Page 22 of Maverick Detective Dad
Megan repeated her no, and after a few seconds, River shook his head. “No. Does that have to do with the killer?”
Yeah, it did since the other victims and both Everly and he had received the boxes. It was a good sign that Megan hadn’t, even though the killer might break pattern with her as well if he thought she knew too much.
Noah sent a text to Detective Jake O’Malley and asked him to make the arrangement for Megan. When he finished and got the okay from O’Malley, Noah turned back to Megan.
“When you leave, I want you to go straight to SAPD headquarters in the public safety building,” he instructed. “Use the interstate to get there, not the back roads.” Unlike Silver Creek, it would be a fairly straight shot for her to get into the city since the interstate was only a couple of miles away. “When you arrive at headquarters, see Detective Jake O’Malley. He’ll make sure you have police protection.”
“Thank you,” Megan gushed out, and the relief seemed to wash over her. She gave River a quick hug and hurried out the door to her car. Noah didn’t think Megan was at high risk, but he hoped she’d do as he had lain out for her.
“You’re sure you won’t take protection?” Noah asked River after Megan had gone.
“Positive,” he said but then paused. “Look, I’m sorry about Daisy, but I’d rather put some distance between me and the cops. The way I see it, if the killer thinks I’m cooperating with you, then he might come after me.”
Possibly, but that kind of logic wouldn’t lower the man on the suspect list. Noah left River his card, figuring he’d see how the rest of the day played out, and then he’d have River brought into headquarters for another interview. He would keep applying the heat and hoped that it caused River to break. Then again, even intense heat might not break a cold-blooded killer.
With Noah and Everly keeping watch, they went back out to the cruiser and got in. River didn’t come out onto the porch, but he stood at the window watching them as Noah turned around in the driveway.
“I’ve got a friend in the Bulverde PD,” Theo said, staying down on the floor of the cruiser. “You want me to ask them about getting a search warrant for this place?”
“Thanks, but I’ll take care of that,” Noah replied. He wanted someone he knew, hopefully Jake O’Malley, in charge of the search. O’Malley wouldn’t miss anything important.
Everly had put her phone away when they’d hurried back out to the vehicle, but she took it out now while Noah started the drive back to the ranch. “Using variations of the name—Robert, Robbie, Bob—there are a lot of Bobby Marshalls in Texas,” she explained. “At least a dozen of them are in the San Antonio area. I’ll look at social media posts to try to narrow it down.”
Noah made a sound of agreement, but it was possible this Bobby had continued his “red card” silence on the internet. That would have been the smart thing to do. Not rant and make noise as River had done. Instead, do nothing to draw attention to himself. That way, he could plan his kills and carry them out.
“I can help with that search,” Theo volunteered, and once they were away from River’s house, he got off the floor and back on the seat. He stayed low though, a reminder that until they were back at the ranch, they were all still in danger.
“So, do you believe River told us the truth about everything?” Everly came out and asked while she continued her search on the phone.
Noah was already mulling that over. “Hard to say. He certainly doesn’t seem scared that he could be on the killer’s hit list.”
“True,” Everly muttered. Then, paused. “This might be something.” She continued to volley her attention between her phone and their surroundings. “Bobby Marshall from San Antonio. It’s a social media post with the phone number for a mental help service. He didn’t add anything to it, but maybe that’s our guy.”
Noah didn’t answer. That’s because his attention zoomed into what he saw ahead. Right in the middle of the road.
A large box, the size of a refrigerator.
And there was blood running down the side of it.
Chapter Seven
Everly froze when she saw the bloody box. It was a lot larger than the one left on her porch, but she had no doubts that this one, too, was from the killer.
“I can’t drive around it,” Noah said in between cursing under his breath. “I’ll end up in the ditch. I can’t risk ramming into it because I don’t know what’s in there. Someone could be inside.”
Oh, mercy. Everly hadn’t even gone there, but she wouldn’t put it past the killer to have put a body inside. Or worse. Someone alive who might be killed if a vehicle hit it.
“I’ll call Bulverde PD and Grayson,” Theo said. “I’ll get someone out here as fast as possible.”
Everly had no doubts that Grayson and the others would respond, but they wouldn’t get there in the next fifteen minutes, and that meant they had to do something to make sure another driver didn’t slam into that box. Along with making sure the murderer didn’t use this “roadblock” to try to kill Noah and her.
Noah hit the switch for the lights and sirens, and he pulled as far as he could to the side of the road. “Look in the ditches and make sure no one is hiding in them. I didn’t see anything or anybody on my side.”
Her heart was already beating way too fast, but that kicked it up even more. Everly did as Noah had asked and thankfully saw nothing but murky water and weeds. If the killer was hiding down in that mess, then he’d need some kind of breathing equipment.
From the backseat, she heard Theo ease up, probably so he could swivel around to check the portion of the ditch he could see.
“There’s another box about ten yards back,” Theo relayed. “It’s about the size of a shoebox, and I don’t see any blood on it so it might not be part of this. It might be something that just got tossed.”
