Page 52 of Maverick Detective Dad
The tightness in Noah’s gut eased just a little until he recalled Everly saying something.Did you scan the tornado shelter?
Hudson’s response wasn’t so fast this time. I used it on the whole house, but if the shelter’s surrounded by reinforced concrete blocks, it could have thrown off the scan.
Yeah, it could have. Also, if the killer had seen Hudson use the infrared scanner after they’d first arrived at the house, he might have been prepared with something like a Mylar blanket. Or even something simpler like aluminum foil that he could have taken from Everly’s kitchen.
You need backup?Hudson asked.
Noah thought of the two reserve deputies.No. But the killer got in Everly’s house. Might still be here in the storm shelter. Will keep you posted.
He dashed off quick texts to the reserve deputies to let them know there was a possible problem but to stay put for now. The one in the front yard, Deputy Cruz Molina, would be able to get to the door in less than a minute. Unfortunately, with the dead bolt, it would mean Noah would have to manually unlock it for him, but at least he’d have ready help if they needed.
The deputy in the back, Nelline Rucker, wasn’t nearly as close, and with the storm still raging, it could take her a good five minutes or more to respond. Still, he wanted to keep her in place because if he was wrong about the killer being in the tornado shelter, Noah didn’t want to leave the back of the house unguarded.
“The reserve deputies are both good cops,” Noah reminded Everly. Reminded himself, too. “And this could all be a scare tactic.”
That last part was wishful thinking though. If the killer had taken the risk to get inside the house, he was probably still here, not waiting to scare them.
But to kill them.
Noah heard Everly gasp, and his gaze flew over his shoulder to her. He expected to see her terrified gaze on something, or someone, in the hall. But no. She was looking at the monitor.
And Noah saw the reason for that gasp.
About six minutes after they’d first spotted the cloaked intruder climb through the nursery window, he appeared on the screen again. Noah cursed when he saw what the guy was holding. Not a weapon, though he could have easily had a gun or two in the pockets of the raincoat.
But what he had in his hand was a box of aluminum foil.
Everly made a strangled sound of fear, and Noah split his attention between continuing to keep watch around them and the monitor.
And he saw it.
One of the worst-case scenarios that had filled him with a sickening dread. Because the killer didn’t go into the nursery and back out the window. Nor did he head back in the direction of the kitchen where he’d gotten that foil.
No.
With only his back visible because of the angle of the camera, Noah watched as the man walked into Everly’s room.
Right where Noah and she were right now.
Everly didn’t gasp this time, but because his back was pressed against her, he felt her muscles brace. Ready to fight.
Because the camera had caught the killer waving toward the camera and then getting on the floor. Onto his back. Where he had maneuvered and slid until he was out of sight.
The killer was under Everly’s bed.
Chapter Sixteen
It was all Everly could do to stop the panic from taking over. But that was next to impossible. She wanted to scream. To run. To get out of there.
Because there was likely a killer beneath her bed.
A killer who’d been there for hours. Hiding, listening and waiting so he could kill Noah and her.
Noah didn’t panic. Keeping his body in front of her to shield her, he took aim at the bed. “Come out or die,” he snarled.
Everly braced herself for a reply. For movement. For gunfire. For any and everything, but the killer didn’t respond. The only sound she could hear was the rain battering the windows.
Was the killer waiting there for Noah to come closer?
