Kilo
Donna was feeling much better about what she’d witnessed on Friday and her visit from Detective Leo Davis.
Rich’s team hadn’t found anything damning in their investigation, like a body that matched the description of the man she saw getting choked out.
That was the term Rich had used. She’d convinced herself that it was possible he hadn’t been killed.
And since Rich’s team hadn’t found any excessive force complaints against the detective, nor had Internal Affairs had any case open, that had helped to put her mind at ease.
Monday, after she put the boys on the bus, she got a grocery list together, intending to go to the store later that morning after she’d tidied the apartment up.
Jeriah played in the boys’ room, where Donna had moved most of the toys to keep the living room clutter-free.
They were allowed to bring toys into the living room, but the house rule was now that they had to put them away when they were done playing or before bed.
As she vacuumed the living room, her gaze was dragged through the window and into the parking lot where a black Camaro SS pulled up beside her minivan.
“No,” she breathed out, a knot forming in her stomach.
Upon seeing Leo Davis’s face when he got out of the car, her body instantly went rigid.
Then her gaze went to the license plate.
“Fuck,” she cursed quietly. Same plate number as the Camaro SS that had driven by her mother’s church the day before.
She grabbed her phone and dialed Rich again.
It went to voicemail just as the knock sounded on her door.
Something inside her shifted from fear to anger.
And she didn’t care at that moment if he’d just choked that guy out or killed him.
She’d had enough of Leo Davis coming to her door and driving past her.
Was he stalking her? She wasn’t sure if that was what he was doing or not, but she was done with it.
She swung the door open. “Detective Davis. What do you need?” she asked in a not too friendly tone of voice.
“Hello, Donna,” he greeted, ignoring her tone of voice. “And please, it’s Leo. I just wanted to swing by and see if you remembered anything from Friday about my suspect.”
His gaze was piercing and unblinking, which, had she not been so pissed, would have unnerved her. “I told you, I didn’t see anyone.”
“That’s too bad. I could really use the help.”
“Sorry.” She still clutched the phone in her hand, hoping Rich’s voicemail would capture all the conversation.
“Well, I’m sorry too. My offer to pay for your sitter so we can go out stands.” He flashed her a smile that he probably thought was a sexy grin, but she found it disgusting.
“I am flattered, Detective,” she said.
“It’s Leo,” he corrected her as he leaned in closer, his voice sounding overly flirty and inappropriately intimate.
“Leo,” she forced herself to say, her voice threatening to expose how panicked by his sudden closeness she was. “I should have told you when you asked me out the other day that I have a boyfriend.”
“Is it serious? Because I haven’t seen him around. I promise I’d be more attentive.”
His statement completely unnerved her. Had he been watching her before she’d seen him strangle that man, or had he been watching her that closely since? “He’s away for work,” she said. “He’s an ATF agent.”
“Your boyfriend is a federal badge and you’re living in this shithole?” Leo asked, shaking his head as though he didn’t believe her.
“He’s stationed out of Chicago, and we were waiting until I graduated from the medical program I’ve been taking to discuss when the kids and I might move there if he couldn’t get a transfer here.
I couldn’t stop the program I’m taking, and it doesn’t transfer anywhere.
It looks like that transfer is a no-go for him,” she lied.
“So, I’ll probably be moving to Chicago soon. ”
“Is that a fact?” he asked.
She nodded and forced a smile. “Yes.”
“I think you should see what I have to offer you before you make a move like that. First thing I’d do for you is get you a nice place, get you outta here. That doesn’t require a cross-country move.”
He had some nerve! Did he really think he was all that? Besides the fact that Donna was sure she’d seen him strangle a man, she found him disgusting. And he was way too old to ever consider dating, and that would be true even if Rich Burke wasn’t in her life.
“As I’ve said, I am flattered, Leo,” she forced herself to say, keeping the outrage and disgust from her facial expression. “But my heart is with someone else.”
He stepped back from the door, but his gaze remained on her. “You may want to reconsider that.” His voice held a warning. “I’ll see you around, Donna.”
She watched him cross the parking lot and get into the black Camaro SS. Still standing in the open doorway, freaked out by his words, she watched him drive away. Only after she had closed her door did she look at the phone. Her call had again been cut off at some point. She sent Rich a text.
I’m sure you saw the missed call, and I know you’ll listen to the voicemail when you can. That detective paid me another visit. I’m fine, but I need to talk to you when you can call.
It was over an hour later when she received the callback from Rich. She told him what happened and what was said during the visit. She also told him about seeing Detective Davis’s car drive past her mother’s church the previous day, now that she had confirmation it was the same car.
Burke became more concerned as Donna told him about her latest encounter with Detective Davis.
The stress and worry in her voice might have ratcheted him up further than he otherwise would have been.
“Okay, here’s what I think. It’s close enough to Christmas for you, the kids, and your mom to come out to Chicago for the holiday.
We need to get you out of this asshole’s line of sight for a few days.
I’ll talk to your sister and we’ll get it arranged. ”
“Come out to Chicago? Rich, how am I going to do that?”
“It’s simple. I’ll take care of everything.
I’ll book your flights, get you a rental car, and arrange a place for the five of you to stay.
My place is tiny, a one-bedroom unit. And I know Dupont’s place isn’t set up for houseguests either.
” Ops Center analyst Brad Dupont was Laura Lee’s boyfriend, and his place was where she stayed when she was in town.
“I can’t afford any of that, Rich!” she protested.
“I said I’ll take care of it.”
“How many hours is the drive? I could maybe,” she began.
“Too many and you don’t want to put the miles on your car,” he said, interrupting her.
He knew her vehicle was not in good enough shape for a trip like that, nor was Donna and her mom up for a twelve-hour drive with three kids in tow.
“I can afford this, Donna. Consider it a Christmas gift to you and the kids.”
“It’s too much.”
“I’ve come to you for every visit this last year.
It’s your turn to come here,” he said in a light voice, trying to sound like he was joking, but he was anything but.
He perceived Leo Davis as a real threat to her, and he had to remove her from the situation given that he couldn’t go there right now.
“You’re funny.”
“I’m not joking. Have you gone shopping for the kid’s Christmas gifts yet?”
“I have a few things. My mom bought a few things.”
“Can they be put in a suitcase?” he asked.
“Mostly. There are a few larger items, but I suppose we can take a picture of them and wrap the picture, and the kids can have them when we get home. But this doesn’t solve the problem. It just removes me from it for a week.”
“Until we get back there. My leave is after Christmas. You come here and we'll have a nice Christmas without having to worry about this asshole. Then we all go back together after the holiday, and I'll set the asshole straight.”
She didn’t like the sound of that. It worried her that he’d be putting himself between her and Leo Davis, which could put him in danger, or even worse, leave her open to Davis’s payback after Rich left.
“Donna?” he asked when she’d remained silent for too long.
“Yeah, I’m here. I’m just trying to figure out how to make Christmas work for my kids somewhere other than home or Grandma’s house.”
“I promise, we’ll make it special for them,” Burke promised.
“Okay,” she agreed.
“I’ll call you back when I have a plan and some reservations made. Until then, keep your door locked.”
“I always do,” she said, trying to make her voice sound anything but scared.
When Burke disconnected the call, he went back inside the hangar where the team was in the process of transferring their gear to the agency Lear.
He’d stepped out to call her. He and Charlie Team had been in a video briefing with Shepherd while sitting on board the plane when she called.
It was late the previous evening that they returned to the hotel after turning Mark Ellison and the others over to the FBI.
They’d gotten a text from Shepherd with the arrival time of the plane and the invitation to the debrief.
They expected to be told they would be heading back to the Chicago area and were stunned to hear the plane was taking them to their next destination as Shepherd wanted to cram one more case in before Christmas.
It was related to the prepper/militia case.
They were flying into Gerald R. Ford International Airport, Grand Rapids, Michigan, to locate and snatch the niece of a senator who had gotten involved in a cult with suspected ties to the Michigan prepper group.
The girl’s family reported that she had cut all ties with them and they had no way to contact her.
“Is everything okay?” Wilson asked Burke as he re-entered the hangar.
He didn’t specifically answer. “Tessman, is Becca’s sister’s house currently vacant? Not being used to house any of Woods’ DVR clients, is it?”