Filing through my memory, I vaguely remembered Gavin saying he had a partner that he didn’t get along with at one time. “You said you were his partner?” Markus nodded. “Then you’ll know that Gavin died over a decade ago.”
He lowered his gaze and scrubbed a hand over his goatee. “I heard. I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thanks, but that was a long time ago.” I folded my arms over my chest, knowing Markus hadn’t attended Gavin’s funeral.
“You had a son with Gavin, right?”
I swallowed and debated whether or not to share details. “I did.”
“Gavin always wanted a boy,” he said, speaking as if he and Gavin had been best friends.
“What can I do for you, Markus?”
There was a glimmer in his eye as he looked around, stopping to tip his head back and smile at the sun. “It feels like a lifetime ago.” He brought his gaze back to me. “I’m back living in Denver and thought I would reacquaint myself with old friends.”
He should have gone elsewhere then. I didn’t know him from a stranger on the street. “Are you still with the department?”
“Retired.” Markus rocked back and forth on his heels as he grinned. “They said I would find you here.”
Turning back to the obscure entrance of my new office, I couldn’t help but feel confused by this sudden meeting from an old colleague of Gavin’s. “Who told you I would be here?”
Markus shook his head. “It’s just that I heard about what happened yesterday and I immediately thought of Gavin—and you, of course.” He smiled. “Are you still living in that old house Gavin bought for you?”
Feelings of unease lifted the hairs on my arm. I thought it strange how he knew so much about me when I didn’t know anything about him.
When I kept my place of residence a secret, Markus asked, “How is your son doing? Was he inside the school when it happened?”
I glanced to my feet and frowned.
“I’m sorry.”
When I lifted my gaze, I saw Erin pointing to her watch. I held up one finger, acknowledging that I would be there in a moment. “I really should be going, Markus.”
“I see you’re busy. I’m sorry for taking up your time. I know how awkward this is for you—for both of us—but I was hoping maybe we could catch up sometime.” He paused and met my skeptical gaze. “I’d love to share some memories about Gavin. Learn more about what happened to him.”
Something about the way he asked made me believe him. “Okay, yeah. Maybe we could meet for coffee or something.”
Markus pulled out a blank white business card with his digits scribbled on the back. Handing it to me, he said, “I’ll be at the vigil tonight. Maybe I’ll see you there.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Erin didn’t ask about Markus until we were back on I-25 heading south to North High. “Care to tell me what that was all about?”
I was still disoriented myself. Having Gavin’s old partner appear out of the blue—especially at a place as unfamiliar to me as it could possibly get—I wondered what kinds of stories he had to share about my husband and if they would be something Mason would want to know, too.
“That was my husband’s old patrol partner.”
“Gavin was a cop?” Erin’s voice shot up in surprise.
I nodded and ran a hand over my hair without bothering to turn and look at her. Lost in my own distant gaze, my vision tunneled with cars racing past on both sides. Every new turn knocked me off my axis and I struggled to keep up with the pace.
“Then why the confused look?”
I flicked my gaze to Erin. “He seemed to know a lot about me and I don’t know much about him.”
“But you do know him, don’t you?” She craned her neck.
Biting the inside of my cheek, I wasn’t sure if I did. “I can’t recall Gavin ever mentioning his name. Then again, that was a long time ago. It’s possible I just forgot.”
“Partners are like marriages.” Erin leaned back and brought her hand to her brow.
Turning my head, I said, “But if he is who I think he might be, then this partnership ended in divorce.”
Erin turned with a furrowed brow. “What happened?”
I shrugged a shoulder. It had been forever since I had thought about it and, if Markus was who I thought he might be, they had worked together before my time with Gavin. “Gavin never seemed interested in speaking about it and I always assumed it was stress related to the job or just a bad fit.” I flashed a quick glance. “Things like that happen all the time.”
“Should we look into it?”
“He gave me his card. Said he would like to share stories about Gavin sometime.”
“Seems harmless.”
“That’s what I thought, too.”
Hitting the brakes, I turned the wheel and entered North High’s student parking. Erin sat up and began looking for King.
“There he is.” Erin pointed to the southeast corner.
Weaving the car in King’s direction, I got us as close to the barrier as was allowed before parking. When I stepped out, King was already there. “Sorry for the delay. I got here as quick as I could,” I said.
“Not a problem. Things aren’t moving very fast around here.” King greeted Erin but something about him still seemed off.
Digging my fingers into my sweaty palms, I felt my muscles begin to quiver with anxiety. I hated when he seemed to be keeping secrets from me. It only tangled my nerves further, making me feel like I couldn’t keep my head straight when working under pressure.
When the breeze picked up, I brushed my bangs out of my eyes and felt the terror of yesterday rumble its way back into my mind. Without thinking, I reached for King’s hand. Our fingers threaded and I kept my obvious need for comfort discreet.
“Sam, what I wanted to tell you needs to stay off the record,” King insisted. “I can’t let this get leaked. It will jeopardize the entire investigation.”
I pulled my hand away. “What has you so tense?”
King looked to his left and swallowed. Then he swung his gaze back down to me. “Sam, there was a second shooter.”
Erin and I shared a knowing look. “Are you sure about that?”
“We’re still waiting for the ballistics report to come back, though the angle of the shot that killed the two officers is obvious enough for it not to have been taken from the school entrance.”
Erin stepped forward with renewed interest. “Can you walk us through it?”
King blew out a heavy sigh.
“Erin suspected the same,” I said.
King’s brows shot up. “I’d love to hear how you came to your conclusion before we did.”
Erin didn’t hesitate in telling King about Nolan’s wound and her theory that Timothy Morris didn’t demonstrate the kind of marksmanship needed to have killed the officers. King nodded as he listened and Erin concluded by saying, “But what Sam and I haven’t decided is if the shooting was designed to lure cops into range to be murdered, or if this was purely an attack on minorities.”
King tucked his chin and held my gaze.
“There’s something else, isn’t there?” I asked.
King’s brow wrinkled as he nodded.
I wasn’t sure I was ready to hear more. Knowing that there was a second shooter was frightening enough. My thoughts once again drifted to Nolan tucked away in the nondescript hospital bed across town.
“Sam, Cook Roberts was one of the two officers killed yesterday.”
My head swayed on its shoulders when I felt the blood leave my face. I swallowed down the bile rising up my throat. That was a name I knew, and knew well.
“You know who that is, right?”
I wished I didn’t. It felt like I was on the edge of vomiting when I reached for King’s shoulder to keep myself from falling.
“Who is he?” Erin asked.
Licking my lips, I exhaled a deep breath before saying, “Cook Roberts was a friend of Gavin’s. Someone who was
there for me when Gavin re-enlisted after September 11th.” All this was new information Erin had never heard, and I could see her getting overwhelmed by the mystery of my past.
King’s hand found its way to my waist and I lashed out. “Dammit, King. You couldn’t have told me sooner?” My anger boiled over. It was all coming at me so fast. “As if you telling me Mason was a target wasn’t hard enough. Now you’re telling me one of Gavin’s friends died yesterday, too?”
“You could be right, Sam.” Erin’s gaze locked with mine. “Maybe you are the common denominator.”
King held up his hand. “I’m not so sure about that. As far as we know, yesterday was an isolated event.”
“I’ll be convinced of that once the second shooter is caught,” I said.
King ironed his big hands down both my arms. “Don’t worry, Sam. We’ll catch this person.”
As my mind scrambled to keep up, I pushed down the fear I felt boiling up inside of me and thought more about Timothy Morris. “We spoke with the Morrises.”
“When?”
“This morning.”
“I heard they weren’t speaking to the press.”
“The police were there. What did they take into evidence?”
King rubbed the back of his neck. “I haven’t heard.”
My lips pinched.
“You got them to talk, didn’t you?”
A glimmer sparkled inside my eye. “We’re following some leads. How about you walk us through what you can share, and then I’ll debrief you on our own discoveries.”
We followed King across the parking lot, never once entering the building, and he told us in great detail how he and Alvarez came to the conclusion of the second shooter. It was all just as Erin suspected and I marveled with pride at how she managed to do it without having to visit the scene a second time.
“Firing from that distance,” I said, looking at the hotel rooftop, “what are the odds the shooter has a military background?”
“I’d say pretty good,” King said.
I turned to look at Erin. Then I proceeded to tell King more about Rick Morris. “Timothy Morris’s father has a strong military background, as well as a zealous admiration for guns.”
“Don’t forget the family’s intense sense of duty to God and country,” Erin added behind us.
“Rick Morris posted something on his Facebook page a half-hour before the shooting began.” When King asked what it was, I recited the bible verse.
“Putting it into context, there was something Nolan mentioned to us during our visit with him, something the shooter kept saying. Maybe he told you, too?” Erin asked King. “Something about being a patriot of God—”
King’s eyes lit up.
“You know what it is?” I asked.
“Patriots of God?”
I nodded.
“I wish I didn’t.” King shifted his weight.
“What is it?”
King looked around, suddenly becoming very secretive as if not wanting anyone to overhear what he was about to share. “I’ll tell you, but we can’t talk about it here.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
My heartrate was through the roof as I followed King across the parking lot. The thrashing in my ears subsided once we stopped at my car but I was still holding my breath, wanting to know more.
King turned and looked back, double checking our trail to make certain we were out of earshot and away from anyone who might overhear him—including his partner, Detective John Alvarez.
Keeping his voice low, he asked me, “Are you sure Nolan heard Timothy say Patriots of God?”
I squinted my eyes. “He didn’t mention anything to you?”
King shook his head.
“What is it?” I asked, thinking back to my conversation with Ginny Morris. I was convinced she was as ignorant to what her son was up to as I was, but something told me that Rick could be familiar with the term.
King scrubbed a wistful hand over his face and pulled in a deep breath. “I haven’t heard that phrase in nearly two decades but I’ll never forget it.” He flicked his gaze back to the school and stared. A couple suits entered the building.
“Why would Tim say that?” I kept my voice low. “Does it have any relation to the bible verse Rick Morris quoted on his social media page?”
King could barely look me in the eye. “I’m not sure I have an answer to either of those questions. But what I do know is that the Patriots of God were a white supremacy group that sprouted up in Denver in the mid-90s.”
Erin tilted her head and inched closer.
“The group wasn’t even on the department’s radar until a double homicide in Five Points led us to a couple of their members.”
“It was a hate crime?”
“You could say that.” King bounced his gaze between us. “Soon, as word spread about what happened, the black community was enraged. And deservingly so. When it finally got to trial, everyone was taking sides. It divided the city but, even more troubling, was how it worked its way into the department.”
Erin gave me an arched look. I knew without asking what she wanted me to ask King. So I did. “Was Gavin involved in the case?”
“It was the kind of case impossible to escape. It was huge, and Gavin had just been promoted to SWAT officer. It wasn’t until later, after the two white men were convicted of first-degree murder, that things really started to escalate. That’s when things took a turn.” King paused and stared. “Gavin wasn’t the same after working the case.”
“How come I didn’t know about this?” I felt my pulse ticking hard and fast in my neck.
King’s head was shaking when he said, “It happened before you two met.”
“Okay,” Erin started as my thoughts drifted to when I first met Gavin, “who are these led Patriots of God, and are they still around?”
“Political radicals,” King said. “Like I said, I haven’t heard their name for a very long time. However, they aren’t afraid to take up arms in the name of purifying and saving traditional values.”
I stood on wobbly knees, once again blaming myself for putting Mason in danger. It was my articles that put us in the spotlight. It seemed like every stone I overturned put my family at the heart of this investigation.
King kept talking but all I could hear were Nolan’s words about Timothy telling him he was cleansing the earth of its sins while killing every black student he came across in the school. Then I snapped my head up when I heard King say, “They made it clear that everyone who wasn’t Caucasian was inferior.”
“We’re still talking about the Patriots of God?” All the air was knocked out of me.
King nodded with strained eyes. “You recall the race riots of ’98?”
“I do.”
“You can thank the Patriots of God for starting them.”
“I don’t recall hearing that name.” Erin’s brows knitted.
“Every paper covered it. It was sensational news.” King rolled his eyes. “Especially when a handful of white cops got caught on camera beating innocent blacks on a street corner.”
Dropping my head into my hand, it was painful to hear even now, twenty years later. “Okay, we all know how it ended, but what happened to the group?”
“Fizzled away.”
“That’s it?” Erin whipped her head around. “Just disappeared?”
“It didn’t end well for them.”
“Was Cook Roberts part of the case?” Erin asked.
King shook his head. “Not directly. He was too young.”
“Back up one second.” I held up my hand. “What do you mean, it didn’t end well for them?”
King took a deep breath. His eyes narrowed as he stared me directly in the eye. “Their leader, Douglas Davis, was killed at the hand of a cop.”
I felt my heart skip a beat and I feared that, with the way King was looking at me, Gavin had been the one to pull the trigger. But before I could ask him about it, King said, “Their second in command is
currently serving a life sentence.”
“Now it’s starting to make sense.” Erin nodded. “This gives motive for revenge.”
“It certainly does,” I agreed.
Erin began thinking out loud. “The shooter, or shooters, were targeting both blacks and cops. What did Tim say to Nolan? Heroes will always be remembered, but a legend never dies.”
“Babe Ruth,” King said.
I nodded, then turned to King. “Any leads to who this second shooter might be?”
King shook his head, keeping one eye on the school.
“Could you even tell us if you did know?”
King’s chest rose. “I’ll share what I can.”
Our conversation left me feeling queasy. Something told me that this militant group might be starting up again and, if it was political, I knew just where we needed to go next. “We have to visit the community college,” I said to Erin.
King arched a brow.
“According to Timothy’s parents, that’s where he had found his passion.”
“A political science course,” Erin added for clarity.
“What’s the professor’s name?” King asked.
“Dean Croft,” Erin said. “I found it when you were getting your box from your old office.”
I was already making a mental list of questions I wanted to ask Mr. Croft. If Timothy was, in fact, exposed to the Patriots of God inside his classroom, I assumed he would want to know about it. I knew I was certainly interested to learn the curriculum being taught and who was attending his classes. We had to check it out.
I made a move for my car but, before I could get too far, King clamped his hand around my elbow and said in a tense voice, “Sam, trust your instinct. If you feel like something isn’t right, have the courage to walk away. Don’t be a hero. If we are dealing with members of the Patriots of God, they’re willing to not only die to protect their beliefs, but also kill anyone who stands in their way.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The bright orb of sunshine dangled ever closer to the peaks of the Rockies along the western horizon. The Sniper checked the time. It was getting close. Though still afternoon, soon the clouds sailing in from the west would brighten into an electric orange before darkness fell over the Mile High City.
Bell Hath No Fury Page 10