by Zack Klika
“Nothing. Don’t leave the house. I’m heading there right now.”
Chapter 43
Riley sat in the dark with one leg crossed over the other, strips of light from the cracked blinds cast across her face. The plan she had in mind had been improvised, but it had seemed genius—though not so much now that she actually thought about it. A pistol lay on the armrest to her left, hidden from the strips of light like a runaway prisoner.
A knock at the door set the plan into motion. Riley put the gun under a folded blanket on the coffee table and answered the door. Still in his Army uniform, Thomas stood in the doorway with a grin on his face. Riley had convinced him to come over right after work. He gave her a kiss when she invited him in.
“Beer okay?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Thomas said, looking around the dark room. “What’s up with the lights?”
Riley lit a candle on the kitchen counter.
“Gotcha,” he said with a smirk and took a seat on the couch.
Riley came back with a few beers after a moment and sat next to him. He put his on the coffee table without taking a sip and tried to kiss Riley. She just looked away.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“It’s this story I’m writing about Jennifer. It’s getting to be too much. I found things out that I shouldn’t have.”
Riley noticed Thomas sit a bit straighter.
“I don’t know what to believe, Thomas.”
She got up and paced around the living room. Thomas looked nervous and got up to comfort her.
“Why don’t you just sit down and we can talk about it. I’m sure it’s not that bad.”
“It is that bad,” she shouted and pulled the gun from under the blanket, training it on Thomas. “I know you knew Jennifer. Were you in love with her? Were you?”
Riley noticed her hands were trembling. Thomas didn’t move an inch.
“I don’t know what you think you know, but you’ve got it mixed up.”
“Do I? I never should have let myself fall in love with you.”
“Love? We’ve only been on a couple dates.”
“What?” Riley said, making a hysterical frown, straightening her arm and pointing the gun directly at Thomas’s head.
“Nothing, nothing,” Thomas said, shaking his head. “I love you too.”
“How’d you know her?”
“Me and Jennifer never did anything like what we do. I swear to god.”
Riley scrunched her face at this response.
“I don’t believe you. You have to die for this.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Thomas pleaded and took a step forward.
“Don’t take another step.” Riley squeezed the trigger enough for Thomas to see it move. “I’ll fucking do it, you liar!”
“Just let me explain,” Thomas pleaded.
Riley pursed her lips tight, fighting her hardest to hold back more tears.
“Sit down,” Riley said, pointing the gun to a seat on the couch. “You’ve got one minute. And then I . . .” She bit her lip.
“All right. Just calm down,” Thomas said as he put his hands up in surrender and eased onto the couch. “I’m with CID. So was Jennifer. We both— Well, I work with Sanchez. We’ve been trying to track stolen weapons and ammunition from Andrew Brown’s rollover accident.”
“Was it really an accident?”
“I can’t—” he was saying, but Riley cut him off.
“Tell me,” she shouted.
“No,” Thomas said. “It wasn’t. Someone just wanted it to look that way.”
“Who?”
Thomas remained silent for a moment. “You don’t know what you’re getting into,” he finally said.
Easing her finger on the trigger, Riley saw the fear flash before Thomas’s eyes. He was scared to death. In that moment he would tell Riley anything.
“Stop,” shouted Thomas. “It was Colonel Wright.”
“How was Andrew involved?”
“He was doing supply runs for the SFAS course and was approached about stealing weapons and ammunition. He called the tip line at CID, and that’s how he got in contact with Agent Sanchez.”
Jennifer was right, Riley thought as Thomas went on.
“Sanchez wanted to set up a sting to catch Colonel Wright. Andrew gave us the night it was supposed to go down, but Colonel Wright showed up a few days before that. Otherwise we would have been there, waiting and ready.”
“Why didn’t Andrew just call you or Sanchez when Colonel Wright showed up?”
“You can’t have personal phones in the ammo bunker. It’s a security risk. And calling someone on the landline would have looked suspicious. Andrew didn’t have an out.”
Riley asked, “And Jennifer?”
“Andrew told her everything,” Thomas said, fear still in his eyes. “When he died, she came to Sanchez and said she wanted to help catch the man who killed her fiancé. Sanchez said no for months. But Jennifer wouldn’t stop. It got to the point where she enlisted in the Army without telling Sanchez and got Fort Campbell as her duty station guaranteed in her contract. Sanchez knew he had to take her on, so he arranged everything, from her unit to the courses she took.”
Briefly, Riley lowered the gun, then raised it again. “I don’t believe you.”
“It’s the truth,” said Thomas. “We know Colonel Wright was working with Buck. He would have Buck sell small amounts of the weapons and ammo at Buck’s fights. But we could never figure out where he kept the bulk of the weapons and we never actually saw the drop-offs between Colonel Wright and Buck.”
“We would have been perfect together, Thomas,” Riley said.
Thomas started shaking his head, unable to formulate his last sentence before facing a bullet. Riley squeezed the trigger, and water splashed off his face. He opened his eyes, a confused look on his face. And then he saw Riley smiling.
“What the fuck,” he shouted.
“Calm down,” Riley said, “You wouldn’t have told me anything if I asked you nicely.”
“Fucking maybe not, but shit. That’s fucked up.”
She could tell he was upset, so she sat next to him on the couch and kissed him. He started to push her off, then went with it.
“How’d you know I was involved?” he asked after breaking away.
“Someone I’m working with has surveillance cameras set up around his apartment. I recognized you when he showed me the footage of someone breaking into his apartment. And I saw the text messages between you and Sanchez.”
Thomas shook his head. Riley didn’t see the point in telling him about the laptop. Leverage was a fickle thing.
“Damn,” said Thomas.
“What were you doing in there anyway?” asked Riley.
“Sanchez got a call about someone coming forward with information about Jennifer’s murder. That’s when he found out about Lee and everything that happened that night. Then they found Buck. He wanted me to check Lee’s place for anything that might have been taken off Buck or Danny.”
“Like what?”
“We never found Buck’s phone,” Thomas said and looked like he just realized something. “What were you doing at Lee’s place?”
“I was working with him to try and figure out who killed Jennifer and why.”
Thomas shook his head. “Now you know everything.”
“Does Sanchez know about me? About the pills?”
“Yes.”
Riley raised an eyebrow. “So you, what, sell drugs to soldiers and shit and get them busted by CID?”
“Soldiers hear things. If the information is good, they get some free drugs. And I sold to Buck at the races. Those races were a breeding ground for illegal activity. More soldiers went than you’d think.”
“Can you get me the case file on Andrew Brown?”
“There’s nothing in it. Just some photos from the ammo bunker that was robbed, some photos of the accident, and some photos caught by surveillance the night he drove the ammo off
base.”
“What about the security guard that authorized the truck’s departure that night? He must have seen the other person in the truck when it left base.”
“He was questioned, but he didn’t remember what the other guy in the truck looked like. It was too dark out. It had to be Colonel Wright, though.”
Now that she thought about it, she shouldn’t have asked about the guard. If Thomas were any quicker, he would have caught on to the fact she shouldn’t have known about the other passenger unless she already had seen photos.
“You already checked the warehouse and Buck’s house?”
“Of course.”
“Why don’t you just bring Colonel Wright in if you know he stole the weapons?”
“You can’t just bring in a Special Forces commander without proof.”
“Photos of him and Buck aren’t enough?”
“No. You need hard evidence. We may have had another chance at him if Detective Conn hadn’t gotten involved. But her operation went bust and caused the deaths of two of our main suspects in the sting we were working. Buck and Danny would have eventually led us to the stolen ammo.”
Riley saw the problem. Thomas and Sanchez were trying to work a sting off base without informing local law enforcement. Shit hit the fan and now they had nothing.
“And the plan was to have Jennifer get close to the man who killed her fiancé to help bring him down?”
“Sanchez figured if she could get close to him, maybe he would bring her in on his operation.”
Riley chewed at her thumbnail, her mind working overtime.
“Tell Sanchez I want to meet.”
“He won’t go for that.”
Riley locked eyes with Thomas. “Tell him I have Jennifer’s laptop.”
Chapter 44
Tuesday, 10/17/17
Lee woke up at 6:15 that morning. A dim cold day lurked just outside of his bedroom window. Chris was nice enough to drive him home from the emergency care center the night prior. He looked at his nightstand and counted four pill bottles. If it weren’t for his employer’s health care benefits, there’d be zero bottles, and he’d have a massive bill to pay. He forced himself to roll out of bed and put on some slippers.
A hot shower helped out more than he thought it would. He wiped the steam-filled mirror with a hand towel and looked at his reflection. Before the van situation, his forehead had been healing nicely. He hadn’t even needed to wear the Band-Aids anymore. But the van had put his face on blast. Fresh stitches kept the same gash in his forehead closed. The entire left side of his face was riddled with cuts and scratches from the window he’d shattered with it. He didn’t even want to think about the scars. Some guys got great play from scars, but if the cuts on his face didn’t heal properly, he’d look like some kind of freckled Two-Face. Not a great look by any standard.
The note Riley had left him was short and sweet. She thanked him for his help and apologized for any problems she had caused him. But he knew he wasn’t in the clear. Not by a long shot. Someone had to tried to kill him twice. They’d be back for a third try. But no matter how hard he tried to reason with himself, he couldn’t find a reason to stay away from helping Riley that didn’t make him feel like a selfish piece of shit.
He grabbed his phone off the nightstand. Riley being a soldier and all, he figured she would be wide-awake.
“What?” a tired and groggy voice answered.
“Sorry,” Lee said. “I didn’t mean to wake you up. I thought you’d already be at work or something.”
“You’re fine.” Riley cleared her throat. “What’s going on? You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I got your letter.” The line was quiet. “I wanna help figure out what’s going on.”
“Okay. I’ll call you later.”
The line clicked and Lee saw the call had ended. He stared at the phone, trying to decide if it was too late to back out.
Chapter 45
A knock at the door jolted Conn awake. She had slept propped up against her headboard with Dustin close by her side. She pulled her arm out from under his neck and slid the comforter over his chest. A sliver of light fell across his face from the closed shades. She eased out of bed and made her way to the front door. The fire from the previous night had burned out hours ago, turning the home into an icebox. She checked through the glass to see who it was and saw Johnson standing at her door with two coffees and what looked like a bag filled with donuts.
Conn opened the door in her pajamas and let him in. At the curb, directly in front of her house, was a police cruiser with two uniformed officers inside. Johnson’s car was parked behind it.
“They see anything during the night?” Conn asked as she took one of the coffees from Johnson and shut the door.
“Nothing out of the ordinary,” he said. “If they really wanted to hurt Dustin, they probably would have tried something instead of sending you the photo of him.”
“I know, but I’m not going to risk anything.”
Johnson looked around her living room. “Nice place you got here.”
Conn just smiled and sat in an armchair with her coffee. Johnson stood at the window, looking out onto the front lawn.
“You think it’s connected to the Jennifer case, don’t you?” she asked after coming to the conclusion Johnson wasn’t going to say it.
“What else could it be?”
She knew he was right. Johnson might not have known about the laptop or Riley, but he was right. She wished she had dropped the whole thing after the press conference. At the time, she wasn’t ready to let the case go. But now her son’s life had been threatened. Dustin was more important than finding out why a soldier was killed for no apparent reason.
“You hear about Lee’s run-in with some muscle yesterday?”
Conn sat up and shook her head.
“What happened?”
“Someone saw him and a coworker flee the scene of a car accident. The caller said there was a white pickup truck involved in the accident, but officers didn’t find it when they arrived on the scene. They found Lee an hour after the call came in at an Emergency 24 and took a statement. He said two guys tried to kidnap him, but his friend fought them off and then drove him there.”
“Did he say what the two guys looked like?”
“Military cut,” said Johnson. “You know anything about it?”
Conn looked up from her coffee and looked at Johnson. He wasn’t looking out the window anymore. He was staring right at her.
“I don’t. I haven’t heard from Lee since the press conference.”
Johnson just nodded. “You know the consequences for interfering with an investigation. Even a closed one.”
The statement was laced with an accusatory tone.
“I do.”
Johnson took one of the donuts from the bag. “Well, get some rest. I want you back at work tomorrow fresh and ready to get going on some new cases.”
“Thanks for stopping by,” she said and went to get up.
Johnson waved a hand at her. “I know my way out.”
Conn followed him to the door and locked it after he left. She thought about what a shitty partner she was for lying to him. But it wasn’t like he could do anything to help the situation. She was sure that if she stopped looking into the Jennifer case, she and her son would be fine.
Riley had already called twice that morning and sent her a few text messages telling her she needed to talk to her. Dustin’s safety was paramount. She clicked on Riley’s name in her phone and typed in a message: “I can’t help you anymore.”
She set the phone down and went back to her bedroom to keep an eye on Dustin.
Chapter 46
It had been an eventful morning for Riley, to say the least. Lee reached out to her and said he still wanted to help. A fresh set of eyes was never a bad thing. And he seemed creative enough to connect dots others might not. The text she received from Conn left a bad taste in her mouth. If Conn wasn’t willing to help
anymore, there was a reason. Riley hadn’t known Conn long, but she could tell something had spooked her.
Riley looked at the empty spot in her bed. She had figured Thomas would be gone when she woke up. His cover had him placed in an infantry unit, so he had to be in formation by 5:45 every morning Monday through Friday, ready for PT. It was almost nine and she still hadn’t heard back from him about a meeting with Sanchez. Did she overplay her hand? She pushed the worries aside and spent the better part of her morning going over the photographs in Jennifer’s laptop. She created a separate folder and copied all of the photos into it, then zipped the file and emailed it to herself.
After getting out of bed, she made some coffee and a piece of toast with peanut butter on it. She sat down at her dining room table and stared at her magnet-free fridge door. Staring at the blank white door helped her think more clearly.
Jennifer’s murder finally made sense. She got too close to the truth and was murdered for it. And Riley knew who killed her. Colonel Wright had said he hurt his hand in a training exercise, but Riley knew it must have been damaged from the beating he inflicted upon Jennifer. He must have been furious when he found out about her.
There was only one option left for Riley: figure out where the ammo was. Thomas had made it perfectly clear that Sanchez couldn’t bring Colonel Wright in without any kind of evidence. But Riley didn’t buy it. Sanchez was after the stolen ammunition. Or someone high above him was. Stolen ammo in that quantity definitely garnered attention from the top. But how high?
The only way Riley would get to the bottom of everything was if she found the ammo. If not at Buck’s house or his speedway, then where? Jennifer must have found out, but it didn’t make any sense that she hadn’t told Sanchez.
The day was heating up as best it could by the time Riley made it through the front gate on base, just after 11:00 a.m. She hadn’t heard from Tim since their last encounter, and she wasn’t particular looking forward to their next one. Halfway to her office, she noticed an MP-branded SUV following her. She wasn’t sure what to make of it, so she kept driving. Riley hated the feeling she got when she saw any kind of police behind her. Even if she knew she hadn’t broken any laws, she still tensed up.
