Читать книгу The Defender - Cara Summers - Страница 9

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BY THE TIME SADIE MADE it back to St. Peter’s Church, there were four squad cars blocking off both Skylar Avenue and Bellevue. She’d run a few blocks trying to catch sight of Paulo and Juliana, but she hadn’t even glimpsed them and she hadn’t seen the van again, either. A glance at her watch told her that it was 7:30, roughly fifteen minutes since she’d heard those first shots and seen Roman fall over that railing.

A shudder moved through her as the image filled her mind. She couldn’t let herself dwell on it. She had to hold it together. Roman was depending on her.

Two ambulances were now parked in front of the church, and uniformed policemen were stationed at intervals by the tape that had been strung along the sidewalks to keep the curious at a distance. She would have to get past them to get back into the vestibule and check on Roman.

As she made her way through the small crowd that had gathered on the sidewalk across from the church, someone tugged on her arm. Turning, she glanced down to find a tiny woman with bright blue eyes and a mass of curly white hair smiling excitedly up at her. The thought that popped into her mind was that this was what little orphan Annie might look like at seventy.

“Did you hear the shots, dear?”

“No, I didn’t,” Sadie lied, looking for an opening in the police barricade.

“I heard the shots. I live in the house right next to the rectory. At first I wasn’t sure. I thought it might be a car backfiring. But altogether I counted six of them. Way too many for a car. Figured they had to be gunshots.”

Six, Sadie thought. That roughly tallied with the number she’d heard. Two when she’d first come in, three from inside the church, then one overhead. “Did you see anything?”

The woman shook her head. “Not while the shooting was going on. I’d looked through the window earlier and I knew that a wedding was happening the minute that catering truck pulled into the rectory parking lot. Father Mike is hitching up a lot of couples lately. He has a way with young people and St. Peter’s is turning out to be the in place for weddings. He’s brought new life to the neighborhood.”

There was pride in her voice.

“But there was something odd about this one,” the woman continued.

“What?” Sadie asked.

“Very few guests. Usually, the cars fill that little parking lot behind the church, guests hang out on the front steps before the ceremony and they cover the front steps with a long white cloth—to protect the bride’s dress, I guess—and the bride arrives in one of those big stretch limousines. But not tonight. I saw her come in a taxi with a little blond woman and I think the wedding dress was in the bag the blond was carrying.”

Juliana had arrived in a taxi with a blond woman. The woman she’d seen get into the taxi had been carrying a dress bag. Sadie felt a little stab of guilt. She had no idea who the woman was, no idea who any of her sister’s friends were.

“A young man had arrived a bit before that with a big bruiser of a fellow. Figured one of them had to be the groom until the other man arrived. Handsome as sin, that one. I was thinking the bride was one lucky gal if she was tying the knot with him. He looked a bit familiar, too, but I couldn’t place him. I will, though. It will come to me when I’m not expecting it. After the handsome one went inside, I went downstairs to catch Wheel of Fortune.”

As “Annie” continued to talk, Sadie glanced at the front of the church. Nothing was happening. She started forward again.

“Figured it must be one of those hush-hush affairs,” Annie was saying. “Maybe a pair of celebrities or something like that. Whatever it was, someone got wind of it and put a stop to it. I just hope that it wasn’t Father Mike who got killed. Of course, I wouldn’t want it to be the bride or the groom, either.”

Sadie turned back to the tiny woman. “Someone got killed?”

“I heard the cops talking a few minutes ago. I’ve got pretty good ears.” She leaned close to Sadie and spoke in a tone only she could hear. “They said one dead and two injured. Someone in there definitely bought it.”

Not Roman. Sadie glanced back at the church doors. Please, not Roman. “I have to get in there.” She lifted the tape.

Annie laid a hand on her arm. “They won’t let you past this point.”

“But I have to—” She broke off when a young uniformed officer blocked her path.

“Miss, I have to ask you to lower the tape and step back from it,” the officer said.

“You don’t understand. I was here earlier,” she said. “I need to talk to someone who’s in charge.”

An older man in his late forties moved toward them. “Problem, Jerry?”

“She wants to talk to someone who’s in charge.”

The older man turned to Sadie. He was on the short side but he had a solid, muscular build and eyes that gave away nothing. “Right now, that would be Officer Carter here and me, and our orders are to keep everyone out. The only people allowed in the church are the crime-scene team and the medics.”

“You don’t—” Sadie began. But she stopped when the doors of the church opened and two medics carried out a stretcher.

“Oh, thank heavens,” Annie said. “That’s Father Mike. I was so worried about him.”

“How do you know he’s alive?” Sadie asked, unable to tear her gaze away from the stretcher.

“They’re putting him in the ambulance,” Annie explained. “The coroner’s van will pick up the dead one.”

Sadie’s stomach clenched. Was that why they hadn’t brought Roman out yet? She was about to step forward again, when the doors opened and another stretcher emerged. Relief streamed through her when she saw that it was Roman.

“They’re taking special care of him,” Annie commented. “They’re using what looks like a back brace. And see how they’ve got his neck protected?”

Sadie did see and her stomach sank. “How do you know all this?”

“I watch a lot of TV and there’s all those crime shows. Beats watching that junk they call reality TV.”

As soon as they’d loaded Roman’s stretcher into the ambulance, a uniformed policeman climbed in behind him and another one climbed in the passenger seat.

“They’re sending cops with him,” Annie said. “They didn’t send any with Father Mike.”

No, they hadn’t, Sadie thought. The fact that two policemen were accompanying her brother wasn’t a good sign.

“He must have been involved in the shootings,” Annie echoed Sadie’s thoughts.

As Sadie reached to lift the tape again, she recalled Roman’s words—“…shot…Paulo.” If he had, he hadn’t killed him. The moment she closed her hand around the tape, Officer Carter said, “Ma’am, you have to step back.”

“But that’s my—”

Sadie found herself gripped firmly by the arms. “You have to stay here,” Carter said. “Otherwise, I’m going to have to take you into custody and put you in one of the patrol cars.”

Sadie could see in his eyes that he meant it. And beyond his shoulder, she could see the first ambulance pulling away from the curb.

“Jerry?” the older officer called.

Jerry turned his head. “Uh-oh.”

Sadie followed the direction of his gaze to where a truck with Channel Five painted on the side had pulled up to one of the patrol cars blocking the intersection. Both Carter and his partner moved quickly toward the truck as an attractive woman climbed out.

“Good heavens,” Annie said. “That’s Carla Mitchell from Channel Five News.”

As the elderly woman hurried toward the TV truck, Sadie moved through the crowd in the opposite direction. She’d just go down to the middle of the block, cross the street and circle back. She had to get to that ambulance.

She’d reached the edge of the crowd when Roman’s ambulance pulled away from the curb. Sadie broke into a run. If she could just beat it to the corner…

As she sprinted toward the intersection, she thanked her lucky stars for her practical shoes. Dowdy they might be, but at least she could run in them. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the ambulance increase speed. It was gaining on her as she reached the corner. Without stopping, without thinking, she careened into the intersection, waving her arms.

The siren sounded once, but when Sadie didn’t move, it pulled to a stop. The officer in the passenger seat rolled down the window. “Lady, get out of our way.”

Panting, she moved quickly to the side of the ambulance and placed her palms flat against the door. “You’ve got my brother in there. I want to ride along to the hospital.”

“That’s not possible,” the officer said. “He’s a suspect in a possible homicide.”

Homicide? Sadie’s heart lurched. “At least tell me where you’re taking him. He’s my brother.”

The officer hesitated, then said, “You got some ID?”

Realizing that she didn’t have her purse, Sadie shook her head. “No, I—”

“Then I can’t help you.” Even as he rolled up the window, the ambulance shot forward, its siren piercing the night air.

Time for plan B. Sadie spotted her car half a block away and ran toward it. Thank heavens she’d developed a habit of carrying her keys in her pocket because of all the time she’d wasted plowing through her purse for them.

Her purse. She thought briefly about it as she slipped behind the wheel. She’d dropped it when she’d raced up those stairs to look for Juliana. There was no time to go back and get it now, not if she wanted to keep that ambulance in sight. The police probably had it tucked away all nice and safe in an evidence bag.

As she shot away from the curb, she recalled the policeman’s words. “He’s a suspect in a homicide.” She had to find out exactly what had gone on in that church.

IT WAS NEARLY TEN O’CLOCK when Theo slipped out of the cabin and nearly stumbled over Bob.

The dog rose and wagged its tail.

“Ari’s still not here.”

Bob merely looked hopeful.

“Okay.” Theo opened the door. “You can go in, but no more treats until I get back from my swim.”

Sleep had been eluding him. At the end of the dock, Theo paused. The moon was bright and full, the water black and fairly calm. His grandfather’s cabin had been built in the center of a little inlet. A half mile to his right, he could see the clear outline of a row of rocks that jutted out into the ocean. When they were younger, he and his brothers had frequently raced to it and back. If he managed a couple of laps, he ought to be able to catch a good five hours of sleep before sunup. There was nothing he knew of that could drain away his tension more easily than a swim.

Theo stretched his arms skyward, tucking his head between them. Then, bending his knees, he bowed his body slightly forward and shot cleanly into the water. The shock of cold sang through his body. He swam underwater for as long as he could hold his breath, then surfaced and struck out for the rocks. Within minutes, he sank into the rhythm of it, keeping his kick steady and strong, pulling with his arm, turning, breathing and pulling again.

He wondered if Sadie Oliver was a swimmer. She had the sleek, lean body for it. He could almost picture her swimming beside him, matching the rhythm of her strokes to his, kicking those long legs as they sliced through the water together. He imagined their legs scissoring, their bodies stretching, flexing almost as if they were making love.

The water no longer felt cold, Theo noticed. He wasn’t sure whether it was the exercise that had raised his temperature or the thoughts of swimming with Sadie Oliver.

He picked up his pace. It wasn’t just his career path that he was going to have to make a decision about. He was going to have to make a decision about Sadie Oliver, too. And he was beginning to think that the two choices were related.