by Rose, Karen
His brows went up. ‘As in?’ he asked, but from his tone she knew that he’d figured it out.
‘You’re gonna make me say it, aren’t you?’ She rolled her eyes. ‘Croft and Connor.’
He grinned. ‘Lara Croft and Sarah Connor? You were ready to fight, girl.’
‘Like I said, I understand where Phil Skinner is coming from. I left my house yesterday so damn angry. It was the anniversary to start with and my daughter’s having nightmares. Then I have this damned cane, and if that isn’t enough, I’ve got people trying to fucking kill me. So, yeah, I was in the mood for a little terminating. I was Sarah.’
‘I’d have taken you more as the Lara Croft type.’
She snickered. ‘You wish.’ He sobered abruptly, his jaw clenching, and she sighed. Of course he wished. That was the trouble. ‘Hell. I’d kick my own ass if my leg worked right.’
‘Rain check,’ he muttered. ‘Look, you might think no one knew you were going there for lunch yesterday, but obviously someone did. They were on the roof, shooting at you.’
She went still. ‘Hold on. I’d assumed they’d followed me from my house into town, but if they did, they couldn’t have followed Izzy and Cordelia out to Daphne’s farm. We left the house at the same time and went different directions. There must have been two different shooters.’
‘We have at least three suspects. Backpack, Cocksucker, and Drive-by.’
‘And the two guys today couldn’t be Drive-by, because you shot Drive-by. Neither of the guys today had shoulder wounds. So, okay. Three suspects.’
‘If they’re working together, both you and Izzy were probably followed. Or . . .’ He glanced over at her. ‘You go to that restaurant every year? The same one?’
‘Yes.’ She frowned. ‘You think someone knew that? That they’ve been watching me?’
‘At this point I’m inclined to believe there were two different shooters. Plus Rossi. But we can’t leave any avenue unexplored. This is your life we’re talking about. And Cordelia’s.’
‘I know. There’s the ER. Let’s get checked out so we can get back to work.’
Sunday, March 16, 3.20 P.M.
Robinette turned onto a side road, stopped the Tahoe on the shoulder, and closed his eyes.
I made it. No cops had followed him as he’d fled Culp’s neighborhood, but that was the only good news. Maynard and Mazzetti had gotten away. Dammit.
Robinette ground his teeth. That black Escalade was goddamn bullet-proofed. He’d thought he’d had her. Finally. He thought Mazzetti’s luck had finally run out.
But no. The woman led a damn charmed life. Or she was careful. The latter made more sense, but the former was seeming more plausible with every moment – and every near miss.
He should have finished her off at the CVS, but the drugstore had been on a major road and he hadn’t been willing to risk the exposure.
He’d really thought he’d had them when they stopped at Culp’s house. That they suspected Culp of being a BPD leak hadn’t been a shock. Robinette had expected as much, which was why he’d given Westmoreland the order to take care of Culp that morning. The IA weasel would have sung like a damn canary to protect his own ass.
He’d waited so patiently for her to emerge from that house . . . But the sight of the police sniper on the roof had startled him. That was my mistake. Robinette had fired on the sniper without thinking about which way the guy would fall – and it was the guy’s fall that had warned Mazzetti.
You lost it, man. Lost your cool. He’d been so damn angry that Maynard had gotten her away that he’d fired at the SUV when it passed by on its way out.
And then he’d been too busy running to the Tahoe and driving like a bat out of hell to escape the sniper’s pals who’d emerged from Culp’s house like clowns out of a Volkswagen.
Now . . . Mazzetti and Maynard were nowhere to be found. They might go to a hospital, but he couldn’t risk following. Too many people knew his face.
Dammit. If Henderson had done the job right at the beginning, I wouldn’t be in this spot now. Although Robinette had to admit to feeling a little commiseration with his former marksman. Stevie Mazzetti was proving damn hard to kill.
You could let it go. Walk away.
No, he couldn’t. Her digging into her ex-partner’s old cases had revealed what he’d known ever since Lippman’s ‘tell all’ list had surfaced a year ago – that the list was far from inclusive. All of the old cases would be reviewed now, Julie’s included. It was only a matter of time.
Another cop wouldn’t spare Julie’s case a second glance because Levi had been named Julie’s killer, but Mazzetti had been determined to see him fry eight years ago. He couldn’t afford to allow her to sink her teeth into him again. Couldn’t risk her poking around his factory like she’d done before. Every time he’d turned around she’d been there, watching him. He couldn’t let her do that to him again.
Especially now that they were gearing up production of Fletcher’s new formula.
No, he couldn’t quit. He’d just have to get a little craftier. A little less compassionate and a lot more ruthless. It was time to focus on the daughter. If he had the daughter, Stevie Mazzetti would crawl to him on her knees.
He needed to find where Maynard had hidden the child. It would be a place the PI himself felt safe. The photos he’d taken from Maynard’s bedroom were as good a place to start as any. Hell, it was the only place he had to start. There’d been nothing else of personal interest in Maynard’s house – unless Westmoreland had gotten to it first.
He considered the notion, then rejected it. Westmoreland was solid. Robinette would trust him – until Wes gave him a reason not to.
Sunday, March 16, 4.30 P.M.
‘You’re damn hard on vehicles, Maynard,’ Joseph said as he approached Clay, who stood outside Stevie’s curtained-off cubicle in the ER. ‘First your truck, then my Escalade.’
The Fed’s expression was so drawn, Clay had to wonder what had happened now.
‘I know. I’m just glad the glass held. It pebbled, but it held together.’
‘I’m glad it held, too. I upgraded the glass before Christmas. The last time I was shot at, the glass shattered.’
‘Then I guess we’re extra lucky.’ Clay looked past Joseph to the ER bay surrounded by hospital personnel. ‘How’s the sniper?’
‘Broke a leg and ruptured his spleen. They’re sending him up to surgery in the next minute or two. He stayed conscious long enough to tell his lieutenant that he hadn’t seen the shooter’s face. The guy had his ski mask on again. Are either you or Stevie hurt?’
‘I’ve got a few new bruises.’ He pointed behind his back to the curtain. ‘She’s getting restitched. Why are you looking so grim? What else happened?’ Panic gripped him. ‘Cordelia?’
‘No, she’s fine.’ The entry doors slid open and two EMTs pushed a stretcher into the ER. The stretcher was so completely surrounded by doctors and nurses that only the patient’s legs were visible. ‘That’s Phil Skinner, Hyatt’s assistant.’
New dread washed through Clay. ‘I thought JD and two of your guys went to pick him up.’
‘They did.’ Joseph watched the ER staff working on Skinner with clinical detachment. But a muscle in his jaw twitched. ‘Skinner shot himself. JD tried to stop him, even managed to take the gun from his hand, but Skinner had a backup.’
Oh my God. ‘Is he alive?’
‘They brought him in here instead of calling for Quartermaine, so he has a pulse.’
Clay’s lungs weren’t working properly. ‘Shit.’
‘I know.’ Joseph grabbed Clay’s arm when he would have paced away. ‘I was told you’d probably blame yourself. That won’t do anyone any good, so don’t.’
‘Easy for you to say. You didn’t put the guy on disability.’
/> ‘Neither did you,’ Joseph said firmly.
The curtain behind them whipped back. Stevie was sliding off the bed, a fresh bandage on her arm. She leaned on a crash cart to stay upright. ‘Where did he shoot himself? With what?’
‘In his mouth with a .380.’
Stevie winced. ‘Did you retrieve Rossi’s phone that Skinner took from the evidence lab?’
‘We did. There was a message on it from Skinner, just like Rossi said there would be.’
Her shoulders sagged. ‘Skinner really did leak the safe house location to Rossi,’ she said. ‘I didn’t want to believe it.’ Then she frowned. ‘So why is Culp dead? Who did he piss off?’
‘Good question. We searched Culp’s house for evidence and the lab is sorting through it now. Same with Skinner’s. Both guys lived like pigs, so getting through the piles of take-out boxes will be time-consuming. But Skinner’s medicine cabinets were tidy. And full.’
‘No Tylenol or Tums taking up space,’ Stevie said quietly.
‘Nothing so tame. Skinner appeared high when they got there, so Agent Novak searched Skinner’s apartment while JD did CPR after Skinner shot himself. Skinner had pills in his medicine cabinet, in his dresser drawers, pockets of his suits. Oxy, Percocet, Ritalin, Adderall.’
Clay scrubbed his palms down his face. Painkillers and uppers. Because Skinner had been shot. Because I didn’t say something two years ago.
‘The pills were in baggies,’ Joseph was saying, ‘not bottles from a pharmacy. He wasn’t going to doctors for prescriptions anymore. Skinner was buying off the street.’
‘Did Rossi find out?’ Stevie asked. ‘Or was he Skinner’s pusher?’
‘I don’t know – yet. Hopefully Rossi will be inclined to enlighten us or the search of Skinner’s place will turn up something to explain.’
‘Has Skinner’s wife been informed?’ she asked.
‘Hyatt’s on his way there now. He’s had a busy afternoon with notifications.’
She sighed. ‘Maybe Skinner’s wife will be able to shed some light on this.’
‘What did he say before he pulled the trigger?’ Clay asked.
Joseph shrugged. ‘Like I said, he appeared to be high. He ranted about how everyone had ruined his life – Lucy for getting him shot, Hyatt for giving him a “charity job”, JD for turning on him, and even you, Stevie, for whipping everyone into a frenzy after Silas was found out.’
‘Anything else?’ Clay asked, not wanting to hear the answer.
Joseph met Clay’s eyes. ‘He didn’t mention you.’
‘That’s hard to believe, since I’m the one who got him shot in the first place.’
‘Believe what you want, but JD specifically said Skinner didn’t mention you.’
Clay nodded, still not sure he believed them. ‘All right, then. What about the Tahoe? Did we get any hits from the license plate we got from my security cameras?’
‘Stolen earlier this afternoon from a car parked at the train station.’ Joseph lifted his brows. ‘But someone two streets away from Culp’s house described a sand-colored Tahoe speeding away after the gunfire.’
‘Mr Backpack,’ Stevie said with satisfaction. ‘We know he killed the two cops this afternoon. Rossi got Officer Cleary. That leaves the restaurant sniper and whoever killed Culp still unaccounted for.’
‘And the shooters who’ve tried to get you and missed,’ Joseph said. ‘Don’t forget them.’
‘The drive-by in my front yard and the white Camry who shot at me after I left the IA meeting on Friday.’ She pressed her fingers to her temples. ‘God, this gives me a headache.’
‘Me, too,’ Clay said grimly. ‘We need to consider that the restaurant sniper and Drive-by could be the same person – one who happened to know you’d be at that location with Emma.’
Stevie grimaced. ‘I don’t like thinking that someone’s been following me since last year.’
‘Or longer,’ Clay said quietly.
‘You’re not helping,’ she muttered.
Joseph cleared his throat. ‘As much as I love the monikers you’ve given our shooters, I’ve always been partial to actual names. Tom, Fred, even Penelope. You know. Names.’
Stevie frowned at him. ‘You’re the Fed. You’ve got the resources. He’s a PI and I’m just a cop on disability who doesn’t even have her badge.’
‘You don’t need a badge,’ Joseph fired back, giving her no pity. ‘You’re a cop whether you’re carrying the hardware or not.’ He turned to Clay. ‘Brodie said you have a stingray.’
‘Yes. I mentioned it when she and I were examining the debris in my bedroom.’
‘Stingray?’ Stevie’s eyes narrowed.
‘I told you about it. It detects any cell phones that aren’t mine and activates the alarm.’
‘You didn’t tell me it was a stingray. That’s the same gadget that had the Feds’ panties in such a twist last year when they got caught using it in a tax fraud sting, right?’
‘More like the ACLU’s panties twisted,’ Joseph grumbled. ‘The Bureau had a warrant.’
On another day Clay might have smiled at Joseph’s irritation. ‘It’s the same technology,’ he told Stevie, ‘but I’m not listening to conversations or tracking individual cellular devices.’
‘But you can,’ she pressed. ‘You said you could on the drive to your house.’
‘I said I might. It depends on if the person’s phone pings while he’s in the vicinity of my device. Things One and Two weren’t there that long. One was there about seven minutes and Two was there only five minutes. Their phones may not have sent any signals during that time.’
‘Brodie took it back with her to the lab,’ Joseph said. ‘One of the IT guys is working on it.’
‘I gave her the access code. If she has any trouble, have her call me.’
‘What will it give us?’ Stevie persisted. ‘Cell phone numbers?’
‘Yes,’ Clay said, ‘but only if their—’
‘Phones pinged,’ she said, waving her hand. ‘Yeah, yeah. I get that. What else? Location?’
‘Not location. My system is passive – it only receives information that’s released around it.’
‘But the FBI used it to locate a suspect a year or so ago. I remember the hubbub afterward.’
Clay glanced at Joseph. The Fed was rolling his eyes. ‘Damn judges,’ Joseph muttered.
‘The Feds got into hot water,’ Clay explained, ‘because they had their suspect’s wireless carrier alter the guy’s Internet card on the phone company’s end. The Feds pinged the phone with their stingrays and were able to triangulate the wireless card’s location when the card pinged back. That’s how they caught him. They got a court order for the wireless carrier’s involvement, but they went a little light on the info they gave the judge who signed it. He didn’t know the capabilities of the FBI’s system. They went hunting. I’m just gathering.’
Her lips twitched minutely, then stilled. ‘How long before we know if they got pinged?’
‘As soon as Brodie runs the report,’ Clay said.
‘What are you looking to find?’ Joseph asked her.
‘You have Rossi’s phone, Culp’s, and now Skinner’s cell phone. You’ll get cell numbers picked up by Clay’s stingray. We can get LUDs on all the numbers, and see if any of the cops called the shooters or if any of the shooters called each other. I’ve assumed that Restaurant, Drive-by, Backpack, and Cocksucker are connected. If they called each other we’ll know for sure.’
Joseph coughed, covering a laugh. ‘Stevie.’
‘Hey, he named them Backpack and Cocksucker. I was calling them Things One and Two.’
Joseph shook his head. ‘I guess we gotta laugh.’ He tossed a set of keys to Clay. ‘Grayson’s Escalade is parked out front. I’ll tak
e mine in to be repaired ASAP. After this, I’m out of bullet-resistant vehicles, so don’t get shot up in this one, okay?’
‘We’ll do our best,’ Clay said wryly, but his brows bunched in frustration. ‘Although they seem to be anticipating our movements damn well.’
‘How did the shooter know you’d go to Culp’s house?’ Joseph asked.
Stevie shrugged. ‘Clay and I worked through this. Assuming the guy who drove away from Culp’s neighborhood in a Tahoe after shooting at us was the same guy who killed those two cops, he hadn’t been at Culp’s the whole time, waiting for someone to show up. He came back to Culp’s, either because someone told him we’d be there or because he followed us. My money’s on the second one.’
She didn’t want to believe Hyatt was dirty, Clay understood. But he’d promised to keep her safe, so he’d make sure the possibility of Hyatt’s involvement didn’t get brushed under the rug.
‘Who could have told him?’ Joseph asked. ‘Who knew you were going there?’
‘Only Hyatt,’ Clay said. ‘Other people knew we were interested in Culp, but Hyatt’s the only one who knew we were going there at that moment.’
‘If someone knew you were interested,’ Joseph said rationally, ‘it wouldn’t be a huge leap to predict you’d wind up there at some point. Who knew Culp was a suspect?’
‘JD,’ Stevie said. ‘Hyatt, and Detective Bashears, who took over watching Culp’s house when JD went to the hospital to question Rossi. Hyatt told Grayson’s boss, ASA Yates, who then informed the lieutenant from the State Police. She told her team.’
‘You forgot about Kersey and his wife down in Arizona,’ Clay said. ‘I know you don’t want to think he’s dirty, but we have to put his name in the pot.’
‘You’re right,’ she said. ‘But I think it’s more likely that Tahoe tailed us from your house. If he and his friend broke into your house to lure me into the open, that would make sense.’
Clay shook his head. ‘I buy that was the first guy’s motivation, but based on the way he ran up to check after the Tahoe drove away, I don’t think he knew the second guy was coming.’