“I’m heading back with a box of stuff I collected from Katz’s office. I’ll meet you at the station.”
Decker hefted the box and looked at the ladders and hoses and men combatting the fire. He set off down the street, climbed into his car, and drove to the police station.
Decker met Lancaster inside. He followed her into the same small conference room, set the box on the table, cut away the bubble wrap, and opened it. He handed Lancaster a stack of stuff and put another stack in front of himself.
“Her laptop wasn’t there. I think whoever searched her office took it. Or maybe she has it somewhere else. When she comes out of surgery and regains consciousness, we can ask her.”
Lancaster looked at him doubtfully. “You think she’s going to cooperate?”
“Considering somebody just tried to kill her, what choice does she have?”
“You might be surprised.”
“Well, life is just full of surprises. That’s why we play the game.” He turned his attention to the stack in front of him. Financial documents, construction plans, Excel spreadsheets.
“She had a lot of business going on,” commented Lancaster as she started going over her set of files.
“Did you have any luck running down any of her backers?”
“Not really. But we did find out that they were shell companies for the most part with locations in countries where they believe transparency is a bad word.”
“I wonder why that is.”
“It would seem that her financial backers don’t want to be publicly known. But they might still be legit.”
“And I might be short and skinny,” said Decker. “Is there any way we can find out who’s behind those companies?”
“How about your people at the FBI?”
“I’m not sure they’re my people anymore.”
“Then you’re stuck with the resources of a small-town police force.”
“Great.”
Lancaster glanced up. “I heard you shoot when I was coming up the stairs. How’d you get a sightline on the guy?”
“His laser worked against him in that environment. I followed it back to its source thanks to a bunch of dust in the air. Katz was lucky that Melvin knocked her down when he did. I saw the guy’s scope. Sucker was super sophisticated. He could have made that shot from a mile away—”
Lancaster looked up from what she was doing. “What is it? You okay?”
“I’ll be right back,” said Decker, who was not even looking at her. He got up and hustled out of the room.
He hurried down the hall to the evidence room and checked in with the officer manning it. He told the man what he wanted and was let into the cage, where the officer took him over to a shelf against the wall. The officer held up the rifle with the scope still attached. It was in a large plastic evidence bag with the department tag.
Decker looked at the rifle and scope. Then he thought back to the moment it had been used.
He rushed back to the room where Lancaster was.
“What is going on with you?” said Lancaster.
“I wasn’t the target, Mary, that night outside McArthur Park.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Sally Brimmer was.”
Chapter 56
“Eric Tyson. Former military. Washed out of Ranger School and then out of the Army.”
Lancaster looked up from her report the next morning. Decker sat across from her at her desk.
“We just got this back from the Army. We ran his prints through all the criminal databases and got a hit. Tyson was arrested on an assault charge about ten years ago, while he was in the military. It was off base against a civilian. That’s why we were able to access his prints. We checked in with the Army, told them what had happened, and they sent us this file.”
“Special skills?”
“Trained as a sniper. So you were right. The shot he took that killed Sally wasn’t meant for you. He could have shot her from a mile away. Tyson was barely fifty yards from his target.”
“How’d he wash out of the Army?” asked Decker.
“Got in with some bad company, apparently. Earned him a DD.”
“So he leaves with a dishonorable discharge. What’s he been doing since his military days?”
Lancaster shrugged. “Not sure. We’re looking into it. Hope to have something soon. We can’t find anything that shows he’s been in prison.”
“Well, considering all his tats, it was not anything good that he was up to, despite never having been in prison.”
Lancaster sat back in her chair. “Okay, but why kill Sally Brimmer? You never said last night.”
“I don’t know. But I’m a huge target. He could hardly miss me.
Sally was going to give me a hug when the shot came. But I’m nine inches taller than she was. And a lot wider. Doesn’t matter how close she was to me, he couldn’t have missed, if I’d been the target.” He slapped the top of the desk with his palm. “I should have seen that a long time ago.”
“Same goes for me. But that doesn’t tell us why she was the target.”
“She had gotten me the files I’d asked for, after you got knocked off the case.”
“How’d you even connect with her?”
“She came by to see me when my butt was sitting in jail. I asked her to do that for me and she agreed. We met in the park. As we were leaving, that’s when she got shot.”
“If they knew she was passing you information, why not shoot the both of you and take that information?”
“I don’t think that was the reason,” said Decker.
“Why?”
“Because if they knew she was giving me information, they probably knew what it was: police files. Big deal. Why would that be a death warrant for her? I could have gotten those any number of ways. Killing her wasn’t going to stop that.”
“So you’re saying she was, what, complicit in something?”
“Or she knew something that was dangerous to other people.”
Lancaster glanced up at him. “What people?”
Decker looked around the confines of the empty room. “She worked here.”
Lancaster’s voice sank to a whisper. “Decker, do you know what you’re saying?”
“There are bad people everywhere, Mary. Cops are not immune, you know that.”
She shook her head. “Granted, but none of this makes sense.”
“It does make sense. We just haven’t figured out how yet. Any word yet on the fire at Rachel Katz’s office?”
“We got a prelim from the arson squad. They found an incendiary device attached to a timer. They must have placed it there after they searched her office. You just picked the wrong time to make your visit.”
He rose.
“Where are you going?”
“To the hospital to check on Katz and Melvin.”
“Is that all?”
“Then I’m going to see Mitzi Gardiner.”
“You want me to tag along?”
“Aren’t you deskbound after the shooting?”
“Well...”
“I’ll talk to you when I get back.”
“They think she’s going to be okay,” said Mars.
He and Decker were sitting in the visitors’ room outside the critical care unit at the hospital.
“They think?”
“Well, she’s stable, critically stable, but at least she’s stable.”
“Okay.”
Mars rubbed his eyes.
“You look beat, Melvin. Why don’t you go get some rest?”
“No, I’m good. I napped on the couch.” He stretched his long arms. “They got cops outside her room.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Mars shook his head. “Why do I feel like it’s my fault she’s lying in that hospital bed?”
“Your fault? How do you figure?”