The Guilty - Jason Pinter [119]
"You'll have to try it with broken arms. Look, there's a nice
spot, go set up. Get away from here."
He walked away. Then I turned back to the building. That's
when I heard the first siren. I could see the reflection in the
doorway as half a dozen squad cars pulled up and a phalanx of
uniformed officers filed out. Radios came out as the first cops
to arrive called in reports. They circled the building's entrance.
One cop came closer. I heard him say, "We don't know
what floor they're on."
"Ninth floor," I said.
"And who are you?"
"Henry Parker, I'm with the Gazette. My girlfriend is up
there, she works here. Amanda Davies."
The guy waved his arms and another cop came over. This
cop was tall, thin, with a handlebar mustache.
"Captain James O'Hurley."
"Henry Parker."
"You have knowledge of this situation?"
"I just know I was on the phone with my girlfriend, she's
an employee who works on the ninth floor, when I heard a
gunshot. Then the line went dead."
"Who's your girlfriend?"
"Her name is Amanda. Davies."
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Jason Pinter
"Can you think of any reason why Miss Davies or her coworkers would be in danger?"
I took a breath. "William Henry Roberts. He's up there."
O'Hurley's face darkened. I saw a flash of anger in his
eyes. The other cop looked at him.
"That's the guy killed Joe." O'Hurley nodded. "Roberts is
supposed to be the grandson of Billy the Kid or something,
right? Hey, kid," he said, clearly meaning me, "you work at
the Gazette, didn't you write some stuff about this guy?"
"Yeah," I said. "I did."
"How much do you know about him?" O'Hurley asked.
I held up my hand, the stitches still embedded in my skin.
The cop whistled.
"Manners aren't his strong suit. Let's say I know Roberts
a lot better than I'd like."
"He did that to you," O'Hurley said, "and that's your girlfriend up there, then..." He paused, realized what was going
on. "Maybe you shouldn't be here."
"You try and drag me away," I said. "And it won't be
pretty."
"Fine," O'Hurley said. "But stay out of the way. If we need
your help we'll ask for it."
"No problem, but Roberts is in there and I know he's going
to hurt Amanda. I know it. That's why he came here. That's
why he called the press first. He wants people to see every
second of this.You don't do that kind of thing if you're looking
to steal a few grand and disappear to the Caribbean." I noticed
the rest of the cops were hanging back. "Are you going in?"
"Not yet," O'Hurley said. "We need to assess the situation,
take his demands if there are any, and then figure out a
strategy. Rushing in there might cause panic, stress and force
Roberts's hand."
The Guilty
347
"This sick bastard killed one of our own," the other cop
added. "He's either spending the rest of his life getting reamed
up the ass in the shower or he's getting a one-way ticket to
the juice chair."
"But what about Amanda?" I asked.
O'Hurley said, "We have no reason to believe she's in immediate danger. If she is the intended target, we have the
hostage negotiation team en route."
"You might be negotiating for a body, Captain."
"Listen, Parker, I can imagine what you're going through.
Trust me, this freak will get what's coming to him. But we
need to minimize collateral damage."
"By collateral damage you mean my girlfriend."
"That's right."
"You think he called the press just so he could try out his
new stand-up routine? He's going to do something terrible,
and if you guys don't do something soon it'll be too late."
"That's enough, Parker." O'Hurley pointed to where
several cops were putting up blue sawhorses, stringing up
yellow tape. "Wait behind the line with the rest of the press."
I watched as the cops herded several reporters behind the
barricade. They put up a fight. They always did. But in the
end they always moved back, docile.
Docile wasn't going to cut it today. Roberts was pure evil.
He wasn't going to wait for the cops to "strategize."
I waited until O'Hurley's back was turned, then I pushed
the other cop aside