Page 67 of Riding Danger

Nick might have leaned on them a bit but in the end, the bitch confessed to multiple counts of murder. She called us idiots for trying to pin the one murder where the victim had no markings on their back on her. There was a part of me that believed her.

As for me? I had resigned from the police force a week after Ryder was taken. Nick offered me a job almost immediately and I had to admit it was the best decision I had ever made. Yeah, there would be times when I needed to be away from home, but in all, I had the kind of flexibility I needed.

A knock at my office door had me lifting my gaze. “Lilly?”

“Do you have a minute?”

That did not sound good. “Take a seat.”

I had been given my own office. It wasn’t in the main building. I was in one of the original cabins which were used as offices before the main building was built. A second one was being prepared for Holden when he resigned from the Navy in a few months. I looked forward to working with him. He and the other guys were still cagey about what they did. It wasn’t like I didn’t understand it. There was so much I couldn’t know. I had no doubt Jared knew more than most. But I wasn’t about to hack into his computer. My skills were not that great, and everything I knew was originally taught to someone else by him.

The most perplexing thing was how cagey Owen was. He was regular army and he was even more secretive than the rest of them. But one by one I could see them all landing back in Marina De Ferrier. We just needed to have patience.

“So, there were some mix ups at the lab.” Lilly sat forward like she was expecting me to react.

I hated to tell her I had no idea what she was talking about

“What lab?”

“It turns out there is only one pathology lab in the area.” She looked like she was trying to coddle me. Or more accurately,handle me. “The one the CSI’s use is the same one that does DNA tests.”

“Okay.” I was still not sure where of this was going. “Are you saying something turned up for Ryder. Like another kid or something, because I know he looked into that.”

“What?” She looked outraged at the idea. “No. Something turned up on Ethan’s DNA.”

My heart sank. Was something wrong with my child? “What happened? Is it our genetics?”

“Shiloh, the extra victim, the one Valerie never owned up to.”

Shivers ran up my spine. I knew the moment she appeared at my door the things were not good. “What about him?

“When we couldn’t identify him, the instruction was to see if we could find a DNA match in any of our databases. The tech had accidentally included all samples. And, well, it turns out the victim, Marshall Felix, is Ethan’s maternal grandfather. Shiloh, all tests indicate he was your biological father.”

I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. I always knew my father was not a good man. He bought my mother for fuck’s sakes. But I had seen the rap sheet for Marshall Felix. He was evil, the world was better off without him in it. But I was also certain it took a certain level of evil to get rid of him. A kind of evil I wanted nowhere near my son.

“I don’t want to look into it.” When Lilly remained quiet, I continued. “We all know the kind of hell we’ll bring if we investigate his murder.”

Lilly tilted her head to the side. “Honey, you kind of work for a company who specializes in neutralizing hell. It’s what we do.”

“Maybe, but I want to drop it.”

Lilly nodded and I let out a relieved exhale.

Before she could say more, my phone rang. I smiled at the name on my screen. “Mags.”

A sniff and a sob. “Shiloh.”

Hearing her voice, my whole body went stiff. “What’s wrong?”

“He was granted parole. This time next week, Fred will be on his way back to Marina De Ferrier.”

Fuck. That was the last thing she needed. But she was protected.

“Maggie, listen to me.” I tried to use my calm voice, but my heart went out to her. “You do not need to worry about that. None of us will let him do anything. Besides, Fred may be a lot of things, but he wasn’t violent. Not with you.”

She sniffed again. “I know, but he called, Shi.” That did sound ominous. “He didn’t have to call. He said he was giving me and my friends a heads up. He is coming back to town and he will not be satisfied until he has taken his revenge on those who were responsible for putting him in jail.”

I paused. “Were those his exact words? Because that sounds like a threat.” And calls from prison were recorded. “That’s grounds for a protective order.”

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