Page 16 of Maverick Detective Dad
“Normally about two hours. Not sure she’ll be out that long though, since she’s obviously out of her usual routine. When she gets up, she’ll want a snack so I need to see what you have in the fridge.”
“My dad said Mom stocked it. There are four kinds of milk. Four,” he added with a sigh. “There’s also plenty of fruit and toddler crackers and such.”
Everly sighed, too. It was harder for her to keep up this barrier between Noah and her when both he and his family were bending over backward for her.
“I’ll help keep her as safe as possible,” Noah murmured while he kept his gaze on Ainsley.
“I know you will, and I thank you for that.” She paused. Had to. Because Noah was standing so close to her that it was causing that heat to stir again. “Maybe we can work until Ainsley wakes up?”
“Absolutely.” He didn’t hesitate, but Everly thought she saw some hesitation in his eyes.
Noah motioned for her to follow him to the guest room across the hall. It was huge, decorated in a soothing pale green, and his mother had been right about it having a seating area. One already set up with a desk and a laptop.
“Maybe you can focus on social media sites to help us ID any members of Peace Seekers,” Noah suggested, and Everly gave him a quick nod. “Let me grab my computer, and I’ll join you.”
Noah left while she settled in at the desk. Since she didn’t want to dwell on the thoughts of Noah and their situation, she set the monitor so she could easily see it, opened the laptop and got started right away. Everly had only been at it a couple of minutes when Noah returned with not only his computer tucked under his arm but also a plate with two sandwiches, potato chips and two bottles of water.
“Mom really stocked the fridge,” he commented. “Good thing because you missed lunch.”
She had, but Everly wasn’t sure her knotted stomach could handle food just yet. Noah dived right into his sandwich while setting up his laptop on the side of the desk next to hers. When he abruptly stopped eating though, she glanced over to see what had snagged his attention. Judging from his somber expression, it hadn’t snagged it in a good way either.
“My lieutenant got the lab results expedited for the boxes we got,” he explained while he continued to read the report he’d pulled up on his screen. “The blood on the clothes left for me belongs to Jill. However, the blood on the box you received doesn’t. The lab will run tests to see if it belongs to Daisy.”
Everly had to take in a long breath and try to loosen those knots that were tightening even more. Because if the blood wasn’t Daisy’s, it could mean there was another victim. One who hadn’t been found yet.
She almost managed to bite back a groan. “The killer probably believes there are plenty of people who need punishing. That means, he has so many to choose from.”
“Yeah,” Noah softly agreed. “And that’s why we need that members’ list for Peace Seekers.” He checked the monitor, no doubt seeing that Ainsley was still sound asleep, and took out his phone. “I’m calling Megan Ritter and then River Parnell. I’d rather have a face-to-face with them, but this will do for now.”
Everly agreed. Talking to both of them in person would be better, but it was critical that they get info fast. She didn’t know what kind of plan the killer had for Noah and her, but she doubted they had a lot of time.
“I spoke to Megan yesterday,” Noah explained. “Brieflyspoke to her. She wasn’t at home for me to notify of her mother’s death so I called her. She was at work, said she didn’t care what’d happened to her mom, that she hadn’t seen her in years. I pressed for her whereabouts, she gave them to me and the alibi checked out.”
Noah made the call, put it on Speaker and a groggy sounding woman answered on the third ring.
“Yeah?” she said, and she made a noisy yawn.
“Megan?” Noah asked.
“Yeah,” the woman repeated. “Who is this? If you’re calling for me to come in early for my shift, it’s not going to happen.”
Since Everly had researched Megan’s social media accounts, she knew the woman worked as a hostess at a busy San Antonio River Walk restaurant.
“This is Detective Noah Ryland,” he explained. “We spoke yesterday.”
Megan muttered some profanity. “Look, I told you I didn’t want to hear anything about my so-called mother. I don’t care if her killer isn’t caught—”
“The person who murdered Jill killed another woman,” Noah interrupted. He didn’t give her Daisy’s name, maybe because the notification of next of kin hadn’t been done.
“For real?” Megan asked, and she no longer sounded groggy or annoyed.
“For real,” Noah verified. “In fact, I believe the killer has murdered at least four people they believe didn’t get punishment they deserved.”
Megan stayed quiet for several seconds. “So, the killer isn’t going after innocent people,” she concluded.
“The victims didn’t deserve to be murdered. Maybe jail time,maybe,” he emphasized, “but not murder.” Noah paused. “I also believe the killer murdered someone they were just trying to silence, and that’s why I need your help.”
Megan paused again. “You think I know who’s doing this. I don’t.”
