Flynn (Oath of Honor #8)

Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Taylor couldn’t believe what she’d heard. Swallowing hard against the lump lodged in the back of her throat, she forced herself to respond. “Roman is one of my cousins on my mother’s side. Her maiden name was Paulson.”

“Does he look anything like the man you saw last night?” Rhy asked.

She tried to picture Roman as the gunman. She couldn’t make the two memories mesh. She slowly shook her head. “No, but I haven’t seen Roman in years. My mom’s side of the family hasn’t really been that close.” A wave of nausea hit hard at the thought of her own flesh and blood killing innocent people.

And then coming after her.

“I’m going to send Flynn a mug shot,” Rhy said. “I want you to take a look at it.”

Knowing that Roman had a mug shot and prints on file gave her another jolt. “What crime did he commit?”

“Assault and battery four years ago,” Rhy said. “He pled guilty for a reduced sentence.”

Had assault and battery led to committing cold-blooded murder? It was difficult for her to fathom the leap, especially since her fleeting impression of the gunman was that he’d been emotionally detached from the act, as if he killed people in their bed every day.

What had Flynn called it? A professional hit?

Flynn’s phone dinged, and he took a moment to enlarge the photograph. He turned the phone so she could see the screen. “Try to imagine him with a beard.”

The nose was wrong. She wasn’t sure if she should be relieved or upset by the knowledge. “It’s not him. The man I saw had a prominent nose. It was the first thing I noticed about him. Well, that and the fact that he’d killed two people.”

“Okay, thanks for checking him out. Can you tell me anything else about your cousin? Any idea why he’d be meeting with Steve Miller?”

She sat back in her seat. The news of her cousin’s fingerprint being found seemed anticlimactic if he wasn’t the killer. “My mom mentioned that her second cousins Steve and Robin Miller needed a nanny. I knew there was a family relationship when I took the job, but I had never met them before. I believe Robin’s mother, Sue, was my mother’s cousin.” It sounded convoluted even to her own ears. “My mother’s brother, Donald Paulson, had three boys, Roman, Jake, and Lyle. But then Don and his wife got divorced, and the boys ended up living primarily with their mom, so we didn’t see them much over the next few years. I guess that would make Roman, Jake, and Lyle second cousins to Robin, too, right?”

“That sounds correct,” Rhy said thoughtfully. “So it could just be that Roman wanted to do his banking with his second cousin Steve.”

“I guess so. Although I’m not sure why a meeting is necessary.” She glanced at Flynn. “I haven’t met the president of the bank where I keep my money.”

“I used to use Brookland Bank,” Rhy said. “After my parents died, I ended up moving our account to a credit union to avoid extra banking fees. Back then, we needed every dime. I agree with you, Taylor. I never met with the president of the bank or the credit union.”

“Is the fingerprint enough for a search warrant?” Flynn asked. “Maybe Roman has shady friends who are money laundering through the Brookland Bank.”

“I thought of that possibility,” Rhy said. “But his print isn’t enough for probable cause. Especially since Taylor is convinced that he’s not the shooter. Plus, there is a family connection, which may not be suspicious.”

She tried to ignore the flash of guilt. She was being honest and answering questions to the best of her ability. She couldn’t lie just to help with the investigation. Especially if her cousin’s presence in the house was innocent. The more she considered the possibility of money laundering, the more ridiculous it sounded. “Maybe Roman needed a business loan and was having trouble getting one because of his criminal record.” She looked from the phone screen to Flynn. “He may not be involved in the murders at all.”

“Don’t worry, we’re keeping all possibilities open,” Rhy said reassuringly. “No one wants to railroad your family member into being arrested for a crime he didn’t commit. It’s just one theory out of many. Our goal is to uncover the truth.”

When she frowned, Flynn nodded. “Cops tend to take the position that everyone is a suspect until cleared. But that alone isn’t enough for a judge to grant a search warrant. You make a good point about the possibility of your cousin looking for a loan. That’s something we might be able to find without a search warrant.”

She was surprised by his comment and hoped she was right about her cousin Roman. It wasn’t good that he had a criminal record for assault and battery. Yet she wanted to believe that Roman had accepted responsibility for his actions and had turned his life around.

“Did the police in Brookland find anything else?” she asked, changing the subject from her cousin’s guilt to the larger investigation.

“Not yet, the house was recently cleaned, and therefore they’d really focused on the fingerprint found in the office.” Rhy sighed. “I wish I could say they found more evidence, but they haven’t.”

“I’ll dig into Roman Paulson, see if I can find anything interesting there,” Flynn offered. “Taylor is going through more mug shots.”

“That’s helpful, thanks. Stay focused on the guy’s prominent nose rather than the beard,” Rhy suggested.

“I have been trying to focus on the gunman’s nose,” Taylor said, trying not to sound annoyed. “I understand a beard can be shaved off.”

“Okay, keep me updated on your progress,” Rhy said. “I’ll let Detective Klem know that Roman isn’t the killer.”

“Wait, Rhy? What about Max? Did the Brookland PD say anything about the little boy’s foster family?”

“I’m not sure they’ll be kept in the loop on that,” Rhy said. “Once CPS takes over, police involvement ends. The only reason they’d stay in touch is if the child was a witness to a crime.”

“Okay. Thanks.” She knew she needed to let her concerns over Max’s future go. Especially now that she had been targeted by the gunman too. But she couldn’t help thinking about the little boy. He was such a sweetheart, just starting to smile and coo.

Enough. She couldn’t dwell on Max’s future. Not when there were bigger issues facing them.

Like a brutal killer intent on finding her.

She turned back to the computer, then paused. “Would you rather start digging into Roman Paulson’s background?”

“No, Cass will hopefully be here soon.” He glanced at his watch. “I’ll make another pot of coffee while I wait.”

She nodded, turning her gaze back to the computer screen. As slow and painstaking as it was, she was determined to do her part. If the gunman was somewhere in the police database, then she intended to find him.

Still, with each passing photo, her spirits flagged. She had to force herself to concentrate on the photos, not the possibility of her cousin Roman being involved in a plot to kill Steve and Robin Miller.

Once the coffee was brewed, Flynn refilled her cup and his own too. He settled in beside her and sipped his coffee while watching her work.

It was even more nerve-racking to scroll through one photo after another with Flynn so close. She caught a whiff of his woodsy scent, which brought another wave of awareness coursing through her.

Despite their differences—in personality and age—there was no denying the attraction simmering between them. On her part, not his. He’d looked down at her, which had made her angry.

She told herself his opinion of her career choice didn’t matter. Sure, Flynn had a very important job. She hadn’t been exposed to cops on a personal level until last month when Sienna had reached out to Zeke for protection.

It occurred to her that every face she clicked through on the computer screen belonged to a criminal who had been arrested by a cop just like Flynn. His dedication to serving the public, to taking criminals off the street, was honorable.

She didn’t like feeling as if she’d taken the easy way out by becoming a nanny.

Flynn’s phone vibrated on the table. She glanced at him as he picked it up. “Cassidy and Jina are on their way.”

“Is Jina a cop too?”

“Yes, recently married to another cop.” A wry smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Jina is a tough cookie and the team’s sharpshooter.”

More women doing admirable jobs , she thought as she clicked through another mug shot. No wonder Flynn had acted like being a nanny was silly. “I’m sure it’s harder for women to be taken seriously as police officers.”

“Yeah, some guys tend to underestimate them.” Flynn rose to refill his coffee. “Those of us on the tactical team use that to our advantage when we can. The most important thing of all is to have a cohesive team of skilled and competent cops to call on when a difficult job needs to be done.”

She had noticed the camaraderie between Flynn, Zeke, and some of the other team members. Very different from what she was used to. Being a nanny was a solo occupation. Her interactions were primarily with kids and their parents.

And in some cases, she hadn’t much liked the kids’ parents.

Not that she was interested in changing careers at this point. Unless it was to follow her dream of being a writer. For now, her writing was more of a hobby. But maybe someday...

“Looks like Cass and Jina are in the neighborhood.” Flynn set his coffee down and moved toward the side garage door. “I’m going to open the garage door, so Cass can park the rental inside.”

“Sure thing.” She managed a smile as Flynn disappeared into the garage. With a sigh, she turned her attention back to the mug shots. She was up to the letter L now, and not feeling as if this task was worthwhile.

Then again, it would be her luck that the killer was a guy with a last name that started with the letter Z . Ziegler or Zilke. She stared at one nose in a profile view after another, clicking through the photos as the garage door rumbled open.

Realizing her coffee cup was empty, she stood to cross over to the kitchen counter. The window over the sink overlooked the street. Two black SUVs pulled into the driveway, one going all the way up into the garage, the other stopping a few feet behind the first one.

A beautiful blonde emerged from the driver’s seat. Jina, Taylor assumed, as she had met the red-haired Cassidy before.

No wonder Flynn had looked at her with disdain. He worked with smart, talented, and beautiful women who could hold their own on the street.

Her area of expertise was changing diapers.

While she stood there feeling inept, she noticed another black SUV coming down the street. She’d expected that to be another of Flynn’s teammates, but the vehicle kept going. The garage door opened, and Flynn walked in with Cassidy.

“Hi, Taylor,” Cassidy said. “I hear you’ve landed in a tough situation.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” she said, offering a smile. “Nice to see you again.”

Cassidy set the laptop case on the table, then tossed a key fob to Flynn. “Computer and car as requested. Oh, and Rhy insisted I bring you extra cash too.” She dug a wad of money from her pocket and set that on the table next to the computer. “Anything else?”

“No, I think I can handle things from here.” Flynn reached for the cash. “Thanks for this, it will help us stay off-grid.”

Cassidy frowned. “Do you need groceries?”

Flynn hesitated, then shook his head. “We should be fine for a day or two. If it takes longer than that, maybe.”

“Okay, let me know.” Cassidy glanced at the open laptop. “Mug shots, huh?”

“Yes. I’m looking for a very distinctive nose.” She sighed. “So far I’ve come up empty-handed.”

“You’re assuming the killer is in the system,” Cassidy said. She frowned at Flynn. “What if he’s not a US citizen? If he’s a professional hit man, he could be from Europe, Ireland, Australia—the possibilities are endless.”

“Thanks, Cass, that’s really helpful,” Flynn said sarcastically. “We’re working with what we have, which unfortunately isn’t a lot.”

“Sorry.” Cassidy didn’t sound the least bit apologetic. “I’ll leave you to it. Call if you need anything else.”

Flynn followed Cassidy outside, leaving Taylor with the computer feeling even more useless than ever before.

She had a feeling it was going to be a long day.

Flynn stepped back in the garage after Cass and Jina had left. He should have thought about providing them with a grocery list, but it was too late now.

He could blame the situation, but that was no excuse. He needed to keep his head screwed on straight. He’d spent a few days with Taylor last month. She had taken care of Bailey, which had helped put distance between them. And when she wasn’t caring for Bailey, she was in her room scribbling in a notebook or typing on her tablet.

Now they were together again, without the distraction of a baby. Taylor dominated his thoughts and not in a good way.

He closed the garage door and headed back into the house. Having the second computer was a relief. He needed something to do, other than watching Taylor.

Maybe the discovery of Roman Paulson’s fingerprint in Steve Miller’s office was nothing important, but the only way to know that for sure was to dig into the guy’s reasons for being there. Had it been a personal meeting or a business one? He wasn’t as skilled as Gabe Melrose, the team’s tech guru, but he figured he could handle a basic search.

Scouring social media sites had become common place in police work these days. Like every other cop he was acquainted with, he didn’t personally use social media but had an anonymous profile page just for the purposes of digging into suspects.

A profile he planned to put to good use now.

As he logged into the precinct laptop, he caught Taylor’s curious gaze. “What?”

“Nothing.” She turned back to her screen. “I’m just—do you think Cassidy is right? That this gunman might not be from the US?”

“I don’t honestly know what to think.” He was irritated that Cass had mentioned it, but now he had to admit the bank angle was interesting. Maybe Steve Miller was somehow involved in money laundering. It could be the guy stumbled across something suspicious, which required the organized crime syndicate to take the drastic measure of killing him and his wife. But for now, he thought their time was best spent dealing with local possibilities. “Anything is possible. I’d still like you to keep going through mug shots, though.”

“Yeah, I will.” She turned back to her computer. “But I’m going to reach the end of the alphabet sooner or later. We’ll need another plan by then.”

“Maybe your cousin Roman Paulson will provide a lead.” Even as he said the words, he knew Detectives Klem and Irving were probably paying Roman a visit. Flynn liked working for Rhy’s tactical team, but there was something to be said for investigating a case.

Not that he had any plans to take the detective exam. He liked his job and the team.

He turned his attention to finding Roman Paulson on social media. Thankfully, the guy’s name was unusual enough that he only had about ten profiles to sift through.

“Hey, Taylor? Is this your cousin?” He turned the screen to show her the profile that looked similar to the photograph Rhy had sent. “He has a five-o’clock shadow here, unlike his clean-shaven face on the mug shot.”

“Yes, that looks like the guy in the picture, but like I told you, I haven’t seen Roman in years.” She leaned closer, then took over his keyboard. She tapped a few keys, and then said, “Yeah, I’m positive this is my cousin Roman. See here, his brothers Jake and Lyle are listed as his friends.”

He quickly scrolled through to see the profile pictures of both Jake and Lyle Paulson. Then he turned the computer toward her again. “What do you think? Any chance one of these guys was the shooter?”

She frowned but took a moment to go through their photos. “They don’t have the same nose.”

He nodded, not surprised by her answer. It was worth a try. Then a thought occurred to him. “What about you?” He turned to face her. “You’re related to these guys. Do you have a social media account?”

“I do, yes.” She flushed as if embarrassed. “I don’t post anything, though. What am I going to post about? I don’t eat fancy food to take pictures of or hang out at gatherings with my friends. Even when I do those things, I’m not big into posting them online for everyone to see. I went through and took a lot of my old posts from college off my page when I decided to go the nanny route. I didn’t want any potential parents looking at those old pictures and judging me unfairly.”

“I totally agree with you. I don’t use social media either, but that’s more of a cop thing,” he said. “I only asked because most people I know are on these sites.”

“That’s true, but as a nanny, I would never post photos of the kids I care for, that just seems to be asking for trouble.”

“So why bother?” he asked.

She flushed. “I have an account in case I need one for marketing purposes if I ever get around to finishing and publishing my book.” She looked away, as if embarrassed by her secret desire to be a published author.

“Ah, that makes sense.” He remembered her dream was to write a book. “So you’re not friends with Roman or his brothers.”

“No, although to be honest, I haven’t bothered to check my account recently.” She frowned, then said, “I guess it’s possible they’ve sent me a friend request that I’m unaware of. Did you want me to check on that?”

Flynn hesitated, torn between wanting Taylor to finish with the mug shots and getting access to her account. “Yes, if you could log into the social media site using this computer, that would be great.”

“I’ll try. But you know how it is with passwords. It’s been so long I may have forgotten which one I used.” She went through the motions of logging him out of the social media website, then attempted to log in as herself. Her first try was not successful. He wondered if there was a limit to how many times you could attempt to get in when she abruptly grinned. “I remembered! Here you go.”

“Thanks.” He figured it would be easier to look around as Taylor than as his anonymous account. For one thing, he noticed right away that Taylor was friends with her mother, who in turn was friends with her cousin Susan who was, of course, friends with her own daughter, Robin Miller. The family connection was right there in living color for the entire world to see.

If they bothered to look. Which made him fear the killer might in fact do just that.

He paused when he came across Robin Miller’s smiling face beaming from the screen. Were they on the wrong track with focusing on her husband Steve Miller’s banking background? Was it possible the double homicide was related to her interior design business? Hard to imagine how the task of picking out colors and types of furniture could lead to such a brutal crime, but Taylor had mentioned famous athletes. Money was at the root of many crimes.

He shrugged the remote possibility off. Robin’s business would have to be considered, but for now, he decided to stick with Roman as the potential link to the shooter. The suspect being Taylor’s cousin was an added complication.

One he couldn’t ignore.

They worked side by side for a full hour before Taylor pushed away from the table. “These faces are starting to blur together,” she said with a sigh. “I need a break.”

“Absolutely, take all the time you need.” He glanced at her computer screen, noticing she’d gotten up to the letter S . She was doing a good job of getting through the mug shots, but the longer it took, the less likely they’d find their perp in the system.

He believed Taylor would know the guy when she saw him. She’d seemed very sure of the guy’s larger than normal nose.

But she wasn’t trained in surveillance either. It had been a brief glimpse as the guy walked past while she was scared to death.

Even a seasoned cop could make a mistake in identifying a suspect under those conditions.

“Flynn?” Her voice was underlined with a sense of urgency. “I think this is the same car that drove past earlier when Cass and Jina came.”

“What car?” He shot to his feet and rushed over to where she stood at the kitchen sink. Was it possible Cass or Jina had been followed here?

“That black SUV,” she said, indicating the vehicle that was already disappearing from view. “I remember thinking there was a third member of the team, but it went past, so I assumed it belonged to one of the neighbors.”

“Grab the computers,” he said in a terse voice. He thumbed the phone screen to call Cass. “Any chance you were followed here?”

“What? No, we backtracked to make sure we weren’t,” Cassidy said. “Why, what’s going on?”

He hesitated, wondering if he was overreacting. “Taylor noticed a black SUV going past when you guys arrived. And another black SUV just drove past again. I don’t like it.”

“Get out of there,” Cass advised. “I’ll come out to meet you. I already dropped Jina off at the precinct.”

“Yeah, that works.” He told himself it was better to err on the side of caution. “I’ll be in touch.”

Shoving the phone in his pocket, he took the two stacked laptops from Taylor’s hands. “Let’s go. We’re taking the rental, which is in the bay farthest from the door.”

She nodded, but then said, “I could be wrong, Flynn. I’m not a car expert. I just remembered thinking that three black SUVs were strange.”

“Cass doesn’t think she was followed, but I’d rather hit the road than be a sitting duck.” He tucked the computers under one arm, then reached for the door handle with the other.

A crack of gunfire on the heels of shattering glass from the broken kitchen window had him throwing himself toward Taylor. “Down!” he shouted hoarsely.

She let out a muffled oomph as the laptop computers knocked into her. He let them fall to the floor in a loud thud to reach for his weapon.

He kicked himself for being too slow. He should have gotten Taylor out of there right away, without calling Cassidy.

Now he was very much afraid it might be too late.