what Keenan’s description was. Google searches for Keenan Summers had yielded nothing. For now, Dev was going on pure instinct and the power of his badge to stop and question anyone he wanted.
Dev took his time approaching the car, fully assessing the situation. It was an obscure Audi model that he hadn’t ever seen on the road. It had vanity plates that said “KNDRK1”. That made the chance slim it was a rental car, but this guy also wasn’t local. Dev had never seen the guy—or the car—before.
He would’ve remembered this man. For one, there weren’t that many Black people in Sapling. And, this guy in particular had something about him. Some sort of gravitas despite the fact that he just been pulled over by the law. He didn’t look nervous, but he wasn’t stupid either. By the time Dev approached him, his window had long-since been rolled down.
The man’s license was sitting on the console above the steering wheel and his hands were laid out on the wheel itself. He smiled as he looked at Dev and asked, “Is there a problem, officer?”
“License and registration, please.” Dev commanded with authority, knowing full well both items had already been laid out. The man moved his hand slowly, grabbed the items, then held his hand out to give them to Dev, who took them blindly before glaring at the man for a long moment and snatching them out of his hand.
To be honest, he didn’t seem at all like her type. I mean, the guy didn’t even have a beard and Dev happened to know that Shea really liked his. He didn’t look like he would care about hiking or morning buns are any of the other things that she really liked.
“Sir, are you aware of how fast you were going?”
Instead of answering in earnest, the guy had the nerve to raise his eyebrow and asked, “Are you?”
Before Dev could threaten to arrest him faster than he could say “insubordination”, his gaze fixed upon the last name he was expecting to see.
“Kendrick?” He felt a frown crease the lines of his own face.
This wasn’t Keenan’s name. Not only that—Dev recognized it as the name of the guy who owned Shea’s house.
“Do you know Shea Summers?”
“That depends. Will telling you I know her get me out of a ticket?”
Kendrick said it in a way that told Dev he was still messing with him. Risky move. Dev respected that. And, if he was being honest with himself, he deserved it. He was being a colossal dick. He pulled the guy over for no reason—or, at least he’d pulled him over only because he’d been convinced the driver could be Keenan. Now that he knew it wasn’t, Dev didn’t quite know what to do.
“When a police officer asks you something, do you always answer with a question?”
Kendrick smiled. “Do you really want me to answer that?”
“I know you own her house. What do you want with Shea?”
“Oh, I didn’t come to talk to Shea. I came to talk to her ex.” Dev studied Kendrick carefully. For someone who just showed up, he seemed to have a lot figured out.
“Where is he?” Dev practically growled. If this guy knew Keenan was coming, what else did he know?
“She said he would find her. And I trust Shea.”
“Is this guy dangerous?” Dev asked for what felt like the umpteenth time.
“She told him to leave her alone. He didn’t. That’s enough for me.”
Dev couldn’t be sure about this guy’s intentions with Shea. Nobody just took a helicopter halfway across the country for someone he only considered to be a friend. But he was renting her house in a strange town thousands of miles away from home. Maybe he felt responsible for her. He wouldn’t pretend the thought of this guy being special to Shea didn’t eat at his gut with jealousy. But their sense of purpose was shared.
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Dev said it irritably.
“Good.” Kendrick nodded. “Now…can you help me find Shea?”
“Come in the cruiser,” Dev nearly barked.
He wanted to keep this Kendrick character where he could see him. He still didn’t trust the man and didn’t want him off on his own trip.
“I’ll take my own car.” Kendrick’s voice was resolute. And, really, what could Dev do about it? Kendrick had done nothing wrong and wasn’t under arrest.
“Can you keep up?” Dev asked instead of arguing. “I’m gonna turn on the siren, it’s all gonna go pretty fast.”
Kendrick turned on his engine