Page 44 of Duty Unbound

Hollis followed my gaze. “Ms. Rivers,” he greeted her. “Sorry about the disturbance.”

“Detective.” She nodded to him before turning to me. “Nova’s asking questions. I told her we caught someone, but I didn’t give details.” Her eyes drifted to Roger being loaded into the patrol car. “Is he the one who left the flowers?”

“I don’t think so,” I replied, keeping my voice low. “Different MO entirely. This one’s more of a…collector.”

Her brow furrowed. “Collector?”

“Found some of Nova’s socks in his pocket.”

“Oh God.” She pressed a hand to her mouth, disgust flashing across her face. “That’s…revolting.”

“He’ll be facing charges,” Hollis assured her. “Trespassing at minimum, possibly stalking if we find evidence on his phone.”

I turned to Mel, noting the slight tremor in her hands despite her composed expression. “You did good work. The radio updates were exactly what we needed.”

A small smile touched her lips. “I was in manager mode. It’s all about clear communication.”

“Well, it helped,” I said, meaning it. “Thank you.”

Our eyes locked for a moment, and I felt the echo of that connection we’d shared in the control room before the interruption. Then she glanced away, wrapping her arms tighter around herself.

“I should check on Nova,” she said. “She’ll be working herself into a state by now.”

I nodded reluctantly. “Of course.”

She hesitated, then added, “Will you…let me know what you find out?”

“As soon as we know anything.”

She thanked me with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes, then turned to walk back toward the house.

After the police left with Roger in custody, I gathered my team in the command center. Jace had his laptop open, scrolling through the data he’d extracted from Roger’s phone.

“What have we got?” I asked, leaning against the desk.

Jace grimaced. “Exactly what you’d expect from a creep like that. Hundreds of photos of Nova—all taken from a distance. At concerts, through windows, leaving buildings. Nothing particularly incriminating, legally speaking, but definitely stalker territory.”

“Any of the photos from inside the house?” Logan asked.

“No,” Jace replied. “All exterior shots. Though there areseveral of her bedroom windows, mostly at night when she has the lights on.”

“Video?”

“Some. Mostly Nova getting in and out of cars, walking into venues. Standard paparazzi-style stuff, but creepier because it’s just one obsessed guy.” Jace scrolled further. “He’s got a whole folder of her sleeping.”

My jaw tightened. “From her balcony?”

“Yeah. Long-distance shots, probably using a zoom lens. Poor quality, but definitely her.”

“Anything about flowers? Notes? Any indication he was the one who broke in that night?”

Jace shook his head. “Nothing. No mentions in his notes, no photos of flowers or the kitchen that night. In fact, based on his location data, he wasn’t anywhere near the estate that evening.”

I frowned, thinking. “So we’ve got one stalker in custody, but probably not the one who left the dead roses.”

“Not likely,” Logan agreed. “Different MO, like you said.”

“Which means our main threat is still out there.” I straightened up, rubbing a hand over my face. “We can’t let our guard down.”

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