Argyle moved to all fours and slid to the floor as the rain of blows covered his head and neck. He began to laugh.
Chapter-51
“He took one in the head, up close, and that was it,” pointed out Alex, leaning away from the passenger door of the
vehicle
. “He’d only been a cop a few months. Too bad.”
“Damn. I think this is the kid that was going to get married next month,” said Sophie.
Manny searched the sky, focusing on the amber moon hanging
full
in the
heavens
. A small,
dark
cloud floated just out of reach of the
lunar
brilliance
,
and he couldn’t
keep
from
noticing
the
contrast
between the light and the
dark
cloud.
Just like the
concept
of f
our murders in the last three hours
were
almost
out of
his
comprehension. Hell, maybe that’s how he needed it.
“What kind of weapon?” he asked.
“Small caliber, probably a .22.”
“Did we run the plates?”
Alex
pulled at his ear.
“
I
t was stolen a few hours ago.”
“So what the hell was he doing in a stolen SUV less than a block from headquarters during his dinner break?”
Alex shrugged his shoulders. “You’re the detective. I just tell you what’s here. But if you’re interested in my two cents, it looks like he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Yeah. But what does that mean? He wouldn’t have known the vehicle was stolen yet
,
so I don’t think he was trying to bust anyone.”
“The blood spatter and his position plus the amount of blood on the seat say he was in the vehicle w
hen he was shot,” answered Alex. “
Spark
y
will be here soon with another tech
,
and
I’ll put them to work processing this thing.”
“So
,
do you think he knew who shot him?” asked Sophie.
“That or he was forced inside,” said Manny. “Either way, one of ours was murdered in cold blood.”
“That’s just for starters,” said Sophie. “We got two more bodies that are probably compliments of the
jacked
-up Justice Club.”
Manny looked to Alex, then Sophie. “What the hell is going on in this town?”
Just then two black Chevy Tahoes pulled up to the curb,
a few feet
behind the yellow tape, followed by
Kathy
Ross’s LPD unit. Agent Tucker got out of the first
vehicle
, Josh and Chloe out of the second.
“I contacted the Detroit office and they still can’t
have
people up here until
the
early
morning. Meanwhile, what do
you
want us to do?”
asked
Josh.
“We got two more homicides to check out
,
so that’s next,”
answered
Manny.
“If this keeps up, we’re going to have to move Quantico to Lansing
.
”
“If this keeps up, I’m going to work for the FBI to get a break
.”
“Workaholics like you don’t take breaks.”
“I’m willing to learn.”
Josh
turned serious
.
“
I want you
to
know that Argyle’s on
his
way back to Lansing.”
“So soon?
”
Manny rais
ed
his eyebrows
. “
I thought it would be a week or so
.
”
“I pulled some strings and got him extradited here.
Especially s
ince
he
wasn’t going to talk to anyone except you
. I’m sure t
here
are
plenty more charges that your new DA
will
bring against him in Michigan.
Besides, I’m curious about the ‘others’ he
spoke of
.
”
“If he killed others, or even by saying he did, he knows we’ll want to find out the truth ASAP.
I still think it’s a ploy
for him to control us. And to think
,
I’d almost forgotten about him for a couple of days.”
“Not to mention the longer he stayed in St. Thomas, the harder
it would’ve been
to get him out of there,” said Chloe.
“Or he could’ve ended up accident
al
ly dead.”
Manny nodded. “
There
’s no death penalty in Michigan
.
H
e
knows he
won’t fry here.
”
“He could plead insanity,” said Sophie.
“If he does, he’d still go to a Super Max prison, like ADX Florence. So either way, we win,” said Josh.
“Yeah
, e
nough about
Argyle
. W
e’ve got other things going on,
”
said Alex.
Sarah Sparks and the other woman lab tech, Dana Gary, walked up carrying large black cases and wearing blue, LPD-issue jumpsuits.
“Do
you
want us to start on the vehicle, Alex?”
asked
Sparks.
“Yep.
As g
ood
a
place as any. Then see if you find anything on the sidewalk in both directions
.
”
Manny motioned to Wymer and Ross. Frank was making love to a dark
-
chocolate bar the size of Manhattan. He
ran his hand through his hair
. “Frank, are you going to be able to pass the fitness test next month?”
“Hell yeah. I switched to dark chocolate because it’s got that antitoxin stuff
,
and they say it’s good for my heart.”
“But you’re not supposed to gobble the whole bar in one shot.”
“I don’t know, Manny. I look at it like this. The more I eat
,
the better chance it has to work for me, you know? And it doesn’t give
me
that bad gas like fiber does.”
Ross thumped herself on the forehead. “See what I have to put up with? Can I shoot him, now?”
Manny
sighed. “You two stay here. I want you to go door-to-door at the condos on this street, then hit any of the bars and restaurants still open. Maybe they saw something or someone. Then get a hold of the owner of the building where the shooter was and get a list of people who have access to the building
’
s security code.
M
ake sure we have a couple of blues here with the CSU techs.”
“The rest of us will break into teams and each check out one of the other
murder
scenes.”
Sophie stepped close to Agent Corner. “You’re going to need one of us locals to go with the Feds. Josh and I will team up.”
She batted her eyes at the agent.
Agent Corner adjusted his tie and moved a few feet away. Sophie followed.
“Okay, but Alex is going with you to protect Josh. Which one do you want? The stolen Mercedes with the
spread-eagle
body on the hood, or the dickless corpse on the merry-go-round at the park?
”
“Ooooo. Never been in a new Mercedes. We’ll take that one.”
“Chloe, Max, and I will take the other. Keep in touch and get back ASAP so we can compare notes. We’ll have
Buzzy
put our findings and thoughts in a spreadsheet and see if we can get more insight. We’ve got to figure this victimology out before tomorrow night.”
“You think they’ll keep at it, with all the heat they’ve stirred up?” asked Josh.
“I think they believe we can’t catch them. And if they do have a mission, they won’t stop. In fact, they may accelerate the attacks.”
Chloe frowned. “I think he’s right. Nothing matters to them except finishing what they started.”
“Hard to argue with your logic, especially in light of what’s happened here,” agreed Josh.
“Okay. Let’s go. I’m driving. Josh can ride shotgun,” urged Sophie, hooking Josh’s arm.
“OH NO! Not Bobby. Oh my God. NO!”
Manny whirled toward the stolen SUV and watched as Dana Gary slipped to the ground, sobbing wildly. Sarah Sparks tried to catch her, but they both went down in a tangled heap.
“What’s wrong,
Dana
? What is it?” yelled Alex, rushing around the vehicle.
Manny scrambled
to
the other side.
Dana continued to sob, then finally pointed to the window where the bloodied dead
rookie
leaned. She began to speak
,
but couldn’t. Her eyes rolled back in her head as she shuddered and passed out.
Sarah
clutch
ed
Dana close
,
look
ing
up at Alex and Manny
.
“What it is it?” Manny repeated.
Sarah cleared her throat. “Tha
t’s . . .
that’s Bobby Foster. Her fiancé.”
Chapter-52
The third member of the Justice Club heard the
other cell phone r
i
ng, and she sensed trouble before she answered. No one calls at 3
a.m.
to tell you good things. Besides, there were only two people who knew this number.
Neither one
was
calling to tell her she
’d
won the lotto.
She looked down both sides of the
lighted
street and saw
that
none of her coworkers were
in view. She
hurried into the alley. She was greeted with th
e
special smell garbage dumpsters share in hot weather.
Rancid
.
“Why are you calling me?”
“We need to meet, now. Things are coming undone,” said the
caller
.
“I know
,
”
she answered, not caring for where this was going.
The silence on the other end was deafening.
“What do you mean, you know?”
said the caller.
“Just that, I know
,
”
she repeated.
“How could you? It happened only an hour ago.”
“A little bird told me. Did you forget what I do for a living?” She switched the phone to the other ear. “Why do we need to meet? The plan is still good.”
“It’s not good. Whoever killed Stella shot up the LPD headquarters in the process. I don’t know what Stella might have said, but I think we need to talk about cooling it.”
The
caller’s
voice was labored, tense.
“You did it, didn’t you?”
she
stated
.
“Did what?”
asked the third member
.
“Killed Stella, and shot up the place.”
“Use your damned head. I was working.”
The third member
could almost hear the wheels turning in the caller’s head. She saved her the trouble.
“It was your secret member of the Club, wasn’t it? I mean
,
who else knew what was going on? Not to mention, she killed a cop.”
“I
. . .
I
. . .
Shit. Yeah. It makes sense. But I thought she was just going to follow her, make sure she didn’t bury us
,
”
said the caller.
“And take Stella out if she needed to, right?”
“Yeah. But she was
supposed
to let me know first so we could talk it over.”
“I guess she didn’t want your opinion.
”
The third member
shifted her feet, her mind already running to the next step.
“
You’re right. We do need to meet
,
and you’ll have to make sure your mysterious fourth shows up. By the way, who is she?”