“Madison? Are you okay?” Terry asked.
“She’s been so ‘helpful’ from the beginning,” Madison said in disbelief. “At least after we found her. She actually wanted to be involved in the investigation. She’s been in our face the entire time.”
“But we know she wasn’t in the shooter’s vehicle,” Cynthia reasoned. “We have her on camera at the other pump.”
“We have to find out what her connection is to Barry, then. And to Cousins, to Brown.” There was something they were definitely missing.
“All right, well, she told you she’d been dating Sommer, so she probably knew Cousins,” Terry said.
Madison looked at him. “Still, how do we get from there to murdering Barry? And why? Nothing about her background stood out. And how does this fit in with the Devil’s Rebels, and the Hellions?”
Madison couldn’t shake this overwhelming, sick feeling growing in the pit of her gut.
What if everything wasn’t as she had originally thought? What if—
“The shooting wasn’t gang related,” she blurted out. “It was only made to look that way!”
Her heart was beating rapidly. It would explain a lot of things and account for how the investigation kept making these turns, first pointing them to the Hellions, then the discovery of the Devil’s Rebels, then to Brown… It was to muddy the path.
“We have a shooter and a driver,” she punched out, getting up and taking a few steps. “The shooter yelled out ‘Die, cop.’” Another couple of steps. “And four bullets? Why fire another after Barry was struck? It wasn’t a drive-by; it wasn’t gang initiation. Barry had to have been specifically targeted. But Snyder, Brown, Sommer, and Cousins don’t have connections to Barry.” She paced a few steps again and stopped.
Snyder had fled the scene. She’d purchased the phone, contacted Cousins and made the request for the car, the gun, and the ammunition.
Everything she’d told them had been a lie. She’d recognized the decal the second Madison had shown it to her, and it was unlikely she was ever in fear for her life. She probably knew the identity of the driver and shooter. From the time they had found her, she had been manipulating the investigation. But why point them in the direction of the Devil’s Rebels or request protection? And why insist on being protected in her own home?
Madison snapped her fingers. That was it! Snyder couldn’t get information out to anyone on the status of the investigation from the safe house. “She tipped off Cousins, and that’s why he wasn’t at his house!”
Terry and Cynthia looked at her, confused.
She explained her thought process quickly and then bolted from the room, shouting, “I’ve gotta go,” over her shoulder.
-
Chapter 45
MADISON PRACTICALLY RAN DOWN THE hallway of the station. She heard Terry calling out to her, but she wasn’t stopping for anything. She’d messed up, and she had to make it right. She peeled out of the lot as Terry waved his hands wildly. In the rearview mirror, she saw him put his phone to an ear before running back to the station’s door.
Her phone rang on her hip, but there was no point in answering. It would be Terry. He’d be telling her to return to the station, to step back and think things through. But the only thing she could think about was how she’d let herself down, let Joni down, let all of them down. She’d had no idea that Snyder was involved. Her reason for being blind could be explained away, her background was clean, and she’d cooperated. Even though the latter wasn’t immediate, she’d seemed like she was coming through.
She made it to Snyder’s place in ten minutes, half the time it would’ve taken if she’d driven at legal speed. There was a cruiser out front, but no one was in it.
That was strange…
Her adrenaline started flowing. Madison slowed down and parked behind the black-and-white. She should call and wait for backup. Maybe paranoia was getting the best of her, though. Just because he wasn’t in the car didn’t mean he was in danger…
She got out of the department sedan and headed to the front door, ready to draw her gun if she needed to. She assessed Snyder’s place. It was a bungalow with a fenced-in yard, and the curtains in the front windows were drawn. No line of sight. No way of knowing what she was getting herself into.
But the front door was closed. If the officer had gone inside, he’d have radioed in that he was going to and he would have left the door open.
She drew in tight to a corner of the house, away from any windows. She didn’t need Snyder looking out and seeing her there. Madison pulled out her phone to call it in, not that she really even knew what it was yet, but her gut was telling her it wasn’t good. The line was direct to the communications and dispatch room.
She hung up feeling ill. Officer Palmer was the one assigned to watch Snyder, and he’d put in the call that he was going to check on her thirty minutes ago.
Backup was being dispatched, and she was told to wait for their arrival. But what if Palmer didn’t have that sort of time left?
Snyder could possibly be armed, not only with the Glock from Barry’s shooting but with Palmer’s weapon at this point, assuming she was able to overcome him.
Madison edged her way around the side of the house, letting herself through a chain-link gate. She was hoping to find an open window somewhere that would give her a view inside the home, or even that would allow her to overhear something. But so far, nothing.
She wrapped around the back side of the house. There was a small patio area and a patio door. Staying close to house, she quickly took a peek.
The good news was that the view through the patio door was unobstructed.
The bad news was that there were two people inside.
She’d have to look again to get a real feel for the situation. On the count of three…
One…
Two…
Three…
She jutted her head around the corner. Palmer was tied to a kitchen chair. And then Madison was face-to-face with Snyder.
Son of a bitch!
The door slid open.
“It seems we have company,” Snyder said calmly.
Madison had her gun drawn, but Snyder held one, too. A Glock. Was it the murder weapon? Or Palmer’s fully loaded piece?
Snyder was smiling. “I was wondering how long it would take you. Now put your gun down.”
Madison assessed the situation. Snyder’s eyes were electric, wild as if she’d taken drugs. But besides that, she seemed composed. The gun was steady in her hand. Madison could try to kick it out of Snyder’s hand or pull her own trigger, but she’d risk Snyder getting off a shot anyhow. And if Snyder missed, her bullet could travel and hit an innocent civilian.
“Don’t even think about it,” Snyder said. “I will kill you.” The unruffled tone of her voice told Madison that Snyder would have no problem doing so.
Madison heard cars approaching the area and knew that backup was here.
“I’m not going to tell you again.”
Madison lifted her free hand in surrender as she bent over to place her gun on the ground. She remained cognizant of Snyder and alert, ready to move if Snyder went to strike. Madison stood up without event.
“Now get in the house.”
“No.” Madison had a line of sight to Palmer now, and he was looking at her with wide eyes and shaking his head. His mouth was gagged, his wrists and ankles bound to the chair.
“No?” Snyder laughed. “I’m the one with the gun.”
“You let him go. Take me, instead.”
“This isn’t a negotiation.”
“You don’t want him, anyway. You want me.”
It was clear on Snyder’s face that she relished the thought of having control over Madison.
“Maybe I want you both.”
Madison observed how, as she kept Snyder tal
king, Snyder kept her hold steady on the gun.
“Why did you kill him?”
“Oh, wouldn’t you like to know.”
“Well, yes. I asked.”
Snyder’s smile faded. “You haven’t figured it all out yet, have you?”
God, she should have gotten more information before running over here, but honestly, the last thing she’d expected was for the patrol officer watching Snyder to be held hostage.
“What do you want?” Madison asked.
“What do I—” Snyder splayed her free hand across her chest. “I got what I want.”
“Then what is all this?” Madison gestured to Palmer.
More vehicles came up on the place. They were just out front. SWAT would have been called in. That meant a sniper. If she could keep Snyder outside talking for long enough…
Was she okay with that idea? Deciding life and death—even guided by the use-of-force model—wasn’t a favored position for any cop to find herself in.
But this woman in front of her had been involved with killing Barry. Her friend Barry.
“Why did you kill him?”
“You know I didn’t,” Snyder said, playing innocent. “I was pumping gas myself.”
“You set all of this up.” Madison was pulling, trying to string together something that would have a semblance of truth to it—or at least hit close enough to get Snyder to open up. “You know who pulled the trigger.”
Snyder didn’t say anything, a flicker glazing over her eyes.
“But it wasn’t Travis… Mike maybe?” Madison kept going. “Or was it Clark?”
“Shut up!” Snyder held the gun in Madison’s face.
Something about Clark had struck close to home. Madison put up a hand of surrender, and Snyder lowered the gun.
“You’re in love with Clark?” Madison guessed.
“I am not.” Snyder jutted out her chin, her eyes filled with tears.
As Madison was thinking about what to say next, she thought through everything she knew about the case. There were so many pieces that still needed to be put together, though. Where was the BMW? Why all the orchestration? Was it just to lead them away from the true killer? How did Snyder connect to Cousins and Brown? Who had handed over the five thousand bucks? Then Madison thought about Russell Coleman.
“You lost someone you cared about recently, too, didn’t you?” she asked, finally starting to truly put it together.
“Shut up! I’m warning you!” She jabbed the gun toward Madison again. “You killed him! You damn cops!”
“You were in love with Russell Coleman.”
“Don’t you dare say his name.” Snyder had her gun to Madison’s head now.
She could beg, she could tell Snyder that she didn’t want to shoot her, but she wasn’t ready to call the girl’s bluff. She had to show her that she was on her side somehow.
“You hear all the commotion in front of your house? More police are here, and I guarantee you SWAT is here. They will set up a sniper, and they will—”
“Shut up!” Snyder was shouting through clenched teeth, spittle flying.
Madison kept her hands up. “They will shoot you if we stay outside.”
Snyder looked quickly beyond Madison. She shoved Madison’s shoulder. “Get in the house.”
-
Chapter 46
HOW DID MADISON ALWAYS MANAGE to put herself right in the line of fire? Troy knew the answer before the question was even fully formed in his head. She had a talent for running off half-cocked.
He was in the SWAT command vehicle in the front of Erica Snyder’s residence. Intel told them that the subject and Madison were at the back of the house. Jay was already getting in position to take a shot.
Several neighbors had reported that Snyder was armed and holding a gun on a woman—Madison.
The thought of that was nauseating. He hadn’t even told her how much he loved her. He’d wussed out and let her leave the squad room without making their relationship right.
“Matthews, I have line of sight on the target. Knight is unarmed, and there’s a gun on the ground. Confirm that Snyder is holding a gun on Knight. Take the shot?” Jay said over his comm.
Troy took a deep breath. Another death on his hands in less than twenty-four hours… But if anything happened to Madison, he’d never forgive himself. And what about Officer Palmer? Where was he? “Hold off for a—”
“Scratch that. Target has left line of sight.”
“What happened?”
“Target and Detective Knight have entered the home.”
What was she thinking? He slammed the desk in the command vehicle, his eyes on the phone mounted on the wall.
He picked it up and dialed Snyder’s number. It rang repeatedly, and he put the receiver down. He repeated the process five times. The last two times he went straight to voice mail. She’d turned her phone off.
Madison—and likely Officer Palmer—were inside with a cop killer. He paced the vehicle, the other members of his team moving out of his way when he came near them.
“We need all the information we can get on Snyder, and we need it yesterday,” Troy barked to his men.
“Her background was clean and she wasn’t even a person of interest,” David began but fell silent under Troy’s stare.
“She was in foster care,” Derek offered.
“All right.” Troy pointed his finger at the man. “What else? How is she connected with Cousins and Brown? Coleman?” Troy’s heart began to pound. Brown had the means—the vehicle, the gun, the bullets. Snyder had the phone that set up the purchase of those items. Cousins had the friendship with Coleman. But Troy was stalling on motive. What drew all these people together to kill Barry? The obvious wasn’t there. None of their records showed a connection to him.
He dropped onto the bench next to the table.
“She was Sommer’s girlfriend,” Jay said, brainstorming with them through the comm. “Cousins’s his friend and roommate.”
“Keep going, Jay.”
“And we know that Cousins and Coleman were friends… With Cousins being found at the Hellions’ hideout, he was obviously getting in with them.”
“I’d say already was,” David added.
“I agree,” Troy said.
“All right… So let’s look at it from this standpoint,” Jay went on. “What made Snyder take Palmer? Know what I mean? She could have gotten away with her involvement in Barry’s murder, but she chose to get our attention. Why?”
“She’s upset about something,” David stated.
Troy looked at him. “That’s it! She was personally invested in Coleman. They must’ve been involved romantically.”
“She heard about his death and decided she was going to take action…again,” Jay suggested.
“But we know she wasn’t the shooter. She was getting gas at the time. And the driver was Coleman.”
“So he claimed,” Derek said. “Hey, I’m playing devil’s advocate here.”
“I don’t understand why he’d claim something like that if he didn’t do it. I think Jay’s on to something, though. Coleman’s death is the only thing that could’ve triggered this today. And I have a feeling someone else is involved who we’re failing to see. There has to be. We’re at least missing our shooter still.”
Troy got up and tried Snyder’s number again, and it went to voice mail. Again. He called Madison’s phone and got through, but it wasn’t Madison who answered.
“I’m Troy Matthews with Stiles PD, and I’m here to help you. What’s your name?” Always make an introduction and obtain or confirm the contact’s name.
“Erica.”
“Erica,” he began, using her name to establish a sense of camaraderie, “I need to know that everyone is safe.”
“Everyone is safe.”
“What can I do for you, Erica?” Come across empathic, eager to fulfill the needs of the hostage holder.
“I’m not letting anyone go.”
“I never asked you—”
“Bring me the cop who killed Russ,” Erica said, and the line went dead.
Troy dialed dispatch. “Clear Palmer’s radio.”
-
Chapter 47
THE INSIDE OF SNYDER’S HOUSE was laid out simply. The kitchen and dining room were at the back of the house, an arched doorway led to the front sitting room, and a hallway came off the kitchen that probably led to the bedrooms and a bathroom.
Palmer was staring at Madison as if he were trying to communicate something to her, but either he wasn’t very good at subtle messages or she wasn’t good at deciphering them. Snyder must have banged him up pretty good, too. Fresh bruises colored his forehead.
A phone had started ringing not long after Madison had stepped into the house with Snyder. It was coming from Snyder’s pocket, and it wouldn’t stop.
Madison knew it was Troy. He’d be outside, ready to negotiate for her and Palmer’s release.
Snyder was ignoring it, and it went on ringing for a while.
“Let him go.” Madison nodded toward Palmer. “Take me in his place.”
“And why would I do that?”
“Because you have SWAT already establishing a perimeter around your place. I guarantee you that you would have been shot in the head if we stayed outside. You trusted me then. So trust me now.”
“I don’t trust cops.”
She sounded like Cousins. Hadn’t he said pretty much the same thing?
Her phone rang again, and she pulled it from her pocket and ripped out the battery.
Not a good move…
“Listen, let the patrol officer go,” Madison tried again. “You want me. I’m here now.”
“I want the cop who killed Russ!” Snyder yelled.
Madison glanced at Palmer. Her heart was racing, and it felt like she was going to black out. “That was me.”
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