Charming Hannah (Big Sky #1)(18)

I grin, wondering how in the hell I got lucky enough to find this sweet woman. “She’ll be okay. She was with me until lunch time.”

“Sounds good. Be safe.”

She hangs up just as I’m getting close to the city beach, or the swimming area at the head of our lake where people can swim and launch their boats.

There’s an ambulance, two squad cars, a fire truck, and a crowd gathered around one of the boat launch docks.

“What’s going on?” I ask Thomas as I approach. “And why are these people standing around?”

“We haven’t had time to shoo them off,” he says with a grim frown. “It’s bad, Chief.” He leads me to the ambulance, which is angled away from the onlookers. Sam Waters, the head EMT with the department is standing inside next to a gurney with a body covered with a sheet.

“Chief,” Sam says. “We worked on him for thirty minutes, but there was nothing we could do.”

“Why aren’t you on the way to the hospital?”

“He won’t be going to the hospital,” Sam says. “You didn’t hear the call?”

“No, I turned the scanner down while I finished some paperwork. Who is this?”

Sam and Thomas share a look.

“Who the fuck is it?”

“Kendall Reardon,” Sam says and rubs his fingers over his mouth. “Kyle’s oldest.”

“Fuck,” I mutter and dig my thumb and forefinger into my eyes. “How?”

“From what we can tell, he dove into the water from a boat and was electrocuted.”

“What?” My head whips up.

“There was an underground electric box that surfaced, and it killed him.”

“No more swimming.” I yell over at the other officers who are managing crowd control. “Teller! No more swimming or boating until we get this figured out. Get all of the boats off this lake, and I want a team patrolling to make sure no one is swimming. Have the owner of the boat take you to where this happened, and call the damn electric company to get this taken care of.”

“Yes, Chief,” Dan Teller says and moves into action. I get on the radio and call in all of the men I have that are currently off duty. I need all hands on deck for this.

“I didn’t think you’d want just anyone to talk to Kyle,” Thomas says. “I know you guys go way back.”

“You’re right.” I nod and make another call for my chaplain. “Get Kendall to the morgue, and make sure no one sets foot in that water.”

“Yes, sir,” both Sam and Thomas reply at the same time. I run to my truck and take a call from the chaplain on duty.

“What’s going on?” Matt Nichols asks. He’s been a chaplain for five years, but he’s lived in Cunningham Falls all of his life.

“We need to visit Kyle Reardon,” I reply before clearing my throat. “Kendall was killed this afternoon.”

“Damn,” Matt mutters. “Is he home this time of day?”

“I fucking hope so, because I don’t want to have to go to the school to deliver this news. School just got out for the summer, so the chances are good he’ll be home. Meet me at his place and we’ll go from there. I want to get to him before someone else calls him.”

We hang up and I’m at Kyle’s house within five minutes. Matt pulls up right behind me. I take a deep breath and stare at the small, well kept house that I’ve spent many mornings in having coffee with my friend after his kids have gone off to school. Kyle lost his wife to cancer just a couple of years ago, and now I have to deliver the news that his oldest son isn’t coming home.

Matt waits for me on the sidewalk, and I join him, then walk with him to the door. Kyle’s car is in the driveway.

He’s home. He opens the door, and the second he sees both me and Matt, his eyes fill with sadness and he gestures for us to come inside.

***

I should go home. I should absolutely not go to Hannah’s tonight. My emotions are raw. I would not be good company right now. But I can’t seem to stay away. I shoot her a quick text and ask her if it’s too late to drop by, and she immediately answers not at all.

Kyle only lives about four blocks from her, so I’m there quickly. She answers the door with a sunny smile, lifting my heavy heart just a bit.

“I’m so glad you texted,” she says as she steps back, letting me inside.

“I shouldn’t have,” I reply honestly and shove my hand in my hair, pacing her living room. “I should have gone home.”

She cocks her head to the side and props her hands on her hips. She’s in shorts and a simple T-shirt, but I’ve never seen anything so beautiful in all of my life.

“Why didn’t you?”

“Go home?” She nods. “Hell, because I’m not good company for myself either, and being with you sounded much better than pacing my house while Sadie watches with sad eyes.”

“Why are you upset?”

I rub my fingers over my lips, not wanting to put what I did today in her head.

“Dead babies,” she says and walks right to me, wrapping her arms around my waist and looking up at me with shining blue eyes. “I deliver dead babies. I have to tell women that they have cancer. Or that their child will have Down’s syndrome. Or a deformity. I have had a twelve year old girl in my office, pregnant, and terrified to tell her parents.