Simple reassurances seemed to work, and with the perpetrator cuffed, Jordan took a deep breath. Crisis averted.
After the security guards and the paramedics, Maria and Waters were first to arrive with a couple of uniforms. Chris Atwood looked fairly excited to be in the midst of this situation—figures, Jordan thought, irritated. Libby Marshall, a friend of Ellie and Kate’s, was also with them,
Jordan longed to call Ellie for she had certainly heard of the incident by now. Jordan didn’t want her to worry.
She looked over to where Maria was talking to Valerie, asking her to come over for a statement once the paramedic was done checking on her.
“I’ll take her,” Jordan said.
Waters made a face. “Someone will interview you as well, as you’re in the middle of this mess as usual.”
“Yeah, thanks for the lecture, I’m aware,” she said, running out of patience with her colleague. To Maria, she continued, “It’s going to take all day anyway, How about I’ll get her a coffee first, and you let me know when you’re ready to get started?”
“Works for me,” Maria said, the easy interaction causing their two male co-workers to bristle. Jordan missed Derek, but apparently, until Waters was retired and Atwood off to another precinct, everyone had to draw the short straw sometime.
“Thank you,” Valerie whispered when they were last to leave the office save for the CSU crew. “The crazy thing is I’m not even sure what happened. He came in, I saw he had a gun, and I just reacted.”
“It’s a good thing you did.”
Jordan didn’t think it was a good moment to mention all the other things that could have happened, or ask Valerie why she kept a gun in her drawer. Superficial, it was true, their relationship had been like that. She didn’t know her all that well. If people knew, or thought they knew, a lot more about Jordan, it was only because a lot of cases had hit too close too home in the past.
They walked along the walkway connecting their buildings, and Jordan quickly ushered Valerie into the break room before anyone could want to start a conversation. Ryan Lemont’s interrogation seemed like forever ago—even though it wasn’t. Watching, she had seen the anger in his face at some things Valerie had said, but he didn’t have the time or opportunity to get the word out…or did he?
When Valerie sat in one of the chairs, she turned to the vending machine and got them both coffees and snacks. Waters had been right in one thing: An endless number of interviews would follow, with an incident right here at the A.D.A.’s workplace, a cop on the periphery.
Jordan put everything on the table, only to realize that Valerie was crying.
“It’s okay. That really sucked,” she said, laying a hand on her shoulder, ever awkward in the presence of unexpected emotion.
* * * *
“We need to go back. There’s been a shooting at the D.A.’s office,” Ellie told Derek in a whisper. His eyes widened.
“Did anyone get hurt?”
“It doesn’t sound like it. They got the guy, but…Jordan was with A.D.A. Esposito. I need to check on her.”
Derek took the phone from her and read over the text message. “She’s okay,” he said firmly. “You really need to see this.”
Ellie appreciated his attempt at helping her to keep focus. All she wanted was to see Jordan. She felt light-headed with relief that no one, especially not Jordan, got hurt, but she needed to see for herself.
“I’ll take a look and then we go.”
“Of course.”
On the upper floor, they found a whole room dedicated to hunting trophies and paraphernalia.
“Knives,” Ellie said. “Like the one he gave Travis?”
“There was a break-in recently.”
Both of them jumped at the voice of Mrs. Stanton behind them. “They stole several knives.”
“Why didn’t he report it to the police?” Derek asked.
She laughed bitterly. “Seeing how the police treated him, like a suspect, like he was no better than those bums in the park, I can’t see why.”
“Can you tell us where this was taken?” Derek, unfazed, pointed to a framed photograph on the wall. Ellie noticed that Jarrod Tanner was among the six men in the picture, a teenager at the time.
To their surprise, Mrs. Stanton had an answer for them.
“I’m not sure, but it might be Jarrod’s cabin. The kid inherited it after his grandfather died.”
“Do you have an address?” Ellie asked.
“No. You’ll have to ask him.”
All of a sudden, it didn’t look like they were going back to the station anytime soon. Derek asked for backup, and they were on their way to meet Jarrod Tanner on his college campus.
* * * *
I can’t come back right now. Are you okay? Ellie texted, and got an answer right away.
Fine. Don’t worry. Cake tasting off again?
I’m afraid so. On the way to Tanner’s. Can I see you for a sec?
Derek good-naturedly rolled his eyes when he caught a glimpse of Ellie opening the video chat screen. He was all show, Ellie knew, just as relieved that Jordan was okay. She sighed in relief when Jordan appeared on the screen.
“I don’t have much time,” she said. “Val and I snuck away for some coffee and chocolate in the break room, but they’re ready to interview us now.”
These were extraordinary circumstances, so Ellie wouldn’t fret about the obvious familiarity. “How is she?”
“As good as can be expected when someone walks into their office and pulls a gun. It’s hitting her now, but she’ll be fine.”
“And you?” Ellie asked, feeling like Jordan was stalling on her behalf.
“I’m good, I promise. She had shot the guy and kicked away the gun when I came in.”
Still too close for her comfort, but Ellie didn’t say that.
“We might know where to find Stanton. I’ll see you later then.”
“Yeah. Be careful,” Jordan advised as if she hadn’t just been in a situation with an active shooter. Ellie didn’t waste time arguing.
“Always. I love you.”
“Love you too. Bye.”
“Bye,” Ellie said before ending the call, and to Derek, “Don’t say a word.”
“I’m not saying anything. Love is great.”
It truly was, but now it was time to switch gears and find Bob Stanton before he could harm anyone else.
* * * *
An attack on an Assistant District Attorney raised many questions. It could be as easy as the latest case she was prosecuting or something much bigger. Jordan wasn’t surprised when the woman conducting her interview introduced herself as the lieutenant of Major Crimes. Jordan had heard that she’d started in the job recently, so she hadn’t met her before. It was possible that even the FBI would look into this, depending on what they uncovered about the shooter’s intentions and background.
She was glad she’d had the foresight to get some caffeine and sugar while she could. It wasn’t the same as exclusive cakes and coffee specialties they might have had at the tasting. For now, it had to do.
“I was going over notes from an interview with A.D.A. Esposito. I was just leaving her office when I saw him coming in. I heard the secretary say something to him, because he apparently walked straight past her. I was on the other sight of the door then,” Jordan explained what seemed to be one of many times.
“You didn’t recognize the man at all?”
“No. The way he was dressed he could have had an appointment. Of course, when I heard the gunshots, it was clear to me that he didn’t.”
“Two gunshots, you said.”
“Exactly. I think he fired one shot, missed, and the other shot came from A.D.A. Esposito’s gun.”
“We’ll figure that out, thank you,” the lieutenant said. “For now, let’s stick to what you actually saw.”
“No problem.” Jordan refrained from sighing, or mentioning that she had repeated what little she knew for a few times now. “I
came in, saw the intruder on the floor. He was injured. I could arrest him and notify security that the situation was under control.”
“Detective Carpenter, why didn’t you call for backup first?”
Jordan wasn’t amused, mostly, because this was a somewhat legit question, and she was going to hear about it, from her own lieutenant, from Ellie, and perhaps a few other people.
“There was no time? I thought this was about figuring out why someone would want to shoot the A.D.A.? We were interrogating Ryan Lemont again this morning. He doesn’t deal well with women ordering him around, so perhaps that’s where you should be looking. You’re welcome.” At the lieutenant’s expression, she sat up straighter. “I’m sorry about that. No offense.”
“None taken,” the woman assured her. “Perhaps we should take a break here?”
“I’d rather continue if that means I can go home sometime today.”
You don’t know it, but if all goes well, I could still make it to that cake tasting.
“In that case, let me get some more coffee in here. If you’ll excuse me for a moment.”
“I’ll take mine with milk,” Jordan called after her, even though she rarely did.
* * * *
“Yes, that was at my grandfather’s cabin,” Tanner confirmed. “The guys took me hunting with them. There was nothing illegal about it.”
“We’re not saying that,” Ellie clarified, impatient. “We need the address, now.”
“What’s the hurry?”
“Mr. Tanner, please?”
“I don’t know what you think you could find there,” he said, scribbling it on a notepad, “but here it is. I guess you have a warrant, but this is my key, just so you don’t break down the door. Don’t make a mess like they always do on TV, okay?”
“No mess. Got it.”
The sarcasm in Derek’s tone had gone completely over the young man’s head.
“Good. If that’s all? I have to go back to class now.”
When they were back in the car, Ellie voiced her thoughts. “I didn’t expect him to be this cooperative. I hope that doesn’t mean there’s a bad surprise waiting for us.”
Derek didn’t argue—perhaps he’d had the same thought.
* * * *
This coffee didn’t come from a vending machine. It was a latte, actually, making Jordan slightly suspicious. Did the lieutenant think she needed to soften her up a bit?
“That’s good. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Detective. Now, I do have another question. Did you know A.D.A. Esposito kept a gun in her office?”
“No.” There was nothing more to it.
“Your relationship is merely professional, or you’re…friends?”
“Those are a lot more than one question. Okay. Yeah, I guess you could say we’re friends. Not close friends, obviously, but putting away bad guys is a uniting factor.” Jordan didn’t think it was necessary to share something that should have never happened in the first place—she and Valerie agreed on that these days. Valerie, too, would certainly understand the meaning behind this line of questioning, so she was unlikely to bring it up herself. “I know that you have to cover all the bases, but I can save you some time here. Yes, the A.D.A. was very lucky to be able to react the way she did. It was a coincidence that I was there, but if you want my opinion, it’s likely to do with one of her cases, possibly Lemont. Since the neighborhood watch has been driving out the smaller players, there are a lot more folks that answer to him.”
“Thanks for the theory, Detective.” The woman was good, not a hint of sarcasm in her voice. “I was thinking of it myself, then again, the A.D.A. says something this morning that pisses him off, he snaps his fingers, and a guy with a gun walks in? That easy?”
“She’s ready to put him away for a long time,” Jordan said. “He ought to have been pissed off for a while now.”
“I heard something about a new suspect in the Rena Kelly case.”
“That changes very little. It was still Ryan Lemont who was pulling the strings to have her killed.”
“You’re sure about that? Because if that case starts falling apart, not only it would be questionable if you could still hold him. He might be suing you.”
“He wanted Kelly dead. She is dead. That’s all I can tell you.”
Jordan shook her head in disbelief. Did anyone really think Valerie would come up with an elaborate scheme because she didn’t have enough to prosecute Lemont? To call this a reach would be mild.
“No need to get defensive,” the other woman chided her. “Believe me, we know how important it is to make those charges stick. This attack is reprehensible, and we want to make sure, the right people will be held accountable. Thanks for your time, Detective. We’ll be in touch.”
“I understand,” Jordan said before she shook the woman’s hand and left the room.
She wanted to find out what they had asked Valerie and how she was doing. She was also interested in what they’d learned from the shooter.
Most of all, Jordan wanted to know where Ellie’s investigation had led her, but since there was no message from either her or Derek, she assumed they were busy.
Maria and Waters were at their respective desks. They, too, were waiting for news from the other team.
* * * *
“Police! We’re coming in!”
At the front door of the hunting cabin, Ellie turned the key, and after a few tense seconds, the stood in the main room where Bob Stanton knelt in front of a box, back turned to them.
“Hands above your head!” she commanded.
“This is a misunderstanding!”
“I said—”
“Yes, yes.” He obliged, much to Ellie’s relief. She had come to hate dealing with suspects that obviously only reacted to a man’s voice. Fortunately, Stanton knew he didn’t have a choice. “I just found this myself. I don’t know where it came from.”
As Ellie put the cuffs on him, Derek glanced into the box.
“Whoa. Is it Christmas or what?”
The box held a hunting knife with rusty red stains. At a closer look, Ellie saw tiny pieces of fabric stick to the blade. Also in the box, a pair of earrings.
“I don’t know how this got here. I swear, I didn’t kill anyone.” He was sweating now.
“Mr. Stanton, I guess you’ll have to explain to us about the break-in at your house,” Ellie told him.
Christmas indeed, with all the evidence they needed to tie him to the Rena Kelly murder and lean harder on him regarding his deal with Ryan Lemont.
Was this too easy?
Ellie pushed aside the nagging feeling. She had always known Stanton was involved in something bad, and here was the confirmation laid out for them to see. The women who got away, including his ex-wife, were incredibly lucky.
Today wasn’t completely horrible after all.
Chapter Nineteen
“Congratulations! This is big.”
Back at the station, Ellie indulged herself for a moment, accepting congratulations and a long hug from Jordan.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” she whispered.
“Yeah, me too.”
“And I guess I’m not going to get out of here anytime soon,” Ellie said as she stepped back.
“That’s okay. I still have work to do as well. I’ll see you later. Derek?”
“Given that this is my case—” Waters cut in.
“Detective Waters, I’d like to talk to you for a moment.” Everyone turned around at the lieutenant’s voice. “I think everyone, including Detective Henderson, is up to date.” No one objected. “Let’s get this done,” he directed at Ellie and Derek. A somewhat demure Detective Waters followed him into his office, while Ellie and Derek left for the interrogation room where Bob Stanton was waiting. He had lost the cocky attitude a while ago.
“Okay, Mr. Stanton,” Ellie said before she sat across from him. “Let’s make this as quick and painless as possible for everyone involved. Your dealin
gs with Ryan Lemont, your cousin Harry Travis…You need to tell the whole truth.”
“I will, okay? This has gotten way too far.”
Behind them, Derek coughed. Talk about an understatement.
“We’re listening.”
“A huge part of this is your fault. The police are doing nothing, sitting on their hands, someone has to do something, right? It all started with those bums, Raynor, always in everyone’s faces for money. They spend it all on drugs and booze anyway.”
Ellie thought that the kind of money Raynor might have gotten from begging to tourists would not get him into business with Lemont or any of the small time drug dealers, but she let Stanton ramble.
“Anyway, Harry approached me and said he might know someone who could help us.”
Again, it wasn’t very logical trying to “clean up” the neighborhood by getting involved with Lemont, but Bob Stanton had his own version of logic.
“We knew we had to do something. On the one side of the park, it’s the beggars, on the other they sell drugs to school girls. Harry said that Ryan Lemont wasn’t like that—he only supplied for celebrity parties and such. I mean, who cares what they’re doing in their houses?”
“You believed him?”
“Why wouldn’t I? He’s family. We have the same values.”
“So he arranged the meeting that you and Jarrod Tanner attended.”
“Jarrod is a good kid.”
“Let me guess. Same values,” Derek said. Stanton ignored him.
“Ryan said he’d take care of the bums if we did regular raids where the other drug dealers were hanging around. That sounded fair enough.”
“You talked to him about Raynor? The one you were especially angry at?”
“I may have mentioned him, yes. We talked about the murders in the park, and how Raynor was trying to make himself look important.”
“You told Lemont you wanted him gone?”
“No! Yes…but I didn’t say to kill him. I might have made an offhanded comment. Afterwards, Ryan got this idea that I owed him.”
“You’re saying Lemont murdered Marco Raynor, because he thought you’d asked him to?”
“He doesn’t do these things himself, doesn’t like to get his hands dirty, but he does give the okay, just like with the waitress.”
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