Chapter 13 - THE MAN WITH THE TOOLBOX
Detective Mills didn't tell me everything she was investigating. She did tell me not to meet Ryan alone, and that was advice I intended to follow.
The first time Derek Shaw called, he hung up when I answered. On his second attempt he said, "I didn't know there were kids in there."
I put him on speaker with June present, then asked him to speak with the detective instead of giving me details that might complicate the investigation.
"Ryan told me you asked for a security upgrade," Derek said before ending the call. "He sent me the paperwork. I never even got through the gate."
Hours later, Mills confirmed Derek had come to the station voluntarily with his original messages, payment records, and the black toolbox. She couldn't discuss his entire statement. But she wanted Leah's footage immediately.
I stood in the kitchen with the phone against my ear, watching Mom help Emma place puzzle pieces on the rug. "Was Derek the man outside our window?"
"We are checking that," Mills said.
"I want to know who ordered him there."
"So do I."
After dinner, Leah showed me a new angle from an orchard camera. The visitor in the baseball cap had a limp. Derek did not.
"Different person," she said.
The realization settled between us. Ryan had more than one person willing to cross a line for him.
The phone rang again, this time from the caregiver agency I had contacted for Mom. A coordinator sounded distressed.
"Mrs. Bennett, your husband called us this afternoon. He claimed you were mentally unstable and asked for your mother's care plan and access codes."
May you like
"Did you give him anything?"
"No. But he knew the name of her physician and the date of her next appointment."
