Justifiable Risk (17 page)

The afternoon sunlight that flooded the small office had melted into twilight before Bessie finally came back with news about Fluharty. “He’s okay, honey. The shot was a clean through and through below the shoulder. If it had been a few inches lower, he’d be a goner. He’s sedated, but you can see him for a few minutes. The chief and the rest of your squad just arrived and wanted to go in together.”

Eva followed Greer and Bessie down the narrow hall but stopped at the exam-room door. Her reserve slipped as the emotions of the day overwhelmed her. She couldn’t look at Fluharty without seeing Tom and wondering why he died instead of the sergeant. “I can’t do this.”

Greer looked surprised. “You don’t have to go in. But don’t leave, okay?”

“Go check on your friend. I’ll wait here.” Eva gave Greer a forced smile and turned toward a small seating arrangement near the exam area. When she saw Greer and Bessie go into the room, she collapsed on a small settee.

The energy suddenly drained from her. She’d managed since the shooting, but now her defenses refused to hold together. As she recalled the scene, her hands shook. Bullets whizzed through the air. One ricocheted off a piece of metal somewhere in the cavernous space. The second ended in a dull thud next to where she stood. That was the shot that struck Tom in the chest. The third and final shot was more muffled and indistinct. How did she so clearly remember three gunshots and the unique sound of each?

Eva wiped at the perspiration that formed on her forehead. She’d interviewed soldiers and police offices after shooting situations, and they often couldn’t remember how many times they fired. But she was certain of her recollection. Her auditory senses had captured the incident in slow motion and replayed it precisely. None of the memories she carried from her assignments in war-torn areas were as vivid or frightening.

But while bullets were flying around her in the center of that chilly, abandoned warehouse, Eva wasn’t panicked or even noticeably afraid. Her past didn’t flash before her eyes. She thought about all the things she’d die without doing—the future she wouldn’t have. At that moment she regretted most not having a stable life with a loving partner.

Eva remembered the feeling of safety when Greer shielded her with her body. She was certain that Greer would protect her no matter the cost to her personal well-being. How did a person learn to be so selfless, to face death for someone she barely knew? If Greer would sacrifice herself for a virtual stranger, what would she do to protect someone she loved? Eva buried her face in her hands and cried. She’d never know that kind of love and devotion.

*

When Greer stepped into Sergeant Fluharty’s room, the smell of disinfectants and alcohol overwhelmed her—the supposedly sterile odor of a hospital that she’d come to despise after twelve years on the job. JJ, Breeze, Craig, Chief Bryant, and a man she didn’t know stood around the sergeant’s bed. Fluharty was pale, his eyes closed, and a bandage covered his left shoulder. An IV bag hung from a pole and a line of clear fluid trickled into his veins. A heart monitor beeped rhythmically in the morbid silence.

“Any update, Bessie?” the chief asked.

“He’s been patched up and given some pain medication, but he needs to rest. He might not wake up for a while.”

“Thanks.” Chief Bryant motioned for the officers to move to the side of the room out of Bessie’s hearing. He nodded toward the slender middle-aged man beside him. “This is Special Agent Rick Long with the SBI. He’ll be handling the case.” The chief introduced the detectives and indicated who had been present during the shootings. “You’ll have our full cooperation, Rick.” He pointed toward JJ. “Detective Johnston will be your liaison.”

“Thank you, Chief. I’ll try to make this as quick and painless as I can.” Agent Long placed his briefcase on a side table, opened it, and pulled out a handful of evidence bags. “First, I’ll need your service weapons. Place them in these bags just as they are.” He handed each officer an evidence container and retrieved the sergeant’s weapon from underneath the gurney. “Fill out a receipt including the make, model, and serial number of your gun. Keep a copy and place the other in the evidence bag.”

The officers all looked at the chief and he nodded his consent. “Has to be done, guys. You were the only people that we know were in that warehouse. We have to eliminate you first. Go to the supply room when you leave here and have a temporary weapon issued. You’ll get yours back as soon as possible.”

Agent Long secured their duty weapons in his briefcase and said, “Don’t talk to each other or anyone else about what happened this afternoon until I’ve conducted my interviews. Is that clear?” Everybody nodded. “I’m sure your Internal Affairs guys will be following up as well.”

The next few days would be hectic, and Greer needed to connect this incident to Paul’s overdose. Most sobering of all, the gunman had targeted Eva today. “I’d like to get back to work, if that’s okay, Chief.”

Bryant and Agent Long exchanged a glance before the chief responded. “You’re free to work on anything as long as it isn’t
this
case—and that includes the Saldana investigation. The SBI will be taking over since it probably led to what happened today.” Greer started to object but the chief stopped her. “And that goes for the rest of you.

“JJ, until Fred gets back on his feet you’re in charge of the squad and liaising with Agent Long. Contact your informants and follow up leads at the direction of the SBI, but no cowboy antics. We have to let them handle suspects or we’ll taint our case. Understood?”

He waited for each officer to acknowledge his instructions. “Now, everybody go home and get some rest. The scene has been cleared and there’s nothing that can’t wait until morning.”

Greer wasn’t sure she could abide by the chief’s order. Too much had happened during this investigation and now it had gotten personal—someone had killed a friend of hers, shot another, and targeted a third. She could be discreet but she couldn’t be idle. Greer stepped to the side of the bed and took Fluharty’s hand. “Sarge, you’ll be fine. The squad’s all here.”

The sergeant’s eyelids fluttered as he struggled to open his eyes. He rolled his head from side to side looking at each officer as if trying to recall him. His lids drooped, his gaze faltered until he found Greer. He pointed at her and moved his lips but made no sound.

“What, Sarge, do you remember something?” JJ asked.

He licked his lips and stared directly at Greer. “Why did you shoot me?”

Everyone in the small exam room stared at Greer like she was public-enemy number one. Her stomach flip-flopped into a nauseous roil and her mouth dried. It took every ounce of her restraint not to deny Fluharty’s ludicrous accusation. The expressions on the faces of her coworkers varied from disbelief to outright hostility, but no one spoke. They would voice their suspicions in private, not in front of a stranger or civilian personnel.

JJ’s face wrinkled in distaste, his eyes full of questions, the most concern she’d seen from him since she started to review the Saldana case. She wanted to talk to him and straighten out all their differences, to have him on her side again. The look they exchanged told her that wouldn’t be happening any time soon.

The only person not regarding her like a suspect was Bessie. She stared at Fluharty as if he’d gone into cardiac arrest, then moved to his side and adjusted the IV drip. “He’s obviously too heavily sedated to know what he’s saying.”

Sergeant Fluharty’s arm dropped like a dead weight beside him on the bed and his eyes closed again. The room was eerily quiet. Greer resisted the urge to defend herself though everything inside her screamed to declare her innocence. Everyone would view an adamant denial in response to an incoherent question as an overreaction. Right now she needed to assume that the pain medication had affected the sergeant’s memory and not say anything.

Finally Chief Bryant spoke. “Don’t jump to conclusions. I want clear heads to prevail. The loss of a good man and the injury of one of our own has upset us all. Agent Long will talk to Fred when he’s feeling better.”

The squad members filed out of the room without speaking to Greer. She met Agent Long’s appraising stare as he closed his cell phone. If the sergeant’s outburst had affected him at all, he didn’t show it. From the few minutes she’d been in Rick Long’s presence, Greer already knew that he was professional, efficient, and direct. She hoped these admirable qualities would serve her well if the facts pointed toward her as a suspect.

“I’d like to talk to you,” Agent Long said to her. “If that’s okay.” He looked at the chief, who gave him a resigned nod.

“Now wait a minute.” Bessie crossed to Greer’s side. “If you’re planning to interrogate my niece based on the ranting of a drugged man, you might want to think again. That doesn’t sound very reliable to me.”

Greer’s shoulders tensed. This wasn’t headed in a good direction. “Bessie, it’s all right. Let me handle it.” She nodded toward the door but Bessie wasn’t going quietly.

“I won’t have anybody railroad her. Do you understand me, Sam? Tell this SBI man that Greer isn’t capable of something like this.”

Chief Bryant had seen Bessie riled before and tried to calm her. “He’s doing his job, Bessie. Greer will be fine. Let’s go wait outside.” He nudged her toward the exit.

“Stop pushing me, Sam. If he’s doing his job, why isn’t he questioning the rest of the guys too?”

Agent Long, to his credit, tried to reassure Bessie. “I won’t allow any railroading on this investigation. Detective Ellis needs to address a few things tonight.” His voice was calm, his words sincere.

Bessie looked at Greer, and she visually pleaded with her to leave. “I’ll see you outside in a few minutes. Check on Eva.”

“All right, but I’m holding you,” she jabbed her finger at Rick Long and then Chief Bryant, “and you accountable.”

Long waited for the chief and Bessie to leave the room before he turned back to Greer. “She’s quite a champion to have in your corner.”

“She certainly is. Now what can I help you with, Agent Long?”

He moved two chairs together next to a small side table and motioned for her to sit. “Look, Detective, I know Sergeant Fluharty’s medicated, but if what he said is possibly true, I have to ask you a few simple questions right now. You do understand that.”

“Of course. Do what you have to.”

Agent Long recited Greer’s Miranda warnings, even though it was unnecessary since she wasn’t in custody. He was probably being overly cautious, just in case. “Do you understand your rights as I’ve explained them to you?”

“I do.” Unlike the administrative investigation that Internal Affairs would conduct, Greer had the option of not answering Long’s questions. But she would only look more like a suspect. The sooner she got her side on record the better.

“Tell me about the shooting. I’ll be taping your statement.” He placed the small recorder on the table between them, dictated the time, date, location, and those present, and motioned for her to begin.

She started with Eva’s anonymous call and her decision to cover the meeting, based on a hunch it might be connected to the Saldana case. She covered the briefing in which each officer received his assignment. As she laid out the plan, she could see it in her head as clearly as if she was looking at the sergeant’s drawing on the old chalkboard. Her position was directly across from Sergeant Fluharty’s, with JJ and Craig opposite each other. She recounted the incident from the time they assumed their posts, being certain to cover every detail she could recall.

Long let her continue uninterrupted. When she finished, he remained silent for several minutes, reviewing notes he’d scribbled on his pad. “Who made the actual position assignments at the briefing?”

“Sergeant Fluharty.”

“Even though it was essentially your operation?”

“Yes.”

“Isn’t it usually standard operating procedure for the officer in charge to make the assignments and brief the squad?”

“Usually.” Fluharty had assumed the lead role because the squad was already upset about the review of the Saldana case. He thought they’d follow his lead more easily. She wasn’t about to tell Rick Long the internal issues of her squad. But if somebody else did, it could look bad for her. She could only hope that her fellow detectives would hold to the thin blue line of confidentiality on that particular issue.

“Why did he deviate on this occasion?”

“You need to ask the sergeant that question. I was reviewing the original file.”

Agent Long seemed to consider her answer, then jotted more notes on his legal pad. “So you were positioned directly across from the sergeant?”

“Yes.” Greer had already been down this road in her head. Neither JJ nor Craig would’ve had a line of sight in the sergeant’s direction. She was the only one, aside from the real shooter, who could’ve made the shot that injured him. But the one that killed Tom appeared to have come from the opposite direction. Something wasn’t adding up.

“You came out of the service bay with your weapon drawn?”

“Yes.”

“Any chance you fired unintentionally as you ran toward Ms. Saldana and Mr. Merritt?”

“None.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I’m not a rookie, Agent Long. I don’t run with my finger on the trigger. I scanned the room for the shooter, but couldn’t find him. I wouldn’t have fired indiscriminately without acquiring a target. You’ll be able to verify that my weapon wasn’t fired.”