A man was lying on his back on the sidewalk, legs bent awkwardly beneath him. Blood pooled on the concrete, was spattered against the dirty snow piled against the curb.
‘Shit,’ Adam muttered under his breath to Scarlett. ‘Just like Andy Gold.’ Because the victim’s head was partially gone, shot from behind. ‘Except for that.’ He pointed at the blood darkening the victim’s chest and abdomen. ‘Andy didn’t have that.’
He crouched down, shined his Maglite on the man’s face, and swore again as recognition hit him. ‘Goddammit. It’s Bruiser.’
‘You’re right.’ Scarlett huffed a frustrated sigh, then crouched on the other side of the victim, the two of them shielding the body from the small group of people behind them.
Fortunately, they’d brought four squad cars’ worth of backup in their quest to retrieve Linnie, and those officers were quick to establish a perimeter and string the crime scene tape. The cameras continued flashing, but at least the photos would be grainy and less valuable to the media. Adam had to take satisfaction where he could find it.
Scarlett tilted Adam’s Maglite so that the beam hit the victim’s chest. ‘Four shots to the chest and abdomen, fired from in front of him. One shot to the head, fired from behind.’
‘Two different shooters. The head wound came from a rifle.’
‘Large caliber to the head. Holes in his shirt aren’t that big. Location of the rifle?’
For the second time that day Adam found himself doing a slow three-sixty, searching for the glint of a rifle, nearly impossible now that darkness had fallen. Not that the shooter was still there, not in the same place anyway. The bastard was good at getting away fast.
‘Based on the spatter, he was facing east.’ Adam scanned the windows and rooftops to the west. He pointed to the most likely building. ‘Shooter was up there.’
‘We need to get Forensics here, to get us a trajectory.’ Scarlett swore under her breath. ‘If that’s even possible now. He’s been moved. Rolled over.’
She was right. Bruiser’s right cheek had an even coating of blood that could have only come from resting in the pool of blood currently on the left side of his body. ‘Shit. It only took us a minute to get here.’
Most of the people gathered around them were wide-eyed and shocked, though a few appeared avid and greedy. A few wore coats, but a handful were shivering in their shirtsleeves. They must have come out of the various businesses still open along the block.
‘Who moved him?’ Adam asked. Nobody answered. He managed to keep his temper. ‘Did anyone here see anything?’
‘I did.’ An older woman came forward, her phone in her hand, but as an offering. ‘I took a picture when he went down.’ She looked at the people behind her with an irate frown. ‘Because somebody did roll him over, but they ran after taking the picture of . . . his face. I thought you’d need to see how he fell.’
Sometimes TV crime shows did work in their favor. ‘That was good thinking, ma’am. I’m Detective Kimble, that’s Detective Bishop over there. You are?’
‘Erinn Brinton, Missus. Two n’s in Erinn,’ she said. ‘I work at the coffee shop.’ She indicated the storefront with her head. ‘I came out to take my smoking break, so I saw it. The one who shot him was a skinny girl. Really skinny, like I wanted to take her home and feed her. But he started it. She was minding her own business and he tried to grab her. I was about to call 911, because she looked scared and he looked mean. But she had a gun in her pocket. Pulled it out and shot him. Sorry, I didn’t think to video it. It happened so fast.’
‘That’s okay,’ Adam said and gave her a nod of encouragement, because despite her rapid speech, she was alarmingly pale and trembling. ‘What happened then?’
She shook her head in disbelief. ‘He tried to get up. It was crazy. He was bleeding out of his stomach and . . . But he got up like a robot or a monster or something.’ She swayed on her feet and Adam grabbed her elbow to keep her upright.
He looked over at one of the uniforms. ‘Can you get this lady a chair, please?’ Because Mrs Brinton did not look good at all. A man in the crowd offered a water bottle.
‘Give it to her,’ the man said. ‘It’s not been opened.’
‘Thank you.’ Adam saw the unbroken seal and opened it. Sliding his arm around the old woman to hold her up, he put the bottle in her hands. ‘Drink, ma’am. Try to breathe.’
She nodded and visibly got hold of herself. Her adrenaline rush was clearly wearing off, plus the reality of what she’d just witnessed was sinking in. ‘I’m okay,’ she said, more like she was trying to convince herself. ‘Anyway, the girl, she got this look of horror on her face and I thought she’d shoot him again. But then he got to his feet, and then, boom.’
‘The last shot,’ Adam said.
‘Yeah. Knocked him forward.’ She flicked at her phone and a photo appeared – the man lying on his stomach, right cheek to the pavement, one arm outstretched.
‘Did you see where the skinny girl went?’ Adam asked gently.
‘She ran towards that corner.’ She pointed. ‘I think she knew him. I’m thinking abusive spouse, and that she got a restraining order, but he ignored it. I seen it happen before.’ Her eyes filled with tears. ‘Why won’t they just listen when the lady says no?’
‘I don’t know, ma’am,’ he told her truthfully as an officer brought her a folding chair.
‘I called for an ambulance,’ the officer said to Adam quietly. His nametag said Khan. ‘Coffee shop owner says she’s got a bad heart.’
‘Thanks.’ Adam lowered the woman into the chair. ‘Look, Mrs Brinton, I’ve got to go now, but stay here, okay?’
‘Okay,’ she said, clutching the water bottle.
‘Officer Khan is going to stand nearby. Tell him if you feel worse. I’ll be back, but if the EMTs get here first, you go with them.’
That she nodded without argument spoke volumes. ‘What if you need to ask me more questions?’
‘Officer Khan will tell me where to find you. For now, let him help you call a family member or a friend. Then afterward, if you can, I’d like to have that photo.’ He gave her his card. ‘My email and my phone numbers are on here. Call me if you remember anything else.’ He patted the woman’s hand, then moved to where Scarlett was just finishing a conversation with one of the uniforms.
Deacon and Hanson ran up to join them. ‘What the hell happened?’ Deacon asked, frowning at the scene. ‘Shit. That looks like Bruiser.’
‘It is.’ Adam told them what the woman had said. ‘The really skinny girl sounds like Linnie.’
Scarlett sighed. ‘She was on her way back to the shelter, but we got there first.’
‘And scared her away,’ Hanson added grimly. ‘It’ll be harder than ever to find her.’
‘It’s super cold tonight,’ Scarlett said. ‘She’ll have to find shelter somewhere. We’ll check all the usual places.’
Deacon gave Adam a pitying look. ‘Isenberg needs to know we lost her.’
Adam did not look forward to that call. ‘So does Trip. He’s going to be escorting Shane and the Davises to a safe house. He needs to know that a gunman is still active.’
‘Are Shane and the Davises staying in the condo?’ Deacon asked.
‘No. There’s room for Kyle and Shane, but not for the Davises once Meredith and her grandfather go back there tonight. We want to keep Shane and the Davises together. I’ll call Isenberg and Trip. We’ll lock the area down, do a door-to-door search.’
‘I’ll get the search started,’ Hanson offered.
‘I’ll call Quincy to do the forensics since he did the Gold scene,’ Scarlett said.
‘Thanks.’ Stepping away from the scene, Adam dialed Trip.
‘What’s up?’ Trip answered. ‘You bring her in?’
‘No.’ Adam told him what happened.
Trip swore. ‘So Linnie wounded him, but somebody else killed Tiffany’s killer?’
‘Basically. The head shot was just like Andy Gold’s.’
‘You got the bullet yet?’
‘Not yet. Scarlett’s calling Quincy. Look, if this is the shooter who killed Andy and shot at the van today, you need to make sure you’re covered when you transport Shane and the Davises to that safe house.’