Page 75 of Only Her (K2 Team)
“Riley managed to call me, but she was really out of it. Said she’d been drugged.”
“With what?”
“OxyContin. Can you get a hold of some Naloxone and bring it with you?”
“I’m on it. See you soon.”
Cody clicked off. Unable to stand around twiddling his thumbs, he decided to drive around some of the streets, keeping an eye out for the woman’s car. Before he could start the engine, his phone buzzed and Maria’s name came up on the screen.
“Got something?” he said.
“An address do it for you?”
“Christ, yes.” He programed the address into his GPS as she gave it to him. “Kent’s a genius.”
“Actually, he’s still working on getting the license plate numbers. He got the first four so far. I took those and went back to the list I’d made of suspect vehicles, using the search words Napier, Sebring, Chrysler, and the four numbers. Bingo. It came right up. The car is registered to a Connie Napier Decker. That name mean anything to you?”
He pulled onto the street. “Not a thing.”
“This is personal, Cody. She’s connected to Riley somehow. I’ll keep on digging. As soon as I give the address to Logan, the team will be headed that way. You should wait for them to get there, you know.”
“Can’t promise that. Depends on what I find.” It would take them about forty-five minutes to catch up with him, and he wasn’t leaving Riley in that bitch’s hands a minute longer than he had to.
“Well, I pretty much knew you’d say that. Stay safe, okay?”
“You bet.”
According to the GPS, he was only eight minutes from the target address. As he left the populated area of the town, he followed a two-lane road into a rural area of older ranch-style houses sitting on what he guessed were one-acre plots of land. The homes were mostly run down, many of the yards overgrown. At one place, an old truck was up on blocks, and at another, chickens busily pecked at the dirt. Several abandoned houses had rental signs posted. It was the kind of neighborhood where people minded their own business.
He made a slow drive by the address Maria had given him. The Chrysler Sebring was parked under a carport that looked like it might collapse at any moment. It was all the confirmation he needed that he had the right place. At the end of the block, he pulled over, considering how to approach. It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to pull his truck up to the house, announcing his arrival. As he debated where to leave it, a man mowing the yard across the street eyed him with suspicion.
Cody studied the house and the man. It was one of the few places on the street that was better maintained than the others, and the man had a military haircut and wore a long-sleeved T-shirt with “Navy” imprinted across the front. Could he be that lucky? Only one way to find out.
“If you’re selling something, not interested,” the man said over the noise of the mower as Cody approached.
“I’m not. Could you turn that off a minute? Need to talk to you.”
“About?” Although his expression was one of annoyance, he cut the engine.
“Cody Roberts, former SEAL.” He held out his hand.
Annoyance turned to puzzlement. “Tadd Singleton. Great to meet you, but I’m not sure I want to know why you’re here.”
“Smart man. Listen, I need to park my truck in your driveway for a while.”
“Because?”
How much to tell him?
“Look, you SEAL dudes are cool and all that, but I don’t want trouble and you got trouble written all over you. I have a wife and daughter in the house. Is parking your truck in my driveway gonna put them in danger?”
“No, that I can promise. Here’s the thing.” His phone buzzed, and he pulled it out of his pocket. “Stand by a sec,” he told the man. “Hey, Maria. What’s up?”
“I have some history on our Mrs.Napier... or Decker. Whatever. Anyway, several years ago, her son died of a drug overdose. Sometime after that, her husband lost his job, then they lost the house. I guess he couldn’t deal with all of that because on the day the house was foreclosed on them, he sat in his car in the garage and carbon monoxided himself.”
“What was the son’s name?”
“Reed Decker. Why?”
