Page 27 of Last Chance Christmas
“He’s dead, isn’t he?” The guy paled.
“If you’re gonna be sick, do it outside.”
The neighbor stumbled back off the step and headed for his house.
“Tazwell!”
She found Junior in the room with the body. What she’d expected to be a guest room or study had a boarded-up window and bare drywall on the walls that had been taped but not finished. As if, in the middle of a renovation, the homeowner had called a halt to the work.
“Check this out.”
She moved to where he stood looking at boxes on the floor. Beside them was an open case with a rifle inside. The same gun that had fired at the van?
She said, “Did you open that?”
“The lid was knocked off when I came in. I didn’t touch anything.” Ramble crouched, pain in his expression. “Look at what’s visible.”
She peered inside and saw a black-and-white photo of a young woman. Bound hands and feet, lying on a bare mattress. Behind it was a bigger piece of paper, folded, that looked like schematics for a building. “Who is this guy?”
“That picture? She’s one of Jason Vaynes’s victims. I read the whole file after the breakout. The detectives always suspected he might’ve had an accomplice.” He straightened and looked at the dead man lying face down in a pool of his own blood. “You think this is him?”
“Whoever killed him might’ve taken something.”
“He left something as well.” Junior indicated a gun on the floor a few feet away. “The murder weapon. My duty weapon.”
Her brows rose. “He killed his accomplice with your gun and left it behind?”
“Not part of his plan, but maybe an added bonus. Take out the accomplice.” Junior glanced from the boxes to the victim. “Then the path is clear for him to do whatever he wants.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.” Olivia had been focused on Sosa, who was bad enough.
This Vaynes guy sounded deadly.
“If they aren’t long gone from town by now,” she said, “then we need a way to draw them out.”
Twelve
Izan took his coffee down the hall, not sure where he was going but too restless to sit at the firehouse and wait for a call. Thankfully his shift had started an hour ago. Being here but not working made him feel way too cooped up.
On the wall of the community noticeboard in the hall, he spotted a flyer for the church Christmas decorating party. His whole family would be in attendance tonight. All except him. Which was normal if he was on shift, but maybe Ainsley was right to nudge him about Sunday dinners—if only for the fact Junior would be there. Izan hadn’t been to many lately, and not just because he was on shift a lot.
Bryce had his office door open. “Collins, in here.”
Izan moved to the doorway. “Yes, Captain?”
Bryce leaned back in his office chair, an empty coffee cup beside his laptop. The whole room was maybe twelve feet by eight, but at least it was bigger than the lieutenants’ offices. Bryce was moving up in the world, freeing up the chief because Bryce could show up as the commander of a scene. “You had a run-in with Sosa?”
Izan lowered the mug from his mouth and winced. “Olivia was there. It turned out fine. Just a mild concussion, and Sosa ran off.”
Bryce shook his head. “Penny is out looking for him, working with the police. She’s determined to get him back behind bars as soon as possible.”
“I hope they find him and all the others before someone gets hurt.”
“She just messaged me. The cops found a body they think is Jason Vaynes’s accomplice. Apparently Junior and Olivia were doing a wellness check because no one else was available.”
Izan couldn’t believe that. “They’re both on sick leave.”
“And if you were here but not on shift, and a certain kind of call went out, wouldn’t you jump in the truck and go anyway? Because it would be all hands on deck.”
