Page 23 of Once Hidden
Chief Rawley tilted her head slightly.“That’s interesting, because Mrs.Sprouse mentioned seeing your car driving past her house when Amanda was making a delivery there.The day Amanda disappeared.”
Marcus’s face flushed.“So, what if I was in the area?It’s a free country.I was just driving by.”
“Driving by the exact place where Amanda was making her last known delivery before disappearing?”Ann Marie asked.
“I saw her truck,” Marcus admitted reluctantly.“Thought about stopping to say hi, but figured she was busy.So, I kept going.That’s it.”
Riley caught Marcus glancing toward the next room—a quick, nervous flick of the eyes.She moved slightly in order to see that area better.It was a small kitchen, cluttered and dirty, with another door on one side.Whatever he was hiding, it was in that direction, if not in the kitchen, then through that door that would lead to …
The garage,she realized.
“And what about Cable Morris?”Captain Hodge asked.
“Cable who?”
“Morris,” Hodge said.“He disappeared near Springcrest.Did you know him?”
“Never met him,” Marcus said, though his right foot began tapping against the floor—another stress indicator.“And I never go to Springcrest.”
Marcus’s gaze kept darting to that side door.Riley exchanged a quick look with Chief Rawley, who had clearly noticed the same behavior.
“Marcus,” Rawley said carefully, “we’d like to take a look in your garage, if you don’t mind.”
His reaction was immediate and telling—his face hardened, his stance widened, and he stepped between them and the door.“You got a warrant?”
“No,” Rawley admitted, “but if you have nothing to hide—”
“Then I don’t have to let you snoop around my property,” Marcus interrupted, his voice rising.“You come here, accusing me of—what?Kidnapping?Based on what?That I drove down a public road?”
“Nobody’s accusing you of anything,” Captain Hodge said, his deep voice carrying a note of calm authority.“We’re just trying to find those missing people.”
“Well, they’re not in my garage,” Marcus snapped.His hands were trembling now, and sweat had begun to bead on his forehead.
Riley stepped closer.“Marcus, your reaction is making us concerned.If you’re hiding something in there—”
“Get out!”Marcus suddenly shouted, pointing toward the front door.“All of you, get out of my house!”
“Marcus—” Rawley began.
“I said get out!”He advanced toward them, his movements erratic.“You want to search anything, get a warrant!”
When Rawley didn’t move, Marcus’s control finally snapped.He lunged forward, clearly intending to physically force them out, shoving Chief Rawley with enough force to make her stumble.
Hodge moved with surprising speed for his size, catching Marcus’s arm and twisting it behind his back in one fluid motion.“That was a mistake,” he said evenly as Marcus struggled against his grip.
With the situation escalated to physical attack, Rawley now had probable cause.“Let’s check the garage,” she said to Riley and Ann Marie as Hodge restrained the increasingly agitated Marcus.
Riley moved quickly through the little kitchen to that door, and pulled it open.With Ann Marie and Rawley following close behind, she stepped down onto a concrete floor.What they saw was not kidnapping victims, but what appeared to be a small-scale fencing operation—power tools still in their boxes, bicycles with price tags still attached, electronics, and dozens of packages that had clearly been stolen from porches.
“Some of these items have been reported stolen—and now I know who stole them,” Chief Rawley said, pulling handcuffs from her belt.She returned to the kitchen where Hodge maintained his hold on the now-subdued man.“Marcus Alstead, you’re under arrest for assault on a police officer and, I’m guessing, a whole lot of theft charges once we sort through all this.”
Marcus’s resistance collapsed as Rawley read him his rights.“It’s not what you think,” he muttered, though it wasn’t clear whether he meant the stolen goods or the original reason for their visit.
“We’ll process him at the station,” Rawley told them.“Let’s meet up there.”
“Okay,” Riley replied, watching as Hodge and Rawley led a now-compliant Marcus away.
She and Ann Marie stood in the cluttered garage for a few minutes, looking over Marcus Alstead’s secret enterprise.Stolen packages were stacked in messy piles, their shipping labels still intact—National Parcel Express and FleetRush Logistics prominently displayed, the very companies that Amanda Lindeen and Cable Morris had worked for.But this wasn’t the smoking gun they’d hoped for—just a petty thief who’d made stealing packages his livelihood, not a kidnapper who’d made delivery drivers disappear.
