Page 25 of Flynn

“Whatever you think is best,” she said with a shrug. “You’re the expert.”

“I like that one too,” Cassidy said. “It’s closer to Brookland, which might come in handy if the police need to talk to you again.”

“I’ll book it right now.” Gabe hit a few keys, then glanced at his watch. “It’s going to take a few minutes to hear back. It looks like the place is open now, so hopefully you can get in sooner than later.”

“Understood. Thanks, Gabe.” Flynn clapped him on the back. “You’re the best.”

Gabe blushed, darting a glance at Cassidy before turning back to his array of screens. “In the meantime, I’ve been trying to find intel on Roman Paulson. Rhy said he wanted to help Brookland PD on the case.”

“Unfortunately, we recently learned Roman was murdered,” Flynn said.

“Wow,” Cassidy murmured. “That’s not good.”

“Tell me about it,” Flynn said. “Check with Rhy, but I would still be interested to know what Roman was up to. We have to assume he was silenced for a reason.”

“Maybe they should check in with his brothers, Lyle and Jake.” Taylor wasn’t sure why she didn’t think of that earlier. “They might know what Roman was up to.”

“I believe the detectives were headed there next,” Flynn said. “Hopefully, they’ll cooperate with the investigation.”

A horrible thought struck, and she grabbed Flynn’s arm. “Is my family in danger? My parents? My siblings? My parents are out of the country now, but what if the gunman tries to track them down? Should they be in a safe house too?”

“How long will your parents be on vacation?” Flynn asked.

“Another three and a half weeks. They’re cruising Europe. I’m honestly not even sure where they are today.” She felt like a lousy daughter for not knowing her parents’ itinerary off the top of her head. “I can check my email. I have their schedule written down. My siblings are in college. One is in graduate school in Atlanta, and the other is a senior in Sacramento, on the West Coast.”

“No need to check your email now.” Flynn waved a hand. “If you don’t know where your parents are, it’s not likely the gunman will be able to track them down. And your siblings being in different states helps too. I can’t imagine the killer would bother to track your family across the country or halfway around the globe. He only killed Roman because he was somehow involved in whatever is going on.”

He was probably right. There was no reason to panic.

Still, she sent up a silent prayer for God to keep her parents and her siblings safe.

Flynn drewTaylor back to the cubicle where she’d left her half-finished water bottle. He hoped it wouldn’t take long to make the arrangements with the rental property. Now that he had a destination in mind, he was anxious to get Taylor out there and settled in.

He was glad her parents were out of the country and her siblings were out of state. He hated to admit he should have considered her family’s safety before now. If the gunman knew who Taylor was, he could easily find her parents and siblings.

Use them to flush Taylor out of hiding.

He sat on the edge of the desk, praying he hadn’t forgotten anything else. He turned to face her. “Where do your parents live? Is anyone watching over your parents’ house?”

“Their neighbor. I would have offered, but my schedule is dependent on what the Millers needed from me. Was dependent on that,” she said sadly. “My parents live in Madison. Why?”

He considered that for a moment. Madison was seventy miles away, which meant it was not necessarily convenient to head over there. But it also wasn’t too far to keep the gunman from heading over to check things out. Based on the recent activity here in town, he didn’t think the gunman had made the trip. There hadn’t been time for him to drive all the way out there, investigate if anyone was home, then return to the area.

He stood. “Hang on, I need to check with Rhy. He may know someone within the Madison PD who can do a drive-by past your parents’ home. What’s the address?”

There was a sticky-note pad on the desk. She quickly wrote down her parents’ address on the white square. “Thanks, Flynn. I’ll feel better knowing someone is going to keep an eye on the place while they’re gone.”

With a nod, he took the note to Rhy’s office. If he remembered correctly, Roscoe’s cousin Cameron Stevenson was a cop in Madison. He’d recently married his girlfriend, Jennifer. Flynn had covered Roscoe’s weekend so he and Libby could attend the ceremony.

He tapped his knuckle on the doorframe. “Rhy? Have a minute?”

“Yeah.” Rhy ran his fingers through his short blond hair. “I’m always happy for an excuse to avoid working on the budget.”

He didn’t envy his boss that task and felt guilty all over again regarding the damage to the rental SUV. He stepped in and set the sticky note on his desk. “Taylor is worried about her family. Her parents are in Europe, so it’s not likely the killer will find them, but I was thinking we could contact Cam Stevenson to have him check out her parents’ place. Make sure there’s no one hanging around.”

“I can do that. I’m sure Cam won’t mind.” Rhy picked up the sticky note. “I’m glad her parents are out of the country. That makes things easier for us.”

“Yeah. Her sibs are out of state, too, at different colleges.” He shrugged. “I’ll pick up a disposable phone for Taylor so she can reach out to them, but I’m not sure it helps the killer to head out to Atlanta or Sacramento.”

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