Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

That had been too close. Jina had been in more dangerous situations than she could count since joining Rhy’s tactical team, but this was the first time she’d heard the whistle of a bullet and felt the rush of air as it went past her ear. She lifted her hand to her temple to check for blood.

Thankfully, she hadn’t been hit.

A flash of anger hit hard. Who was this guy? She was tired of being used as target practice. While his first attempts to hit her had gone high and wide, this one had not. Either the first attempt had been a scare tactic, or he’d honed his shooting skills since last night. Before she could move along the side of Cole’s SUV, he rounded the front end. Seeing her, he visibly relaxed. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. Was that his car I heard?” She had been slow to react, which wasn’t like her. She rose from her crouch and walked toward him. “We should have anticipated he’d come back.”

“I know.” Cole’s expression turned grim. “I didn’t think he’d take the risk in the bright light of day. The way he showed up here as if realizing we’d be trying to find him makes me wonder if he has law enforcement background.”

That possibility hadn’t occurred to her. “A cop would likely hit his target. And I also think a cop would have been smart enough not to stop for gas so close to the gym.”

“Maybe he’s an academy dropout or was injured on the job in some way.” He shrugged. “Could be his skills are rusty.”

“I don’t know why a former cop would try to kill me.” Maybe she didn’t make friends as easily as her female counterparts, but she wasn’t a bad person. There had been some fellow cops who’d spread rumors about her being cold and frigid because she hadn’t wanted to date them, but that shouldn’t cause something like this.

Even the guys she’d challenged to spar at Mike’s hadn’t been physically hurt. Their pride may have taken a beating, but so what? In her humble opinion, they’d deserved it. One of the guys, Jimmy, had point-blank asked if she’d joined the gym to find a man. As if she couldn’t possibly be there for a strenuous workout or to hone her fighting skills.

“We should probably talk to Mike again.” She spoke loud enough to be heard over the screech of sirens. The local cops would not be thrilled to know she and Cole had been involved in yet another shooting incident. “I don’t want to believe any of the members are involved, but it might be nice to know if any of those guys I put down are former cops or military.”

“Sounds good.” He turned to head to the back of the gas station. “Let’s search for shell casings. It would be good to match them with the ones found at the gym last night.”

She joined him along the back of the building. Bits of garbage littered the ground not far from the dumpster located back there. The stench was bad, but she’d experienced worse. There was no need to use flashlights, and it only took a moment to find the glint of sun bouncing off the brass.

“It looks like the same caliper.” She didn’t touch the casing, knowing the police would want to see where it was. “Can you get a picture with your phone?”

“Sure.” Cole did as she asked. “There has to be one more. I believe he shot twice.”

They split up to cover more ground. She didn’t see anything in her search area, but Cole waved her over. “Found it. He stood close to the dumpster to fire this round.”

She went over to see for herself, then turned to review the line of sight. It was sobering to realize how close he’d been. In fact, she wasn’t sure how he’d missed from this distance.

“God was watching over you,” Cole said as if reading her thoughts. It was exactly what Rhy, Joe, or the other guys would have said. She wasn’t sure how to respond, mostly because she was starting to wonder if he was right about that.

Then she silently chided herself for being foolish.

Two squads pulled up near Cole’s SUV. Suppressing a sigh, she headed back over to give her statement. She had not been on the victim end of things since college and found it really annoying to be in that position now.

Was that this guy’s intent? Shooting and starting fires just to force her into feeling like a victim?

“I’m Peabody Detective Cole Roberts, and this MPD Officer Jina Wheeler.” Cole flashed his gold shield, so she pulled her badge out too. Better to show their creds since they were both carrying. “An unknown perp fired at us from behind the gas station. Two shots and we can show you where both shell casings are located.”

“Roberts and Wheeler?” The officer with the last name Howard scowled. “Were you involved in a shooting last night too?”

“That’s correct. Likely the same perp.” Jina gestured for Officers Howard and Tyson to follow her to the back of the gas station. “We’re hoping you can match these shell casings to the ones found last night outside Mike’s MMA gym.”

“We’ll do that. Did you get a look at him?” Tyson asked.

“No, I didn’t.” She glanced at Cole who also shook his head. “He came closer to hitting me this time. Missed by a fraction of an inch.”

Cole scowled as the two officers exchanged looks. “Sorry to hear that,” Officer Howard said. “Our Detective Irving tried to reach out to you.”

She flushed. “Yeah, sorry. I left my phone in the apartment and couldn’t get back in to grab it because of the fire.”

“Fire?” Tyson echoed. “What happened?”

“We have reason to believe the fire was set by the same person who was just here firing at Jina,” Cole said. “Arson Investigator Mitch Callahan is working the case.”

“Two shootings and a fire?” Howard frowned. “Perps don’t often change their MO midstream.”

“Yeah, well, this guy seems determined to get my attention.” And he had, she silently added. The escalating attacks were forcing her to play defense.

“What about the vehicle?” Tyson asked.

“We have reason to believe he’s driving a black Honda SUV without license plates,” Cole said. When he didn’t elaborate on the video footage of that same vehicle they’d gotten from the gas station, she kept her mouth shut too .

It was likely Cole was waiting to share that information with Detective Irving. At this point, she figured it was better to let Cole take the lead.

Besides, Irving wasn’t going to be the one to solve this thing. No, it was clear that she and Cole working together had the advantage when it came to finding this guy. For one thing, she was the target.

A plan of setting herself as bait was already forming in the back of her mind. Drastic and risky? Yes. She had every intention of being the fun auntie to her sister’s baby. She’d prefer to get some answers on the few leads they had in the works prior to going that route, but if they didn’t pan out?

They’d have no choice but to implement plan B.

She and Cole answered more questions before they were free to leave. But just then another car pulled up, and she heard Cole groan under his breath.

“Detective Irving?” she asked in a low voice.

“I assume so.” Cole put his arm around her waist in a gesture that normally would have gotten him flipped onto his back. Yet somehow, she didn’t mind as they approached the two detectives emerging from a dark-blue sedan.

“Are you Detective Cole Roberts?” The female detective looked pointedly at Cole.

“Yes. And this is Officer Wheeler.” Cole stepped forward to shake hands with both cops. She followed suit.

“I’m Detective Irving, and this is my partner, Detective Klem.” Irving was the female detective and appeared to be taking the lead. “We heard about the shooting last night and tried to reach out to Officer Wheeler this morning.” Detective Irving’s tone sounded accusatory. “I left two messages.”

“Don’t have my phone,” she said. “Sorry.”

“We’d like you to come with us to the Brookland PD,” Detective Klem said, his approach far more laid back. “We have several questions that we’d like to go over with you.”

Jina swallowed a groan, but of course, Cole nodded. “Fine, we can meet you there.”

“We’d rather you drove with us,” Irving said, her eyes narrowing.

“No.” Cole’s blunt refusal made her smile, but she coughed to hide it. “I’m not leaving my SUV here. And Jina is a victim, not a perp. We’ll drive on our own.”

The two Brookland detectives exchanged a long look, then Klem nodded. “Sure, we understand.”

Detective Irving scowled but turned to jump back into the car. Jina couldn’t help but wonder why the female detective had an attitude. It wasn’t as if she’d asked for some idiot to shoot at her. She glanced at Cole who was frowning at the two detectives who were waiting for them to get into the SUV.

“I hope this doesn’t take long,” she muttered, wrenching the passenger-side door open.

“I agree.” Cole started the engine and pulled out behind the sedan. “Do you get that a lot?”

“Get what?” She didn’t understand until he gestured to the sedan in front of them. “Oh, you mean Irving’s attitude? Not really. Usually, cops are decent to each other. I’m not sure who put a bug up her butt.”

“Jealousy,” Cole said. “She knows you’re a beautiful, smart, capable police officer.” He grinned. “And she hasn’t even seen you in action at the gym.”

His compliment shouldn’t have made her blush. She willed herself not to react. “I’m just trying to do a job, the same as she is.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“How come you don’t have a partner?” She had wondered about that last night when he’d mentioned coming to the gym to interview her. “Like those two, I thought all detectives worked in pairs.”

“My partner is out on paternity leave, so I’m working solo for a few weeks.”

“Oh, I see.” That may be why Cole was given the cold case that he’d had very little time to work on. She squelched a flash of guilt, reminding herself she hadn’t asked for this.

He glanced at his watch. “I’ll call Mike when we’re finished. I’m sure he’ll meet us at my place without a problem.”

“Your place?” She frowned. “Why would you ask him to come there? We can talk to him on the phone. Besides, we still have to check out the strip mall, remember?”

“Not happening, this perp could be waiting for us there.”

“Yes, all the more reason to head over as soon as possible.” She tried not to sound annoyed. “Besides, we won’t be caught off guard by his being there this time. Frankly, I’m anxious to meet with this guy, up close and personal.”

His jaw tightened, and he didn’t answer. She could tell he wasn’t happy but that didn’t matter.

She sat back in her seat, determined to keep moving forward with the case. They needed to find this jerk before he could hurt anyone else.

The meeting at the Brookland PD took far longer than it should have. Cole was losing his patience fast, especially with Detective Irving’s snotty attitude toward Jina.

“We’re done here.” He abruptly stood when Irving asked the same question she’d started with over an hour ago. “You have my contact information if something changes.”

“You’re not done until I say so,” Irving protested.

“How about you go out and do some real detective work?” Cole stared the woman down. “You might want to start by going back to that gas station to review the video.”

That caught Irving and Klem off guard, giving him a spurt of satisfaction.

“Yes, you’ll find the black Honda SUV without plates was there about seven o’clock last evening,” Jina said, rising to her feet. “The pump blocked the perp, though, so there’s no clear image of his face. But you should probably take a look at it for yourself.”

“You already got the video?” Irving demanded, as if someone had stolen all her candy.

Cole glanced at Klem who appeared embarrassed. “You need to be out there doing your own legwork. Sitting around and waiting for a victim to return a call isn’t how cases get solved.” He stepped toward the door with Jina at his side. “We’ll keep you in the loop if we find anything pertinent to the case.”

“You can’t work this case,” Irving sputtered. “We have jurisdiction here.”

Cole ignored her. He opened the door for Jina and followed her out of the interview without another word. Neither of them said anything until they were back outside in the SUV.

“That was fun,” Jina drawled sarcastically. “Irving seems to think I’m being targeted on purpose just to ruin her day.”

“She’s something,” he agreed. He wasn’t impressed with Irving at all, but Klem seemed reasonable. “Hopefully, Klem will keep her on track. I have a feeling we’ll be hearing from them again very soon.”

“Oh goody.” She gestured to the big box store up ahead. “That reminds me, I need a replacement phone. Let’s stop now since we’re here. I want to be sure Shelly can reach me in an emergency.”

“Fine with me.” He was glad for the reprieve since he did not want to head over to Mike’s as planned. Sure, they could approach the place with caution, but there were several locations where their perp could be hiding.

While Jina spoke to the store rep about her phone, he used his to call Mike.

“What’s up, Cole?” Mike asked.

“I know we’ve already discussed the guys at the gym not being the shooter, but things have changed. We need to know if any of those guys are involved in law enforcement or the military.”

There was a long silence as Mike considered that. “I can put together a list of names of those I know, but that won’t cover them all.”

“I understand. Are you at the gym now?” He was surprised to see that Jina had already picked out a phone and was heading over to the checkout line. Apparently, she was a no-nonsense shopper. “Jina wants to head over, but I’m worried our guy is hanging out nearby.”

“Why would he?” Mike asked.

Cole filled him in on the gas station shooting.

Mike whistled. “Not good. I can see why you’re thinking cop or military. I’ll go through my files and my memory. I’ll come up with a few names for you.”

“Thanks, that would be great.” He headed over to join Jina. “We don’t want to think the worst of your gym members either, but someone is gunning for her, and I want to cover all bases.”

“Understood. I’ll let you know if I hear anything suspicious.”

“Thanks. Later.” He ended the call as Jina eyed him warily. “That was Mike. He’s going to make a list of the guys with law enforcement or military background.” He gestured to her phone. “We should head to my place so you can power it up and get your contacts uploaded.”

She looked as if she might argue but then nodded. “Fine. Once that’s done, we’ll talk about next steps.”

He followed her to the SUV, feeling certain he wouldn’t like her idea of what they should work on next. Once they were back at his place, Jina went to work on her phone, while he opened his laptop to find the video he’d sent to his email address.

Reviewing the grainy video again, he slowed it to look frame by frame, attempting to get a better look at their perp. He froze the screen at one point, trying to decide if the guy had dark hair or had a dark ball cap on his head.

“Do you mind if I use your phone to call Gabe?” Jina came over to sit beside him. “I sent him the video but haven’t had time to follow up.”

“Sure.” He unlocked his screen and handed her the phone. “Put the call on speaker.”

“Okay.” She made the call, setting the phone on the table. “Hi, Gabe, it’s Jina and Detective Cole Roberts from the Peabody PD.”

“Hey, Jina, I got this video you sent,” Gabe said. “I’m afraid there isn’t much I can do with it, though. I cleaned it up, but the guy is standing behind the pump, almost as if he knew where the cameras were located.”

“Yeah, that’s our theory too,” Jina admitted .

“Gabe, this is Cole. Do you think his hair is dark brown or black, or is he wearing a hat?”

“Good question. Hang on.” He heard typing in the background. “Okay, I’ll send this cleaned-up version back to you so you can judge for yourself. I think he’s wearing a hat; there’s a bit of a line along the side of his head. He might have dark hair beneath the hat, but again, it’s hard to tell.”

“Thanks, I’ll take a look.” He hadn’t noticed the line Gabe mentioned. “I’m not sure the hair color matters; he could have dyed it to make himself look different.”

“Hair dye works best to make light hair darker, not the other way around,” Jina said. “Hey, Gabe, did you get anything on doing the look back on the perps I’ve arrested in the past few years?”

“I have two names for you,” Gabe said. “Carson Rinko and Jorge Navarro. Both guys have been released in the past year. Rinko was released in November of last year and Navarro in February of this year.”

He made a note of both names as Jina frowned. “I’d have expected the perp to have been released much sooner than that,” she said with a sigh.

“There’s one guy coming up for parole next month,” Gabe said. “His name is Terry Straub.”

“If he’s still in prison, he’s not our guy,” Jina said.

“Is his real name Terrance?” Cole asked, eyeing Jina. “Could be Terrance has a brother or close friend doing his dirty work.”

“If we’re going to add friends and relatives of these perps, we’ll never narrow the list down,” she protested.

He understood her frustration. “We’ll only look at Terrance Straub’s friends and family. Maybe they’re worried you’ll show up at the parole hearing to make sure he’s not released. ”

“I don’t usually go to parole—” She stopped short, her eyes widening. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before. There was a perp I put away for viciously beating his girlfriend and her daughter.” She dropped her gaze to the phone. “Gabe, check out Martino Hovel. See what he’s been up to.”

“Hold on.” More clicking of the keyboard in the background. “Martino Hovel died in prison last year. Apparently, a blood vessel burst in his brain.”

“That counts him out.” She grimaced. “I guess we’ll just work with the few names we have.”

“Let me know if you need anything else,” Gabe said. “Rhy told me I should help you when I can.”

“We will,” Jina assured him.

“Thanks again,” Cole added, before reaching over to push the end button. “It’s good that we have a place to start.”

“Yes, I’m glad to have some names. But it doesn’t seem logical that either Rinko or Navarro would come after me so many months after they got out. I mean, why would they bother now?”

“I don’t know.” He tapped the computer where he’d taken note of the names. “Let’s focus on Terry Straub who is up for parole.”

“Okay.” She leaned forward, propping her elbows on the table. “We can do computer work on these guys for now, but we need to talk about how to draw this guy out.”

And here it is , he thought with a sigh. “Draw him out?”

“Yes.” Her blue eyes gleamed. “I think we should ask some of the members of my tactical team to stake out the strip mall. We’ll head over there at dusk. You can stay in the car, while I get out and start looking around. When this guy tries to take another shot at me, we’ll grab him. ”

“Have you lost your mind?” He didn’t bother to hide his exasperation. “What if he hits and kills you before anyone sees him?”

She waved that off. “My teammates are great. I trust them with my life. They’ll have the place staked out for at least an hour before we head out.”

He didn’t doubt the skills of her team, but the plan was reckless just the same. “Let’s try to make some headway on these suspects, first. Maybe we can go after this guy rather than waiting for him to show up at the strip mall.”

After a pause, she shrugged. “Okay, fine. But if we don’t find anything in an hour, I’m going to make some calls. I’m sure I can get a handful of my teammates to head over.”

“The Brookland PD will not be happy to find out we’re setting up a sting operation on their turf,” he warned.

“Maybe not, but Rhy lives in Brookland. I’m sure he’ll help smooth things over.” She flashed a grin. “I almost dropped his name today with Irving but figured I should wait until we really need the higher-level support.”

He managed to smile back, despite his annoyance. “Good call.”

They spent over an hour digging into Terrance Straub. The guy only had one brother who was also in jail. His parents were divorced and had moved to different cities. After an exhaustive search of tracking Straub’s former friends on social media, they’d come up empty-handed. Based on the posts he’d seen, it didn’t seem as if any of them cared if the guy was released from jail or not.

“One down and two more to go,” she said, rubbing her eyes. “I’d rather stake out a crime scene than spend my days staring at a computer.”

He could understand that Jina was a woman of action, not one for sitting and painstakingly reviewing evidence. “It’s not glamorous. Let’s try Rinko first.”

“Okay. But we might need food. I can’t believe I’m saying this after Rosie’s huge breakfast, but I’m hungry.”

“I can throw in a pizza,” he offered, surprised by the late afternoon hour. It hadn’t seemed like they’d been working for so long, but they’d gotten a late start thanks to the fire followed by breakfast, then the gas station shooting. Especially the ridiculously long interview with the Brookland detectives. “Do you like your pizza loaded with the works?”

“Yes.” She grabbed her phone from the charger. “I’m texting my teammates. I’m sure they’ll be able to meet us at the strip mall later.”

“I don’t like that plan.” He reached for the freezer, then stopped when he glanced through the small kitchen window in time to see a black vehicle driving past his house. “Jina? Is that the Honda?”

“Where?” She jumped from her seat to join him. “I can’t tell if there’s a license plate or not. Let’s head outside, we’ll know for sure it’s the shooter if he drives past your house again.”

“Okay.” He prayed he was overreacting. He gestured to the back door. “We’ll split up, taking each side of the house.”

“I’ll go right, you go left,” she said with a nod.

He went out first, taking the left-hand side of his house, leaving her to go along the other side. His neighbors were relatively close, and he suspected Ida Potter would be watching out her window. The only good part about Ida’s nosiness was that she wouldn’t hesitate to call the police if things went sideways.

Once he was in a position where he could see the road, he hunkered down to wait. His patience was soon rewarded. The black Honda appeared from the same direction it had taken before, as if the driver had simply gone around the block.

“Stop! Police!” Hearing Jina’s shout, he quickly ran out from his hiding spot. The driver of the SUV hit the gas, speeding away like the coward he was.

This time, he had noticed the driver was white and wore a black ball cap. But the worst part was that the shooter knew where he lived.

He needed to get Jina out of there ASAP.