The Competition

41

After the doctors left I started to pace. “You were right, we can’t put it off. We’ve got to tell them about the letter. Is Graden still with the chief?”

“I’ll find out.”

We were about to head out to his office when Bailey’s cell phone rang. She looked at the number and made a face. “It’s one of the guys manning our tip line.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Worse. This one really has the Looney Tunes coming out of the woodwork.” She answered the phone and listened. After a few minutes, she pulled out her pen and notepad and wrote. When she ended the call, she held up her notepad. “Want to hear what I’m talking about?”

“Sure.” I needed a good laugh.

Bailey read from her notes. “The second shooter is Justin Bieber. He and Logan are lovers.” I chuckled. She raised an eyebrow at me. “Oh, it gets better.” She continued reading. “The second shooter and mastermind is Alec Baldwin, and his next target is the paparazzi and tabloid reporters-”

“Go, Alec.”

Bailey threw me a look and flipped a page on her notepad. “Logan is in a hotel in midtown Manhattan-”

“Ooh, the St. Regis? Maybe we need to go and check this one out ourselves.”

“The caller didn’t name the hotel. However, he did opine that Logan is a Gemini and that therefore the second shooter has to be a Scorpio. Our next caller swears he saw Logan in Deer Valley, Utah. Skiing.” She turned another page. “Shall I go on?”

I shook my head. “I get the drift-no pun intended.” Bailey gave me a sour look. I remembered they’d just released the information about Shane Dolan at the press conference this morning. “What about Shane Dolan? Any sightings of him?”

“More of the same. Nothing that makes any sense. But I’ve got them checking out every lead. At least those on this planet.”

“I don’t believe they left the state. Though I don’t know why I think that.”

“Because given what the shrinkers said, it makes the most sense,” Bailey said. “They’ll want to aim for places they’re familiar with, where they can feel in control. And where they know the escape route. That is, assuming…”

They still planned to escape. We couldn’t even predict that with freaks like this. I started to go through a mental checklist of the evidence we’d collected so far. “What’ve we got on the guns they dropped at the school?”

“They’re not registered, big shock. The assault rifles were SBR AR fifteens. As for where they might’ve gotten the guns…Ed said it’s going to be tough to narrow down.” Bailey saw my frustration. “I know. He’s moving as fast as he can. But bear in mind, it’s entirely possible those guns went through a bunch of hands before Logan and company got hold of them.” Bailey looked at me. “And I doubt that any of those hands belonged to law-abiding citizens.”

“So beyond the initial sale from the manufacturer to the store, we might not ever figure out who sold to our guys.”

“It’s too soon to tell. But don’t forget, Shane Dolan might be our buyer. If he was buying and selling on a regular basis, he probably has his own connect.”

“Great. So all we have to do is find Dolan’s connect. Piece of cake. Except we can’t even find Dolan. How can it be that a shitbird like him doesn’t have a rap sheet?”

“He does, I told you.”

“Yeah, a DUI eight years ago.” I started to pace again. Another possibility occurred to me. “They dropped two assault rifles and two small-caliber handguns at the scene, and they used up a ton of ammo. Unless they raided an armory, they’ll need to buy more firepower if they’re going to strike again. Don’t you think?”

“Not necessarily. They might have a whole arsenal stashed away somewhere.”

“Yeah, but where?” Was I reaching? I didn’t think so. “Think about it: any place Logan had access to would pose a risk. Where would he put the guns? Not his house. And he didn’t have any friends who seemed likely to hold on to a stash of weapons. If he or Shane had rented a storage locker, we’d know it by now-”

“Unless they used a fake name-”

“Come on, we’re not dealing with the Mafia here. Where are they going to get ID solid enough to rent a storage locker? Those places are pretty tough these days.” So many of the people in need of storage lockers were in dire shape-the kind of shape that made storage locker payments very low on the to-pay list-storage companies practically required a blood test. “I’m betting they’ll need to score more guns and ammo-”

“Or not,” Bailey said. “Who says they’ll do it the same way next time? Maybe they’ll go for some kind of IED or do it Oklahoma City style-”

Too many unknowns. I was making myself-and Bailey-crazy. “You going to check in with Dorian?” We hadn’t heard any news about the evidence seized at the school. That probably meant there was nothing to report. But I was edgy with the need to make something happen.

“Yeah, I’ll take the hit this time. You’re too crazy.”

A sign of true friendship. “I’ll call Ed. See if he has anything new.”

I called Ed Berry and got his voice mail, so I left a message. Bailey had done the same with Dorian. We headed to Graden’s office and found out he was still with the chief. They had no ETA for him, so I headed back to my office.

I’d left the door open for Graden’s detective so he could check out the bug. Graden had said he was going to have the detective put it back in place so as not to tip off whoever planted it. I looked under the table, and sure enough, there it was. I knew it was the smart thing to do, but it was a drag. My office, my sanctuary at work, had been violated. It seriously gave me the creeps. And I sure didn’t want to talk to anyone with that thing listening in, so I put my phone on vibrate and spent the next couple of hours plowing through the reports that’d been generated so far. It was almost five o’clock before Ed called me back.

“Say, slugger, just got your message,” he said. “Guess you’re looking for some good news.”

“Nah, why would I do a silly thing like that?” The bug couldn’t pick up his end of the conversation, could it? No, of course it couldn’t. But just knowing it was there, listening, drove me crazy.

“Good, ’cause I don’t have any. The serial numbers have all been defaced-”

“Defaced? How-”

“With acid. Surprisingly sophisticated for a teenager.”

But not so surprising for a gun nut like Shane.

Ed continued. “And to answer your next question, yeah, it is strange that all of them were removed the same way.”

“How old are the weapons?” Pedro had said the thirty-eight Shane was trying to sell looked new.

“Not old, but I couldn’t say they all looked brand-spanking-new either.” He sighed. “I won’t lie to you, no serial numbers means life just got a lot tougher for you and me.”

Would we ever catch a break in this damn case? Especially with the threat that hung over our heads, the dead ends were making me want to pull my hair out. Ed didn’t have anything else to add so I thanked him and dialed Bailey’s number, but at that moment, my cell vibrated. It was Dr. Jenny.

“I’ve read the emails and conferred with Michael,” she said. “He agrees with my assessment, so if you like, I can give you our conclusions. We can do it on the phone, or in your office-”

“Uh, can you hang on, Jenny?” Neither of those options was going to work. I called Vanderputz’s secretary and asked if we could use the eighteenth-floor conference room. I knew that couldn’t be bugged. They swept it twice a day. I got the okay and told Jenny where to meet us; then I called Bailey.

She said she’d tracked down Graden. “Are you in your office?” she asked.

“Yeah, so don’t-”

“Got it. He says we should tell the shrinks. I’ll be there in ten.” She ended the call.

I tossed my phone on the desk and looked over my shoulder. That bug…I swore I could feel it staring at me.