Chapter 17

17

Dev watched his family and Kinsley set up a game of Monopoly on the coffee table. He remained in the dining room, trying to decide what to do after the information they received. The day had started off far too uneventful for his liking and had remained that way all through the tense coffee break he'd just shared with Kinsley and his family.

Uneventful when it came to Kinsley's safety was good, but Sierra had said the fingerprint information for the drone would come in today. He'd hoped she would've called him by now and had identified Huff as their suspect, as he was their most logical one. That was, if his conversation on the lawn wasn't staged. But Dev would be glad for anyone's name. That would give him a lead to go on. A solid lead.

He would far rather have that than go into the living room and join in a game. Usually he loved Monopoly. Most times he won when he played his family, but today he couldn't concentrate.

His phone chimed a text from Nolan. Located Caldwell. He didn't hear from Huff and didn't seem concerned. Tried to get him to understand the danger he was in, but he didn't believe Huff would come after him. Claims he's never heard of Kinsley, so had no reason to want to kill her.

You did your best to warn him, Dev fired back. Would be good if you kept an eye on him. For protection and in case he's lying and has it out for Kinsley.

Roger that, but man, you'll owe me for making me sit through poetry readings tonight.

Dev replied with a ha-ha but hoped he could find some way to pay the guy back.

Should he have had Nolan come back instead of keeping an eye on Caldwell? Dev really needed all the help he could get with Kinsley's protection detail and couldn't afford for Nolan to stay in Eugene. Would Dev come to regret that decision? Only time would tell. Something else to weigh heavy on his mind.

His throat seemed to close on him, and he needed some air.

"I'm stepping out on the porch for a minute." He didn't wait for anyone to reply but opened the door and joined Abby, who had the dayshift.

"All's quiet," she said. "I'm not hoping for anyone to break into the compound, but this is getting a little tedious."

Dev felt sorry for her and appreciated her even more right now. "Better than sitting at the sheriff's desk and doing paperwork, right?"

She stared into the distance. "Pretty much anything trumps that part of the job, and the higher I climbed in the ranks, the less action I saw. I was only called in when the problem was so big my sergeants and lieutenant couldn't handle it. Often a disaster by then, and I had to make sure the public didn't lose confidence in us." She shook her head. "The job ended up being far more about politics and putting out fires than actual law enforcement."

Dev would've hated that kind of job. "Is that why you left to join Nolan's team?"

She shifted to look at him. "Actually, you got it wrong. It's not Nolan's team. Not really anyway. It was his idea, and we voted for him to be in charge, but each of us ponied up our fair share to start the business."

"Seems like you know each other pretty well for having just formed the company."

"We do. Went to college together, studying law enforcement." Her eyes took on a fond look. "We formed a study group our freshman year to get through science prereqs and became friends. We had jobs with different agencies before we graduated, but we managed to go to police academy together too."

"Sounds like you have a pretty tight bond."

"We do, even though we went our separate ways and lived in different cities. But then Nolan contacted us and offered to provide the property where we live and work out of—an old inn with an attached lighthouse sitting on the point. He paid for it, and we're renovating the main areas together, but doing our own rooms."

"How's that going?"

She shook her head and laughed. "Some of us are doing better than others."

"The place sounds amazing. I'll have to come by and see it."

"It'll be great all right." Her lips turned down. " Once we get the renovations done. We're doing them between jobs, and it's taking longer than we hoped."

"I'm sure Reid would agree to pay back your help here by our team coming to work on the place with you for a day."

"There's no need to repay us, but we wouldn't turn it down." She wrinkled her nose. "Took me a long time to accept help like that. Until God taught me a valuable lesson about trying to always go it on my own. And before you ask, it's a long story. Just trust me when I say, I now know that accepting help is a good thing."

Dev could take a page out of her book. He didn't like to ask for help. Something he rarely did. Probably came from being the younger brother of an overachiever and wanting to prove himself. But protecting Kinsley had been an exception. He would take all the help he could get if it meant he could keep her alive.

So far, he and the others had succeeded in that area—the most important area—but they hadn't moved very far in the investigation.

"Excuse me a minute." He walked around the other side of the cabin.

He'd had enough of waiting and dug out his phone to text Sierra. He started typing, then stopped, letting his finger hover over the keypad. She and her team had gone out of their way to get here and to Kinsley's apartment right away to collect forensics. It would be rude of him to try to push her along when he knew she was doing the best she could do.

He pressed the X on the keypad until the text disappeared and stared at the screen until it went black. What should he do now? Not go inside and play games. Or should he take the time to relax and rejuvenate with the others?

Problem was, he was too amped up to relax, and he didn't want to bring them down. So then what? What could he be doing to follow up on any of the suspects? Maybe he should review all the files again just in case he was missing something. He could take them to the bedroom he was sharing with Colin so no one was distracted by his foul mood.

He rounded the corner again. His phone rang in his hand. His heart lurched.

Could it be Sierra?

He woke up the phone and checked the caller ID. Sierra. Perfect.

"Please tell me you have news," he said into his phone.

"I do, but probably not what you're waiting for," she said. "We cast the footprints we found near the drone operator's truck. One of my assistants has already identified the footwear."

"And?" Dev asked, though honestly he wasn't all that excited about the lead as they would have to go to the suspects' houses to get a close enough look at their shoes to match it.

"It's a Nike Cortez."

"That doesn't narrow it down much, does it?" Dev asked. "Pretty much everyone in Oregon knows that's the most popular running shoe ever made, and most people have owned a pair over the years."

"You're right, since Nike is headquartered here, we're all familiar with one of their most iconic shoes." She didn't speak for a moment. "But we all wear our shoes differently, so the wear pattern on the heels and toes are unique to each individual. Think of it as a shoe fingerprint. Find me a pair of Nike Cortez from one of your suspects, and I can tell you if it's a match to our impression."

"If we ever get to the point where we have a single suspect, I'll take you up on that. Until then, I'll have our guys in Portland keep an eye out for one of our suspects wearing those shoes."

"Odds are good if he wore them that night, he wouldn't wear them again in public. But then, he might not be as smart as we're giving him credit for."

"Yeah, he's been pretty clever."

"I need to get back to work, so I'll let you go."

"How are the fingerprints and DNA coming?" he asked quickly before she disconnected.

"Not as fast as I'd hoped, but I'll let you know the minute I have anything. Should be before the day is out." She ended the call, preventing him from asking additional questions.

His phone rang again before he had time to process the call from Sierra. He glanced at the screen. Micha.

He could have something on Luongo that would help move them forward.

Dev tapped the button to accept the call. "Our boy behaving himself?"

"You're not going to like this," Micha said.

Dev's gut clenched. "Go ahead and spit it out."

"I talked to Luongo's neighbors on the down low. Found out he belongs to a shooting club and goes there frequently."

Dev shoved his fingers into his hair. "Not the kind of news we want to hear."

"No. He could be our shooter."

"Yeah," was all Dev could say without letting Micha hear his worry.

"Do you want me to keep on his house?" Micha asked, thankfully moving on. "Or should I head to his club to see what I can learn about him?"

"Stay at the house. It's too risky to talk to these club members. They're usually pretty tight, and if you ask around, you might alert Luongo to the fact that you're tailing him."

"Makes sense. I'll hang here."

Dev told him to watch for the Nikes and explained why, then took a deep breath before his next question. "Anything else of interest there?"

"Nah, the dude hasn't even left home."

"Don't let that lull you into a false sense of security. Keep your eyes open. If he's our shooter you're our first line of defense."

Kinsley sat down with Dev in the dining room. Jada had gone to sit with Sandy until she fell asleep leaving Kinsley and Dev alone. He shared the conversations he'd had with Sierra and Micha and now they were reviewing Kinsley's investigation files again. A last ditch effort while they waited for Sierra to call again, and time dragged like a heavy suitcase on a long airport walk. They didn't locate anything new, and tension filled the cabin along with the lingering smell of the rosemary-infused chicken they'd had for dinner.

Kinsley's phone rang with a video call, the caller ID said the Veritas Center. She showed Dev. "Could be Sierra."

"Answer!" He jumped to his feet.

She tapped the accept button and then joined the call. Nick Thorn's face showed on the screen. He still looked the same as she remembered and had a close-cut beard in a reddish-brown color that matched his hair.

"Nick!" She smiled. "Long time no see."

"Hey, Kinsley," he said, his tone deep and husky.

"Good to hear from you." She glanced back at Dev who'd come to stand behind her. "My shadow is Devan—Dev—Graham."

"We know each other," Dev said. "And even if we didn't, all the great things Sierra has to say about you makes it seem like we do."

"They're all true." He blew on his fingernails and polished them on his shirt, then laughed. "I got the drone from Sierra and ran the ID through the registration databases. I'm sorry to say the drone isn't registered, so it didn't provide any contact information."

Kinsley's hope evaporated. "Then we're out of luck in finding him that way."

"Yes and no." Nick tilted his head. "True the registration database was a bust, but we can still use the serial ID number for a few things."

He held up his index finger. "First, I left a message with the manufacturer to find out where they sold this model drone with our ID lot. If we can find out where it was sold and narrow it down to a single location, we might get lucky and recover security footage of the purchase. Or if the drone was sold online, we can find out where it was shipped."

"What are the odds that will happen?" Dev asked.

"Honestly…" Nick paused, and she couldn't help thinking that he didn't want to answer. "With this older model drone, it's a longshot. Businesses often don't keep security video for long. And we have to consider the fact that it could've been bought at a garage sale, on eBay, or other selling sites. If our suspect is smart, he might have bought it this way so no one would be able to trace it to him."

Kinsley felt Dev's posture stiffen behind her.

"So, really, we shouldn't hold our breath on this."

Nick scratched his chin. "Wouldn't say there's no hope, but don't count on it as your only lead."

"You said ‘a few things,' though," Kinsley said, wanting to hear something positive.

"Yeah, I'll also write an algorithm using the serial ID and search the internet for the number."

"If it's old, how will that help?" she asked.

"Once something is indexed by search engines on the internet, it's there forever unless you can get the search engine owner to remove it, which is usually impossible."

"But why would the number even be there?" she asked, still waiting to see how this could be a good thing.

Nick's jaw tightened as if he were getting frustrated with her. "If it was listed on eBay or other such selling sites for example, the serial number might be included in the listing."

Not quite there for her. "And that wouldn't disappear when an item is sold?"

"No. Haven't you ever searched for something online and gotten an eBay listing for an item that was no longer for sale?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I have. Frustrating when I want to buy it and it's really not for sale, but yeah, I see your point now."

Nick smiled. "So this is a possibility too. Another long shot, though."

"What about a broadcast signal?" Dev asked. "Was the drone set up to be broadcasting?"

Nick shook his head. "Wasn't built in and wasn't retrofitted with a remote ID module, so definitely flying on the downlow. Makes me mad. We just had a medical helicopter that couldn't land due to a drone flying illegally in the area. The patient died."

"That's horrible." Kinsley offered a quick prayer for the family suffering a needless loss.

"There's a reason the FAA has rules in place." Nick cleared his throat. "Time for some good news. I was able to remove the camera's memory card. It was intact, and I recovered the video."

"Not like video of our compound helps." Dev didn't bother to hide his skepticism.

Nick didn't appear to let it bother him. "There was a small snippet of an urban area recorded prior to the cabin footage. Looks like apartment buildings. I've isolated a good image to upload to the internet to search for the location, but I'm also going to send it to you to review. Maybe you'll know what the footage is of."

"Can you send it right away?" Kinsley asked.

"I'll fire it off to you as soon as we get off the phone." He leaned back and put his hands behind his head. "And on a different subject, I'll also send you the enlarged photo of the jewelry from your apartment. I wasn't able to do a lot to enhance it, but it is clearer and you might be able to see what you're looking for. That's all I have. Sorry I didn't have great news, but it's better than nothing."

"You're right." Kinsley smiled at him. "Thanks so much for your help, Nick."

"I'll let you know as soon as I hear anything from the manufacturer or if my algorithm turns up something actionable." He snapped forward in his seat, and the call ended.

Kinsley turned to look at Dev. "We'll just have to pray what he sends us will turn out to be helpful."

Her phone dinged a text, and the photo from Nick came through. She opened it while Dev was still standing behind her.

She looked at the screen and gasped. "It's my apartment complex."

Dev punched the back of her chair. "Look at the time and date."

She checked the photo, then flashed a look back at him. "He filmed this after the break-in."

"It's the morning you were at the apartment meeting Stewart." He clutched her chair. "If you zoom in, I'll bet you'll find our cars in the parking lot."

She didn't want to zoom, but she did, enlarging the image. Just like he'd said, their cars were in the parking lot, and the detective had just arrived.

"He could've been scared off by Stewart's arrival," Dev said.

She turned her chair to look at him, pulling his hands free from the chair. "What do you think he might've been planning to do if the detective hadn't arrived when he did?"

"I don't even want to think about it." His facial muscles tightened. "Thank God Stewart showed up."

Her phone dinged again, and the text held the photo of her jewelry that Nick had enhanced. She opened it on the screen, and the gold pendant had been enlarged. It was an oblong piece, about an inch long, with writing engraved on the side facing up.

Dev leaned over her shoulder. "Can you make out the writing?"

"No, but likely if we could, it would give away our suspect's name or maybe the name of someone close to him or he wouldn't have come back for it."

"You're probably right." He moved back to the other side of the table.

"I was hoping the picture would tell us something," she said. "But it wasn't all bad news tonight. We'll just have to pray that Nick finds something else."

"I'll let Nick know the image is of your apartment," Dev said, disappointment lingering in his gaze.

She got up to pace for a while. Not only to work out her disappointment, but she'd been sitting for far too long. Sitting. Sitting. Sitting. All she'd been able to do while she had to rely on others to figure out who was trying to kill her.

She went to the door and peeked out the tiny window. The only thing she was allowed to look out as the other curtains were pulled tight. If she stayed for any length of time, Dev would ask her to step away from the door. She remained in place long enough to see the sun drop below the horizon, but it was barely noticeable in the heavy smoke clogging the outside air.

She'd experienced bad air quality in Portland from the winds blowing in wildfire smoke, but nothing as bad as this. Poor Abby and now Hayden, standing duty on the porch. They wore a respirator, but still, it wasn't a pleasant job. She wished she could take their place, but if she could, they wouldn't need to be here. She owed so many people. Perhaps owed them her life. A debt that could never be repaid. Sure, she could try, or even pay for their services, but that wouldn't begin to cover it.

Thank you. For your protection. For sending these men and this woman. Watch over them and keep them safe.

Dev came up behind her. "You're deep in thought."

"Just thinking about the huge debt I owe all of you for making sure I'm safe."

"I hope you're not trying to figure out a way to repay everyone. As Reid said in our meeting, none of us need to be paid, so you shouldn't even be thinking about that."

"Easier said than done. I'm sure if you were in my position, you would be thinking the same thing."

"You could be right. But just know we're here for you no matter what."

"I'm very blessed by that. God smiled on me the day you came to my rescue in the parking lot."

"Not exactly what you thought that day, was it?" He grinned.

"No. No, it wasn't." She laughed. "I hope you can forgive me for being so difficult at first."

"Nothing to forgive. I'd have been the same way. I wouldn't have wanted to accept the fact that someone was shooting at me and I needed protection."

She shook her head. "Even now, I find it hard to believe. Maybe it's because we haven't been able to narrow this down to one suspect."

"We should be able to do that if Sierra lifted fingerprints from the drone and found a match."

"But if she did, why isn't she letting us know? She said they would be done today, but the typical work day is over."

"I know she frequently works late and could still be processing things." He held up his phone. "She said she would let me know the minute she has anything."

His phone sounded a text.

He looked down at the screen. "It's Reid. He wants me to come over to his place to meet with him and Russ."

"Then you should go."

He gnawed on his cheek. "I don't want to leave you, and I certainly can't take you with me."

"Don't worry about me." She rested a hand on his arm. "With all of the suspects under surveillance now, they can't be coming for me, and I'm good with Colin in here and Hayden outside the door. Besides, you'll just be a few houses away."

"Are you sure?" He searched her eyes.

"Positive." She pushed him towards the door.

He looked back at her. "Just know I'm a phone call away, and I can be back here in a few minutes."

She nodded and smiled, but even though she was agreeing to him going, she really didn't feel comfortable with it. She didn't think anything bad was going to happen, but she'd come to depend on him. Rely on him. Want him in her life.

And not just as a protector, but as a full-time partner. Maybe while he was gone, she could stop stressing over who was trying to kill her and figure out how she could start a relationship without ruining her bond with her best friend.