Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
A good while later, after Jane had given a statement and made sure the others had recovered enough from their ordeal to go home, the officer in charge released her.
“Nice work, Agent Cannon. We’ll need you to come in to sign the report first thing.
” He rubbed his tired eyes. “This place has been hit four times in the last six months. I mean, come on.”
“Yeah. You’d think the criminals would learn.”
“At least management has.” He pointed his pen at the cameras on either underside of the overhang on the building.
“Installed them the last time they got robbed. But it’s been three months since.
I hoped not to be back here so soon.” He frowned at the back of a squad car where the perp sat, his nose bandaged by the EMTs who’d arrived not long after the cops.
“Never had a violent robbery before. No guns. Just threats with knives and pipes. Ah, the good old days.”
They shared a grin. “I’ll be by first thing to sign the report. Appreciate you guys getting here so soon.” She left after checking on the clerk and the couple, who’d be just fine.
But as she drove home, she wondered just how active her imagination had become. Because that robber had known she was law enforcement.
That or he watched way too much Law & Order. Either way, she’d get her answers tomorrow then have a long talk with Rapp about what the heck might be going on.
Jane arrived early Thursday morning at the police station to give her statement. Afterward, she asked to look in on the robber.
“Nope. Sorry,” the day shift officer answered. He looked at his computer. “We don’t have anyone of that description in custody.”
“Wait. He’s not here? That makes no sense. I broke his nose. You guys took him away in cuffs in the back of a squad car.” She paused. “He’s on a surveillance camera robbing the store.”
“I don’t know what to tell you. He was here, but now he’s not. And when I pull up the file, I get nothing but garbage.” He swore. “Need to get IT in again. Man, I hate this system.”
Jane tried, but the police seemed as frustrated as she felt. With no one in custody to question, she left for work.
Gina had something pressing and would be in later, but Diego and Rapp were already deep into their computers when she requested an all-hands meeting.
“What’s up?” Rapp asked, perched against the conference room desk.
Diego munched on one of the donuts Rapp had brought in as a thank you to the group.
Despite being a pain to work with, he seemed to take care of his people.
Not her, of course, but Gina and Diego. Jane wondered at Raine’s intel on the guy.
He seemed big enough to be scary but a lot more civilized than she’d credit most black ops members.
Of course, she only had Team Ten to go by.
“While we’re young?” Rapp said caustically before eating a second apple fritter, which likely didn’t make a dent in his appetite.
“Oh man. Those are fantastic,” Diego agreed.
Jane started to rub her eyes before her bruised cheek, now a pretty purplish-green under her makeup, reminded her not to.
Rapp’s eyes narrowed. “What’s with your face?”
“Nunya.”
He frowned in confusion, but Diego smirked and clarified, “That’s agent speak for ‘none of ya’ business,” he clarified.
“So many comedians in one tiny office,” Rapp muttered, but she’d swear he fought not to smile.
“I have a slight bruise, okay?” She hoped she hadn’t rubbed all her makeup away. A subtle glance at her thumb and finger showed a smudge of beige. “Look, I need to tell you something important. Last night, I interrupted a robbery.”
Both men stared at her.
She gave them the details, ending with, “And when I went this morning to question the guy, I find he’s not in custody. Imagine that.” She thought about her impression of the criminal. “I don’t think he was a drug addict. I think someone hired him.” Then added, “To come after me.”
“Why?” Rapp didn’t act upset, though Diego swore and promised he’d end the guy’s financial score and put him on every call list in existence.
“Diego.” Rapp shook his head. “Jane, why do you think he wanted you? That comment about the side piece? Everyone who watches Criminal Minds or Chicago PD thinks they know how the FBI and police operate. And if he’s been in the system before, he’d be familiar with it.”
“Don’t forget Reno 911,” Diego added.
Rapp and Jane ignored him, and Jane said, “But he asked me to show him I was unarmed, not the two civilians on the floor. He knew I was law enforcement.”
“You look like a Fed,” Rapp said.
Diego shook his head. “Nah. You only think that because she works here and you’re a robot.” He flushed as soon as he said it.
Rapp stared at him.
Diego quickly added, “I mean, not knowing her, if I saw her in jeans and a jacket, I’d think attractive chick. Not federal agent.”
“Thanks,” Jane deadpanned.
Diego grinned. “You’re welcome.”
“The point,” Rapp enunciated, “is that Jane might be right.”
“Wow. Admitting I’m right. Make note of this Diego.”
“Noted.” Diego checked the air before shoving the rest of the donut in his mouth.
“We need to find your perp,” Rapp said at the same time she thought it.
“I saw a tattoo on his neck. Let me run that down.”
“I’ll help you.” Rapp wrapped the rest of his fritter in a napkin. “I’m going to go change.”
“Into someone more professional and approachable, one can hope,” Jane muttered.
Diego guffawed but quickly quieted at a dark look from Rapp.
He returned quickly, dressed in jeans and a jacket, looking dangerous but less Fed-like. “Diego, see if you can find out what the police know. Maybe offer to help with their IT problems.”
“I don’t know if I can legally do that.” Diego shrugged in apology. “At least not for the next ten years.”
“Do it. Call if you need me. Jane and I are going hunting.”
Since waiting on the database wouldn’t yield them answers for a few days, they made a detour.
It turned out Rapp had a few contacts in the city, one of them being a tattoo artist who knew everything about everyone. In less than half an hour, they arrived at a tattoo shop then had to wait for the owner to arrive.
“We need to talk about your safety,” Rapp said while they were outside, the sun warming the cold wind that continued to whip Jane’s hair around.
“Excuse me?”
“Explain the bruise.” He pointed to her cheek. “I can see some purple there.”
“Shoot.” She grabbed her phone and took a picture of herself, then zoomed in to see a shadow of color under her concealer she thought she’d fixed earlier.
“Boyfriend do that?”
She couldn’t read his neutral expression. But she didn’t have to. “Oh please. If a man tried to hit me, it would be the last move he ever made.”
Rapp grunted. “Well?”
She didn’t want to tell him on the off chance he got super pushy and tried to take her off the case “for her own good.” She’d heard enough of that from Uncle Chris through the years though he wasn’t even her boss.
“Jane, I demand transparency from everyone I work with,” Rapp said in a firm voice. “It saves a lot of headaches further down the line. I want my people safe.”
Technically, she worked with him but for Gambol. Rapp didn’t seem to see the difference.
“Fine,” she growled. “When I left McGrath’s the other night, after you helped me out with Matthew Scott, some idiot nearly ran me down in the parking lot. I landed on my face.”
He studied her but didn’t otherwise react. A good sign. “And last night?”
“I had to get gas, and it was just my luck to head into the gas station that Neck Tattoo robbed.”
“You put him down hard. I like that.” Rapp nodded, still staring at Jane and starting to make her uncomfortable. “But you never mentioned the McGrath’s incident.”
“Because I couldn’t be sure it was connected to our case. Could have been a drunk driver. No one got any plates. No one followed me home or did anything else suspicious. Trust me. I’ve been checking.”
“Good.” He kept staring.
“What?”
“You didn’t do a bad job, but you need to stop rubbing your face.” He put a gentle thumb under the bruise and frowned. “It’s bigger than it looks. Does it hurt?”
At first it had throbbed like blazes but not so much anymore. Daily ibuprofen helped. What didn’t help was Rapp putting his giant thumb on her face, however gently. He made her uncomfortable in a weird way she didn’t want to think about.
“I’m fine. Stop, already.” She took out her phone, saw he’d brushed more makeup from her injury, and hurriedly fixed it with the beige powder pack tucked into her jacket.
“Do I need to put you on a safety watch?”
“Huh?”
“From now on, you don’t go anywhere alone.”
There was no way he could enforce a “safety watch.” Whatever that entailed. “Right now, we only have my suspicions about Neck Tattoo. The parking lot isn’t a sure thing.”
“What is a sure thing is that we have a problem with you not sharing. You should have told me about the parking lot right after it happened. Not later.”
He didn’t look pleased.
Whatever he meant to add had to wait. A large guy covered in tattoos grinned as he neared. “Yo, Gunther, my man, what’s up?”
“We’re not finished with this,” Rapp murmured before embracing the tattoo artist in a manly hug, the kind that involved a lot of hard patting on the back.
She wanted to find his concern annoying, but part of her liked that her boss—not boss, coworker—felt responsible for her.
This is what I should feel working for Scott, who is obviously a bad supervisor.
Jane followed Rapp and his friend into the tattoo shop, more determined than ever to solve the issue of SSA Scott.
“Jane, this is Irv. Irv, Agent Jane Cannon.”
“Well, hel-lo.” Irv smiled, and she had to admit he was handsome in an I’ll-crush-you-and-not-feel-an-ounce-of-guilt kind of way.
“Irv, focus,” Rapp growled, and she had to wonder how these two had met.
“Sorry. Shoot, Jane. Tell me about the tat.”
She described the sophisticated tattoo, her keen attention to detail one she’d been developing for years. Though small, the lion-dragon tattoo had been crafted by someone experienced with intricate work.
Irv shook his head. “Are you in luck! I know exactly what you’re looking for.”
“Seriously?” Rapp didn’t seem to have expected such sudden success.
Excited, Jane waited while Irv dug out a binder from below the front desk and found the exact photo of the tattoo.
He placed the binder on the counter. “This it?”
“Yes. That’s it.”
He tapped the photo, carefully preserved under a sheet of plastic, and pulled it out. “It’s the Momo Dragon, from that popular anime.”
Rapp frowned. “Which one?”
The way he said that made Jane wonder. “Do you watch anime?”
Rapp turned red. “It’s helped in a few cases, believe it or not.”
“Yeah, that’s why he watched it.” Irv snorted.
Rapp glared at Irv and sneered. “Zip it, Irving.”
“The secrets I could tell you about this guy.” Irv laughed, not impressed by Rapp’s glower.
“Anyways, my cousin did your tattoo, though he normally works in the University District. I remember this tat because he was so proud of himself for nailing the details and because he crushed it while filling in for KJ.” Irv flipped the photo over.
“Looks like Harding Fellows is your guy. And yeah, that’s his actual name.
He was supposedly a total tool, but he paid on time.
Hold on while I grab his address for you.
I guarantee he didn’t pay cash for that.
Not with all those lines and colors. As small as it is, it’s outstanding work, right?
” Irv stepped away to wake up his computer and muttered, “Kid gets all his talent from my side of the family.”
“Harding Fellows. Gotcha, you bastard.” Rapp started tapping into his phone, and Jane smiled with satisfaction.
Finally. An answer to one of their many questions. Now they needed to find Fellows in time to get some useful information from him.
Before whoever ordered him to kill her found him first.