Giving up on ringing my dad, I dialed the station. When the call connected, I quickly explained who I was and what was going on. I waited while they checked on the information I gave and then came back to me with bad news.
I pulled the receiver away from my mouth and looked at my brother, panicked. “A call came in a few minutes ago. A shot was fired near the nursing home where Dad was visiting Art Tomlinson. Caller said a man was shot.”
We bolted for my brother’s truck. I was still on the line and was able to find out that medical had arrived on the scene and was loading my father into the ambulance. We sped toward the hospital and after hanging up with dispatch, I managed to reach my mother and told her as much as I knew.
“Call the girls,” Spencer said as soon as I’d hung up with my mother.
“Fuck.” I’d forgotten the girls. I quickly dialed Emily and gave her the same info I’d just given to my mother, which wasn’t a lot. I could hear her trying not to freak out as she asked me what I wanted her to do, if they should meet us at the hospital.
“For now, stay put. I’ll call you as soon as we know more.”
She agreed they would wait at the house to hear from me or Spencer again.
Spencer whipped the truck into the first parking spot we found and then we both tore off for the emergency room entrance.
After making a big commotion and trying to demand someone get us some damn information about our father, a male nurse rushed into the waiting area and straight to us. “Is your father David Shaw?”
“Yes, can you tell us if he’s okay?”
“He’s being prepped for surgery now, but he’s insisting he talk to you. You’re a cop, right?”
“Yes, I am, can you take us back there?” I was ready to go find my father with or without this guy’s help.
“Your father needs surgery now, they’re about to put him under. I can maybe get one of you back there before they do, but you’ll only have a second.”
I looked at my brother.
“Go,” he said. “I’ll wait for Mom.”
I followed the nurse to where Dad was being prepared for surgery. I tried to ignore all the blood and beeping machines as I walked into the room. My father attempted to sit up, but a nurse held him down as another prepared an injection for his IV.
“Cam, Cam,” my father choked.
“What is it?” I went to his side
“Tipton,” he coughed. “It’s Tipton.”
“Who’s Tipton, Dad?”
“Get my things, find my files. You’ll see. It’s all there. They’re all dead.”
“Who’s dead, Dad? Billy? You said this was about Billy Jacobs.”
“Not just Billy. All of them. Wanted revenge,” he coughed again and the machines started beeping faster.
“I’m sorry, you need to go now,” one of the nurses grabbed me and pushed me from the room.
“Get the files and you’ll see,” was my father’s last hoarse shout before the door was closed behind me and I was escorted back to the waiting room where my mother now sat beside Spencer with tears streaming down her worried face. They jumped up when they saw me coming.
“How is he?” My mom’s voice shook as she tried to wipe the tears from her eyes.
“I don’t know. I only got to see him for a second, but he was conscious. That’s good. Looked like he was hit in the shoulder. I don’t know how bad it is, but they’re taking him into surgery.”
Mom was shaking trying to hold back the hysterics.
“Just breathe, Mom.” Spence took her hand. “Dad’s going to be fine."
The same nurse that had taken me back there and escorted me out, gently pulled Mom aside to answer some questions and fill out some information they needed, promising that he would keep her updated on Dad’s condition.
“What did Dad have to say?” Spencer asked when mom was out of earshot.
“Not a lot. He gave me a name, Tipton. Said they’re all dead and something about revenge. Not much of it made a lot of sense but he seemed to think that if we could get ahold of his files, it would.”
“He didn’t happen to say where we’d find these files, did he?”
“No, but I’m going to find out if he had anything on him at the scene.”
It took a few phone calls, but I was able to find out that my father didn’t have anything on him when he was shot, but someone saw a man trying to break into his car. He bolted when several witnesses, having heard the shot, approached. That’s when the call to nine-one-one was made. I relayed this information to my brother.
“James hasn’t left town yet. I’ll send him over to check the car if the police haven’t already gone through it.”
“Since the guy didn’t break in, we should have a little more time before they open it up, but the scene will still be crawling with law enforcement. He’ll have a hard time getting to it.”
Spencer just grinned. “I’m sure he’s up for the challenge.”
In the end, Emily’s brother came through for us. He strolled into the hospital in under an hour, carrying a brown leather bag. “This was the only thing of interest I saw. Has some files in it, I didn’t go through them. I’ll leave that to you two.”
“Thanks man.”
“No problem.” James glanced around the waiting room. “Where’s my sister.”
“Told her and Nora to stay put at my place until we know more of what’s going on.”
He nodded. “Just when you think shit is settling down.”
“I know.” I wasn’t sure how much more our family could take. Mom was barely holding it together. Aunt Shelly had showed up just before James and taken her down to the cafeteria to get some tea and a bite to eat.
“Let’s see if we can find some damn answers in here.” I pulled several file folders and loose papers that looked like printed news articles from the bag for the three of us to go through.
“Looks like this one is an old case Dad worked,” Spencer noted, reading through one of the files, handing part of it off to James.
“I’ve got a bunch of obits here,” I said, scanning the papers in my hand. “Jim Brady, Billy’s parents, Dan Bishop, Simon Hart, Steven Campbell.” They were all familiar names, guys Dad had known and worked with over the years.
“Wait,” James looked up from the sheet he’d been scanning, “say those names again.”
“Jim Brady, Paul and Suzy Jacobs, Dan Bishop, Simon Hart –”
“And Steven Campbell?” James asked, reading from the paper in his hand.
“Yeah,” I frowned, “why?”
“Okay, check this out. I’m looking at the officers and people involved in this case, and all of those names are here. Lead investigators were Detectives Dan Bishop and Simon Hart. Arresting officers were your father and his partner Paul Jacobs. The key piece of evidence that really sealed the case was collected by Officer Jim Brady. The prosecutor assigned to the case was Steven Campbell. The only name missing from your obits is Judge Arthur Tomlinson, who presided over the case and handed down the sentence.”
“That’s who Dad went to see at the nursing home. Who was the perp in this case?”
“Carl Tipton,” my brother answered before James.
“Tipton, that’s the name Dad gave me.”
“Yeah, looks like they got this guy on a series of robbery and homicide charges. Seems he was responsible for a string of home invasions, one that ended in the death of one of the homeowners, but what I’m reading now says the guy was sentenced to thirty years, possibility for parole after twenty, but died in prison last year, so he can’t be responsible for Billy or any of those guys.”
“And Brady died in a car crash, Billy’s parents in a house fire caused by faulty wiring, Dan Bishop was killed in a hunting accident out of state, Campbell committed suicide, Billy was shot during a stop and Simon Hart and his family were victims of a random home invasion gone bad.”
“But come on,” James spoke up again, “you can’t seriously tell me you think this is a
ll random.”
“There’s no way. It would be too much of a coincidence seeing how they’re all connected, but it doesn’t make sense that one person could be responsible for this many supposed accidents. Not to mention the guy with the ties and motive is already dead.”
“Maybe there was another case they all worked,” James suggested.
“No, my dad said it was Tipton.”
“What about a partner or a relative?” Spencer was flipping through the pages hurriedly, looking for something. “Right here. Says the guy had a son, a Roy Gallagher. He was eight at the time of his father’s arrest. That would make him about twenty-eight now.” He looked up from the paper at James. “Call Ray. I want everything on Gallagher.”
We were still looking through all the paperwork, hoping to find any pieces of the puzzle we were still missing while James was on the phone with Ray, having him do a full run-down on Tipton’s son.
“Okay,” James said, hanging up with Ray, drawing our attention away from the information in front of us. “Looks like our boy Gallagher served in the Army until he was dishonorably discharged eighteen months ago. The guy’s service record is colorful. Several notes about insubordination and getting into fights off of base. Dude has some real issues with authority and it seems he was a bit disgruntled about being turned down for sniper school. Twice. Went off on a commanding officer, even threw a swing at him. That was strike three, or ten, it looks like. Did six months, then the military gave him the boot. Last known residence was in California, but it looks like he dropped off the map after his dad was killed.”
“He’s definitely our guy.” Spencer closed the file in his hand and started gathering up the ones we’d spread over chairs and the small end table we’d dragged over. “Ray needs to keep digging, and we need local PD looking for him as well.” I already had my phone out so I could put the call in to my captain.
Even though the case wasn’t ours, he would see to it that the guys assigned this one started the hunt for Gallagher. Once word got out that he was responsible for not only shooting a retired cop, but several deaths, including Billy’s, every cop in the city would be hunting this guy.
Spencer and James were both watching me expectantly when I hung up with Cap. “SPD has been briefed now on everything we know.”
“You think he’ll go after the judge next? Or maybe he was already trying to do the job but your dad showed up and got in the way.”
“I don’t know. It’s likely, but Tomlinson has stage four cancer. Doesn’t have but a few months whether Roy gets to him or not. Still, Cap said he’ll see to it that men get put on him. Hopefully they can catch Gallagher coming back to finish the job.”
About that time, Mom and Aunt Shelley joined us again. I started shoving files and papers back into the bag. Mom didn’t need to see any of this.
“Did you boys find anything out?”
“I think we know who did this. SPD is out looking for him now. They’ll get him Mom.” As I shoved the last of the files back into the leather bag, the nurse returned, a small manila envelope in his hand. He held it out to me. “This was in your father’s jacket. We’re supposed to turn everything over to the police, but I figure since you are the police, it’s okay for me to give it you.”
I took the envelope, my eyes catching on the messy scrawl across the front. Arthur Tomlinson.
That was it. It was addressed to Art at the nursing home, postmarked here in Spokane, but no return address.
“What is that?” Mom asked. They were all looking curiously at the envelope I now held.
“Dad must have gotten it from Art.”
“That reminds me, your father had an envelope just like that in the mail when we got back from Portland. I found it yesterday when I was sorting the mail. I remember it had no return address either. I never saw what was inside, but your father seemed upset by it last night. I’m not sure what he did with it.”
I slid it open and when I saw the contents my heart stopped. I dropped the envelope. “Mom, stay here with Aunt Shelley, we have to go now.” That was the only explanation I gave as I took off for Spencer’s truck. Thankfully they didn’t feel the need to question it, and Spencer and James were both close on my heels.
It wasn’t until my brother slid behind the wheel and started the truck that he asked for an explanation. “What’s going on? Where are we going?”
“Get to the girls now.”
His entire demeanor changed in a second from slightly concerned to downright ready to lose his shit like I was. He tore out of the parking lot like a demon out of hell.
I was on my phone dialing Emily, but all it did was ring.
“Damn it,” I swore. “What’s Nora’s number?”
“What the hell is going on Camden?”
“Her number, now!” I dialed as fast as he fired off the numbers, but her phone rang and rang with no answer, same as Emily’s had.
“Fuck!” I shouted, slamming my hand down on the dash.
“Talk to us man.” James was leaning forward between Spencer and I from the back seat.
“What was in that envelope?” Spencer cast a fearful look at me.
“It was just like the one I got. Had pictures of people I’m guessing are Tomlinson’s kids and grandkids, crosshairs drawn on them. My guess is Dad got one too.”
Spencer’s foot slammed down harder on the pedal as he flew through the streets, weaving in and out of traffic. He barked at James to call Nikoli, while I called it in as well. I just had to hope that whoever got there first would be in time.
***
I pulled the truck onto a turnoff just before Shaw’s drive and slammed on the brake, throwing the truck in park. I climbed from the truck angrily. It wasn’t supposed to go down like this. David Shaw was supposed to be last. Dammit!
I’d followed him from the restaurant, and after he dropped his wife at home he paid a visit to our good friend Arthur. Which meant, he’d figured it out. A damn bit sooner than I’d expected. He’d forced my hand. I had to take the shot. It was done now.
He’d gotten the easy way out. Quick. A bullet to the chest. Far less than he deserved. I’d had so much more in store for him. Only after he’d watched his beloved wife and sons die. I’d wanted him to know it was his fault.
Now, the only ones left to take it out on, were his sons and his poor widow. They would all suffer for the sins of the father. Camden and Spencer would arrive back and find a surprise waiting for them. The tracking devices I’d slipped onto both brothers’ vehicles placed Spencer’s truck at the hospital, and Camden’s car at his house.
Their women had taken the car from the restaurant, which meant they were out here all alone. When I got eyes on the house, I confirmed there were no other vehicles in the drive.
Thirty
Emily
Fresh from the shower, I made my way downstairs, wrapped in my robe. “Any news?” I asked Nora anxiously. I couldn’t stand just sitting around waiting for one of the guys to call back. I’d wanted to clean up in case they needed us to come to them.
Playing with the dogs outside in this heat, before we got the first call, had left the both of us dirty, sweaty messes.
“I texted Spence a little bit ago. His dad is still in surgery, they don’t know anything else yet?”
“Do they know who did it? Does it have to do with Camden’s case?” I think I was still in a bit of shock. Just when we thought there was nothing left to worry about.
“I’m not sure. When I asked, Spencer just said they were working on it, but he didn’t seem to think it was about Camden. He hasn’t texted me back with anything else yet. I’m sure they’re just trying to be there for his mom. They’ll call when they know something.”
“I feel like we should be there.” I plopped down onto the sofa beside her and put my feet up on the coffee table.
“I know, but they’ll call if they want us to come to the hospital. For now, I think I’m going to hop in the shower too, just in case we do have to lea
ve.”
“Okay, I’ll keep our phones close.”
Nora climbed the stairs and a few minutes later I heard the rushing of water from the pipes upstairs. I reached for the remote, tired of the infomercial that had come on. After two sweeps of the guide, finding nothing, I gave up and turned the TV off in favor of going to get my Kindle from the bedroom. I was so close to the end of my book, only a couple of chapters left. It would be a better distraction than the TV.
As comfy as the fluffy robe was, I decided I might as well put real clothes on while I was upstairs retrieving my Kindle. With no neighbors around, I didn’t worry about changing in front of opened curtains, but as I pulled a shirt over my head, I caught something out of the corner of my eye. Righting my shirt, I went to the window, expecting to see the dogs out in the yard. Instead, there was a man moving through the shadows cast by the setting sun.
I jumped back from the window, afraid he would glance up and see me. He didn’t look like a Jehovah’s Witness come to bring the good news.
For a moment, I stood there, unable to move or even think through the panic, and that moment cost me. I might have had time to run downstairs and grab my cell phone from the coffee table where I’d left it, but I only snapped out of my frozen terror when the bedroom light went out. The room was plunged into near darkness, save for the little bit of fading twilight coming in through the window.
I doubted it was a burnt out light bulb, and then I heard Nora’s muttered confusion from the bathroom and that finally spurred me into action. I ran to the bathroom, praying she hadn’t locked the door. It opened when I grabbed the handle and I barged in. The light in here was out as well.
Nora poked her head out of the shower door. “What the–”
“Someone’s here. I think they cut the power to the house.”
Wide eyed with fear, she flung herself out of the shower, grabbing for the clothes she’d discarded on the floor.
“Do you have your phone?” she asked hopefully.
Tears of Blue (Shades of Death Book 2) Page 24