Chapter 12
Steel woke up bright and early, as Kristen instructed. He didn’t know where they would be going; just that it could take all day. That was fine with him. He certainly didn’t mind spending all day with a beautiful woman.
He pulled up to Kristen’s house at exactly eight-thirty and attempted to turn the car off so he could go knock on the door to let Kristen know he was there. Before he could, though, he saw Kristen’s door open. She emerged from the house, bundled up but still looking beautiful. Steel immediately jumped from the car and quickly ran around to the passenger side so he could at least open the door for her. His mother taught him to always be a gentleman.
“You’re right on time,” Kristen announced with a smile. She felt one hundred percent better after talking with Steel the night before. She couldn’t explain it, but she felt as if she were destined to have met Steel. Now that she had, she was ready to close the door on the Adam chapter of her life. She knew with time, he would find someone better suited to him.
After Kristen gave him the address to type in his GPS, Steel asked, “Well, are you going to tell me what we’re up to today?”
It was then that Kristen told him all about the papers and key she had found at her father’s. “I know it’s a long-shot, but I have to find a storage locker with the number 405b. I need to figure out what my dad was hiding for so long.”
Steel’s heart went out to Kristen. He needed answers too. He wrestled with whether or not to tell Kristen what he had found out about her father’s death. The police officer in him told him that he should keep the information to himself until he had more concrete evidence. Right now, everything he knew was circumstantial. There was no reason to upset her over that.
When they arrived at the first storage facility, the manager on duty told Kristen and Steel that they didn’t have any storage lockers with that number. “Well, do you know of a faster way to find a place that does other than just checking with every place in the city?” Kristen asked. It didn’t take that long to check with each place, but multiply that by the hundreds of places they would have to check, and that could take quite a while. And then there was a good chance that the place they were looking for wasn’t even in the city.
“No, ma’am,” the female manager replied. “I wish I could have been more help.” Kristen thanked the woman, but felt defeated. She knew it wasn’t likely, but she hoped that maybe the first place they checked would be where her father had housed whatever it was that he was hiding.
Steel hugged her, and told her that they would find some answers. “It’s just going to take time, that’s all. You have to be patient.” Rather than drive to every storage facility in the city, he suggested they call the places instead. “That way, we can just check the places that either have a locker by that number, or don’t answer their phones.”
By lunchtime, they had called seventy-five places and found three storage facilities with units that had the number 405b.
“Do you think one of them will be the right one?” Kristen asked, hopeful.
“There’s always a chance, but you have to ready yourself for the chance that they won’t be the one your father rented,” Steel told her. He knew that the chances of them finding the locker within a day or even a week were slim. If her father wanted to hide something, he was unlikely to pick a place that would be easy to locate.
After they had checked out the first locker and the key didn’t fit the lock, Steel could see the extreme look of disappointment on Kristen’s face. “Why don’t we just take a break and get some lunch?” he suggested. It had already been a stressful morning, and they could use a break and some food.
Steel let Kristen pick the restaurant so she chose a Mexican place she had always heard was good from the girls at work. “I love Mexican food,” Steel volunteered after Kristen revealed her selection. For him, it was just another sign that they were meant to be together. Although he loved all ethnicities of food, Mexican and Chinese foods were his absolute favorites.
Kristen ordered an enchilada combination plate, while Steel ordered the fajitas. He also suggested Kristen get a margarita. “It’ll take off the edge,” he told her. He was driving, but even if he wasn’t, he would’ve still ordered water.
He stopped drinking years ago after it started affecting his work. Being a police officer was a difficult job. His drinking started out as just get-togethers with his co-workers after duty. Then, he started drinking when he was stressed at the direction a case was going in, or when he didn’t like its outcome. That led to him just drinking all the time. It wasn’t something he was proud of, but he was proud that he had gotten clean and put his life back together.
By the time the food arrived, Kristen was back to her old self. It might’ve been the margarita, or the delicious food, but Steel wanted to believe it was his company that helped alter her mood.
“So, how is someone like you not married?” Steel asked as he stared at Kristen. It was a rude question to ask, but he hoped she would take it as the compliment he intended it to be.
Kristen’s smile faded. She hadn’t told Steel much about her life and past, but she supposed it was time. As they finished eating their lunch she told him everything. She didn’t leave anything out. She told him about her first marriage, her engagement to Adam, and even how she broke up with him the night before. It wasn’t until she stopped talking that she realized she could’ve scared Steel off by telling him she broke up with Adam because of her feelings for him.
Steel listened as Kristen divulged all the details about her past relationships. It had been a long time since he had such personal discussions with a woman. When she got to the part about breaking up with Adam, he was overjoyed. If it had been anyone else, he might’ve used it as an excuse to run away or end the relationship. He normally didn’t do intimacy. Kristen wasn’t any other woman though. He felt connected to her instantly and knew he never wanted to spend a single day without her. He wanted to tell her that, but couldn’t find the words. He wasn’t used to wearing his heart on his sleeve and just hoped that Kristen could be patient with him as he re-learned how.
Kristen hoped that maybe Steel would share his past with her too, but she could tell he kept a wall around his heart. The look in his eyes told her all she needed to know, though. Even if he couldn’t say it, she knew how he felt.
Once they finished their lunch, Kristen and Steel resumed their search. The next place was a bust, and once again Kristen felt disappointed.
“Is this just a waste of time?” she asked.
The third place was on the very outskirts of town, and as they stepped into the storage facility’s office, both Kristen and Steel felt like they were transported in time. The décor was out of the nineteen-seventies, even down to the small nineteen inch television that still had rotary knobs to change the channel.
“Hello?” Steel asked as he and Kristen stood at the counter. As was his habit from his police training, he looked around. He noticed that there wasn’t a computer, or any form of electronics from the last three decades.
“Ring the bell,” Kristen suggested.
“I’m comin’!” a voice shouted from somewhere around the corner from the counter. “What can I dos for you two?” asked the elderly man that approached. He had to have been at least eighty.
“We called earlier, to find out if you had a storage locker with the number 405b,” Steel answered.
The old man bent down and looked for something for a few minutes before straightening back up. He set a book on the counter and began looking through it. “Yes, we do, but that locker’s been rented…for quite some time,” he said.
Kristen could feel her heartbeat speed up with excitement. She didn’t want to get her hopes up too high though.
Steel explained to the elderly man that they were searching for a locker that belonged to Kristen’s father and asked if they could chec
k it out to see if their key fit its lock.
The old man stared at Steel and then to Kristen, as if trying to decide whether or not he believed the couple’s story. They didn’t seem dishonest to him. “I suppose that would be alright,” he finally answered.
After getting directions to the locker, Steel and Kristen made their way to see if it was indeed the locker they were searching for.
“Well, this is it,” Steel said. He wouldn’t admit it, but he had a good feeling about the locker. If he was Thomas Casey and wanted to keep something safe or hidden, he would probably use the same place…a place that didn’t use computers, or modern technology that could be hacked.
Kristen’s hands shook as she held the key out and inserted it into the lock. “I’m nervous,” she laughed. The key slid into the lock easily, but she wondered if it would turn. She closed her eyes and turned the key. At first nothing happened. Then, as both Steel and Kristen stared at the lock, it popped open!