Page 8 of Forged By Fire (Danger in Destiny #9)

Chapter Eight

T he bullet the surgeon removed from Danny Bracken’s chest went through ballistics, but there wasn’t a match.

Clint was hoping it would lead to something.

Even if it had been matched with a bullet from another unsolved case, at least there would be more evidence to sift through.

It might’ve been enough to lead them in the right direction. Instead, they had nothing.

Detective Paris walked into his office, handed Clint a bottle of water, and then took a seat at his desk with his cup of coffee.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. I was interviewing a man who worked for the paper company until he was let go a few weeks ago.” He took a sip from his cup and leaned back in his chair.

“He’d been logging hours he wasn’t actually working, got caught, and was officially fired for theft.

According to one of the managers, he was quite upset. ”

“Did it sound like he’s the type to burn down the warehouse to get back at the company?”

“I don’t think so. He came off as flaky and lazy without the drive to put in the kind of planning and effort our shooter did.

He gave me an alibi for the time of the fire.

I’ll run that down, but I expect it to pan out.

” Paris set his coffee on the desk. “We went through the security footage taken from any cameras in the vicinity of the warehouse. There was nothing suspicious or unusual. Which makes me think the shooter was familiar with the building and knew how to get inside undetected.”

They kept hitting dead ends. The guy hadn’t teleported in and out of the building. He had to have gotten inside somehow. “Have you heard when we’ll be able to go in and do a thorough search of the warehouse?”

“Not yet. I should find out sometime this afternoon, though. Once we do, we’ll take a group of officers in.

Only a third of the warehouse was damaged by the flames, so the potential for evidence is high.

Especially if the shooter had banked on any evidence being destroyed by the fire.

” A notification came through on Paris’s phone.

He checked it, then turned the screen off.

“Have you gotten anything else on Bracken?”

Clint opened his water and took a swig before twisting the cap back on.

“That’s the main reason I wanted to stop by.

I spoke with Leslie yesterday, and if Bracken was having any difficulties, she said he never talked about it.

However, we ran his financials. It turns out he took out a second mortgage on their house less than six months ago.

He’s also got several credit cards with their limits maxed out.

According to their bank account, they’ve been living paycheck to paycheck for a while. ”

Hopefully, worker’s compensation plus insurance would take care of the hospital fees that would add up quickly. Clint doubted Bracken and his wife would be able to handle an astronomical medical bill right now.

“I hate to hear that. But it does mean we need to look into the situation. See if there’s anyone Bracken owes money to that doesn’t go by the books, if he’s received any threats related to money or anything else.”

“Agreed. I was planning to go to the hospital and question him after I spoke with you.”

Paris nodded his satisfaction and took another drink of his coffee. “How about Leslie Granger? Did you have any luck canvassing her neighborhood?”

“Unfortunately, no.” That’s what Clint had done for three hours this morning. He knocked on every door that had a view of Leslie’s house. No one had video camera footage, and no one noticed anyone strange going in or coming out of the house.

“If it weren’t for the fact that the front door had been opened from the inside, I’d think someone broke that back window and ran off.

” None of it made sense to him. “No fingerprints from the window, so the suspect must have worn gloves. There’s a plethora of fingerprints on the front door, but I’m not holding my breath. ”

“Any other reports of break-ins in the area last night?”

“Two. The first was a vehicle smash and grab two streets over. The other was another home invasion. But in that case, multiple items were stolen and property destroyed. It’s possible the suspect was interrupted at Leslie’s house and moved on to this one, but so far, we have nothing to connect them. ”

Clint’s gut said they weren’t related, but it wasn’t like he hadn’t been wrong before. Police Chief Dolman said to put extra patrols in the area for the next two nights. Otherwise, they were going to have to treat it like a random event.

“I’d planned to head over to the hospital and have a talk with Bracken. Unless there’s another area you want me to focus on. ”

Paris drained the last of his coffee. “No, that sounds great. Let me know if you find anything out.”

“Will do.” Clint stood and reached out to shake the other man’s hand.

With his half-empty water bottle in hand, he strode to his desk to make a few notes and text Leslie. He’d been thinking about her all morning.

I hope you got some decent sleep last night. You doing okay?

She didn’t know it, but he’d parked just down the street from her house after he’d left her and stayed there several hours before a different officer replaced him so he could get some sleep.

His phone pinged with a reply.

I got some. I just got to the hospital to visit Danny. Thanks again for your help yesterday.

No problem. I’m heading that way in just a few minutes.

Okay. See you in a bit.

He wasn’t looking forward to questioning Danny, especially since he and Leslie were friends as well as co-workers. But if there was someone that he’d dealt with who could be targeting him, they needed to know about it.

Clint tried not to think about the worried look on Leslie’s face when he’d arrived at the hospital and asked to speak to Danny alone. She’d encouraged Becca to go with her to the cafeteria to get a snack. Clint promised them he’d just be a few minutes.

Considering Danny had been shot and then revived with CPR while investigating a fire, Clint wasn’t sure what to expect. But the man looked better than Clint would’ve predicted. Still, it was clear Danny was in a great deal of pain, and that was with pain medication.

“You look a great deal better than you did when I last saw you.” Clint shook the firefighter’s hand and sat in the chair that Becca had occupied moments before.

“I heard the nurse gave you guys the bullet. Were you able to get anything from that?” Danny shifted to sit up a little straighter and grimaced.

“I’m afraid not. There was no match for the bullet in the system. We’re hoping to get clearance from the fire inspector to go in and thoroughly search the warehouse this afternoon or tomorrow. With any luck, we’ll find something to steer us in the right direction.”

“I hope so.” The blood pressure machine began, and they waited until it had finished getting its reading before Danny spoke again. “You said you had some questions for me.”

Starting from the beginning would be a good way to ease into his more difficult questions. “Was there anything about the shooter that seemed familiar? His voice or even how he moved?”

Danny didn’t hesitate. “Not even remotely. As far as I know, I’d never seen him before.”

“Tell me about the conversation. What did you tell him, and what did he say?”

The firefighter recounted what happened and then gave a description of the man. Everything lined up with Leslie’s version of events, except that Danny put the shooter at a couple of inches taller than her estimate.

“That’s great, Danny. We’re doing everything we can to find the guy who did this to you.

” Now it was time for the harder questions before the ladies returned.

“Is there anyone you can think of that might want to hurt you? Someone who might’ve disagreed with how you handled a situation at a call out?

What about someone you might owe money to? ”

“No one. Why are you asking me that?” Danny’s eyes narrowed. “Did you pull my financials?”

“We did. We saw the second mortgage and the credit cards.” Clint gave him an apologetic look. He certainly didn’t relish getting into the other man’s personal business, especially after everything he’d gone through.

When Danny started to pull at the blood pressure cuff, Clint held up his hands. “Look, I’m just trying to help find this guy before he comes after you again, targets your wife, or turns his sights on someone else.”

The other man squeezed his eyes closed and let his head rest against the bed for a moment before refocusing on Clint.

He leaned forward, his gaze intent. “We do have a lot of debt. It was a combination of poor decisions when we were younger, covering my father-in-law’s medical bills, and two rounds of IVF.

Am I happy about where we are financially right now?

Absolutely not. But it’s all above board.

I can’t think of a single person who would be targeting me or my family. ”

Danny slumped back against the bed with a groan.

“All right. I’m sorry, but I had to ask.

” He stood. “We are going to figure out who’s behind this.

In the meantime, we’ll have a police officer posted outside your room.

I know Becca’s staying here, but we’ll keep an eye on your house.

Once you’ve been released from the hospital, we’ll discuss the next steps to keep you and your wife safe. ”

Danny gave a nod as the door opened. Becca and Leslie stepped back into the room. Becca looked from Clint to her husband and hurried to his side.

“I brought you some pudding and a few snacks.” She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his head. “Is everything okay?”

“Officer Baker was assuring me that we’ll continue to have an officer nearby until the shooter is caught. I’ll fill you in on the rest.” He took his wife’s hand in his.

Clint pointed at the door. “Let me get out of your hair. Thank you for your time, and I’ll be praying for your recovery.” He reached over and lightly touched Leslie’s arm. “I’ll be outside talking to Officer Carrington. Take your time, okay?”

When she nodded her agreement, he left the room.

There was no reason for Clint not to believe Danny. The firefighter seemed genuine. Unfortunately, the lack of any new information meant they were no closer to finding the shooter than they were yesterday.