Page 94 of Night Prey
“Your dad knew my company had renovated their house before they moved in. He called to say he was going to remove the half wall and wanted to know if we had more of the wood flooring. I told him a good flooring guy could piece in hardwoods. He thanked me for the info, butIshould’ve thankedhim. After all, he’d given me a heads-up that it was only a matter of time before he found Sarah’s things. I had no choice.” Flagg shook his head. “But what a rush. Learning I could’ve been found out. That the news media would speculate on who killed her. It was a rush when her murder was reported in the paper, but that? That was closer to home. More thrilling. Much more.”
She could hardly look at him. “Junior found out about you somehow, and that’s what he was going to tell me.”
“Seems like it, but he never told me or my wife. He was probably too afraid to confront me. Instead, he ran to you like a tattletale. Big baby.” Flagg’s lip curled up. “He’s my one regret in life.” He glanced at her, gaze hardened, and she could easily imagine him standing over her with the knife in hand. “My one and only.”
Ian held the rifle he’d retrieved from his trunk and outfitted the weapon with his night vision scope. Maybe today was the day he would actually use the scope. Maybe God had prepared him by encouraging him to carry the right equipment.
He glanced at Londyn who kept the speed above the limit, but it didn’t feel fast enough.
He sat forward in his seat and peered out the front window deluged by a sudden downpour, the wipers furiously trying to keep the glass clear. The vehicle was cool, but perspiration beaded on his forehead. At every turn, he hoped to catch up to the pickup. He would use his rifle’s telescopic sight that magnified the subject and focus on the truck to confirm that Malone was in the vehicle and Flagg was driving. The vehicle was registered to Flagg’s construction company. Not a surprise, but it could be one of Flagg’s workers in the truck.
“Hopefully, a patrol officer will spot them soon.” He’d requested an alert be put out by the county sheriff’s office, which would go to the entire metro area. The officers had the truck’s description. The plates. And the fact that the truck had been on this road. But the big question, the one burning a hole in Ian’s gut was, had Flagg turned off?
The map he’d pulled up on his phone didn’t show any side roads to this point, but a major intersection was coming up in another mile.
He’d turned the radio to the sheriff’s channel and periodically switched back and forth to PPB to listen in, praying for news of the truck.
“Where do you think Flagg’s taking her?” Londyn asked.
“If he follows his pattern, he’ll want to kill her somewhere close to his house. Of course, this is nothing like his other murders.”
“Criminals often commit crimes within a narrow radius around their homes.”
“He won’t kill her at his house now. Not when he knows he’s already on our radar.”
“What about the house he’s constructing?” she asked. “It’s secluded and workers would’ve gone home by now.”
“Would be a good place to commit murder.” Ian got out his phone to look at the pictures he’d taken of Junior’s closet. “I’ll call in and get an unmarked car out to his current residence to tell us if they arrive so we can head to the construction site.”
He called dispatch on speaker and made his request.
“Please hold,” the dispatcher said.
He tapped his foot as he counted down the time. “C’mon. Hurry up.”
“Good news, Detective,” she said. “One of the detectives on the drug squad already has the house under surveillance. Flagg isn’t home, and they’ll remain in place for as long as you need and will notify you if he arrives.”
“Roger that,” Ian replied and hung up.
“So what do you want to do?” Londyn asked him.
Yeah. What? Think, man. Think.
If he made the wrong decision, Malone could die. Even if he made the right one, they could already be too late.
“Ian,” Londyn said.
He racked his brain. “If we don’t catch up to them by the intersection and they haven’t been spotted by an officer, we’ll head over to the house Flagg is building.”
“Too bad we can’t get eyes on the place from overhead,” Londyn said.
Ian nodded, but neither PPB or Washington County Sheriff’s office had helicopters. PPB had a surveillance plane, but it would take too long to get approval for take-off on a non-tactical situation, if he even could get approval with the limited information he possessed.
He lifted his gun and ran his scope over the area. No truck. No Malone.
His hopes sank, and he lowered the rifle. They were entering a more populous area, and he didn’t want someone to spot the gun and report him.
He craned his neck to see ahead, his pulse pounding loudly in his brain.
