Chapter 49
HUDDLED AGAINST AN outside wall of the civic center and using the hedge as a blind, Stilwell pulled up the exterior-cam package and expanded the video.
The camera was located in the entry courtyard shared by the substation, the town library, and the single courtroom.
He watched and waited, guessing that Lambert wouldn’t make a move until Corum gave him the all-clear.
He would tell him that Mercy had left and the second-shift deputies were out on patrol, leaving only Stilwell in his office.
Ten minutes went by and Stilwell started to wonder if he had it all wrong.
He went through the suppositions that had led him to be hiding behind a hedge outside his office and waiting for a killer to come looking for him.
He started with the phone call he had made to MIPCO and his using Lambert’s name to get to Bessemer.
If Bessemer thought the hang-up call was suspicious, he would have told Lambert about it.
If he provided Lambert with the number the call had been made from, that would have led to the substation and Stilwell.
But Lambert could not have pushed Simon and Trestle out of the way.
He would have needed Corum for that, and that tied the captain in.
Stilwell finished the mental review feeling confident in his conclusions and his plan. He just needed to be patient. He knew Lambert was coming for him. It was just a question of when.
Stilwell called Akins.
“You check the video from two Mondays ago?” he whispered.
“Just finished,” Akins said. “The same two guys took the boat out at five that day. It was daylight then, so you could see them clearly. Then I fast-forwarded, and when the light came up on Tuesday, I saw the boat was back and I’d missed it coming in.
So I went back and found it. The boat came back about three that morning.
Two guys got off but it was too dark to see if it was the same two. ”
“Were they carrying anything, either going out or coming back?”
“Yeah, like a backpack, but it was tall. It went above the back of the guy’s head. Kind of looked like an electric guitar case. Or a gun case. And he had it coming and going.”
Stilwell nodded to himself. He had been right about Lambert wanting to keep his sniper rifle. Otherwise he would have thrown it into the Pacific on the way back from killing Quigley.
“Can you get me a photo of that?” he asked.
“Sure I can,” Akins said. “But what’s going on, Stil? You’re whispering like you’re hiding or something. Are these guys coming for you?”
“I’m whispering because I can’t talk right now. Can you send the photo?”
“I just did.”
“Okay, now delete it, and don’t tell anybody about this.”
“I don’t know what you’re into, brother, but are you sure you don’t need my help? I could be there in an hour.”
“I appreciate that, but I have a feeling an hour will be too late. If you don’t hear from me by tomorrow, send out the troops.”
Just as he said it, Stilwell saw a figure enter the courtyard on his phone screen. It was Lambert.
“Jesus, man,” Akins said. “I think you—”
“Dave,” Stilwell said, cutting him off, “I gotta go.”
He disconnected and started moving. Phone in one hand, and now his Glock in the other, Stilwell moved along the wall to the corner, made the turn, then advanced out in the open to the entrance of the courtyard.
He paused, and on his screen he watched Lambert go into the substation.
He went into the courtyard himself and crossed to the door to the courtroom.
He pulled his keys, unlocked the door, and entered the darkened interior.
A short hall directly connected the courtroom to the substation jail so that detained offenders could be delivered securely to court.
Stilwell moved down it quickly and stopped before entering the jail to switch his phone to the interior-camera package.
He could see Lambert in the squad room approaching the closed door to Stilwell’s office.