With a Vengeance (5 page)

Five

Pete blew off the reporters and their barrage of questions, storming into his station and past the front office, pissed that he was no closer to identifying the shooter than he had been this morning.

“Chief,” Nancy called after him.

He spun on his heel.

His secretary stood at the front office door, holding a handful of pink notes. “Most of these are from residents with rattled nerves who need some words of comfort.”

“And you couldn’t have handled them?” he said, harsher than he intended.

She planted a fist on one hip and fixed him with a glare she could only have learned from Sylvia, his former secretary. “I did handle the bulk of them. These insisted on the kind and personal touch only you can give.”

Her sarcasm forced a smile from him. She’d come a long way in recent months. She might just make it in this job after all.

The phone behind her rang, and she turned to answer it, calling over her shoulder, “The top two seem the most urgent.”

Pete grabbed a cup of coffee from the pot in his office before settling into one of the chairs in the conference room to sort through the messages.

The first one was from Kevin, stating he’d found something and would be back at the station in an hour. According to Nancy’s handwriting, he’d called fifty minutes ago.

The second message read: “
Chuck Delano called and said if you’ve reconsidered, he needs to know now
.”

Was this guy ever going to give up? Pete crumpled the note and tossed it in the trash.

The bells on the front door jangled and footsteps thumped down the hall. Expecting Kevin, Pete looked up. Instead, Nate Williamson dragged in and flopped into another of the chairs.

One of Pete’s part-time officers, Nate looked battle weary. “I finished going over the ambulance.” He pulled a small evidence bag from his pocket and dropped it on the table with a soft thunk.

Pete reached for it. “You found something?”

“Not really. One mangled fragment.”

“That’s it?” Pete tugged a glove from his hip pocket and wiggled his fingers into it before depositing the evidence into his palm. Mangled was an understatement.

“Afraid so. And I almost missed it.” Nate rubbed his shaved head. “I gave Bud the okay to make repairs on the ambulance so they can get it back in service.”

The bells signaled another arrival. A minute later, Kevin and Baronick tromped into the conference room.

“I thought you went back to Brunswick,” Pete said to the detective.

“Why would I do that when all the excitement’s out this way?” Baronick flashed his too-bright smile. “Besides, I heard Kevin here had made a big find.”

Pete shot a look at his officer. Since when had Kevin started including the county police on their cases without going through Pete first?

Kevin’s eyes widened and he shook his head. “The crime scene guys called it in.”

Pete eased up on the kid. He already knew county would lay claim to all evidence collected. They had the lab facilities. Vance Township didn’t. “What’d you find?”

Kevin held out another evidence bag. “A bullet. Found it with the metal detector.”

Still wearing his glove, Pete spilled the bag’s contents into his hand. The lump of lead was larger than the one Nate had dug out of the ambulance. While deformed, this one held some promise.

Kevin hooked his thumbs through his duty belt. “Considering the location of the shooter and the victims, this has to be the bullet that struck Curtis Knox.”

Pete retrieved his reading glasses from his pocket and perched them on his nose before pinching the slug between his finger and thumb, holding it up for closer scrutiny.

Baronick leaned over Pete’s shoulder. “Thirty caliber.”

Pete grunted. “Doesn’t narrow it down a whole hell of a lot.” From the corner of his eye, he noticed Kevin deflate. Glancing at the officer, he nodded. “But it might help rule out some potential suspects. Good work, Kevin.”

The young officer puffed up again and smiled.

Pete eyed Baronick. “Have
you
found anything?”

“More dead ends. I ran a trace on the phone used to report the so-called ATV accident. Turned out to be a burner phone. I have my guys trying to track down where it was bought, but nothing yet.” He straightened. “You were off to check on Eli Sullivan. Anything there?”

“Claims he was at Rodeo’s the time of the shooting.” Pete returned the slug to the envelope and handed it to Baronick. “I’ve sent Seth over there to ask if anyone can confirm his alibi. He also claimed he had a quad but sold it for cash to, as he put it, ‘some old dude at the bar.’ Hopefully Seth can dig up our
old dude
while he’s at it.”

Baronick jotted his name on the chain of evidence tag on Kevin’s bag, then scooped up the one Nate had brought in and did the same with it. “You do realize there’s still one huge hole in any case you might make against Sullivan.”

Pete grunted. “You mean how he would have known who would be in the ambulance responding to the call?”

“That’s the one.”

“Yeah. Combined with the fact that I don’t see him as smart enough to pull this off, I doubt he’s our man.”

Baronick shoved the evidence bags in his pocket. “Which leaves us with an unknown gunman out there taking random potshots at emergency medical personnel.”

Like Zoe. Who was on duty tonight. For a fleeting moment, Pete considered asking her to call off. But he knew she wouldn’t.

Pete noticed Nate bracing his elbow against the table and holding his head in his hand, eyes closed. Pete barked the officer’s name in his come-to-attention voice.

Nate jolted upright, eyes wide.

“Go home,” Pete said, softer. “Get some sleep. This investigation is turning into a marathon instead of a sprint, and I don’t want my officers conking out when I need them the most.”

Nate climbed to his feet. “Yes, sir. But if something breaks and you need me…”

“I have your number. Go.”

As Nate headed out, Pete turned to Kevin. “You too.”

“I’m fine.”

Pete aimed a thumb at the door.

“What about you?” Kevin protested. “Chief, you’ve been up all night after working all day yesterday and now today.”

Pete held up his coffee cup. “I’m good. I’m also the boss. Go home.”

Kevin stood his ground.

“Go. Home. I can’t get out of here until I have some well-rested men to take over. The sooner you and Nate catch some Zs, the sooner I can do likewise.”

Kevin mulled it over and reluctantly agreed.

Baronick slid into the chair Nate had vacated. “You don’t really expect to get any sleep tonight, do you?” The detective’s grin didn’t match the concerned crease between his eyes. “Zoe’s crew’s on duty, right?”

Pete’s cell phone rang before he could respond. He checked the screen and answered. “Seth. Did you find anything?”

Judging by the sounds coming across the phone, Officer Seth Metzger must have been standing next to a jukebox. “No one here knows anything about Snake’s deal to sell a quad to anyone. Old dude or otherwise.”

“What about his alibi for last night?”

There was a pause. “Well, the guy who was tending bar then isn’t supposed to come back in for another hour. But there’s a girl here who says she was around from six until last call.”

From Seth’s tone, Pete gathered the girl was quite a looker, and he visualized her next to the jukebox—and Seth—as he spoke. “And?”

“She says Snake was here all right. Was here when she arrived. But the thing is…he left around seven fifteen or so and came back a little before eight thirty.”

Pete sat up. “Really?”

“I thought I’d stick around and talk to the bartender when he comes in. Unless you need me back there.”

“No, that’s fine. Ask around in case anyone else saw Sullivan or talked to him too. I trust you got the girl’s contact information.”

“Oh, yeah.” Seth’s smile carried through the line.

“He learned something?” Baronick asked as Pete ended the call.

“He did. Eli ‘Snake’ Sullivan may not have an alibi after all.” Pete relayed what Seth had told him.

“Interesting. But there’s still the question of—”

“Of how he would know who was in that ambulance.” Pete drummed his fingers on the table. “I wonder if Eli Sullivan knows anyone at EOC.”

“The Emergency Operations Center?” Baronick’s eyes brightened, and he climbed to his feet. “I’m on my way there now.”

Zoe stepped out of Earl’s minivan in front of the police station. Pete’s Explorer shared the parking lot with a pair of news trucks emblazoned with logos from two Pittsburgh area stations.

“See you in a few hours,” Earl said before pulling away.

No one emerged from the trucks to approach her. Apparently they didn’t believe anyone of importance would show up in a minivan.

She pushed through the station’s front door and stopped at the front office. Nancy was on the phone and waved her toward the hallway.

Zoe found Pete alone in the conference room, drawing what looked like a timeline on the whiteboard. She paused in the doorway to admire the view. There was definitely something enticing about a man in uniform. Especially this man.

Pete glanced over his shoulder and smiled. “Hey.”

She hoped he didn’t notice her blush. “Hey yourself.” She wandered over to the table and studied the array of photos, most of them from last night. “Are you making any progress?”

“Not much.” Pete capped the dry-erase pen and set it on the lip of the board. “We’re looking into Eli Sullivan. Calls himself Snake. He’s the guy you told me about who got into an altercation with Dickson.”

“I know. Earl told me the guys at the bar consider him to be a big joke.” Zoe read the notes Pete had scrawled on the whiteboard. Sullivan’s name had
no alibi
written under the time the shootings occurred last night. “Are you going to arrest him?”

“No.” Pete motioned for her to have a seat. “Not unless you can explain how he might have known Dickson would be aboard the ambulance responding last night.”

Zoe collapsed into the offered chair. “I wish I could.” Pete’s question was one she’d intentionally put out of her mind, because the alternative meant the shooter was gunning for random ambulance personnel.

Pete claimed a chair next to Zoe and turned it to face her. “Can you think of anyone with a grudge against Monongahela County EMS?”

“The entire ambulance service?”

“Possibly. The Phillipsburg garage, at least.”

Zoe pondered recent calls. “We lose patients from time to time, but I can’t think of any that raised red flags.”

“Angry family members?”

“No.”

“Anyone get fired? Or want a job and not get it?”

“No.” Zoe’s stomach did a slow roll. “You think one of
us
is behind this?”

“I don’t know.” Pete shrugged. “That’s why I’m asking.”

She thought back over recent weeks. Months. “No. We haven’t turned anyone away. We haven’t fired anyone. Nobody’s been in trouble that I’m aware of.” Her gaze drifted back to the whiteboard. “Maybe Snake was willing to take his frustration out on anyone who showed up last night. Maybe he knew Barry was on duty and took his chances. Maybe he just got lucky.”

Pete looked unconvinced. “I’m not ruling him out.”

Zoe’s own words echoed inside her brain. “Lucky. Not so lucky for Barry and Curtis.”

Pete reached over, closing his fingers over hers. “We’ll get whoever did this.”

She smiled at the warmth of his touch. “I know you will.”

“By the way, we released your ambulance. As soon as they get it patched up, you’ll be able to get it back in service.”

Uneasy, she slipped her hand from his gentle grasp and leaned back in the chair. “It’s going to be a weird shift.”

He watched her for a long moment. “I imagine so.”

“Sixteen hours straight on duty and everyone in mourning.” She picked up a pen lying on the table. “And on edge.”

Pete didn’t say anything.

She met his gaze. He had a way of looking into her soul and her heart. Or so she believed. Sometimes the idea of him being able to read her mind terrified her. Now, it comforted her. She managed a smile. “Of course we all have that warped sense of humor to fall back on when things get tough.”

“Job requirement.”

“Yeah.” She set the pen down and spun it on the table. “I know there’s still the same problem as with Snake, but did you get a chance to look into the other possibility I mentioned?”

“You mean Knox’s girlfriend’s jealous ex? Not yet.”

“You may want to add the girlfriend to the list.”

Pete rested an elbow on the table, his chin on his fist. “Oh?”

Zoe launched into the events of the afternoon, concluding with Earl’s observation about a woman scorned.

Other than the deepening of a crease in Pete’s forehead, his face grew very still. She’d seen this non-expression before, during their weekly poker games. Giving nothing away. Yet she knew his neurons were firing at high gear. His voice low, he asked, “How well do you know Lucy Livingston?”

“Not very. Before today I’d only had one conversation with her. And I’m not sure you can classify today’s spectacle as a conversation either.”

“How about her father?”

“I know him to see him. Nothing more. He seemed to have a calming effect on her though.”

Pete nodded slowly, sat up, and pulled out his notebook. He held out a palm for the pen Zoe had been twirling. She handed it over, and he jotted a note.

“Do
you
know him?” she asked.

“As well as I know anyone in Vance Township who hasn’t been arrested or filed a complaint.”

Zoe tried to read Pete to no avail. Either he genuinely did not know Hector Livingston, or he knew more than he was willing to share.

Pete caught her eyeing him. His face softened. “Who drove when you went into Pittsburgh?”

“Earl. Why?”

“Don’t trust your truck?”

“My truck is fine. Earl’s minivan fits in the parking garage easier is all.”