On a Killer's Trail (7 page)

Neil sat up straight and lowered his hand. “No. What’s that about?”

“It seems the dispatcher took a call from a woman who said someone shot at her cat. Two patrol officers responded, and sure enough, there was the woman with her cat. It had a graze on its hind leg. They got a statement from the owner and picked up some empty .22 cases. She gave them a description of the kid who did it and showed them the exact spot of the ‘attempted murder’ as she called it.”

“Oh, yeah?” Neil scratched his head. It was odd, but he wouldn’t have thought it newsworthy.

“Yeah. As it happened, one of the responding officers was here when I read it. He told me there was a little blood on the snow, so he dug around and pried a bullet out of the dirt.”

“The bullet that hit the cat?”

“Maybe. He said it wasn’t something they would usually follow up on, but…”

Neil frowned, wondering exactly what Kate wanted of him. “We don’t have time to run something like that on the IBIS system. We’ve got more serious crimes to investigate.”
Like the two murders I’m stuck on
.

“I suppose you’re right. I was just thinking that maybe that bullet could be from a gun that was used in another crime. When Tony showed me how the system works the other day, I was very
impressed. I guess I got a little carried away with my enthusiasm. Sorry. I shouldn’t have bothered you.”

“Whoa, wait.” Neil knew it was ridiculous, but for some reason, he felt like a heel. He could almost see Kate’s blue eyes, filled with contrition. “Who’s the officer? I’ll talk to him. Maybe I could find time to just give it a quick run on my lunch hour. And thanks, Kate.

“Nuts,” he said when he hung up a minute later. “I am absolutely nuts.”

“What’s up?” Tony asked from across the aisle.

“Nothing to do with our cases. Just a favor for someone.” Neil asked himself what Connor would do in this situation, and he knew the answer. Forget it! But he’d committed himself to at least ask Patrolman Ray Oliver about it now. Reluctantly, he called the patrol sergeant and asked if Oliver was in. Five minutes later, the patrolman called him on his desk phone.

“Oh, that girl reporter got to you?” Oliver asked, when Neil inquired about the shooting. “She’s pretty, but this is a low-priority incident.”

“Where’s the bullet now?” Neil asked, deliberately avoiding his question.

“In the evidence room. If you guys want to log it out and play with it, well…knock yourself out. I don’t have time to mess with stuff like that.”

Ten minutes later, Neil had the bullet in the lab and began the test. “I must be bonkers.”

The screen flashed, and Neil stared at it. He grabbed his phone and dialed Connor’s cell phone.

“What’s up, Neil?” the captain asked.

“This is crazy, but Kate gave me a tip about a kid shooting at a cat this morning. A patrolman recovered a bullet. Connor, it matches the bullets from the two murders.”

Connor whistled softly. “Look, I’m on the way home with Adrienne and the baby. I’ll come to the police station as soon as I get her settled.”

“You don’t need to.”

“Well, I—” After a short pause, Connor said slowly, “You’re right. I don’t. You can handle this, Neil. You know what to do, don’t you?”

“Yeah.” It felt good, realizing that he knew exactly how to proceed. “We’ll be fine, Connor.”

“Great, because I shouldn’t really leave Adri alone today with the baby and Matt. So just…go ahead with the investigation and bring me a full report. I’ll be back at my desk Monday.”

“Oh, uh…there’s one thing. Since Kate gave me this tip, is it okay if I…?”

“I guess she earned it.”

Neil smiled. “Thanks.” He took out his cell phone and suddenly realized it contained a lot of baggage he no longer needed. Sarah Maguire. That was a mistake. Delete. Cyndi Plaisted. She got married, didn’t she? Delete. Carol Zeigler. He couldn’t remember who she was, or what she looked like. Delete.

When the directory was stripped down to numbers he actually used these days, he felt efficient and lonely. The exercise was a depressing reminder of his old lifestyle. Bringing up the newest number he’d added and remembering his purpose lifted the melancholia a little. When Kate answered with an inviting lilt in her voice, he felt even better.

“Kate, you’re the best.”

“What? Neil, is that you?”

“Yes, and I owe you big-time.”

“You do?”

“I sure do. Remember your cat bullet? It matches the bullets from the Riley and Hepburn murders.”

“Oh, wow! What now?”

“We’ll be working in the neighborhood where the cat was shot. We need to find the young man who fired that gun.”

“I’ll go over there,” Kate said quickly.

“Good. I think you can help us. Maybe I’ll call a press conference, even. The media can help us locate that kid.”

Twenty minutes later, the entire Priority Unit and a dozen patrolmen hit the neighborhood where the cat was shot, miles away from the two homicides.

Neil interviewed the cat owner personally. Mrs. Sargent had seen the boy clearly—she called him a boy—but she didn’t know him. A female officer drove her to the police station, where Sergeant Lyons set her up with a sketch artist. By two o’clock, the officers had sketches and were showing them to everyone in the area. Neil called a press conference and released the sketch.

“The cat is going to be fine,” he told the reporters who gathered in the lobby. “It has a minor wound, but a veterinarian has treated it, and he says it will heal. But the gun that wounded the cat has been linked to some other crimes, and the police department wants that gun and would like to talk to the person who used it.” For the next ten minutes, he fielded questions from the television and newspaper reporters. He caught Kate’s eye once, and she smiled at him. When it was over and the rest were rushing out the door, she made a beeline for where he stood.

“This is great, Neil!” Her blue eyes sparkled. “I told my editor, and I’m writing the story.”

“Congratulations.”

“So, you hope to find the person who shot the cat.”

“I think we have a good chance. Several people have called in, but so far we haven’t found the right guy. The sketch seems to look vaguely like a lot of people.”

She nodded. “Maybe after they show it on the TV news tonight.” She looked at her watch. “I’d better get at my story. Thanks again.” She reached out to squeeze his arm, and her touch electrified him. Kate seemed to feel it, too, looking a little dazed as she gave him a quick smile and turned to go.

Neil waded through a mountain of reports brought in by the detectives following up on tips from people who thought they recognized the sketch of the cat shooter. They had nothing solid by the end of the day. Maybe, as Kate had said, someone who saw the evening news could make a positive identification.

He was just about to leave the office that evening when the dispatcher called him.

“Detective Alexander, we have a woman on the line with something that may interest you.”

Neil waited while the dispatcher connected him. “Hello. How may I help you?”

“I wondered if the police department could send someone over here to pick up a gun.”

“A gun, ma’am?”

“Yes.”

“Is it your gun?”

“No, of course not.” She sounded peeved. “I took my trash out a little while ago, and I saw a gun in my apartment building’s Dumpster.” She gave him an address three blocks from where the cat was shot.

Neil assured her an officer would be right over. “Bonus points for Kate Richards,” he said as he hung up. Forty-five minutes later he’d recovered the pistol from the Dumpster and was back in the lab with it.

He took the serial number and dusted the pistol for prints. It had been wiped. Then he took it to the area where guns could be fired for ballistics testing in the lab.

Neil fired two rounds and put the bullets in the imaging camera. In a matter of minutes, he had the images running on the computer program for the ballistics matching system. The bullets he had test-fired matched the ones taken from the two homicide victims and the scene of the cat shooting.

Next, Neil traced the gun’s serial number through computerized records. It was registered to a civilian, but had been reported stolen five years ago. He checked one more time to see if bullets from any other crimes matched that weapon, but got no more hits.

He sat back, satisfied. It was a moment to share. He decided to drive over to Connor’s house and tell him what he had found. He arrived at the house at seven forty-five, and Kate met him at the door.

“Well, hi.” She looked great, in an emerald-green sweater and jeans. The air between them seemed charged with electricity.

Neil smiled. “Hi. Is the boss home?”

“Yeah. He’s in the bedroom with Adrienne and Hailey.”

“Oh. I guess I should have called. I don’t want to disturb him.”

“It must be important, or you wouldn’t have come over.”

Neil couldn’t hold back a grin. “It is.”

“Anything I can know about?”

He hesitated. “Well…”

She shook her head. “I shouldn’t have asked. Sorry. That’s no way to repay you after what you did today. I mean, I called you with a flaky, long-shot idea, and you pursued it, and it paid off.”

“I was really glad you told me about it. I don’t usually pay much attention to stuff the patrolmen are dealing with.”

“Come on in. Connor will probably want to hear whatever it is you’ve got. If I send you away, he and Adrienne will both say I shouldn’t have.”

Neil went inside with her. Matthew came padding in from the sunroom in his sleeper. “Uncle Neil!”

“Hey, buddy!” Neil swung him up in his arms. “So, you got a new sister, huh?”

Matt nodded solemnly.

Kate smiled at them. “Why don’t you two go into the living room?”

Neil sat down on the couch with Matthew and picked up a picture book from the coffee table.

The captain entered a moment later. “Neil, what’s up?”

Neil realized Kate was hovering in the doorway behind him. “I’ve got something good. I, uh, wasn’t sure if I should tell Kate, though.”

“Is it something you’ll tell the world tomorrow?”

“Probably. And she did give us a major tip this morning. Should we let her break this in the morning paper?”

“Oh, please!” Kate rocked up and down on her toes with eagerness.

Connor gave her a tolerant smile. “You haven’t had enough work for one day?”

“What is it?” She looked eagerly at Neil.

Absolutely gorgeous! Neil looked away from her vivid eyes. “Oh, just a little something I found tonight. Like the murder weapon in two homicides and an attempted cat-ricide.”

Kate’s jaw dropped. “You found the gun?”

“Found it and matched it to all three crimes.”

“Good work,” Connor said.

“This is huge! I’ve got to call my editor,” Kate said.

“Do me a favor,” Connor said. “You can say we found the murder weapon. Please don’t reveal that it’s the same gun used in the cat shooting.”

Kate frowned. “All right.” She turned and hurried to the kitchen.

“She’ll be up half the night,” Connor said. “And she’ll probably want to ask you a million questions.”

“It’s okay,” Neil said.

Matthew tugged on his sleeve. “Uncle Neil, the story.”

They were halfway through the picture book when Kate returned with a preoccupied look. “Connor, my editor wants me to come in to the office and write the story there. Is that okay? Could you put Matt to bed?”

“Sure, but I hate for you to drive home late alone.”

“I could take her,” Neil offered. He was feeling good about his triumph, and he wondered if he was ready to spend a little more time with Kate.

“Are you sure?” she asked. “Because I really do need more details, and it would be great if you wanted to drive and I could take notes on the way.”

“Perfect. My truck’s in the driveway. Grab your notebook.”

When they walked into the newsroom, the night editor rose from her chair.

“Hello, Kate. I hope you didn’t mind coming in. I’ve got to remake the page, and I figured it would be easier if you put the
story right into our system.” The woman eyed Neil from behind her wire-framed glasses, then looked back at Kate.

“Jan, this is Detective Neil Alexander. He’s the one who told me about the new evidence.”

“Hello. Nice to meet you,” the editor said. “Kate, your story will go on the split page.”

“Not the front page?” Kate couldn’t help hearing the disappointment in her own voice.

“We’ve got a scandal at the animal shelter already. Barry Patterson is working late on that story. We’re getting close to deadline….” Jan glanced at the clock. “All right. Can you give me twelve inches in twenty minutes? I’ll see what space I can free up on page one.”

Kate gulped. She typed fast, but she wasn’t sure she could translate her notes into readable copy that quickly.