Fatal Reckoning (Fatal #14)(93)

Malone pushed his way through the crowd to her. “Come on.”

Sam didn’t ask where they were going as she followed him through the double doors to the treatment area. They stopped outside a cubicle where several Patrol officers stood with Dr. Anderson, whose grim expression only added to Sam’s tension.

“What’ve you got?” Malone asked.

The Patrol officer consulted her notes. “Viera was headed south on 21st Street Northwest, between Virginia and Constitution Avenues, when he was forced off the road by a white vehicle.”

“How do you know it was white?” Sam asked.

“The streaks of paint on the side of Viera’s navy blue pickup truck were white. Viera’s truck was found upside down. The other car had fled the scene by the time we arrived. We’ve put out an APB for a white vehicle with damage to the passenger side.”

“Who called it in?”

“An Uber driver who happened upon the wreck after it had happened.”

“Contact Lieutenant Archelotta to find out what we’ve got for cameras in the area.”

“I’ve already done that,” the Patrol officer said.

“Good work, Officer Densley.” Sam took note of the young woman’s name after being impressed by her thorough report.

“How’s he doing?” Malone asked Anderson.

“He’s in rough shape with broken ribs, clavicle, femur and a head injury that’s our biggest concern.”

“Will he survive?” Sam asked.

“I hope so. We’ll know more in a few hours.”

“We need him, Doc,” Malone said.

“His girlfriend and unborn child need him too,” Sam added.

“We’re doing everything we can. Let me get back to him.” Anderson returned to Viera’s room.

“Don’t leave this hallway for any reason,” Malone said to the Patrol officers. “If anyone tries to get to him, do whatever is needed to keep him safe.”

“Yes, sir.”

The two young officers seemed nervous but determined to follow orders.

As she followed Malone back to the waiting room, Sam wished she felt better about leaving them to protect Viera’s life.

Malone walked through the crowded waiting room, which went silent as they passed through.

Sam wondered if they were all blaming her for the fact that their friend was in critical condition and fighting for his life. She’d gone looking for him and dragged him into the investigation, and now…

“Don’t go there,” Malone said gruffly as they walked to his vehicle. “It’s not your fault or our fault that this happened.”

“Try telling that to his pregnant girlfriend or the people who work with him every day.”

“It’s not your fault. You were doing your job, and it led to him.”

“Who else knew that it led to him besides his colleagues and ours?”

“What’re you getting at?”

“Am I being followed?”

“Have you felt like you were?”

“Nope, but my head hasn’t been a hundred percent in the game the way it usually is. I probably wouldn’t have noticed if I was being trailed.”

“Conklin knew we’d talked to him. Don’t forget that.”

“True.”

They were in his SUV and seat-belted in, but he made no move to start the engine.

Sam stared out the passenger window as the silence stretched into minutes. “Let’s deal with Conklin before someone else ends up dead.”

“Sam—”

“At this point, what does it matter if he does ten years or twenty? I just want answers. I want it to be over, Cap, for my dad, for my family, for everyone who loved him. I want justice any way I can get it—for him and for Steven, if his case is related.”

“All right, then. Let’s go see what the son of a bitch has to say for himself.”





      CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX


UPON THEIR ARRIVAL back at HQ, Malone asked that Skip’s messenger bag and the contents be brought to his office immediately.

Filled with a strange mix of anticipation, dread and excitement, Sam paced the small room while they waited. She had no idea what she’d find in that messenger bag or what it would mean to the case, but she knew for certain that having that piece of her dad back in her custody would mean the world.

Memories of early-morning coffee dates and happy-hour gatherings at O’Leary’s siphoned through her thoughts, along with the many times she’d had to implore him not to intervene on her behalf when she was struggling with Stahl at work. The reminders of the life they’d led before someone tried to kill him were bittersweet. On the one hand, she loved to think about the way things used to be. On the other hand, it was almost too painful to remember him before the devastating injury, especially in light of how he’d been forced to live afterward.

And to know, all that time, someone close to them had held the answers they’d craved and had chosen to protect himself rather than do the right thing… It would take her years to get her head around that.

Malone eyed her warily. “You look like you’re about to spontaneously combust.”

“I feel like I might.”