Silent Scream

Chapter Nineteen

Wednesday, September 22, 1:20 a.m.

David got out of the rescue squad that had brought him and Jeff Zoellner from the firehouse to the fire. Scanning the landscape, he tried to take it in. Mother of God.

The damage was already enormous in scale. Six houses smoldered, three on either side of a blank space that had been two more houses. Nothing remained but scraps of paper and wood.

Behind the three smoldering houses on the left were the charred remains of a small copse of trees. And beyond the trees, a six-story apartment complex still burned.

“Holy fuck,” Jeff breathed. “Let’s find Casey. He’s probably with the truck.”

Their truck was a hundred yards away, the bucket high in the air. B shift was pulling residents out of windows. He could see more people at more open windows, waving frantically. He could see their mouths open, screaming.

But all he could hear was the rumble of emergency vehicles and the roar of the fire.

Captain Casey waved them over. “ Dalton and Myers are in the bucket. Relieve them. Station Forty-two is around the corner working the other side. Dalton and Myers will relieve them when they’ve rested. We’ll work rotation until we’re done.”

Their pumper was parked nearby and David could see the lines extended into the building. He pulled an oxygen can from the truck’s storage locker. “Who’s inside?”

“Perry and Jacobs from B shift. Station Forty-two’s also got a team in there with nozzles and Thirty-eight’s doing a search on the inner units.”

Jeff pulled his hood over his head. “Can we get support from out east?”

Casey shook his head. “Bomb threat at a residential school.”

David stiffened. “The university?” Where Tom was.

“No, a deaf school. Kindergarten through high school.”

The girl he’d pulled from the condo was deaf. No coincidence. “Was this fire here set?” he asked tightly, already knowing the answer.

Casey nodded. “Yeah. We’ve already transported half a dozen residents and two firefighters from this fire. ERs out here are strained, but the hospital out east is waiting for possible casualties from the school. Move out. Be careful.”

David jerked a nod, fury rising in him as he rushed to the bucket. He thought of the condo, of the dead girl’s face. Tracey Mullen. These monsters had murdered her, just as if they’d shot her in the heart like the guard. In his mind he could see the faceless body of Barney Tomlinson. But this… this was devastation. How many would die tonight? How many were already dead?

Hundreds of kids went to the deaf school. What was so damn important that endangering hundreds of lives with a goddamn bomb was okay? He drew a steadying breath. The family coming down in the bucket was alive and they were his priority. Focus, he told himself sternly. You can be angry later.

When the bucket reached the ground, David helped a terrified woman and her three children to the ground and into the care of the paramedics. The woman grabbed his coat.

“My husband is still in there. Please get him out.” Her eyes were glassy with shock.

David nodded. “Yes, ma’am.” He and Jeff traded places with Dalton and Myers.

“We were going to search the place for the husband on our next pass,” Myers said. “Living room to the left, bedrooms to the right. These are all three-bedroom units.”

“Thanks.” David hooked on the belt, fixed his mask in place, and sucked in a hard breath to get the oxygen flowing. Jeff did the same and jabbed his thumb upward.

They rose to the fourth floor and David got an uncomfortable feeling of déjà vu, remembering how his legs had dangled into nothingness when the floor gave way. Brushing it aside, he followed Jeff through the window, his ax handle extended, checking for soft spots in the floor.

It was a child’s bedroom. Mothers always went to their children’s rooms before seeking safety themselves. Okay, dad, where are you? Left living area, right bedrooms. There was fire in the hall, licking at the walls from the inside out.

In front of him, Jeff turned right and shouldered his way through a door, then jumped back. Flames covered the far wall and in seconds licked across the ceiling.

Go back. The room was seconds from flashover. He reached for Jeff’s coat, but Jeff was hunched over and moving forward. David followed, ax handle down. He hit something soft, but it wasn’t the floor.

A body. “Zell!” he yelled. He grabbed the man under the arms and started dragging him out into the hall. “Get his feet,” he shouted to Jeff.

Jeff turned to get the man’s feet when the room went up.

And the ceiling came down.

“Zell!” David dropped the man and lurched forward. A beam had come down, pinning Jeff’s torso. Jeff lay on his back, not moving. David wedged his ax under the beam, lifting it so that Jeff could drag himself out. But Jeff wasn’t moving.

“Firefighter injured,” David said into his radio. “Need assistance in the bucket.”

David grabbed Jeff under his arms and dragged him out, around the unconscious man, until they were back in the child’s room and at the window. He knelt beside him. His partner was breathing, but it appeared through the mask that his eyes were closed.

“I’ll be back,” David shouted, unsure if Jeff could hear him or not. He went back for the woman’s husband. The bedroom in which they’d found him was now fully engaged.

David got him back to the kids’ bedroom to find Myers at the window.

“Zell’s down,” he shouted, pointing to the floor. “Unresponsive.” Together he and Myers lifted Jeff into the bucket and Myers laid him as flat as the small space allowed.

David knew they couldn’t fit the woman’s husband in the bucket as well. “Take him down and come back for me and the victim.”

It seemed an eternity, watching the bucket descend. Waiting paramedics moved Jeff to a stretcher. Then Myers started back up.

The entire hall was now engulfed in flames and the fire had licked its way into the kids’ bedroom. Fifteen more seconds ticked by while the fire raced up the walls. Finally Myers was back and the two of them lifted the woman’s husband into the bucket. David climbed through the window and into the bucket just as the room went up.

Myers maneuvered the bucket several feet from the building as he took it down.

“You okay?” Myers shouted.

David nodded mutely. His chest felt like it was going to explode. His fingers itched to rip off the mask now that he was out, but he quelled the need, breathing evenly.

They got to the ground and David opened the bucket door, letting the medics drag the victim out and to a waiting stretcher. David yanked his mask from his face.

“Zell?” he asked loudly and the medics pointed to a retreating ambulance.

“He’s conscious but can’t feel his legs. He said to tell you that you’re even now.”

David’s chest felt frozen. Oh God. Spinal injury. God. He thought about the way he’d dragged Jeff out but knew it had been the only way to get him out of the fire. Please, don’t let me have made it worse. He looked back up at the building. Six more windows had terrified residents waving frantically for rescue. Zell’s in good hands. Those people are in yours. Do your job.

He strapped his mask back on and looked at Myers. “Back up?”

Myers nodded tiredly. David took the controls and sent them back up, casting worried glances at the ambulance as it screamed away.

Wednesday, September 22, 1:35 a.m.

“Olivia.” Noah Webster burst into the ER, pale. “Abbott called me.”

She was leaning against a wall outside the room in which Kane lay. She looked up, met Noah’s eyes. “They called it.” Kane’s time of death. As she’d stood and watched, helplessly. “There was nothing they could do.”

Noah closed his eyes for a long moment. “When?”

“Five minutes after we got here. I don’t know the exact time.”

“What happened?”

“I was too late. I wasn’t there.”

Noah grabbed her shoulders. “Stop that. Right now. This is not your fault.”

“Fine.” In the minutes since they’d taken Kane from the ambulance, her mind had moved from chaotic to precise. Clear. Logical. Still, her heart pounded like hell. “It doesn’t matter now anyway.”

Noah pinched her chin, made her look up at him. “You’re in shock.”

“No. I’m not. I’m waiting for Jennie and then I’m catching a ride back to the scene.”

“No, you’re not,” Noah said.

She jerked her chin from his fingers. “I’ll function. I owe Kane at least that much.”

“Olivia, you didn’t cause this.”

“No, but I might have prevented it. And I know damn well who could have prevented it.”

“Who?”

“Kenny Lathem. That’s who this guy was after. That’s why he called in a bomb threat. One of the cops at the scene followed us in. He said when the evac started, the staff had all the kids together. One of the staff told him that a guy dressed like a cop gave Kenny a note that said the detectives wanted to talk to him again. He led him away and forced Kenny into a white van at gunpoint. And no, nobody got a plate,” she said before he could ask.

“And Kane?”

“Kane called ahead, told first responders to make sure Kenny was okay. It was the first thing we thought of when we heard about the evacuation. Kenny was the only dorm kid we talked to and he knew something. When Kane got there, dorm staff told him Kenny had gone with the cops. He chased and got to them just…” Her voice hitched and she sternly controlled it. “Just in time. Kane got the van open, Kenny got away. Kane was shot twice, close range. He was probably dead before he hit the ground.”

Noah swallowed hard. “Shit.”

“Yeah. And there’s more,” she said wearily. “You remember at the end of our five o’clock meeting yesterday, when I got the text from the sign language interpreter?”

“She had another commitment.” His expression twisted. “Oh God, no. That’s how this guy found out about Kenny?”

“I don’t know, but that’s my guess. Her kids say she never came home. Around ten they called a family friend who’s been sitting with them. Val had texted them, too, saying she wouldn’t be home for dinner. Her agency didn’t have any record of any other assignments, so they filed a missing person shortly after midnight. Last I saw her was when we broke for lunch yesterday, right before K-”

She had to stop a minute. Breathe. Wait for the spasm in her chest to ease. “Right before Kane and I went up to David’s to bring back that Lincoln character.”

“Liv, were you with David tonight?”

She nodded, looked away. “Yeah.”

“That wasn’t wrong, you know. That had nothing to do with this.”

“If I’d been at home, I would have been there faster.”

“And maybe I’d be standing over your corpse right now,” Noah said sharply. “You know it doesn’t work like that. You could have been caught in traffic, Kane could have waited for backup. A million different things could have happened.”

“I know.” But that didn’t change facts. If she’d been there, Kane would have had backup and he’d be alive. But she hadn’t and he wasn’t and she couldn’t change that now. She could only do what he would have wanted her to do. Her damn job.

“Did you tell David you were all right?” he asked. “He’s going to hear an officer was killed. He’s going to wonder if it’s you.”

Yes, he would, she realized. And he’d worry. “No, I didn’t think to tell him, but I doubt he’s heard about this yet. David was already gone when I left. There was a big fire…” She stopped and looked up, frowning. “There was a big fire out in Woodview. Didn’t you say something about Woodview at the meeting yesterday?”

“Yeah. That’s where Tomlinson bought a house for his mistress. It’s possible, isn’t it? That they could have set one fire deliberately to divert attention from the evac?”

“It’s possible. It was a bad fire with an explosion. Let’s find out if Tomlinson’s house was the target.” She straightened abruptly when the doors from the outside opened and Abbott entered, a small woman sobbing in his arms. “Jennie,” she murmured.

“Remember you did not cause this,” Noah said quietly. “She doesn’t need your guilt. She needs your strength.”

Olivia nodded unsteadily and took a few steps toward them. “Jennie.”

Kane’s wife stumbled into Olivia’s arms. She held Jennie, rocking her where they stood. “Kane saved a boy’s life tonight,” Olivia said helplessly.

“I know,” Jennie cried. “Bruce told me. I can’t believe this.”

“I know,” Olivia whispered. “I’m sorry.” Jennie nodded against her and for a long, long moment they stood that way, until Olivia sighed. “He’s in there. I can go with you.”

Jennie pulled away, still crying but standing on her own feet. “No. I need to be alone for a while.” She took Olivia’s hand, patted it. “He thought the world of you.”

Olivia could only nod. No words would come. She stood, frozen, while Jennie walked around her, through the door to where Kane lay. Abbott squeezed her shoulder.

“Go home, Olivia. We’ll get through the night. That’s all we have to do right now.”

She searched his face, saw he’d been crying. Abbott and Kane had known each other a lot longer than she had. “I need a ride back to the school to get my car.”

“I’ll take her,” Noah said. “We’ll be in at oh-eight.”

Abbott’s nod was heavy. “And we’ll catch this bastard. I gave Jennie my word.”

“Come on, Liv,” Noah said, taking her arm. “Let’s go.” He led her to his car, put her in and got behind the wheel. “Where to?” he asked.

“Back to the school.”

His brows lifted. “For your car?”

“After. First, I talk to Kenny.”

“What about an interpreter?”

“There will be somebody there who can interpret, but if not, I don’t care.” Her jaw clenched. “If I have to use a stone tablet and a chisel, that boy’s gonna talk to me.”

“Okay.”

Olivia stared out the window as Noah drove, seeing nothing of the road that flashed by. She could only see Kane’s body lying on the ground. “What am I going to do, Noah?” The whispered question was out before she knew it was coming.

“What Bruce said. You’re going to get through tonight. Then tomorrow. And you’re going to find the guy who shot your partner and turn him into fucking hamburger.”

She turned to face her friend and saw his cheeks were wet. She reached out, grabbed his hand and hung on. He squeezed tightly and then she understood he needed her, too. She’d pushed Noah away over the last seven months, along with the rest of her friends. “I need to make some calls, tell folks I’m okay.”

Wednesday, September 22, 2:20 a.m.

David walked away from the wreckage, so tired he could barely move his feet. Rotating their manpower, his and the other firehouses had gotten everyone out. They hoped. David hated to think of anyone still inside. The fire was largely knocked down, but in some areas it continued to flare and would for several more hours.

Beyond the woman’s husband the paramedics had rushed to the hospital, they had four human fatalities-an elderly woman and an asthmatic child who’d died of smoke inhalation in the apartment blaze and two people known to have been in one of the houses when it exploded. He hadn’t heard anything about the other exploded house.

They’d seen dozens of injuries. Jeff had been the worst firefighter injury. David still hadn’t heard anything about his partner’s condition. He was trying hard not to worry.

Trying harder to contain his rage. Sonsofbitches. Why? What could they possibly hope to gain? How many lives had been devastated tonight? And for what?

“You okay, Dave?”

Their shift engineer was shaking a bottle of water, an empty packet of electrolyte mix in his other hand. He held it out and it was all David could do to lift his arm to grab it. He guzzled it down and held the bottle out for more.

“Just tired. Any news on Zell?”

“Not yet. Red Cross is set up over there. Go take a rest.”

He nodded and pushed away from the truck to trudge toward the Red Cross area. Thoughts of Olivia fluttered through his mind and he let himself steep there, pushing away all the rage, the devastation all around him. He let himself imagine her warm and soft in his bed, hoping he’d be able to get back to her before she left for work. He needed her, needed to hold her after a night like this.

The sex… He drew a breath. Had been unforgettable. You could have been having sex like that for the last two and a half years if you hadn’t been such an idiot. He let out the breath in a sigh. He could have had much more than sex. He could have had her. In his arms. In his house. Someone to come home to. Someone just for me.

His feet stopped moving when he saw Barlow and Captain Casey standing off to the side, deep in conversation. Even from twenty feet away he could sense tension. And pain. Barlow looked like he’d taken a blow.

The two looked up, saw him and exchanged a glance. David got a queasy feeling in his gut. “What’s happened?” David asked. “I need to know. How’s Zell?”

Casey looked old. “I don’t know. I’m waiting to hear. David, there was a shooting tonight. At that residential school.”

The queasiness turned to ice. Oh God. Please. Not her. “Who?”

“Kane,” Barlow said quietly. “He’s dead.”

David felt his knees go weak. “Oh no. How?”

“You know that hearing aid you found in the condo debris? Olivia and Kane were trying to track its owner, looking for an eyewitness at the deaf school. They found a kid who knew something. Somebody tried to snatch the kid tonight.”

“The bomb scare was a fake?”

Barlow nodded. “They did a full sweep and didn’t find anything, but it got the kids evacuated. Kane got there as the kid was being shoved into a van. He saved the kid, but there was a struggle and…” He trailed off. “Poor Liv.”

David fought back panic. “Was she there?”

“No. She got there about ten minutes later. Kane was already gone.”

Sadness settled on his shoulders, even as his body shuddered in relief that she hadn’t been nearby, in danger. Kane had been more than Olivia’s partner. He’d been her friend and, if David’s instincts were right, a father figure as well. “Where is she?”

“I don’t know,” Barlow said. “I’d heard there was an officer down. I didn’t know it was Kane until a little while ago. She might still be at the hospital with Kane’s family, but knowing Liv, she’s gone back to the scene.”

Doing her job. As will I. He wanted to ask Casey for a few hours to go see Olivia, to see Jeff, but there was still hours of work to be done here. And then I’m on shift for the next twenty-four. “I’ll call her.” But what could he say?

“I heard about your partner, Zell,” Barlow said. “I’m sorry.”

Fear, worry, and guilt rushed his mind, and he quickly turned it back. He couldn’t let himself think about Zell now. He shouldn’t let himself think about Olivia either, but that was impossible. She was there, in his mind. She was hurting, and he hurt, too.

“Thanks.” David surveyed the wreckage. “Which house was the arson target?”

“Second from the left,” Barlow said. “No glass ball that we’ve been able to find.”

“Was the gas tank targeted?”

“Doesn’t appear to have been. Folks are just turning on their heat at night. They probably had a leak and didn’t know it. The fire spread from one house to another and… boom.” The last word was said very wearily. “We know two people were home in one of the houses, but the other house was for sale. Neighbors say it was unoccupied.”

“The condo was supposed to have been, too,” David said.

Barlow shrugged. “I know. I thought of that already. I’ve called for a cadaver dog and they’re supposed to be here soon. Then we’ll start searching for remains.”

It was a grim prospect, but part of the job. “They didn’t leave a glass ball. Are we talking the same arsonists?” David asked and Barlow’s eyes narrowed.

“House belonged to Barney Tomlinson’s mistress. What do you think?”

The words hung in the air for a moment. Then Casey met David’s eyes, his kind. “Why don’t you take off? Go see Zell and Detective Sutherland. You’re back on in a few hours and you won’t be able to then.”

David thought of Olivia, grieving alone. She shouldn’t be alone. “Thanks. I’ll need to catch a ride back to the firehouse.”

“I’ll ask one of the cops to drive you back,” Barlow said.

Wednesday, September 22, 2:30 a.m.

Olivia and Noah found Micki at the crime scene, staring at the flattened grass that was stained with blood. Kane’s hat was still on the ground. It looked… lonely. And small. Nothing like the man who’d worn it.

Carry this picture in your mind, Olivia told herself sternly. This is the monster you’re chasing. This is what he took from you. From Jennie.

Beside her, Noah let out a breath. “Goddammit.”

Micki looked up, startled. “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you coming.”

“Did you find the bullet?” Olivia asked harshly.

“Yes. Hollow-point. I had it sent to ballistics. They’ll have results by morning meeting, but I’m betting it’ll match Weems and Tomlinson.”

“Did he leave anything behind?” she asked. “Did the cameras catch him?”

Micki’s lips twisted bitterly. “He was dressed like a cop. Kane must have knocked off the bastard’s hat.” She pointed to it, flattened in the dirt on the shoulder. “The shooter ran over it with his tires when he was escaping. Then the ambulance ran over it again, but it’s folded over, so hopefully anything he left behind will be trapped inside.”

A hat, Olivia thought. Kane would see the irony in that.

“And the security cameras?” Noah asked.

“We got basic height and weight of the shooter. Angle was wrong for the license plates on the van. We can get a very basic make on the van, but that’s it.”

Olivia pointed to Kane’s hat. “Can I take it?”

Micki shook her head. “Not yet. I’m sorry, Liv.”

Olivia’s nod was crisp even though her heart cracked. Micki was doing her job and she was damn good at it. It’s just that it’s on the ground. It shouldn’t be on the ground. She cleared her throat and when she spoke, her voice was even and strong.

“It’s okay. I just want to make sure Jennie gets it. I’m going to find Kenny Lathem now. Call me if you get anything.”

Micki just nodded, her lips pursed to keep from breaking down. Olivia turned on her heel and made her feet move, Noah at her side.

Oaks was waiting for them in his office. A woman sat in the chair next to his desk. He signed, then pointed at the woman who looked to be in her early twenties.

“He said he thought you’d come back, so he waited,” she said. “I’m Danni Oaks. Principal Oaks is my dad. He asked me to come and interpret for him tonight.”

“Thank you,” Olivia said. She turned to Oaks. “Were any children hurt tonight?”

“No,” he signed. “Kenny is quite upset, as you might expect. We’ve called his parents to come get him.”

“We need to talk to him first,” Olivia said flatly.

Oaks hesitated. “Detective,” he signed, “I cooperated with you yesterday.”

“And we appreciate it,” Olivia interrupted the soft voice of Danni Oaks, not bothering to hide her impatience in her face or her tone. “But my partner is dead, Mr. Oaks.” She watched him flinch. “And Val, the interpreter from yesterday? She’s missing. Somebody wants Kenny real bad. I want to know who and why. And I want to know now.”

“His parents should be here,” Oaks signed tiredly, Danni voicing.

“Kenny could be in danger, Mr. Oaks,” Olivia said. “He knows something that somebody doesn’t want told. I don’t want to have to explain to his parents why somebody murdered him, too.”

Oaks’s shoulders sagged. “I’ll have him brought in.”