Fatal Reckoning (Fatal #14)(51)

“Young and newly married,” Sam told her.

“Ah, damn. What happened?”

“Caught a stray bullet.”

“What the hell are people doing firing a gun in a crowded area in the middle of the day?”

“If I had the answer to that question, we’d probably be out of business.” Sam looked around at the staggering array of places a bullet could’ve come from. “It’ll be a hell of a job figuring out where the bullet originated.” They would analyze the angle of entry and work backward from there.

“Crime Scene is on the way, Lieutenant,” the Patrol officer said.

“Let’s not move him until they get here,” Sam said to Lindsey.

“Right.” Lindsey raised the jacket to view his face, her eyes softening with emotion. “His poor wife.”

Sam took a deep breath and released it slowly. “I’ve got to go find her.”

“I don’t envy you that.”

“Someone’s got to do it.” Sam tried to be cavalier about what would be a dreadful task, but her heart ached at the thought of destroying the life of a woman who’d thought she had things figured out. In one second, everything changed. “I’ll see you back at the house.”

She went to find Freddie and Darren, who were standing off to the side of the fray. A nearby shop owner had given Darren a bottle of cold water. Sam had never seen the young reporter look so pale or freaked out. Like her, he saw a lot of crazy shit in the course of a day, and this had clearly rattled him.

“Can you take me to the wife?”

Darren nodded. “Yeah.”

To Freddie, she said, “Start a canvass. Talk to everyone who was on the street and find out everything you can about where the bullet came from. Get the others here to help you.”

“Will do.”

“Let’s go, Darren.” She led him to her car.

Darren got into the passenger seat. “I…I’m not sure I can do this. She’s the nicest person, and she was so happy with him. I went to the wedding.”

“What’s her name?”

“It’s Veronica, but we call her Roni.”

“What does she do at the Star?”

“She’s our obituary writer.” He blew out a deep breath. “How could this have happened?”

“I ask myself that question every day as I encounter one tragic death after another.”

“I don’t know how you do it.”

“Someone’s gotta do it. May as well be me.”

They were silent on the ride to the K Street office of the Washington Star. Darren directed her to a guest parking lot and flashed his ID to building security. “She’s with me.” The officer waved her through after Sam showed him her badge. They took the elevator to the third floor.

Sam had never seen the Star newsroom before and took a quick look around at a beehive of activity as she followed Darren down a long corridor of offices behind glass walls that afforded zero privacy to the people inside. That was probably strategic, so their employer could keep an eye on them. People stopped what they were doing to gawk at her as she went by.

God, she hated that goldfish feeling and yearned for the days when she’d been able to move freely around the city without attracting attention everywhere she went. She was so proud of her vice president husband, but his higher profile had led to hers being raised as well, and that made things more difficult for her on the job. Not that she’d ever tell him that. He worried enough about her as it was.

Darren stopped outside an office and used his chin to tell Sam this was the one.

A dark-haired woman faced away from the door, earbuds in as she worked on a laptop.

Darren opened the door. “Hey, Roni.” He spoke loudly enough to be heard over the music.

She turned, tugged out one of the earbuds and smiled. “Hey. What’s up?”

Sam stepped into view and watched as the woman immediately recognized her.

“Oh my God! You’re here! In our office!” She got up and came around the desk, hand outstretched to shake Sam’s. “Darren speaks so highly of you. How’d he get you to come in? He says you play hard to get with him.”

Sam wanted to die over what she had to do to this poor, sweet woman. “Could we talk for a second?”





      CHAPTER FIFTEEN


RONI GLANCED AT DARREN, her brows furrowing. Perhaps something she saw in his stricken expression alerted her to impending doom. She took a step back and shook her head. “No. Please…”

“Roni…”

She began to cry and put her hands over her ears.

Darren closed the office door behind them.

“I’m so sorry to have to tell you that Patrick was shot and killed a short time ago.” Sam said the words quickly, the way she’d learned to do at times like this, so as not to drag out the process.

She would never forget the sound of Roni’s heartbroken scream. It pierced her heart and left her bleeding inside for a woman she’d never met, for a couple whose life together had ended in the most tragic way possible.

Darren rushed forward to catch Roni when she would’ve collapsed and held her as she cried hysterically.

“Not my Patrick. He’s got a desk job! He said this would never happen. He promised me…”