“I’ll hang around just to make sure everything goes smoothly,” Rainey offered.“I’ll also file a report and see if we can figure out who deflated your tires in the first place.Probably teenagers looking to have some fun on a Friday night.”
“Be thankful they didn’t slash them,” Keaton pointed out.
It didn’t take Keaton long to work his way around the vehicle, and suddenly, all evidence of the SUV ever having been sunken drifted away.However, prior to letting Keaton turn on the air pump, Officer Rainey circled the vehicle several times, snapping photographs for the file while looking for anything the perpetrator may have left behind, but he didn’t discover any major red flags.
“Where is your car?”Cavin asked Keaton after shaking his hand in appreciation trying to let go of the negative emotions he associated with the man.
“I don’t have a car,” he shared, glaring at Rainey.“Someone impounded it.”
Cavin couldn’t help but wonder if that was a red flag.What if Keaton had only come to pump up the tires so he could steal the vehicle?
“How did you get here?”Cavin inquired nonchalantly.
“I walked.”
“You walked all the way here with that heavy compressor?”Cavin queried while wondering why Officer Rainey wasn’t asking these questions.
“I did,” he answered simply.“From the shop where I work.”
“Keaton has a big heart,” Rainey shared, having a good feeling where Cavin’s mind was headed.“I’ll give you a ride back, Keaton,” he added, trying to avoid any further accusations.
“Let me,” Cavin offered.“I owe you,” he said to Keaton.
“You don’t owe me anything, but you’re welcome to drive me back to the shop if you like.”Keaton didn’t really want to ride with either of the men standing before him, but his arms already felt worn out from carrying the heavy air compressor all the way here, and he hated riding in police vehicles.
A few minutes later Cavin let the man whom he thought flattened his tires last night hop into the SUV.Knowing now that Keaton was Noel’s brother, coupled with the fact that Officer Rainey vouched for him, said something about his character although his interactions with the officer indicated Keaton probably had some underlying issues.
“Do you know why Noel asked you to inflate my tires?”Cavin wondered aloud after reversing out of the driveway.Considering the earlier scene at the candy shop, the request from Noel didn’t seem to add up.The only thing he could think of was maybe the kids begged her to send someone to help.
“She said you protected our kids.”
Our kids?
Cavin considered the best response as he pieced together all the information he gathered from the moment he met Noel until this conversation with Keaton.Was this guy actually Noel’s husband?Because Laney told him that her father was a mechanic.Why lie about being Noel’s brother though?Maybe this man was a pathological liar; he definitely remained the top suspect in Cavin’s mind when it came to the tires.
“Levi and Laney must have told Noel about my tires because I did not mention to her that they were flat.”
“I’m not sure how she knew about the tires,” Keaton answered, shrugging his shoulders before showing Cavin where to turn.
Cavin cringed inwardly as he broached the next subject, and he was pretty sure he could feel sweat beads forming along his pristine hairline.“You introduced yourself earlier as Noel’s brother, but then you just saidour kids.Are you really Noel’s brother or are you her husband?”he asked directly.“Because Laney told me that her father is a mechanic, the signs seem to point to the latter.”
Keaton chuckled at Cavin’s confusion.“Man, it’s a good thing you didn’t decide to go into law enforcement, you would make a horrible detective,” Keaton joked.“Laney is my daughter.”
Cavin’s mind raced.He knew that good detectives asked probing questions, and he always believed that there were no dumb questions, only dumb answers, since there was only one way to learn the unknown.“Is Levi your son?”
Keaton laughed again even harder.“Your mind is traveling in the wrong direction,” Keaton ascertained.“Levi is my nephew; he’s Noel’s son.Laney spends a lot of time with Noel and Levi.People who don’t know better often think the kids are brother and sister.”
Cavin assumed all along that both children belonged to Noel, but he realized he never asked.He should have.However, that didn’t really matter, and it didn’t change her marital status.He should have asked that question as well before flirting with her.“I see.”
“I am Noel’s brother,” Keaton clarified just in case this man’s mind failed to connect all the dots.
“What is Noel’s husband’s story?If he is not a mechanic like I initially thought, what does he do for work?”
Cavin wanted to learn as much as possible about this family, and he figured it would be a lot easier to ask Keaton this question although it seemed they were still on the fence about each other.
“Man, that’s a sad story.”
Cavin’s brow furrowed as they passed through a neighborhood filled with older restored homes.This marked the second time he heard similar words about this family.He wanted to ask a follow-up question but decided to wait and see if Keaton would reveal more.
