Nickel City Crossfire by Gary Ross (popular romance novels .txt) 📗

a glimpse of the SUV and had no idea who was inside. They were retired, he had said in closing. For the most part, they divided their time between church and home, with trips to the supermarket and occasional visits to the casino downtown. He had said nothing about Keisha but I knew her name would come up during the investigation and could steer things one way or another.

As Winslow initialed the form to confirm his statement, the blend of cold and fear that had soaked into him on the porch was still strong enough to make his hands shake. “I just don’t understand,” he said, lower lip quivering as it had a few days ago in my office.

As the senior officer handed the tear-off slip with the case number to Phoenix, Oscar pulled his friend closer.

“I know, Win. It’s crazy. No sense to it.”

Winslow’s eyes teared. “Who does a drive-by on old folks who eat dinner on TV trays while they watch Wheel of Fortune?”

21

When the police left, I signaled to Oscar that he and I should talk. We surrendered our seats on the sofa-style bench to Louisa and Phoenix and stepped outside as if for air.

Oscar pulled on leather gloves and turned up his coat collar. “This got something to do with Keisha, right?”

I pulled on my own tightly knit gloves, designed for runners, warm but thin enough to let me grasp coins or slip a finger into a trigger guard. “I think she disappeared on purpose because she knew some bad people would come looking for her.”

“People bad enough to shoot her folks to smoke her out.”

“Yes, but I’m not even sure they wanted to hit anybody.”

“How do you shoot a gun at somebody and hit ‘em by accident?”

“It wasn’t an accident. It was a don’t-give-a-fuck-either-way drive-by, as long as it drew Keisha out.” I gave him a summary of my investigation, just enough that he would understand what had happened and follow my thinking. “These guys are cold but not pros or they would’ve made sure Keisha was dead in the first place. Cold and professional would’ve corrected that first mistake by taking the time to shoot both Mona and Winslow dead, to guarantee Keisha would come out of hiding.”

“So they woulda kept on you with their Navigator.”

“Exactly. Twice they started something and took off before they finished the job, hoping it would have the desired result. Between those events, they followed me but gave up after I made them and they couldn’t find me.”

Oscar’s sigh frosted and hung in the air a bit. “The real deal woulda kept looking.”

“But they’re like kids who try to clean up a mess before Mommy gets home and just keep making it worse.”

“Which makes them young or inexperienced or both.”

“Yes. Who but someone young would text a threat?”

“What do you think is next?”

“The mess is still there. And here.”

“So they’ll come after Win and Mona again.”

“Maybe they’ll get luckier next time if we don’t run interference.” I thought for a moment. “The house is a crime scene. Win can’t go back there while they’re still processing it. The shooting was outside, so they’ll probably let him back inside by tomorrow. But he can’t stay. I’ll go with him, so he can get some clothes.”

“He can stay with us, long as he needs to. We got plenty of room.”

I nodded. “But you can’t tell anybody, not your other friends, or his, or Louisa’s. Not your neighbors, or folks from church, or in the shelter, or any other place you go. You never know how people are connected and how an innocent comment could reach the wrong ears.”

Oscar was quiet for a time, considering all I had said. Then he nodded. “Okay. But we both know Win ain’t going nowhere tonight except up to Mona’s room. If she makes it.”

“Then you and I’ll have to cover that. The cops will check on her, but as far as they’re concerned, she’s just a random shooting victim. There’s nothing in her background that will justify a round-the-clock police guard.” Mona would move from surgery to post-op care and finally the ICU. Her greatest initial vulnerability would be the ICU, not easy for an outsider to get in and out of, but not impossible. If we were lucky, things would be settled before she was moved into a regular room. “Oscar, from here on out you’re going to be Mona’s brother, which means you can be with Win with no trouble. Be sure to refer to her as your sister when you’re talking to hospital staff. That’ll get them used to you being there to help your brother-in-law through all this.”

“What about you?”

“No problem. Pop.”

Oscar grinned. “You’re big enough to be my kid. A little old though.”

I smiled and shrugged. Then I began to think about how word might reach Keisha and the certainty that she would come to the hospital when it did. Mona’s name would likely be run through the system before it was released to the press, so the six p.m. newscasts probably wouldn’t have it but the one at eleven might. In any case, she’d be in the news by tomorrow.

“I expect Keisha to try to come here by tomorrow,” I said.

“How we gonna keep her safe? They could be outside waiting for her to show up. They could put a bullet in her or snatch her up just like that.” He snapped his fingers, his gloves dulling the sound.

I closed my eyes and tried to picture every door into the medical center. The ER on East North did not offer non-medical personnel a clear path into the core of the hospital. The main entrance on High Street led straight to a security station and information desk that gave out visitor passes. Older buildings on High were attached to the main tower and must have had their own doors as well but I had no idea how many there were and whether they were secure. Another entrance on Ellicott