Page 51 of Maverick Detective Dad
The vigilante had cut the femoral arteries of his other victims. Hands-on, personal kills. Rather than blow Everly and him to bits, that’s what he would no doubt prefer. For them to run so he could hit them both with tranquilizer darts, and then he could get close enough to slice them up.
Everly stood as if ready to bolt, but Noah took her arm and moved her to the corner of the room. Far away from the windows and even the door.
Noah had another look around, and even though the only illumination came from the night-light in the bathroom and the screen of the baby monitor, his eyes had adjusted enough that he could see the room clearly. Nothing seemed out of place, and he didn’t hear any unusual sounds. Then again, the storm would block out anything like something breathing or approaching footsteps. Added to that, Noah’s pulse was at a gallop now, and he could hear his own heartbeat crashing in his ears.
“The window wasn’t open when we got here,” Everly muttered, her voice just as shaky as the rest of her.
“No, it hadn’t been.” He’d checked all the windows, and they’d been locked. He’d done a cursory check of the house, too, looking for any signs that a killer was around.
There hadn’t been any such signs.
But the guilt slammed into him that he hadn’t checked every nook and cranny. He hadn’t made 100 percent sure that it was safe for Everly to be here.
Noah kept watch around them while he hit the button on the monitor to play the rest of the feed. On the screen, the intruder stopped and glanced around. Noah couldn’t see the guy’s face, but he was betting he was smirking, pleased with himself for violating Everly like this.
Had the intruder seen the camera?
Hard to tell. Noah couldn’t see the guy actually looking in the direction of it, but it was right there in plain sight. Hell, he could have even seen it from the window before he’d ever stepped inside. That way, he would have known the angles he needed to avoid so the camera wouldn’t capture his face.
There weren’t any actual best-case scenarios of what Noah was seeing, but he had to consider this was a taunt. One that the killer had maybe been certain that Everly would see since he would figure a mother would have a nanny cam in the nursery. Even if he’d turned around and left then and there, the taunt would have been damn effective because Noah was betting it would cause Everly to never feel safe here again.
But the killer didn’t leave.
With his grip tightening on his weapon, he watched as the hooded figure walked through the nursery. Slow, cautious steps without touching anything. Noah was betting though that the guy was wearing gloves.
Noah looked at the stride, at the guy’s build, at the way he carried himself, and he tried to figure out if this was one of their suspects. Maybe. Probably. But he couldn’t tell which one.
The man went to the doorway of the nursery, then glanced around the hall as if trying to make sure he had the place to himself. Judging from the timing, he did. Noah noted the time and realized all of this was happening about the same time the ambulance had been arriving at the hospital with Everly.
So, the killer had shot Everly with that tranquilizer dart and had waited for them to leave before he’d climbed in through the window. A risky move since the cops were already on scene, but they’d been looking for the killer in the area of the greenbelt where Noah had heard the guy escape.
Or rather where he thought there’d been an escape.
But that had obviously been a ruse, too, and the killer had doubled back to do this break-in.
“How long ago did Hudson come back here to install the dead bolts?” Everly asked in a whisper. She seemed to be holding her breath. Noah knew how she felt. He was doing the same thing.
“It would have been at least a half hour, maybe more, since he had to wait for one of his crew to bring him the locks.” Which meant the killer could have already broken in and left before Hudson had arrived.
Noah thought of something else that could have happened.
Something that caused every muscle in his body to go on alert.
He fast-forwarded the button on the feed, watching—no, he was praying—that the killer would have his look around before going back out the window and closing it behind him.
But that didn’t happen.
The killer had a look in the hall, and even though his back was to the camera now and they couldn’t see his face, Noah knew the snake was staring into Everly’s room. Probably smiling again. No doubt fantasying about killing her. Then, the guy turned, went back to the nursery window.
And he closed it.
What was left of Everly’s breath shuddered, and again, she would have bolted had Noah not kept her in place, positioning his body so that he was in front of her like a shield. He continued to watch. Silently cursing. Silently dreading what he now knew he’d see.
The killer stepped out of the nursery and disappeared out of camera view as he headed toward the main living area of the house. Noah didn’t figure he was leaving either. No. Even though he couldn’t see the direction of where the guy had gone, he was betting he’d scoped out the rooms for the best place to hide.
Noah hit the Pause button on the monitor, handing it to Everly, while he fired off a text to Hudson.When you came back to Everly’s to install the locks, did you use the infrared scan on the house like we talked about?
It seemed to take an eternity, but it was only a couple of seconds before Hudson responded.Yes. Like you said, Everly hadn’t had a chance to engage the security system before she got hit so you were worried somebody could sneak in. I didn’t spot anyone, though there were some cops and a CSI in the yard.
