Chapter Seventeen #3
In the blink of an eye, they were swarmed by the security and SWAT officers who’d been guarding the perimeter. But Max held his ground with the suspect, growling and baring his impressive teeth.
“How’d he make it past us?” Bud Thompson huffed as he drew to a halt beside Cassidy.
She held up the hat with the fire department logo. “He’s been posing as a firefighter. Been running all over the place all day.”
Officers from the SWAT team moved in, and Jake gave the command for Max to back down. The moment Baker was cuffed, Jake whistled and Max bounded down from the platform, clearly pleased with his day’s work.
“Hey, do we need to…” She hooked a thumb in the direction of the Fun House. “Was there something in there?”
Cassidy hung back, Jake sticking close to her side. “I guess we were wrong in thinking we were dealing in dozens, baker’s or otherwise.”
“It was as good a guess as any,” Jake said. He didn’t look at her as the police escorted Baker off the ride.
A part of her wanted to confront him. To crow about his failures and revel in her escape. But the officers who took him into custody led him away in the direction of the north gate where a number of cruisers sat parked along Roosevelt Road.
“Sarge?” One of the firefighters checking the area around the bench raised an arm. Evan Furst stepped up to the edge of the platform and the man handed something down to him.
Cassidy watched as he bagged the object as evidence, conferred with Colonel Aronson, then handed the bag over. A few minutes later, Sergeant Furst made his way over to them.
“We have his phone,” the firefighter said as he approached. “Your team will take a closer look, but it looks like he was using the device for remote detonation.” He shrugged. “Not uncommon when dealing with IEDs.”
Cassidy frowned. “I don’t ever want to use a mobile phone again.”
Both men laughed. “Try to order pizza without one,” Jake said, rolling his eyes.
Furst slapped Jake on the back, then offered his knuckles to Max for a sniff. “Your boy here put quite the scare into our guy.” As if on cue, Max smiled up at him, his giant pink tongue unfurling like a banner trailing out the side of his mouth.
“Yes, he can look scary when he wants to,” Jake said, giving the dog an affectionate pat.
Sergeant Furst offered his hand to her. “You were something, Ms. Walker. I don’t know many people who could have hung in there like you did.”
She accepted the handshake with a tired smile. “I have the constitution of a twelve-year-old.”
Furst chuckled then stepped aside as Colonel Aronson approached. “Ms. Walker, I have to ask you for your phone,” the older man said, cushioning the request with a note of apology.
“Of course,” Cassidy said. She reached into her back pockets and extracted a phone from each. “I was telling Agent Donovan I didn’t think I’d be using my phone much anymore.”
The older man gave an appreciative huff, then frowned at the two devices she offered. “Did the suspect contact you on both devices?”
“No, sir.” She raised her right hand slightly higher. “His messages came through on this one. My personal line.”
Aronson took the proffered phone. “Hate to make a long day even longer, but would you mind coming to headquarters to make your statement?”
Cassidy nodded. “No problem.”
He ran a hand over his buzz-cut hair. “He had no ID on him, but his prints will be in the system, so it shouldn’t be an issue.”
He nodded to the phone in her other hand. “I’ll leave the other with you. Unless there’s evidence linked directly to our perp, we won’t need it.”
“Oh. Okay.” She tucked the phone Bud had provided for her back into her pocket. “I suppose I’m gonna need it. We’re going to be scrambling to get this cleaned up and get things going.”
The colonel nodded. “In case you haven’t heard, the governor’s office has already announced a three-day delay on the opening.”
Her brows shot up with surprise. “Wow. Three days. Okay. I guess we have our work cut out for us.”
“Maybe Ms. Walker could come in to give her statement in the morning?” Jake suggested. “It’s been one heck of a day, sir.”
But Cassidy shook him off. “No. Tonight would be better for me. I’m going to have a million things to do before we can open.” She turned to look at Jake. “You go on. I’ll be along as soon as I can.”
“I can keep an eye on things,” Bud Thompson interrupted. “They’re going to be processing the scene for hours, if not a day or two.” He jerked his chin in Cassidy’s direction. “You get out of here for a bit. You’ll have to hit the ground running once they give us the go-ahead to clean up.”
She whirled to ask Colonel Aronson if he thought it would actually take days, but the man was gone. She spotted him walking toward the south lot with one of the police captains. “Days?”
Bud shrugged. “Let’s see how things play out. I’ll hang around.”
Cassidy pressed the tips of her fingers to the center of her forehead, then rubbed in tiny circles, working to her temples. “Days,” she whispered.
Jake leaned in as Bud walked away. “Don’t worry about that yet.”
He placed a hand on her back, and for the first time since he’d hopped onto her merry-go-round this morning, Cassidy didn’t feel duty-bound to pull away.
“The governor’s office had to give the press something,” he continued in a soothing tone. “No one expects you to—”
He stopped talking abruptly as she turned into him, burying her face in the base of his throat. His arms came around her and she sank deep into his embrace. Lips moving against the fabric of his shirt, she mumbled, “It started out such a good day.”
She felt rather than heard his chuckle. “I don’t know,” he crooned into her hair. “It’s not ending too badly.”
Pulling back, she tipped her chin up to look into his eyes. “You think?”
“I know.” Lowering his mouth to hers, he kissed her sweetly. When they parted, he pressed his forehead to hers. “Hey, Cass?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m gonna need a date for the fair.”
She chuckled as she allowed herself to be tucked back into his embrace. “Well, what do you know? It so happens I’ll be here every day.”