| |
Ryan raced through the streets of Warner, his siren shrieking and his lights flashing. This was why he told Shandra repeatedly to stay out of his cases. She could have been killed if she hadn’t seen the box.
He turned onto his street. A deputy and a State Police vehicle had lights flashing in his driveway. He parked on the street and hurried across the lawn. Deputy Speaks walked toward him as Trooper York stood about ten feet back from the box talking on his phone.
“Shandra’s fine. She and her dog are in the back yard,” Ron said, nodding toward the gate alongside the house.
“Did you get her statement?” The tension that had built in his neck and shoulders eased knowing Shandra was safe.
“She said the dog was making a big deal about wanting to go out the front door and when she opened it, the box was sitting there. She closed the door and called dispatch when she couldn’t get ahold of you.” Speaks read from his notepad. “She thinks it may have something to do with the case you’re working.” One of the deputy’s eyebrows raised.
“Did you add that to the notes?” Ryan asked. It was an ongoing conversation at the department about how Ryan closed cases faster when his fiancée was mentioned as instrumental in obtaining information that pertained to the case.
“Only if you give me the okay.” Ron grinned.
“I don’t care. Is York calling in bomb specialists?” Ryan glanced toward the gate. He really wanted to make sure Shandra was okay, but felt an obligation to remain and wait for the state bomb squad.
“Yeah. They’re coming from Coeur d’Alene.”
“Guess I’ll go check on Shandra while we wait. You could go door to door and see if anyone saw who put the box on my porch.” Ryan strode across the yard and over to the gate to enter his backyard.
He found Shandra and Sheba huddled together on the back porch step.
Sheba raised her head and woofed.
Shandra’s gaze landed on him and she stood. He had his arms wrapped around her before she could say a word.
“Are you okay?” He stared into her eyes. He hadn’t expected to see fear but the anger flashing in them had him leaning back.
“I’m fine. We’re both fine. But whoever did this better be found. I have never been so scared in my life, or furious.” Shandra grasped his coat sleeves. “Sheba must have heard the person leave the box on the porch. That was why she was making such a fuss to get out.” Her voice lowered. “If anything had happened to Sheba, that person would be sorry they crossed my path.”
Ryan liked Shandra’s loyalty to her dog, him, and all of her friends, but he’d never seen her this vehement. “You’re both fine. The state bomb squad is on the way. Why don’t you go on to the high school? Sheba will be fine out here until the box is taken away. I’ll put her in the house then.”
As if to punctuate how fine she’d be, Sheba loped to the corner of the yard and slapped a rubber ball around with her feet.
“See. She’ll be fine. Do you have what you need?”
Shandra shook her head. “My purse is in the house.”
“I’ll get it. You stay here.” Ryan entered the back door, found the purse on the end table by the couch, and returned to the back yard. “Here you go. Don’t let this taint the way you talk to people today.” He handed her purse over and tipped her chin up, making her look at him. “You hear me? This is all police stuff. I know it’s scary, and I don’t blame you for being mad, but you can’t accuse everyone you talk to today of putting that box on the porch. You have to let it go.”
“I’ll do my best.” She managed a half smile.
“You’re going to have to do better than that. Even a stranger will see through that half-hearted attempt.” Ryan leaned closer. “Maybe you need something else to think about.” He kissed her.
When her eyes opened, he asked, “Does that help? I can do that every morning until the wedding if it makes your day better.”
“Wedding!” She backed away from him and spun toward the house.
“Wait!” He grabbed her arm. “Where are you going?”
“I started to grab the wedding invitations to mail when Sheba wanted out. I’m already two weeks late.” She tugged on her arm, but he didn’t let go.
“Where are they? I’ll mail them when the box is gone.” Ryan remained firm about not letting her in the house.
“In my suitcase in the closet. They need stamps.”
“I can do that.” He made a note to take the invitations to Cathleen to put the stamps on. His family was so excited about the wedding, she’d be in heaven to place stamps on one hundred and fifty envelopes.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes. Go to the school. I’ll let you know what we find out when I come see Miss Sabo.” Ryan walked her to the gate and they both walked through. He escorted her across the yard to her Jeep.
“Do you think it’s a bomb?” Shandra’s gaze was on the box. That had been her first thought, but now, she wondered if it might not be something else. Wouldn’t a bomb have gone off by now? It was an hour or better since it had been placed on the porch.
“We’ll know soon. Could be a small pipe bomb meant to go off when you pick it up or it could be nothing.”
“Do you think it’s related to the case?” Her gut said it was.
“Speaks said you thought it was.” Ryan studied her. “Why?”
“If someone had it out for you because of an arrest, they would have planted that when you were home, not after you’d left.”
“Unless they wanted to hurt you to hurt me.”
The fear in his eyes, told her he worried about that.
“Being a lawman packs a lot of responsibility. For you, your fellow officers, your community, and the people you care about.” She put a hand on his cheek. “Don’t worry about me. I have many angels looking out for me.”
“Go. The bomb squad will be here any minute and you may not be able to leave.” Ryan stepped back and shut her car door.
Shandra put the Jeep in reverse and headed to the school. Every fiber of her being said the box had something to do with Mr. Huntley’s murder.
~*~
Ryan joined Speaks canvassing the street to see if anyone had seen who left the box. By the time they’d talked to everyone on the block, the bomb squad rolled up. He’d had to call these three Idaho State Police officers before.
“Understand this is your house, Greer,” the lead, Lt. Tolmie, said.
“It is. Glad you could get here so quick.” Ryan shook the man’s hand and they walked to within twenty feet of the porch. He told the man what had transpired.
“Sounds like we need to get an x-ray of the box and see what’s inside.” Tolmie pivoted and headed back to the vehicle they’d arrived in as one of the other members suited up.
When the man pulled on the helmet a lot like a space helmet, he was handed a small mobile x-ray device. He walked up to within five feet of the porch and held the device in front of the box for several minutes. Backing up, he handed the device off to Tolmie.
The lieutenant walked back to the van they’d arrived in. “Want to see what you have?” he asked, inviting Ryan inside the vehicle.
Ryan climbed in and waited for the information from the device to be read by another apparatus and for the image to come on the screen.
“That looks like a ball nestled in shredded newspaper,” Tolmie said. He stuck his head out of the van. “Jones, go open the box. It doesn’t look like anything that will explode.”
The man in the suit leaned down and flicked the lid off the box. He picked the box up and studied the inside before walking toward them.
Ryan shoved out of the van and met the man half way. It looked like the head Shandra had said she’d found. How did it get in the box? He picked up one of the shredded papers. It appeared to be a printout of an online conversation.
“Speaks, get the lid. This is evidence in the Huntley murder.” He glanced over at the bomb squad helping the man out of the suit. “Sorry for the false alarm.”
“Hey, we prefer that to someone getting blown up.” Tolmie folded the piece of the outfit he’d lifted off the other officer.
The deputy walked over with the lid and looked in the box. “Not much to have made this much of a fuss over.”
Ryan agreed, but it mattered to someone that he or Shandra got this. “Did anyone you talk to on the street see anything?”
“No. It was the time of day when kids are up and down the sidewalks headed to school.” Deputy Speaks nodded to the box. “What do you make of that?”
“I think it’s a clue to my case.” He handed it to Speaks and pulled out his phone, taking photos. Shots from all four sides gave a good view of the clay in the middle of the paper.
“Take that to the department and get someone to try and piece the pages together. They look like an online conversation.” He headed to his SUV. “I’ll be at the high school questioning an employee.”
But before he did that, he’d find Shandra and see if this was the same head she’d said was locked in her Jeep.