Tough Justice: Countdown Box Set

by Carla Cassidy

  “There are a hell of a lot of loose ends to tie up,” Lara replied.

  “You’re talking about the two suicides?”

  “William Walsh did leave a note,” Nick said.

  “We’ll be actively seeking a connection between the two dead men and the Connellys. I feel certain that we’ll find one.” Warwick held out his hand to Lara. “Agent Grant, thank you again for your assistance.” He nodded to Nick. “And now, if you’ll excuse me.”

  He left them next to the office door. They walked out and down the hallway. “Did you know when you went into that room that she was pretending to be something she wasn’t?” Nick asked as they waited for the elevator door.

  “I had a hunch,” she replied.

  “Your hunches and interrogation skills rock,” he said.

  There was respect in his eyes, along with a warmth that unsettled her because she wanted to fall into it. Instead she released a sigh of relief as the elevator arrived. “Hopefully, we can find a connection between everyone.”

  “The obvious connection is the fact that they’re all from Brooklyn. That’s a start,” he replied.

  “Maybe the Connellys were big-dollar political contributors to William. That’s an avenue we haven’t really been down yet,” she said thoughtfully.

  They reached their floor and got off the elevator. Nick returned to his desk and Lara went to check in with Victoria. After telling Victoria what had gone down, Lara returned to her desk to see that the autopsy reports had come in as Sandman had promised. William’s tox screen had come back clean and there had been no other health issues. David had died of an overdose of the pills he had taken and had also been in good health at the time of his death.

  Lara immediately got on the phone to the liquor store she frequented and arranged for a bottle of top-shelf Scotch to be delivered to the medical examiner’s home, as she had promised.

  Everyone was working in-house and the mood of the room had become lighter since the raid. The only person who hadn’t lightened up any was James, who still had the weight of the suicide note his brother had written hanging over his head.

  She pulled up the file that William’s financial officer had sent to her. Apparently William had his sights on becoming governor in the near future and he’d already begun the fund-raising process. Lara hadn’t looked at this file before. There had been little time with everything else that had been popping.

  She now opened it with interest. She had a specific goal in mind...to find out if there was a financial connection between the Connellys and William. Was it possible they had found out about his being gay and had blackmailed him? Forced him to write a note claiming responsibility for their crimes? That particular scenario still didn’t ring true to her.

  The minutes ticked by and Lara methodically checked out the names on the list of donors. She was vaguely surprised at some of the familiar names. William Walsh had had some big names and big money behind him, power players who could have helped him in his political career. So what had gone wrong?

  At eleven o’clock she went to the break room for coffee and found Jennifer seated at the table eating a sandwich she’d brought from home. Lara poured herself a coffee and joined Jennifer at the table.

  “That smells good,” Lara said and gestured toward the sandwich.

  “It’s nothing fancy, just plain chicken salad.” Jennifer smiled at her. “You must be hungry.”

  “I guess I am.” Lara took a sip of her coffee. “How are things going with you and Ty?”

  “Things are going okay.” She hesitated and then continued, “Mei left big shoes for me to fill. I just hope eventually Ty trusts me as much as he did her.”

  “Ty’s a good guy. I think he’ll be fine in time. It always takes a while for a new partnership to really gel. I hated Nick’s guts when I first met him.”

  “Really?” Jennifer laughed. “Then that definitely gives me hope because you and Nick seem to have a great relationship.”

  If Jennifer only knew how complicated Lara’s relationship with Nick really was. “I’d better get back to my desk,” Lara said and stood.

  “Yeah, me, too.” Jennifer folded up the last couple of bites of her sandwich into her napkin and stood. The two women left the break room together and settled back at their desks.

  Lara returned to the long list she’d been reviewing of William’s donors. She worked until noon and then whirled around in her chair. “What’s everyone doing for lunch?” she asked.

  “I already ate mine,” Jennifer said.

  “Want to order in some pizza?” Nick asked.

  “I’m sick of pizza,” Ty replied.

  “How does anyone get sick of pizza?” Lara asked.

  “I’m hungry for Chinese,” Xander added.

  This was a common conversation around lunchtime when all the agents were working in-house. Some days trying to get everyone to agree on what to order was the most difficult task of the day.

  “We’ve got another bomb.” Victoria exploded out of her office, her voice raised in alarm.

  Chapter Seven

  Dread swept through Lara. Dammit, she was half hoping that with David and William dead and the Connellys in jail there would be no more bombs. If this was like the others, then the culprit was still out there.

  “It’s the North Shore Hospital in Forest Hills,” Victoria continued. “I need all of you out there right now.”

  “Dammit, it’s only been six days since the precinct bombing,” Lara said as she and the others pulled on their windbreaker jackets with bright yellow FBI on the backs.

  They all got into the elevator to ride down to the parking garage.

  “First Manhattan, then Brooklyn and now Queens. Our bomber obviously has no problem traveling,” Nick said grimly.

  “But what’s the damned connection between them all?” Xander asked, his deep voice laced with frustration.

  “I thought we had them,” Nick replied. “Dammit, I really thought the Connellys were the ones we’d been hunting.”

  “They were bad guys, they just weren’t the right bad guys,” Ty said.

  These were the last words spoken as the elevator doors opened and they all exploded out and headed to their cars.

  Minutes later Lara was driving toward Queens. She glanced over at James, who looked more alive than he had since his brother’s death.

  Despite the grimness of the situation he had to now have some hope of his brother’s innocence. He had to be glad someplace deep inside that William’s death had not stopped the madness.

  A hospital. What kind of an animal targets a hospital? She flew down Queens Boulevard, nicknamed the Boulevard of Death because of the number of pedestrians who had been killed on the street over the years.

  Emergency vehicles passed her, their lights spinning and sirens blaring. Nausea rose up inside her as she thought of the deaths that had probably occurred. The nausea was accompanied by a welcomed adrenaline rush that would hopefully see her through another horrendous day.

  “I’d hoped we’d have more time before another one went off,” James said and released a deep sigh.

  “I’d hoped we’d never have one again,” she replied.

  “Did you really believe my brother was the bomber?” James asked, a hint of steel in his tone.

  “I swear to God, James, I still don’t know what to believe,” she answered honestly.

  “He didn’t do it,” James replied confidently. “He might have been many things, but William wasn’t a killer. I don’t know why he wrote that note, but he would have never been part of something like this.”

  In her gut, Lara believed him, but until they figured out why William had killed himself, he would always remain a big part of this horrible story.

  They had to park a block away from the la
rge hospital. They got out of the car and raced to the heart of the blast site, flashing their creds when necessary to get them through the hastily erected security lines.

  It was like the scene six days before...death and destruction everywhere she looked. She fought through the crowd with James at her heels, seeking somebody...anyone who might be in charge.

  She spied Nick, who had somehow gotten to the scene before her, and hurried toward him to see what information he might have already gained.

  “What have we got?” she yelled to be heard in the chaos.

  “The bomb went off in the hospital cafeteria. Somebody told me the death count so far is around thirty, but I’m sure it’s going to rise,” he said.

  Lara wanted so badly to get the bastard. The desire burned hot in her chest.

  “The bomb squad is on scene and currently checking for a secondary device. A command center has been set up in the parking lot on the west side of the building.”

  “Got it, we’ll check in with you later,” she said. She barreled forward, toward the center of the turmoil where dust and smoke rose up into the air, bringing with it the screams of people still needing help.

  As she ran, her brain ticked off elements that would appear in her report of this day. The weather was clear. The sun was bright and the ground was dry, the rain of the night before gone for good. Thank God. Rain would have only made the gathering of evidence even more difficult.

  She tried to tamp down the emotions that rose up inside her. She had to remain strong, to maintain her professional demeanor. But for just a moment she was simply a human being sickened by the violence, by the chaos and by all the suffering.

  Her first order of business would have been to make sure the injured were being taken care of, but there was a heavy presence of hospital personnel already attending to that. If this was like the other two bombs, then there wouldn’t be another blast at this site. She turned to James. “We need to get inside and ask some questions of the first responders and then try to find anyone else who was inside the cafeteria and escaped unharmed.”

  “I’ll head inside to talk to people there,” James said.

  “I’ll check with the command center and see who is in charge,” Lara replied.

  As James ran toward the cafeteria, Lara spun on her heels and headed toward the parking lot where Nick had said the command center had been set up.

  “FBI!” A uniformed cop nearby gestured for her. Standing next to him was a kid.

  The officer looked down at the boy at his side. “He says his name is Jacob and he was inside the cafeteria just before the bomb blew. He was just giving me a little information and I thought you might need to talk to him.”

  “What’s your full name?” Lara asked the boy as she led him away from the police officer.

  “Jacob Farzo and trust me, you want to talk to me,” the kid said. “I can tell you lots of things. But I want a reward for the information.”

  Even covered in dust, he was a good-looking kid, with dark skin tones, shoulder-length curly black hair and surprising bright green eyes. He also had the body language and a spark in his eyes that might indicate he was a bit of a smartass.

  “Are you out here all alone?” she asked.

  “Sure, I’m a lone wolf,” he replied.

  “Where are your parents, Jacob?” Lara asked.

  “I haven’t seen my dad since I was four and my mom is at home. So, about that reward...” His eyes glittered with a wisdom far beyond his age.

  “How old are you?”

  “My mom says I’m eleven going on twenty-five.”

  “So, what were you doing inside the cafeteria today?”

  “I was gonna...uh...” He looked down for a moment. “I was gonna buy me a burger. Then some guy got close to me and told me Kanye West was giving a free concert so I ran outside.”

  Every nerve in her body electrified. Another saved soul and proof positive that this bomb was the work of the same individual as the others.

  “How about I take you with me to headquarters, Jacob, and we have a little chat,” Lara said. It was difficult to hear in the chaos and she wanted to get the kid away from the scene to where she could interview him further as soon as possible.

  He shrugged his thin shoulders. “Sure, whatever.”

  He followed her as she found James and told him she was heading back to headquarters. James assured her he’d catch a ride back with Nick or one of the other teams.

  “Did you have somebody in the hospital that you were visiting?” Lara asked once they were in the car and headed away from the scene.

  “Nah, I just come for the food. You can get all kinds of good stuff really cheap in that cafeteria. Can you turn on the siren?”

  “Nope,” Lara replied.

  “Ah, so you’re one of those by-the-book cops.”

  She nearly laughed out loud. She planned on interrogating an eleven-year-old without parental permission...not exactly by the book. He wasn’t a suspect, but he could be a valuable witness. Sometimes kids could be far more observant than adults. Besides, she’d call his mother when they reached headquarters.

  As they drove into Manhattan Jacob commented on the scenery as if he’d never been out of Queens before. He probably hadn’t been. His shirt was a size too small, his jeans were almost threadbare and his worn shoes were missing shoelaces. Lara doubted his single mother had extra funds to take her son much of anywhere.

  “Why aren’t you in school?” she asked. On a Wednesday at noon, Jacob should have been in a school cafeteria and not at the hospital.

  “I took a sick day.”

  She slanted a wry look at him. “What’s wrong with you?”

  He grinned, flashing beautiful white teeth. “I woke up this morning and was sick of school.”

  She’d pegged him right. He was a little wise guy, pumped up on youth and street smarts. “You won’t get far without an education,” she replied.

  “Don’t you worry about me. I take care of myself,” he said confidently.

  Lara felt a lecture coming on, but she stifled it. The last thing she wanted to do was alienate a key witness by sermonizing to him on the merits of a good education.

  Once they were in headquarters, Lara sat across from Jacob at a table in one of the smaller interrogation rooms. “I’ve got some important questions to ask you. Do you mind if I record our conversation, Jacob?”

  “Nah, that’s cool.” He leaned back in the chair as if being interviewed by an FBI agent wasn’t anything unusual in his life.

  “Can you state your full name?” Lara asked. He did as she requested.

  “And how did you get to the hospital this morning?”

  “I took a subway and then walked.”

  “What time did you get to the hospital?

  He frowned thoughtfully. “I think it was about eleven forty-five, maybe?”

  “Tell me exactly what happened when you went into the hospital cafeteria.”

  “The place was crowded and I was in line to get one of the hamburgers. They have them like a buffet where you can fix your own and there’s lettuce and tomatoes and cheese and all kinds of good stuff to make an awesome burger.”

  “So you were in line to buy a hamburger,” Lara repeated.

  “Yeah.” His gaze skittered away from hers for just a split second. “So, I was in line and some guy came up behind me and told me Kanye West was giving a free concert outside. I forgot all about the burger and ran outside and then boom!”

  When he looked at her again his eyes were dark. Though he projected a tough-guy demeanor, Lara could see the fear underneath he was trying to contain—the fear that he’d been so close to death himself. And she could only imagine the horror he’d seen and heard in the moments right after the blast had ripped through the building.
No kid should have those images in their brains.

  “Did the man who whispered in your ear run outside, too?” Lara leaned forward, desperately hoping the kid not only saw the bomber, but would have a good description of him.

  Jacob frowned. “I don’t know. I didn’t pay that much attention. I couldn’t believe that my man Kanye was giving a free concert.” His frown turned into a full-blown scowl. “I should have known it was a lie. People always promise me good stuff that turn out to be lies.”

  “Jacob, this is very important. What did the man who told you about the concert look like?”

  Jacob’s eyes filled with a wily shine. “Isn’t this the place where you should be telling me about some reward money? If this is so important then I should get at least a little cash in my pocket for all my trouble.”

  Lara sat back in her chair. “I’ll be honest with you, Jacob. I’m not sure what kind of reward money is available. Right now we’re just hoping good citizens will come forward to help us find the person responsible for the bombs.”

  “But if some reward money comes along, I’d be in line for it, right?”

  The little shit was trying to hold his eyewitness account hostage. “Sure, if the information you give me pans out,” she replied. “Now, what did the man look like?”

  “You think he’s the bomber, don’t you?”

  “I’m just trying to get all the information I can,” Lara replied as she withheld an exasperated sigh.

  “He was a white dude.”

  “Okay, that’s good, Jacob. And what color was his hair?”

  “He had on a hat, but I think his hair was brown.”

  “And did you see his eyes?”

  “No, he had on shades. When I get the reward money I’m going to buy me some cool shades.” He drum rolled his fingers on the tabletop. “Cool shades and new shoes, yeah man, I sure could use that money.”

  “Was he tall, short or what?” Lara asked, trying to keep the kid focused on what was important here.