still there?”
“Yes, of course.”
“You didn’t think to destroy them?”