Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

It was official. Jina had completely lost her mind and had little hope of finding it again. Doing her best to ignore Cole who sat next to her at the round table in the restaurant dining room, she pulled her laptop from her bag and set it on the table. To her surprise, Cole did the same with his computer.

It made sense for them to work, as they’d already eaten. When their server arrived, she gladly accepted more coffee. Jina had a feeling she was going to need the extra caffeine.

Cassidy, seated to her left, leaned forward to see the screen. “Is that the place in Timberland Falls?”

“Yes.” She didn’t expound on that, as their server had returned to fill their coffee cups and to take their orders. Once Zeke, Flynn, and Cassidy had finished, she turned the computer more fully. “Okay, here’s the first location I found.”

Cassidy took the computer, clicked through the screen to see the property photos, then passed the laptop to Zeke. After he finished, he handed it to Flynn.

“I like it because the house is far enough from the neighbors with several trees and bushes to provide protection.” She glanced at Cole, who was working on his laptop. “Are you looking for an alternative location?”

“Just checking something.” After a long moment, he nodded thoughtfully. “This property is roughly two miles from the apartment building where Oliver Norman and his buddy Evan Wilde live.”

She frowned. “I don’t understand why that matters.”

He shrugged, glancing at the confused expressions on her teammates’ faces. “We never made it over there to interview them. Might be worth a stop along the way.”

She swallowed a sigh. “Oliver and Evan belong to Mike’s MMA gym, the location of the first shooting attempt. Oliver tried to hit on me, so I invited him to a sparring match. I put him down on the mat, which may have embarrassed him.”

Zeke grinned. “He had no clue what he was getting into, huh?”

She couldn’t help but smile back. “He did not. And while I probably struck a blow to his ego, I don’t see him as a suspect in these attacks. Not just because being embarrassed is a weak motive, but he and his buddy Evan are two peas in a pod. They seem to go everywhere together, one egging the other on. The perp coming after me is a loner. If Ollie was a part of this, he’d be coordinating attacks with Evan.”

“I agree in theory with your assessment of our perp, but it’s always helpful to speak personally with suspects.” Cole was sticking to his point. “Preconceived perceptions can be wrong.”

She glanced at him, wondering if he was talking about her or Oliver and Evan. Either way, he was right. In many of the situations her teammates had gotten into over the past eight months, they’d been wrong about who they believed to be their primary suspect in a case more times than she cared to admit.

“Can’t hurt to talk to them,” Flynn said, “since we’ll be in the neighborhood.”

“Maybe.” She thought interviewing Ollie and Evan would be a waste of time but decided to move on. “For now, let’s focus on getting the location nailed down, then decide how to draw the shooter out.” She had to stop again because their server returned with more coffee.

“Your breakfasts will be ready shortly,” she said with a special smile toward Zeke.

“Thank you.” Zeke smiled, and their server blushed.

She fought the urge to roll her eyes. “Flirt on your own time, Zeke.”

“This isn’t my own time?” Zeke pretended to look confused. “I don’t think we’re being paid by the MPD for this little extravaganza.”

Normally, she didn’t mind bantering with the team, but not today. She gave him a narrow glare. “Focus. Unless anyone has a better idea, I’m going to book this place while it’s still available.”

“Go for it,” Cassidy agreed.

She booked the rental using her own credit card information. Hard to imagine the shooter would have the ability to track her credit card payments, but if he did, it played well with her scheme. She planned to use the GPS tracked rental and her phone as a beacon.

Hopefully, both items would scream, Come and get me .

“One thing to consider is that this guy could try to take you out while you’re en route to the property,” Cole said. “Considering we left the SUV out at the Red Mill Motel, the moment you get in the vehicle and start driving toward Timberland Falls, the perp will know exactly where you are.”

She nodded thoughtfully. “Maybe I drive the SUV to the precinct first. I’m sure he’ll hold off trying to intercept me until after I leave the police station.”

“It’s still several miles from the precinct to Timberland Falls,” Flynn pointed out.

“I understand the risk.” She looked at each of her teammates, then at Cole. “I doubt he’ll make a move in broad daylight. There’s no need to do that, especially when he finds the SUV has stopped at a rental property.”

Despite Cole’s clear dissatisfaction with her idea, he nodded in agreement. “I agree he’s more likely to shoot during dusk. His few daylight attempts haven’t gone well.”

“Okay, that means the rest of us have to get into position before you show up,” Zeke said. “What time do you plan to make the trip to the precinct, then again to Timberland Falls?”

She thought about that for a moment. “The later in the afternoon, the better. I don’t want you guys to have to stay in place for hours.”

“I’d like to ride with you,” Cole said.

She grimaced and shook her head. “Better if I go alone. If he does follow me, I want him to think I’m vulnerable.”

“No one who knows you would ever think that,” Flynn protested. “I doubt this guy is an idiot.”

“Maybe not an idiot, but stupid enough to keep coming after me.” She found it difficult to imagine anyone harboring that deep of a grudge against her.

“I can hide in the back seat. He’ll never see me.” Cole reached for her computer. After a moment, he smiled with satisfaction. “Just as I thought. This place has an attached garage. I can hide inside with you without this guy knowing.”

She wanted to protest that the added protection wasn’t necessary, but Cassidy jumped in. “Good idea, Cole. I’m sure Rhy will like knowing you have support inside the house.”

When Zeke and Flynn nodded, she gave up. “Okay, fine. What else do we need?”

Their server arrived with three breakfast meals. She refilled their coffee again, lingering over Zeke’s cup, before moving on to her next table.

“What do we need other than Rhy’s blessing?” Flynn looked thoughtful. “We can cover the outside of the property well enough. But how do you want us to take this guy down? Are you anticipating he’ll drive up to the house or try to sneak in?”

It was a good question. She glanced at Cole, who shrugged. “If he believes I’m in there alone, I think he’ll try to sneak up to the place in the dark. I’ll be counting on one of you to grab him.” It bothered her to think she wouldn’t be the one to take the perp down. She glanced at Cassidy. “Unless you want to swap places with me.”

“No, I’ll stay outside.” Cassidy arched a brow. “If this guy has binocs, he’ll notice we don’t look anything alike.”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll take the house.” She sipped her coffee, trying to come up with another way to safeguard her team. “We may need one more person to cover the outside.”

“I’ll contact Steele,” Zeke offered as he chomped on a slice of bacon. “He was glad to help us stake out the strip mall.”

“I can do that, you’re eating.” She reached for her phone, only to remember she had it turned off. Cole noticed and slid his over to her. She picked it up. “And if he’s busy, we can try Brock or Raelyn.”

“Raelyn and Isaiah are out of town for a belated honeymoon,” Cassidy said. “But Grayson should be around.”

Thankfully, Steele answered on the first ring. “Delaney.”

“It’s Jina, using Cole’s phone. Are you busy today? I need help.”

“I can be there in twenty,” her teammate answered without hesitation. “But I need to ask if Rhy knows about this. He wasn’t too happy to be out of the loop regarding the incident at the American Lodge.”

“He’s my next call.” She quickly filled him in. “Stay where you are for now, we’ll let you know when it’s time to move.”

“Sounds good. I’ll be waiting.”

As all eyes were on her, she ended that call and tapped Rhy’s number on the screen. He didn’t answer, so she left a quick message.

“I’m sure Rhy will call back soon.” Noticing her three teammates were just about finished with their meals, she added, “Maybe we should reconvene at the precinct. It’s too early to head out to Timberland Falls.”

The others nodded. “I like that plan,” Zeke announced. “We need to gear up anyway.” He narrowed his gaze on Jina. “As the target, you need to be well protected.”

“I will be. I have all of you, don’t I?” Zeke’s comment reminded her of her sniper’s rifle that was still sitting in her upper-level apartment. Swinging by the duplex wouldn’t take too long, but she couldn’t be sure that she’d be allowed inside. Probably not a priority since her plan didn’t require the weapon. For one thing, she’d be inside the house waiting for him to show. And if he did manage to sneak past the others, he’d be too close for her to use the long gun.

She was better with the rifle than her handgun, but she was confident she could take him down with her service weapon if needed.

When Cole’s phone rang, he simply passed it to her. Recognizing Rhy’s number on the screen, she quickly answered. “Hey, Rhy. Got my message?”

“Yeah. Walk me through it.”

She did so, keeping her voice low so the conversation couldn’t be heard beyond their table. When she finished, there was a long silence.

“What’s wrong? Did I forget something?” She hoped he wasn’t backing out of supporting her to do this.

“No, I’m just thinking. I like the idea of you guys stopping here for a while. I’ll have Gabe work on getting a blueprint of the property. Sounds like there’s some coverage, but it’s not like being out in the middle of the woods.”

“True. I didn’t want to go out too far, or he’d suspect a trap.” She nodded to the others as she spoke to let them know Rhy was on board. “Have Gabe get all the intel he can. We’ll be there in an hour or less.”

“See you then.” Rhy ended the call.

“We’re a go.” She handed Cole his phone back. “I only wish we didn’t have to wait until dark. Sitting around doing nothing is going to drive me crazy.”

“It will drive all of us crazy,” Flynn agreed. “But waiting for darkness to fall is better.”

The pretty server came back with their check. She placed a hand on Zeke’s back as she set it down beside him. “Do you need anything else?”

“No, we’re good,” Flynn said with a wry smile. The pretty server barely glanced at him. “Thanks anyway. ”

“I hope you come back to dine with us again soon.” She finally moved away.

“Sheesh, Zeke, what is up with that?” Cassidy groused. “I thought Grayson was the chick magnet.”

“He’s taken.” Zeke grinned, then pulled cash from his pocket to pay the bill. “Ready to hit the road?”

“Yep.” Jina closed her laptop and tucked it into her bag. “I’ll take a rideshare to the Red Mill Motel to pick up the SUV, then meet you at the precinct.”

“I’m going with you,” Cole said firmly. He’d shut his computer too.

Swallowing her argument, she simply stood and slung her bag over her shoulder. Then on second thought, she handed it to Cassidy. “Would you mind taking this with you?”

“Not at all.” Cassidy took the bag. Cole must have decided to go along with that idea, as he handed his to Flynn before coming over to stand at her side.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Of course.” Apparently, Cole was determined to be her shadow, whether she liked it or not.

The biggest problem? She liked it.

More than she should.

Following Jina outside, Cole wished he could poke more holes in her plan. The time frame of not heading out to the rental until late afternoon was a bit of a problem.

He was torn between wanting to find and interview Brad Crow’s friend Wade Adams and sticking close to Jina. His boss expected him to make some progress on the cold case murder investigation, but the last time he’d left her alone to interview Brad’s parents, she’d nearly been killed.

Nope, leaving her wasn’t an option. He probably wouldn’t be able to concentrate on the interview anyway as he’d be too preoccupied on what she was doing. In the past twenty-four hours, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he needed to stay close.

At least until they had this guy in handcuffs.

While Jina and her teammates had discussed the details of the upcoming operation during breakfast, he’d begun searching for Wade Adams. Finding an old online Peabody High School yearbook for Wade’s senior year had helped. He’d actually taken the time to look at Jina’s yearbook picture too. She had been beautiful back then, but she was even more stunning now.

No surprise that Brad had become fixated on her. He really needed to interview some of the guy’s female classmates. He doubted Jina had been the first girl he’d watched from afar.

But she may have been the last.

Shaking that dire thought off, he’d focused on examining the younger version of Brad’s buddy, trying to use facial feature markers that would stay the same over time. Even so, spotting someone who looked like Wade Adams on social media was slow going. He wasn’t a facial recognition expert and had thought they may need technical help when he’d finally landed on a possible match.

And if that guy he’d found on social media was the correct Wade Adams, he currently lived and worked as a construction worker in Peabody.

Interesting that Adams could be involved in the same construction project where Brad Crow’s body had been uncovered .

It was a key connection that needed to be explored.

But not today. Pushing his day job concerns aside, he used his phone to find a rideshare. “Looks like we have a ten-minute wait.”

“Takes longer to get a ride this far outside of the city,” she mused.

He shrugged. “At least we have the option of getting around without a vehicle.”

“Yeah.” She sighed. “I miss my Jeep.”

“I know.” He watched the dot on the screen as their ride approached. “We’re looking for a white four-door sedan.”

She nodded, not paying any attention to her teammates heading out without them. “I really hope this guy shows at the rental in Timberland Falls.” She glanced at him. “I want this over and done with.”

“Me too.” On that, they could agree. “When will you turn your phone on?”

She thought about that. “I think I should wait until we get to the precinct. This guy may be wondering why it’s off, and it will appear as if I ran out of battery and had to wait until we got someplace where I could borrow a charger.”

“Smart move.” The dot on his screen was growing closer. “That’s our ride up ahead.”

They watched the white sedan pull up. After comparing the guy’s face to the one on his phone, he opened the back door for Jina.

“Red Mill Motel?” the driver asked.

“Yes, but if you could let us out a mile to the north of the motel, that would be great,” Jina said. “Get off the interstate but keep going past the place. I’ll let you know when to drop us off.”

The guy looked confused by that but shrugged and pulled away from the breakfast restaurant .

“You think the perp is watching the motel?” he asked in a low voice.

“I doubt it. He has no reason to hang out there with the GPS tracker on the vehicle.” She grimaced. “I just think it’s better to take precautions. We need to check if the GPS is still there. Or if anything else has been tampered with.”

“Agree.” He tried to relax, but it wasn’t easy. He figured relaxing wouldn’t happen until they had this perp behind bars.

The trip to the Red Mill Motel didn’t take too long. As requested, the driver went past the establishment without stopping.

“This is good,” Jina said. “Thanks.”

“Whatever you say.” The driver eyed them curiously in the rearview mirror but wisely chose not to ask anything further.

Cole added a generous tip before sliding out of the car. He was glad he and Jina had given their bags over to her teammates. Sneaking up on the motel in broad daylight would be difficult enough without the added bulkiness.

The sky overhead was still overcast, but not nearly dark enough to hide their approach. In silent agreement, they moved away from the side of the road toward the ridge of trees.

“Let’s split up to approach the place,” Jina said. “We can cover more ground that way.”

He didn’t like it but reluctantly nodded. “Fine. Give me a few minutes to head around to the back side of the trees.”

“Okay.” She knelt on the ground behind a large bush. “I don’t have a phone, so I’ll give you three minutes, then will continue moving forward.”

“Hold on.” He reached for her hand.

“What?” She looked impatient .

“Take my phone.” He pulled the device from his pocket, put it on silent, then handed it over to her. “I should have thought of this before, but my watch is linked to my phone. We can call or text if we run into trouble.”

She smiled, making him realize he’d do just about anything to make her happy. She gratefully accepted it. “Good idea. Thanks.”

“Anytime.” Stifling the urge to kiss her, he forced himself to move away, easing through the brush. He was in over his head with Jina and, not for the first time, found himself praying he wasn’t making a mistake in judgment.

After about ten yards, he turned, walking at an angle that should take him to the back side of the motel. Not too far, hopefully, from the spot where they’d left the rental SUV.

And the GPS tracker.

The trees provided some cover, but he still felt exposed. The only good thing about this location was that there weren’t private residences nearby. In the distance, he could see the inevitable gas station that seemed to be on every interstate exit known to man, but otherwise, he didn’t see anyone nearby.

Yet there was still the chance someone would come upon them and decide to call the local police to report something suspicious.

It took a solid ten minutes for him to get into a position where he could see the SUV through the trees. It was up against the back side of the building, but that meant there were three sides that could have been tampered with.

He paused and scanned the area for a moment. Seeing nothing suspicious, he slowly edged closer, knowing Jina would be approaching from his left.

She had more coverage, which was a good thing .

When he was within ten yards of the vehicle, he caught the pungent odor of gasoline. He froze, immediately thinking of the turpentine that the perp used to start the fire in Mr. Glen’s duplex. Mitch Callahan had said the perp had used it as fuel to start the fire.

Were they facing a similar situation here?

He wasn’t sure what to make of the gasoline smell, but it was not good. Lifting his arm to see his watch, he quickly found the text app. It was painstaking to use the small screen, but he managed to send a text. Smell gas.

It seemed to take an inordinate length of time for her to respond. Me 2. The perp?

Good question. The strong odor of gasoline could be because someone tried to siphon his tank. With gas prices on the rise, there had been more cases reported of gas theft.

Or it could be that the vehicle was wired to blow.

He carefully typed a response on the mini screen. I’ll check. Cover me.

Her reply was quicker this time. Will do.

Satisfied, he edged closer to the SUV. As he did so, the gasoline fumes grew stronger. He still had the key fob in his pocket, and the thought of the car blowing up at the click of the button gave him pause.

Could this perp be smart enough to have made and planted a bomb? If so, why the intense gasoline smell?

He didn’t like it but continued easing closer. Without his phone, it wouldn’t be easy to see beneath the vehicle. But that didn’t stop him.

Seeing motion to the left, he froze, then scowled when Jina emerged. She held up the phone without saying anything, as if reading his mind about how he’d need the light.

They were both close enough to the vehicle to know the shooter wasn’t in the immediate area. There had been no sign that anyone had come through the woods in the same place he had either. Plus, they’d stayed low enough that anyone watching from afar through a scope or binocs wouldn’t have spotted them.

He hoped.

He held out his hand for the phone, then stretched out on the ground. Flicking the flashlight app on, he aimed the beam beneath the vehicle’s frame.

To his shocked surprise, it only took him a few minutes to find what he was looking for. A crude pipe bomb that was located near the fuel tank. Sweeping the beam of light over the ground, he saw the gasoline spill had killed several weeds on the ground.

Explosives were not his area of expertise, but he surmised the idea was that they’d start the car, the bomb would blow, and the extra gasoline would make sure they went up in a ball of flames.

He turned to glance toward Jina. He mouthed the word bomb, then began to edge away from the car.

Silently praying the explosive device wasn’t on a timer or, worse, could be triggered to blow from afar.