Chapter Twenty-Five #2
Eleanor shook her head. “I didn’t, but my television was on, so that might be why. I can’t believe anyone would want to kill Frank.”
“He was so sweet to everyone,” Lorraine said softly.
They took down the addresses and phone numbers for both women and promised to be in touch when they knew more about what happened.
In the hallway, Sam leaned against the wall and took a series of deep breaths, but that did nothing to quell the nausea swirling in her gut.
“I think I’m going to be sick.” She headed down the stairs and burst into the cool autumn air, bent at the waist, and took more greedy deep breaths, hoping she wouldn’t vomit.
That’s where Captain Malone found her when he arrived at the scene. “Lieutenant.”
Sam straightened. “Our investigation got Davis killed.”
The captain grimaced. “You know that for sure?”
“How could it not be related?”
As the medical examiner’s truck arrived, Malone took Sam by the arm. “Let’s take a walk.”
Sam didn’t want to walk, but she let him lead her around the corner, away from the prying eyes of the other first responders and the neighbors who’d gathered, as they always did, hoping for a look at someone else’s disaster.
After a short walk, Sam stopped and turned to face the captain. “What is this?”
“I don’t know.” He ran his fingers through wiry gray hair, frustration rolling off him in waves.
“It’s like we’ve stirred a hornet’s nest, and now the hornets are coming at us and everyone we’ve talked to in the process of stirring the nest.”
“Or the hornets are running scared and attacking anyone who’s threatening them.”
“Which means we need to protect everyone else involved, including Kevin Viera, the firefighter who gave us a statement.”
Sam had reached for her phone to call Viera when Cameron Green came running around the corner. “Lieutenant!”
Sam’s stomach dropped with dread.
“We got a call from Dispatch. Viera, the firefighter, was run off the road a short time ago as he was leaving the gym.”
Sam swallowed hard, the nausea swirling. “Is he alive?”
“Yeah, but they had to cut him out of his truck. They’re taking him to GW. It was called in as level-one trauma.”
She glanced at the captain. “Let’s go.” To Green, she said, “Stay until Crime Scene gets here and talk to all the neighbors. See if anyone heard anything from Davis’s place.”
“Yes, ma’am. We’re on it.”
Sam handed her keys to Cameron. “Tell Cruz to take my car back to the house when you’re done here.”
“Will do.”
She followed the captain to his SUV and got into the passenger seat. As he drove them to GW, she focused on breathing and not vomiting in his car.
Malone put through a call to Hill, keeping the phone on speaker, which Sam appreciated.
“What’s up?” Hill asked.
“We’ve got witnesses turning up dead or injured.” He filled Hill in on what’d happened to Davis and Viera.
“Jesus. We got the lab back from the card that Lieutenant Holland submitted. The only prints on it were hers, so that’s a dead end. And Lieutenant Archelotta was unable to determine who archived the footage from G Street.”
Sam boiled with frustration as two leads failed to turn up anything that could help.
“It’s time to put some serious pressure on Conklin,” Malone said. “He’s the key to this whole thing.”
“Agreed. I’ll get him back into interrogation within the hour.”
“Lieutenant Holland and I are going by the GW ER to check on Viera, and then we’ll be back to the house.”
“I’ll wait for you.”
The line went dead.
Sam realized her hands were shaking so she tucked them under her legs.
When they were stopped at a red light, Malone glanced over at her. “Talk to me.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“I’m thinking someone is going to an awful lot of trouble to make sure we don’t solve this case—and they’ve been doing that for four years now with my dad, perhaps as long as decades with Steven Coyne. Knowing it was all intentional… The roadblocks, the dead ends… That makes it so much worse.”
“I know.” He tightened his grip on the wheel. “Makes me want to kill someone. I can only imagine how you must feel.”
“I want to see the messenger bag and what was in it.”
“Let’s see what’s up with Viera, and then we’ll check it out.”
She appreciated that he understood her need to see that bag. “We need people on Viera to make sure whoever put him in the hospital doesn’t try to finish the job while he’s there.”
Malone put through a call to the Patrol officer in charge and requested coverage at GW.
“Yes, sir. The officers who took the initial call are accompanying him to the ER. We’ll instruct them to stay with him.”
“Very good. Thank you.”
Sam breathed a small sigh of relief at knowing Viera would be protected. “What about Alice?”
“Alice Coyne?”
“Yes. She’s been talking to me, giving me context. I was there earlier today. If I was being followed, they know she’s cooperating.”
Malone redialed the Patrol officer in charge. “Get me two people at the home of Alice Coyne Fitzgerald as well.” He recited the address. “Immediately.”
“Yes, sir.”
Malone ended the call. “You should call her and tell her what’s going on, so she knows why there’re cops posted outside her house.”
Sam’s hands were still trembling when she placed the call to Alice.
“Hi, honey. Did you think of something else you needed to know?”
“Not yet.” Sam closed her eyes and said the words that Alice needed to hear, hating that she had to bring a new horror to a woman who’d already seen more than her share.
Alice gasped. “What would they want with me?”
“I don’t think they’d want anything, but I’m not taking any chances with your safety.”
“Sam…”
“We’re closing in on whoever shot my dad and possibly Steven, too. They’re getting desperate. You have to let us keep you safe.”
“Of course, but I’m afraid.”
“Don’t be. Our officers will be there until this is over, and I’ll check on you myself later. I promise.”
“Okay.” She sounded shaky but resolved.
“I’ll be in touch.”
“It’s the right thing to do,” Malone said after Sam ended the call.
“Even if it scares the hell out a woman who’s already had more than her share?”
“Even if. Better safe than sorry.”
They arrived at GW and entered through the emergency doors to find the waiting room full of uniformed firefighters.
Sam recognized Branson among them and made her way to him. “How is he?”
“We don’t know anything yet.” The same man who’d been so friendly to her only a few days ago could barely look at her now, which meant he blamed her for the fact that his friend and colleague had been hurt. “But the first responders said it was bad. They had to cut him out.”
“Were there witnesses?”
“Not that I know of.”
“We’ll pull the film from the area.”
“You do that.”
“I get that you’re pissed—”
“I’m glad you get it. He’s a good guy who did the right thing, and where did that get him?
Did you know his girlfriend is expecting their first child?
That’s her over there. She’s had a difficult pregnancy and is supposed to be on bed rest. They’re going to admit her because they’re afraid she’ll lose the baby. ”
“I’m sorry this has happened to them both. To all of you.”
“So am I. If he dies…” Branson shook his head.
“Let’s pray that he doesn’t.”
Someone called to Branson, and he walked away, leaving her feeling completely alone in a room full of people.
Malone pushed his way through the crowd to her. “Come on.”
Sam didn’t ask where they were going as she followed him through the double doors to the treatment area. They stopped outside of a cubicle where several Patrol officers stood with Dr. Anderson, whose grim expression only added to Sam’s tension.
“What’ve you got?” Malone asked.
The Patrol officer consulted her notes. “Viera was headed south on 21st Street Northwest, between Virginia and Constitution Avenues, when he was forced off the road by a white vehicle.”
“How do you know it was white?” Sam asked.
“The streaks of paint on the side of Viera’s navy-blue pickup truck were white. Viera’s truck was found upside down. The other car had fled the scene by the time we arrived. We’ve put out an APB for a white vehicle with damage to the passenger side.”
“Who called it in?”
“An Uber driver who happened upon the wreck after it had happened.”
“Contact Lieutenant Archelotta to find out what we’ve got for cameras in the area.”
“I’ve already done that,” the Patrol officer said.
“Good work, Officer Densley.” Sam took note of the young woman’s name after being impressed by her thorough report.
“How’s he doing?” Malone asked Anderson.
“He’s in rough shape with broken ribs, clavicle, femur and a head injury that’s our biggest concern.”
“Will he survive?” Sam asked.
“I hope so. We’ll know more in a few hours.”
“We need him, Doc,” Malone said.
“His girlfriend and unborn child need him, too,” Sam added.
“We’re doing everything we can. Let me get back to him.” Anderson returned to Viera’s room.
“Don’t leave this hallway for any reason,” Malone said to the Patrol officers. “If anyone tries to get to him, do whatever is needed to keep him safe.”
“Yes, sir.”
The two young officers seemed nervous but determined to follow orders.
As she followed Malone back to the waiting room, Sam wished she felt better about leaving them to protect Viera’s life.
Malone walked through the crowded waiting room, which went silent as they passed through.
Sam wondered if they were all blaming her for the fact that their friend was in critical condition and fighting for his life. She’d gone looking for him and dragged him into the investigation, and now…
“Don’t go there,” Malone said gruffly as they walked to his vehicle. “It’s not your fault or our fault that this happened.”
“Try telling that to his pregnant girlfriend or the people who work with him every day.”
“It’s not your fault. You were doing your job, and it led to him.”
“Who else knew that it led to him besides his colleagues and ours?”
“What’re you getting at?”
“Am I being followed?”
“Have you felt like you were?”
“Nope, but my head hasn’t been a hundred percent in the game the way it usually is. I probably wouldn’t have noticed if I was being trailed.”
“Conklin knew we’d talked to him. Don’t forget that.”
“True.”
They were in his SUV and seat-belted in, but he made no move to start the engine.
Sam stared out the passenger window as the silence stretched into minutes. “Let’s deal with Conklin before someone else ends up dead.”
“Sam—”
“At this point, what does it matter if he does ten years or twenty? I want answers. I want it to be over, Cap, for my dad, for my family, for everyone who loved him. I want justice any way I can get it—for him and for Steven, if his case is related.”
“All right, then. Let’s go see what the son of a bitch has to say for himself.”