I should have made sure that Detective Stone was dead. Cade drummed his fingers on his steering wheel as he sat a few houses away from Dani Novak’s, which still seemed to be bustling with activity. All the SUVs that had been there when he’d left to follow the Escalade were still there, plus another SUV had arrived in the fifteen minutes that he’d been sitting here, watching. He had no problem identifying the man who’d used his own key to open the front door without even running his plates. The bright white hair and leather trench coat were Special Agent Deacon Novak’s trademarks, according to the press. Dani’s brother had stopped by to visit. How sweet. Not.

How utterly fucking annoying, because the house was still lit up like a goddamn Christmas tree. The lower floor, anyway. Every light was on, including the floodlights, which wouldn’t go off for another minute or two. He’d been timing them as people had come and gone, measuring how close he could get to the house before the lights were triggered.

But the upstairs was dark. Michael Rowland was asleep in one of those rooms.

Just waiting to identify me in a lineup.

I should just drive away. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t leave the eyewitness alive. He’d never left an eyewitness alive. Except his old man, and who was he gonna tell? And even if the bastard found a way to accuse him, who’d believe him?

Cade had been the model son, visiting every damn week. Every nurse in that place would vouch for him, no question.

Even the detective tonight hadn’t seen his face, and he’d left no evidence behind except for the slugs in the guy’s body, and Cade had tossed the gun into a creek just before he’d gotten back on the main road. He’d stopped a few blocks later to get some food, changing the plates on his SUV, just in case he’d been captured on a camera. He currently sported plates he’d found in the old pedo’s garage when he’d first taken possession of his house.

Cade had looked the plates up online and found they belonged to a man who’d been reported missing ten years before but had never been found. Cade wondered if the old pedo had killed the guy, too, but he’d never found any evidence in the house. Even in the cell in the basement. Or the airtight room.

For all Cade knew, the man could be buried in the backyard, which had kind of creeped him out, if he was being honest. But that didn’t matter anymore. Once he’d eliminated Michael Rowland, Cade was leaving town and driving north.