She’d felt the bullet whiz past her ear, embedding itself in the doorframe just inches away from her head. The close call robbed her of speech. Joe had hauled her back inside the precinct, quickly slamming the door shut as if anticipating more shots.
But she didn’t hear anything.
Sliding to the floor, she wrapped her arms around herself to keep from falling apart. She still had trouble understanding why anyone wanted her dead. She’d been told she was a people person, great at interacting with others.
But this wasn’t personal. The shooter didn’t hate her personally. His goal must be to eliminate her as a witness.
As if listening through a long tunnel, she heard the muffled sounds of Joe yelling for officers to search for the shooter. No way. She wasn’t going to pass out. There wasn’t any blood!
With sheer determination, she lifted her head to look up at him.
“Elly! Are you hit?” Joe dropped beside her, raking his gaze over her.
“I don’t think so.” She struggled to push the words past her tight throat. “I felt the bullet whiz past, though. I—think it’s in the doorframe.”
His gaze darkened, and he nodded. “We’ll get it out, see if we can match it to the slugs pulled out of the American Lodge motel room. Steele and others are out searching for him right now.”
“Okay.” She struggled to draw in a deep breath, willing her heart rate to return to normal. “How did he know we were here?”
“I don’t know.” Frustration laced Joe’s tone. “This shouldn’t have happened.”
That seemed to be the common theme with this guy. She lowered her head to her knees, praying for strength. She was alive and so was Joe. This guy had not succeeded in killing again.
Yet.
“Hey. It’s okay.” Joe’s voice radiated concern as he crouched beside her. “We’re going to find him.”
“I know.” She drew in another breath and lifted her head to face him. “It’s just that a police precinct should be a safe place.”
“Yes, it should be.” Joe hesitated, then said, “He took a chance shooting at you here. It’s his first big mistake. I’m confident we’ll find him.”
She nodded, taking heart in that thought. “Yes, that’s how most criminals are found, by their mistakes.”
“Exactly.” Joe’s blue gaze held hers. “We’ll match the slug in the door here to the others. We’ll slowly but surely build a case against him. And once we have him in custody, he’ll never see the light of day again.”
He sounded so confident she couldn’t argue.
“Can you stand? I’ll help you.”
“Of course.” She injected confidence into her tone. She wasn’t a weakling. And she wasn’t hurt. Joe stood and held out his hand to help her up. The warmth of his fingers wrapping around hers helped steady her nerves. She rose to her feet with a little boost from him. “Thanks.”
“Oh, Elly.” He abruptly pulled her in for a tight hug. She clung to him, but just that quickly he released her. “Let’s go. I’ll find some body armor for you.”
“Wait, what?” She frowned. “That’s not necessary.” She didn’t add the part where body armor wouldn’t have prevented that bullet from going through the center of her forehead. Feeling the tremors return, she opened and closed her hands, willing the feeling to go away.
“It is.” Joe didn’t so much as glance at her. He clearly wasn’t in the mood to listen to reason. “We’re taking every precaution possible.”
They already had been doing that with marginal success. She decided there was no point in putting up a fuss.
“We need the smallest one they have,” Joe muttered as he sent through the few spare vests in the equipment room. “It won’t be specifically fitted for you, but that would take time we don’t have.”
His phone rang, and he quickly pulled it out. “Steele? Do you have him?”
The crestfallen expression in Joe’s eyes indicated the news wasn’t good. She moved forward to search through the vests herself.
“No sign of his brass either?” Joe threaded his fingers through his hair. “How many possible locations could he have used to take that shot?”
Another long silence as he listened to Steele’s explanation. She held one vest that seemed smaller than the others to her chest. It was still too big, but it would have to do.
“Okay, thanks for trying. Have the others keep scouring the area, but I need you to get us out of here.” Joe eyed the vest she held, nodded and continued talking. “We need a different vehicle. Grab one of the undercover cars, anything that has four-wheel drive will work.”
She examined the straps of the vest, trying to figure out how to slip it on.
“Thanks, Steele.” Joe ended his call, slipped his phone into his pocket, then reached for the vest. Within thirty seconds, he had secured it around her torso. “It’s not perfect,” he muttered under his breath. “But it’s better than nothing.”
She tugged at the vest, surprised by how heavy it was. It gave her a new appreciation for how Rhy, Joe, and the other officers ran after bad guys while wearing this along with the rest of their gear. When Joe moved toward the door, she grabbed his arm. “Wait. You need a vest too.”
“I know, mine is in my locker.” He tipped his head toward the door. “I’ll grab it, and then we’ll meet up with Steele to get out of here.”
Of course, he had a vest, one specifically fitted for his muscular build. Obviously, she wasn’t thinking clearly. Blame it on being shot at. “Sounds good.”
She lingered outside the locker room while Joe grabbed his vest. Then they met up with Steele, who looked seriously ticked off.
“I checked the obvious locations, the trees directly across from the precinct’s back door,” he said in a grim tone. “But there are also several houses in that area, and this guy could have been up on one of the rooftops. I knocked on every door, but no one claimed to have seen anything. Without a warrant, I couldn’t search them.”
“Useless to get a warrant now,” Joe said. “This guy is long gone. I doubt he’s left evidence behind inside the house.”
“That’s what I thought too.” Steele sighed. “I can’t believe he had the nerve to try this here.”
“A mistake,” Joe corrected. “He’s an arrogant son of a gun, I’ll say that much. But still a mistake. He’ll make enough of them that will lead us straight to him.”
“I hope you’re right about that,” Steele groused. “Because it feels like he’s taunting every cop who works in the city.”
Joe’s expression turned thoughtful. “That may be another clue, Steele. If he’s a former cop or former military, then he may have a grudge against his former colleagues.”
“That doesn’t explain why he shot Gabrielle, Henry, and so many other innocent victims,” she felt compelled to point out. “They’re not in law enforcement.”
“Yeah, there’s that,” Joe admitted. “He hit Kyle, but most of his victims were not cops.”
The images of the bleeding and dying victims flashed in her mind. Gabrielle. Henry. The elderly man, the young man cradling his wife to his chest . . . so many.
Too many.
“Boss gave me the keys to an undercover SUV,” Steele said, breaking into her heartbreaking memories. “Do you want to head out back again?”
She was about to protest, but to her surprise, Joe nodded.
“Yeah, that works.” Joe nudged her forward. “You and the rest of the guys have made sure he’s not back there. That makes it the safest exit at the moment.”
“Okay, I’ll head out first. Give me two minutes.” Steele led the way back to the rear door.
She followed Joe. “Where are we going?”
“The hotel.” He glanced at her over his shoulder. “We’ve been safe there, Elly. I have to believe this guy has law enforcement background. Maybe he recognized me and knows this is my district. He likely staked the place out, hoping we’d return.”
“That makes sense.” Another thought occurred to her. “Or maybe he followed Gabrielle’s parents here.”
Joe’s eyes widened with admiration. “That’s brilliant, Elly. I’m sure you’re right about that. I bet he anticipated we’d come together to interview them.”
Her cheeks grew warm at his praise. She silently prayed he wouldn’t notice. Seriously, she needed to get a grip. He’d been oblivious to her secret crush for months now, and she needed it to stay that way.
“One more minute.” Joe glanced at his watch. “I’m going to step out first. You’re going to stay directly behind me, okay?”
She wanted to protest but knew it would be useless. She stood behind him, waiting for him to open the door.
The seconds ticked by slowly. He abruptly opened the door and moved across the threshold. She couldn’t see much beyond the breadth of his shoulders. “Stay close,” he repeated as he took another step.
She gripped the back of his leather jacket and followed him away from the safety of the building. They only took five steps before reaching the SUV. Joe opened the back seat for her, so she quickly climbed in.
Soon they were back on the highway. She frowned when she noticed they were heading in the wrong direction. The City Central Hotel was near the courthouse, which was east of the precinct. Not west.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“You mentioned food,” Joe reminded her. “We’re going to circle around the city to get something before returning to the hotel.”
“Oh yeah.” She wasn’t hungry anymore but held her tongue. Nothing like being used for target practice to ruin a girl’s appetite.
Yet to her surprise, when they picked up their meal, the scent of french fries made her mouth water. Okay, maybe she was getting better at bouncing back after facing adversity.
The roundabout trip to the hotel didn’t take as long as she anticipated. Steele dropped them off near a side entrance, and Joe protected her with his body as they entered the building, leaving Steele to drive around to the front to park.
In the suite, she ditched her coat and began pulling off the vest.
“Don’t,” Joe said sharply. “You need to keep that on.”
“Even in here?” She glanced around the suite.
“Yes, always.” His tone was firm. “I’m not taking another chance with your life.”
“Joe.” She reached out to touch his arm. “You’re doing everything possible, and I appreciate that. But you must know I’m not afraid to die. I mean, I don’t want to, but if that’s God’s plan, then so be it. I know I’ll be home with the Lord.”
He stared at her in horror. “Don’t talk like that,” he choked.
She dropped her hand and turned away. She had been telling the truth.
Yet it bothered her that Joe didn’t share her faith in God’s plan.
She wasn’t afraid to die. The words echoed through Joe’s mind, sending a chill down his spine. This wasn’t right. Elly shouldn’t be in this situation. None of this was her fault.
Yet all the wishes in the world wouldn’t change the facts. Elly was in danger. This shooter had targeted her.
No way was he letting this guy get that close to hurting her again.
“Have faith, Joe,” she said quietly.
He wanted to have faith that God was watching over them. That they’d find this guy before he hurt anyone else. But Joe believed more in hard work than divine intervention.
But he nodded, then headed to the door to let Steele in.
“We should eat before it gets cold,” Steele said, dropping the bag of food on the table. “Besides, I’m hungry.”
“That’s fine.” He pulled another chair over to the small table as Steele pulled their sandwiches and fries from the bag.
“I’d like to say grace,” Elly said, taking the seat next to him.
He glanced at Steele, expecting him to balk, but his fellow cop simply shrugged.
Elly took his hand, then bowed her head. “Lord Jesus, we are grateful for Your presence in keeping us safe from harm. We thank You for blessing us with this food and with Your guidance as we seek justice. Amen.”
“Amen,” Joe echoed. Maybe she was right about having God’s protection. He couldn’t explain how this guy who’d killed so many had missed Elly on three separate occasions.
“Amen,” Steele said. Then he popped a fry in his mouth. “I think we need to review our notes on this case. There must be something we’re missing.”
Joe couldn’t agree more. “Elly made a good point about the shooter possibly following either Gabrielle’s parents, Henry’s parents, or even Bart Shaw.”
Steele arched a brow. “That makes sense. Although he still made the assumption that we’d bring Elly to the precinct for those interviews.”
“Yeah.” He took a bite of his burger, trying to think of any other way this guy could have found them. “Do you think he has a two-way radio? Maybe listening in on the cop frequency?”
“Could be, but I’m confident no one mentioned Elly over the radio.” Steele shrugged. “I’m thinking our perp dug into the Finnegan family. Plenty of stories on the news about them over the past year.”
“That’s true.” Joe had been involved in a few of the situations but not all of them. Although he would have been there if asked. He and the rest of the tactical team would do anything to support Rhy. He was by far the best and most honorable boss they’d ever had.
Which made these attempts against Elly all the more difficult to comprehend.
“Maybe it’s time to call my brother, Brady,” Elly said.
“He’s with the FBI, right?” Steele asked. “Not sure Michaels will go for that. The feds tend to be stingy with information.”
“Normally, I’d agree with you. But Brady is a Finnegan,” Joe said. “He’ll be more interested in helping to protect his sister than taking over our investigation.”
Steele grudgingly nodded. “Okay, fine. We can use all the help we can get.”
“And then some,” Joe muttered half under his breath. The fact that they hadn’t gotten a hit on facial recognition with Elly’s sketch bothered him. If this guy was former military or law enforcement, they should have his name, rank, and serial number by now.
“Let me call Brady,” Elly suggested, rising to her feet. He noticed she only ate half her sandwich and fries.
She moved into her room to make the call. Joe watched her go, then felt Steele kick him under the table.
“Be careful, Kingsley,” Steele warned. “You’re letting her mess with your head.”
“I’m fine,” he shot back. “She’s Rhy’s baby sister, and I promised to keep her safe.”
“That’s my point. You’re getting emotionally involved, which is a surefire way to fail in that mission.”
Since he knew Steele was right, he swallowed another protest. “I know,” he admitted quietly. “I’m doing my best.”
“Try harder,” Steele suggested bluntly. “Seriously, buddy, you cannot let your emotions cloud your judgment.”
“I won’t.” He hoped that if he silently repeated that to himself often enough, it would come true. Steele wasn’t telling him anything he didn’t know. He quickly changed the subject. “Do you have any other ideas for finding this guy?”
Steele stared at him for a long moment as if trying to see into his brain. Thankfully, he let the issue of Joe’s not-so-subtle feelings for Elly go. “We can follow up on the forensic evidence, but that isn’t going to help until we find the weapon to compare. At this point, our only option is to continue focusing on the victims.”
“We need Shaw’s financial records.” It seemed unlikely the guy had hired their shooter to kill Gabrielle, but stranger things had happened.
“Yeah, but not likely on a Sunday,” Steele said.
“Maybe Brady can pull some strings on that too,” he said.
Elly returned to the table. “Brady agreed to work with his tech expert, a guy named Ian, to see if he can use AI technology to create a three-dimensional human version of my sketch to send through their facial recognition program.”
“That would be great.” He was glad she’d made the call. “Any idea on how long that will take?”
She grimaced. “Not sure. He planned to reach out to Ian right away, but it is Sunday. And Ian was working on a missing child case from prior to the parade shooting. We may not hear back until tomorrow.”
He tried not to chafe at the delay. This wasn’t a TV show where things just magically happened in record time. Yet this guy had killed at least ten people in a mass shooting.
But a missing child was also a priority. Hard to justify letting go of that case to work this one.
Steele stood and began gathering garbage together.
“Elly, finish up.” Joe pushed her half-eaten meal toward her. “It’s better to eat now since we never know what might happen later.”
“Okay.” She sat, then tugged on the vest, clearly uncomfortable wearing it. She seemed to attack the remnants of her meal, eating it without really tasting it.
He couldn’t help but admire her grit and determination. She might look all soft and sweet and feminine, but she was also stronger than the rest of the Finnegan family gave her credit for.
Something she’d proven over and over again in the past eighteen hours.
Steele’s warning flashed in his mind, so he stood and grabbed the laptop computer. He dropped onto the couch and booted the device up.
Work. He needed to stay focused on the case. It was good that they had a few leads to follow, but there also wasn’t time to kick back and relax.
The key to this disaster had to be within the victims. This guy had taken out the skaters first for a reason.
If this was a random attack, it didn’t make sense that he would continue to stalk and shoot at Elly.
As he opened one of the popular social media sites, he frowned. “Steele, who is pouring through all the street camera footage?”
“I’m not sure who Michaels assigned that to,” his colleague admitted. “Why? Is that something you want to do?”
“It occurs to me that Elly might be able to pick this guy out on camera better than anyone else.” He glanced at Elly who nodded.
“I’d be happy to do that.”
“Okay. I’ll see what I can do.” Steele pulled out his phone. “Should I have the video sent to a specific email?”
“Use mine,” Joe said. “I’ll pull it up on the laptop for her.”
Steele made the call. Joe was glad to have another angle to investigate. He hadn’t been kidding about the shooter making mistakes. He’d already left slugs and brass behind. They had a decent sketch, and every cop in the city and surrounding areas were on the lookout for him.
It was only a matter of time before they had their perp in custody.
“Okay, the video is on the way,” Steele said.
“Great.” Joe pulled up his email program and logged in. Elly sat beside him, seemingly anxious to help. He ignored all the messages, including one from his former girlfriend, Tina, and waited impatiently for the video to drop.
“Who’s Tina Landry?” she asked.
“An old friend.” He wasn’t getting into his previous relationship with her now. Tina had left him for a rich guy who’d slapped her around. Now she wanted Joe back. It had been over eight months ago, and all he felt for Tina was sympathy for her suffering an abusive relationship. Whatever feelings he’d once had for her were long gone. “Here’s the video.”
The video quality wasn’t great. The city of Milwaukee had several budget shortfalls in the past few years, which meant many cameras were broken or had been damaged in some way. Many of those cameras that were working had grainy screens.
“That’s the video?” Doubt laced Elly’s tone. “I’ll do my best.”
“I know you will.” He smiled and set the computer on her lap. “That’s all we can ask.”
She went to work, taking her time and viewing the video in slow motion so she wouldn’t miss anything. He forced himself to leave her to it, standing up and moving away from the sofa.
“That was a good idea on the video, Kingsley.” Steele cocked a brow. “Every little bit helps.”
“Tell me about it,” he muttered. “I’d like you to pull some strings getting Bartholomew Shaw’s financial records.” He rubbed his stubbly jaw. “It would be nice to take him off the list if he’s not involved.”
“I’ll try.” Steele still held his phone in his hand. “But I still think the feds have more juice to get that done.”
“I’d rather they focus on the sketch,” Joe said. “Having an ID on this guy would be huge. Frankly, that’s the quickest way for us to find him.”
“Yeah, okay.” Just as Steele was about to make the call, his phone rang. Steele put the call on speaker. “Yeah, boss?”
“A pickup truck was found four blocks from the precinct,” Michaels said. “I want you to head out there ASAP.”
“What makes you think it was left by our shooter?” Joe asked. He knew there were witnesses at the Christmas parade who thought the guy had escaped in a dark pickup truck. But there were hundreds of them in the area.
“A witness said a guy matching the sketch got out of the vehicle, taking off on foot.” Michaels sighed. “The truck was left in an area where the citizens are not usually anxious to help the police. But I think the parade shooting was bad enough for the caller to report it. He refused to give his name or address, though. Just the general location of the vehicle.”
“I’m on my way,” Steele promised, already making his way to the door.
“Good. Keep me posted,” Michaels added.
Joe made sure to lock the hotel room door after Steele left. When he turned around, he frowned when he saw Elly had left the computer on the sofa and was gone.
Despite Steele’s warnings blinking like red neon signs in the back of his brain, he crossed over to make sure she was okay. When he heard her sniffling, he winced.
Had the video of the Christmas parade caused another flashback?
“Elly?” He rapped on the door to her suite. “Are you okay?”
She didn’t answer. Alarmed, he tried the handle. It wasn’t locked.
“Elly. I’m coming in.” He pushed the door open and saw her sitting on the edge of the bed, a tissue pressed against her eyes. “Hey, don’t. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have made you watch the video.”
“I volunteered.” Her voice was muffled behind the tissue. She took another from the box beside her, blew her nose, and stood. “I’m okay now. For some stupid reason I was caught off guard, but I can do this.”
“You don’t have to . . .”
“Yes, I do.” She took one last swipe at her face and stood. “This is important. I’m not just afraid for my family but for all the other potential innocent victims still at risk.”
She came toward him, looking beautiful despite her red nose and puffy eyes. Then she slipped her arms around his waist and hugged him.
Her embrace touched a chord deep within. He pulled her close, wishing she wasn’t wearing the bulky vest. “I’ll help you review the video,” he whispered.
She pressed her face into his neck, and a wave of desire washed over him. He tried to loosen his arms, but she lifted her head, went up on her tiptoes, and kissed him.
The minute her lips touched his, Steele’s warnings evaporated into mist. They were well into the danger zone now. Yet that didn’t stop him from angling his head to deepen their kiss, wanting her in a way he hadn’t thought possible.