Without remorse - Tom Clancy [316]
Jesus, this guy's everything I thought, isn't he?
Ryan set the folder down, seeing that it was part of the Gooding Murder file. That meant Frank Allen - again. He called him.
'Thanks for the info on Kelly. What brought it up?'
'Mark Charon was over,' Allen told him. 'I'm doing the follow-up on his shoot, and he brought the name up, says it came up in one of his cases. Sorry, pal, I forgot I had this. He said he'd drop it off. He's not the sort of guy I'd figure for being drugged up, y'know, but...' His voice went on past the point of Ryan's current interest.
This is going too fast now, too damned fast.
Charon. He keeps appearing, doesn't he?
'Frank, I got a tough one for you. When that Sergeant Meyer called in from Pittsburgh, anybody else you mention that to?'
'What do you mean, Em?' Allen asked, annoyance beginning to form in his mind at the suggestion.
'I'm not saying you called the papers, Frank.'
'That was the day Charon popped the dealer wasn't it?' Allen thought back. 'I might have said something to him ... only other person I talked with that day, come to think of it.'
'Okay, thanks, Frank.' Ryan looked up the number of Barracks 'V' of the State Police.
'Captain Joy,' said a very weary voice. The barracks commander would have taken a bed in his own jail if he'd had to, but by tradition a State Police barracks was just that, and he'd found a comfortable bed for his four and a half hours of sleep. Joy was already wishing that Somerset County would go back to normal, though he well might make major's rank from this episode.
'Lieutenant Ryan, City Police homicide.'
'You big-city boys sure are interested in us now,' Joy commented wryly. 'What do you want to know?'
'What do you mean?'
'I mean I was on my way to bed last night when another one of your people called down here, Lieutenant Chair - something like that, I didn't write it down. Said he could ID one of the bodies... I did write that down somewhere. Sorry, I'm turning into a zombie.'
'Could you fill me in? I'll take the short version.' It turned out that the short version was plenty. 'The woman is in custody?'
'You bet she is.'
'Captain, you keep her that way until I say different, okay? Excuse me, please keep her that way. She may be a material witness in a multiple homicide.'
'Yeah, I know that, remember?'
'I mean up here, too, sir. Two bad ones. I have nine months invested in this.'
'She isn't going anywhere for a while,' Joy promised. 'We have a lot of talking to do with her ourselves, and her lawyer's playing ball.'
'Nothing more on the shooter?'
'Just what I said: male Caucasian, six foot or so, and he painted himself green, the girl says.' Joy hadn't included that in his initial recounting.
'What?'
'She said his face and hands were green, like camouflage stuff, I suppose. There is one more thing,' Joy added. 'He's a right good shot. The three people he whacked, one shot each, all in the X-ring - like, perfect.'
Ryan flipped the folder back open. At the bottom of Kelly's list of awards: Distinguished Rifleman, Master Pistol.
'I'll be back to you, Captain. Sounds like you've handled this one awfully well for a guy who doesn't get many homicides.'
'I'd just as soon stick to speeders,' Joy confirmed, hanging up.
'You're in early,' Douglas observed, coming in late. 'See the paper?'
'Our friend's back, and he got on the scoreboard again.' Ryan handed the photo across.
'He looks older now,' the sergeant said.
'Three Purple Hearts'll do that.' Ryan filled Douglas in. 'Want to drive down to Somerset and interview this girl?'
'You think ... ?'
'Yes, I think we have our witness. I think we have our leaker, too.' Ryan explained that one quietly.
He had just called to hear the sound of her voice. So close to his goal, he was allowing himself to look beyond it. It wasn't terribly professional, but for all his professionalism, Kelly remained human.
'John, where are you?' The urgency