Chapter 11
ELEVEN
The next morning, Olivia pulled into a space in front of the police department, Junior in the passenger seat.
“Then she spent all night fussing over me. Coming in to fluff my pillows and bringing me more water, even though I already had four bottles.” She rolled her eyes and glanced over at her partner.
“Why do you look like you’re going to puke? ”
“Maybe because you drive like a race car driver.” He reached for the handle.
“You should take your pills. You’re due for meds, and you haven’t taken them yet, right? Because you wanna be macho or some nonsense like that.”
“Yeah, because when women fall for a guy, it’s because he’s helpless and can’t sweep her off her feet.”
Olivia turned the car off. “Some women might be into that.”
“Pretty sure Ainsley isn’t,” he grumbled, climbing out of the car.
Olivia wasn’t completely healthy right now either, but her headache was only low-grade. She walked beside Junior to the front doors. “What happened?”
“Nothing. She came over last night and brought me dinner, then hung out for a while.”
“But you couldn’t put the moves on because your shoulder hurt.” She shot him a look. “It’ll heal. That gives you time to apologize and show her that you can be vulnerable just the same as you can be a hero.” She pulled the front door open. “A woman wants to know you’re well-rounded, bro.”
“What are you two doing here?” Basuto stood behind the counter in the bullpen, turned to a desk where he was moving papers around. “I’m just about to head out to the command center.”
Olivia said, “We figured we could answer phones. Man the tip line.”
He walked over to the counter and buzzed them in the door to the right, which got them behind the receptionist desk. Which meant he wasn’t kicking them out. At least, she hoped he wasn’t just letting them back so he could politely tell them to get lost.
“Far as I’m concerned, sitting here is the same as sitting at home.” Junior perched on the edge of the desk, looking forlorn.
She wasn’t sure if his bad mood was because he’d been injured and it hurt or because the woman he liked had seen him when he was injured and it hurt.
“We do need volunteers to man the tip line,” Basuto said. “But it’s over at city hall. I actually have a job I need you two to do. A little public relations job.”
Olivia wasn’t convinced. “Busywork?”
Basuto’s brows rose. “You think I’d waste my time giving you a pointless errand just to get rid of you?”
She said, “No, Lieutenant.”
“Good.” He tore a piece of paper off a pad. “Go to this address. It’s a wellness check. The mother believes something might have happened to her son, as he’s not answering the phone and hasn’t for at least a day.”
Junior said, “That’s not long enough to—”
Basuto cut him off. “Apparently that’s unusual enough to warrant calling us. Knock on the door. See if he’s okay. Call the mom and inform her. The number is on the bottom.”
Olivia took the paper. “Yes, Lieutenant.”
“Good.” Basuto grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair. “When you’re done, come back and ask the duty officer downstairs if he needs any lunch.”
She nodded.
Basuto looked at Junior, who nodded also. The lieutenant said, “I’ll be hoping we find these guys before I have to tell the two of you not to come back until you’re cleared by a doctor.”
Olivia wanted to argue that she only had a mild concussion, which meant a raging headache, and didn’t need to see a doctor again. But she also didn’t need to be back in uniform on shift for a couple of days. Okay, fine. Maybe more like a week.
But who wanted to take that much time off?
Her mom would be there all the time, and it was so awkward. Nicola did not know how to take care of a sick person. She’d only been so attentive last night because she’d wanted information about Izan and who they were to each other.
As if there was anything to tell.
Sure, they’d held hands in the hospital and told each other things they never told anyone else. She had, anyway.
But what did that make them now?
He hadn’t asked her out again.
“Let’s fill coffee cups before we go.” Junior headed for the break room.
She followed because he couldn’t carry more than one with his arm in a sling.
The drive to the address Basuto had given them only took fifteen minutes. She pulled up to the curb in front, badge on her belt. Gun holstered in her duffel, ready to be slid onto her belt. Junior had a backup weapon since his main police-issued sidearm had been taken by the man who’d shot him.
“Doesn’t look like anyone is home.” She climbed out of the car, setting her gun in the spot she liked it. Being in plain clothes wasn’t usual for her unless she was undercover, but she appreciated not being in uniform all the time. “You gonna go for detective one day? I’m thinking about it.”
Junior glanced over. “Because this town needs another blonde police detective?”
She smirked. “We’re going for a trio.”
He snorted. “I haven’t thought about it.”
Too busy thinking about Ainsley, most likely. “Let’s knock.”
Junior used his good hand, but there was no answer. “Back door?”
Olivia nodded. She checked the front window as they wandered around the house, but couldn’t see inside with the blinds closed. As she reached the corner, the neighbor came out.
“You lookin’ for Ted?” The guy had no hair on his head and wore a T-shirt stained with engine grease. His fingers on the screen door were black around his nails.
“Have you seen him?”
The man shrugged. “Why do the cops wanna know?”
“We’re just checking on him, that’s all. When was the last time you saw him?”
“Coupla days, maybe? But I heard gunshots in there last night when I was comin’ in. Figured he had the TV on too loud.”
Olivia went back to the front door, lifted her foot, and kicked it in.
Junior went in first, gun ready in his off hand.
She followed him inside and wrinkled her nose immediately. “Yep.”
“We need CSU here to collect evidence.”
Sweat beaded on her forehead. “He turned up the heat before he left.” Doing that ensured the timeline the medical examiner came up with on when the murder had occurred would be off, because the temperature in here had fluctuated above normal.
“Found him.”
“I’ll clear the rest of the house, you call it in.”
“Be careful.”
She quickly worked her way through the house and made sure no one was lurking. It was clear except for the neighbor still standing in the doorway when she got back to the front hall.
“He’s dead, isn’t he?” The guy paled.
“If you’re gonna be sick, do it outside.”
The neighbor stumbled back off the step and headed for his house.
“Tazwell!”
She found Junior in the room with the body. What she’d expected to be a guest room or study had a boarded-up window and bare drywall on the walls that had been taped but not finished. As if, in the middle of a renovation, the homeowner had called a halt to the work.
“Check this out.”
She moved to where he stood looking at boxes on the floor. Beside them was an open case with a rifle inside. The same gun that had fired at the van?
She said, “Did you open that?”
“The lid was knocked off when I came in. I didn’t touch anything.” Ramble crouched, pain in his expression. “Look at what’s visible.”
She peered inside and saw a black-and-white photo of a young woman. Bound hands and feet, lying on a bare mattress. Behind it was a bigger piece of paper, folded, that looked like schematics for a building. “Who is this guy?”
“That picture? She’s one of Jason Vaynes’s victims. I read the whole file after the breakout. The detectives always suspected he might’ve had an accomplice.” He straightened and looked at the dead man lying face down in a pool of his own blood. “You think this is him?”
“Whoever killed him might’ve taken something.”
“He left something as well.” Junior indicated a gun on the floor a few feet away. “The murder weapon. My duty weapon.”
Her brows rose. “He killed his accomplice with your gun and left it behind?”
“Not part of his plan, but maybe an added bonus. Take out the accomplice.” Junior glanced from the boxes to the victim. “Then the path is clear for him to do whatever he wants.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.” Olivia had been focused on Sosa, who was bad enough.
This Vaynes guy sounded deadly.
“If they aren’t long gone from town by now,” she said, “then we need a way to draw them out.”