“You Stone?” the first cop asked him.
Jesse held up his shield and said, “Jesse Stone, Paradise, Mass, chief of police.”
“Yeah, we got a call from a retired captain from the Massachusetts State Police.”
“Captain Healy.”
“That’s him.”
“Healy said there was some shooting going on out here and that you might need some help.”
Jesse pointed at Bascom’s body.
“You do it?”
Jesse understood what the cop was asking. He shook his head. “No. I’m unarmed except for this.” Jesse waved his Maglite. “Did you find a van on your way up here?”
The cop nodded, pointing over his back with his thumb. “Black cargo van on the road. Driver’s-side window shattered.”
“Find anything in it?”
“First I thought I better get up here to see about you. Don’t worry. There are units down there now checking it out.” The cop was curious. “You know the vic?”
“Name is Roger Bascom. Listen, Officer... Miles,” Jesse said, reading the cop’s name off his chest tag. “Can I use your cell phone? I know it’s not SOP, but it’s urgent. I’ll put it on speaker, so you can hear both sides of the conversation.”
Miles hesitated but eventually handed his iPhone to Jesse.
“Who is this?” Healy, not recognizing the number, asked, his voice crackling over the speaker.
“It’s me, Jesse. An Officer Miles let me use his phone. Thanks for having my back.”
“What are friends for? Besides, I almost feel like a cop again. Who’s the vic?”
“Bascom.”
“Get out! Bascom, the head of security on Stiles Island?”
“Uh-huh.”
“He never struck me as some criminal genius.”
“He wasn’t,” Jesse said. “He was a pawn. Do you have the shooter in sight?”
“A few hundred yards ahead of me, yeah. He’s tooling down the highway like he hasn’t got a care in the world.”
“He’s got six million reasons to feel relaxed.”
“Not for long, but listen, Jesse...”
“What?”
“When I tell you who it is, you’re not going to like it.”
“I know who it is,” Jesse said.
“But how could you—”
“It clicked a few minutes ago. It has to do with surveillance cameras. I’ll explain it to you later. For now, keep him in sight. You better call Lundquist and clue him in, but keep everyone else in the dark. Call Molly and tell her to have Peter Perkins search Bascom’s apartment. Tell her to assign two units to the Wickham estate. Anyone coming or going from the estate except the mayor or Nita Thompson gets a tail.”
“Got it. Anything else?”
“Nothing else for now.”
Healy asked, “Did you get the tape?”
“It’s destroyed.”
“Damn!”
“Don’t sweat it. I’ll explain it to you later.”
“Okay, Jesse.”
“You know how I said Bascom was a pawn?”
“Yeah.”
“He had company.”
“Like who?”
“Me.”