Page 54 of Knight's Fall

“What can I do?” Judah asked once he heard what was happening.

“Unless you know where we can find this contract killer, there’s not much you can do.”

“I wish I could tell you it was that old guy staying in the cabin close to mine. It sits on the property I was hoping to buy, but the little shit beat me to the website to rent it. He’s pissed I’m here too. Said he was hoping to be up here alone with his thoughts or some shit. If you ask me, he’s a little prick who got run off by his wife or something.”

“Did you say old guy? How long’s he been there?”

“I only got here late yesterday. I didn’t see him until this morning, but I got the impression he’d already been here a few days before me. Why?”

Jay placed Judah on speaker and clicked through his photos until he found one to text to his friend. “Is that the old guy?”

Jay waited for the composite photo to download. He picked up a pen from his desk and started rolling it between his fingers.

“Yeah,” Judah finally answered. “Looks like him, but this guy may be a little older than your sketch. Why?”

Jay sat up straighter in his chair, wondering if they could be so lucky with this investigation. “Are you sure it’s the same guy? This is a big deal, Judah. I need you to be sure.”

“Near as I can tell, it’s him. Want to tell me why you’re having a fit over this prick?”

“Because I think he’s the assassin I’ve been looking for. If I’m right, you may have just blown years’ worth of cold cases wide open.”

Judah snorted. “Living with your house full of girls had made you a drama queen. No way this guy is a killer. Annoying as hell, but not a killer.”

“Yeah, well, don’t be offended, but we’ll need to check this out ourselves. Have you seen anyone with him?”

“Nope. It’s just been me, him and the raccoons.”

“Text me your address. We’re heading your way.” Jay was already standing and heading toward his office door.

“Copy that. Want me to do some recon until you get here?”

“No. If this is our guy, he’s more dangerous than he looks. Wait for us, so you have some back-up.”

Jay ended the call and tried to contain his excitement that they were finally about to get some answers regarding Courtlyn’s disappearance.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Wings stared out the window of the lead SUV as it sped down the road with two others following behind. The Alpha Team along with Jay, Isobel and Brick divided among the vehicles and made quick time to reach Judah Cavanaugh. Their friend had them meet up at a parking lot of a hardware store just a few miles from where he was staying in the Blue Ridge Mountains, away from the prying eyes of the man they were coming to investigate.

The phone rang through the Bluetooth, and Jay tapped the console screen to connect the call.

“Hey, Syd. What’s up?”

“I have Owen and Kat with me on speaker, and I’ve patched in the other two vehicles so you all can hear what we’ve found out.”

Wings kept his gaze to the window, but he no longer registered what he saw as he listened. He heard the creaking of the leather as Sam lean forward from his seat behind Wings.

“I hope you’ve found out who this guy is.”

“Sorry, no. We checked the rental agreement for the cabin, and the booking was made by a Sandy Loman. Only Sandy Loman is dead. She was one of the victims connected to the assassin, and the rental was paid through a cash app. There’s no way to trace it, but the booking was definitely made after Mrs. Loman was pronounced dead.”

“Hey, Syd, it’s Sam. Did you find any leads tracing down the other rental properties?”

“Actually, yeah,” Owen said. “In four of the cold cases, we found reports of squatters at rental properties and real estate that was up for sale. There was evidence of furniture being disturbed, and witnesses reported movement at the houses, though no one was ever caught trespassing. The bodies of the victims were found a few days later. The victims were all different types, as the FBI files said, and the methods of murder were all different. The only connection between the cases…”

Owen’s voice trailed off, and Wings turned to look at the Bluetooth screen as if he could see the computer analyst. “What connection, Owen?”

“There, uh, were signs of torture,” Sydney inserted. “The coroner’s report said in each case that it probably went on for days.”

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