Chapter Twelve
Still clutching the note with Noah’s phone number in her hand, Declan and Cully headed to Owen’s office to let him know what had happened. Or rather what might have happened.
Cully knew that it was indeed possible that Noah had called her mother. Possible, too, that the man believed he could help identify the killer. But this could also be some kind of sick hoax.
When they reached the bullpen, Cully and Declan had to step aside to let the EMTs get by. They made a beeline toward the interview room, no doubt to whisk Renee away to the hospital.
Once the EMT had gotten past them, Declan and she went to Owen’s office where they found him at his desk. He was just finishing up a phone call, and he looked pleased about something.
“I got the search warrant for Roscoe and Renee’s home and business,” Owen explained. “The CSIs and reserve deputies are on the way there now.”
That was good news. It’d be even better news if they found something to prove that Renee or Roscoe was a killer.
“Is something wrong?” Owen asked when he glanced up and saw their expressions.
“Not sure.” Cully handed him the note. “Someone claiming to be Noah called my mom and asked her to pass along his number. He wants to talk to us.”
Owen took the note, gave it a quick look and then reached for his phone again. “I’m going to send one of my Strike Force guys to your house in San Antonio to make sure your mom stays safe.”
Oh my God. Cully hadn’t even gone there yet. But she sure as heck should have. The call could have been from the killer or his or her accomplice. A call to confirm Alice’s location so the killer would know where to get to her.
“I can leave now and go home,” Cully muttered, already turning to head out.
“Hold on,” Owen insisted. “I can get someone there faster. Someone with training to deal with situations like this.”
That stopped her, but it also gave her a shot of panic. She didn’t want her mother hurt. Or worse. She didn’t want the killer doing to her mom what he’d done to the other four people.
Owen fired off a text, and within seconds he got a reply. “Okay,” he said. “Someone will be at your house in ten minutes. Hayes,” he added, glancing up at them.
“Hayes,” Cully repeated and got some relief to tamp down the panic. Because he was Declan’s brother, and Cully knew he was more than capable of protecting her mother.
“All of this is just a precaution,” Owen reminded her.
Yes, but it was a necessary one, and Cully wanted to kick herself for not thinking of it sooner.
“All right, let’s see if this number is the real deal,” Owen added, and he punched in the numbers, putting his phone on speaker.
Someone answered on the first ring but didn’t say anything.
Owen motioned for her to respond. “This is Cully O’Banion,” she said and waited. She didn’t have to wait long.
“Alice’s daughter,” the man said.
She didn’t recognize his voice and glanced at Declan and Owen to see if they did. “Does he sound familiar?” she mouthed and got headshakes from both of them to indicate they didn’t.
“I’m Noah Kincaid,” he added a moment later.
“You’ve been missing a long time,” Cully pointed out. “Where have you been, and why resurface now?”
Noah took some time before responding. “I’ve been a lot of places. As for why I’ve come back now, I saw the news coming out of Outlaw Ridge about the four bodies being found at my house. My former house,” he amended.
“You told my mother you know who killed those people,” Cully spelled out when Noah fell silent. “Who?”
“I’d like to meet in person to go over that,” he said, surprising her.
Cully hadn’t thought Noah would want a face-to-face meeting. If this was Noah, that is. The jury was still out on that.
“When and where would you like to meet?” she asked.
“Now and at the police station, if that works for you,” he let her know, giving Cully yet another surprise. “I’m just up the street at the diner and can come right away.”
Owen nodded to give her the green light for the meeting.
“Yes, that works,” Cully replied.
“See you soon,” Noah promised, and he ended the call.
“I’ll pull up any photos we have of Noah,” Declan offered as the three of them made their way into the bullpen so they could watch for the man’s arrival.
Once again though, they had to step aside for the EMTs who were now helping Renee toward the ambulance. Her lawyer was right behind them. Renee wasn’t on a stretcher, but there was an EMT on each side of her as they made their way to the front door. Renee didn’t speak, didn’t even look at them.
“You think that’s an act?” Owen asked.
Cully had to settle for a shrug. “Hard to tell. If she’s innocent in all of this and if she’s truly dealing with the loss of her daughter, then, yes, I believe she could have some kind of breakdown or panic attack.”
Declan made a lukewarm sound of agreement. “But it seems to me if she was going to break, it would have happened yesterday when she learned it was her daughter’s remains.”
Now, it was Cully’s turn to agree. Still, people handled grief differently, and she was hoping a doctor would be able to tell if Renee was putting on an act.
“Noah,” Declan said, holding out his phone so Owen and she could see the photo on the screen. “This was taken about twenty-two years ago, shortly before he disappeared.”
Cully looked at the shot that appeared to have been taken at a party with a grinning, perhaps drunk Noah in the middle of two women in sparkly dresses.
“Yeah, I could see Renee falling for this guy,” Declan remarked.
So could Cully. With his blond hair, deeply tanned skin, and classic good looks, Noah would have had no trouble attracting lovers. Maybe Renee hadn’t been able to resist.
Cully looked up at the sound of some movement. The EMTs had barely gotten out the door with Renee when she spotted the man in a linen suit come into the station. He looked to be in his late fifties, which was the right age for Noah, but it still took her a moment to pick through his features and realize that it was indeed him. He certainly hadn’t aged well and looked a decade older than he actually was.
Noah looked in their direction and then over his shoulder. In fact, he fired several nervous glances around him before he made his way through sign-in and the metal detector.
“Noah Kincade?” Owen asked. “I’m Sheriff Striker,” he added when Noah gave him a nod. “This is Cully O’Banion and Deputy Declan Brodie.” Owen then motioned for them all to follow him into his office.
Noah did more of that looking around as if he halfway expected someone to jump out at him. “Nervous about something?” Declan asked.
“Yeah, about being killed,” Noah was quick to answer, but he seemed to relax just a little once they were inside the office and Owen shut the door. “The last time I was in Outlaw Ridge, I barely got out alive.”
Owen held up his hand to pause the conversation. “I’m going to Mirandize you. It’s routine,” he added when alarm widened Noah’s pale blue eyes.
Noah finally gave a nod, a hesitant one, and Owen recited the man’s rights as they all took a seat. “All right,” Owen said when he was finished, “is Noah Kincade still your legal name or have you changed it?”
“I haven’t changed it, but I use a different name these days. Will Jones. And, yes, my wife, Hazel, knows my real name and why I don’t use it any longer.”
Beside her, Declan immediately typed in Will Jones and started a search. Cully figured there’d be hundreds of hits, and she was right, but he quickly zoomed in on the Will Jones with a wife, Hazel. The woman was in her early eighties, nearly thirty years older than Noah, and according to the brief summary that popped up, Hazel owned a successful restaurant in Austin.
“I don’t want to involve my wife in any of this,” Noah went on. “I merely want to tell you what I know, or rather what I suspect, and try to get some of my…possessions that were still in the house I once owned.”
“Trust me, we’re all anxious to hear what you want to tell us,” Owen assured her. “For now though, start with why you called Cully’s mother.”
That was definitely something she wanted to know. Then, she might be able to figure out if her mom was truly in danger.
“Alice has the same number she did twenty-two years ago. I tried it, figuring if I didn’t get through to her, then I’d call the station and ask to speak to you,” he said, looking at Cully.
She truly hoped that was all there was to it, and that Noah hadn’t put her mom in the path of a killer.
“Like I told you on the phone,” Noah went on with his attention still fixed on Cully, “I heard about the bodies you found at my house, and I think I can help.” He stopped, shook his head. “I can’t believe how much you look like Alice. You’re the spitting image of her when she was younger.”
Cully had heard that before, but coming from this man, it gave her a creepy vibe. Noah seemed to be ogling her, and she had to wonder if he’d had a thing for her mother. If so, Alice probably hadn’t reciprocated since she’d called Noah a bad man. Then again, Noah had her phone number, and it was possible that was because her mom had given it to him all those years ago.
“How can you help with the murders?” Owen asked, thankfully getting Noah to shift his gaze from Cully to him.
“Because I think I know who might have done it.” Noah stopped again and sighed. “Let me take you for a trip down memory lane. Twenty-two years ago, I was in debt to a lot of people, including a loan shark. A really bad one who’d kill in a blink. And I think that’s what he did.”
“Go on,” Owen prompted when Noah fell silent.
“His name is Zeb Caldwell, and back in the day, he had an army of thugs who could and would beat you to within an inch of your life. Needless to say, I was trying to avoid them.”
Declan typed in the man’s name on his phone and accessed a lengthy bio on Caldwell, including a very long rap sheet. And, yes, he had once been a powerful loan shark.
“Caldwell went to prison eight years ago,” Declan volunteered.
“Yes, but his thugs are still around, still doing his bidding,” Noah insisted.
“I guess that’s why you never came back,” Owen said, “not until today.” There was some skepticism in his tone and expression. “Did you come back before now?” he came out and asked.
Noah licked his lips, and the nerves seemed to return. “I made a quick trip here about a year after I left, and I’ve had a couple more repeat visits since. I’d left some things in the house, and I wanted to try to get them if they hadn’t been stolen. I figured people would break in and take stuff once they knew the place was empty.”
“Did you go back to get a gun?” Owen, again.
Noah nodded after a long pause. “I had a .38 beneath the floorboards in my bedroom and hadn’t had a chance to get it when I left.”
So, her mother had been right about that. And her mom had also thought Noah had something to do with the murders.
“I’d also left quite a bit of cash, about ten grand, in a small hidden wall safe,” Noah went on. “And I needed it. Still do. If the fire department finds that, I’d like it back,” he added.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Owen said. “Any reason you didn’t use that cash twenty-two years ago to pay off the loan shark?”
“Because it wouldn’t have been enough. I owed considerably more than that. Owed money to a couple of people in town, too. Roscoe Logan. And Cully’s dad,” Noah added in a barely audible mutter.
That could be motive for murder.
“Anyway, I’m not here to get into old debts and stuff,” Noah continued. “I need to tell you what I saw. It was on another visit about two years after I’d left Outlaw Ridge.”
That would have been about the time of her father’s murder, but Cully didn’t voice that. It might cause Noah to clam up.
“I sneaked into my house one night, intending to get my money from the safe,” Noah added. “But when I went into the living room, I saw the floor had been cleaned. I’m talking spotless, and the whole place had a strong smell of bleach. And there was this new wall covering up the door to what used to be a small room to store wine. The door was completely walled up, and whoever had done it had gone to the trouble of using some paint from the storage shed so it more or less matched the color of the rest of the room.”
Yes, that was a lot of trouble. And time. The killer must have had hours or even days in the house to do something like that. Then, the whole process would have had to be repeated when the second set of bodies had been added.
The house would have been empty when all of this was going on. But by then it had also become a place for teenagers to make out. So, there was always the possibility of someone coming and going.
Including Cully herself.
She’d gone there with Brandon, and she knew Declan had done the same with Jessica.
“So, you believe this loan shark or his hired help did the murders and concealed the bodies?” Owen asked, and there was still plenty of skepticism. “Why would they do that?”
Noah shrugged, but his gaze darted away.
“Why would they do that?” Owen pressed, leaning across his desk so his face was closer to Noah’s.
“Because maybe Caldwell and his men found Derrick there and maybe thought it was me and maybe killed him,” Noah replied. His forehead had bunched up now, and he seemed even more unsettled than he had earlier.
Owen scowled. “That’s a whole lot of maybes. Why would Derrick have been there in the first place?”
“Derrick and Savannah used my house sometimes.” Noah gave Cully what she assumed was an apologetic glance. “Sorry. It was how I was paying off some of the money I owed him. I gave Derrick a private place to go.”
Even now, after all these years, that pissed Cully off. And cut her to the bone. She understood that people sometimes had affairs, but her father’s affair had nearly destroyed Alice and her.
It might have destroyed him, too.
If Noah was telling the truth, that is. Her father’s love nest with his mistress could have turned into a death trap if the loan shark’s thuds had indeed found him there and thought he was Noah. The two men looked nothing alike, but maybe in the dark, her father had been killed because of mistaken identity. If that’s the way things had played out, then Savannah could have been collateral damage.
But that left Brandon and Jessica.
“Explain how the other two bodies ended up behind that wall a year later,” Cully demanded.
Again, Noah shrugged. “My guess is that they met there, too, and were using the place to…fool around or have sex. Caldwell hadn’t given up on finding me then so I figure the same thing that happened to Derrick and his girlfriend happened to those teenagers.”
“And you didn’t have any part in that?” Owen asked.
“None,” Noah snapped out. “I had no reason to kill any of them.”
“Not true. You said that you owed Derrick money,” Declan was quick to remind him.
“Yeah, but Derrick was letting me pay it off by using the house. The county hadn’t foreclosed on the place by then so it still legally belonged to me. I’d told Derrick before I left Outlaw Ridge that he could use it as long as he wanted.”
Cully wished she had a way of knowing for certain that Noah was lying. Some of what he said made sense. Some. The man could still be the killer though. Perhaps Noah was the one who’d mistaken her father for Caldwell. The same could have happened to Brandon and Jessica.
But that didn’t feel right.
She could understand maybe one case of mistaken identity, but two was stretching it. Of course, Noah could have killed Brandon and Jessica intentionally if they were about to discover the bodies. Or the gun.
“Wasn’t there an easier hiding place in a house that size, rather than walling in a door to a wine room?” Declan asked. “Why would the loan shark go to all that trouble to conceal the bodies?”
“I don’t know unless maybe he wanted to make sure anything incriminating that he might have left behind stood a good chance of being destroyed with time,” Noah admitted.
Cully couldn’t dismiss that possibility, but she thought maybe just burying the bodies would have been easier.
“Also, there aren’t any other closets in the house to put any bodies,” Noah added. “There’s a big pantry in the kitchen, but the last time I saw it, it was crammed full of old storage boxes.”
It still was. Her contractor had made arrangements to move them to a storage facility so they could then try to locate Noah to see if he wanted any of the stuff. Of course now, they’d all been destroyed in the fire.
“You have to admit that walled-up wine room was a good hiding place,” Noah went on. “I mean, it took twenty years for the cops to find the bodies, and I can’t imagine there was much forensic evidence after all this time.”
There wouldn’t be. Yes, they had IDed all four and knew the cause of death, but there was still so much they didn’t know.
Owen’s phone dinged with a text, the sound shooting through the office. He took one look at the screen and stood, motioning for Declan and Cully to follow him. They did, and Cully’s mind was already whirling with possible news.
Bad news.
Maybe about her mother. It was possible that Hayes hadn’t managed to get to her in time to protect her.
“Is my mom all right?” Cully blurted the moment they were in the hall and Owen had shut his office door.
“I’m sure she is or Hayes would have let me know,” he assured her. “The text isn’t from Hayes but from one of the deputies searching Roscoe and Renee’s house. He found some old pictures.”
“What kind of pictures?” she wanted to know.
Owen’s phone sounded with another text, and she leaned in and saw it was a photo that the deputy had sent. And she blinked a couple of times to clear her eyes to make sure she was seeing what she thought she was seeing.
She was.
The picture was an old Polaroid of Brandon. He was standing in front of a full-length mirror, and he was stark naked. Since he was smiling and seemed to be waggling his fingers in a “come and get me” gesture, Cully was sure the photo had been taken with his consent.
And he clearly wasn’t alone.
The mirror captured the image of the person taking the photo. A woman who was also naked.
Renee.