Eyes wide, she gasped. “So, they might have been after me? They just went to the wrong house?” Understanding slowly dawned on her, and her eyes bugged out even further. “Me?” She shook her head with vigor. “No, no! That makes no sense!”
“Sweetheart, listen to me,” Kyle said, pulling her close to his chest, cupping the back of her head. “We don’t know, but we have to look at all possibilities.”
“But I’m nobody. Why would anybody want to shoot me?” Her legs felt like jelly, but she hated to show a sign of weakness.
“Let’s sit down,” Kyle said, and led her out of the kitchen into the living room. They sat on the sofa while Carter and Evan perched on the chairs.
“I saw you’ve got coffee pods in there,” Alex said, jerking his head back toward the kitchen. “How about I make you some coffee?”
Too stunned to think clearly, she was aware that Kyle nodded, and Alex returned to the kitchen.
“Okay, babe, this is killing me to think of anyone after you, but let’s break this down. Is there any reason you can think of why someone would want you to stay out of something?”
Shoulders slumping, she shook her head. “I don’t do anything. I go to work. I come home or go to your place. Occasionally, I get with friends.”
Carter asked, “I know you recently met with some women at the Cardboard Cottages. Did you talk to anyone else? Give your full name? Give anyone your contact information?”
Continuing to shake her head, she replied, “I only talk to those women, and we only use first names. They know me as Kimberly, but that’s all. No phone number. No address. Nothing. They talked about their lives, and I asked a few questions, but that’s all that came from those conversations.”
“Okay, then what about your work?” Kyle asked.
“You already know about that. I’ve talked to people in just about every department at Kilton. But all I’m asking about is their jobs, what they like about it, that kind of thing.”
“Who at Kilton knows you’re doing this?” Evan asked.
Lifting her hands to the side, she sighed. “Who doesn’t know? All the vice presidents, most of the department supervisors, the people in my office and then, of course, anyone I’ve talked to. Again, there’s nothing untoward about any of it. I’ve met some interesting people, and I’ve had a few interviews where I was bored out of my mind.” Turning back to Kyle, she stared into his intense blue-eyed and squeezed his hand. “I just don’t think this can be about me.”
He looked over to where Carter and Evan were sitting. “Where are you next door?”
“Forensics is seeing what they can get. If the guy was smart, he was wearing gloves, but just in case, we’ll get fingerprints around the back door where he broke in and the railing on the stairs. It doesn’t appear that anything was taken or disturbed, so we assume that it was a hit and not a failed robbery.”
“Robbery wouldn’t make any sense anyway. Bob doesn’t keep anything special in his house.” She chewed on her lip as she ran possibilities through her mind.
“What about drugs? What about the possibility that Bob is involved in drugs? Could he have something in his house?”
Before she had a chance to refute Kyle’s question, Carter spoke up. “Forensic is doing a drug sweep as well.”
“There’s no way he was involved in drug theft! It’s not like we hang out all the time, but I’ve been inside his house. I’ve known him for four years!” she defended.
Alex walked back into the room, and she looked up, surprised that he was not carrying coffee mugs. Instead, he had a piece of paper in his hand.
“Kimberly, you had mail lying next to the coffee maker, and I couldn’t help but notice it. It’s addressed to you, but it’s not your address. It’s Bob’s address.”
Waving her hand dismissively, she nodded. “Oh, yeah. HR at work initially put my address in as his. We get very little mail but, occasionally, a letter will come for me with his address on it. Bob always just brings the mail over to me when that happens.”
No one spoke, but the room vibrated with electricity that she could not define. Looking between the four men, it was as though their thoughts snapped between each other. Suddenly, realization dawned, and she sucked in a quick breath. “What are you thinking? That the