Page 83 of Night Prey
His best course of action at the moment was to text her.
He typed,Did you know Gilbert Flagg Sr. once owned your house?
My parents place? Really? When?
They moved out right after remodeling it before your parents bought it.
I had no idea. Any thoughts on what this might mean?
He wanted to pick up the phone and call her. Not send characters through the phone. He wanted to hear her voice.
Still not the best move.
No idea, Looking into it with Londyn.
I’ll go through the boxes in the garage again. See if we missed something.
He’d like to join her, but he needed to go talk to Flagg Sr. so Ian typed.LMK if you find anything.
I will.
And just like that, their brief communication was over, and he was left wanting more. He shoved his phone into his pocket and joined Londyn at the bullpen door.
“Malone didn’t know about Flagg owning the house.” He opened the door for Londyn.
She stepped into the hallway and started for the elevator. “Just as you thought.”
He held the elevator doors for her. “She’s going to go back through the garage boxes to see if she can find anything we missed.”
“Do you think you missed something?” Londyn tapped the first floor button.
“Not likely,” he said. “But it’s possible.”
“I still wonder if her parents might be connected with the Chinese drywall fiasco, but there was nothing in her dad’s notes to suggest that.”
“Doesn’t mean it didn’t exist,” Ian said. “Too bad Nick hasn’t found anything in his drywall search. I’ll check in and see if he can add Flagg as a search parameter.”
On the street, he typed the message and wound his way among pedestrians. His actions weren’t lost on him. He was doing exactly what he warned others not to do. Not paying attention to their surroundings. Leaving himself vulnerable to attack. But Londyn walked with him, and should an issue arise, she had his back. He knew that about her now and could trust her.
Malone would have his back too. And support him in everything else in his life. That he knew with certainty.
He thought about her and her amazing personality all the way to Flagg’s large home where he had to stow his thoughts, but even more he knew they needed to talk.
Help me to say the right things when I do talk to her.
More eager than ever to solve the mystery of who killed her parents, Ian parked in the driveway.
Londyn opened her car door. “I can’t believe Flagg needs a bigger place than this one.”
Ian got out. “Maybe with Junior gone and Karen likely to spend a long stretch in prison, he’ll forget about the new house.”
They took the walkway to the front door, and Ian rang the bell. As he enjoyed the cool temperatures and soft breeze, the birds chirping in the trees and the scents of flowers, Ian tried to imagine that he was at this door for any reason other than to question a man whose son was recently murdered, his wife turned into a killer. Just didn’t fit the neighborhood, but criminals lived everywhere, even in pricey Portland neighborhoods. Olivo was proof of that.
Ian rang the bell again and heard the chime reverberating through the house. Footsteps quickly approached, echoing off the tile. They paused, and Ian imagined Flagg on the other side of the door looking out the peephole. The door jerked open.
Flagg made eye contact with Ian. “Detective.” He changed his focus to Londyn and a broad smile crossed his face. “And you are?”
She held out her shield. “Detective Londyn Steele.”
