Carolina Rain (34 page)

“Well
,
sir
,
neither. I had something else in mind.”

“Yeah, I bet you did, smartass punks these days anyway. What are you really doing here? You should be out doing something constructive or still in bed.”

“Excellent points, both of them. But
,
like I said, I’ve got something else in mind, sir.”

“Then do it someplace else.
I don’t have
the
patience
for your
silly-ass
games, especially after last night, freaking Feds anyway. Now go do what I told you to do last
. . .
”

Before
the officer
could finish, the first
bullet
caught him between the eyes and the second tore into the left side of his face
, blood spattering throughout the interior
of the cruiser
, and leaving little
of his profile
.
Walking calmly away from the
vehicle
, he climbed into the Arcadia and headed north, away from the bloodied
car and toward
a little hole in the wall that served the best breakfast in North Carolina. He was
ravenous
and had grown quite fond of grits and shrimp smothered in cheese sauce.

There was simply nothing like a good breakfast to get the day started.

Almost nothing.

He wondered if Captain Jeb Tanner would agree, if he were able.

CHAPTER-46

“I’ll take that as a cue to tell you what I’ve found with a bit of da help from my friends,” said Braxton, glancing at Manny.

“I think we’re ready. It’s a little strange shifting gears from a case and
a
confession like Anna’s
. T
hat’s one down and
we have
couple to go, so fire away,” said Manny, feeling a little more alive than an hour ago.

He’d always had issues with working too much and too many cases, but nothing made him feel like he did when they were in the midst of the chase. He reasoned that there were all sorts of adrenaline junki
es out there and
,
as he
waited while Braxton gathered his thoughts, it dawned on Manny that this whole cop gig just might be his
drug of choice
. He’d never really put that piece on the table before
,
but he also understood denial. In fact, he was probably an expert on that subject. Something else he could confess to his therapis
t who doubled as his new wife. Then again, m
aybe not. He wanted
Chloe
around for a long time
. H
e supposed she knew
about his downfalls
before he did. Louise had
had
that
same
ability, and without profiler training. So someone like Chloe was probably just waiting for him to confess another infirmity. Poor woman. Did she really know what she was in for
during
the next
forty
years?

“Hey, glassy
-
eyed one? Are you ready?” said Sophie.

“Sorry, already thinking ahead.
”

“Yeah, I’ve seen that look before. You’re either feeling guilty or wanting to, right?” asked Alex.

“We can talk about that later. Braxton?”

“Well
,
I’ve got good news, not sure news, and bad news; I’ll start with the good news.”

Manny frowned. His Caribbean accent was now
more or less
completely gone, just like when they spoke in San Juan. After the meeting, he was going to find out why.

“The tracking device in your vehicle was a dual signal device
,
meaning that it could be tracked with a GPS receiver or by a GMS signal
via
a cell phone. It had an extended life battery and was expensive
,
and I know where
it
came from.”

“How?” asked Josh.

“It w
as purchased by our US Marsha
l’s office
in
Charlotte, North Carolina
. It was
checked out by one of our d
eputies. Apparently
,
he placed it on the wrong vehicle, at least that’s his story, and it makes sense. He’s working on something sensitive in that region.”

“Seriously, Braxton, you expect us to believe that?” asked Josh, his eyes alive.

The big man shrugged. “I can’t find anything to say differently. I’ll agree it’s not a mistake he’s proud of, but I’ve got nothing else. His boss won’t let me talk to him because he’s afraid I’ll blow his cover. He assured me that he couldn’t care less where
the FBI is playing cops and robbers. Why would the US Marsha
l
’
s
office
care? Besides, if he really wanted to know, he’d call J
osh’s boss, Assistant Director D
ickman
,
for an update. Apparently they went through some training together and became friends.”

“Does this Marshal’s assignment have anything to do with why you’re in the Carolinas?” asked Manny, tapping his pen on his pad.

Braxton laughed out loud, shaking his head. “That’s why I love you Manny
. A
lways asking question
s
even when you know the answer. You know I can’t
answer that
. N
ice try
, though
. And,
for the record, what I’m doing here has to do with some military issues. I’m clueless to what this operative is up to and
,
frankly
,
don’t care. I’ve got my hands full.”

Manny’s level of comfortable hadn’t gotten
improved
. He thought Braxton was telling the truth, as far as he knew it, but there was something off. He supposed this wasn’t the time to go off into some conspiracy theory
. M
aybe it was his paranoia running amok. This one didn’t fe
e
l right
,
yet
they had little choice
but
to
mov
e
on.

Josh Corner must have felt the same way.
“I think we’ve beaten this horse enough. Since you think it’s a nonissue, we’ll go to the next case. And
,
honestly, th
is
one needs our immediate attention. So, what can you tell us about Garity’s and Max’s murder
s
?”

Reaching behind him, Braxton pulled a stack of files from a chair and handed
them out. Manny was once again
struck by the size of the big man’s hands. He was glad
Braxton
was one of the good guys.

“Manny reviewed the file a couple of weeks before
,
then five days ago
,
Alex and Dean processed the body and Garity’s possessions and you know they found Max’s hair in one of
Garity’s
shoes. At least it was consistent with
Max’s
hair at about 95.8 match probability. I’ll save you some reading and let you know there didn’t seem to be any other trace evidence that was out of the realm with where
Garity
might have been over the last few months. Most of the trace had to do with his time in the Carolinas. But you’re welcome to review and let me know if you see something our folks, and your lab in Quantico
, didn’t see
,” said Braxton.

“Damn. You guys
do
have your hands in
to
everything,” Alex said. “
It’s no secret that they must have had a mutual source of contact
,
or were in the same place, we all believe that. The question
s
are
where, when, and how? Like I said to Manny
,
they could have been in the same place, just at different times. Even one of the flights
on which
Garity was a pilot
.
”

“You’re right. But what about degradation rates? I mean wouldn’t Max’s hair degrade at the same rate as Garity’s?” asked Manny.

Alex picked up the copy of Braxton’s file
,
then waved his right hand like he wa
nted to
ask a question.

Dean laughed
.

“Damn Williams, why don’t you just do our job
too
? Another question you already know the answer to, right? At any rate, that’s one of the analyses we were waiting on and
,
on page nine, it shows that both hairs had consistent exposure to water
,
”
said Alex.

“What does that mean?” asked Sophie.

“It means that they probably saw each other, or were in the same place, within twelve hours before Garity bit the big one,” said Dean.

“But how in the hell could that happen? Come on. Max was in the loony bin until two days ago and Garity was shot thirteen days before. We already know that Garity didn’t visit Max, so what gives?” asked Sophie.

Alex shrugged. “Like I always say, you guys need to put the puzzle toge
ther, we just give you pieces.”

“What about ballistics?” asked Josh.

“I wish
it
was like da movies and there was some magical match there
. D
a truth is
,
there was nothing, mostly because da bullets were hollow points and exploded after they bounced around in his brain. We haven’t got much info on Tucker’s gunshots
. D
a preliminary says it was probably the same caliber, a .38.”

He was doing it again, switching from perfect English to a slight Caribbean dialect. Manny wasn’t even sure why it bothered him and he was
positive
that Braxton didn’t realize he was switching back and forth.

Later
,
Williams
. L
ater.

“
Let’s say
, for argument’s sake, the same killer was involved with both murders; what does that imply? I mean, the gun match will never be one
-
hundred percent
so
we have to take a leap here.
L
et’s go back to the match of Max’s hair in Garity’s shoe,” said Manny. “How could that
have
really happened?”

Silence, in this case
,
wasn’t golden. Manny could almost hear the thoughts of his friends and fellow agents running through the possibilities. He wondered if anyone had thought of the third option
, which
he’d guessed was probably the right one. But the ramifications were unthinkable.

“Spill it
,
Williams, your hand hasn’t stopped playing with your mop for thirty seconds,” said Sophie.

Putting his hand in his lap, he sighed. “I suppose it hasn’t. What if that hair wasn’t a result of them being anywhere near each other?
”

“How’s that possible? It had
. .
.”
Sophie’s eyes grew wide.

Good girl.

“Oh shit. You think that Max’s hair was planted in Garity’s shoe?”

CHAPTER-47

Returning from the front room to take a call, Chloe took in Gavin’s expression and felt her heart drop to the pit of her stomach.

Seeing her face, he
quickly
shook his head.

“Don’t worry, everyone’s okay. Apparently they had a break in the case and
,
after they wrap up a few things, they’ll be on the way home. Josh said they were going into a series of meetings and that Manny didn’t call because
he
want
s
to surprise you. Corner made me promise not to say anything
. Then again,
I never did like the Feds that much
,
present company excluded.”

There it was again, that wife of a cop rollercoaster playing hell on her heartstrings and her blood pressure. How could anyone ever get used to
this
?

She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. “You had me worried
. T
hat’s the best news I’ve heard in three days.”

“I know.”
H
is eyes looked away from her, then back. “There
is
so
me bad news
too
. They found Max Tuck
er’s body in a rest area near Ash
e
ville, North Carolina. He was shot
twice in the head
.
”