Blood Men: A Thriller

“How much of the money did you find?” I ask.

“Can’t tell you that,” Schroder says.

“Was this the man that killed Jodie?”

“No,” Landry says.

“He was one of the six?” I ask.

“One of the seven,” Schroder says.

“What?”

“Six men came into the bank,” Schroder says, “but another man sat out in the car.”

“A getaway driver?”

“A wheelman,” Landry says.

“So one of them killed him?”

“Maybe.”

“Who found him?” I ask.

“Now, why would you ask that?” he asks.

“If this is somebody who was in the gang that killed my wife, maybe whoever found him is part of it.”

“They wouldn’t have phoned it in,” Schroder says. “It was his probation officer. The victim didn’t show up this morning, and his probation officer came looking for him.”

“So what are you saying? Who killed him?”

“We don’t know,” Landry says. “Doesn’t make sense that somebody would kill him, and leave all those drugs behind.”

And the money.

“Unless he was killed for a different reason,” Schroder says.

“Something more personal,” Landry says.

“Like revenge,” Schroder says, the two cops bouncing off each other now.

“But you must know his accomplices, right?” I ask. “He would have worked with these men before?”

“We’re looking into it,” Schroder says.

“I don’t understand, why have you come here to tell me this?”

“We thought it was important to keep you updated,” Schroder says.

I don’t think that’s it at all. And he knows I don’t believe him.

“You haven’t exactly told me anything, except somebody who could have been part of the robbery got killed. How do you know he was the wheelman and not one of the six in the bank?”

“Height.”

“What?”

“He was a tall man. None of the six in the bank were as tall as him. The bank crew were all average, this guy was over six foot.”

“Still doesn’t mean he drove the van,” I say.

“He drove the van,” Schroder says. “And he was part of the robbery.”

“So now what? It means you’ll have the others soon, right?”

“We have some leads,” Schroder says, and the way he says it makes me think that they have some leads on who killed Kingsly, not who robbed the bank. “What happened to your hand?”

“I dropped a glass last night,” I say, glancing over at the kitchen where I dropped the glass last night ready for this question. “I cut myself picking up the pieces. I should have gotten stitches.”

“Uh-huh. And your daughter? Where’s Sam?”

“At her grandparents’.”

“So you were here alone last night?”

“Sounds like you have something to ask me.” I say.

Schroder’s cell phone goes off. He flips it open and walks off a few meters, keeping his voice low.

“Yeah. We want to know how you can be in two places at once,” Landry says.

“What?”

“You’re going to tell us you were at home alone last night, right?”

“I was.”

“We got a description of you and your car seen outside our vic’s house last night. In fact we’re planning on having a lineup later on which you’ll be coming along to.”

“I wasn’t there,” I say, doing my best not to break out in a sweat.

“We can prove you were.”

“No. You can’t. Because I wasn’t. My wife is killed, and you come here and treat me this way? Screw you, Detective,” I say, my heart racing. “But you know what? I’m glad he’s dead. Maybe you can find whoever’s responsible and ask him to get the other six.”

“Interesting you’d put it that way,” Landry says. “See, when you say other six and not other five, that suggests you don’t think the killer was one of the gang.”

I don’t answer him. Before he can start back at me, Schroder snaps his phone closed. “There’s been a development,” he says, looking uncomfortable. “I mean, an incident.”

“What kind of incident?”

“It’s your father,” he says, and he stares at the ground for a few seconds before looking back up at me, and without him telling me, I already know what’s happened. “You’re going to need to come with us.”





chapter twenty-eight