Page 97 of Charmed Forces
Pausing at the corner, I shot a few snaps of his retreating form, then dropped to a crouch behind the fence, watching to see where he was going. Just as I prepared to run after him, he stopped and got into a car. I darted out from my hiding spot to the row of parked cars, and slipped in between two of them, stopping before I entered the road. I stooped, raising my camera and firing off a series of shots as the man drove past me, one hand pushing back his hood to reveal his face.
Chapter Twenty
By the time I returned to the car, Solomon and Delgado were waiting. “Where’d you go?” asked Solomon.
“A guy jumped out the window around the side of the house and I followed him over to the next street,” I explained as we climbed into the car.
“Damn,” said Delgado, running a hand over his short crop of nearly black hair. “How’d we miss him?”
“Easily,” said Solomon. “He must have heard us enter and took off rather than risking a fight. Did you lose him?”
“Nope,” I said, pulling up the photos and passing the camera to Solomon. He scrolled through as Delgado watched. “Got him all the way from the house, to his car, to driving past me. I don’t think Captain Brandt can explain this. I saw him clearly.”
“You didn’t get the others?” asked Solomon.
“What others?”
Solomon pointed to the house where a vehicle was now parked directly outside. The door to the house opened and Detectives Crump and Hertford stepped out, holstering their weapons.
“Ah,” I said. “Them. Um... no. I guess I was following Brandt when they showed up.” I reached for the camera in Delgado’s hands, pointed it and fired off a few shots. I figured it was better than nothing, although I stood by my decision to follow Captain Brandt. At the time, it was the move to make. He got there first. “Did they see you?” I asked.
“We slipped out the back when they came in the front,” said Delgado. “They even knocked. Stupid mistake on their part. Lucky for us. It gave us enough warning to bail.”
As we waited, Detective Hertford spoke into his radio, and his red hair ruffled in the slight breeze. “They seem to be here on legit business,” I said. “How did they know to come here? Was it a tipoff? And why didn’t they meet with Captain Brandt? He had to have gotten a tipoff before them. Could he have a mole in Tom Victor’s setup?”
“Ten bucks says Brandt is here on hisownbusiness,” said Delgado.
“I’m not taking that bet,” I said. “But I don’t see why he didn’t stick around and call you two out for being inside a house you had no obvious business being inside.”
“About that ten bucks...” said Delgado.
“Okay, I get it. He didn’t want to be seen,” I said. “You’re right. That’s suspicious.”
“Highly suspicious,” said Solomon. “These two turning up so quick concerns me too. Let’s get out of here.”
We waited for the two detectives to go back inside the house, then we took off, taking a left along the street I’d followed Captain Brandt as he ran from the house. We took another left in the direction he drove, only we were heading back to the agency.
In the car, I asked, “What if Brandt was the one on legitimate business and the other two were there on Tom Victor’s orders? I’m going to ask Garrett.” I turned my phone on and called my brother, pleased when he answered quickly.
“Before you ask anything about the case,” he said, “I should tell you I’m at home and I know nothing.”
“Officially nothing? Or if anyone asks, you know nothing?” I replied.
“Both, but Iofficiallyknow nothing. What’s up?”
“Have you heard anything about a Daniel sighting? Maybe a tipoff?”
“No, nothing.”
“Not even about going to check out locations where he might have been?”
“Absolutely nothing. I’m as good as frozen out.”
“Do you know anything about the relationship between Captain Brandt, Detective Crump and Detective Hertford?”
“Are you suggesting they’re having some kind of three-way?” snorted Garrett.
“Interesting to know where your mind instantly went, but no, we just wondered if they might work on things independently.”