Page 17 of Forged By Fire (Danger in Destiny #9)
Chapter Sixteen
C lint gave Leslie enough space to lead as they slowly made their way down hallways and through rooms, scouring the area with their flashlights and looking for anything that stood out.
The radio on his belt came to life occasionally as people reported in, and he did the same.
So far, no one had found anything of importance in the last hour, but the warehouse they were searching was expansive.
It could take some time to finish their investigation.
They went through a maze of hallways until they entered a larger area. Leslie, who had kept an even pace, suddenly stilled. She slowly looked around them as though she were trying to orient herself. Maybe even remember something. Clint waited silently, giving her the time she needed.
She glanced at him, and the haunted look in her eyes cut him to the core. In that moment, all he wanted to do was gather her in his arms and protect her from all of this. Memories of their kiss that morning made his need to shelter her even more intense .
“We saw the shooter for the first time here.” She turned again and pointed her flashlight into the hallway on the right.
“He was standing over there and waving his arms to get our attention. Keyes and Cho were working to get one of the employees out of the building. For a moment, I thought it might be one of them who needed help. It was impossible to identify him in the dim light and smoke. He looked like any other firefighter.”
It made sense. The headlamps alone would make it difficult to see the man’s face inside his helmet or even notice that the name badge was missing from his jacket. “What happened next?”
“I said something over the radio. I don’t remember what—maybe asking if something was wrong. Danny must have thought it was Keyes or Cho, too, because he immediately went toward him. I followed.”
Cautiously, she continued in that direction. The hallway ended with an open doorway on the right. Leslie stepped through it, shifted slightly to her left, and stopped. Clint moved to stand beside her.
“Here. This is where he shot Danny.” Her flashlight illuminated several water jugs against one wall. “I remember seeing the water. I don’t know why that stuck out. Maybe because of the fire.” She motioned to the ceiling high above them. “The glow from the fire reflected off the metal.”
Clint illuminated the room with his flashlight. A water cooler sat against the far wall, along with a short counter that held a coffee maker and a microwave. A small table was set up in one corner. It was a breakroom, and the door they came in was the only way in or out of the room.
“When I came around the corner, Danny was over to the right, and the shooter was standing in the middle of the room with his gun aimed at him. As soon as I came in, Danny moved to stand between us.” Her voice cracked.
“I didn’t see much after that. Danny tried to get him to calm down, and I heard the gun go off moments later. ”
Leslie lowered her flashlight to the floor where a reddish-brown stain marred the concrete.
“He fell right there. I ran and dropped to his side. The shooter walked away. He didn’t try to shoot me, and he didn’t run.
He walked out of the room as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
” Her gaze slid from the spot to the wall across the room.
Clint placed a hand on the back of her neck, his thumb gently rubbing the tense muscles coiled beneath his hand.
“You’ve done an amazing job.” He picked up his radio and spoke into it.
“Granger and I have located the site of the shooting. It’s a breakroom about halfway down the building on the east side. Beginning to look for evidence now.”
“Copy that.”
He gave Leslie’s shoulder a squeeze. “I’m going to take some pictures for evidence, and then we need to go through the room. See if we can find the casing from the bullet. We know this guy has been careful to wear gloves, but he may not have thought about it when he loaded the gun.”
She looked at him, her eyes focused with determination. “If there’s even a chance there could be a partial print on that casing, then we need to find it.”
He nodded once and pointed his flashlight at one area of the room. “Given where the shooter was standing, it’s most likely over there, although it could’ve rolled anywhere.”
She began their search while he took pictures of the room from different angles, followed by multiple pictures of the blood stain on the floor.
He imagined Danny lying there and Leslie trying to figure out how to get him out of the warehouse before he bled out or the structure collapsed on top of them.
It was odd that the suspect hadn’t gone on to shoot Leslie as soon as Danny fell.
He also could’ve come back and picked her off like a sitting duck while she was tending to her partner.
Either he wanted Leslie alive, Danny really was his primary target, or he was too concerned about getting out before the police arrived to care about anything else.
Whatever the case, Clint sent up a silent prayer of thanks that she’d been spared.
His radio crackled to life. “This is Carrington. Smith and I found a storage closet. A bucket was turned upside down like a stool, and there are numerous empty water bottles and food wrappers on the floor. There’s also a digital scanner.
The battery is dead, but I’m willing to bet it was tuned into the fire station. ”
Paris’s voice was next. “He got into the warehouse at some point, then must have waited in the storage closet until most of the employees had left for the day. He started the fire. Maybe he came back to the closet again until he heard the fire department arrive?”
Had the shooter waited for most of the employees to leave because he’d wanted fewer people to be potentially injured in the fire? Or because there would be less people to spot him when he tried to make his escape?
Paris’s theory was a sound one, but something didn’t quite add up for Clint. “This guy has been meticulous about not leaving evidence, and yet he left all of that behind. It doesn’t track.” He continued to search for the casing as he listened to the radio conversation.
“Maybe he meant to come back and couldn’t. Or he thought it was all going to go up in flames and take care of the evidence for him,” one of the other officers replied.
“Take pictures of absolutely everything and then bag it all,” Paris ordered. “We’ll take it back to the lab and go through it.”
“Understood.”
The radio went quiet again.
Clint looked across the room where Leslie was stooped as she looked for the casing beneath the table.
Sensing his gaze, she lifted her chin and paused. “Even if he wore gloves the whole time he was waiting and eating, there’s still a chance the lab can find DNA, right?”
“Absolutely. On the rims of the water bottles, if nothing else.”
She gave a hopeful nod and went back to her search.
Clint had no doubt they’d find some DNA, but unless the shooter was already in the system, it wouldn’t do them much good now. However, once they caught the guy, they could use the DNA to irrefutably put him at the scene of the crime.
“Hey, Clint? Check this out.”
She’d shifted her search to the small cabinet that supported the coffee maker and microwave. She was shining her flashlight at the base, and that’s when Clint realized it was on wheels.
He got down on the floor with her and looked beneath it. On the far side, next to the wall, was something shiny. It could certainly be a bronze casing.
“Awesome job, Leslie. Let me get a picture of this cabinet and its location, then we’ll roll it out of the way and see what we’ve got.”
They had to move the table and chairs in order to have enough room to shift the cabinet down. Once they did and got a closer look, there was no doubt it was the bullet casing they’d been searching for.
Clint got several photos showing where it’d been found, then some macro shots as well. When he was satisfied, he pulled a glove from his pocket, put it on, and got a plastic bag out of another pocket.
“Wow, you’re prepared.”
He smiled. “I do my best.” With the opening of the bag on the floor next to the bronze casing, he used a gloved finger to gently nudge it inside then sealed the top.
“There we go.” Clint spoke into his radio, “Granger found the bullet casing. I’ve bagged it, and we’re on our way out.
” He didn’t see any reason for her to spend more time in the warehouse than she’d already had to endure.
“Nicely done.” Paris sounded encouraged. “You and Granger head back to the entrance. All other teams should do the same once you’ve finished searching the room you’re currently in.”
“Understood.” Clint clipped the radio back to his belt and put a hand against Leslie’s back. “Come on. Let’s get you out of here.”
“Gladly.”
He felt the slightest shiver in the muscles of her back as she leaned into his touch. She’d been an absolute trooper coming back here after all she’d been through. Now all he wanted was to get her out of the warehouse and back into the sunshine where she belonged.