Dead News by M.K. Coker

Author:M.K. Coker [Coker, M.K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: M.K. Coker
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 29

After giving Karen what she needed for her report on Aspin, Marek returned home, tired and empty-handed. They hadn’t made any real progress on the broken W. Karen had said she would follow up with Eyre about anything that might be in the county archives, but he knew he’d be an unwelcome third wheel in that discussion. Whatever had put a spoke in that familial wheel, he knew he wouldn’t be able to pull out, not blindfolded to what the problem between them was.

They wouldn’t hear back from DCI on Aspin’s electronics until Monday at the earliest.

After throwing some clothes into the washer, Marek puttered around in the kitchen, cleaning up after too many nights of Mex-Mix, putting the stack of flyers—another round had hit the Saturday mail with more sophomoric slogans—in the bin to burn with the first fire of the season. Their slick coating would smoke, probably, but he wanted to see them go up in flames.

He’d never, thank God, had to run for election to keep his job. He just had to do a good job to keep it. Or that’s the way it had been. Increasingly, though, the news, and therefore the public, was playing Monday-morning quarterback with police conduct. He’d seen the coverage on the use of deadly force, some justified, others not.

His old partner had told him one of their colleagues, neither liked nor respected, had been relieved of his badge, his gun, and hopefully—when the process was completed—his freedom. That kind of cop made them all look bad. As far as he could tell, Bunting came from the same mold.

What would Marek really do if Karen lost on Tuesday? He’d blithely said he would leave. But he wasn’t the only one affected. Would Becca be okay, returning to the scene of the crime, so to speak? Back to Albuquerque—where she’d lost her little brother, her mother, and her voice.

His daughter had slowly recovered in Reunion then blossomed under Nikki’s tutelage. Becca still fell silent sometimes, just long enough for him to worry, but the droughts were few and far between.

He looked out the windows over the sink, looking out back toward the bluff, toward the old schoolhouse he’d spent many hours working on in the last couple months. It was one of the reasons he’d declined a bigger role in the recycling center.

With true surprise, he realized he didn’t want to leave Reunion. He’d come for Becca, not himself. Now? He’d like to stay, for Karen and even Arne, Clara, and little Joey, as well as the slower rhythm of life and work. Here, he could be both a detective and a carpenter. Not to mention: Nikki. Leaving Reunion would end any possibility of a relationship, though that might already be down the drain.

Nikki needed a steadier income to keep the place her adoptive grandfather had willed her. And he knew better than to offer to bankroll her until she could pay him off.

The Lone Ranger interrupted his musings. He doused the ringtone on his phone.

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